Juicer Pulp Quick Bread

Apparently, when incorporating the pulp from your new juicer into quick bread so that you're not wasting anything, all recipes are not created equal. Yes, I realize that kale doesn't work well in sweets (thought some of the blogs made it sound like substituting anything into zucchini bread would work), so that's probably part of the reason the stuff tasted a bit off, but still...

I honestly don't have the recipe anymore and I probably wouldn't share it if I did (under this useage anyway). While I'm sure it makes great carrot or zucchini bread, it didn't work for me...which was actually very disappointing. I've never really made quick bread, but, as I said earlier, I wanted a way to use all of the leftover pulp (since we don't currently have a garden to put it in as compost), so I searched for close to an hour for a recipe that had ingredients I already had.

Yes, I know what you're thinking, I should have done this before going to  the store....and well, I had. I had gone spelunking through the internets to find a variety of things I could do with all of this mush and it seemed like most of what I was missing was  honey, so I did make sure to get that....but when I sat back at the computer, it was like all of those recipes decided to up and play an unscheduled game of hide and seek on me. Oh well, I'll just have to try again, maybe with a sandwich bread, flat bread or cracker recipe.

I guess the main point of this post, if you clicked on this hoping to find that perfect recipe, is to pay very close attention to what you've juiced (I did figure this would be an issue, but I thought I'd throw that worry to the wind on my first time around in order to test that very hypothesis) and what kind of recipe your using (ie, if it's supposed to be savory, sweet, salty, etc.) Hopefully soon I'll be able to tell you whether or not paying attention to all of that actually helps.

Happy Holidays!

Gingerbread Cookies Cooked with Applesauce?

Last week was pretty slow in the culinary department, with Thomas working late, his dad sick, and his sister staying with her mom. With only really two and a half people to cook for, I wasn't really feeling the inspiration for cooking any full-on meals. Because of that though, I randomly got the urge to make gingerbread cookies. I didn't have molasses, so that originally set me back, but I was ready to hit the web hard and find a recipe without it.

 The problem I came up with then was, sure, there were tons of substitutions(corn syrup, butterscotch pudding, etc.) but I had none of them either! I ended up settling with the first one here, which called for something called golden syrup...which I replaced with regular Hungry Jack Maple Syrup (I figured they mainly just needed the gooey texture to keep them together.)

 The next issue that came up was that I had nowhere near enough butter to pull this thing off, so I again went searching for substitutions. What I found came as a shock (though it shouldn't be for you, because you know... the title); a healthy alternative for butter (in baking only I believe) is applesauce, which apparently makes them more moist to boot (which I'll never complain about).

Everything else went pretty much as planned, though I admittedly didn't really follow the order of how to mix the ingredients and I accidentally put baking powder in instead of baking soda (so I had to accomodate for  that when it happened). I did frost a few, but I realized late in the came that I wished I'd have nixed that idea altogether because it left them a bit too sweet for me. The cookies, on their own, have a nice subtle taste to them (that would be great with tea or coffee), so you're definitely free to ice them if you wish, but I wish I'd at least made my own icing instead of using the leftover frosting from the fridge (prepackaged Pillsbury stuff). I solved the problem pretty easily however, I just gave most of them to my husband to take with him to work (where they were apparently promptly devoured).

Just as a last little thing, this recipe makes like two and a half cookie sheets worth of goodies (much more than I expected), so just be wary of that.

Happy Nomming!

Ginger Fried Chicken Salad

All today I battled over whether to make something new or just go with something I made a few days ago/weeks ago that wasn't really anything special. I wasn't sure if salad counted as a recipe...and I still don't...but it turned out pretty well, (and it's honestly pretty new to me), so here you go.

What you need:

• Chicken Tenderloins
• Ground Ginger
• Salt
• Breadcrumbs
• Lettuce (we had the fancy hydroponic kind from Costco)
• At least two Bell Peppers (ours were both red)
• Olive Oil
• Carrots
• Ginger Dressing
• Eggs

What you do:

1. First you need to make sure your chicken is completely thawed. I have a horrible habit of waiting to do this until much too late and, believe me, you don't want to work with frozen chicken on this recipe...you're fingers won't like you too much. 
2. Take out at least two plates for breading the chicken. I can't remember if I've gone over this in the past or not, so if I have, bare with me. Fill one with your egg and whisk it around a bit (no whisk required, I just use my fingers) and the other with a mixture of breadcrumbs, ginger, and salt. I have honestly no clue as to how much I used of which, as usual, I just sort of wafted my way to the perfect mixture.
3. Go ahead and put your pan on the stove with some olive oil so it'll be hot and ready for you when you're ready for it to be. 
4. In the past I've gone with the pattern of roll all of my chicken and then fry it all, but the last few times I've ended up with super burnt chicken. My strategy this time around seemed to work much better. I took one tenderloin, coated it with egg, rolled it in the breadcrumb mixture, and then laid it in the oil (it's very important that there's enough oil to properly fry the stuff, but not so much that it'll splatter up and attack you...it just takes some practice to get there...and you'll probably have to add more throughout the process so it doesn't run out and burn the chicken). You watch chicken until it's white halfway up and then flip. Then you add your other pieces. This way, you know that once your new pieces are halfway cooked, your older ones should be done...though I'd still make a slice halfway through to make sure. I saw on Ramsay's F Word once that you only want to flip it once and then my husband confirmed that's how they did it at the Four Diamond restaurant he used to wash dishes at. It's nice and juicy that way)
5. After that's through with (or while you're waiting to flip), break up your lettuce, cut up your bell peppers, shred your carrots, and toss it all in a light coating of ginger dressing. 
6. Serve on a plate with a few pieces of the chicken over it and there you have it, a relatively healthy way to have your fried chicken and not feel so bad for it. 

P.S.- I'll hopefully start having pictures after Christmas. Also, I think I like this format. I'm still playing with things, but I think this is on the right track.