Journal

2010 - Week 46 Cooking Results

Mac & Cheese (p309 Good Eats: The Early Years) (using the other 1/2 pound of macaroni)

This time around I used 1 ounce of blue cheese, and 7 ounces apple wood smoked gruyere in the sauce and then some sharp cheddar on the top.  The blue cheese got lost in the smokiness that was the smoked gruyere.  So it really wasn't necessary at all.  Perhaps if I had used more, it would've worked out better, but oh well.  I did like the smokiness that permeated everything.  It made for a nice dinner.  Though probably not the most healthy choice, but good none the less.

Elk Burgers

I had some leftover meat from the stuffed blue cheese burgers.  So mine got combined witht that and cooked (I stuffed some of the leftover elk with mozzarella yesterday for lunch).  Shannon's was straight up Elk.  It turned out well, but elk really does have the problem of being far to lean.  So it takes quite a bit to keep it juicy.

Bison Tacos

Lots of spices, onions and etc made for a good taco meat.  I couldn't tell you what spices I used, because it just started putting stuff in there.  There was quite a bit of cayenne pepper, though.

Chicken Sandwiches

I pounded out some chicken breasts, used some leftover egg whites to dip them in and covered them in a bit of flour.  And had a nice little sort of crispy chicken.  It made for a good sandwich.

Crispy Pan-Fried Pork Chops, (p13 November/December 2010 Cook's Illustrated)

I don't remember the last time I bought corn flakes, though I suspect it was probably for a recipe.  Anyways, this ended up crisping up very well, with a nice color as well.  It wasn't too hard to do and turned out very well.  I served these with some corn.

Pumpkin Bars

I finally used up the last of that set of pumpkin from before, and put it inside these pumpkin bars.  The bars themselves were very cake like, but I think that's on purpose.  I was happy with my mixer as it worked on making the cream cheese frosting, while I emptied the dishwasher.  The cream cheese frosting, quite good as well.  But when it came down to it I think there was too much frosting for the bars.  To me it seemed to make the pumpkin bar more of a delivery device for the frosting, rather then a nice balance between the two.