Well.... not a lot to report from me. 
I worked Easter. (I really despise people who feel the need to shop on holidays. Though.... my work does not consider it a holiday so; no holiday pay.)
I will post a load of pictures to keep people interested.
They are Spoilered for those who wish not to see.
I worked Easter. (I really despise people who feel the need to shop on holidays. Though.... my work does not consider it a holiday so; no holiday pay.) I will post a load of pictures to keep people interested.
They are Spoilered for those who wish not to see.
I am hopelessly addicted to Star Trek Online btw.
I want to take up jogging again.
Well that is all.
Happy Saint Patrick's everyone. I will now proceed with a fun bread recipe for you.
This being one of my favorite holidays (not for the drinking. I actually don't drink a lot anymore cause it costs too much to try and get me drunk. *sigh* poo to high tolerance levels.)
Anyhow I made bread from scratch for the first time EVER. After perusing recipes for a while (I cook from memory so I'm a little weird when it comes to cooking- I mostly toss stuff in a pot with the general "two cups of that" and "oh this will taste good with that" type thought. I wrote down what I did this time though (well except for the middle mix but I can remember what it was and make suggestions.) so I figured I would share the recipe. It's pretty generic Zucchini bread with my own personal twists from what I can tell. (seriously. I memorize recipes but in a fuck-a-daisy way.)
Storm's Zucchini Carrot Bread
Preheat the oven to about 350 F (or 325 ish. My oven sucks so I go higher and as the bread cooks I turn it down a little so that the outside doesn't burn. if you have a good oven though I would suggest just setting it to 325 F and leaving it.)
Dry ingredients-
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups flour (all purpose works but I want to try with whole wheat.)
3 tsp ground cinnamon (grind it yourself! it's so much better!)
mix/shift those together in a bowl and set it aside.
Wet (kinda) ingredients-
3 eggs (if doing just egg whites I think it would require five that's gonna be my next experiment.)
1 cup of vegetable oil (healthier alternative is 1/2 veg oil and 1/2 applesauce)
2 cups sugar (most recipes use white sugar but some suggested 1 cup brown sugar for a richer taste but less sugar I did a cup of white and half a cup of brown.)
4 cap fulls of vanilla extract (I think about 3 tsp would work. I usually just pour some in without measuring though....)
Mix the "wet" batch together to form a sort of cream (don't eat it raw. I never would suggest eating raw eggs.... that and the oil makes it taste kinda funky like this. ..... yes I do taste my batters. I'm bad.)
On the side I grated three (small/medium sized) carrots and one zucchini. it made a little under 2 cups and I think I should that maybe another cup of grated zucchini and carrot would have been better.
Mix the "dry" with the "wet"- once they are blended add in the grated vegetables (I kinda want to try this with squash too.... hmmmm... OH squash, spinach, and bananas!)
At this point I added about 1/2 of water to the mix on impulse. I think this really helped the bread kept it's moisture but I would recommend maybe experimenting with this more.
Now put it aside and take two bread pans (I think mine is a little 8x4 pan and it makes about two loaves with it so I'm just sayin two.)
Some recipes suggested oil and then flour and others said butter and then flour so I tried both- butter and then flour worked best for me. I rubbed butter into the pan and then shifted flour over all of it with some extra on the bottom.
(upcoming is not the last step if you want the "surprise")
Now pour your batter into the pans. Pop them into the oven and set a timer for 40minutes they probably wont be DONE at 40 but it's when I start poke checking them (I use a chopstick and press it from the top to the bottom and bring it back out. if it comes out clean then its done- if goo is on the stick set the timer for 5-10 minutes more and try again later.)
Now for this part I did not measure! (and it is for ONE loaf. You will have to do it twice if you want it for both loaves)
Once you have put them into the oven get our your measuring cup and put a bout..... 2 tbsp pf butter into it. grab a small handful of brown sugar and toss it in there too. put it in the microwave for about eh..... 25 seconds give for take depending on how cold the butter was.
once it is somewhat melted blend it. Add two more small handfulls of brown sugar about 2tsp of white sugar a pinch of cinnamon and then about.... eh.... 3tbp of crushed up coconut praline pecans. (I would suggest adding a little bit of water as well to make it spread better and not fall all the way through the batter to the bottom like mine did. If you wanted it more like a crumb topping I would suggest flour and waiting five minutes longer than what I'm about to suggest.)
Now take the mixture once it is blended well and once your bread has been in the oven for about 15 minutes and pour it over the top. I did it in repeated zigzag motions to try and get it evenly over the whole top but my mixture was SUPER thick and sank rather quickly.
Once you take the bread out let it cool for about.... eh.... 15-20 minutes and then put it on a rack. Since I do not have a cooling rack I improvised with something from my toaster oven and a strainer.
tada bread from scratch and it's yummy. (please note that I also added some green food coloring in an attempt to make it green for the holiday.
it did not really work but that's ok.)
It's a good day. Fresh bread, it's raining (YAY), and I have the day off and I've told myself I will not work at all today (well baking doesn't count ), I've turned on our little heater instead of bundling like normal- so today is AWESOME even if I'm being so friggin bad.
Later I will bake cookies!
Dinner will be corned beef, garlic potatoes, and asparagus.
BEST EVER splurge dinner! (and I will probably curl up and watch Earth Final Conflict with the hubby after dinner. =^.^= YAY! AND probably after that I will go back to playing skyrim with the new mods I installed. *fingers crossed* I hope they all work!)
This being one of my favorite holidays (not for the drinking. I actually don't drink a lot anymore cause it costs too much to try and get me drunk. *sigh* poo to high tolerance levels.)
Anyhow I made bread from scratch for the first time EVER. After perusing recipes for a while (I cook from memory so I'm a little weird when it comes to cooking- I mostly toss stuff in a pot with the general "two cups of that" and "oh this will taste good with that" type thought. I wrote down what I did this time though (well except for the middle mix but I can remember what it was and make suggestions.) so I figured I would share the recipe. It's pretty generic Zucchini bread with my own personal twists from what I can tell. (seriously. I memorize recipes but in a fuck-a-daisy way.)
Storm's Zucchini Carrot Bread
Preheat the oven to about 350 F (or 325 ish. My oven sucks so I go higher and as the bread cooks I turn it down a little so that the outside doesn't burn. if you have a good oven though I would suggest just setting it to 325 F and leaving it.)
Dry ingredients-
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups flour (all purpose works but I want to try with whole wheat.)
3 tsp ground cinnamon (grind it yourself! it's so much better!)
mix/shift those together in a bowl and set it aside.
Wet (kinda) ingredients-
3 eggs (if doing just egg whites I think it would require five that's gonna be my next experiment.)
1 cup of vegetable oil (healthier alternative is 1/2 veg oil and 1/2 applesauce)
2 cups sugar (most recipes use white sugar but some suggested 1 cup brown sugar for a richer taste but less sugar I did a cup of white and half a cup of brown.)
4 cap fulls of vanilla extract (I think about 3 tsp would work. I usually just pour some in without measuring though....)
Mix the "wet" batch together to form a sort of cream (don't eat it raw. I never would suggest eating raw eggs.... that and the oil makes it taste kinda funky like this. ..... yes I do taste my batters. I'm bad.)
On the side I grated three (small/medium sized) carrots and one zucchini. it made a little under 2 cups and I think I should that maybe another cup of grated zucchini and carrot would have been better.
Mix the "dry" with the "wet"- once they are blended add in the grated vegetables (I kinda want to try this with squash too.... hmmmm... OH squash, spinach, and bananas!)
At this point I added about 1/2 of water to the mix on impulse. I think this really helped the bread kept it's moisture but I would recommend maybe experimenting with this more.
Now put it aside and take two bread pans (I think mine is a little 8x4 pan and it makes about two loaves with it so I'm just sayin two.)
Some recipes suggested oil and then flour and others said butter and then flour so I tried both- butter and then flour worked best for me. I rubbed butter into the pan and then shifted flour over all of it with some extra on the bottom.
(upcoming is not the last step if you want the "surprise")
Now pour your batter into the pans. Pop them into the oven and set a timer for 40minutes they probably wont be DONE at 40 but it's when I start poke checking them (I use a chopstick and press it from the top to the bottom and bring it back out. if it comes out clean then its done- if goo is on the stick set the timer for 5-10 minutes more and try again later.)
Now for this part I did not measure! (and it is for ONE loaf. You will have to do it twice if you want it for both loaves)
Once you have put them into the oven get our your measuring cup and put a bout..... 2 tbsp pf butter into it. grab a small handful of brown sugar and toss it in there too. put it in the microwave for about eh..... 25 seconds give for take depending on how cold the butter was.
once it is somewhat melted blend it. Add two more small handfulls of brown sugar about 2tsp of white sugar a pinch of cinnamon and then about.... eh.... 3tbp of crushed up coconut praline pecans. (I would suggest adding a little bit of water as well to make it spread better and not fall all the way through the batter to the bottom like mine did. If you wanted it more like a crumb topping I would suggest flour and waiting five minutes longer than what I'm about to suggest.)
Now take the mixture once it is blended well and once your bread has been in the oven for about 15 minutes and pour it over the top. I did it in repeated zigzag motions to try and get it evenly over the whole top but my mixture was SUPER thick and sank rather quickly.
Once you take the bread out let it cool for about.... eh.... 15-20 minutes and then put it on a rack. Since I do not have a cooling rack I improvised with something from my toaster oven and a strainer.
tada bread from scratch and it's yummy. (please note that I also added some green food coloring in an attempt to make it green for the holiday.
it did not really work but that's ok.)It's a good day. Fresh bread, it's raining (YAY), and I have the day off and I've told myself I will not work at all today (well baking doesn't count
), I've turned on our little heater instead of bundling like normal- so today is AWESOME even if I'm being so friggin bad. Later I will bake cookies!
Dinner will be corned beef, garlic potatoes, and asparagus.
BEST EVER splurge dinner! (and I will probably curl up and watch Earth Final Conflict with the hubby after dinner. =^.^= YAY! AND probably after that I will go back to playing skyrim with the new mods I installed. *fingers crossed* I hope they all work!)
Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for a few. I'm down with another cold.
If you need to get ahold of me then send me a private message or I don't get a notification and don't think to check.
Blarg.
Imagodienow.
~~
K.Cat
If you need to get ahold of me then send me a private message or I don't get a notification and don't think to check.
Blarg.
Imagodienow.
~~
K.Cat
