Concentrate, Woman, CONCENTRATE!

Why oh why am I always juggling a dozen things AND trying to cook at the same time?! It happens again and again!! Gah!!

I’m trying to pull out the ingredients for the Bavarian-Filled Eclairs while talking on the phone, starting a load of laundry, and assisting my son with his English homework.

WHY did I do that?

As I’m cooking the mix in the first step (butter and flour, trying to get the dough to firm up), it’s not working. It looks like Cream of Wheat when it should be looking like beautiful bread dough. I went over and over and OVER the ingredients list, and had my daughter go over it, too. It looked correct. After 45 minutes of non-stop stirring, hoping it would thicken, my blistered hand could take no more. I added more flour to the pot, and the mix started to change into something that looked more accurate.

I doubled the amount of butter needed. I measured 1 stick of butter to be 1/4 cup when it is 1/2 cup.

I tried baking a few anyway, just to see if they would turn out. My vote would be, uh, NO.

GRRRRRROOOOOAAANNNN!! This recipe was for my church group, too, which was meeting tonight! :’(

Well, I added more flour, what I could, and a lot of eggs. This is what they are. Not exactly the glorious products from Amish fireplaces… but over all, not too shabby.

They look OK. A little too brown for me, but still nice. They have a cake-ish consistency, not like the puff-pastry texture it is supposed to have. I will fill it with the most luscious Bavarian Cream filling and see how they turn out. I think they will be OK, just… different.

Well, lesson learned. NEVER multi-task when preparing an important recipe! NEVER!!!

Oops! Quick Fixes, Part 2

Here are some terrific Quick Fixes for those Oops! moments in our kitchens and homes. All these tips use handy things you already have around your home, and are intended to make your kitchen and home chores a little easier and a lot less expensive! I don’t have any super-duper advice on par with Asbestos legislation– these are just tips i have acquired through others, through my own experiments, and from reading other helpful tips and book. Check them out!

Are you a crybaby when peeling onions? Me too! Here’s what I do: Store the onions in the refrigerator. Cool onions aren’t as pungent. Or, you can peel them onion under cool running water. It is also said that cutting off the root end of the onion helps. Also, see my post How to Dice an Onion for a fast way to chop the onions.

Fast baked potatoes: my potatoes take FOREVER to bake in my cheapo radiant electric coil oven. Here’s a unique tip– poke a nail (clean, of course) into each potato. This will reduce the baking time by 15 minutes or so! Another idea is to cut a very thin slice from the end of each potato before baking.

Speaking of potatoes– do yours get mushy when boiled? Add a 1/4 cup white vinegar to the pot while boiling. The vinegar will keep the potatoes firm.

Vinegar is an amazing, amazing liquid! It has so many uses, as a laundry softener, a window-cleaner, and even as a tenderizer for boiling meat. If you soak an older chicken roaster in vinegar for a few hours before cooking, it will greatly improve the taste and tenderness of the tough old bird.

Vinegar is also useful for cleaning the coffeepot– allow a mixture of water and vinegar (4 parts water/1 part vinegar) to go through a complete cycle in your coffeepot. Do it again, with plain water. This is a good technique to do every week or two. Vinegar gets rid of the calcium deposits that buildup inside your coffeepot. It greatly improves the function of your pot and makes the coffee taste a lot fresher!

I’ve got lots more helpful hints coming up in future posts. Stay tuned for more!

Oops! Quick Kitchen Fixes, Part 1

We all make mistakes in the kitchen. Some more than others *cough cough*. I have an entire book devoted to those “oops!” moments when I’ve added too much salt or have run out of sugar and the guests are here for tea. Here are a few handy-dandy tips for hearth and home that you may find useful:

• Added too much salt to the stew or soup? Add a cut raw potato to the pot. Once the potato is cooked, throw it out. If the recipe is still too salty (gee, how much salt did you add, anyway?!), add another potato.
• Is your salt in your salt shaker a little sticky? We get this whenever the humidity rises. Add 7-8 grains of uncooked rice in your salt shaker to absorb the moisture. Works wonders!
• Someone in the family get car sickness while traveling? Pack some ginger root candy, and/or some ginger tea. Ginger helps soothe the stomach. It’s not exactly rocket-science medical travel advice, and it may not help some serious cases of motion sickness… but it’s worth a try!
• Speaking of humidity– if your potato chips lose their freshness, place them on a cookie sheet and under your over broiler for a few minutes. Don’t let them brown! They will taste burnt, and I don’t have a Quick Fix for that.
• Is your brown sugar rock hard? If you need some sugar fast, grate it with a hand grate. If you can wait, place a slice or two of soft bread in the brown sugar package for a few hours. And if you want to make your own homemade and more nutritious brown sugar, check out my recipe! Easy!