Experiments in the Kitchen - Party Food!

It all started last Wednesday at about 4 in the morning. We were standing outside the Waffle House (which is where a group of my friends and I go after dancing at a local club) and one of our friends said "We should have a coloring party tomorrow!"

Some plans for this were bandied about, people offering to bring this or that. At that time of the morning, it sounded like an awesome idea! The next afternoon, however, it was realized that the timing was just too short. Thus the party was postponed until Saturday.

One of my friends, at whose house we were having this shindig, asked me for advice on what to do about food. I helpfully offered some suggestions. I was probably a bit more helpful than was practical. She replied back "So... Chips and salsa?" I smiled and offered to whip somethings together, secretly jumping for joy at an excuse to really cut loose in the kitchen.

Experiment in the Kitchen - Turkey Chili / Cornbread and Gluten / Strawberry Shortcake

Back to your regularly scheduled blog (yay!). Wait... this blog isn't regular, nor scheduled... hrm. Well, anyway, to the point: back to experimenting! Yay!

As I type to you I am conducting an experiment in my kitchen. It is sizzling away on my stove. This experiment is chili! Wait, that's not the exciting part! The exciting part is that I'm taking my beloved chili recipe and allowing my boyfriend to make a modification to it. Anyone who knows me realizes this is a huge step for me. I mean, I really really don't like to give any kind of control in my life to anyone (can we say OCD much?) (also, shhhh! I'm talking about life not... oh, nevermind) so the very fact that I was willing to try his suggestion is a big step forward for me.

Well, at least a medium step forward since I'm already worried that said experiment is going to fail and the meat isn't even done browning yet. Wait, what's that? Didn't I tell you what the experiment was? Oh, I only said chili. Well then, I shall tell you! I am substituting the regular ground beef for... wait for it... ground turkey! (Queue dramatic music here) What do you mean that's not exciting? Well it is to me, so shhh!

Experiment in the Kitchen - Butterscotch Honor Cake

Post from the past!

Today is my husband's birthday. In addition to a handful of practical presents, the girls and I all decided that what he really needed for his birthday was a cake! How could we have a birthday with no cake?!?
Husband had the car today, so that meant that I could only bake with what ingredients I had in the house. Normally this wouldn't be a terribly difficult task - I keep my pantry and cupboards pretty well stocked - but (as I discovered) apparently while moving I had decided to get rid of a couple staples (read: vanilla, baking soda, baking powder) that would make most cakes impossible with the ingredients in the house. We also didn't have any frosting nor any powdered sugar for me to make some. Dilemma!

Experiment in the Kitchen - Beef Stew / Biscuits / Salad / Strawberry and Raspberry Shortcake

Tonight, for the first time since we moved in, we had people over! Yay! So, of course, me being the crazy person I was, I was determined that the dinner be as awesome as I could manage.

I started with stew - which is a staple of mine. I make my stew with the following:

• 1 Can Beef Broth
• 1 Can Golden Mushroom (Campbell's)
• 1 sm pkg Baby Carrots
• Approx. 4 Stalks of Celery (sliced small)
• 3 lg (or 6 sm) Red Potatoes (sliced into bite-sized chunks)
• Approx. 2# Beef Stew Meat
• 1 pkg (or equiv) Instant Mashed Potatoes