This week my husband and I have been considering getting a smoker. Why? Because smoked food is awesome, and it lines up as a great Father's Day gift. And maybe birthday, early Christmas, etc.
When we first discussed it at supper, he reminded me about more than just the smoked whole chicken I was thinking about. Smoked salmon, beef jerky, ribs, and more. Whoa...we could make a few pork roasts all at once and freeze packages of incredible smoked pork to pull out in the middle of winter. Gotta do this!
So it's entirely possible you'll be seeing posts in the future about our smoked meat adventures. I know I'll be looking for great recipes, though the book that comes with the smoker we looked at has some great ideas (probably many I haven't even thought of).
A friend of mine mentioned online that their family makes all their holiday dinner meats in their smoker. Another great idea I hadn't thought of. Smoked turkey, smoked whole ham, smoked beef roast...oh, the possibilities!
You'll probably find out soon how this turns out. For now, it's dreaming about smoked salmon for supper.
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Using Marshmallow Roasting Sticks - Great S'mores Dessert Recipes
'Tis the season for using marshmallow roasting sticks and making s'mores. Time to shake it up and try some not-so-average s'mores dessert recipes. I've looked over the internet to bring you some new ideas. Try one of these tonight! The blue highlighted text is a clickable link for the resources I explored.
This Buzzfeed post has a bunch of fun s'mores hacks to try. It includes throwing some extra ingredients in with the typical s'more, substituting ingredients with creative options, and some really out-of-the-box methods of blending the flavors. It's something to see and can get your own creative juices flowing.
Here are some great tips for making traditional s'mores a little special. Emma over at A Beautiful Mess has three easy suggestions for next-level s'mores.
1. Try your favorite mini candy bars in place of the chocolate. Just doing that simple step can add a lot of variety without much effort. I have to agree that her first suggestion would by my favorite.
2. Use fancy chocolates to change up the flavors. Emma has some good suggestions for flavor ideas to make it a more grown up experience.
3. Go all homemade with your base ingredients. A quick online search would give you lots of recipes to work with, but she also includes a link to an easy homemade marshmallow recipe. If you eat gluten free like we do or have to limit your intake of certain foods, making your own s'mores ingredients can help you manage your diet more easily.
And finally, this Pinterest page (not mine, but I wish) hits it out of the park with some interesting and sometimes unusual s'mores dessert ideas. Most of these aren't even recognizable as the campfire dessert you've grown to love. But they'll definitely give your taste buds a ride. You'll just have to see the collection for yourself here.
You'll never see your metal marshmallow roasting sticks the same again. I know I'm tempted to get the fire pit started this evening, just to try a few of these fun ideas. Let me know what you try and add your comments to this post.
This Buzzfeed post has a bunch of fun s'mores hacks to try. It includes throwing some extra ingredients in with the typical s'more, substituting ingredients with creative options, and some really out-of-the-box methods of blending the flavors. It's something to see and can get your own creative juices flowing.
Here are some great tips for making traditional s'mores a little special. Emma over at A Beautiful Mess has three easy suggestions for next-level s'mores.
1. Try your favorite mini candy bars in place of the chocolate. Just doing that simple step can add a lot of variety without much effort. I have to agree that her first suggestion would by my favorite.
2. Use fancy chocolates to change up the flavors. Emma has some good suggestions for flavor ideas to make it a more grown up experience.
3. Go all homemade with your base ingredients. A quick online search would give you lots of recipes to work with, but she also includes a link to an easy homemade marshmallow recipe. If you eat gluten free like we do or have to limit your intake of certain foods, making your own s'mores ingredients can help you manage your diet more easily.
And finally, this Pinterest page (not mine, but I wish) hits it out of the park with some interesting and sometimes unusual s'mores dessert ideas. Most of these aren't even recognizable as the campfire dessert you've grown to love. But they'll definitely give your taste buds a ride. You'll just have to see the collection for yourself here.
You'll never see your metal marshmallow roasting sticks the same again. I know I'm tempted to get the fire pit started this evening, just to try a few of these fun ideas. Let me know what you try and add your comments to this post.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Flexible Non-Stick Silicone Muffin Pans - Great for Gluten Free Muffins and Cupcakes
My silicone muffin pans get used a lot, both for muffins and cupcakes. It gets especially frequent use during the summer when the county fair comes along. 4-H baking is our summer thing around here, and a standard awesome plate full of muffins is part of the plan.
My daughters have made apple struesel, banana nut, and are now going to try blueberry muffins. In addition to just having a high volume of muffin baking, we bake gluten free because of my husband's celiac disease. His diagnosis was about nine years ago, so the girls have only learned how to bake gluten free.
Most gluten free baking is fairly similar, but some aspects of gluten free dough or batter can be unexpectedly different. In many cases, it's a lot more sticky than mixtures made from regular wheat flour. Making sure baking items are reliably non-stick is a huge part of having a successful outcome. Thankfully, silicone muffin pans make the job easy.
Just because of habit, I do spray a bit of Pam in each cup. But I know I've forgotten before and they've often turned out of the pan well anyway. I generally expect muffins to do this a little better than cupcakes, which can be a bit drier as they bake. But for baking mixtures that tend to stick and leave hard baked-on residues, the silicone is immensely convenient.
Another plus is that after the muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes, they are pretty easy to pop out. If you wanted to put paper liners in, you still can. But most of the time we just make them for our home and don't worry about it. In this case, the silicone cup is flexible enough that you can gently pop the muffin out from behind.
Sometimes it is easier to gently lift it out with a knife or spoon. But if you aren't too impatient and have let the bottoms cool enough to keep their shape (oops, caved some in because I couldn't wait!), then releasing them from the bottom is a snap. The silicone also cools much faster than the metal parts of the pan, so when this is cool enough to touch the bottom of the muffin is usually cool enough to stand on its own.
My pans are old and look kind of beat up, but they are in great shape as far as baking goes. Someday I'm sure they will get warped or something won't pop out correctly, but for now they are good to go. It better be ready for the summer because it's go-time for county fair baking!
My daughters have made apple struesel, banana nut, and are now going to try blueberry muffins. In addition to just having a high volume of muffin baking, we bake gluten free because of my husband's celiac disease. His diagnosis was about nine years ago, so the girls have only learned how to bake gluten free.
Most gluten free baking is fairly similar, but some aspects of gluten free dough or batter can be unexpectedly different. In many cases, it's a lot more sticky than mixtures made from regular wheat flour. Making sure baking items are reliably non-stick is a huge part of having a successful outcome. Thankfully, silicone muffin pans make the job easy.
Just because of habit, I do spray a bit of Pam in each cup. But I know I've forgotten before and they've often turned out of the pan well anyway. I generally expect muffins to do this a little better than cupcakes, which can be a bit drier as they bake. But for baking mixtures that tend to stick and leave hard baked-on residues, the silicone is immensely convenient.
Another plus is that after the muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes, they are pretty easy to pop out. If you wanted to put paper liners in, you still can. But most of the time we just make them for our home and don't worry about it. In this case, the silicone cup is flexible enough that you can gently pop the muffin out from behind.
Sometimes it is easier to gently lift it out with a knife or spoon. But if you aren't too impatient and have let the bottoms cool enough to keep their shape (oops, caved some in because I couldn't wait!), then releasing them from the bottom is a snap. The silicone also cools much faster than the metal parts of the pan, so when this is cool enough to touch the bottom of the muffin is usually cool enough to stand on its own.
My pans are old and look kind of beat up, but they are in great shape as far as baking goes. Someday I'm sure they will get warped or something won't pop out correctly, but for now they are good to go. It better be ready for the summer because it's go-time for county fair baking!
Saturday, June 13, 2015
My Favorite Kitchen Things - Welcome Post
Greetings - welcome to My Favorite Kitchen Things blog. It's my spot to tell you all about my favorite things to use in the kitchen every day.
We cook and bake gluten free in our home so you might even see some gluten free recipes pop up now and then. I'll also have great things about my favorite kitchen tools, gadgets, appliances, and much more.
For now, I'm going to tell you a bit about the amazing grilled supper we just had. Made a dry rub out of paprika, salt, black pepper, mustard powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and rubbed it over about 3 lbs of chicken thighs. My husband grilled it up and it was so delicious!
Check back later for more great things going on in my kitchen.
We cook and bake gluten free in our home so you might even see some gluten free recipes pop up now and then. I'll also have great things about my favorite kitchen tools, gadgets, appliances, and much more.
For now, I'm going to tell you a bit about the amazing grilled supper we just had. Made a dry rub out of paprika, salt, black pepper, mustard powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and rubbed it over about 3 lbs of chicken thighs. My husband grilled it up and it was so delicious!
Check back later for more great things going on in my kitchen.
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