Applesauce to the Rescue!

So, Friday night we had some people over and I really wanted to make some sort of sweet.  I thought brownies would be great, especially the recipe I used here.  I did use the original recipe, not the one with Nutella.  (Speaking of, I just bought a very large jar. Yum.)  But when I went to gather my ingredients I realized I was out of eggs.  So I did a quick internet research and came up with, what I was hoping, would be a great alternative.

Applesauce.  I have lots of that on hand.  Or at least I did - our stash is pretty much half gone.

Anyways.

I substituted 1/4 C Applesauce per egg.  I also increased the baking powder by a bit.

The brownies turned out great.  The guys all enjoyed them.

Then tonight I started to make some corn muffins.  Again... no eggs.  Again grabbed the applesauce.  These also turned out great, well as long as you like sweet tasting corn muffins.  I would probably decrease the sugar if I used applesauce in these again.

FYI: The Applesauce I used was homemade applesauce with no added sugar.  Although I'm sure any other applesauce would work too.

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.

No pudding yet....

The Case of The Unmade Pudding

Exhibit A: The Neverending Cookie Container was empty - and it needed filled. I might have had a mutiny on my hands. I live with a houseful of cookie monsters.

Exhibit B: Yes, I am a gamer. In a very loose sense of the word. I don't have time to be a real serious one, but I still am one. Anyways, for Christmas I got The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, so I've been playing through that. I hear it calling for me right now...

Exhibit C: This is probably actually the main reason. Yes that is a bag of raw sugar - and a mortar and pestle. If you would look in it, you would find crushed raw sugar. Why? Because I am currently completely out of regular white sugar. Not a grain of it in the house. So I thought I would try to use the crushed raw sugar, since the recipe only calls for 1 Tablespoon. It would have worked out great - except that am also currently out of milk. I probably could have used something as a substitute. I have Buttermilk and more cream than it actually calls for - and it might have worked, but it was just too much. I don't want the whole thing to flop because I was experimenting with substitutions. Sooooo my pudding post must wait for another day.

Exhibit C-2: This should go with the last, but I didn't take a picture. Our second vehicle has a flat tire, so Jonathan took the tire to be mended yesterday - so I didn't have a car with which to run errands either yesterday during the day or today. Sure I could have gone last night, but I also didn't realize I was out of that much until too late...

Exhibit D: Ok, they really didn't have any bearing in my not getting the pudding made. I just like this picture. I love that the window is low enough that Noah can see out (and the dogs - that is just hilarious.) Oh and it isn't really that cold in our house. Noah is just learning how to pull himself up on things and when he does this in the kitchen he sometimes falls. He has been hitting his head when he falls, so we started putting the hat on him to protect his noggin from all the banging around oh the hard floor.

Hopefully, I will have a pudding post for you tonight or tomorrow morning.

Even the best laid plans...

So my plan for the evening was to try a recipe I found for some Butterscotch Pudding. I've been meaning to for quite a while. But, as I was getting the ingredients together, my oldest was finishing his supper - and brought a bit of it up. Sooo my evening changed quite a bit - with an unscheduled bath for both boys (they sure didn't mind that part) Not sure what the deal was with the vomiting because right after he was running around with excitement about taking a bath. No fever. He's had a bit of a cough, so that might have been the culprit.

So look for that recipe coming soon. (Hopefully) And more recipes after that. I really like blogging, but I've been a little unsure what to blog about. I think I've decided to mostly blog about food stuff. And, of course the occasional kid stuff. I hope that since I have a specific topic, I'll be here more often. Look for a blog make over soon too, to go along with those topics.

Hope everyone is enjoying 2010. I ushered in the year in the middle of this game: Mystery of the Abbey. It's kind of Clue meets Guess Who - but more involved, and a lot of fun.

On to a New Year

I'm not the kind of person who usually makes resolutions for the new year, but this year I might make an exception. I need a kick start in a variety of different ways. Exercise and eating healthy, of course. Spiritually - definitely. Managing Time - absolutely. So I'm going to try a few new things. For example, one of my goals is to make a vegetable at every meal. Why is it so hard to get vegetables in my diet? Well, besides the fact that I don't care for too many of them. :)

I think one way I can achieve some head way in those areas is to make specific goals. A friend on Facebook mentioned something about it in a status update, and it really got me thinking. I don't really make concrete goals for myself. So I think my first order of business in 2010 will be to make an actual list of goals I want to achieve and in how much time. And post it somewhere I will see it often. (Maybe above Noah's changing table - ha! :))

Now for something completely different...

I got my prize in the mail!! I love it all. It's the best kitchen equipment I've ever had. Stainless steel measuring cups and spoons. A really nice silicon spatula. A large whisk. Silicon pastry brush. Stainless steel rolling pin that can be filled with cold water to reduce sticking. A large batter bowl (that I can't wait to use to make pancakes tomorrow morning). A really nice pastry cutter. (Is that the right name??) Anyways - here is a picture. Thanks Apartment Therapy!!


So far I've used the measuring cups and spoons and the spatula. Like them alot. I used the spatula to brown hamburger - it is quite counter intuitive to use rubbery seeming tools in a hot pan... but it worked. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year's!

Feeling Lucky

In all my years I've entered quite a few random draw contests. And usually I don't win a thing. I don't remember winning anything until about a year ago when I won some really cool Haba blocks on a blog, which I can't recall the name of at the moment.

So I sign up for most of the giveaways I come across online - especially since most of them don't require much effort except for commenting or filling out a form. But I'm usually not very optimist. And now I have one TWO things in the past week. I'm stoked!

The first thing I won was through Steph's Cup of Tea blog. I didn't win her main prize, but I got to pick some loose leaf tea from teaflection.com. I received the package in the mail on Saturday. Tried a cup that night. I don't have the most discerning taste buds, but I like it. I got the Japanese Sencha Green Tea.

Then I got an email today that I won something through the Apartment Therapy sites. They've got several giveaways every day since the beginning of December (I think). They have had a lot of really great things, so it was fun to find what I had won. I won a 7 Piece Baking. As soon as I get it I will let you know what I think about it. :) I can't wait!

I'm pretty sure that there are still giveaways going on on Apartment Therapy, so go over and toss your name in the hat! You might just win something. :-D

The Things We Do For Love + Domestic Improvements

So there are a few things that my husband really enjoys eating. Two of them are Beef and Noodles like his grandma's and sauerkraut (but not together, at least I don't think). So I decided to tackle both of those things. The beef and noodles are made with canned beef - which I think is the secret behind them. So earlier this week I canned roast for the first time. I got a recipe from my husband's aunt. Basically you get some roast, cut it into chunks, put it in jars, put lids and seals on jars, and process them in a pressure cooker. I think it all came out good. I haven't checked the seals yet, but I'm hoping they all sealed. I personally think the meat looks kind of freaky in there, but I know that that is how it is supposed to look. :)

Now for the other thing, sauerkraut. I was in our local grocery store and they had huge locally grown cabbage, so I bought one. Found out once I got home the sucker weighs 8lbs. That's a whole lot of cabbage. I bought it with the mind set that I was going to be making sauerkraut, but I had never actually read up on how it is done... So after I get home I read and find out that it is going to take about 6 weeks to fermet - um, ew! I never have liked sauerkraut, and the thought of fermenting cabbage just does not appeal to me in the slightest, but hey it's all for love. :) I have yet to start this adventure. I will let you know in about a month and a half if it was successful. Meanwhile any handy sauerkraut tips would be great. Oh and I've already heard the - just buy a jar when you need it. I've already bought the cabbage and darn it I won't let it go to waste!!

Now on to the Domestic Improvements. Don't really know why I am posting this stuff except that I am extremely excited about them both, and once you hear what they are you are free to roll your eyes at my "oldness" and so totally uncoolness.

First off I won the bid on a chest freezer at an auction last Saturday. I love it!!! I have enough room in my regular freezer for 4 or more ice cube trays!! And when I open it random frozen foods don't fall on my toes; it's amazing. And it was a pretty good deal at $75, I think.



Secondly, I've been trying to figure out a way to have a semi permanent place to sew and do other things like that. I finally figured out a solution that was mostly acceptable to my husband and me. We'll see how long it lasts. :) I just hope it helps me get things done.