I got inspired by another wordpress blog and made caramel corn.  I had been looking into savory things to add to chex to make a snack.  I had experimented with sriracha and peanut butter, never quite getting what I wanted.  A couple of tries were quite good though.  After making caramel corn I had extra chex and remembering a chex bar from childhood, I came up with a caramel that sounded good while watching TV one morning.  I really liked them and what I brought to share went really fast.

I’ll share that recipe at a later date when I bring it back for further experimentation.  In this instance I boiled the candy longer hardening it more, and tried to make something up based on the popular combination of chocolate and peanut butter.  In my opinion I got the candy to hardened, and my recipe may be missing something.  I think it could use a little salt, but it still tasted good.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Candied Chex Bars:

• 1/2 Cup of Butter – 1 Stick
• 3/4 Cup Peanut Butter
• 1/4 Cup Black Cocoa
• 1 Cup White Granulated Sugar\
• 1 Cup Karo Syrup
• 12 Cups Chex

1. Pour Chex into bowl that leaves room for manipulation.  Set aside
2. In a 2 Qt. saucepan melt butter and peanut butter over medium heat.
3. Add Cocoa and bring to a boil.
4. Add Sugar and Karo Syrup.  Bring to a boil.
5. Allow mixture to boil for about 1 to 2 minutes to candy.  The longer you boil, the harder your end product will be.
6. Allow mixture to cool slightly on a cold burner.
7. Pour mixture over bowl of cereal.
8. Stir until everything is well coated.
9. Pour onto large cookie sheet to cool.
10. After cooled portion and store as desired.

 

So I’m back, as promised.  One thing I strongly feel about cooking is that you need to get the point.  This is a recipe I made up over a year ago, based upon what I thought would make a good flavor combo.  A large portion of the time invested is in softening the potatoes with heat.  At the same time all of the added flavors will mix in the heated broth.  How you do this is up to your own ingenuity.

I tried something new this time around.  I tried a new way to accomplish the timely portion.  Before I had always used a slow cooker and let the mixture cook 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.  For Christmas I received an instant pot style cooker.  The hope was this would shorten a lengthy process with first world invention.  I had made a chili with it previously and that turned out.  As with any experiment based on hypothesis, it might not work the first try.  I learned you want a liquid buffer on the bottom of the pan because anything viscous will burn.  I also had an inordinate amount of steam.  I was going to google to see if maybe I should wait before releasing the steam.  In the end I had about a cup of water on the counter and the top of the cooker to mop up.

Potato Soup

• 28 oz. Cottage Cheese
• 16 oz. Plain Greek Yogurt
• 10-11 medium Gold Potatoes
• 28 oz. Skim Milk
• 1 lb. ham or bacon
• 1 lb. fresh mushrooms
• 1 cubic in. fresh ginger
• 5 large clove garlic
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Get a 6 qt. pot.  Add potatoes sliced small so they will cook faster, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and skim milk.
2. Grate ginger and peel garlic.  Add both to the pot.
3. Cook mixture until potatoes are soft and flavors have melded, stirring occasionally if your situation isn’t a black box like the instant pot.
4. While potato mixture is cooking, prepare ham or bacon along with the mushrooms so that they are fully cooked, will fit on a spoon, and are to your liking.
5. When potatoes are soft, take a stick blender and blend everything thoroughly.
6. Add desired amount of ham or bacon  to your serving.  Add cooked mushrooms.  Fill serving with blended mixture.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Stir serving to receive mushrooms and ham or bacon in almost every bite.

I fried my ham in a little olive oil until the water cooked out of it and there was slight browning.  I sautéed my mushrooms in olive oil.  First try at a new thing had me cleaning burned cottage cheese off the bottom of the pan, and dealing with a watery mess.  First world problems, what can I say?  The food is tasty and that’s all that matters in the end.  This activity is novel at the moment, so on to the next idea.

Have a good, or possibly a better,

Joshua Kooiman

Hello,

Space is definitely a frontier.  It is the sky, the great expanse that probably will never be conquered, if the big bang theory is to be believed.  Food has very easily attainable raw materials, props, and ideas which will make either a physical change or a chemical change.  Even in the worst of situations food is one of the most easily acquired natural resources.  We have basically spent all of human history perfecting how to acquire food.  For myself in a first world country, even if I had to walk, there is a supermarket within a few miles.  Props, the things we cook with, may be some of the most unique materials we store within our homes, but we ingenuit them and care for them.  Heat and cold are sometimes as easy to attain as going outside, but for extremes most of us can at the very least find something expendable to burn.  Even the disadvantaged among us will at some point in their lives cook a meal.  Typically if you have realized some greater achievement and have the means you might employ someone else to do your food inspiration.

I feel I have an eccentric viewpoint on the subject of food.  I basically consider it a creative process with all of the tools at hand and the ideas I have been exposed to.  I will probably only write approximately once a week or less due to the fact that this is a hobby I don’t have daily time for and I cook in bulk.  Later today or early tomorrow I will start with making something for my lunches at work.  I will make Potato Soup, which is kinda a misnomer of titles in that you already think of one particular thing as Potato Soup.  This is a soup which has as a main ingredient potatoes, and the name still felt appropriate.

So here I am signing off on my first blog.  When I started it was a day of a sliver of new hope in the west, a waxing crescent moon.  With one more day of waxing I will talk to you again.

Joshua Kooiman

 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton