All in Good Food

Hi everyone I had all intentions of writing up this post sooner but something always came up and pushed it farther back on my list. I’ve pondered on how I would write this up and was not sure what I was going to say. Well the time has come albeit a little late to introduce you to two other members of my family who are my cats. If you are a Food Buzz friend of mine I know you have seen my BW who is my avatar and if you follow me on twitter you have seen my Remus as my avatar. Both are very special to my family. So you will understand why I said this post was somewhat late in the making. I really wish I could have introduced them at a better time.

With that said I would like to introduce you to my second and now only kitty Remus Lupin. He will be 6 this year on April 11. When he was given to us we where told that he was a girl so he was originally named Samara. We soon realized that the name would not fit him so we changed it. He was supposed to be my daughter’s cat so as she was really into Harry Potter at the time she decided to name him Remus Lupin after the character that turns into a werewolf. I must say he does not live up to his namesake. He is sweet and playful, loving and very much spoiled and I have to take the blame for that.

When we first got him he was like a ball of fur. We took him with us almost everywhere. As I drove he would lay on my shoulder and sleep. When we went out walking my daughter hold him and cuddle him. As he got older he would ride in the car with us and lie in the back window and sleep, he loves riding in a car. He’s very playful and loves to lie on my legs when I sleep. I don’t mind because it keeps my legs warm. He’s sweet and spoiled and likes to follow me around. He’s still like a little baby sometimes and likes to cuddle up next to me when I am asleep. He’s my special boy.

As I said before I wish I had introduced them earlier but here they are now.

Ok call me crazy but last week I was craving oatmeal raisin walnut cookies and banana nut bread at the same time. So I decided to combine the two into one recipe. For this recipe I went to my tried and true Oatmeal Cookie Jiffy Mix. As you may know from my other oatmeal cookie recipe this mix lends itself to a variety of experimental cookies. You will get roughly 18-20 cookies out of this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 box Oatmeal Cookie Jiffy Mix
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 very ripe medium banana mashed to a baby food consistency
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (can increase if desired)

Directions

Empty box of mix into large bowl, add egg, butter, mashed banana, and chopped nuts and mix well.

Let mix stand for 10 minutes to stiffen.

Drop 1 teaspoon of mix on cookie sheet about an inch apart for expansion.

Bake at 380° for 10-12 minutes. (experiment with your oven) Normally I would cook them at 350° but I increased the temperature due to the added moisture of the banana.

Remove from oven and place on cooling rack (if you can stand to let them cool).

There you go, you are done. Enjoy. Next time I will be trying out the recipe with an oatmeal cookie recipe recommended to me by another blogger. This does not mean that I won’t continue to keep my Jiffy Mixes in my pantry. I am rebuilding my recipe book because I won’t always be in a place where the mix is readily available to me.

So until next post Itadaki masu!

The other day I was feeling a little inspired and wanted to try out some new recipes. I have to admit I’m not good at recipe writing because I cook from feel most of the time. Yeah I know that is not good if the dish comes out tasty because how can I duplicate it if I don’t have it written down. Well most of the time I do take pictures of every step and try to write everything down immediately after. Well for this recipe I forgot to write everything down and I did not take a photo of every step. So here is my attempt at remembering what I did.

When I do cook by recipe I like recipes that have very few ingredients because I believe there is less chance for mistakes then. I believe it is important for someone who is cooking a recipe for the first time to get it as accurate as possible to have a baseline to go from when you attempt to tweak it to suit your own tastes. So when I create something I usually keep the original recipe down to only a few ingredients with room for expansion.

The other day I was looking for something different. Recently I have been trying to stay away from a lot of fried foods in an attempt to take off a few pounds but I began craving something fried. However instead of going out to a fast food place I decided to make something at home. That way I can control the ingredients that will go into it.

I went into my pantry and found that I had some zucchini that I bought for another project. I didn’t want it to go bad so I decided to experiment with some dishes. The first one I made I won’t mention now because it came out less than stellar. Then I decided to add some to some ground turkey along with some shredded cheese I had and it was on. Here is the result of my labor.

Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup finely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs
1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil

Seasonings
Salt
Pepper
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

Batter
1 Egg
8 teaspoons cold water
4 tablspoons of flour

Note that all of the seasoning is approximated because I very rarely measure except when I am baking. I will update this post the next time I make this dish with true measurements (I hope ;~)).

Directions

1. Combine ground turkey, shredded zucchini and shredded cheese then season to taste. Mix well

2. Take about 1 teaspoon full of the mix and create small patties. Place them on a plate and cover them with wax paper and place in the refrigerator to chill and firm up for about 30 minutes. The firming not absolutely necessary but I find it makes the patties easier to handle when putting into the batter and panko bread crumbs.

Note I used the following method to create my patties for this recipe. (see photo below)

Wax paper roll method:

· Tear off a piece of wax paper about 12 inches long.
· Take mixture from the bowl and form it into a rough sausage shape.
· Place on the wax paper about 5 inches from the end.
· Place the end of the wax paper over the turkey roll leaving a short edge you will use to hold on to.
· With a cutting board place it against the roll on top of the wax paper and pull to form a tight even roll.
· Then roll up in the remainder of the wax paper, twist the ends closed and stick it in your freezer to chill and firm up for about 20 minutes.
· Once chilled remove wax paper and place on a cutting board. With a very sharp knife cut off even slices about 1/2 inch thick.

8. Fry to a golden brown. Let cool and serve.

These patties can be cooked in advance then reheated. I use a toaster oven set at 380° for 10-15 minutes. These patties are also the perfect size for bento so they will be included into my bento stash in the freezer.

I will be experimenting with other vegetables and seasonings and will keep you updated.

So until next time.

Itadaki masu!

Speading the Sunshine Award

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Here’s another very simple bento.

Today’s bento is very simple.


Chicken Salad Wrap: Consists of baked chicken breast (shredded), shredded cheese, carrot sticks, boiled egg, with a small amount of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip Mix and Kraft Mayonnaise with lime juice.

Crunches: Gardetto’s pretzel snack mix

Fruit: Michigan grown Fuji apple slices

Snack: 1 piece of dark chocolate

I made this bento for my daughter. She wanted something very simple and light.

Until the next bento.

Itadaki masu!