Vicky Learns to Cook

Today I made my own Thai curry with chicken ...  If you know me, you know I am not only a big wimp when it comes to heat but I am allergic to MSG. It makes my Thai food experiences limited.  Before I turned 26 I could eat anything, but food allergies reared their ugly heads and now I cannot.  Thai food is amazing and I love the flavors, but it took me another 26 years to really try to make my own.  For those die hard authentic Thai food fans, look away now. It's Amercanized to be sure.  First I had to figure out what a curry was.  Essentially it's peppers and spices, to put it simply. I found a recipe that I could modify (see modified recipe below) with what I had. I intend to add in the lemongrass paste and shrimp paste once I get some, next time, to see how it changes it.  Thai chili peppers are pretty darn hot, so wimpy me will use bell peppers and then add in the heat with crushed red pepper flakes.  No it won't taste the same but I want to have something  like Thai foo

 Good morning! I woke up contemplating breakfast. Had a good think on it before I got up. My go-to is a half cinnamon raisin bagel, but I worry that while it's convenient and tasty, it is not nutritionally sound, and it may be setting me up for eating a lot of white carbs throughout the day.  Could I do better? I've made a whole wheat version of the bagels but it's a lot of effort for frankly fairly tough bagels. No convenience factor, and no protein so you know it doesn't last long. I dont mind things like eggs but I want them fried or poached so I can have separate yolk as a sauce as opposed to mixing them into a frittatta, omelette, or quiche. Of the three it sounds like Omelette would be best if I liked them, but I dont. The yolk turns into something completely different when cooked to hard stage and Im just not a fan.  So then how will I incorporate whole grains, vegetables both green and not, something tasty, and the favorite protein of the morning, eggs? I decide

 First, I'd like to say condolences to the Powell family. The real Julie (from Julie and Julia movie) passed away recently, which got me thinking of blogging again. She was the one who inspired me to blog about food to be honest. I'm planning to sit down with my daughter soon and watch the movie again.  This is the story of the Passionfruit White Chocolate cupcakes:  I like a challenge.  In the beginning, I had ordered a bunch of passionfruits from Imperfect Foods. I tend to just buy things and then figure it out later. But sometimes I dont have time to figure things out and end up with these weird fruits and vegetables that dont really go with anything.  This one, I happened to be making a pomegranate lemon cupcake and had posted it on Facebook. Seeing that, my friend April had mentioned wanting a good White Chocolate passionfruit cake recipe since I think she found a place that makes them and she wanted me to help. I had ordered some passion fruit so this worked for me! We du

 Stay tuned for a week of using up all the veggies I got from Imperfect foods and my own garden.  I have so much cooking & baking planned including 3 soups! ....

Baking Day!  I've been thinking of actually trying the saved recipes from my Facebook page and blogging them here.  I think it would be an interesting experiment to see if things turn out as well as they look. Maybe I'll tackle some Pinterest recipes too - if I can figure out how to actually get to their recipes...I swear it just takes you down a rabbit hole with some of them! A few days ago I ran across a Apple Butter Snickerdoodles  recipe. It's a completely FALL thing to make and I'm looking forward to eating it! The recipe is soft so it requires you chill before baking, which is a pain because my fridge is pretty stocked on Saturdays, but I made some room. The dough tastes tangy and a bit cinnamony which is really wonderful. I hope the cookie is just as good baked.  I'm watching the Witcher while I make them, wondering to myself if the monsters they have in this show are made up for the show or if Im just not well versed in monsters? Anyway, the first batch came

 Continuing the theme of "lets get rid of the most perishable veggies first", today was broccoli and a box of "baby portabella" that were not so baby, in fact one was full size. I had a jar of marinated artichoke hearts and some artichoke bruschetta.  I added mayo, parmesan, salt, pepper and chopped artichokes together, and spread that over the chicken. While that waited for the oven I boiled some spaghetti and started chopping broccoli and mushrooms.  I have a love for the spice blends from Pampered Chef, so I usda Rosmary and herb blend for the veggies.  This is the  spice blend from Pampered Chef... The not so baby bellas, sliced and sometimes halved.... Broccoli...  you know the song? Choppin Broccoli? https://www.eater.com/2014/7/11/6188681/watch-dana-carvey-perform-his-classic-ode-choppin-broccoli  Check it out, I swear you'll love it :) I got this bruschetta made with artichokes from Imperfect foods, and i just added this and some parmesaon to the noodles

I went a little crazy with my box of veggies this week.  Old mangoes were waiting while new mangoes were coming in. I thought, hey I wont need to worry about my veggies and fruits for a few days yet because ... what it was perpetual Monday for the last three days? Who knows. I literally checked what day it was 3 times and it still didn't register! I'm not normally this much of a space cadet, but I'm transitioning at work to a new job/promotion, and I'm in the "gathering the things I need to do" phase.  School starts in a couple weeks, too, and my entire schedule is in flux. My brain is all over the place.  My main concern at home with the food is not to allow anything to spoil, so I am trying to get the most perishable items eaten first. It's a challenge, especially when 2 boxes of veggies and fruits come in when you thought you had more time.  Oops.  What did I have? I looked in the freezer and found sausages. In the fridge a few wrinkly peppers telling e

 Gardening is hope for the future.  But it takes work -  I've been spending the last week writing and rewriting my garden map.  As I learn things I'm having to redo it.  I got some garlic from my friend Holly and learned that if I'm to plant it in the spring, the time is now. I planted it just before the rain and covered it with the net bag that holds oranges. I got some lavender but I'm not sure I will want a bunch of it, so I potted it. What you see here is a funnel made from a vitamin water bottle: This makes it much easier to water. Otherwise the water just beads off and rolls down David's shoulders. (David is the name I gave the pot , that looks like the head of the David statue) I planted today, so many seeds! Each tray had 12 seed pods so I made some plant markers out of a red solo cup and made a map.  Here's hoping for a great garden this year!

 What is today? Oh yeah, Saturday. No, I really had to check.  I'm happy to have been busy making tarts for Angie's fundraiser. The count is now up to 7 delivered, and 2 more ordered. I dropped off another $134 this weekend.  For the most part it's going well. I have gotten into a rhythm making thin apple slices and keeping them in two big bowls of water as I go (so they don't get brown), getting just the right temperature for my dough so it comes out nice, and I've even started conversation with an Apple butter maker to get some homemade apple butter (I had no idea what I was doing and ended up with NOT apple butter both times I tried it. My suspicion is, like everything else these days,  use your air fryer?) The only issue I had was my delivery plans. I forgot to check the weather and scheduled drop offs during a blizzard. Yep. Me the one who has every detail figured out didnt think to consult with Mother Nature. She smacked me down Sunday with a patch of ice. My

 I had a mind shift this week. It came down to this: I wanted to help a friend who has cancer.  I have no large sums of money laying around, nor am I a doctor, but I do have this training in pastry. So I switched gears for this month,  and grabbed the apples in season and developed a tart that combines the idea of an apple stack cake and a french tart; and combines sweet and tart apples. Its not vegan nor gluten free, I have yet to find a crust I'm happy with, you see, that meets those requirements.( I have a few yet to try. ) Then I put it up on all of my social media. I'm getting some bites already. And I feel so good about helping out. I'll be baking up a storm this month! So where did this new idea about building a japanese garden come from? It's from this book "Buy yourself the f*cking lilies" that I am reading.  There's this chapter on giving yourself permission to light up your soul with inspiriation. She asks what is something you've always wan

 After studying what I need for VGF (Vegan, Gluten Free) Sugar cookies, I realized I don't have what I need for Vegan, since I forgot to get butter replacement. I decided I should break up into Gluten free only, Vegan only, and Vegan Gluten free over the next few weeks. Today would be Gluten Free.   The recipe can be rolled out but it can also be made into drop cookies. Going for something simplistic and at the same time trying out various Valentine's Day sprinkles, I decided I would do a half sprinkled cookie and try various ideas until I came up with something I liked.  First was a set of pink, red, white, and purple hearts. This was cute but I had to be sure to include a good mix of every color or it changed the cookie. Hm...  Kind of a disturbing bleeding heart kind of look, straight out of the oven. And the cookies look like brains.  Maybe these sprinkles were not meant to be cooked? Next was a set of red hearts with gold arrows. Somehow I ended up with a LOT of arrows and

You know how it goes, you have the best of intentions, and maybe even have added flossing and walking the dog to your daily habits. But the food, man, that's a hard habit to break. And the last two days I've let myself snack at night again, probably negating the progress I've made.  Not to let that get me down, I decided that if I blog what I ate all day knowing my faithful readers (both of you!) will see it, it may break me out of this bad habit, at least for today! So, here it is. You're welcome.  BREAKFAST 830am:  Adding herbs to my eggs looks a bit more finished, don't you think? Parsley doesn't add a ton of flavor, but if the egg is good, and the toast is rye, you're probably not going to care. And it's pretty.  Plus it hides the fact that I broke the yolk again. Luckily I cooked it fast and still had some drippy yolk to the dish.  Healthier: used olive oil instead of butter, and less salt.  Not giving up my coffee. I did switch out the cream for 2%