Last night I started my first two recipes: red beans & rice and apple spice cake with caramel frosting. Everything started out just fine...until I re-checked the recipe and realized I was supposed to use red kidney beans, not red pinto beans. This resulted in a 10:45 p.m. emergency trip to Wal-Mart. I lost 3 hours of bean-soaking time, and now it's an hour and fifteen minutes before lunch and the beans are still crunchy. Grrrr. Sorry guys, no RB&R for lunch today.
One way I'm having to detour from SL's instructions is by using a crock pot. I loaded up the ingredients (which seems heavy on the garlic, by the way) and put them in my little crock pot so this science experiment could cook while I work. I spilled a little in my car, which torks me off yet doesn't surprise me. I'm a klutz delux. Anyway, now my car smells like garlic. Nice.
My only experience tasting red beans & rice has been at Pearl's, and so far these neither smell or look like the beans at Pearl's. I'll just roll with it, though.
I'm a fairly accomplished baker, so the cake was a breeze. I used cheap cake mix (yep...Southern Living says to use a mix, which doesn't seem very Southern to me) and store-bought eggs, but it turned out just fine. I doubled the amount of caramel glaze it required, because if there's one thing I love, it's caramel. The recipe called for baking it in a 9" x 13" pan, so it's not pretty. I unintentionally uglied it further by covering it with foil last night. When I pulled off the foil, I scalped parts of the cake, pulling off the glaze and leaving big bald spots.
Once the beans are finished (hopefully before quitting time), I'll post my guinea pigs' (aka the technicians at Climate Control) critiques.
FYI if you happen to have this cookbook, note that I'm not following the recipes in order. I'm a procrastinator, and am saving the foods I don't like (i.e., shellfish) for last. Some of you would likely get them overwith as soon as possible, but that's now how I operate.
Okay more later. Happy Thursday, folks.
One way I'm having to detour from SL's instructions is by using a crock pot. I loaded up the ingredients (which seems heavy on the garlic, by the way) and put them in my little crock pot so this science experiment could cook while I work. I spilled a little in my car, which torks me off yet doesn't surprise me. I'm a klutz delux. Anyway, now my car smells like garlic. Nice.
My only experience tasting red beans & rice has been at Pearl's, and so far these neither smell or look like the beans at Pearl's. I'll just roll with it, though.
I'm a fairly accomplished baker, so the cake was a breeze. I used cheap cake mix (yep...Southern Living says to use a mix, which doesn't seem very Southern to me) and store-bought eggs, but it turned out just fine. I doubled the amount of caramel glaze it required, because if there's one thing I love, it's caramel. The recipe called for baking it in a 9" x 13" pan, so it's not pretty. I unintentionally uglied it further by covering it with foil last night. When I pulled off the foil, I scalped parts of the cake, pulling off the glaze and leaving big bald spots.
Once the beans are finished (hopefully before quitting time), I'll post my guinea pigs' (aka the technicians at Climate Control) critiques.
FYI if you happen to have this cookbook, note that I'm not following the recipes in order. I'm a procrastinator, and am saving the foods I don't like (i.e., shellfish) for last. Some of you would likely get them overwith as soon as possible, but that's now how I operate.
Okay more later. Happy Thursday, folks.
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