Any recent cooking experiments that have NOT gone bad?

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whatevergirl

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Remember the cooking thread I started a while back, that asked for you to share your disastrous cooking experiment stories? Well…how about we share ones that have turned out RIGHT?😉

I made mashed potato pancakes last night…got the recipe off of foodnetwork.com. Basically, I bought the mashed potatoes sold in the grocery store, already prepared. I poured about 2 cups of that in a large mixing bowl. (I chose sour cream & chives flavor) Add one egg, or two egg whites, whatever your preference…1/4 cup Japanese breadcrumbs, and 1/4 cup flour. You put an ice cream scoop amount onto a hot griddle. Let it sit for a while, until the bottom feels a little stiff, then you flip the dollup over, and press down with a spatula. (to form the pancake shape) I made them small for portion control but they were great…dh was pleasantly pleased:D

So…what have you made recently, for the very first time, and it turned out great?
 
I made a casserole once with steak, chicken, fish, cheese, mushrooms, asparagus, rice, and corn flakes. It was quite delicious.

I also made peanut butter chicken once, it was ok.
 
I like to read lots of recipes and then make up my own. My most recent success was an Italian bean soup suitable for Lent. It has two kinds of white beans, olive oil, onion, celery, carrot, broth, pasta and grated cheese. My recipe is on one of the Lent cooking threads. DH loved it, as did my FIL. I just bought the stuff to make it again.

Betsy
 
I’ve steamed broccoli many times, but somehow it was only recently that I tried adding a squirt of fresh lemon juice on top of it. Actually there was a wee bit of salt and a minuscule bit of butter, too. But that lemon was just right! Broccoli actually tasted good! 😃
 
Pug said:
I’ve steamed broccoli many times, but somehow it was only recently that I tried adding a squirt of fresh lemon juice on top of it. Actually there was a wee bit of salt and a minuscule bit of butter, too. But that lemon was just right! Broccoli actually tasted good! 😃
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Broccoli tasting good:hmmm: …hmmm…I don’t know if I believe it, but I’ll take your word on that.😃
 
baltobetsy said:
I like to read lots of recipes and then make up my own. My most recent success was an Italian bean soup suitable for Lent. It has two kinds of white beans, olive oil, onion, celery, carrot, broth, pasta and grated cheese. My recipe is on one of the Lent cooking threads. DH loved it, as did my FIL. I just bought the stuff to make it again.

Betsy
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I might have to try this recipe out for Lent. (or in general, sounds delish!)
 
I made bread - and it was soooooo good! I am a pretty good cook, but I hate to bake and making bread scares me to death, so, if I can do it anyone can!
 
kage_ar said:
I made bread - and it was soooooo good! I am a pretty good cook, but I hate to bake and making bread scares me to death, so, if I can do it anyone can!
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hey, awesome! What kind of bread?
 
Tonight’s dinner was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. I made a pork tenderloin with a vegetable medley.
I had a jar of roasted red peppers and garlic packed in water in the cabinet and really wanted to incorporate them into my dinner tonight.
I poured about half the liquid in the jar over the pork loin, tossed in a cup of chopped portabella mushrooms in the pan, added a couple of turns of the salt and pepper grinders, and let the whole thing marinate for about 3.5 hours. After it had marinated, I put the pork and the mushrooms in a frying pan and put it in a 325 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

When the pork loin was done, I took the mushrooms out of the pan, drained and chopped the peppers and mixed them both with a half cup of steamed broccoli. I tossed the veggies with one tablespoon of Newman’s Own Parmesan and Roasted Garlic salad dressing. A single serving was about 1/2 cup each of mushrooms, roasted red peppers and broccoli.

The meal was incredibly delicious. I will be doing this one again!
 
I made Spinach, Ricotta & Meatball Calzones for DH and I tonite–they were a hit! It was the perfect recipe to use the leftover meatballs I made with my mom’s recipe the other day, and I just grabbed a box of frozen spinach from the freezer and a jar of Prego.

I tried making homemade pizza/calzone dough for the first time, and it definitely beats the refrigerated stuff and the “just add water!” mix they sell at the supermarket. And it was totally easy! Just took an hour from when I started mixing the dough to when it was finished rising. If anyone’s interested, I used the dough recipe here. And if you’re going to try it, make sure you brush the tops of the calzones with olive oil, rather than the egg yolk the recipe calls for–makes for a better crust!

I also found an AWESOME Double Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe–you know, the kind of cookie with a chocolatey batter and any old kind of chips thrown in (chocolate, peanut butter, or white chips). MMMMM! DH and I were eating way too many of them, so I took them to work on a Friday. Made a lot of friends that day!

Can anyone tell I <3 cooking? IDK, as a newlywed it just makes me feel so…wifely 👍. There’s something wayyyy satisfying in a silent husband at the dinner table, mouth full, eyes smiling. 😛
 
Pounded out chicken breasts until rather thin (a little less than 1/2 inch). Mixed seasoned Italian bread crumbs with fresh grated Romano cheese. Dredged the chicken breasts in beaten eggs, then the bread crumb mixture and browned them in olive oil, then baked them at 400 degrees about 20-25 min. Delicious!

I am going to also try this recipe with grated Asiago cheese instead of the Romano.
 
I played with a couple of unleavened bread recipes today. One was not-so-hot; edible, but a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5. I baked it in the oven.

The other I tried frying, and it was GREAT! Very simple, too: 2 cups flour, 2 Tbsp shortening, 1 tsp salt, and water until the dough feels “right”. Knead. Take small balls of dough - about 1 or 2 tsp at a time - and flattened them as thin as I could without tearing them. Then fried them in olive oil on medium-high until golden brown, using the oil liberally.

These went over really well with the whole family, and were all my kids ate for the rest of the day!

I’ve also had really good luck with all-dried ingredient soups that can be stored on a shelf - just add water, and cook in a crock pot!
 
LongingForLight said:
I played with a couple of unleavened bread recipes today. One was not-so-hot; edible, but a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5. I baked it in the oven.

The other I tried frying, and it was GREAT! Very simple, too: 2 cups flour, 2 Tbsp shortening, 1 tsp salt, and water until the dough feels “right”. Knead. Take small balls of dough - about 1 or 2 tsp at a time - and flattened them as thin as I could without tearing them. Then fried them in olive oil on medium-high until golden brown, using the oil liberally.

These went over really well with the whole family, and were all my kids ate for the rest of the day!

I’ve also had really good luck with all-dried ingredient soups that can be stored on a shelf - just add water, and cook in a crock pot!
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Yum!

I’ve had terrible luck with unleavened bread, although my yeast-based doughs and cornbreads are excellent. I haven’t tried frying them yet, though. I tried fried cookies back before I bought my toaster-oven, though. Not a great success, but edible nonetheless.

I confess to not much luck with dry-ingredient soups, either. In fact, most of my soups have been as dull as dishwater, as my mother would say if she tried them. Last year my boyfriend taught me how to make soup, and I tried a new version of chicken soup this weekend. Nothing special, just chicken, onions, mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, corn, salt & pepper. I was going to try it with rice, barley, and soy sauce in it too, but it looked so good as it was that I didn’t bother.

Yum yum yum. Now I’m going to be eating chicken soup all week. That’s what you get for making soup when you live alone. 🤷
 
just at the last of my crustless mini-quiches. they tasted heavenly the first day, but actually did freeze and re-nuke rather well for fast breakfast, on an english muffin or stand alone.

sprayed a non-stick muffin pan with pam
beat a dozen free-range or omega 3 eggs
(or use equivalent egg-beaters, although I have not tried this)

brown soy sausage or turkey sausage with onion and and chopped green pepper, and some parsley (or cilantro if you prefer) in your big fry pan, w or w/o olive oil, depending on your diet, the little bit of oil does make a better product, less dry

spoon the sausage mixture a bit in each cup

top with chopped cooked veggies well drained

I used broccoli, but have used asparagus and spinach as well. squeeze the spinach in a paper towel to get it as dry as possible.

[duh, I forgot to add the eggs] pour the egg mixture evenly in the cups, using a 1/4 cup measure is easiest and neatest. use a table knife to slightly move solids so mixture runs to the bottom of the cup. wipe spills with a paper towel before baking

bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes until set. this is the part to experiement with. they continue cooking as they cool, and you don’t want them hard set because they will cook a bit more when re-heated, but not runny either.

sprinkle grated cheese (if allowed on your diet) on top as soon as they come out of the oven. don’t add cheese before baking because it makes a hard crust, which makes them re-heat unevenly.

serve right away–they really are best this way–but I make them to freeze for quick breakfast. they can even be eaten out of hand (with a paper napkin) if you don’t want the carbs of a muffin or biscuit.

I served the asparagus variety to company with hollandiase and got rave reviews.

when cool, wrap individually–the new glad microwave wrap works best, and freeze together in a gallon freezer bag or tupperware.

In my microwave I nuke, in the wrap, 30 seconds, turn it upside down, and do another 30 seconds, and let it sit for a minute or so.

the experimentation was in the baking and re-heating

I use a convection oven, so 15 min at 325 is enough (don’t go any hotter with any egg dish), but have had them done in as little as 12 minutes or as long as 20 depending on the oven.
 
A peanut butter and bacon sandwich on whole wheat toast. YUM!!!
 
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