Leaning Tower of Pancakes

Pancakes, not just any pancakes though. These Pancakes or Griddle Pancakes are “the classic all-American pancake,” which can be made in a quick time, if you don’t let the batter sit.

The Batter

• I’m not going to lie. I thought this pancake recipe was going to be SO easy and that I’d just nail it on the first try no problem. However, of course, without a doubt, there was a problem.
  • The same situation with crepes that I has previously had seemed to happen with the pancake batter. I added the liquids together, the milk, eggs, and melted butter and then there would be these weird like chunk of what I assume/hope was butter. It honestly looked like the milk was spoiled and chunky but I swear it wasn’t. Right when I added the melted butter it got so gross.
  • Then I thought well maybe I just mixed everything together to quickly and need to mix slowly, so I did. That’s right I started a new set of liquid ingredients. And this time I poured the butter in ever so slowly.
    • BUT GUESS WHAT? THE SAME THING HAPPENED!
    • I honestly don’t know why but it did. I decided to just strain it before adding it to the flour mixture.

The Pancake

• The pancake  it’s self was too doughy in my opinion. It was good but just had a weird texture. Maybe if I let it sit for a couple hours?
  • Ok now that I think about it I should’ve let it rest.
    • But I was just really hungry! Sorry!
• Cooking it was pretty easy too. You just wait of the bubbles to appear.

I think I’ll wait next time for the batter rest before I make the pancakes.

Carrots Are Better with Cake

Carrots. Since I was young I was told that they could help with my eyesight. So naturally I ate a carrot every chance I get. Well, now here I am, typing away adjusting my glasses every few seconds because the carrots failed me. However, even though they didn’t heal my horrible eyes, I still love them in different foods.

Today, I made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. 

The Cake 

• Super duper easy to make. Mix all the ingredients and you get the batter.
• I was actually surprised that the batter was very similar to that of the coffee crumble cake thing I previously made.
  • It was sticky and looked like a very small amount of dough as I spread it across my 9×13 pan.
• Also like the other cake, it wasn’t that sweet, as it only had one cup of sugar.
• The recipe said that in the 9×13 pan it would take 30-35 minutes but at like 25 my cake was done. Guess it really does just depend on the oven.

The Frosting

• Very easy except I didn’t really know what consistency it was supposed to be. I think mine was a little to “runny” but the flavor was pretty good.
• I also didn’t use all the powdered sugar it said to use.
  • I used 2 cups instead of 3

This cake complimented very nicely with the frosting since the cake wasn’t super sweet. I would most likely make this again once I know the “perfect consistency” of cream cheese frosting.

What is that thing on top??

Lemon. I love lemon. When I found Lemon Curd Bars in JOC I figured I needed to make it.

This recipe was, overall, really simple to make. The times suggested for baking were also on point.

The Crust

• Flour, sugar and butter. I had to cut the butter into the flour and sugar so I used my fingers like suggested. Eventually, I found myself using my whole hand and figured what could go wrong.
• The recipe also said to make the mixture into “pea size” crumbs or something. Some were pea size. Others were grape size. And others looked like sand. I didn’t know how to fix this, so I just went with it and threw it in my pan.
• The butter did start to melt and I think it’s just because I “played” with it too much.

The Filling

• Really simple and good!
• I didn’t have enough lemons. I had previously bought 5 lemons but had to work with 3 because my dad decided to use some during the week because carne asada and lemons are a must. I should’ve had 1 cup and a little more to use in the filling but I came up with only 1/3 cup. It worked though! I feel like 1 cup would’ve been too much.
• OK and what the heck is the white thing that is on top? Its really fragile and and like sweet. Is it from the sugar? I honestly don’t know what it is but it kind of ruined the bars. Its way too sweet. I just scrape it off when I get a bar. Maybe it was because the recipe had a lot of sugar in it? 3 cups!

Like I said these were really good, but that thing kinda ruined it. If you have any idea why its there let me know. I’ll make them again for sure.

PS: I don’t mean the white powdery thing, thats powdered sugar that I added (and eventually took off) because I didn’t know it’d be so sweet. I mean the thing that has the cracks in it.

I Want ALL the Crumbs

Cinnamon. Butter. Cake. Amazing.

This was without a doubt the best way to make your house smell like the holiday season. And during summer. Crumb Cake. Just the smell alone makes me so happy. It smells so good and it is SO easy to make. You just fold the dry into the wet and spread it in the pan. Then top it with this butter flour cinnamon crumb thing.

The only thing I was kinda weirded out by was how little batter there is. You need to really spread it because its also a sticky batter. I used the back of a spoon but I wish I would’ve like sprayed it with something so it wouldn’t stick to the batter.

It also bakes super fast. It only takes 25 minutes in my oven. 25 minutes. And you basically get Christmas. How fabulous.

J’aime la nourriture!

Aujourd’hui, je fais

Pardon! Today I am feeling in a French kind of mood. I listened to some French music, which made me think of my French classes I had all four years of high school. Then I remembered how my French teacher, on the day before winter break started, would bring homemade crepes to the class. Everyone would bring something to put into the crepes like Nutella, strawberries, whipped cream, bananas, etc.

I’ve made crepes before but they didn’t come out too great because they had these weird lumps of flour. So today I figured, why not try again? What’s the harm? So I did.

Let me just say, OH MY GOSH! So good! They were very simple to make thanks to Joy of Cooking. I took three of their recipes and used them all in one dish.

The Sweet Crepes (I halved the recipe but still got 12 crepes)

• In order to avoid the lumps I previously had, I sifted the flour first. The crepes recipe provided didn’t have any particular way to add the ingredients so I just added everything in one bowl and whisked it. It still had lumps though, but it wasn’t lumps of flour, I honestly don’t know what it was.
  • To make it smooth, the final step I did was add the batter into my measuring cup, but put it through a fine mesh strainer first. It all worked very well I might add.
  • I’ve seen people use a blender on food network, maybe that’ll help?
• There was no specification of what type of milk to use so I just used the regular fat free milk we had in the fridge. I think it made it a little too watery, but it still tasted fine.
• The cooking process is also not as hard as it may seem! I used my fingers to flip the crepe so I wouldn’t rip it with a fork or spatula.
  • To make it easier on me, I cooked the crepe on a back burner and then moved the pan off the heat and to the burner(which was off) in front of it to flip it so my hands wouldn’t burn, then moved it back to the back. (ha)
• I also placed a piece of wax paper in between each crepe to prevent them from sticking together!

Caramelized Apples (I didn’t make the sauce that was part of the recipe)

• These were so easy to make and the only thing I did different from the recipe is use a different apple. It called for Golden Delicious apples and I used Gala. Tasted great!

Whipped Cream

• This was probably the easiest thing I’ve made. I add sugar and vanilla and it was perfect.

This was definitely something that anyone can make because the ingredients are so accessible. Well, now I feel like watching Midnight in Paris. I’ll probably watch while I eat some crepes.

 

I Threw TOO Much Salt Today

The other day I mentioned how I made the Sautéed Boneless Chicken Breasts with Herb Pan Sauce, as provided by Joy of Cooking. Well, it was such a hit with the family that they said, “You need to make it Tuesday!” I agreed and felt flattered, the food was good enough for people to ask again.

So, I once again followed the recipe provided, did my thing, but to be honest, I wasn’t all that happy.

The Chicken

First impression: It was salty. And I noticed it when I began coating it with flour. I could feel too much of it on and I think it had to do with the fact that I salted it directly from the salt shaker. I usually put the salt in my hand and sprinkle it so I can control the salt better. Who knows, maybe I just suck at ‘salting.’ (I don’t even know if that’s a real term.)

The smaller pieces were also on the drier side but the big ones were perfect. I think the fact that I put them[the big pieces] in the oven helped but I don’t think anything could’ve helped the little pieces.

Another thing that had to do with the chicken that I didn’t like wasn’t part of the actual eating the chicken experience. The fact that when you cook it in the oil/butter thing makes it splatter all over the stove so I recommend getting one of those things to cover that pan. Not a lid. But those things. You know what I mean. It looks like a none round fine strainer.

The Sauce

I liked the sauce better the first time. Not that the taste was different, but the thickness. Last time it was thicker and more brown. I blame myself for adding too much heavy cream and not letting it reduce or whatever the term is. I’ll find it someday.

I did make a slight change, I used rosemary instead of parsley. Tasted the same to me.

Oh yeah! Also I don’t add as much shallots as it says to use. I don’t even know the exact amount I add. I usually just wait until my eyes start watering or I can’t see anymore because of the tears to stop. I take that as a sign.

Overall

I will most definitely be making the dish later on again. It’s a good dish. The sauce pairs well with the chicken. Make a meal out of it and add veggies, rice, mashed potatoes. Make it fun. That’s the whole reason for this, making cooking fun.

*Note: I have only made this twice. And sorry for no picture! I forgot!

Potato Skins, easy right?

If there is one thing I learned today, it’s that Potato Skins, or at least the ones in The Joy of Cooking are not as simple to make as they seem. You would think, “Just scoop out the ‘pulp’ and top with cheese.” Well at least that’s what I thought. I’ll break it down.
The Potato: the recipe calls for 4 baking potatoes. Of course me not know what the heck that is, I looked it up. After researching I found that the most common potato used in this situation was a russet or Idaho potato. So that’s exactly the type I picked up. 

It also says to just bake until tender, so naturally I turn to the Baked Potato recipe and use that time suggested here for this recipe. I will probably check all the potatoes before pulling them out of the oven next time I make this because when I scooped out the pulp it still felt hard. 

The recipe also says to let the cool completely but being me I figured, “what could possibly happen if I cut them while they are piping hot?” It turns out many things: 

YOU BURN YOUR FINGERS!!!

The skin peels off. Which totally plays against the fact that these are potato SKINS. 

*Sigh*

I worked as best as I could with the hot potatoes, haha, and ended them leaving in halves instead of quarters like the recipe suggested. They weren’t as wide as I thought they’d be. Maybe next time I’ll use a wider potato.

Toppings 

Thankfully something about this wasn’t so complicated for me. The easy toppings of bacon and cheese were great, like a classic potato skin you get at a restaurant. 

Although quite the struggle, I have to say, they were pretty darn good! Nice and crispy and cheesy. I didn’t follow the cheese and bacon measurements like the recipe called for, I just kind of eyeballed and saw if it looked good. 
I would definitely add more salt to the skins. I accidentally forgot to put it on the outside of the skins, making me put the salt halfway through the “crisping” process. 

I’ll try it out again for sure!