Archive of posts with category 'Food'

Low-Carb it is

About a week ago, I went to the library to return some books.  Since I didn’t have any other books on hold to pick up, I head over to my usual aisle (the last one with books about learning different skills) to see if I could find anything to read.  Luckily for me, pretty close to the books on making stuff are books on gardening and cooking.  I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but totally based on their covers, I grabbed the book “Unbowed” about an environmentalist in Africa (which I haven’t started yet) and “Why We Get Fat”.  After I read the second one, I thought because you eat more calories than you burn.  How could there be an entire book about that.  I was going to put it back, but I didn’t see a more interesting gardening or woodworking book, so I kept it.

Yearly Oatmeal Update

As the weather gets cooler, I change to eating oatmeal for breakfast. I didn’t grow up eating oatmeal, so I’ve been trying to teach myself how to cook it. I like a very creamy oatmeal, often how I get at a restaurant. However, when I made it at home, my oatmeal wasn’t nearly as good. Now, after a few years of making it, I feel like I have the perfect recipe for me.

Black Friday

Today is “Black Friday”, which means that I’m spending it relaxing after hosting Thanksgiving yesterday. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I believe yesterday was quite enjoyable for everyone. The wild turkey got deplucked and turned out ok. My turkey breast roast, made out of a bunch of pieces, was good. The roasted sweet potatoes were good. And as always the desserts were finished off without a problem.

Chicken and Dumplings Soup

I just made this chicken and dumplings soup. It’s ok, but it’s not great. My main problem is with the dumplings. They’re really heavy. And the soup is good, but I think there should have been an onion in the soup. So after thinking about things, this is what I’m going to try the next time I make it.

Oatmeal Update

I had posted my recipe for oatmeal a while back. As it’s getting chilly, I’ve started having it for breakfast again. This time though, I had whole milk in the house because I had been using it for baking. I think this improves the taste a lot. So my new recipe for oatmeal is:

Poppyseed Dressing

There are few salads that I like. However, the poppyseed fruit and chicken salad at Portillo’s is one I love. I’ve tried poppyseed dressing at other places and have bought different brands. They just aren’t as good. I found a couple of recipes online that I’ve tried. The first one I tried used a grated shallot. I grated a pretty small one, but the result tasted way too much like onions, so that one didn’t work at all. This one though sounded better. Though since I had just had the failure with the shallot, I left the onion powder out of it. I also left out the lemon juice because I didn’t have any. The result though was great! So, since this is my repository of all things I want to save, here is the recipe I followed:

Favorite Memory

Recently, I saw a website where people were asked to tell their favorite memory. I was a little bummed because I didn’t have an immediate favorite come to mind. But after I thought about it, I had a few come to me. One that holds a very special place in my heart is from grade school. My Mom was very involved in our school and at times she would be the room mother for my class. Basically, she would come in during lunch to give the teacher a break from the students and vice versa. When she would watch my class, she would sometimes bring me a grilled cheese sandwich. I remember eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in school and I liked them a lot. I’ll admit to still eating one every now and then. However, I remember being really happy when my Mom brought me a hot sandwich. It made me feel very special. So much so, that to this day, I tend to equate hot food with love.

My Oatmeal Recipe

After many, many attempts, I have finally come up with a recipe for oatmeal that I like.

A Roast

I cannot recall having ever cooked a big piece of red meat. I’ve made burgers (from ground beef) and chicken (breasts only), but not a roast or other thick steak. Since I may have possibly set myself up to invite people over for dinner, I thought I should probably find something to cook. I found a recipe for Pot Roast for Two and figured I’d give that a try. It’s currently in the oven and has about 3 more hours to go, so we’ll see how it turns out. I can say that it smells good so far.