L is for Lettuce Wraps [A-Z Blog Challenge 2015]

Experiments From Auntie's Test Kitchen

Intro  A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Conclusion



                                                                                                                    

L is for Lettuce Wraps

As I've stated many times, I am NOT a big fan of hyped food crazes, but I am working on trying new things.

I've always been a big fan of sandwiches ("sammich"es as my dad called them).  As a kid, I relished the day when the school cafeteria presented us with peanut butter and honey sandwiches on white bread.  At home, we put everything from bologna, to meatloaf, to just tomato, cheese and mayonnaise between two slices of white bread and enjoyed it. 

As a side note:  I didn't subscribe to eating wheat bread until a few years ago when they finally made it taste good instead of like moldy cardboard.

No, I'm not in the "all bread/carbs are evil" camp.  However, for health reasons I have to limit my starchy carbohydrate consumption. I figured a healthy way to have a sandwich lunch without too much bread would be a lettuce wrap.

As the name implies, a lettuce wrap is essentially all the sandwich ingredients wrapped in lettuce.  I searched several websites to find the best method for creating these.  Weeding through these websites was a confusing plethora of ads, vague instructions, and plain old hype.  So I was pretty much on my own.  I bought my ingredients and made two separate attempts at it.

I refuse to post any photos here because all my wraps ended up looking like a sandwich murder scene.

Other than the chicken disaster, this was the worst experience I've had so far with this challenge.  No matter how much lettuce I used, the wraps didn't stay together during wrapping or eating.  If I wanted something to continually fall apart while I ate it, I'd go to Subway!  Unlike the chicken disaster, I can, and did, repurpose the leftovers rather than throw them away.

If someone can show me in person how to successfully make these things, I'll try again.  Other than that, no thank you!  I'll just save my starchy carbs for a real sammich.

Update:
A friend sent me this video:

After watching the video, I made two new attempts at making the wrap.  For starters, parchment paper is ridiculously expensive, so I opted for wax paper.  Also, her advice about using green leaf lettuce was spot on.  The food bloggers who said you could make these things with iceberg lettuce were masochists.  Though they turned out better than the first attempts, they still fell apart faster than a Subway sandwich (y'all know what I'm talking about).  Trying to keep them from falling apart without eating some of the paper was also a crapshoot.

Conclusion?  Nope, the experience is still too frustrating to proceed, and the taste is so unsatisfying that it makes me mad.  Like I said earlier, I need a hands-on tutorial/critique.  Until then, I'll stick with a real sammich.

Five Minute Friday: "Loyal"

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Loyal - giving or showing firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or institution.

The first thing that came to mind with this prompt is a scene from a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "A Matter of Honor."  In this episode, Commander Riker of the Enterprise is taking second in command on a Klingon vessel as part of an officer exchange program.  Upon entering the vessel, his loyalty is immediately challenged.

It's a good episode, but I've only got five minutes, so I can't go into details right now but here's the clip:

As the episode continues, Riker shows his loyalty and earns the trust of many of his shipmates.  His loyalty is not shown with words, but with actions.

True friendship demands loyalty.  Not the kind of bullying loyalty that demands that one must remain loyal no matter what in fear of shunning or punishment.  Real loyalty is deeper than that.

In John 15:14, Jesus says " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."  Yes, it sounds like a bully--"If you're going to be my friend, you do what I tell you."  However, this is Jesus; he's no bully.

So what did He mean?  If you truly know Me as Friend and Savior, you can trust that anything I ask you to do will be right.  Plus, you can trust that I will be ever-loyal to you. As I said, "I will not leave you or forsake  you." (Hebrews 13:5)

I'm thankful for the loyalty of the Savior.

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The Essence of Autumn: Simple Woman's Daybook

If you would like to join in and post your own Daybook, please head on over to visit Peggy at The Simple Woman's Daybook
 

 

For Today: Monday, August 20 , 2018

Outside my window …   An autumn preview.  It was so nice out that I walked to work by choice today.

Lavender abounds this time of year.

I don't know what plant this is, but it reminds me of the
Azaleas from back home.

I am thinking... 

• ...about how to take my fitness to the next level.  Fall is coming, so I hope to get outside more and get back to running.  I'm still not comfortable with the gearing on my bike.  I'm going to purchase a trainer for The Green Hornet as soon as budget allows.  I wanted to take some classes at the Y, but their daily guest fee is $15.00!  Ours back home is $5.00.
• ...about home. 

I am thankful...

• ...for a simple fix to an annoying problem.  Several Sundays ago, I missed church because my battery was dead and boarding the Weedwagon was out of the question.  This was the second time this happened. Blessedly, the only thing I needed was a new battery.  My alternator was fine.
• ...for internet.  Yes, I was finally able to budget for internet service at home.  Hopefully my postings will now be more consistent and I can complete many of my on-hold projects.
• ...for a chance to teach a Bible Study at my church.  Starting in September, I'm teaching a six week series on II Peter 1:1-10 at Colorado Community Church. 

From the Workshop...

 

Got a new charity project in the works...and you get to help me with it.  Details to come.

 

From Auntie's Test Kitchen: 

I've added two more entries to the blog challenge.  Letter D and Letter E.
 

I am reading...

• Knowing God Intimately by Joyce Meyer.
• The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis

And one for the DNF (did not finish) pile:

• The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron

I am learning...

• Whether it's the humidity of Alabama or the dry climate of Colorado, once it gets past 90 degrees, it's just freakin' hot!  The only difference is; when you stand in the shade on Colorado, you get cooler, when you stand in the shade in Alabama, you simply die of heat stroke a little slower.
• I've really been enjoying the smoothie recipe I shared in a Test Kitchen post.  However, I learned something important; most protein powders contain artificial sweeteners.  Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way.  After several weeks of drinking the smoothie, I noticed that things were not right with my body; I  won't go into too much detail, but at one point, I spent a day feeling like I was digesting a razor blade.  I did find a protein powder at Wal-Mart that didn't contain fake sugar.  Of course, it was more expensive, which makes no sense, but it's better than having all the horrible symptoms I suffer when I ingest artificial sweeteners.

Favorite quote(s) of the week: 

"[If] you put hot sauce and ranch on a turd, you'll eat it." - Rhett McLaughlin, Good Mythical Morning.  Episode 1301. 

"I want to live a life and love in such a way that if circumstances dictate that I know when I'm passing away, [...] that there are people that love me so much that they drop whatever they're doing to fly from across the world or across a nation to see me one last time." - Link Neal, Ear Biscuits. Episode 150.

"The Bible teaches people the common duties of life, how to serve God, how to enjoy the blessings he bestows, and to do good in the various stations and duties of life." - Matthew Henry

"You can have hours of fun with road kill, depending on how fresh it is." Rhett McLaughlin. - Good Mythical Morning Episode 67

"The essence of autumn is pumpkin spice." - Rhett and Link. GMM #555
"The essence of autumn is FOOTBALL!" - Auntie  #GoJHSeagles #FearTheBeak #RollTide

I am looking forward to... 

• Experiencing Guitar Center for the first time.  There's one nearby and I need bass strings.  Y'all know that ain't all I'm going to buy.  😊
• Sunday's open house at my church's new building.  We hope to be moved in by next fall. 

And Now For Something Totally Different:

Five Minute Friday word of the week:  Loved

 

 

 

 

 

E is for Eggs and Leftovers [A-Z Blog Challenge 2015]

Experiments From Auntie's Test Kitchen

Intro  A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Conclusion



                                                                                                                    

E is for Eggs and Leftovers 

The "incredible, edible egg."  From my mom's scrambled eggs to the Denver Omelet to which I was introduced upon moving to Colorado, eggs have been an integral part of my diet for as long as I can remember.

Something weird has happened lately.  I have lost my taste for eggs.  One of my favorite meals is my Hot Mess Omelet.  For several weeks now, eating this dish or any cooked eggs that aren't boiled was making me absolutely sick.  I couldn't figure out what the problem was.  Then it hit me.  Like my mom, I always cooked my eggs in a cast iron skillet.  I was given a nice set of nonstick cookware as a housewarming gift and don't yet own a cast iron skillet.  That's a problem.  For some reason, eggs and Teflon do NOT get along.  The nonstick coating gives the eggs a gag-inducing aftertaste. 

To test my hypothesis, I decided to take some leftover items from the fridge and bake them with eggs.  I mixed together:

• Six eggs.
• 1/2 of a large onion, chopped.
• About one cup of chopped red and yellow bell pepper.
• Some shredded cheddar cheese.
• Some shredded mozzarella cheese left over from this mess.
• A little butter.
• A little milk.
• About a teaspoon of corn starch.
• Salt to taste.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees (the standard temperature for when you don't know how to cook anything).  I coated my small baking dish with some of the butter, mixed together the other ingredients, poured it into the dish, topped it with more shredded cheese and a little more butter, and baked it for about 30 minutes.

Not only did it look pretty good, it tasted great.  Now understand, what I used in this bake are the same items I use in my omelets. The only real difference was the pan.  However, the difference to my tummy was night and day.  Until I can budget for a small cast iron skillet, this will suffice.  The only changes I would make would be that I would precook the veggies (they were a bit al dente), add more eggs and not use any milk, and add some bacon or turkey sausage to the mix.

My enjoyment of eggs has been restored.

UPDATE:  Finally, I had the budget for a good Lodge-brand cast iron skillet.  Now, I can enjoy eggs even more.

Five Minute Friday: "Loved"

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"I want to live a life and love in such a way that if circumstances dictate that I know when I'm passing away, [...] that there are people that love me so much that they drop whatever they're doing to fly from across the world or across a nation to see me one last time." - Charles "Link" Neal, Ear Biscuits. July 2, 2018.

This beautiful quote, spoken at a time of intense grief (his grandfather was dying), has been churning in my heart since it was spoken over the airwaves.

Since moving to Colorado last year, establishing friendships and building a support system has been extremely difficult.  Going nearly 6 months with no vehicle didn't help much either.  However, the question of loving and being loved pained my heart a long time before coming West.

Seeing others find love gives me joy, not bitterness.  As for me, I'm perfectly fine with never experiencing the love of a husband or a child of my own; it's just not in God's plan for me.  What I'm not good with is the perpetual isolation and absence of face-to-face loving interaction with friends.  Maybe I'm not doing it right.  Maybe I'm not loving well.  Maybe I'm not living a life worthy of the kind of love I need.  Maybe I don't deserve it.

How does one cope with the total absence of love?

I'll have to figure it out and move on.

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D is for Disaster of Chicken Proportions [A-Z Challenge 2015]

Experiments From Auntie's Test Kitchen

Intro  A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Conclusion



                                                                                                                    

D is for Disaster of Chicken Proportions

I appreciate the fact that food companies often print recipes on the labels of their products.  However, I think these should be thoroughly tested, not just slapped on a label for us poor saps who don't cook well.

Ragu, the name conjures images of plates of pasta piled high, covered with meat and a yummy sauce you didn't have to make from scratch.  Never overly expensive, I've eaten Ragu pasta sauce since I was a kid.  As I was reading the label (yes, I actually do that sometimes) on a jar of Alfredo Sauce, I saw this:

Doesn't this sound like crispy, cheesy, tomato-y goodness?

Well...

The first order of business was to get a pan big enough for this recipe.  As you will recall from this recipe, my 9 x 9 glass baking pan is too small for most recipes that feed more than one person.  So, off to the Wal-Mart I go for a standard size glass baking dish.

The next order of business was to follow this recipe to the letter, except despite cutting the chicken breasts in half butterfly style, it took longer than the last 10 minutes for the chicken to be thoroughly cooked, plus it takes more than a quarter cup of sauce to coat that much chicken.

The smell coming from the oven was yummy.  The finished product looked as good as it smelled.

However...

Every bite was worse than the last one:  Instead of a crispy filet blanketed by tomato cheesiness, it was flavorless, textureless, and nausea producing.  Being quite hungry, I ate most of what was on my plate.  My thinking was that maybe it would taste better the next day--what we southerners call lettin' it set.  It did not help; this mess tasted just as bad as the day before.  I hated to do it, but I threw the majority of it in the trash.

Might as well cut out the middle man.

Hold up!  How the Sam Hill can a southern woman mess up chicken?  By following this recipe, apparently.  To be fair, I've gotten some really good recipes from food labels.  This just wasn't one of them.  The difficulty is that I can't figure what went wrong.  My only correction is to toss the recipe permanently.

Well, on to trying something else.