Recipe Filters

I just saw a recipe that made me think, hm, that's interesting, but I'm not sure how that would look. I often have these thoughts come into my head, strange though it may be. The recipe was a roasted vegetable salad and I liked all the ingredients, it didn't seem difficult to make, and it might be an interesting platform to start with and tweak a bit to add other things I like. That said, then I saw what the salad looked like..... Um, No. Thank you. It's interesting to me how seeing a visual representation of a recipe can just make you  uninterested  - I'm even hungry right now, so that's no excuse because damn near everything looks good when I'm hungry, excepting cauliflower. I guess this need to see the visual end product can be based on being a visual person, like I am, or seeing what you should be working towards while making the recipe, or just not being a words/instructions person. This makes me think I need to work on my photos more. I do my best to self-edit, but sometimes ... well, you go overboard. I just don't want to include any photos that make me later think, um, No. Thank you. 

Words can put you off an otherwise interesting recipe as well. If there are too many words or if they are too detailed in the language they can set you against a recipe that sounds good, looks good, and includes ingredients you like, but appears to be too much work. I am often put off by a recipe full of overly wordy phrases. "Bring the pot to a simmer and reduce the heat to medium," in my mind should be "Bring to simmer, reduce to medium." Let's just get to the point succinctly. I also don't care for pithy parenthetical comments like, (Enjoy!) - blech.


I think our reading style, as a whole, has changed so much in recent years. Hardly anyone reads newspapers in full, magazine articles are shorter, with some few exceptions, the web is based on bullet points and not paragraphs - which I happen to prefer - I think recipes should be less verbose too. Oh, and I don't need the steps of a recipe numbered - just write them down in order that will do - no numbers required. 


Of course there are some filters for recipes that seem to be a given, but for me are not. Filter = I don't like the main ingredient = sure, but if you could change the main ingredient and still use the method and other flavors ... so is the main or any ingredient a deal breaker? I don't think so. 

I have one filter and it's still not a deal breaker. I'm seriously allergic to seafood - yes, all of it. Seriously - as in turn blue, stop breathing, die, allergic ... or is it stop breathing, turn blue, then die ... either way, dead is dead. But that doesn't mean I don't look at seafood recipes to see what I could do with veg or chicken instead of crab or flounder (or some other fish, since I know zippo about fish).

With the growth of food blogs, some professional, most not (um, including mine w/all the Miss Austen, beer, Ms. Heyer, and complaints and stuff), and the proliferation of recipes that include photos of everything from the ingredients to the end result and all manner of shots in between, it's probably a good thing that there are filters on my thought process for recipes. Otherwise, I would have lots of recipes and no time, and possibly not much inclination, to make anything.

Thin Oatmeal Pecan Cookies - recipe review

Original Recipe:

THIN OATMEAL PECAN COOKIES

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup water
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups oatmeal, not cooked
2 cups toasted pecans, roughly chopped

 Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

 Cream together butter and both sugars. Add eggs, vanilla and water.  In a bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Fluff together with a fork.  Stir dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, then oatmeal and pecans.

 Scoop out a rounded tablespoon of dough for each cookie, spacing them about 3 inches apart. Use a dampened spoon to flatten each cookie to about 2 inches in diameter. Bake 12 minutes or until golden. Cool for a few minutes before carefully removing from the parchment paper to a rack. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen large cookies
Via Cookie Madness

My Thoughts/Adjustments:
I started thinking about these cookies about a week ago -- I pulled out the recipe and who would have guessed, the last time I made it was almost a year ago exactly - what is it about early July that makes me want a oatmeal cookies. I have no earthly idea. Do I have some strange internal food clock in my head that wants these at the same time each year -- scary. I have only made this as a half recipe as this is for me. The guys aren't huge fans of sweets (although the boy has already snarfed down two), but I make cookies for me - mostly and occasionally to take to the office. 

I add a little more vanilla, but I almost always do - just me. I also bake for a little less because I put my cookies out in teaspoons, not tablespoons. I also prefer walnuts in these cookies - again personal preference. I also don't leave them on the baking sheet too long - they get too attached to the parchment paper. I add sultanas (1 cup)  - it's just not oatmeal cookies w/out raisins. Hell, I add raisins to my regular oatmeal. 
One thing I have realized - yet again - is how much I hate the timer on my stove - the buzzer is more that just annoying ... jeez - who the frig designed this damn thing - want to strangle it (or him - must be a guy who designed it) - but not possible to strangle inanimate objects. 
10 minutes in the oven - turning the pan half way through seems to work for me. 

Why do I like these cookies? They have all the great flavor of an oatmeal cookie without being too dense. They are chewy and crunchy at the same time and have just a perfect combination of flavors, chew, and lightness. Great cookie!

P'butt Dog Biscuits

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits - dogs now officially love me (when I'm in the kitchen).

2 3/4 c whole wheat flour
2 3/4 c all purpose flour
2 T brown sugar
1 t sea salt
1 c peanut butter
3 eggs
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 c H20


375 degrees
Combine flours, brown sugar & salt in large mixing bowl. Add eggs and p'butt and mix to incorporated. Mix in oil and add water as needed to develop a smooth dough. Set aside for 15-20 minutes to relax (covered). Roll out dough to 3/8 - 1/2" thick. Cut to desired shape. Arrange on parchment-lined pan. Bake approximately 40 minutes until slightly brown and fairly hard. Set aside to cool.


Source: White on Rice Couple

Notes: mixing the p'butt, wasn't easy, but it eventually came together. Ended up needing more than 1 cup of H20, but just a bit more. Easy easy to roll out. Cut into half dollar size (w/biscuit cutter). Added a score line so they can be broken in half. Made two heart shapes for Valentine's Day for Big and Little.

How to decide what's for dinner

Gave stickies, purple no less, to MotH to mark recipes for things he would like me to make for dinner and there were fifty (50! no kidding, exactly fifty) in More Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen). So I've done two and have on the list one more this weekend and so far (along w/the key lime bar recipe I made at Christmas - v.v.g.) they have been fairly straight forward, as always, easy to follow, and good. Too bad MotH marked so many recipes for pizza, but eventually I'll get him redirected.

Parmesan-Crusted Chicken pg. 240
What worked: cruchy, cheesy, rather tasty

What didn't: it needed something - you know that something that makes you think - this was really worth the effort. The chives (or in my case finely minced scallions) didn't stick so there was none of that flavor. Perhaps they should be put in with the shredded parm? not sure.

What else: I made a pan sauce of white wine, lemon juice, veg broth and 3 T of butter. I may have done this because I'm used to my Chicken Francese with Lemon and Pecorino recipe inspired by David Rosengarten.

What now: I'll probably make again, if just to figure out where to put the chives in. But will certainly make a pan sauce with it.