I had to wait to post for two reasons. The Husband was gone for most of the night yesterday with his play and Fancy was sprawled across my lap, not letting me up. Also, I had only tried one new recipe! I was horrified and decided I needed to try at least one more before I posted.
I had a bunch of late nights this week and the Husband was at practice, so I had frozen chili and microwave soup, while he had pork one night and leftovers or a frozen meal the rest of the nights.
Here’s Fancy, judging me for the lack of meal planning and homemade dinners… (I’m pretty sure it was actually her judging me for stopping the pets to take the picture.)
Here are the couple of recipes I made:
1- Grilled Cuban Flank Steak from Kayln’s Kitchen.
https://kalynskitchen.com/cuban-flank-steak-recipe/
This was pretty good! It marinated while I was at work and we broiled it on Tuesday. It got dark a little too quick to grill. The Husband had a salad, I had buttery garlic green beans. I also had a pear.
2- Banana Carrot Dog Treats.
I had a banana to use and since we are still keeping Fancy off chicken, she needed more treats. She was less than enthused about the fish biscuits I found at the store, so I decided to go with things I knew she liked. She does not like bananas plain, but loves carrots.
I just got my bone shaped cookie cutters in the mail. This is the smallest cutter. I figured if I was going to be the crazy lady who bakes for her dog, I may as well have the cute shapes. I subbed rye flour for the whole wheat flour. The dough is very wet and looks like it won’t hold together, but it actually did. Fancy seems to enjoy them.
3- Chocolate Chip Bars from The Wooden Spoon Cookbook by Miriam Miller. Section: Cakes and Cookies
This is for my father-in-law. It’s his birthday today, so I thought he could use a giant cookie. 🙂 I added vanilla to the batter and used M&Ms too. We haven’t eaten it yet, but it smells good. We are planning to eat it with ice cream.
I made another batch of yogurt and have found the perfect ratios for me, so I thought I would share my secrets. It’s the recipe from the instruction manual for my yogurt maker, so it’s not a new one, but it works very well. The yogurt maker was a terrific investment.
I’ve been making just plain yogurt and then typically adding jam, mini chocolate chips or coconut flakes, and some type of nut. This bowl has my homemade strawberry marmalade and walnuts. Mmmm….
Here’s what I do. Heat 5 1/4 cups milk to 180 over low to medium heat. (It’s not supposed to boil, but I swear it waits for me to look away and then explodes, so it has typically boiled.) Turn off the heat and let it cool to 95. Then I add 10 T of dried milk powder to the mix along with the starter yogurt and whisk it until smooth. Pour the mix into my little jars and put the machine cap on. 8-10 hours later, I have beautiful, firm yogurt to eat. It almost has the texture of greek yogurt.
One of these times I will try making it with jam, but I like the freedom of having plain yogurt. I got through the mix in about a week and save one jar for a starter. I’ve not seen a difference using homemade yogurt or storebought as a starter. It’s definitely saving us a bunch of money, considering what I was spending on yogurt per week.
I have plans to make dinners in the crockpot over night in the next week. I just made three beef freezer meals and have plans for three chicken ones, plus the omes we had already. The Husband’s play opens this coming week, so he will need lunch and dinner at work. I want to try some more veggie meals for me too. If I make the dinners overnight, we can both have it for lunch and then he can figure out a second meal.
Well, it’s time to head out to deliver the cookie! Hopefully he likes it!
