Did you try a new food or dish? Tell us about it!

pork confit and later pork rillettes this weekend.

yummy, but rich.

Cinnamon cookies taste like snickerdoodles, only with a more pronounced flavor. Makes sense. They are delicious. I ate my half of the cookies already.

This is more of an advance post but tomorrow I'm going to be taking a shot at making my own chicken stock. I've been collecting up some random bones for about a month now. My mom was so enthusiastic about the idea she made a small roast chicken for dinner tonight so I could have the carcass. No experience whatsoever with this sort of thing so I'm YouTubing it. Of course, any tips or tricks are always appreciated.

DragonHeart said:

Cinnamon cookies taste like snickerdoodles, only with a more pronounced flavor. Makes sense. They are delicious. I ate my half of the cookies already.

This is more of an advance post but tomorrow I'm going to be taking a shot at making my own chicken stock. I've been collecting up some random bones for about a month now. My mom was so enthusiastic about the idea she made a small roast chicken for dinner tonight so I could have the carcass. No experience whatsoever with this sort of thing so I'm YouTubing it. Of course, any tips or tricks are always appreciated.

Click to expand...

Definitely remember the carrots and parsnips, and put your whole spices in a cheesecloth or mesh bag and tie it. Then you can pull the whole thing, and don't have to worry about having to strain about a bazillion things out of it.

I did this a few years ago, and homemade is definitely the best, although I don't always have time to do it!

I tried the *new* less sweet, Sugar Pops (that's cereal, for the uninformed)...

It was Bleh!

When I want sweet, sugary cereal, I want the real thing.

I always save bones and carcasses for stock, however I still have to augment the flavour with some chicken flavour concentrate (usually a bouillion cube or powder instead of salt). It's been my experience that unless I'm using a whole, free range, organic stewing hen, there is just not enough chicken flavour in a carcass and/or bones. They do however add body and richness to your soup (and after it's chilled in the fridge over night you will marvel at it's gelatinous glory!)

My method is; simmer the bones in enough water to cover, with garlic cloves, a small chopped onion, a chopped peeled carrot, a chopped celery stick, a small bunch of parsley, a couple of bay leaves, thyme, sage (or a dash of poultry seasoning) and some pepper corns for a couple of hours. When the bones come apart I will strain the stock, reserving any meat discarding the rest. I'll either chill this to use later or I'll start on my soup.

In another big pot I'll saute some more garlic, and sweat another chopped onion in a small amount of oil. When the onion is translucent, I'll add carrots, celery and my stock. I'll simmer this for a few minutes, then add some green beans, and peas, egg noodles (or some precooked rice or a can of drained wild rice) and more seasoning (thyme, poultry seasoning) and some chicken bouillion.

I dislike very soft vegetables and mushy noodles. I find this method gives me the best flavour and texture.

Happy soup making.

Lavern08 said:

I tried the *new* less sweet, Sugar Pops (that's cereal, for the uninformed)...

It was Bleh!

When I want sweet, sugary cereal, I want the real thing.

Click to expand...

After reading the article the other day about the lab tumors in rats being caused by GMO corn, I'm not touching that stuff anymore. And I was a total Cocoa Puffs fanatic for years.

Corn Pops are on the list; I would assume Sugar Pops fall on here too.

FYI: http://www.naturalnews.com/037315_Monsanto_GM_corn_breakfast_cereals.html

Hip-Hop-a-potamus said:

After reading the article the other day about the lab tumors in rats being caused by GMO corn, I'm not touching that stuff anymore.

Click to expand...

Oh DANG!

I forgot about that.

*Tosses the box of cereal*

Well, I did make my stock and it was a success. Yeah, maybe I didn't make it the most efficient way but it's a learning curve, and I'm just happy it came out. ^^ Will be using it tomorrow, or rather donating it to my mother and she'll be using it tomorrow for soup.

I don't think I've ever had real, fully homemade soup so I guess that counts for trying something new too. XD

It's definitely a time intensive process but I could always use that to my advantage. Maybe next time, if there is a next time, I'll get some bread going at the same time. I haven't made any of that in awhile, come to think of it.

Pork or ram stock: the key is long cooking. Cook the bones down for 1-2 days until the bones crumble. Now we're talking stock!

Friends and I experienced a cooking failure today. We had graham crackers crushed up on the bottom, marshmallows, and then either Crunch bar bits or M&Ms on the top. Stuck it in the oven. Two minutes might have made it okay. But uhm...we left it in for like 15. Chocolate was no longer chocolate. Marshmallow was no longer marshmallow. It was all kind of terrifying.

My husband came home from the grocery store today with a giant bag of kale, which I'd never had before. Great in a salad with lots of crunchy veggies and an herby-and-creamy dressing.

tamara said:

My husband came home from the grocery store today with a giant bag of kale, which I'd never had before. Great in a salad with lots of crunchy veggies and an herby-and-creamy dressing.

Click to expand...

I have a super fab recipe for a Portugese Kale and Potato Chowder with Turkey Kielbasa in it. SO GOOD! Especially when it's cold outside. When winter comes, my husband begs me to make it.

Kale chips are also yummy and super healthy. Just decorate em with a little sea salt and olive oil and put them in the oven at low temp.

Hip-Hop-a-potamus said:

I have a super fab recipe for a Portugese Kale and Potato Chowder with Turkey Kielbasa in it. SO GOOD!

Click to expand...

Please post the recipe - I love kale, and this sounds like a great cold-weather dish.

OK hun, here it is!

Portugese Kale and Potato Chowder (8 WW Points Plus points)

1 cup sliced turkey kielbasa (about 6 oz)
2 T olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, crushed
8 cups 1 % milk
2 lbs cubed baking potato
3/4 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
5 cups thinly sliced fresh kale or turnip greens (about 3/4 lb)

1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until hot. Add kielbasa, saute 10 minutes or until browned. Remove kielbasa from pan.

2. Heat oil in pan over medium high heat until hot. Add onion and garlic; saute 5 minutes. Add milk, potato, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until potato is very tender.

3. Remove from heat, and beat potato mixture at medium speed of a mixer until smooth. Stir in kielbasa and kale, and cook 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Yield 8 servings (serving size 1 1/2 cups)

Easy peasy!

I found it in an old Women's Weekly magazine. It was just grilled chicken, fried sweet potato, broccoli, and a wholegrain mustard sauce - made from a couple of crushed garlic cloves, a few heaped tablespoons of wholegrain mustard, and a cup of cream, simmered until it thickened and then poured over the chicken.

It's been a few weeks, and I've actually made it twice now, but I made Spanakopita (Spinach Pie) for the first time. It's one of my favorite foods, but I'd never tried making it before, and then someone sent me a link to a recipe. It was surprisingly easy, actually!

Link for those interested. I did make a couple of substitutions, but that's largely how I did it. Very tasty, and I can't wait to make it again. A little time-intensive though.

Bookewyrme said:

It's been a few weeks, and I've actually made it twice now, but I made Spanakopita (Spinach Pie) for the first time. It's one of my favorite foods, but I'd never tried making it before, and then someone sent me a link to a recipe. It was surprisingly easy, actually!

Link for those interested. I did make a couple of substitutions, but that's largely how I did it. Very tasty, and I can't wait to make it again. A little time-intensive though.

Click to expand...

Spanakopita is DELISH. One of my favorite Greek foods of all time.

Made turkey stock today. Pretty much the same as making chicken, only holy carp it makes a lot.

I used some of it to make turkey chili with the last of our leftovers. Came out pretty good actually. Spicy without tasting like burning, which is what most spicy hot things taste like to me. Definitely would have been even more fantastic in a tortilla with some sour cream and a big heap o' cheese. Or as nachos.

I made leek and bacon stuffing to go with our roast chicken today. Total experiment but it worked perfectly. I love it when an experiment turns out all right.

Ugh. I made the mistake of deciding to try a different cinnamon roll recipe from the one I've fiddled with over the last few months and perfected to my tastes, basically. I thought it would be fun to try a sourdough cinnamon roll recipe. Huge mistake.

I used this one:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10858/billowy-sourdough-cinnamon-rolls-cream-cheese-icing

Sadly, it was horrible. I had a bad feeling about it when the dough, after doubling, was rubbery and smelled really, really sour. The recipe says this is a moist dough, but this was impossibly moist; I had to add almost 2 extra cups of flour just to be able to work with it. It was incredibly difficult to roll up because of how badly it stuck to everything.

I got essentially zero ovenspring on it, either.

The texture is still rubbery, almost like an undercooked choux pastry. It didn't want to "unroll" for eating. And it tastes AWFUL. I never knew a cinnamon roll could taste so bad. Like, so bad I made a face.

I followed that recipe exactly. I am not unwilling to accept it could be user error, but I honestly can't see what that error could have been; I've been making bread at least two or three times a month for months, and I've been making cinnamon rolls once or twice a month for months, and while my first couple of batches of cinnamon rolls weren't perfect they've been consistently delicious for the last six or seven batches. So I do know what I'm doing, basically, and while this dough wasn't my usual one it had some similar elements--enough that I wasn't uncomfortable with the process or confused about it.

Has anyone else ever tried that recipe? Because man...what a disappointment. And what a waste of a kg of good, hard-to-find small-independent-mill organic flour, and butter, and buttermilk, and everything else that I wasted making those gummy horrors.



I'm going to go toss them, wash the baking dishes, and make a batch of my own recipe.

What a disappointment Stacia.

If you have been using this flour for bread and it's been fine, I'm wondering if the organic flour did not have enough gluten in it to work with the acid from the sourdough?

There was a recipe from the Pioneer Woman site that Old Fashioned Girl posted a few days ago that I've been thinking of trying it got raves from the reviewers. If you make it let me know how you like them.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

DragonHeart said:

So I tried something new just now--making my own oven roasted nuts. Definitely a trial and error sort of thing--burned about half of the first batch, but only a few from the second. The recipe said 10 minutes but that was way too long--actually about 5 seems to be the 'sweet spot'. Possibly because I could only find unsalted peanuts and almonds while the recipe had a much wider variety.

One batch I made plain, the other spiced with chilli powder. Just cause. Once they cool I'll give them a try. They certainly smell way better than store bought, even when burnt.

Click to expand...

The one time I tried this, it was such a disaster that I never attempted it again. I think I did 15 minutes or something else tragically wrong. I am going to try five minutes today and report back later! I really love burnt almond tort and would love some toasted almond slivers.

kikazaru said:

What a disappointment Stacia.

If you have been using this flour for bread and it's been fine, I'm wondering if the organic flour did not have enough gluten in it to work with the acid from the sourdough?

Click to expand...

Maybe. I also wonder if maybe my starter is just too "sharp" at this point. I don't know. But it was yucky.

There was a recipe from the Pioneer Woman site that Old Fashioned Girl posted a few days ago that I've been thinking of trying it got raves from the reviewers. If you make it let me know how you like them.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

Click to expand...

I've made similar recipes in the past; not her exact one, but similar. They turned out okay but went dry very, very fast, and I didn't think the dough itself was very flavorful. I use mashed potato, buttermilk, and honey in mine now; you don't taste the potato (and it's not a lot of potato) but it definitely makes the "bread" softer and helps it stay softer longer, the buttermilk adds an extremely subtle boost of flavor, and the honey adds some sweetness and depth.

I also use for the filling equal proportions of dark and light brown sugar, with a Tbsp or two of white sugar added, and a smidgen each of nutmeg and cloves in addition to cinnamon; again, I find it deepens the flavor.

Stacia, I haven't tried any bread recipe that called for mashed potatoes, so immediately, I suspect that.

Since sourdough bread doughs tend to take longer to rise, it's possible that the potatoes made the bread dough go bad faster - just a guess.

I make bread exclusively with a sourdough starter, aka wild yeast, except my starter isn't at all sour and rises quite fast, almost as fast as commercial yeast. It's the way we prefer it. And my cinnamon buns come out perfect.

If your starter is a slow riser, that would also contribute to the sour taste.

With your normal breads, do you usually use a sourdough starter or commercial yeast? Also, if your regular cinnamon bun recipe calls for commercial yeast, you can convert it to using sourdough starter. I've written a blog post about that if you want it.

L M Ashton said:

Stacia, I haven't tried any bread recipe that called for mashed potatoes, so immediately, I suspect that.

Since sourdough bread doughs tend to take longer to rise, it's possible that the potatoes made the bread dough go bad faster - just a guess.

Click to expand...

No, no, the mashed potato is part of my "right" recipe. I used potatoes left over from Thanksgiving, and the batch of rolls I made after tossing the bad ones are delicious. So it's definitely not the potato (and it is worth a try adding them, as they really do soften and add some moisture. Some recipes omit the mash but call for potato flour, which does basically the same thing; I can't easily get potato flour here, so I got for the mash).

I make bread exclusively with a sourdough starter, aka wild yeast, except my starter isn't at all sour and rises quite fast, almost as fast as commercial yeast. It's the way we prefer it. And my cinnamon buns come out perfect.

If your starter is a slow riser, that would also contribute to the sour taste.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say mine is slow, but it's not fast, either. My doughs double in size in about 6 hours, which is a bit faster than many (most recipes suggest it will take 8-12 hours) but certainly not as fast as commercial yeast.

But again, my starter is quite sour (both my starters are; I have a white/wheat one which I used for the rolls, and a wheat/rye one I usually use for breads).

With your normal breads, do you usually use a sourdough starter or commercial yeast? Also, if your regular cinnamon bun recipe calls for commercial yeast, you can convert it to using sourdough starter. I've written a blog post about that if you want it.

Click to expand...

I usually use my starter for breads now. Sometimes I use a bit of commercial yeast and add a ladle of starter as well to deepen the flavor. But my girls prefer less-sour bread, and for some things I'd rather not have sourdough either (like hamburger buns, frex).

My go-to bread method usually starts with honey and yogurt, to which I add either starter, commercial yeast, or a bit of both, and then salt flour etc. It's a nice snack bread, makes great toast, and is mild enough that the girls like it for sandwiches.

I have on occasion added a bit of starter to my cinnamon rolls without a problem. *shakes head* I have no idea what went wrong with that recipe.

Thanks for the troubleshooting help, though!