#kitchen experiments

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Chicken, bacon, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, alfredo sauce, garlic Parmesan sauce, and penne pasta :)

Dinner tonight turned out ~*tasty*~ :)

[mangosensei]

Garlic Bread

Wohoo! I love garlic bread!

Naturally, I did try to make it at home!

The oven instructions below are based on the generic recipe but were modified as I tried to recreate them myself. The pan and the air fryer instructions, on the other hand, are solely based on the oven instructions and modified to fit the new cooking method... if that makes sense? lol aka the pan and air fryer instructions are recipes off the top of my head and not very thought out!

Ingredients:

bread butter garlic (cloves, minced, or powder will do) parmesan cheese parsley seasoning (whatever you want to put)

Instructions (oven):

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the bread lengthwise and place it on top of a baking sheet.

In a small bowl, combine the butter, garlic, seasoning, and cheese. Spread evenly on each side of the garlic bread.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until butter is melted/simmering.

Garnish with parsley. Serve.

Instructions (pan):

Place the butter, garlic, cheese, seasoning, and parsley on a pan.

After mixing thoroughly, place the bread face down on top of the mixture.

Check every few minutes for the desired appearance, or until the bread is golden brown. The mixture should stick onto the bread, et voilà, serve!

Instructions (air fyer):

Evenly place the butter, garlic, cheese, seasoning, and parsley on the bread.

Heat on the air fyer at 300F for 4-5 minutes. Adjust the heat and/or time according to your preferred texture and appearance. The higher the heat and the longer the time, the crispier the bread becomes.

Serve.

[takeme-totheworld]

Me two months ago when trying a Cooking Experiment that didn't quite turn out as I imagined it: "I RUINED IT. BREAKFAST/LUNCH/DINNER IS RUINED AND SO IS MY DAY. I'm never making this again, it's clearly beyond my capabilities." -gets the fainting couch-

Me one month ago when trying a Cooking Experiment that didn't quite turn out as I imagined it: "Either I did something Very Wrong or that was a shit recipe/idea/cooking hack that that person suggested to me." -spends half the day grumbling about it-

Me today when trying a Cooking Experiment that didn't quite turn out as I imagined it: "Hmm, needs tweaking. Next time I'll try cooking x ingredient for more/less time and changing the ratio of ingredients y to z and maybe sprinkling a bit of cheese on top."

(The experiment today was savory oatmeal with eggs and veggies in it. 8/10, will definitely cook again.)

It's DEEPLY satisfying, I love good food so being able to make my own good food to exactly suit my own palate is amazing and I wish I'd learned how sooner.

[chocoholicannanymous]

I am trying to find a way to make myself able to eat chickpeas and like it. It's...not going that great. Smothering them in my favourite spicy sauce kills the taste, but texture is still an issue.

[reitziluz]

the hubris of being the one in the friend group who actually knows how to cook

i forgot i haven't actually cooked fish in ten years

my salmon is overcooked

:(

[elminx]

Calendula Experiments: Calendula Tea

Note: I'm by no means an expert herbalist - please do your own research before consuming herbs. This is my experience learning to work with herbs.

It's Calendula season here in Southern New England and I've been eager to get to know this beautiful flower better.

I first met Calendula in the fields of my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm share. I was immediately enchanted by its bright orange color (they seem to grow exclusively orange flowers) and cheerful appearance. I have been drying and using its petals in my magic to bring in happiness and solar energy for a number of years but I am very interested in its healing and culinary applications.

Calendula (Calendula Officinalis) is often called "Pot Marigold" but should not be confused with the very toxic Marigold that is often associated with Mexican folklore and the dead. It is edible and has a host of powerful benefits to the human body when applied topically or internally. Herbal Academy states that it is vulnerary (assists in promoting healthy healing of tissues), Anti-inflammatory, Hernostatic (staunches bleeding), Topically analgesic (pain-relieving), Astringent, Antiseptic, Diaphoretic (helps to promote sweating), Lymphagogue (support lymphatic health), Cholagogue (bile stimulating), and an Emmenagogue (supports menstrual health).

Last year, I tried to cook with it by adding it to a quiche but didn't notice a lot of perceptible flavors. That might be great if you want the many culinary benefits of Calendula medicine without any added flavor but for me, I like to taste my flowers.

This year, I decided to try a Calendula iced tea recipe that was suggested by a number of different herbalists on Insta. The recipe itself was simple - equal parts hot water and calendula, steep until the tea got cold naturally. I let the tea cool in the later afternoon sunlight on my working kitchen altar to empower it.

Finally, I got to experience its flavor! Calendula is a bitter flower (especially when you include the greens which is where a lot of the medicine is) and quite bracing. The flavor reminds me quite a bit of Genziana, an Italian liquor made with an infusion of gentian root. My partner really enjoyed it as ice tea (especially with a bit of forsythia syrup to sweeten it) but it wasn't tasty enough for me to repeat. At least as a fun and tasty afternoon tea.

Come cold and flu season, I may feel quite differently. I'll dry some whole flower heads just in case.

[spankerella]

About this. This was my brekkie today. It's a waffle. My take on a PB&J waffle. That certainly isn't peanut butter or jelly, though. I can't have peanuts. I mix Greek yogurt and honey with almond butter to make it more creamy and spreadable. I do have no sugar added jelly, but I also had some strawberries that were about to go bad. I diced the strawberries and cooked them in a little bit of water, some lemon juice, honey, and stevia, then got after it with the hand blender.

[viapu-com]

Savor the enchanting flavor of our Enoki Mushroom Recipe! Every bite is a delight, promising a culinary adventure you'll fondly remember. #foodie #delicious-recipe

[constructionsafetynetwork]

What Food Would You Say Is Your Specialty? A Culinary Twist in the Construction Safety World

What food would you say is your specialty? The bond between food and work is more profound than we often realize. For construction workers, long hours and physically demanding tasks are the norms, making nourishment not just a pleasure but a vital necessity. Their choice of specialty food can be seen as a reflection of their work ethic, preferences, and the demands of their job. Just as every…

[wowbright]

I ran out of half and half so I tried making it with half coconut milk and half milk, unfortunately it still tastes mostly like coconut (which I like perfectly fine elsewhere but apparently not in my coffee). So I added more milk, some stevia (because dairy cream is sweeter than coconut milk), a little bit of vanilla, a little bit of melted chocolate, and finally a little bit of almond extract, and it's ... tolerable? Enough that I'm not going to run to the grocery store yet. Almond extract is a strong flavor so it helps to distract from the coconut. (Usually I don't like flavors in my coffee but this is barely almondy.)

[anotherocean]

can't stop fermenting things: garlic, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, pears, plums... at first the salty sweet flavor was too much for me but now I am finding myself craving those flavors every day. The blueberries are my favorite so far.

[mangosensei]

Kale Experiment #06

I know this isn't anything new, and I know some people who really do this to make the dish more authentic buuuut—

Kale + instant noodles (in this case, Mi Goreng) = 👌 X 🤌

Note:

The first time I tried this, I only put two teaspoons of kale and it was just perfect. Kale added a crunch factor without really modifying the taste, and it perfectly complimented the seasoning, the garlic, and the sambal.

The second time I tried this, I was finishing up the kale that was previously prepared so I put all of that in and it amounted to four teaspoons. The taste was still relatively the same, though I believe for one serving of Mi Goreng, putting two teaspoons of kale is still the better taste.

[meagenimage]

Edinburgh Cheesesteak

In early December of last year I went to PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, and had the opportunity to try a Philadelphia Cheesesteak.

It was delicious and I had several of them at various places over the weekend. But now I’m back in Scotland where there’s nowhere to get this sort of thing.

Tonight I decided, why not re-create the recipe for myself with local ingredients? One trip to ALDI later...

...I had all I needed. (#not sponsored)

The first thing I did was stick that steak in the freezer so it would be easier to slice.

Next, I prepped two of the rolls.

It is far too cold to spread butter over bread, so I just melted some in the pan and sort of smeared the rolls around in it.

With the rolls toasted I wiped the pan, added oil and the mushrooms (cut to small bits)

Once they were nice and browned I set them aside and added butter to the pan.

Next, the onion!

Picked a medium sized one and diced it nice and small, then threw that in the pan. It seemed like a lot of onion so I added some more butter.

After a while it seemed like the onion was going from Raw to Burnt without ever going through any other stages, while the steak was still pretty soft. I turned the heat off and went ahead and sliced the steak as best I could, then seasoned it. Note: in future, allow more time for steak freezing.

Added another dab of butter to the onions and tossed the steak in, then turned the heat up again.

Eventually I decided to put the mushrooms back in.

I divvied the steak into two heaps. One got mild Cheddar for the most Scottish effect possible, the other one I tried sliced Gouda.

Plate up time and it appears I *vastly* overestimated the volume of Stuff. A single steak needs at least three of these rolls. Another note for next time.

Even though I had to use a knife and fork part of the way, the taste was pretty close to what I remember enjoying in the US. Tonight’s experiment: Success.

[chocoholicannanymous]

My favourite candy (outside of pure chocolate) is on my "no buy list" as the manufacturer is being a test. So, I've looked up recipes for making it myself and well, attempt #1 wasn't that great. Edible and not bad-tasting BUT also not what I am after.

Guess I'll have to try another recipe another weekend.

[what-is-this-rubbish]

Can't go wrong with cookies and pizza after a long day of skiing working

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I walked into the kitchen to see my mom backflip out of the fridge and when I asked her about it she was just like, ‘That's what happens when you visit Wonka Land’.