Category Archives: 7. Cooking

by

Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Chicken and Potato Chowder

Today’s soup that my wife made was called ‘Chicken and Potato Chowder’ found at ‘damndelicious dot net’ ~ and it’s an instant favorite of mine! 🙂 This was a rich and creamy soup that really hit the spot for me, chock full of chicken pieces and potato chunks, it was fabulous!

The only additions my wife made to the original recipe were two minced garlic cloves and a cup of frozen peas, along with thinning it multiple times with extra milk ~ but it always kept thickening up again! 🙂 Enjoy! ☼ 🙂

by

Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Creamy Zucchini and Carrot Soup

It’s been a busy weekend in the kitchen, and I’ve got a few recipes to share with you, the first being a recipe called ‘Creamy Zucchini and Carrot Soup’ that my wife made yesterday from a site called ‘Hot Eats and Cool Reads dot com.’  This soup was absolutely delicious, and the only alteration my wife made to it was adding a minced garlic clove and an extra grated carrot, otherwise it was as advertised ~ delicious!  Enjoy! ☼ 🙂

 

by

Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Gluten-Free Apple Oat Cakes

I wanted to create a simple recipe for ‘Gluten-Free Apple Oat Cakes’ without all the fuss and bother some recipes go to, in order to have a tasty breakfast or lunch treat that’s fast and easy to make.  The flavors of apples and oats are deliciously perfect together at any time of the year, especially in the fall with a sprinkling of cinnamon, so that’s the flavor combination I was going for.

I make my own oat flour by pulsing rolled oats in the food processor, which isn’t nearly as pure-ground as the store bought version, but it works well for me as I like the rustic consistency.  Oats soak up lots of moisture, so I made sure my recipe would provide a consistency that was neither too thick, or too thin ~ just right.  So here’s the simple recipe I came up with:

– Combine 1/4 cup of oat flour, with 1/2 cup of applesauce, a pinch of salt if desired, and a sprinkling of cinnamon ~ that’s it

Melt a pat of butter in a frying pan over medium heat, and then cook these apple oat cakes as you would pancakes.  My batter made 3 medium apple oat cakes, and I served them with butter and pure maple syrup ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

by

Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Chicken Parmesan Zucchini Boats

For lunch today, my wife made ‘Chicken Parmesan Zucchini Boats’ from a recipe she found online at ‘The Wholesome Dish dot com’ ~ and they were outstanding! 🙂

She used a generous amount of diced chicken we had left over from an earlier roasted chicken, along with spaghetti sauce, Parmesan cheese, shredded Mozzarella cheese and one zucchini per person.  We’re great fans of the versatility of cooking with zucchinis, and can’t wait to try the next recipe we find for them ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

by

Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Pizza Zucchinis

My wife made ‘Pizza Zucchinis’ the other day using a recipe she found on ‘Sweet C’s Designs dot com’ ~ and they were a real hit! 🙂 This recipe turned us into true zucchini fans, intending to try many more zucchini recipes.

She washed and sliced the zucchinis, dipped the bottoms of the slices in olive oil, and baked them on a baking pan lined with aluminum foil and parchment paper.  They were topped with spaghetti sauce, Parmesan cheese and shredded Mozzarella cheese, and baked in a 350 degree oven per the recipe – and they were delicious! 🙂

Next time, she intends to dip each zucchini slice in olive oil, and then into Parmesan cheese to coat them, before adding the spaghetti sauce, and more toppings than we had available for the first try.  I’m sure this recipe will be part of our regular seasonal rotation from now on ~ enjoy! 🙂

by

Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Oat Flour Apple Pancakes

We’ve loved and enjoyed traditional German Apple Pancakes for years now, and it’s always been a staple in our meal planning rotation.  For recipes to try out, just Google ‘Apple Pancakes’ or ‘German Apple Pancakes’ which is where our recipe’s derived from, and you’ll have many to choose from.  Recently, I’ve decided to cut out wheat from my diet, and because oats are heart-healthy, I experimented as to whether I could substitute oat flour for wheat flour when making these delicious treats.

In my experience so far, oat flour is heavier than wheat flour measure for measure, and doesn’t substitute well in any baked goods that need to rise very high – like cakes.  However, apple pancakes don’t need to rise much, so I figured it would be a good candidate to try switching flours.  My wife made her pancakes over the past two days in the traditional way using wheat flour, and I made mine with oat flour.

I pulse oats in a food processor to make my own oat flour these days, and while it’s not as finely ground as the store-bought version, it’s worked well for me so far.  Another aspect of oat flour, is that it absorbs a lot of water per volume, so the longer you wait to use the batter, the thicker it’ll get.  It also means you may need to tweak the recipe a bit when substituting flours, as initially the batter seems too thin when using oat flour alone, but in time it’ll thicken up.  The tendency is to initially add extra oat flour to the mixture, so you may need to experiment to get the right oat flour ratio for whatever you’re making.

Yesterday’s attempt at making apple pancakes with oat flour turned out less than ideal, because oat flour doesn’t bind well to other ingredients in some cases.  My full-size oat flour apple pancake was too large and thick to successfully flip in the pan, and I needed two spatulas and some creative food arrangement to make the pancake appear to be in one piece after cooking.  So today, I decided to make smaller pancakes, and the process worked out just fine.

When cooking or baking with oat flour, you’ll get a heavy ‘oatmeal’ taste and texture, but if like me, you want to switch flours and experiment, the flavor of these oat flour apple pancakes was quite acceptable.  Instead of a light and flavorful traditional apple pancake, the oat flour version was heavy and very hearty – maple syrup would have gone well with these oat cake alternatives – and they’ll fill you up.  So if you enjoy eating oats and oatmeal like I do and want to switch from wheat flour, this is a possibility for you to try ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

by

Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Pittsburgh Style Homemade Pierogies

Another new recipe my wife tried recently is called ‘Pittsburgh Style Homemade Pierogies’ found at ‘Bunnies Warm Oven dot net.’  Pierogies are apparently of Polish origin, and ours turned out to be ‘rib stickin’ good!’ 🙂 These ‘potato pockets’ as I call them, or ‘potato dumplings,’ are a better version of traditional mashed potatoes, because they contain cheddar cheese and lightly sauteed onions, without needing to add butter and milk during mashing.

The filled potato pockets are first boiled, and then fried and topped with caramelized sauteed onions ~ a delicious treat ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

 

by

Our Adventures In Cooking and Baking ~ Slow Cooker Potato Soup with Mama’s Yeast Rolls

I’ve got a few food posts for you today, as I’ve fallen behind on our culinary adventures lately.  My wife tried out a new recipe for ‘Slow Cooker Potato Soup’ found on ‘Gimme Some Oven dot com,’ along with ‘Mama’s Yeast Rolls’ found at ‘South Your Mouth dot com’ – and they made the perfect combination!

For the potato soup, she added 8 large thickly sliced carrots, a bay leaf and some black peppercorns in a metal egg as well.  You could also add chopped celery.  She adjusted some of the ingredient portion amounts as well, and used an immersion blender separately on some of the potato chunks to thicken the soup.  She topped the potato soup servings individually with extra cheese, bacon bits, and chopped green onions.

The yeasted rolls turned out as advertised, and made 10 large rolls, but could have made a dozen medium sized rolls.  The large rolls would make wonderful sandwiches similar to a Kaiser roll.  As usual, I batted cleanup in the kitchen ~ all in a day’s work ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

by

Our Adventures In Cooking – Extra Crispy Oven Baked French Fries

We love french fries, so my wife tried out a recipe for ‘Extra Crispy Oven Baked French Fries’ a couple of times now, she found on ‘Layers Of Happiness dot com’ – and they’re totally awesome! 🙂 We try to avoid frying things in oil whenever we can, in order to reduce fat and calories, and for this recipe she used a single Russet potato and some olive oil, which made plenty of wonderfully tasting french fries for both of us.

Here are a couple of our photos, but be sure to check out the photos in the recipe  ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

by

Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Summer Pasta Salad

My wife has been making cold Summer Pasta Salads for years with any number of variations on the theme, based on what’s available and/or in season.  The Pasta Salad itself includes: Bow Tie Pasta (al dente), Diced Cooked Ham, Cooked Peas (blanched), Pineapple Tidbits, Diced Red Bell Peppers, and Diced Green Onions.  The dressing includes: Non-fat Plain Yogurt, Brown Mustard, Pickle Juice, Diced Pickles, Diced Hard Boiled Egg, Chopped Fresh Green Chives, Chopped Fresh Parsley, Fresh Ground Black Pepper, Salt, and Garlic Salt to taste.

Keep the pasta salad and dressing in separate containers in the refrigerator, mixing together before serving.  The pasta salad should easily last a few days in the refrigerator before serving if the dressing is kept separately, stretching the salad out over a number of days ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂