Seems kind of slow on here lately.

[Denninmi]

Has anyone been doing anything interesting in the kitchen? Is it just the winter doldrums, the generally crappy state of the world, or what? I know I haven't been too enthused myself lately.

[Lucinda]

1. I made cheesecake frozen yogurt today

A local Chinese buffet used to have a great soft serve cheesecake frozen yogurt that I loved. They went out of business and I always promised myself that I would try and figure out a good recipe. Since I am eating a lot of yogurt lately for health reasons I thought that it was time to give homemade a try.

I adapted this one:
http://www.food.com/recipe/fat-free-strawberry-cheesecake-frozen-yogurt-305439

I used full fat cream cheese and lowfat vanilla yogurt because it's what was available.
If I had access to full fat yogurt I would have used it.
I didn't include the fruit this time.
I used regular sugar instead of the stevia and splenda.
It's delicious and was dead easy to make.
I use my food processor to whip it up and chucked it into my mixer's ice cream maker attachment to chill.

♥

[beac]

2. That sounds delicious!

I've resisted the temptation to buy an ice cream maker b/c a) I don't have space to store one and b) the temptation to make and eat ice cream every day would be TREMENDOUS, but that recipe weakens my resolve just a little bit more.

[Lucinda]

4. The tub and paddle for the attachment for my mixer just store in the freezer

so it doesn't take up much space. I usually make sorbet's in the summer and don't make ice cream much. This was really yummy. It's been in the freezer a few hours and I just had a scoop. Great texture.

[Blues Heron]

3. Made 5 grain bread

I used 1/2 cup of bob's red mill 5 grain hot and a Tbsp of flax seeds, soaked in a cup of waterand then added to my basic whole wheat recipe. Had to adjust the water a bit to account for the water in the soak. Kneaded it a bit more than usual and used a touch more yeast. Very happy with the results. :)

[grasswire]

5. yay for bob's red mill

Bob and his wife (he's now 81 years old) GAVE the company to the employees last year. An amazing, amazing act of generosity. He built that extremely successful company from scratch. And he gave it to the workers.

Quality products.

[Blues Heron]

7. Very cool! did not know that

Love their grains and flours!

[Callalily]

6. Been baking bread every weekend.

Last weekend, (and will repeat this weekend), I made honey, mustard oatmeal bread. Didn't rise as much as I would have liked, but I keep the temps in my home at an arctic setting. Very tasty all the same.



Made the Cooks Illustrated test recipe; best scrambled eggs, and yes there are. But truly, they'd have to be good. Recipe calls for 1/2 and 1/2 and an added yoke to the eggs, and they are sauteed in butter. How CAN this recipe go wrong? :rofl: Very good, but I'll stick to making my scrambled eggs with egg white only, and spray my pan with cooking spray. They are good too. ;-)

[Blues Heron]

12. Beautiful loaf!

Looks tasty!

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I've been doing most of my cooking at work for the last few weeks.

We have a full kitchen in our break area and I've been fixing lunch for whoever happens to be at the shop about once a week. Some of the guys hunt, so I've had venison to use in dishes calling for beef. Sometimes, one of the guys will have a specific request and will get the ingredients I need to make the recipe. It has been a lot of fun and the boss has OK'd it, so it will probably be a regular thing.

[Denninmi]

9. Wow, I wished I worked somewhere I could do that.

I used to sometimes brind a lunch or treats where I used to work. Now, it's just three people in the office, and the boss is on a perpetual diet, so we don't ever have so much as a cup of coffee or tea together.

[Arkansas Granny]

11. I have a great boss who loves to cook. The kitchen at work was his idea.

[The empressof all]

10. I haven't been on line much and not cooking at all

My recovery from the hip surgery is going well but I've subsequently had a flare up of the ongoing back issues. I'm not able to stay in one position for more than 10 minutes. It's a great relief though to be able to get up and even go for short car rides now without the hip pain. Even with the back issues I'm getting around much better. I'm doing well with weaning myself off the pain meds and have finally discontinued the coumidin so I can eat my spinach smoothies and drink my green tea.

Rich is getting to be a pretty good cook. He's learned to make a terrific hummus, a more than adequate walnut vinaigrette and now he's in the kitchen making an apple crisp. The kid is going to be home tonight and I get to meet the F-BO (Face book official)---IE: New Boyfriend.

[Lucinda]

14. Glad the surgery recovery is going well.

Hope the back clears up soon!

[EFerrari]

13. We've been in emergency mode here plus the weather has been miserable.

Today I'm trying to figure out what kind of can to buy to stick a cornish game hen on.

Just watched a cooking show about getting a more crispy chicken skin by making air pockets between the skin and meat and poking holes in the fat deposits on the breast. A normal sized chicken can be stuck on a beer can then, to cook upright so the heat gets around the whole bird more evenly (no soggy bottom).

What the heck can I use for a cornish game hen? :)

Maybe one of those skinny energy drink cans? Has to be tall enough.

Last night I made Mexican Street Corn for my mom, and it was great.

It's corn on the cob, rolled in veg oil w/ 1/2t of chile powder. Then you grill it or broil it until done. I put mine on the griddle after about 6 minutes in a hot oven to get some nice burn marks.

Then you smear it with this dressing:

1/4c mayo, 3T sour cream, 3T chopped cilantro, juice from one lime, 1/4t cayenne, 1/2t chile powder, 1 minced garlic clove, 1oz of queso fresco, a bit of salt and pepper.

It's the messiest, best, exploding flavor corn on the cob ever. :hi: