Chicken Burgers...with a kick

This was tonight's experiment.  I made my own garam masala following the recipe I learned from Alton Brown (the recipe is at the bottom of this recipe link), and I ground my own chicken.  The flavors are surprisingly complimentary, but I'll confess I got a little carried away with the sauces so when we took a bite of the burgers they nearly shot across the table leaving us with empty, saucy buns.  Okay, not really, but very close.

The kids weren't so keen on the burgers.  The garam masala comes with a bit of a kick making the burgers spicy.  Sometimes these experiments will work well with the kids and sometimes not.  Today was a predictably "not" day because they're both pretty warn out from a run-a-thon they participated in, and they weren't particularly hungry to begin with.

All-in-all, the flavors are good and it was a nice change of pace from beef burgers, grilled chicken, or turkey burgers.  I'm not sure they rise to the level of "favorite", but we'll probably have them again some time.

Chicken for Dinner

Last night I served this chicken recipe.  The flavor was good (assuming you like a sweetness to your meat), but mine didn't turn out much like the picture.  *I* liked the flavor (I like sweet with my meat) and the kids liked it (they like sweet anything), but my husband isn't much of a fan of sweet meat.

Since I ran out of the "glaze" anyway, I put hot spicy on my husband's chicken and kept the sweet stuff for the rest of us.  It worked out fine, but goes against my usual practice of fixing the same thing for everyone.  I might try it again sometime, but the next time I'd make the glaze more runny and make more of it.

Wire Wrap Class #1

I took a wire wrapping class at my local bead store last night. It was the beginner wire wrap class - a prerequisite for the advanced class that I will take in June. They used different materials than what I was originally taught with and I found them to be a little tricky to work with. However, I do see some potential for the material and look forward to practicing some more with it. I also learned some helpful tips and a couple of new techniques. I can't wait for the next class!

Biker Food

I made this breakfast casserole for breakfast when we had a gang of biker dudes crash at our house during the Vermont day of their New England road trip.  It was quite a hit.  Throw in a package of bacon, a jug of orange juice, and a dozen eggs and you have yourself a breakfast feast fit for five kings...or five bikers.

Harley Night Starter

Tonight we have a small group of Harley Davidson riding guys crashing at our house.  It's not the most beautiful day for a ride, but hopefully it will be a nice evening for socializing.

The recipe needed some tweaking, but I think it's a fresh change of pace to the usual dips.

...DONE!

It took a chunk of the weekend (along with some other projects like cutting down three trees, getting the garden ready for planting, hanging the new rope swing, and several other smaller jobs) but the new hammock area is done.  The hammock is handing and the area is raked and cleaned up.  Now I can add some shade-loving perennials to the area for some real visual appeal.  Maybe I can do that next weekend.

 

A weekend project...

Several years ago we received a hammock and the pieces to build a hammock stand.  I have read bedtime stories to the kids in that hammock, napped in it, read books there, and soaked in the sights and sounds of the forest that is our back yard.  Over time, the hammock had to be replaced.  And last summer we discovered that the cedar beams used to make the stand were drying out and starting g to split.

With a new hammock season upon us, I wanted to create as place where the hammock could hang again so that we might enjoy some more naps, novels, snuggles, and nature.  I found the perfect place just off the the area where our deck will someday go.  There are two hefty trees spaced perfectly apart.

Patrick helped by hauling the cut branches, vines, and forest debris to the back edge of our property where such yard waste foes to decay.  And then he helped me hange the hammock.

Easy Cheesy

Tonight's recipe experiment was Cheesy Zucchini. We often get a lot of zucchini in our summer CSA, and I like to grow basil in my garden, so this could be a good fit.  It has a good flavor, and it's so basic that there are lots of possibilities for jazzing it up; different cheeses, spices, etc.

It's a super-easy recipe, but I had a couple of "problems".  First, 35 minutes was not quite enough to render the zucchini done, and second, it wasn't enough time to brown the cheese.  Aside from that, it was a nice alternative to plain summer squash and zucchini.

Happy Mother's Day

You win some...

And you lose some. Although I wouldn't actually call tonight's dinner a "loss", it just wasn't a hit.

I like to try recipes out on my family, friends, and guests.  I experiment at least once or twice a week unless it's a super busy week; more if I'm looking for some fun in the kitchen.

I started these weekly experiments almost twelve years ago when I discovered that my "favorites" cookbook had recipes in it that I had actually never tried.  I was a relative newlywed at the time with a new baby, and I didn't know what kinds of food my growing family really liked.  So, I pulled every recipe out and began cooking my way through the entire cookbook.  I had three rules. 1) everyone has to be honest about their opinion of the experiment (if you don't tell me you don't like it, and *I* like it, you may see it again), 2) I can't take your opinion personally (which I had a tendency to do), and 3) there's always pizza.

We never actually ordered pizza in all those years, but there have been a handful of "we don't have to do this one again".  What do I have after twelve years of experimenting on my family and friends?  Well, my family still loves me.  I still have my friends.  And my "favorites" cookbook is now two overflowing cookbooks that I am now trying to digitize into recipe software so that I can find them easier.  I also have a new appreciation for Martha Stewart, Alton Brown, Ina Garten, and Emeril Lagasse...to name a few of our favorites.

I may just keep posting my little experiments here and share my experiences.  We've collected some fun recipes along the way.  Maybe I shouldn't just tuck them away in my recipe software, but pass them on for others.  Just don't start with this one.

Thank you, Mom and Marc