Sigh.  It’s week 5.  Week 4’s dishes were done last night at the time.  I had hoped to go for a gold star again this week, but I had to spend an hour an a half one the phone with Turbo Tax, trying to figure out why my tax information for last year had up and disappeared, since I’ve been using their online service since my 2001 taxes.  Yeah.  So no No-Pan Pear Pie, that actually has cake and blue berries in it.  Yeah – that’s a weird one.  Instead we had a meal, I’m going to call the Big Hot Mess.  Because really – nothing went right.

19 recipes down, 189 to go.

The Recipe:  Bar-B-Fu, I’m Just Here for the Food 2.0, page 35
Protein Dish

Cooking Notes:  (From now on, I’m including Snafus in with the cooking notes.)  This was basically marinated firm tofu that was then seared off in a pan with a sauce made from the marinade.  And beer. Sounds simple, right?  And it would have been.  The thing was – that the directions say to let it sit in the marinade for 1 hour to over night.  Really – it should be a minimum of 24 hours (in all mine ended up to be a 10-hour time frame).  I made a little change to the recipe, using crushed red pepper flakes instead of chilis – because we don’t like chilies here.  The red pepper did give it some heat, and some flavor, but it would have been SO much better if there would have been time for it to soak in a little more.  Then – I couldn’t get the damn thing to sear.  Not. At. All.  The sauce did work out right, though I seriously had to crank up the heat to get it to reduce.

Family Reaction:  All of us gave it the hairy eyeball.  It was Dan that suggested the marinade time needed to be longer – and that the pieces should have been thinner.  Both very good suggestions.  The Kid – I think he found the flavor intriguing, but the texture…not so much.  So – I doubt we’ll try this again, though I almost want to….

The Recipe:  Delta Cole Slaw, Feasting on Asphalt, page 97
Produce Dish

Cooking Notes:  Okay – I hate grating.  Hate it.  So I didn’t grate the cabbage – I chopped it instead.  So the pieces were a little bigger than they should have been.  I didn’t grate the carrots, I made ribbons like yesterday.  But other than that – it went together nicely, and it tasted pretty good – though I think this could have used with sitting in the fridge for longer than just an hour.  That and more vinegar – it needed  bit more tang.

Family Reaction:  No nays, but then again – no yays either.  The boys ate it without complaint, though everyone, including me left some on their plate. The flavor was good, but I wish it could have been turned up just a smidge.  Meh

The Recipe:  Building a Better Biscuit, the 2nd Iteration, I’m Just Here for More Food, page 139
Starch Dish

Cooking Notes:  Silly me – there were no directions with this recipe.  So what I should have done is use the directions in the little flap that over laps the left hand page.  Instead I winged it.  And I did two things wrong – worked the dough too much, and I kept them in the oven a couple of minutes too long.  I need to practice biscuits again.  I wanted to do the first iteration – which was off an old flour bag, but last week didn’t work out as expected.

Family Reaction:  The boys liked them – thought they were the best part of the meal, but that they weren’t extraordinary.  Me – I thought they were better than biscuits from the can – but not by much.  Thing is – I REALLY like the biscuits from the can.  But these were better – the dough was in any case.  These are made with your typical ingredients, but added lard and some yogurt for the wet ingredients.  This makes for a biscuit that is on the tangier side.  Which is good.  They would have been really good if I hadn’t left them in too long.  The recipe said  15-17 minutes – I think these were done at 12.

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So – it was a big, hot mess this week.  Maybe the dessert will hit it out of the park.  But pound cake going in a pie – even it’s it’s more like a gallette?  It just seems WRONG.  Cake in the pie?  Could that be a lie?

Alrighty then.  I have cleaning up to do, and then I should go play Portal.