Tag: gummies

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Foodie Friday #6

Have you ever been one of “those people?”

You know, the ones that grocery cashiers hate? The ones that have an entire cart full of… bulk bin and vegetable items. Basically meaning that though your cart looks deceptively small, it’s going to take almost twice as long to go through all of these items. And on top of it, your handwriting isn’t exactly legible?

It’s all the Sharpie’s fault, I promise.

Last Friday, that was me. I think I spent twenty minutes at the bulk bin section of Whole Foods, if not more, and got very small quantities of spices, and some fruits and veggies. And olives from the olive bar… Actually my only scanned items were peanut butter and potato chips. (After all the bulk foods I needed some junk). So most of what I made this week came from that haul.

I made salt encrusted sesame seeds to spice up my bento lunches. And then I salted some peanuts and pumpkin seeds. And then used the same method to make lightly candied peanuts. I just used sugar and a little bit of salt instead of all the salt. They were all delicious.

I also made gummies again, and this time they even worked really well! I ‘borrowed’ orange juice from my roommate, so really, this cost me about a dollar and it made two pint jars packed with gummies.

Chai concentrate was on the menu, made with the small amount of spices I got from Whole Foods. Most of the recipes called for cloves, which Whole Foods was out of when I visited. I decided to just ignore them, and my concentrate is still pretty good! I bought a couple of cardamom pods and some black peppercorns, combined it with some ginger cut like coins, a cinnamon stick, and five cups of water. I simmered that for about thirty minutes, then added 10 tea bags for about ten minutes, and then I let it cool a bit. Added some sugar, heated until the sugar dissolved and cooled and jarred. I’ve been using coconut milk as creamer, and it needs a bit of added sugar as well, but it makes a delicious cuppa. I’ve been using about four parts hot water, one part concentrate, a dash of sugar and some coconut milk for the perfect treat.

Earlier I also decided to make sauerkraut. And when I say earlier, I’m not sure whether it was sometime two weeks ago or the week after, post-writing up my Foodie post early. I had bought this head of cabbage with this intention and then didn’t follow through for almost a week. Then I celebrated finishing homework early by massaging salt into cabbage. No one ever told me I was normal… I followed this procedure set up by the Kitchn, but I didn’t have a big enough mason jar. I did have a bucket, though, and I used a ramekin as the tamping device. My sauerkraut turned out crunchy and tasty after about four days of fermenting. And I’ve been enjoying it immensely ever since! The recipe did make a lot for a single person, but it will keep for forever in the fridge, so that’s good!

See you next week!

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Foodie Friday #4

The all important bread update: I obtained bread flour this week. And I used a recipe… For the most part. And yeast. I got yeast.

What really happened was that I determined that I was unwilling to wait on purely sourdough bread to rise… Meaning days. So I finally tried it with yeast, and added some bread flour and all purpose along with the wheat for good measure. All in all, a dough that rose and a bread that is only a little crumbly. Finally, a bread I can cut into slices less than an inch thick!

This week I also tried a bunch of new things.

Like smashed potatoes! Success! I’ve been looking for some lunch related sides that I can freeze in order to reduce time in the morning. My schedule has worked out so I only have early classes two days a week, so on those days I’m less likely to want to prepare lunch. Hence easy pull from freezer options! So smashed potatoes were up, since I had just bought a bag of little reds, and I was in a crush-things mood. Otherwise known as an avoid looking at homework mood. I seasoned mine rather simply, salt and pepper, and this Mrs. Dash everything type spice I found in the cabinet. The apartment I’m living in has collected a variety of food items over the years that have been left by previous tenants. Some, like the spice cabinet, are nice additions, since my spices of choice range in the number of 5, and others are not… Don’t ask me about the freezer. I’m still shuddering. Anyways, the potatoes are delicious, easy to reheat in the microwave, and a nice addition to my lunch arsenal. If I keep this up, though, I’m going to need to source slightly bigger potatoes. These were walnut size, and reminded me a bunch of the “You can’t eat just one” Lay’s campaign.

And gummies! Less of a success. I managed to make something resembling gummies quite well. I tried to use this recipe, but with fruit puree instead of juice, but then I stopped measuring… Which is likely why my gummies are not exactly room temperature friendly. They don’t melt or anything, but they taste like mush. Sweet mush nonetheless. Much better straight from the fridge. Also, I tried rolling some room temperature ones in sugar, like another tutorial suggested… That time they melted. It was almost like the sugar dehydrated them, by releasing the “juice” from the gummy. I ate them anyway, but they were too sickly sweet and liquidy to consider even vaguely gummies at that point. I’ll have to try freezing some, seeing how that one works, but all in all, this was a nice treat, and next time I’m stealing some of my roommates orange juice instead. Trying juice only.

And cookies… I made some cookies. This recipe is pretty good! I’ve tried it before and liked it, and when I next get the hankering for traditional chocolate chip cookies, I’m sure I’ll use it again!