Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A day of new concoctions

Today's free time was spent in the kitchen. I did get to work on my white blouse, got the collar attached and centered!

But back to the time in the kitchen:

Dinner was "Twice Baked Potato Hotdish" (I'm Minnesotan, I'll admit it). I took leftover baked Idaho potatos and leftover boiled red potatos, scooped out most of the innards into a bowl, and placed the skins in a 9x13 inch pan. To innereds I added: chicken stock, milk, shredded colby-jack cheese, garlic powder, shredded pot roast and a little crumbled bacon. That all got whipped together and poured on top of the potato skins. The pan went into a 350* oven and baked for 25 minutes, then I added more cheese to the top and baked for another ten minutes. Served with a side of roasted butternut squash and supper was delicious!

Dessert was another matter. Along with the squash and red potatos, I picked up zucchini from the farmer's market. I remembered that I had a recipe for zucchini cookies. Usually when I make a recipe for the first time, I follow it to the letter, but not this time. Instead of the butter it called for, I substituted canola oil and applesauce. (I once read somewhere that you can substitute applesauce for shortening in recipes.) I used half brown sugar (the recipe called for all white). Then at the end I substituted small chunks of apple for the raisins. After spending an hour in the refrigerator (like the recipe said) I pulled the bowl out of the fridge and noticed it was more like cake batter than cookie dough. I added just over half a cup of rolled oats to thicken the batter. It was still soft, but didn't run when put on cookie sheets and popped into the oven. They baked up fine, they have good flavor (cinnamon) but have the texture of muffins and not cookies. Next time: half butter (as called for) and half applesauce, less baking soda, more zucchini or apple. I did like the richer flavor that the brown sugar added.

Also on the agenda for kitchen time is to mix my own masala (chai) spice mix. Oh, and to make and can my own applesauce to use in future cooking adventures.

I'm continuing to work on the corrie fair isle vest, and am itching to start something new. Something that doesn't involve multiple colors of yarn. Maybe the pattern of Firefly? Or maybe I'll finally start Aeolian, but to have an involved colorwork project and my first lace project at the same time? That could be a little much.

I'm also trying to finish a cross stitch design that I thought up. It's a birthday gift for a friend (her birthday was last week) and I know she'll love it. I'll post pictures after it's been gifted.

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