Vicky Learns to Cook

What is a Sticky Toffee pudding anyway? It isnt really sticky, but it does taste like toffee. So toffee fans, listen up. This cake is the bomb! Toffee sauce is made with sugar, corn syrup, butter, and cream. All good things. Then you add more cream and it becomes this rich sauce. Yum.  Meanwhile you boil some chopped dates (I used medjool dates, had to remove the pits) and add a bit more water than they say so it can be pureed. I chose the blender since it was a small amount.  Next is buttering the ramekins. It took me a week or so to get to this recipe because I didnt have enough of these. Turns out the size i got was what i needed for this recipe but not the same as what I had. No biggie.  From the puree, you can now make the cakes. This cake is good all by itself! Here is where I messed up.  See how full the ramekins are? I misread the recipe (that I had perused 3x now) and thought the author meant to fill them to the top. This is not the case. I would go 2/3 or 1...

 Let me start by saying the frugal side of me hates the idea of a $27 chicken.  Typically a whole chicken in Kroger can cost between 6 and 13 dollars. The $13 chicken is free range and organic. But even still, the chicken is just okay . We had a great chicken from Fresh Approach once, but they never restocked after that. I crave the really great chicken as we had before.  Is it worth twice the price of the expensive chicken in Kroger? That's what we are going to find out.  And then, they offered at check out, a discount on all beef hot dogs. I think my son and hubby would like this. Those are a pound of hot dogs for $8. My suspicion is they will be trying out $2 hot dogs.  The location is close, its within a couple miles.  We cooked it spatchcock with a butter herb (parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper) at 375 until to came out to temp.  Pretty good, maybe better than Kroger.  3 x better? I'm not so sure.  Gonna try a Fresh Approach c...

Shakshuka - Eggs in Tomato Sauce   I asked my friends and family to send me recipes to try and blog about, and this is the first one that came in.   Shakshuka has a Tunisian origin, and it is very popular throughout the Middle East and variations of this dish can be found all over the world. I had to look up where Tunisia was since I am clueless about geography. See the very tip of Africa? That little sliver is Tunisia.  As you can see there are 3 eggs in the dish I made. This is because I cut the recipe in half. We only have two egg eaters in this family.  The first rule of  trying a recipe is read it over top to bottom for: What ingredients, what equipment, and how long this takes.  The first thing you need to know about this dish is that the pan matters. And the pan needs a lid! Make sure you have a 12 inch pan. I thought I had one out, put in the oil and onions, then thought to measure it since there was going to be a lot of liquid to poach the egg...

Hi. I'm hiding out here in the blog, kind of hoping no one reads it yet.   I don't want to admit to you that I am trying again to lose weight. Because that brings to mind how many times I've failed over the past years.  I don't want to show you the "before" picture and the motivational post-it notes that I wrote. I don't want to show you the motivational posters I found.  It all seems cheap and hollow and false. Because I keep going back to eating with abandon. I keep eating my feelings. Good and Bad.  I know better. I know taking a bubble bath is better for me than eating all the carbs that can't run away from me.  And yet, it makes me happy, if temporarily. And angry at myself later. The bath also makes me happy but its not on my regular "normal" evening activities, it isn't yet my habit.  Yet I am generally unhappy. I don't have a general feeling of happiness with myself. My default feelings are not liking myself right now. My own ...