cooking without recipes

There's little things, like adding chocolate chips to the pancake mix. That's just a matter of how many chocolate chips you want per pancake (a lot, if you're me). Or dried fruit or whatever else you want.

I have a banana about to go bad--toss it into a pan with a little butter and brown sugar, allspice, maybe some nutmeg (or cinnamon if you're not allergic like me!), cook it until it's soft.

It is so easy in this day and age of pinterest and other recipe repositories to find something that may strike an idea. But it's not always the same thing as what you're going for--but you should be able to go off script for a bit. How many great things come from ad libbing?

I was rooting through the freezer the other day, bypassing all the meat my mom has stocked up (and considering the concerns for losing power last week, I can only imagine how much meat would have gone bad!) and found a package of dumplings. It looked like something Mom had found, was allergen free, and was thus purchase and somehow migrated to the back of the freezer. I had no desire for dumplings, so I continue rooting around.

We also had some sweet potatoes my mom had been begging me to finish off before they went bad. I wasn't in the mood for potatoes.

But I was watching the USA/Russia hockey game on Saturday and idly searching pinterest for some new recipe before I went to the store. I didn't see anything in particular, but I did see a recipe for ravioli. Mmmm, ravioli. Did you know that most ravioli have eggs in them? If not in the dough, often in the ricotta mixture as a binder. Or the other ravioli have meat. Regardless, I haven't had ravioli in forever.

I did have these dumplings...and sweet potatoes...So I cobbled together some mashed sweet potatoes and allspice, folded into dumplings, and boiled until tender. They weren't fabulous because I didn't do a great job pinching them shut due to the precut shape of the dumplings, but it's a start. The dumpling texture is surprisingly like pie crust, so is there any particular reason I should try something similar with piecrust dough?

Now I know that my allergies are the mother of all inventions. I have tried all sorts of ridiculous food combinations and replacements--tonight was crushed crackers (verified safe) in place of breadcrumbs...that one works. But you know when you're standing in your fridge, just looking in, trying to find something? I'm SURE there is something good you can try. You just have to think about it. I challenge you to try it next time you're looking for something to eat and can't find anything...I bet there's something there!

That's how my delicious lentil soup came into being...I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I tossed a bay leaf in and that made all the difference.

And I never have to worry about the banana going bad after I tried that trick with the butter, brown sugar and nutmeg. In a pinch, I just roast it with a little brown sugar. Done. Sweet and nutritious...maybe ;)

As a side note, this is the last food related blog I can imagine having the time to sit down and write before I take off for two months out of the country. I don't leave until mid-March, but it is time consuming to settle everything here and pack up for six weeks in Jamaica. Then I'm going for two weeks of vacation in the UK--mainly London, but also venturing north to Scotland. That has to be planned myself, so that's been rather challenging to put together. So needless to say, commentary on food will be turning over to the travel related.

At the very least, there will be more pictures. :)

pillsbury seamless dough sheets

Happy Groundhog Day everyone! It's supposed to be in the mid-sixties here today, so I'm really doubting the whole six more weeks of winter prediction, but who knows. :) I also started off my day with chocolate chip pancakes, so all is well in my world.

So I remember the days pre-allergy when I would blithely troop around the grocery store and generally buy the same things for the same meals. Occasionally I would venture forth and buy something new or interesting, but I'd settled into specific habits. As, I've reason to believe, most people shop. By necessity, I now have two methods of grocery shopping: the in and out, refuse to look at anything because I can't eat it, or the leisurely scouring of shelves looking for new things to try. Thus the mango lemonade that I had with my chocolate chip pancakes today.

I've encountered that few people have exploring the Pillsbury dough section. You know, the ones that come in tubes and you get to pop them open. First off, I love them because they have no yeast in them! I can easily come home and have biscuits--wheat, corn, honey butter (which is awesome), and the new blueberry ones (although I don't eat those because I can't have blueberries, but they're still new!). That's in addition to the classic homestyle and buttermilk ones. That's a fabulous selection right there, and let's not forget their utility in making casseroles and whatnot.

Pillsbury has also branched out in the cinnamon rolls land, and recently added some orange rolls for breakfast and I think another one but I don't remember those because I can't eat them. They also have tubs of gluten free dough to use. This is an oft-ignored section in the store and it's so useful I can't imagine why everyone is ignoring it (although, this is the most frequent part of the store where men hit on me...)

The whole point of this is there is a somewhat new creation which is the seamless dough sheet. It's basically the croissant dough without the seams to separate them and roll into croissants. The utility is endless!

First off, they make hot pockets with whatever entity you want inside. For example, I spread ranch dressing on it, sprinkle cheese and fake bacon liberally on it, roll it up, cut it in half, and cook for 20 minutes or so at 350. Easy and delicious.

It also works for desserts. While I don't recommend using actually fruits like cherry, you could pick up some pie filling or even just preserves, slice them into pinwheels, cook for maybe 12 minutes at 350 and then glaze them. Voila, appetizers for your parties!

I'm sure I could come up with a lot of other uses for these, but you get the idea. In an era where we could all benefit from more home cooked meals that are healthier for us, don't forget the utility of the Pillsbury doughs.

Also, there are frequently Kroger coupons for them. Another advantage. :)