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Tag Archives: hubby

Turkey Burgers and a Camping Re-cap

Grilling July 25, 2012 Comments: 7

We’re home!

Finally.

(I know you all missed me… I know I missed you.)

It was quite an adventure, let me tell you.  Here are the 10 most important things I learned while camping:

1.  Just because you’re camping at the end of July does not guarantee nice weather (especially in Western Washington).

2. If you end up in the middle of a downpour that lasts for hours (and the biggest excitement for your boys is watching the water drip off your tarp), it’s okay to have a Plan B.

3.  It’s even better if your Plan B involves a gorgeous house, with a state-of-the-art home movie theater, several drinks, a hot shower, and a warm bed – not located in the same room as your children.

4.  Going back to the campsite the next morning after the rain finally stops shows determination (and proves to your husband that you are not a quitter).

5.  Sticks and rocks can keep boys happily occupied for hours.

6.  We have some of the most beautiful views off the coast of Washington.

7.  Camping near a naval air station is great when watching their jet planes do manuevers over the beach during the day… but not so great when they practice those same manuevers every 20 minutes from 10pm until 1am.

8.  Sleeping all-together in one tent with no dividers is not a good plan.

9.  Baby wipes are a Godsend for any situation.

10.  Even though there’s about an 80/20 ratio of work to play, it’s all worth it to see faces like these:

Now for a recipe. :)

The Recipe:

Turkey Burgers, adapted from Cooks Illustrated, July/August 2012

20 oz ground turkey meat

6 oz white mushrooms, trimmed and sliced

4 pieces of bacon, sliced into small pieces

1 T soy sauce

1/4 t salt

pepper to taste

Place mushrooms, soy sauce, and bacon in food processor.  Pulse into a paste. Move into large bowl, adding ground turkey, salt and pepper.  Combine using hands until well mixed.  Form into patties and grill.

{Printable Recipe}

The Results:

In all honesty, I did not make these, Hubs did – and I forgot to take pictures. But these are the most amazing turkey burgers I’ve ever had (and they even have mushrooms in them!).  I just had to share them with you all.

Hubs had made these a couple of weeks ago and froze the patties – but you couldn’t even tell.  They were juicy, meaty, and a perfect way to treat the burger craving – they taste almost exactly like beef patties.

~~~~

I’m off now to continue the post-camping recovery – which includes a good book and a comfy bed.  :)

(Oh, and I’m trying to catch up with all the posts I’ve missed, so bear with me if it takes a couple days to visit you.)

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Cheesecake (Take Two), 200 Posts, and a Giveaway

Baking, Party Time, Waxing Philosophical June 15, 2012 Comments: 60

This is not how I’d expected this post (recipe) to go.

I was going to come out, all my culinary guns a’blazing, showing off my growth with an awesome cheesecake to celebrate 200 posts.

But, alas, that was not to be.

Instead, things did not quite go right…

So, Wednesday was my husband’s birthday – and I had the whole day (foodwise) mapped out.  Breakfast in bed, lunch out, tasty dinner, and a lovely cheesecake (his favorite) since last year’s did not go according to plan.  I was going for gorgeous looking and delicious this year.

The morning was a whirl – as I cooked breakfast, made the cheesecake, and set up dinner in the crockpot.

The cheese cake was a recipe I’d found on foodnetwork.com and had almost 500 reviews with a culminating score of five stars.  I was confident it was going to be a snap.  And it seemed as if it were.  The only thing that threw me off was that the recipe said to take the cheesecake out after baking for 45 minutes and that it should be jiggly.  It even stated ‘do not overcook.’  So, I left it in about 5 minutes longer and then forced myself to remove it, jiggly, as the recipe said.

After that it needed to cool and then be placed in the fridge for 4 hours to firm up.  No problem.

And when I finally took it out and released the springform mold, it looked gorgeous!

No cracks and a perfect crust! I was so proud…

It wasn’t until I began to slice, that things started to go wrong.

Apparently, it had not set.

I was so thankful at this point that we did not have guests.

(Did I mention that I wasn’t feeling well, so our friends cancelled?)

(Oh, and the dinner I made was not eaten – I’ll share that story next post.)

All in all, it was not turning into great day for him (or me).

Isn’t this just what you’d want on your special day??

(And yes, I also made a delectable strawberry coulis that was totally wasted – for those interested, mix strawberries, honey, and a little lemon juice to taste in a blender until smooth.  Delish!)

I was so sad.  I really felt like I’d let Hubs down on his special day.  But, of course, he found the silver lining of throwing away the rest of the cake, “At least we won’t eat all those extra calories, right?”

Sure, I guess.

But I was so looking forward to all those calories.  (And I felt that I’d let him down.)

Anyways, after a little introspection, I’m feeling that this recipe was a lesson for my 200th post.  It was the Cooking Gods letting me know that I still have so much to learn – so they gave me a little humbling experience to drive in the point.  They wanted me to renew my desire to continue to grow as a cook; to take chances and gain from the successes and the failures.

So, that’s what I’m going to do.

(And, as the Cooking Gods are my witness, I will make a perfect cheesecake before post number 300!)

(Oh, and I’m going to spoil Hubs rotten on Father’s Day to make up for it.  So don’t feel too bad for him.)

~~~~

Anyways, on to the really fun part of this post… the giveaway!

In celebration of 200 posts, I am giving away a $20 gift card to Williams-Sonoma to one of my lucky, lucky readers.  They have a ton of amazing culinary toys that are sure to please everyone.

To enter, leave a comment for the following:

First Entry:  Share your favorite recipe (and a link if you have one).  (I’m really looking forward to seeing these – always looking for new things to try. :) )

Second Entry:  Like Misadventures in Cooking on Facebook.  (If you already do, just leave a comment telling me you do.)  Or subscribe to receive emails in the box on the right.

Third+ Entries: Share this giveaway on your blog, on FB, on Twitter, or any other social media.  One extra entry for every time you share.

(Make sure that each of these is in a separate comment.  Enter your email in the comment form, so I can contact you if you win.  I will be choosing a comment using Random.org next Friday, June 22nd at noon, Pacific Time.)

Thank you all, once again, readers, for keeping me positive and encouraged – you certainly help me keep going after days like Wednesday!

Good luck!

Dark Chocolate Thin Mint Ice Cream

Cooking Fun March 12, 2012 Comments: 12

It’s been awhile since I’ve, um, ranted complained about Hubs.

I know you’ve all missed it.  I think Hubs did, too, since he pretty much did everything under the sun to drive me crazy while making this dessert.  (And he unintentionally reminded me why I usually cook when he is not in the building.)

Anyways, I’ll get back to the complaining in a minute.

On a completely unrelated topic, for those of you that have been married awhile, do you ever wonder what you were thinking when you registered for wedding gifts?  I do.  We have so many crazy contraptions that we hardly ever use that we thought we absolutely needed when registering (a shake maker, hot cocoa pot, etc.).  They were great for the novelty at first, but pretty much have been sitting on the shelves for the last 10 or so years.  One of those things that we hardly ever use is our ice cream maker.  (I actually forget we have one most of the time.)

When I saw it, while Hubs was cleaning out the garage, I decided it was very necessary to make some ice cream.  I was excited to try something new (as Hubs was only one who’d ever used the machine), and I wanted to infuse it with a little Girl Scout Cookie love.

I found a well-reviewed dark chocolate ice cream recipe on Food.com - and was going to use it, except for adding the cookies at the end.

But, no, that did not happen.  As the expert, Hubs, was in the building.  And he had better plans (according to him).

The Recipe:

Dark Chocolate Thin Mint Ice Cream, inspired by Food.com  (but really from Hubs)

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 c milk

1 c heavy cream

3 egg yolks

1 c sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

10 thin mint cookies, crushed

ice

rock salt (or ice cream salt)

Chop chocolate into slivers and melt in microwave safe bowl in microwave (Hubs did 2 minutes at 90%, and it came out perfectly melted).  Set aside

In medium saucepan, heat milk and heavy cream on medium low to the temperature of warm bath water (technical, I know).  Add melted chocolate and whisk until smooth and incorporated.

In separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add a small amount of chocolate mixture to eggs and mix to temper.  Then add the egg mixture into the saucepan, stirring.  Continue to heat on medium until the custard mixture starts to get thick.

Stir in vanilla and pinch of salt.

Place in bowl, cover, and let cool in the refrigerator 1-2 hours.  Move to freezer and allow to cool another hour.

Add mixture to ice cream maker and follow the instructions for your machine – using the ice and rock salt.

Once the consistency of soft-serve ice cream, remove from machine.  Stir in cookies and place in plastic container.  Freeze until hardened and then enjoy.

{Printable Recipe}

The Results:

Let’s start at the beginning.

I was really looking forward to doing this.  On my own.  Hubs saw me prepping, read the recipe, and informed me I would be doing it all wrong.  He then educated me on what I should do instead.  And when I say educated, I mean he completely took over.

He cut the chocolate.  He melted the chocolate.

I was allowed to measure the milk and cream. Exciting, I know.

He separated the eggs.  He let me add the sugar and attempt to whisk.  Apparently, I had the wrong whisk.  He got the right whisk and whisked the eggs.

I got to stir the chocolate into the milk, but he came over to double-check I did it right.

He let me attempt to add some chocolate to the eggs mixture – but when I accidentally bumped his hand while he was whisking, he did it instead.  He added it to the rest of the chocolate.

I got to stir while it heated.  Woo-hoo!

He decided when it was thick enough and had me pour it in a bowl to cool.  And lucky me, I got to put the bowl in the fridge!

The rest we did together.  Or I did with his advice and supervision.  You get the picture.

There were lots of deep breaths taken.  And reminders to myself that he was only trying to help.  And thoughts of the deliciousness that would be mine when it was finished.

But then, to my disappointment, I saw this sad small amount of finished ice cream.  It was supposed to make a quart, but it turned out to be more like a pint.  All that work and frustration for a pint of ice cream.  Grrr!

I was still hopeful that when it froze, it would at least taste amazing.  And it sure did look good…

And it was good, very rich and chocolate-y with little crunches of cookie mixed in.  My only complaints were that the mint cookies were over-powered by the chocolate, and that it was a touch grainy in texture.  If you were to try it, I would strongly suggest adding more cookies and perhaps a splash of mint extract to give it that extra boost of flavor.

I probably won’t be making this again, though.  It was a lot of work (though I didn’t do too much of it) and a lot of time for such a small amount of ice cream.

I think a pint of Ben and Jerry’s might suit me just fine.

And it’ll guarantee the continuation of my marriage.

This is not a real post.

Party Time February 15, 2012 Comments: 9

But I don’t have time for a real post right now.

(I promise I’ll get one up later today – or tomorrow at the latest.)

Things are just hectic around here.  I know, you’re surprised.

Anyways, I just wanted to take a moment to prove to you why I still call this blog Misadventures in Cooking.

See, yesterday was Valentine’s Day.  Hubs is always in charge of our meal, and this year I took care of dessert.  Here’s Hub’s amazing dish: crab risotto topped with pan seared scallops:

Since we were both chocolate-d out, we decided to go with our old standby of strawberry shortcake for dessert.  A dish I have made many times before.  Unfortunately, it did not quite turn out:

It’s these little experiences that keep me humble.

Good thing I could camouflage it in the bowl with strawberries and whipped cream.

I’m so lucky he loves me no matter what.

Chicken with Orange Cilantro Relish, Take Two {A Guest Post}

Cooking Fun February 5, 2012 Comments: 12

Okay….this is the Husband, and it’s time to set the record straight.  Despite all the “rumors” that have been spread about my influence in the kitchen, your’s truly has been nothing but helpful and encouraging….mostly.  I mean, how many people would so readily subject themselves to the experiments of an aspiring cook.

All kidding aside, it has been fun to watch the passion for cooking and baking grow in Courtney and, with the exception of a very few anomalies, her trials are usually nothing short of excellent.

This time,  I was granted the opportunity to redevelop a recipe. While the original was a mostly flavorful and a creative success, we both agreed it lacked something to take it over the top. So, with the ground-rule of staying as true to the original ingredients as possible, I set out to re-create this simple and healthy dish.

The Recipe:

Chicken with Orange Relish, adapted the adaptation from Good Housekeeping, December 2011

2 bone-in chicken breasts cut in half crosswise and skin removed

ground ginger

garlic powder

salt

pepper

2 small clementine oranges, peeled, de-pithed, and cut into segments

3/4 t grated, peeled fresh ginger

1/2 t garlic pressed or minced

1/4 c fresh squeezed orange juice

1 T red wine vinegar

1 t brown sugar

1 red bell pepper finely minced (I used half red & half yellow for color)

2 green onions, sliced

1/4 c cilantro, chopped

olive oil

For Chicken:

Preheat oven to 425. Pat chicken dry on both sides with paper towel. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and ground ginger on both sides.  Heat about 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium-high heat in a large, oven proof nonstick skillet. When oil is shimmering and just begins to smoke add chicken, breast side down. Pan sear for 3-5 minutes until nicely browned. Flip chicken and place skillet in the oven. Roast in oven until chicken reaches 160 degrees, approximately 15 minutes

For Relish:

While chicken is in the oven, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium heat in a small sauce pan. Saute garlic and ginger for 1 minute. Add half of the orange segments along with the juice, vinegar, brown sugar, bell pepper and salt to taste.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.  Stir in green onion, cilantro and reserved orange segments. Set aside until chicken is ready to serve.

Kicked Up Couscous:

Prepare couscous according to package directions, except add 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic to the water at the same time as the couscous. When couscous is done, stir in the juice from half a lime, one chopped green onion, and a couple of tablespoons of finely diced bell pepper.

Serve chicken and relish over couscous.

{Printable Recipe}

The Results:

From my (the Husband’s) perspective, this dish turned out only slightly better than the original.

While the chicken was more moist and flavorful, the relish still had a slight bitter taste to it.  We’re thinking it might be the vinegar.

All in all, a decent dish, but would probably try substituting something like mango or pineapple to give it a little more flavor and sweeten it up a bit.  The couscous was a hit for both of us, and can be dressed up hundreds of different ways.

Even though it wasn’t the home run I was hoping for, it still was a delicious dish.

{Okay, it’s Courtney – now that I’ve stolen the computer back from Hubs.  

I just want to say that he is way too humble.  First off, his chicken blew mine out of the water.  It was so much more flavorful for the pan searing – and a lot more moist for the way he cut the breasts (as opposed to my sad little fillets).   The couscous was also a big hit.  I loved the addition of the lime, onion, and peppers; it added a whole new dimension.

Now the relish we still need to work on.  His version was definitely better than mine.  Less bitter – but something still seemed off.  I didn’t really mention any of your wonderful hints from the original post, just because I wanted it to be all his plan (plus I didn’t want to give him too much of a leg-up on me.)  I’m thinking next time, no vinegar or an uncooked relish. 

Finally, isn’t he the sweetest with the second paragraph!  And I promise I didn’t bribe him to say it. 

Now let’s give him a little comment love – so he’ll be inclined to guest post again.

Thanks everyone!}

Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Baking December 5, 2011 Comments: 12

I’m getting complaints.

(Not from you all, but from Hubs.)

Apparently, he’s irritated when I make a delicious, amazing recipe – and then proceed to never make it again.

Now, I’ve informed him that there are many fantastic main dishes I’ve made over and over again (White Bean Chicken Chili, Very Lemon Chicken, and Panzanella Salad - just to name a few).  He then clarified and said what he was referring to was my baking; more specifically desserts.

I find I cannot fault him, as I remember some of the delectable treats I’ve made over the last (almost) year – like Trefoil Toffee, Dark Chocolate Souffle Cake, or Homemade Graham Crackers.  I agree with him in some respects, but I personally also find it a bit boring to make the same thing twice.  I like the challenge of baking something new – and the anticipation of whether or not it will fail, meet, or exceed my expectations.

So when he asked for a goodie for us to enjoy with an afternoon decaf coffee, I compromised.  I knew he wanted me to make the Banana Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins, so I looked around blogland and instead found a recipe with the same idea, just in coffee cake form instead.

The Recipe:

Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake, adapted from Buns in my Oven

1  c semi-sweet chocolate chips

2/3 c (packed) golden brown sugar

1 T ground cinnamon

1 1/2 c flour

3/4 t baking soda

3/4 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

3/4 c sugar

1/2 c (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1 large egg

1 1/3 c mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 large)

3 T buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Butter and an 8×8 inch baking dish.

Stir chocolate chips, brown sugar, and cinnamon in small bowl until well blended; set streusel aside.

Sift or stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl.

Beat sugar, butter, and egg in a large bowl until fluffy.  Mix in mashed bananas and buttermilk. Add flour mixture and blend well.

Spread half of batter in prepared baking pan.  Sprinkle with half of streusel.  Repeat with remaining batter and streusel.  Bake coffee cake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.  Cool for about 10 minutes and serve.

{Printable Recipe}

The Results:

I think I could have aptly named this recipe, the “mix-up everything, substitute away, but somehow still successful Banana CC Coffee Cake” – because seriously, with everything I did wrong, I can’t believe it came out right.

Ummm, let’s start with the streusel.  Well, turns out that I didn’t have any brown sugar – so I looked it up and found you could make your own with regular sugar, molasses, and a food processor.  Done!

The next thing I did wrong was to add my sugar to the dry ingredients, instead of adding it to the butter.  Oops.

Then I just added banana pieces to the batter instead of pre-mashing them.

Oh, and I also didn’t have any buttermilk – but I did have buttermilk powder.  I pretty much ignored the directions on the carton, and just mixed in the water and powder at the same time (which apparently you are not supposed to do).  At that point, I just thought, oh, well…

One thing I did do correctly, was layer the batter and streusel – something I was very excited about.  How can you not love extra chocolate and streusel through the middle of each bite?!  (And a threw in some chopped mixed nuts we had, just to add a little crunch.)

I was really kind of worried as it baked away in the oven.  I did not want to hear about my mistakes from Hubs and/or get an I told you so about using a recipe I’d succeeded at before.  But, you know what?  It turned out just fine.

Now, I did learn a valuable lesson while testing the cake to see if it was done: when you stick a toothpick in a cake that has a layer with chocolate chips in the middle, it will not ever come out clean – it will be coated with chocolate every time.  So I just did my best guess when it was done.  (And I was right.)

To be brutally honest with you, it is a very, very sweet coffee cake.  The flavor and texture are great, but I don’t think I could eat this as a stand alone – it definitely needs the coffee to cut into the richness.  But, with the coffee, it is decadently good.

And the best part…

No complaints.

Pear Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping

Baking, Waxing Philosophical November 14, 2011 Comments: 10

More often than not, cooking together can cause friction between Hubs and myself.

(Like he tries to assist with my part  [read: tells me what to do or what I am doing wrong], I get mad, and we don’t talk until the next day.  I’m good with grudges, I admit it.)

I learned this weekend, though, that cooking together can also help us forgive and move on.

On Saturday, I was having a bad day.  A really bad day.  He inadvertently added to it, a minor argument ensued, and I stopped talking to him.  (I know, passive aggressive could be my other middle names.)

When Sunday rolled around, we were out of most of our typical breakfast foods, so Hubs started perusing recipes online.  When he found a recipe for apple coffee cake, I thought it sounded good (but I still wasn’t really talking to him).  Since we didn’t have any apples, I just pulled out some pears, peeled them, and started chopping.

He started putting together the batter, and of course, we had to talk to coordinate our parts of the recipe.  Sometimes I’d fetch and measure an ingredient.  Sometimes he would.  We prepped, mixed, and poured like a well-oiled machine.  By the time the coffee cake went into the oven, the argument was forgotten, and we enjoyed a nice cup of coffee together.

The Recipe:

Pear Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping, adapted from Emeril Lagasse on foodnetwork.com

1 stick unsalted butter

1 1/2 c packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 c all-purpose flour

1 t baking soda

1 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t salt

1 c sour cream

1 t pure vanilla extract

2 c peeled, cored and chopped pears

~~~~

1/2 c packed light brown sugar

1/2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 t ground cinnamon

4 T unsalted butter, softened

~~~~

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease a 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish.

In a large bowl, cream together the stick of butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating after the addition of each.  In a separate bowl or on a piece of parchment, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Add to the wet ingredients, alternating with the sour cream and vanilla.  Fold in the pears.  Pour into the prepared baking dish, spreading out to the edges.

To make the topping, in a bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter, and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Sprinkle the topping over the cake and bake until golden brown and set, 35 to 40 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes.

{Printable Recipe}

The Results:

Well, Hubs was involved, so it was perfect, of course.  It couldn’t be any other way, you know.  ;)

I did learn a couple new tricks to help me in the future, though.

First…

You can sift your dry ingredients onto a sheet of parchment, instead of a bowl, and it makes it much easier to add to your mixer.  And for some reason, in my case at least, less messy.

Second, I didn’t know there was a plastic attachment for our mixer that goes on top of the bowl.  It actually prevents the dry ingredients from going everywhere when you add them.  I didn’t get a picture of it, because we were moving too fast, but it was really cool.

Finally, a cautionary tale – never place a glass dish on top of the stove if it is even a little bit hot.  It can shatter.  (Now this didn’t happen that day, but it did to Hubs one fine Thanksgiving several years ago.  I’d forgotten.)

Pre-baking, right before Hubs moved it off the stove top.

When we finally got to enjoy our breakfast treat, we were not disappointed.  The cake itself was really moist – moister than most coffee cakes I’ve had, but I actually enjoyed that.  The pears were sweet and perfectly cooked.  And the topping added the exact right amount crunchiness.

The best part, though, was the time spent with my husband.

It’s really nice to know that cooking can bring us closer, too.

Creme Brulee Baked French Toast

Baking October 11, 2011 Comments: 13

Hubs and I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to cooking.

In the past couple of months, it’s definitely been more love than hate.  He’s been super helpful – only adding advice when asked.  He’s had great suggestions when I’ve asked.  He’s showed me shortcuts when asked.  (Do you see a pattern here?)

As long as I’m seeking assistance, we get along great.  It’s only when I’m not, and he does anyways, then I get annoyed.

Let’s just say our good streak ended rather abruptly the other night.

It started with the recipe.  This delectable recipe originally came from a lovely Bed and Breakfast we stayed at on our first anniversary.  They owners were kind enough to share the recipe with us, and we’ve been enjoying a fancy, delicious breakfast occasionally through the last ten or so years (with Hubs making it, of course).  I decided I wanted to try making it because it sounded very good – and it’d been a long time since we’d last enjoyed it.

The only copy of the recipe I could find was in Hubs’ database of recipes.  (Yes, he has a database.  Of recipes.  He calls it a computerized cookbook.  Whatever.)  Anyways, I found the recipe, checked the ingredients list, and picked up the only ingredient we were missing – vanilla pudding mix.

(I know what you’re thinking, but seriously, this is one of the secret ingredients that makes it amazing.  And no, you won’t get the exact recipe with all the secret ingredients.  Mostly because I screwed up that part royally – and had to ad-lib.  But we’ll get there.)

Anyways, the recipe forgot to mention that it should not be instant pudding mix.  Guess what I picked up?  Anyone?

I may have gotten upset at Hubs.  He may have gotten defensive about his database – supposedly it’s not perfect.  We may have had a slightly heated discussion while he attempted to help me fix my caramel mix.

But I’m digressing a little early here.  Let’s start with the recipe.  Just keep in mind I had to seriously adapt it from their original, so I don’t feel bad about sharing it for everyone to see.  And I used my version of the caramel sauce – because I had to.

The Recipe:

Creme Brulee Baked French Toast, adapted from Cricketwood Country B&B

1/2 c butter

1 c brown sugar

2 T maple syrup

1/2 t vanilla

2 T half n half

french bread

6 eggs

2 1/2 c half-and-half

2 t vanilla

1/2 – 1 t orange zest (to your taste)

1/4 t salt

In small sauce pan, melt butter over med-low heat.  Whisk in sugar, syrup, 1/2 t vanilla, and 2 T half n half.  Whisk into smooth caramel sauce, about 5-10 min.  Pour into bottom of 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish.  Cut bread into 1 inch thick slices.  Layer bread in one layer on top of caramel sauce.  In bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half, vanilla, zest, and salt.  Pour evenly over bread.  Cover and chill in refrigerator overnight up to 1 day.  Remove from fridge 45 minutes prior to baking.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover with lightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until edges are golden.  Serve immediately.

{Printable Recipe}

The Results:

Well, let’s go back to that original caramel sauce.  This is what it looked like:

Not very smooth, huh?  And Hubs kept trying to tell me to keep stirring and it would all just come together.  This was before he realized I had used instant mix.  And actually, the more I stirred, the more butter leached out of the sugar.  It was pretty darn frustrating.  (Especially with the extra advice I was getting.)

I eventually scrapped that mix and moved on to a new one.  This is where Hubs and I had a better moment.  He helped me figure out how to keep the caramel sauce a little soft by adding the syrup.  Round two turned out much better.

Then I added some of my wonderful french bread.  But, apparently (according to Hubs), I did it wrong.

How can you put bread in wrong, you ask?  Well, I guess there are too many open spaces, not covered with bread.  Don’t you see them all?  I mean, there are huge gaps.  How could I have done this?  (Noting the sarcasm, I hope.)  Anyways, fine, I added more bread.

Then I added the custard sauce – and that was wrong, too.  My bread supposedly did not suck up enough of the custard sauce, so I got to add more bread.  If you can’t tell, I was getting a little frustrated with the love of my life.

The good news was, I was done until the next morning.  So I didn’t have to hear any more recommendations.  And he slept in – so I did the rest without him (not that it was hard, but I’m sure there would’ve been something I could’ve done better.)

all soaked up and ready to cook

Anyways the morning went smoothly – though it is quite a while from removal from the fridge to actually eating.  So be sure to take that into consideration when you make this.

But look at the results.  Golden brown and crispy on top, creamy-spongy sweet in the middle, caramel-y thick goodness on the bottom.  It’s making me hungry just looking at it now.  But this is one of those recipes you can’t make too often.  I only guarantee it calorie-free on special occasions.  Otherwise, it’s not the healthiest meal on the planet.  ;)

But man-oh-man, are those calories worth it!

And so was a little sparring with Hubs.

Next time, though, I am definitely cooking when he is not around.

It’s just safer for our marriage.

Pickle Pot Results

Cooking Fun August 24, 2011 Comments: 3

Grrrr.  Can you tell I’ve been avoiding posting this.

I guess it’s not all bad news.  But it wasn’t the resounding success I was hoping for, that’s for sure.

Okay, drumroll please…

Four objective judges: one man, two women, one lovely young lady.

Two liked my husband’s pickles, one couldn’t decide, and one like mine.

Hubs is having a field day, of course.  I’m choosing to move on in an adult-like and mature fashion.  (Which means only a little bit of pouting, minimal dirty looks, while refraining from tossing any pickle juice in his smug face.)

Anyways, I did get points for the spear shape – but his allegedly had a more traditional dill flavor.  They were both pretty darn spicy, so cut back on the garlic and mustard seed if you are not a spice person (aka you don’t want to have pickle breath for three days – honestly).  I do have to say, mine did taste best in a great tuna salad.

But really, overall, I’m okay.

Because I did beat him at Crumpets.

Hah.

Back to the Market: A Tasting Tour

Adventures Out August 19, 2011 Comments: 5

Like I mentioned last week, Hubs and I just celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.

It’s pretty exciting – not only because we’ve made it through 11 years, five careers, two boys, two houses, one dog, and I’d say about 20 fish (six of which are the only ones left alive…long story) – but because we had a weekend out.  Away from said house, boys, dog, and fish.  By ourselves.  Alone.

This is serious.  And very, very rare.  (Kind of like a tropical disease, you might say).

Anyways, we ended up in downtown Seattle, eating and shopping our way through the days.  One of the best things we did, though, was use our Christmas present from earlier this year to go on a Tasting Tour of the Pike Place Market.  As I’ve written about before, we kinda love the Market.  And we were so excited to go without the little people.  Plus this tour would take us off the beaten track and promised to show us things we’ve never seen or tasted before.

Our expectations were not only met, but greatly, greatly exceeded.

We met up with our tour guide from Seattle Food Tours, Penny, at a little Chinese tea place, The Vital Tea Leaf, that we had never visited before.  After about seven tea tastings (that filled our veins with loads of caffeine) and listening to our tour guide’s informative and hilarious stories about tea and the Market in general, we were off together to explore.

I take no credit for these photos… I was too busy eating, chatting, laughing, and learning to actually take any pictures.  Any and all pictures here are from the Seattle Food Tours website.

Hubs is quite a foodie, if you haven’t guessed – so he was in heaven meeting all the owners of these small shops and tasting all sorts of new stuff.  He loved The Truffle Cafe where we got to sample several truffle oils and truffle salt.

It was a little overpowering for me … but I was in heaven when we got to go gelato tasting.  And when I had my very first crumpet, with butter and honey.

Who knew these were so good!  I am definitely researching recipes to make some of these bad boys.  Yum!  (If you happen to have a good one, please share!)

Besides all the delicious food we got (which was a LOT – way more than I got when we did the Chicago Chocolate Tour), we soaked in all the interesting historical information about the Market.

I was surprised at how much we didn’t know.  And it was really fun learning about our local area.

So, overall, a great way to spend two and a half hours: we felt smarter, fuller, and our taste buds stretched.

I would highly, highly recommend it should you ever visit Seattle – or if you live here and want a good time out and about.

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