Butterscotch Swirl Brownies

I was torn about whether to post this here at RoughDrafts, or over on Proof It, since it is image-heavy. Since it’s more of a how-to and since I mentioned it here first, I suppose I’ll do it here.

The Butterscotch Swirl Brownies are a huge success. Both recipes were prepared much the same, i.e. done in a saucepan by melting the oils, sugars and flavorings then adding the eggs and dry ingredients. The only thing I had to change was the cooking time; they required the longer, of course, and though I was worried the chocolate brownie batter would over-cook with an additional 5 minutes, it did not.

This was the view outside my kitchen window as I got started; it’s all about setting a scene, doncha know.

The two recipes, Butterscotch Brownies, and my go-to fudge brownie recipe.

The two batters.

I poured the butterscotch in on the bottom:

Then drizzled on the fudge:

Then pulled a table knife through it for a nice swirlie pattern:

I cut them into little squares, figuring they’d be rich, and voile!

They actually taste even better than they look.

In other news, Mom and I walked yesterday for the third time this week, and cut 15 minutes off our previous times. It was still chilly, but in spite of that, there were some raucous spring peepers kicking up a fuss in a little marsh. First I’ve heard of them this year.

This morning, I returned from choring and looked up into the hay field between us and the nearest neighbors to see a big dog standing facing me. I thought it was a boxer, at first. It was just staring. Then it turned and trotted a few feet, and I realized it was a very healthy-looking coyote! He didn’t even seem particularly bothered by my presence, even when I moved toward him and clapped my hands. He did head into the trees, but not away from me; more parallel to me and the house. It was broad daylight, too. Cheeky bugger.

And today’s quote:

“Me and a dead owl don’t give a hoot.” Raylan Givens from “Justified.” Love that show.

On that note…

My Inner Shutterbug…

Has gone the way of the Dodo, apparently. I apologize for the lack of photography; I’m sure it will revive once the flowers start!

We had a magnificent dinner last night, and it was one of those that was very pretty, too. I told Steve as we started eating that I should take a picture, but it was too much work Words will have to do.

It was another Emeals dinner, and it was called Orange Skillet Chicken. The chicken breasts were butterflied and pounded, and it had a sauce with delicate rings of sliced leeks and naval orange sections. It also had dried rosemary from last year’s herb garden that is as aromatic as the day I picked it. All this was served over basmati rice with a side of bright green peas. It tasted wonderful.

We’ve been using Emeals for about 9 months, I think, and out of all those menus, there may have been one or two I wasn’t crazy about. I haven’t done many of the fish meals, just because fish is prohibitive in price around here. I have canceled my subscription, though, and will recycle the menus we’ve already used. While I’m all for variety, I also like repeats! So I’ll go back through and reuse the menus. I highly recommend this program, though. We sampled menus from both the family plans and For Two plans, and tried the regular plan, low-carb plan, and low-fat plan. My favorite has been the low-fat family plan. I can make 7 meals stretch for 2 weeks, which is more budget friendly; the low-fat implements more produce and natural foods, and less pre-packaged stuff, so it’s very much the way we ate before. I do find some of the reduced fat and calorie food cost prohibitive, so I usually just buy the regular stuff… for instance, full fat cheeses over the fat free or 2%. Not only do they taste better, they  often cost half! But we’ve always used 1 and 2% milk, I’ve always bought the reduced fat or fat free sour cream or cottage cheese, etc… you do what you can with what you’ve got.

Emeals has definitely honed my organizational and meal-planning skills. When we tire of the menus we have and I get weary of trying to come up with menus on my own, I’ll likely sign back up for a few months.

The forecasters are suggesting the possibility of an ice event for tonight and tomorrow, so I will spend my afternoon riding Sully to the house and storing him here. The land lessee gave his permission; I must think of something I can bake for him in thanks. He’s been very generous this winter! It means we’ll get in a good ride with a purpose, and we’ll save a little fuel this weekend. Win-win!

In the meantime, I am straightening up the house and catching up the laundry. Steve will likely be home tomorrow, as well, and I’d just as soon not be having to clean around him…

 

Yesterday…

…I successfully – sort of – made those bagels. If success is measured in terms of taste, total success. Nice texture. No mistaking that they are what they are. And that is good enough for me.

However, for future reference, the dough is too stiff for my little 10 year old GE stand mixer. What this means? One must knead by hand. And bagel dough is supposed to “windowpane.” When you cut off a walnut-sized ball and pull it with floured fingers, it should stretch and stretch and stretch until it is nearly translucent. After 30 minutes of kneading, it was close, but still tearing a bit, instead of just stretching. But I had no more knead in me.

Also, when boiling, they tend to “un-pinch.” You know, where you rolled each one out into a cylinder and then joined the ends to make that easily recognized tire-shaped edible? Yes, it will likely come undone, and you’ll end up with various stages of a chewy crescent.

Finally, if you’re going to attempt to use wax paper in place of parchment, because parchment paper is something you’ve never even considered purchasing because that is for froo froo cooks, you might want to spray it before putting the raw bagels on it. What’s more, you also want to keep a close eye lest your wax paper catches fire. Mine did not, but it did fill the kitchen with smoke. Live and learn.

All in all, for a first attempt, the taste and texture are exceptional. Many of us are not much to look at. Bagels are no exception.

Oh yes. Dense, chewy, carby goodness.

 

A Crafty Weekend

The weekend went sort of as planned. The only thing we didn’t get done is the Subaru repair, which is pushed to Wednesday. We did get out on Saturday, though, and had the tires rotated, had my hair cut and had a nice lunch at Bojangles.

When we got home, I got started on the slippers I’ve been promising Steve. When I finished them Saturday night (it takes about 5 hours to make a pair), I put pictures up on Proof It, and the orders started pouring in! And by orders, I mean Mom and Dad both wanted a pair.

So I spent all day yesterday crocheting slippers. I got Mom’s pair done, and one done for Dad… I needed to make sure it fit him before making the second one. So that’s what I’ll be doing today. I may even get to a pair for myself today!

It’s a good day for it. It’s raining again, but at least the temperatures have come up a bit so Steve won’t have any trouble getting to work. I’m not going to complain about the rain; it is much needed and will make for excellent spring grass!

I also finished the blue afghan Friday evening. It’s on its way to its intended recipient. I’ll be putting up some pics of it later, as well.

We went to Mom and Dad’s for a fantastic venison roast last night, and I also made a chocolate cobbler to take along. I’d made it once before, and it was as good (and as easy) as I remembered. Tonight, we’ll have what’s left after our baked spaghetti pie. And I am thawing two roasting hens for one of our all-time favorites, Glazed Chicken and Vegetables. I’ll make that for a family dinner tomorrow, since Steve has the day off.

Today, though, more crochet. And maybe a nap.

 

It’s Not About Horses!

 

I realize I’ve done a lot of horse/pet related posts this week, which may bore the snot out of some So today I’m doing a foodie post.

This time of year I start getting the urge to get back in the kitchen. I think it’s just because it’s getting cooler out, and I really don’t enjoy cooking, and am not very creative, when it’s 85 degrees in there. That’s about where the temperature stays throughout the summer months since we have large windows facing East and South. That room, even when there is nothing running in there, is usually 5 degrees warmer than the rest of the house on sunny days.

The Golden Delicious apples came in last week. We got four boxes of them, and turned the majority into applesauce/apple butter, kept some back for eating, and a few for Fresh Apple Cakes, which freeze really well. So I spent one afternoon just baking cakes.

Then yesterday, I was suddenly bored with my two scrambled eggs and corn tortilla that I typically make for breakfast. I wanted pancakes. Pancakes are not diet-friendly! So I flipped through the cookbooks and found the Puffy Oven pancake. It is mostly egg, and cooks up similar to a souffle. We topped it with homemade peach butter and had crisp bacon on the side. The other plus to this “pancake” is that you don’t have to stand there for half an hour cooking one flapjack at a time!

One day, I will find me a griddle to replace the one I used to have.

Lunch rolled around, and I stared into the pantry hoping something good would pop out, like pizza, or a burger and fries. It didn’t. So I pulled a chicken breast out of the freezer, defrosted it in the microwave, sauteed it in olive oil with anise seed, rubbed sage and RealSalt, and boiled some eggs. With the addition of finely chopped bok choy, carrot and red onion, and a dressing of cracked pepper mayo and rice vinegar, it became an extremely tasty chicken salad. I put it on toast, topped it with some low fat mozzarella and stuck it under the broiler. So we had a hot lunch that put anything you could get at a greasy spoon to shame.

Finally, dinner was perhaps even better. Our Emeals menu called for Shrimp Scampi Skewers with Parmesan Grits and Nectarine Salad. I abandoned the skewer idea pretty quickly, because I got the cheap shrimp, which are tiny. So Steve fired up the grill and put the iron skillet on it, and we sauteed them that way. They still had a really nice, smoky flavor. The marinade was white wine, lemon juice, fresh rosemary, fresh garlic and oil. The grits were made with a combination of milk and chicken broth, and then seasoned with a mixture of parmesan and mozzarella cheeses and Cajun seasoning. Everything was so flavorful.

I’m not sure I can top yesterday’s culinary adventures today, but peanut butter sandwiches doesn’t sound half bad.

 

More Homelife

After Monday’s cleaning binge, on Tuesday I went on a cooking binge.

Steve informed me that he had been craving some good oatmeal cookies. So I picked out two recipes from my Big Red Cookbooks (I have a Betty Crocker one and a Better Homes and Gardens one), Peanut Butter Oatmeal rounds and plain old Oatmeal Cookies. I put plain M&Ms in the former, and dried cranberries in the latter. They turned out really well. I made them jumbo sized so they came out really chewy and nice.

After a couple of hours baking cookies, I got a loaf of French bread in the oven, and made a really good Chicken Lasagna for dinner. Both turned out fantastic.

We went riding yesterday, and Sully was excellent. He had more get up and go, thanks to the fact that I’m being consistent about not letting him walk as slowly as possible, ever. We maintained a forward walk or nice jog for the entire ride, and this over gravel.

I’ve taken the plunge on the Easyboots after finding a pair of Bares in their bargain bin. I got two boots for less than the normal price of just one. And the rep assured me that I’ll get better mileage out of them than I would out of the Trails with the amount and type of riding we do, as well as Sully’s overall size. I can’t wait to get them and try them out.

I’m also trying out two different operating systems, thanks to Dad. He upgraded my Ubuntu 10.04 to 12.0-something (4?), which utilizes what I think he called a Unity desktop, and also installed XUbuntu on the same machine. So far, I’m liking the XUbuntu with its leaner interface.

Not much on the roster for today, other than a bike ride or two. I did manage to pull a muscle in my neck yesterday while uncinching my saddle (this after a mile and a half ride during which I debated wearing my helmet and opted to leave it at home.) It’s pretty sore this morning.

Non-instant Oatmeal

I really dislike oatmeal. I think it’s more a texture thing than taste, because I love oats themselves in anything, including raw right out of the bag. But turn quick-cooking oats into a porridge and it makes me want to hide under a rock. No amount of fruit or sugar makes it better, either!

A good many years ago I discovered steel-cut oats. They are also sometimes called oat groats. I was skeptical, because when you cooked it with water, it still looked and smelled like oatmeal. But I tried it, because I will try anything a few times, and I absolutely loved it. They cook up creamy, but with chewy little ‘berries’ in there that are the actual oats. It’s not like pig slop, in other words, a colorless, unremarkable, sticky goo.

They do have a drawback, though. As with anything that is minimally processed (read that as pre-cooked) they have to cook for a good 45 minutes or more. If you’re like me and also enjoy sleep, this rules them out for most breakfasts!

You can imagine my delight when I learned that you can cook these groats in the crock pot, of all things. Five minutes to combine everything after dinner the night before, and you wake up to perfect, healthy, wholesome steel-cut oatmeal.

I tried it last night, and it was delicious. I used a combination of some online recipes, and came up with this:

1 c steel-cut oats
4 c water
1/2 c milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 T margarine

Cook on low over night, up to 10 hours.

Since different crock pots cook at different temps, you may have to adjust the liquid to get oatmeal the consistency you like. But it’s worth the effort!

I would think this would be a perfect recipe and method for those busy mothers out there. You can also add fruit or nuts, flaxseed or honey to your recipe, or try different extracts. I’m anxious to throw a little apple in there for my next batch.

Enjoy!

Sunday

While the snow was flying on Sunday, I modified Primal Texas Chili for the crockpot and cooked a small pone of cornbread. I had a VERY happy Steve.

Emeals Chocolate Cheesecake

I baked this cheesecake on Friday, and it has been a huge hit.

Super Meatloaf

I know I’ve posted a meatloaf recipe here before, but meatloaf is one of those things I love to get creative with. With meatloaf, anything goes. So here’s another variation on an old standby that’s worth trying.

12-16 oz ground turkey
12-16 oz ground pork
16 oz mild pork sausage
1/4 c fine breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/8 c honey mustard
1/2 c sweet spicy ketchup (my mom makes this) or sweet tomato relish or barbeque sauce
1 t salt
1 T Italian seasoning
1 T rubbed sage leaves
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t red pepper flakes
4-6 strips raw bacon
Additional spicy ketchup or other option
1 c shredded sharp cheese

Thaw meats. Combine meats in a large bowl and mix well. Add next eight ingredients and mix well. Place in loaf pan or desired baking dish (cooking time is reduced by larger, more shallow dish). Top with bacon strips, additional ketchup and cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about an hour to an hour and a half, or until thermometer reads 180 degrees.

Drain off grease immediately. (The sausage makes it greasy.)