Sweet potato and black bean chili (or not)

So I forgot to buy the chili powder (or really any of the things the recipe called for) so I did some odd things to this poor defenseless recipe.
Toasted sesame oil instead of olive oil
No chili powder or cumin or chipotle or cilantro
1tbsp basil parsley and oregano
lemon juice instead of lime
1/2 tsp Cayanne
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp Tony Chacheres Herb and spice mix
4 tbs Creshendo Greek spice mix (from Rouses specialty section.)
Whole canned tomatoes instead of diced.

It came out really yummy but probably not at all like it would have if I had even half followed the recipe...

Chocolate Peanut butter cookies

So the last time Jess was here she signed me up for Ok Cupid internet dating sight. Last night I finally had a date with someone from there. We were supposed to meet in the quarter but that didn't work out. (for those of you wondering 30min is as long as you can stand in a shoe store before it gets creepy) I ended up following a bunch of protestors yelling UP WITH EGYPT DOWN WITH MUBARAK for about 4 blocks and then I went home.
She called about 2 hours later and we figured out that we actually had already met at an event on the Tulane Campus months ago. So I had her over to the apartment for a cup of tea (mostly to avoid having to go out in the cold again.) We ended up making these cookies. The cookies were pretty good. The jury is still out on the date.

Link to the Cookies!

Lemon Pie (the redo)

Evelena gave me some home grown lemons from her lemon tree so I had a go at Lemon Meringue pie.
For those of you who are wondering: When the recipe says use a mixer instead of a whisk USE THE MIXER!
I was frustrated about something and needed to get her off my mind, so I thought I would whip this by hand myself. The pie tasted fine but no one knew it was supposed to have meringue on top because the whole thing was flattened out. I beat it for about 20 min and thought I had gotten stiff peaks but obviously I was wrong. Oh well It was yummy and it made Monday better so I guess I'll just go with it...
Here is the link for the recipe.

Whole wheat beer bread

So those of you who are frequent visitors to my apartment know that I have accumulated a motley assortment of different kinds of alcohol left behind by house guests and especially beer which I rarely drink. This recipe is the perfect use for the leftover beer, plus it is super easy and looks really impressive.  I did it the first time just as the recipe said and used a Guinness, this yeilded a loaf of heavy dark bread. The second time I went nuts and modified the recipe left and right. The original author says not to use light beer but I actually thought it tasted better with the bud light from last Mardi Gras...

Here is the original link.
When I  made it the second time I  used Bud Light
I also sauteed up a batch of cabbage and sweet potato in the skillet and added a cup of that.
Finally I added
4tbsp of buttermilk powder (equivalent to 1cup of buttermilk but without making the dough too wattery)&
2tsp of honey
I cooked the whole thing in a cast iron skillet instead of in a loaf pan and it cooked up in about 30 min instead of the whole hour. I think this version was much yummier. The buttermilk powder makes it taste sort of like sour dough but without all the yeast and work of sour dough.


   

Back from break !

So the year is over and I am done with my obsessive weekly need to cook.
I am still cooking though and have been enjoying some recipe writing as well as my recipe reading.
I will try to catch up the old posts but for the moment I am just going to go forward.
This year I want to try and bring down the money and calories in my cooking so look forward to some healthier picks and some things made from what I had lying around. I hope you enjoy!

The evils of garlic powder

So this started out with the best of intentions
I read the comments for the recipe and it said to use less of the spices and to bake the darn thing in the oven if you don't have a grill.

I put only a teaspoon of garlic powder and a good sprinkle each of salt and black pepper.
I was drinking a bit at the time so maybe it was more than a sprinkle.
Anyway the zucchini now go in the oven and I cook some carrots and potatoes in a skillet.
It comes out....well lets say a little strong.
I made rice to eat it over and with the rice it is OK
not getting a great review this.
possibly that has something to do with being drunk and cooking just for myself but I am gonna blame the garlic powder.
With real garlic you know how much is appropriate but who knows how much is too much powder? Not I clearly.

Chocolate sheet cake (Debbies birthday cake)

So I must confess that while I love pies I have a fear of cake baking.
I know it isn't rational but there is a lot that can go wrong in a cake and you would never know until it comes out of the oven.
For example this chocolate sheet cake which I baked twice because the first time I mixed up the measuring cups and thought I was using a one cup when I was really using a 1/3 cup. I realized when I poured it in the pan that something was probably wrong but it wasn't until it came out of the oven too small, too thin and too eggy that we figure out what happened.

So I showed up to spend the weekend at the Longman's for Aunte Debbies birthday and found that I had forgotten something ... a present for her b-day.(Oops)
So instead of worrying about it I baked the cake of her choice a chocolate sheet cake with chocolate icing.
Yum

The recipe goes like this
Take one cup water, two sticks of margarine and four table spoons of coco and put them in a sauce pan.
bring to a boil. In a seperate bowl add two cups of flour and two cups of sugar.
Once the stuff in the pan boils add a teaspoon of vanilla, a teaspoon of baking soda, two eggs(lightly beaten) and a half a cup of buttermilk.  Stir it all up and them pour it over the flour/sugar mix. Stir for two minutes.
Put the whole thing in a baking pan
Bake at 325 for 30ish minutes.
(credit to Sandy Wallace)

ICING
So the icing is a little tricky but fun
Take a sauce pan and put a stick of margarine in it.
Add 6-7 table spoons of milk and four tablespoons of coco powder.
bring to a boil (slowly!)
Once it is boiling stir in a pound of icing (powdered) sugar.
 turn off the heat.
It might be watery but don't worry it will stiffen up.
(credit to Sandy Wallace)