Win Some, Lose Some

 I love experimenting with recipes.  I am very rarely turned off from a recipe just because I don't have the correct ingredients, or if the directions aren't real clear.  Sometimes things work out wonderfully, other times they don't.  (My poor family.)  I thought I'd share a few of my recent experiments.


Marshmellows.  I have been wanting to make a decent batch of homemade marshmellows for forever.  I tried to make some several months ago. But they just didn't turn out great.  They smelled funny.  They didn't taste quite right.  I did use a spray olive oil to grease the pans - I thought that had something to do with it.  I also wanted to try to avoid using corn syrup, so I made my own sugar syrup - that may have contributed.  I also made a batch with the corn syrup, but decided to make those ones chocolate - they turned out a little better.  Also made a batch with honey - WAY too sickening sweet.  I was also about 8 weeks pregnant at the time, and in the throes of nausea, so I thought maybe that was why the smells weren't appealing to me.  So I abandoned the quest for marshmellows.  Until a week or so ago.  Most of the recipes said you should you a stand mixer, and I didn't have one of those the first time around. I still had some unflavored gelatin, and the other correct ingredients.  So I started preparing the recipe.  I had mixed the gelatin with some water.  And was happily boiling the sugary ingredients to the correct temperature, when I got a whiff of the gelatin.  Oh my.  It was like I was back in the country house we had that was also home to a mouse or two - ones that liked to visit the kitchen - and play until the stove burners - and so when you turned the oven on.... well you get the picture. The smell turns my stomach. (No pregnancy required.)  YES - this is what the GELATIN smelled like.  I have no idea if this is normal.  So I just tossed it all.  The bag of gelatin and the gelatin I had mixed with the water.

But I still had the sugars boiling... so I decided to try and use my flavored gelatin - because I never use it anyways - and I really didn't have anything to lose.  It was Blackberry flavored.  I have no idea how much I used, but I poured in enough so that it looked to be about the same consistency - then made it as the recipe suggested.

The result was interesting.  They didn't get near as fluffy as they should have.  Oh my though, they were good. But super sweet.  I'm assuming you don't see recipes that call for the flavored gelatin, since I would assume there is a ton of sugar in there already.  So it was definitely a sugar overload.  And they turned the most wonderful shade of pink. I ended up eating about a fourth of them, and then throwing the rest away - because I knew that I would be the only one eating them... and I really don't need to be sugaring up myself (or baby) that much.  So I would call this one a loss, with a little win in there.  I will try again with some more gelatin someday.

Lemon bars.  These weren't so much a result of experimentation, but me following vague directions (wrongly).  I had extra lemons after making the lemonade so I decided to make some lemon bars.  I also had some fresh blueberries, so I thought I would add some to half the pan for fun.  The recipe said to put the crust "in a pan"  So as I am making the crust I tell myself that it looks like the correct amount for an 8x8.  I forgot that I am really not good at guessing things like that.  So after pouring the lemon filling over the crust I realize that it is entirely too thick and I really should have used a 9x13.  Oh well, I thought, it will just be thick.  So I baked it, and it took about twice as long - and still wasn't completely done, but I took it out.  Again, it tasted good - it was just really gooey and really thick.  So a sort of win.  And adding the blueberries was great - that part was a definite win.  But then came the Loss...

I went to boil some eggs.  Turned on the burner.  Sat down at the table.  Heard some bubbling - a little sooner than I was expecting.  I was considering checking, but I just stayed put for a bit... and... BOOM!  I had turned on the burner under the pan of lemon bars. (cry)  It completely exploded.  I think I found a piece of glass at least 10 ft away (again, not great with guessing these things, but it was far)  Thank God no one was in the kitchen at the time, and the kids were so occupied with what they were doing that I didn't have too much trouble cleaning up the mess before they knew what was going on.  I tell you though - gooey mess plus broken glass is not a fun combo.  And now I'm in need of a new 8x8 pan. Sad.  Too bad it isn't garage sale season. :)

Some serious carnage.