Kitchen Mishaps and Minor Disasters

You may recall that a couple of weeks ago I made a batch of gluten free chocolate chip cookies for my sister-in-law who was about to pay us a visit, along with her husband… and I had a bit of an OOPS! with the cookie dough.

I creamed some butter in a large bowl and added some brown sugar and beat. and then I added some salt instead of white sugar into the batter.  After several minutes I realized my error and threw the whole mess away… washed my hands, got out some clean utensils and started over. Arghhh!

But after I finally and successfully made those cookies, I started thinking about a few other minor kitchen disasters I have had over the years.  I haven’t blown anything up, but I did start a fire in the toaster once, and I have had several minor burns and cuts… one that resulted in stitches at the ER.

The year I cooked my first ever Christmas turkey, we had guests on Christmas Eve for dinner.  I did a very traditional meal… roast turkey with all the fixin’s and after our guests were wined and dined and gone home, I set the leftover turkey in the oven to get it out of the way while I did the dishes… I found it 3 days later when I opened the oven door to bake some cookies (hmmm…. probably chocolate chip)  and found the little carcass there, wearing a green fuzzy coat, and smelling pretty rank. 

That is not something I will likely ever forget… the color of that mold or the smell of it either!

So this reminiscing got me to wondering what kinds of things other people get up to in their kitchens. I asked some Fitfluential friends to share some of their culinary mishaps and here are some of the responses I got.  I swear you can’t make this stuff up!

I know you will enjoy these stories as much as I did! Go ahead and CLICK on the highlighted text to link to the original blog post and see their pictures, too.

• Laura from Sprint 2 the Table shows you a picture of why you should never cook topless! Ouch!
• Emily from Perfection isn’t Happy admits to learning a humbling lesson. My MIL would love this one for sure. 
• Christine  from Love Life Surf advises how not to make a birthday cake. Ah…
• A bit of advice from Coco from Running with Perseverance on hiding spinach in your family’s food! Yeah, that color!   And she also shared a little story about an incident with a smoke detector.
• A couple of stories from Carrie from Family Fitness Food… one about her failure when attempting to make almond butter and another about a recommended protein cookie recipe that didn’t work out…
• And a really funny story about a Thanksgiving Dinner that nearly didn’t happen from Erika at MCM Mama. I think I might have given up!

Carrie also shared a recipe with me by email and a picture of the results of cooking what was supposed to be Protein Pancakes – Carrie is a pancake LOVER in case you didn’t know.

The ingredients sound good -  1/3c ground oats, 1 serving Whey protein, 1 egg, almond milk, vanilla, cinnamon and ½ tsp. baking powder. 

And Carrie’s comment?  “Not sure what went wrong.  They were awful.”
 

Yes, they do look a little crunchy, Carrie!

And Tamara from fitknitchick sent me a message with this cute story… in her own words:

“ I love to bake for my family. I'm always taking not-so-clean recipes and trying to 'healthify' them. I often add wheat germ, bran, chia and flax seed to cookies, cakes and muffins to boost their nutritional impact.
My daughter's very favourite dessert is a one pot, stove-top brownie. One day I was a bit heavy handed with the flax seed. They turned out very dry and grainy and did not pass the child's 'sweet tooth' test. My husband called it a 'flaxident'; we still refer to the incident every time I make that recipe!”

Thanks to all of you for sharing yourselves and your foibles… it makes me feel so much better knowing that some of you make mistakes in the kitchen too!
 
Do you have a kitchen mishap story that you would like to share with me too?

Massage Your Kale for Quickie Salads

I had never heard of massaged kale until I read a blog post by Tamara at fitknitchick about making it up and keeping it in the refrigerator, in order to have a quick base for salads when you need it.

I thought it was an interesting idea, and then quite promptly forgot about it.

Now, I am a big fan of kale… I like it baked into Kale Chips, and I love using it in soup, or in my White Bean and Kale pasta sauce, and I also like to use it in place of, or with, spinach when I make Coconut Chicken.

I had really never thought to use raw as a salad green.  I just assumed the kale leaves would be too tough for that.  Oh, boy, was I wrong!

Whenever I find what we call curly kale at my local market for a really great price, I stock up.  Then I wonder what I am going to do with it all!  (Do you ever do that?)

Well, Tamara’s method for massaged kale is such a good idea.  All you do is mix the washed and torn kale leaves with a nice dressing, and then store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 or 5 days… taking enough to make your salads as you need, and leaving the rest behind. 

The dressing makes the leaves a bit softer after a couple of days, and it really does make a nice base for lots of different salads.

I made a batch of massaged kale this past week using the following method and I got 3 good sized salads out of it. Now when I have salad for dinner, I have a plate full, so if you don’t eat as much as I do, you might get more servings out of it.  Of course you might want to use the whole thing for one big salad to serve many… up to you, but the method is the same.

Massaged Kale
Enough for 3 dinner salads

• 1 bunch kale, large stems removed and leaves torn… washed and dried in salad spinner

Dressing

• 1Tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 3 Tbs lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled, smashed and minced

1. Mix well and then pour over the kale in the bowl.
2. Massage the dressing into the kale with your hands for a few minutes. Kale leaves should be completely covered with dressing mixture.
3. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator for up to 5 days
4. Use as needed for salads.  Give the remainder a stir, cover and refrigerate till needed.

If you are a Weight Watcher, and counting Points Plus, then the only thing to be concerned about is the olive oil which has a P+ value of 1 for each tsp of oil. So, for the whole recipe, the P+ value is 3.  You can divide that by the number of servings you make and eat.

The possibilities for salads are only limited by your imagination and your tastebuds. 

When I made my first salad with the massaged kale, I added a bit of torn red lettuce leaves to it… then some slices of grape tomato, mushroom, onion, and cucumber, and then topped it with some roast chicken breast, oregano, and dark balsamic vinegar.




I was so good that the next day, I used some more.  This time my salad was made of slices of red pepper, onion, mushroom, and cucumber, and topped with pieces of a navel orange, some roast pork loin and drizzled with blueberry balsamic vinegar.  I also blanched some green beans to eat alongside.

I think you could probably massage your kale with any oil and vinegar combination you like too, or even a nooch and vinegar combo instead of the olive oil and lemon juice that I used… and I am sure you could leave out the garlic too, but why would you?

Have you tried massaged kale yet?

What is your favorite salad green?

Almond Meal Cookies with Raisins and Pepitas

Last week I made 3 different kinds of cookies, in anticipation of having dinner guests.  The Captain’s sister and her husband were on the Island while he was attending a business conference… and they skipped their scheduled Friday night activities in order to come and spend some time with us!

I kept dinner very simple, and for dessert served a rich vanilla ice cream with balsamic strawberries on top… and some cookies.

I made gluten free chocolate chip cookies, some oatmeal and raisin cookies, and I wanted to do an almond meal cookie of some kind so that there would be a grain free option for me in case I decided to indulge!  And of course using almond meal and flax, instead of flour, means that they are grain free as well as gluten free.

I made up a batter that I have used previously and this time, instead of the peanut butter chips, I added raisins and pumpkin seeds (do you know them as pepitas?) to the mix.  The result was 14 moist and chewy cookies.

Although I used agave again  I am not sure I am a real fan. It has a markedly different taste from honey, and although it does add sweetness, I think it might be an acquired taste.  I am pretty sure that next time I will use honey instead.

But I think they were a hit... My sister in law took the last few home with her, and I don't think she was just being polite!

Almond Meal Cookies with Raisins and Pepitas
Makes 14 cookies

• 3/4 cup almond meal
• 1/4 cup ground flax seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/8 cup pepitas 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 3 Tbs agave nectar

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Mix the almond meal, flax, salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Stir in the raisins and pepitas.
3. Combine the egg, vanilla, and agave together in a small bowl.
4. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture until well blended.
5. Scoop dough by the spoonful and place on a cookie sheet that has been covered with parchment paper.
6. Slightly flatten each cookie.
7. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to rest for a few minutes before removing to baking sheet to finish cooling.

Per serving of 1 cookie.
Weight Watchers P+ = 2.
Calories 85; Protein 3g; Carbohydrate 7g; Fat 5g; Fibre 1g.

Printable Recipe

Do you like the taste of agave?

Do you use it in your baking?