The Kitchen Sink

The Kitchen Sink

This is one of those sides that started out as an idea and then I kept adding more stuff to it as time went on.  Feels like this dish contains everything but the kitchen sink, hence the name.  It's got:  bacon, brussel sprouts, granny smith apple, fresh cranberries, golden raisins, carrot, pistachios, and pinot grigio.  It started out as a brussel sprouts with bacon and apples dish.

The kitchen sink turned out to taste a lot better than it sounds.  The salty, sweet, acidic notes all balanced each other out.  If we were to season it, that might even be better, but Guinea Pig and I decided to eat it just the way it came out of the pan over some basmati rice.

Guiltless Meringues

Guiltless Meringues

We had a carton of egg whites in the fridge that was going to expire soon, so it was time to bake either meringues or angel food cake.  Meringues won the toss this time.

Egg whites being healthy to begin with, I wanted to get the outcome to stay healthy, so I turned to Splenda instead of sugar.  I flavored it with some vanilla and raspberry extracts.

The rule to bake these, as I learned it through practice, is low and slow.  You would think that I would know this by now.  Luckily, I caught it in time to save it.

Came out crumbly, delicious, and guilt-free.  Even Guinea Pig approved the use of Splenda.  No bad side affects to the taste.  Considering making these for x-mas (yes, in a few days), but need to pick up more egg whites and some food coloring to make it more fun.

Roasted Broccoli

Roasted Broccoli

I had half a head of broccoli sitting in my fridge.  I was going to use it to make the peanut chicken, but that never materialized.  As I was browsing the interwebs, I came across a picture of broccoli florets on a baking sheet, which got me thinking back to the broccoli in my fridge.

I came up with a new way for the Guinea Pig and I to eat broccoli.  I roasted it with some garlic and then added lime zest and juice and almond slivers.  The almond and garlic slices were supposed to play off of each other.  I only used salt and ground chipotle peppers to season it.  Add a bit of olive oil so the broccoli doesn't stick and done!

It came out good enough for me to experiment again.  Next time I should leave all the proportions the same except for broccoli, I need to use a full head of florets.  Or maybe half broccoli half cauliflower?  I should also use lower heat so the garlic doesn't crisp too much before the broccoli florets cook.  Either way it was a successful first pass at a new way to enjoy broccoli.

Apple Carrot Potato Soup

Apple Carrot Potato Soup

With the cold weather comes the hankering for soups.  Browsing through my collection of ideas, I spotted a recipe that I had all the ingredients for in the fridge/pantry.  Sounded like a good sign, so I proceeded to make the soup.

I had Guinea Pig peel while I chopped.  I used only water (3 cups), all the listed spices, and added a few garlic cloves to the recipe.  After cooking over low heat for 15 minutes, the carrots were still hard.  I poured in the water and simmered for 20-30 minutes, until the carrots were cooked through.  It was just a tad more soup than our blender could handle, so we split it into two batches.  We finished it off by seasoning with salt.  We decided against using pepper, because the other spices covered enough of those taste notes.

Both the Guinea Pig and I were surprised as to how little soup the recipe yielded.  We filled up two soup mugs to bring to work for lunch and had less than a cup of soup remaining.

Pecan Squares

Pecan Squares

The Guinea Pig loves pecan pie.  I've never had it until the first time I made him one.  From that day on I've been a believer.  When I came upon a recipe for pecan squares, I knew I had to give it a shot.  I took a few liberties with the recipe, not all of which turned out in my favor, but the end result leads me to believe I'll be making these again in the future.