A Quick Note

All new recipes or other updates are on page one of their respective subpages.  As new updates are added everything moves up a page so page through to find what you are looking for using the numbers at the bottom.  The links I have are probably going to the wrong recipe or page so just page through if that is the case until you find the one you want.  Please follow the little “directions” in order to get to the page you’re wanting.

Thanks.

Pastagna

Pastagna is my own name for a baked pasta dish that very much tastes and resembles lasagna.  The difference is that it is easier and quicker to make and in my opinion even tastes better.  There may be other things similar out ther but this here is my version and we love it.  Both my husband and I like lasagna but I don’t make it often because it can be a chore to do and takes a long while from start to finish before you actually get to eat it and it’s messy so I came up with this as a substitute.  Now my hubby says that when we want lasagna we make this because we both actually like it better.  It really is quite tasty.

Food->Recipes->Main Entrees

New Game Review/Opinion

Posted my thoughts on the game Fallout 3.

Games->Xbox 360

Chicken Piccata with Linguine – A Variation

Food->Recipes->Main Entrees  (Page through if it is no longer on page one.)

I have made the traditional chicken piccata many times but more often than not I have marsala wine in the house and not white wine so I used that instead and came up with this variation.  The chicken is cooked differently in this variation than in the traditional way but either way works just as well ( I have done it both ways and they are equally as tasty).  It serves two very nicely along side some sauteed veggies or a nice salad and bread if you’re so inclined.  You can easily serve four or more by increasing the amount of ingredients; extra chicken breasts, more pasta etc…  Enjoy!

I Made Biscuits and Not Hockey Pucks

I just tried this recipe by Alton Brown in order to have biscuits to go with my sausage gravy this weekend.  I normally shy away from making homemade biscuits because I don’t make very good ones or at least haven’t in the past.  They would come out okay but they weren’t great.  I really wanted to have homemade ones for breakfast this weekend so I did a search and found this recipe and decided to give it a whirl.

I have made a successful biscuit thanks to this recipe.  I pretty much followed it exactly except for a few things.  One, the recipe doesn’t specify what kind of flour to use so based on a couple of reviews I read I chose to use 1 cup AP flour and 1 cup cake flour to make up the 2 cups total.  Second I didn’t have buttermilk and actually never do so I let one cup of milk sit with a tablespoon of white vinegar to make a buttermilk substitution.  Other than that everything else was the same.  The dough came together very quick and easy but it is crazy sticky.  I had to use a decent amount of flour on the board in order to turn it on itself and pat it out for cutting so it wouldn’t stick to everything.  Admittedly that frustrated me a little but I pushed on and got my biscuits patted out and cut out.  I used a larger biscuit cutter than the recipe called for because I grabbed the wrong one so rather than getting the dozen the recipe makes I got 7.

I was worried I overworked the dough because of the stickyness and the added flour would make hockey pucks rather than fluffy biscuits and my worries were for naught.  They puffed up to about twice their size when first cut, became a nice golden brown and looked scrumptious.  I let them sit for a bit before slicing one in half to taste it.  It was light, fluffy, not at all dry and just plain delicious.  I was very happy with the result.  I would recommend this recipe to anyone looking for an easy biscuit to make that comes out tasty.

Peanut Butter Cookie added

I rather heavily modified a Paula Deen peanut butter cookie recipe after reading some reviews at www.foodtv.com where I orginally found the recipe (you can do a search to find the recipe).  After reading from many reviewers that the cookie was great except that it came out on the dry crumbly side and what they changed  soI took their suggestions and then further modified it based on what I know of cookie making. I now consider this my own recipe since I did modify the original recipe so much.

My experiment yielded these cookies.  They are incredibly peanut buttery, moist and soft/chewy with just the right amount of crumb/crisp on the outer edges.  They aren’t too sweet and because the sugar isn’t creamed into the butter as many cookie recipes call for there is this little bit of a crunch in the background; much like when you bite into a snickerdoodle or other sugar coated cookie although not quite as evident.  My husbands says that of the ones he’s had over the years these are his favorite and he knows peanut butter cookies since they are his favorite cookie.  It’s only through self control that he hasn’t eaten the entire 2 dozen in one sitting (^_^).  It doesn’t hurt that they are super easy to make and require practically no time at all to bring together and bake.  Honestly I think cooling them completely took longer than the mixing and baking combined.  Also, more than likely you have all of these ingredients on hand without having to make a trip to the store.

(Follow the arrows by way of clicking the appropriate buttons/links starting at the top of this page; thank you) Food->Recipes->Desserts and Sweet Treats

Updates

First a couple of new recipes have been added.

Angel food cake: Food->Recipes->Sweet Treats
A really nice dessert.  I found the original recipe years ago and have changed it slightly over the years.  It’s very light and airy, not too sweet and has a nice lemony flavor that isn’t overwhelming.  Tastes great with fresh fruit, fruit sauces and whip cream although stands alone quite nicely.

Slowcooker Pot Roast: Food->Recipes->Main Entrees
This has really nice flavor.  It’s very tender and almost falls right apart but will hold up without disintigrating when you remove it from the crock.  The gravy/sauce has a nice tomato and wine flavor that isn’t too strong or overpowering.  Although there aren’t potatoes in the recipe you can certainly add them.

And lastly a game review update; something I haven’t done in a while despite having played several games and remember although I call it a review it really is just my opinion and nothing formal.

Lost Odessy: Games->Xbox 360

Blueberry Spice Muffins

These are yummy, not to sweet, have great texture and are a little bit more figure friendly than your average muffin.  I suppose you could call them reduced or low fat.  Now i’m kind of too lazy to add it to the proper page so i’m putting the recipe here and maybe i’ll add/move it to the right page later.

This is the original recipe that I modified for personal taste and lower fat content.

Blueberry Spice Muffins

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 – 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1 large ripe banana mashed
2 large eggs
6oz container plain or vanilla yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (i had frozen on hand)
Your favorite cinnamon sugar recipe

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.  Mix together flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside; reserve a small amount of flour before mixing to dredge berries in.
3. In a large bowl whisk together mashed banana, sugar, eggs, yogurt and vanilla extract until well combined.
4. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients a little at a time until fully incorporated but don’t over mix.  Dredge blueberries in reserved flour and fold into batter.
5. Spray standard size muffin tin with nonstick spray or use muffin cups and fill each cup about 3/4 full; there should be enough to make 12 muffins but adjust as necessary for muffin cup size. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top of each muffin before putitng in the oven.  Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean with only a few crumbs and not wet.
6. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack in pan for 10 minutes; carefully turn out onto rack after 10 minutes and cool upside down until room temperature.  Store in an airtight container or zip top bags.

Notes:
I have found that standard muffin cups aren’t so standard as different brands and styles can vary in size from a small amount to a lot so adjust how much filling you put in accordingly. Ii was able to get 12 muffins filled 3/4 full with my muffin tins.  The cinnamon sugar topping is completely optional but I like the extra crunch and flavor so I add it in.  I’ve never actually tried the original recipe so I don’t know how these compare.

New Salad added

Cucumber Tomato salad (Cucato salad) added: Food->Recipes->Side Dishes and Vegetables

This is a simple, light and tasty salad great for the summer when the weather gets hot but I like eating it any time of year.  I use as both the salad course for a meal or as the veggie side to my dish.  The texture changes slightly once it has sat in the vinegar dressing so I wouldn’t recommend making this too far in advance or the veggies may become too soft; you want the texture to change some but not become mushy.

Pudding anyone?

Added Dark Chocolate Pudding to Food->Recipes->Desserts/Sweet Treats

It is better than from the box and doesn’t take much longer to make.  It isn’t super sweet and has a nice little background hint of coffee from the instant granules.  It is nice and thick and has a nice texture and feel to it.  Makes a tasty dessert after dinner layerd with whip cream from the can.

New Soup Added

Added Lentil and Sausage soup to the Soup/Stews page.

Food->Recipes->Soups/Stews

We were having a craving for lentil soup and so I put this together.  I added the sausage to give it some meat and to add that yummy flavor smoked sausage adds.  Served with some bread and perhaps a salad this makes a very nice dinner or lunch.  Keep an eye on it though as it cooks to make sure there is always enough liquid; since it’s a soup you don’t want it to become to dry or reduced as the lentil cook and absorb the liquid.  I had to add a little more than a cup extra water to make sure it didn’t thicken and dry out too much.  It came out very delicious and was incredibly satisfying and filling.