1. Potato Soup - tentative success, would do again.
- substitutes: used Pioneer Woman's recipe, but discovered I didn't have milk, whoops. So I just ignored it and added more heavy cream and water. It seems to have worked out alright... also decreased the amount of stock because I was trying to get rid of it; also replaced bacon with one beef sausage; also used (3) red potatoes instead of russet; also had no celery, so ignored that too
- seems to have a little less flavor than I would have expected from a normal potato soup, as expected from the cuts and substitutes
- added random amounts of cumin, italian spice, paprika, a teeny bit of crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper
- overall impressions, pretty tasty with a good ratio of thick soup to chewing bits. I think I taste more bland potato than flavorful soup with some bites, maybe I should puree more of it next time?
- overall, actually a fantastic success because this was a "use what i have in the fridge" last-minute dish instead of a pre-planned one.
*edit: i take it all back, second day is more flavorful than the first. maybe the potato just needed some time to soak it all in~ would definitely make again.
2. Chicken pot pie (a remake) - also from Pioneer Woman's blog
- substitute: no pie crust available, used puff pastry;
- Added too much water or not enough flour to thicken it.
- pretty easy staple, second time just as easy
- puff pastry not recommended. ends up flat and doughy. use a real pie crust.
2.5. Chicken pot pie in a biscuit - from a random recipe found on pinterest, I can't seem to find it again though.... ah ha nvm i'm amazing, i found it.
- fail. accidentally bought smaller biscuits (okay, lying here, I actually bought the smaller biscuits because they were totally cheaper and had 40 for the same price as 10 large ones). but they couldn't roll up, which dried up the chicken pot pie filling. also, the biscuit to filling ratio was wayyyyy off. the stupid little biscuits couldn't hold almost anything. Stupid things (yeah i know it's totally my own fault, so sue me, I still have 20 biscuits left in the fridge ready to be baked)
- would try again though.
3. Gumbo - from.. a strange mix of this recipe and this link.
- substitute: could not for life of me find andouille sausage because I was in a rush to make it back to campus and argh why does shopping take 2x longer than I expect, so used beef sausage; did not use Worcestershire sauce; ignored the shrimp and crab meat because I didn't want to bother with buying two ingredients I probably wouldn't use again; bought frozen okra; also did not have cayenne pepper, but red pepper flakes were in my spice cabinet.; oh, also ignored the scallions. whatev.
- roux. ugh. ugh. this freaking thing took forever. I must have been at the stove for close to an hour. I think I was too scared of burning it so I over-stirred and didn't let the water evaporate. In the end, I got pissed off and it never really got to "mahogany colored", instead it was more like a light brown. Hey, better than the light tan that it started off as. If do again, add a teeny bit less water and let it stand for longer before stirring.
- okra. add it later. the seeds and stuff started falling out when i stirred it in, perhaps a little too vigorously.
- it was.... maybe? more oily than i like in general. But i'm not sure if that's just a gumbo thing or a "my" gumbo thing. Maybe drain off the sausages better.... even though I already did....
- it was way too red. blame it on the roux.
- add the tsp of paprika and a bit of red pepper flakes for the heat, completely necessary. just a pinch though.
- next time, add the seafood, lol. (and fix the roux, change the okra?)
note: I made vegetable stock with the cut off ends of celery, onions, and carrots. It was interesting, but way too much work. Am tempted to try with my rotisserie chicken carcass though.... homemade chicken stock?
4. Rum cake - i don't think i would recommend
- made for my synthesis group
- was skeptical because it involves yellow cake mix and vanilla pudding mix. i was right to be skeptical. the only redeeming factor is that it's rum cake. -___-"
- did not have a bundt pan, used a cake tin instead. I should have used two, but nope, silly me thought that I could just pour the entire batter into one and forget that cakes rise.....
- the bumpy cake made it so I couldn't do the "pour glaze into pan and flip cake" technique. It ended up more boozy on one side than the other. For better or for worse I guess.
- besides that it's rum cake and rum cakes are moist and delicious, it has a really odd playdoh texture to it at some times that I am attributing to the cake mix. This might be because I know it's from the cake mix/pudding mix (duh because I made it), but eh.... not sure if it's just me
- seemed well-received. but that might be just because it's free food on a friday and it's rum cake.
- would not make again, potentially consider from-scratch though?
5. Shepherd's pie - mostly based on this one, but I might have looked at other ones to see what could be added/dropped/substituted - oh wait no, i think i got the initial inclination from reddit.... but can't find that post...
- substitutes: did not use any totmato paste, darn it. I even had a jar of spaghetti sauce I was planning on stealing a tbsp from but totally forgot. meh other than that, followed it fairly closely? chicken stock instead of beef, dried parsley instead of fresh, etc.
- reviews mentioned adding ketchup or Worschestire (whatev spell check) sauce.
- first time making mashed potatoes. Used a strange combo of russet and red, but again, whatev. Turned out pretty good. Dumped in cheese, milk, and heavy cream until I thought it seemed okay. I srsly need to buy a strainer. I almost lost a few potatoes down the sink pouring out the water I was boiling them in.....
- i did not get a golden crust on very much of the potato mash topping. I think it's because I didn't leave it in long enough?
- It doesn't keep thaaaat well in the fridge. I ended up having to mix up the potato into the gravy sauce to heat it up properly in the microwave. Still good though.
6. Spaghetti
- hands down the cheapest meal ever. A box of dried spaghetti, a can of sauce. Boom. Done.
- okay, lies, i actually added spinach and onions to the sauce too. it didn't enhance it that much actually, so iono
6.5 Spaghetti meat sauce!!! also from miss pioneer lady
- ummmm wayy too much work for very little improvement of the initial #6. I'd rather have just browned the meat and dumped it into the canned sauce.
I am now convinced that spaghetti sauce is like brownie mix. So close to the real thing, that making the real thing becomes not worth it.
8. Misc.
- omelets: mostly because i had too many eggs and some random bits of cheese left from the past. inside had random ingredients (chicken, onion, spinach). too much effort for something that could just be scrambled, tbh.
- scones - had extra heavy whipping cream, again. this seems to be an easy go-to for using it up. Actually less messy than I expected. Unfortunately they go stale after 4 days or so. And I think I "feel" a little heavier after I eat them, despite their fluffy and light insides..... all that cream. But great with tea.
- sushi - so SA actually has sashimi-grade fish, crazy. Bought some sashimi grade salmon and made up some sushi rice (sugar, salt, rice vinegar), and boom baby!
And that's all fairly recently.
Have yet to do:
- croquettes
- garlic pork loins
- white wine pasta
- coke and pork
I have the panko and the potatoes.... so the croquettes might happen next...
oh... and this....
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Other: Am on spring break. keke
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