Cheesecakes n Scones n Screwups, oh my!

Today started off with me feeling ambitious in the kitchen. I wanted to make Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake and Blueberry Scones. I even went to the store when I first got up and bought the ingredients I needed for these dishes. But as soon as I got home, I realized that I didn't have the lemon juice that the cheesecake recipe called for. But I had lime juice, so I figured I could substitute it for the lemon juice. I was slightly wrong. But I'm still thinking that 1/4 cup of either is a little much. But I made it anyway, hoping for the best. The cream cheese wasn't exactly room temp, so it was a little lumpy. The end result wasn't too bad, but the lime juice wasn't the best idea. Next time, LEMON juice and only 1/8 cup. Oh yeah, and room temp cream cheese. I may know a lot about cooking, but I'm still learning about baking. Oh well, trial and error is the best way to learn. And as far as the scones, when a recipe calls for dried berries, do not use frozen berries! I figured if the berries were thawed out, it would be ok. i was sooo wrong. Instead of a nice dough, I had the grossest, thickest purple sludge in the bottom of my food processor. You know when water gets into your kids sand box and its all gross and thick and heavy? That, only purple is what I got. So I scooped it out and threw it away. I figured if at least I could make the cheesecake eddible, my efforts wouldn't have been a total waste. I learned a lot in my kitchen today. Now, I need to figure out my culinary mission for tomorrow....wish me luck

Bananas...

So today instead of making a big dinner, I was feeling a little lazy so I decided to make banana bread. I had some bananas on the kitchen that were looking pretty darn sad so I figured why not turn them into something yummy? But here's the question thats been on my mind all day. The recipe calls for "overripe bananas". How do you know when the bananas are overripe, and when they are spoiled? Where do you draw the line? Just how overripe and brown do they hafta be before they aren't any good? This is a question I'm very curious to know the answer to, so I will definately be looking into it to find my answer. Then I got bored later on and made little pizzas on english muffins, so even when I decide not to make a big dinner from my book, I still manage to get funky in the kitchen! Oh yeah! And make sure you bake your banana bread long enough. Because if you dont, the top half of it will be more like banana baby food and the bottom like yummy bread. And really...who wants to eat that?? It's officially my first 'mess' in this project! lol Better luck tomorrow, Bon Appetit!!

The Angry Oil

So tonight I decided to make one of my own original recipes tonight. Spanish Fish and Chips. I mostly wanted to make this tonight because I bought myself a new little deep fryer for christmas and was anxious to try it out. I didn't like that it didn't have a temperature gauge because I really didn't want to get burned. But it all worked out. A couple of times the fish stuck to the bottom but it wasn't that hard to fix that minor problem. Every time I unstuck the fish, it sounded like I was angering the oil, because it would flare up and bubble like crazy lol. All in all it came out great, and now my hubby says he likes fish, so I must've done it something right. The chips are easy but some were thicker than others, so I guess it's time to buy a new one. Oh darn. :) Another success, hopefully it will stay that way. But alas, I know it won't. Til next time, Bon Appetit!

That Inspirational Little Rat

Tonight I was excited yet nervous to make the first dish in my project. I made Ratatouille with Pork Medallions and Biscuits. Originally it was just going to be the Ratatouille but then I just went with the ideas that came to me as I went along. I was pretty nervous because not only have I never made this before, I've also never cooked with eggplant. But thankfully I had my hubby right there to give me a few pointers. Sometimes he really is helpful! :) The recipe I followed was kinda weird, though. It didn't even call for any liquid, so I took it upon myself to add some. And it came out beautifully. I'm so proud of myself for not burning anything! I realized that in a kind of soup like this, you can add any kind of veggie your little heart desires! I also realized that just placing the pork medallions on top of the soup just before its done, the pork comes out so moist and tender. See, I'm only on my first recipe and I'm already learning things! When I made the homemade biscuits, I definately handled the dough too much, because they came out kinda hard and they really didn't rise. But I figured out that if I put it on top of the soup, the broth softens it. So all in all, this was an amazing dinner. Did you know that eggplant makes things a little spicy? I certainly didnt. That's all for tonite. Bon Appetit!!

the beginning

I've never been courageous enought to try anything like this before. I'm always worried about a negative response but this time I don't care about that. Here's the plan. After watching the new movie Julie and Julia, I realized just how much fun it would be to do something like that. But I didn't want to to the exact same thing, I wanted to come up with my own idea. And after many different opinions and ideas from friends and family, I decided to make my own cookbook compiled of many different recipes. From my own recipes, to ones from family, to favorites off the internet and ones from tv. The difference is that I'm going to take these recipes and tweak them to make them into my own. And since this whole project idea came from that movie, I have a few of Julia Child's recipes I'm dying to try out. I'm very curious to know if I'm good enough to re-create Julia's amazing food. So throughout my journey, I'll be writing all my 'messes and successes' in this blog. And this should be a lot of fun. So, enjoy. And in Julia's words...."Bon Appetit!" :)