On the backburner…

I’ve been busy working, writing, and making travel plans lately…needless to say, not much cooking and baking going on 😦  I will get back into the swing of things soon…

Confession: I Like Ramen Noodles

I lived at home when I was in college, so this isn’t one of those “I ate Ramen noodles as a poor college student” confessions.  This is a legitimate food confession, and I’m not embarrassed at all.

I’ve liked Ramen noodles most of my life.  It was an easy meal for my mom to prepare, and I actually liked it (I was pretty fussy when I was a kid).  So, why do I still enjoy Ramen noodles as a 37-year-old?

• Easy to make – when you’re looking for something quick and something warm, it’s perfect.
• Pretty tasty – I like the chicken flavored variety – it reminds me of Lipton instant soup.
• Filling – must be the noodles.
• Inexpensive – I stock up on packages when I need “filler” items for coupon/Register Rewards transactions at Walgreens.  What other meal can you make for less than 50 cents?

I’m the author of this blog, and I like Ramen noodles.

Do You Have a “Go-To” Recipe?

Do you have one dish, baked good, or appetizer you’re known for?  When you ask if you can bring anything, does the host say, “oh yeah, bring your (fill-in-the-blank)”?  I’m a firm believer in the “go-to” dish – something you’ve perfected  to the point that no one else wants to try.

My mom has two – her chocolate chip cookies (I make them pretty well too) and her potato salad.  I’m partial to my White Pizza Dip (recipe here) and my Cheesecake Pie.  My aunt is always asked to bring her three-bean salad, and one of my cousins makes great taco dip and peanut butter balls.

When you make something for a party, or holiday cookies for that matter, do you try new things, or do you stick with what works?

Sunday Kitchen Prep and Other Goodies

I used part of yesterday to prep for this week’s meals (mostly lunches).  This included:

• packaging salad mixture for one salad and a chicken wrap
• packaging chicken pieces for salads and wraps, freezing what I didn’t need right away
• cutting grapefruit (I dislike this job!)
• making pasta for lunch and/or dinner (two servings)

I also tried out a couple of new recipes: allrecipes.com’s Peanut Butter Bars I and Pizza Pretzels from the Pillsbury Bake-Off.

Peanut Butter Bars

Very simple – ingredients for the base are:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 cups confectioners’ (10x) sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter

For the chocolate topping you need:

• 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 Tablespoons peanut butter

Combine the base ingredients until smooth, press into the bottom of an ungreased  9″ x 13″ pan ( I lined the pan with foil for easy clean up).

 

Melt the chocolate chips and remaining peanut butter in the microwave or in a double-boiler until smooth, spreading over the base mixture.  Refrigerate for at least an hour before cutting.

See?  Simple!!

Pizza Pretzels

I love Kim and Scott’s Pizza Pretzels, so I thought I’d try making these.

• 1 can (13.8 oz.) Pillsbury Pizza Crust
• pepperoni
• 8-1 oz. mozzarella string cheese pieces (I used shredded mozzarella)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 4 teaspoons Parmesan cheese

Heat the oven to 425-degrees F; brush baking sheet with 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil.  Unroll pizza crust on work surface (you may want to use a cutting board, and you may want to flour the surface so dough doesn’t stick), press into a 10″ x 16″ rectangle.  Cut dough into four pieces approximtely 2-1/2″ wide (NOTE: the recipe makes four regular size pretzels; I cut the four strips in half and made eight “ribbon-shaped” pretzels).

Top dough pieces with pepperoni and mozzarella, leaving dough at the ends uncovered. 

Pinch ends together, then pinch the rest of the strip together (you may need to stretch the dough).  Form into the shape of a pretzel, or – if making them smaller like I did – a ribbon.  Brush with remaining olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

 

Oh, these are yummy!  Not Kim and Scott’s, but definitely less expensive!

Sunday=Kitchen Prep Day

I used to always have Kitchen Prep Day on Sunday – whether I was boiling noodles, making bread, or something else to make my life easier during the week.  I got away from it for a while, but started up again today; here’s what I did to make life and lunches easier:

• cut up pineapple for snacking
• cut up grapefruit for breakfast or break at work
• re-packaged chicken pieces in smaller servings for salads or wraps
• re-packaged salad mix for salads or wraps

It’s a four-day week with a holiday tomorrow, so these four little things should make lunch prep easier during the week.

A Little Heaven on Earth – White Pizza Dip

This is by far my guiltiest treat – I saw the recipe one day, and though it looked fairly easy and pretty tasty – oh, yeah, baby!!  (courtesy of Lipton – might still be on the back of the box of soup mix)

1 envelope Lipton Recipe Secret Savory Herb with Garlic Soup Mix

16 oz. sour cream

8 oz. ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1/4 cup diced pepperoni (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F. 

Combine soup mix, sour cream, ricotta, 3/4 cup of mozzarella, and pepperoni in a shallow one-quart bakign dish.

Top with remaining mozzarella (and maybe a little more! 😉 ).

Bake for 30 minutes (until bubbly)

Serve with bread or tortilla chips.

This is what the finished goody looks like:

New year…make bread!

I had been wanting to make bread while I was on vacation, and since that’s almost over 😦 I thought yesterday was as good a day as any!  So out came the handy dandy bread machine and its recipe book and the ingredients…

…and off I was on my breadmaking mission!

Mixing…

…raising…

…and baked!

Yummy!! 🙂

Here’s the recipe for “Homestyle White Bread” that came with my Sunbeam (1-pound loaf):

• 2/3 cup water (75 to 85-degrees F)
• 2 tsp. softened butter or margarine
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. non-fat dry milk powder
• 1 tsp. salt (didn’t use)
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1-1/4 tsp. bread machine yeast

Put the ingredients in the bread pan as follows: water, butter/marg, sugar, dry milk, salt, and flour.  Make a small indentation on one side of flour with finger, add yeast to indentation (make sure it doesn’t touch liquid ingredients).  Let the machine do the rest.

Holiday greetings from Western New York!

Welcome to my new blog, “My Kitchen Adventures.”  I’m looking forward to sharing recipes, photos, and more in the future, so stay tuned for some food-based fun!