Testing 1…2…3…

I have a confession to make. I am cheap. I don’t like to spend more than I have to, I always look for the best deals, love coupons and the words On Sale. Being cheap is not always easy mind you. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices on things you like for things you like not quite as much. Lately I have been trying out some new ingredients in my cooking, and they aren’t of the cheaper variety I am sad to say. With that said however, I have been very pleased with the results.

I recently read a couple different articles in a cooking magazine about cocoa powder and their recommendations. They felt that Scharffen Berger cocoa was the best rated and had it listed at a hefty $7.5 – $8.5 a canister. Now, when you are used to Hershey’s cocoa for baking at $3 a canister it can be a bit of a shock to your system. At a recent shop though to Wegmans I came across some of the Scharffen Berger cocoa and also a canister of Ghiradelli cocoa powder and picked both up, despite the fact they cost more than I would have liked to pay for them.

So I proceeded to try them both out the next day in a cake and did a bit of taste testing by bringing them into the office and seeing which one was liked best. To my somewhat pleasant surprise the Ghiradelli won, hands down, and I happened to agree with the findings of my colleagues. Not only did I like it better, it was cheaper as well. That is not to say I didn’t like both of them because they were both very good. The Scharffen Berger was a bit heavier of a chocolate flavor, still sweet enough though, while the Ghiradelli has a nice rich chocolate flavor and was sweet, but not overly. They both beat Hersheys in my opinion easily though, so you can’t really go wrong either way, just a matter of taste.

The other ingredient I have been trying out is King Arthur’s unbleached regular flower. Ok, so it costs almost double the generic brand and other cheaper flowers, but I will say it right now, it is way worth the cost. My cookies have never been as good, my cakes and pancakes have more volume, are fluffier and just seem to hold up better. The fact that it is a unbleached flower is a added bonus to me. I am not the biggest person in the world when it comes to being all natural ect… but having bleached flower when there is a alternative just sounds, well, not so good anymore considering I know what bleach does in our house for cleaning.

I will try and keep you all updated as hopefully I get to test out more ingredients  as my budget allows and let you know the results, but on a whole, it’s good to try new things sometimes, just don’t go to crazy when you do.

Taking requests

So the other day (now like 2 weeks ago really) I had made a couple loaves of banana bread and decide to bring one of those loaves into the Sunday school class I teach. Now to be perfectly honest, I thought the bread was delicious, and so did most of the class, except for two sisters who said they didn’t like banana bread.

Let me repeat that: they do not like banana bread. I couldn’t believe it, I though surely everyone liked banana bread, but I guess I was wrong, not the first time, nor the last I am sure. So after we got done with our lesson I decided to ask what they might like for a snack next time.

The answer came quickly: Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing. Simple, right? Well, actually making it turned out to be pretty simple, but I had to chuckle to myself that it wasn’t a simple item they wanted, not rice krispy treats or chocolate chip cookies. I guess when you know what you like and you’re given a choice you should ask for what you want. That’s what I love about kids, they’re honesty.

My youngest daughter asked me not to long ago why mommy is in charge. I answered her because that’s just how it is. It’s true, I will admit it, my wife is in charge, but I love my wife and don’t mind really, the house stays cleaner that way and everyone is happier, but it was funny to me that my 4 year old picked up on it so easily and had no problems asking about it. Life is simpler that way, ask for what you want, don’t hint at it or expect someone to just know, just ask for it, you may not always get it, but at least you will have a clear answer in the end. Now that I stop and think about it for a second, I guess that’s why my wife tells me exactly what she want’s for birthdays and Christmas every year, hmmm… Maybe I should start doing that….

Anyways, I was off of work for a couple of days last week and before I left, was told that because I was off for a couple of days, I was expected to come back with not just one, but at least 2 different treats for the newsroom. Now, this was said in a joking matter, with a hint of seriousness that if I didn’t bring in a anything I better not show up, but I didn’t mind really. I like my co-workers, even if they just like me for my bake goods, at least I am appreciated for something. So what did I bring in you might wonder? Banana bread and lemon tart and I am proud to say it was all gone by the time I went home.

AAAAHHHHH

Ok, Sorry for the delay in keeping up with my blog posts, but in order to write, you need to have something to write about, and then the time to write it, and I have things now to write, and a bit of time to do it, so here goes. Inhale……. Exhale……

Grow Your Own

Admittedly I do not have much of a green thumb. I know enough to read the directions on the back of the seed packs and that I have to water them, but that’s about it. I am really excited this year though and I am trying to do better. I did a better job weeding the garden for starters. I put up material for the peas and beans to climb onto and grab hold of for support. Also, I put up a metal fence around the garden this year to keep out my enemies, those cute little hippity hoppity creatures my daughters love. Don’t get me wrong, they are cute, and they have families to feed to, but not at my expense is all.

Our garden is not big by any stretch of the imagination, nor has it ever really produced enough of everything we like to keep us from going to the grocery store for items, but it helps. It also helps to teach our daughters lessons that they wouldn’t get otherwise. Also, as the saying goes, it tastes better when you grow it on your own, is so true ( or at least you believe it is).

My other arch nemesis the weeds had better watch out this year. It is still engrained in my memory how they defeated my efforts and over ran my garden last year. This year though I have two secret weapons against them, my 4 and 6 year old daughters. I will send them out like Thing One and Thing Two, (under a watchful eye) and we will wage a victorious campaign on them. So hopefully this year we will be able to fill our table with a few salads from our garden, and enjoy the fruits of our labor, and if not, well, there is always next year, and a new game plan.

Pulling No Punches

 

I recently watched the movie “Fearless” starring Jet Li in which a couple of fight scenes in the movie featured fighters who pulled their punch, and for good reason. I can’t say I am in the mood to do that right now, but just because I could be mean, doesn’t mean I am going to be either.

I stopped for lunch at Wendt’s Pork Palace the other day while on my way to a assignment with high hopes of a very tasty lunch. I like pork bbq, no, love pork bbq. Now I realize there are many different ways people cook their bbq depending on where you live in the country and who makes and what you like. With that in mind there are a couple of things that are essential, and that mainly comes down to the seasonings you use and the time you take to cook it. In this case, the slower the better, until the meat just falls off the bone and melts in your mouth. After that is where personal taste and preference comes greatly into play. Me, personally, I like sweet things, so I like my pork with a nice thick, rich, heavy sweet bbq sauce on it. Some like theirs drier, some like it a bit more vinegary.

So, lets get down to it. I ordered the pork bbq sandwich and some fries to go with it. It looked pretty good when I got it, although I was hoping for a roll rather than a hotdog bun. I took a bite, and was immediately disappointed. The sauce was a bit runny, the seasoning wasn’t quite there, and the amount of grease soaking into the bun made me think of my arteries.

Now the flavor may not have been to my liking, but I will give them credit because the meat was cooked right. It was tender, moist, not chewy, and fell apart like it was supposed to. And yes, I did finish my sandwich, I hate to waste food, and I will say, I did not go away hungry, just disappointed.

I give Wednt’s Pork Palace bbq 3 out of 5.

Really Good Chips

 

Lately it seems I have been craving salty goodness to go along with my sweet tooth. I know all of this may catch up with me sooner or later but my wife makes sure I eat a few green things here and there to balance it all out.

I picked up a sweet looking bag of BBQ chips that had a vaguely familiar name, Route 11 Potato Chips (probably because we have a Route 11 in our area) and boy am I glad I did. First, I actually did check the nutrition contents of them, yes, on a bag of chips, and was pleasantly surprised. They were kettle cooked in sunflower seed oil, the salt content was reasonable, and I could actually read the ingredient list without wondering what it was I was eating.

Now there are a few things in my opinion that go into a good chip, crunchiness, flavor, the grease factor, and saltiness. These are some pretty rugged chips, they were thick, super crunchy, and they actually did not fall into a million pieces despite coming in a bag. The BBQ flavor was super, a good combination of spices and tang with a bit of zip as well. For a extremely pleasant surprise, my hands were actually not greasy after I ate them, sure they had a little bit, and some crumbs, but compared to most chips you get, I didn’t feel like my arteries were clogged after I ate them. Now for the salt factor, yes, they did have salt on them, all chips do, but it was not over the top. The flavor of the BBQ and spices actually came through and the salt was just used as a enhancement for them.

I have yet to see these in a grocery store around here, maybe I just haven’t looked hard enough, but these will probably be my go to chips from now on when the craving strikes.

I give them 5 out of 5 chips.

 

Chocolate Pie

 

When I was a kid and used to go to my grandparents farm for Thanksgiving dinner one of the things I would always look forward to was the chocolate pie. It is now one of the things I miss most because most of the chocolate pies I have had since have been, well, to put it nicely, lacking. Enter Dan Ross and his Tudor House Pies.

Sometimes my job has perks, and when one of those perks is starting your day in the morning with a slice of chocolate pie, you know it’s going to be a good day. Not all chocolate pies are created equal however. Some people seem to think putting pudding in a pie crust constitutes a chocolate pie. Other people who do actually try to make a real chocolate pie just can’t seem to get it right. It’s either to runny, to sugary, to just…..well, not right.

Dan Ross however can make an old school chocolate pie. The crust truly reminded me of those many thanksgiving dinners growing up. As for the pie filling itself, it was nice and firm, but not chewy, it had a good chocolate flavor, was sweet but not over the top, and the cream topping was a very, very nice treat.

If you want to find one of these pies, you need to get over to the Lewisburg Farmers Market on Wednesdays, and probably pretty early before they all sell out.

I give it a 4 out of 5 rating.