Living Deliberately

Recipes

Shortbread

For Christmas I received a fancy contraption for making fun shaped spritz cookies. I mixed up the recipe that came with the machine, loaded the gun, and proceeded to make a big mess. The dough would stick to nothing; not parchment paper, not an ungreased pan, not tin foil... nothing. The suggestion on line was to add more butter if the dough seemed too dry, so I did that with no increase in success. Matthew came home while I was in the throws of baking, and his attempts were futile as well. My goal was to make a treat to bring to a ward FHE that night, so I ended up just flattening the dough out in a sheet pan and making something similar to rectangular shaped shortbread cookies. They were not good. I took them to the activity anyway, and I'm pretty sure only three people even tried them. We threw the rest away. 

Brownies

I was going to a pot-luck dessert baby shower and decided to try making brownies. I'd made several consistently delicious pans of blondies, so I thought I'd move on to their chocolate counterpart. They were terrible. Practically inedible. I don't know why brownies are so hard to make from scratch, but I have never made anything close to what can be made out of a box. I went to the party empty handed. Abraham and Mercy ate the lion's share of my failed dessert, and the rest I fed to my primary class. I guess kids will eat anything sweet and resembling chocolate.

Lemon Bars

When we had Matthew's co-worker over for dinner, I was in charge of salad and dessert. Fortunately, I learned from my earlier attempts at trying something new that perhaps a trial run would be wise. It's a good thing I made a practice batch because my lemon bars, while at least edible, were not what I'd consider good enough to serve to company. They were underbaked and too thick, probably because I absent-mindedly made them in an 8x8 rather than a 9x9 like I was supposed to. I think it's a good recipe though, having already been tweaked my by mother-in-law, and I will definitely try it again.

Apple Pie

It was the ultimate pi day, 3/14/15, so I had to bake something. I'd never had an apple pie turn out, but had a bunch of apples on hand, so I decided to give the American classic another try. I made the crust I know we like and called Naomi for her filling recipe. I used a combination of gala and granny smith's, and threw in a 1/4 teaspoon of cloves since Matthew doesn't like nutmeg. It was so good! I followed Naomi's visual clues for the cook time, rather than the book's complicated baking schedule, and the apples turned out perfect. Matthew thought it was a bit too sweet, but I thought it was just right. I was so pleased!

Pain de Mie

We've been sorely disappointed with store bought bread lately, so Matthew did some research and thus began our foray into Pain de Mie. Pain de Mie is a fine-textured, moist bread baked in a special lidded pan. The lid keeps the loaf from crowning, giving it a flat top and perfectly square-edged slices. It uses milk, dry milk, butter, and in most cases, potato flour. Matthew bought me the pan and while we didn't let the first loaf rise enough, the second was perfect. It had a lovely flavor and texture, ideal for toast. We've made several loaves, with varying results. We've been using actual potatoes rather than potato flour, which I think is the cause of the inconstancy. We are pleased, though I don't know that it's a proper replacement for sandwich bread, as it's pricier than store bought and no matter how thin you slice it, it's a bit more bread than the kids like eating with their pb&j.

Sausage Strata

I had a loaf of the aforementioned bread that had formed a big air pocket while baking, resulting in a large hole in the middle. It wasn't really fit for toast or sandwiches, so I put it in a strata, this time using spicy sausage. It was so good. I baked it a little longer than last time, so the texture was better, and everyone preferred the meat over spinach. I can't wait to make it again.

Potato Fritata

I got a 10 lb bag of potatoes for .50 cents, so I've been looking for different dishes to put them in. The kids are adamantly opposed to anything involving potatoes, so I thought I'd try hiding them in scrambled eggs, which the kids usually like. The fritata was okay. The kids didn't eat it, and it didn't make very good left overs, so probably not a meal that will make it into the regular rotation.

 Chili

I've come up with a chili that Matthew really likes. It features hot sausage and red bell peppers in addition to the traditional kidney beans and tomatoes. It's a bit spicier than the boys like, but Mercy devours the stuff and Matthew has requested it three times this month. It makes excellent left overs, which means I can cook up a pot on Monday and Matthew has lunch for most of the week. It's a win/win for everyone.  

Food Storage

Toothpaste, baking powder, and 40 lbs of butter

Projects

I started a couple of projects this month, but haven't finished any of them. March ended up being a little more focused on survival than I anticipated.