Recipe 55: Okra and Carrot Fried Rice

Back in August I made fried rice for the first time ever. I did it with carrots and okra. I turned out pretty tasty, although I do not think I cooked it long enough or right to make it actually fried rice.

Recipe 54: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies

I made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies back in August. I have made Oatmeal Raisin cookies before, but never have done it with chocolate chips in them as well. They turned out pretty tasty, especially since I used dark chocolate chips. I think I even did it with a vegan recipe, but I cannot remember on this one. I might have used real eggs, but I kind of think I gave flax another chance and it redeemed itself and proved that it was the bananas and not the flax that messed up my Peanut Butter Banana Muffins.

Recipe 53: Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Broccoli

This is a recipe I made back in August. Just simple pasta with alfredo sauce and broccoli. Nothing special, but first time I have done this combination.

Recipe 52: Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Scones

I think I followed a recipe in the Joy of Vegan Baking for this. I made it back in July, so I kind of forget the details. I think the recipe was for just chocolate chip scones. I modified it by adding the peanut butter chips. These ended up being quite tasty and pretty easy to make.

Recipe 51: Margarita Cupcakes

I got a new cupcake book (my previous one had been ruined a few years ago) back in July and the first recipe I tried was the Margarita Cupcakes. I am tempted to split it into two recipes, as I am so behind on my goal and it was a different batter and frosting recipe for me, but I will keep it as just one recipe. The main reason I am keeping them together is that they stunk.

I kind of think it might have been the tequila in the frosting, but that does not explain the cupcakes themselves not being that great in cupcake consistency. Kind of made me unsure of trying the other recipes in the book, but I will eventually get around to some as they do sound good. I did at least learn how to make my own colored sprinkles with food coloring and granulated sugar from doing this cupcake recipe.

Recipe 50: Spring Roll Dipping Sauce

Back in July I made a spring roll dipping sauce to go with some rolls I had bought frozen. I followed this recipe I found online, although I do not think I put the corn starch in it. It was simple and easy, although the corn starch would be good for a not so runny sauce I ended up with, but that did not bother me.

Recipe 49: 4th of July Cookies

For the 4th of July I tried some different cookie decorating techniques. I used some stencils to make designs with sprinkles. I also used spray bottle style icing. Note that some of the cookies in the photos were actually my bro's designs, but they are kind of obvious being the more messier looking ones related to being his first experience with icing and having a more abstract art style anyways.

Recipe 48: Omelette

Another basic thing that I made for the first time on my own back in July. Pretty simple, but I still am not much of an egg person and not likely to make omelettes very often. I would rather just do simple scrambled eggs in the microwave (hate cleaning the frying pan).

Recipe 47: Grilled Cheese with Dijon Mustard

I made my first grilled cheese the end of June. I made them with dijon mustard. Since then it has become almost a weekly thing I make including one of the things I made for the 4th of July.

Recipe 46: Scrambled Eggs

Okay, so this is kind of stretching it, but really I never had made scrambled eggs in an actual pan until late June 2010. Sure I had made them in the microwave before, but that is not for real. Also, did not take a pic, but I still am counting it as a first attempt at a new thing to help me try to get 100 new to me recipes this year.

Recipe 45: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Back in June I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies using a recipe in the Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook. They ended up very delicious. I had never thought of putting chocolate chips in peanut butter cookies before and they really do go together nicely. I was pleased with these ending up nice and soft and chewy, which is how I like my cookies.

Recipe 44: Lemon Hard Candy

Back in mid June I attempted to make hard candy. I used a recipe from the back of the murder mystery book, Candy Apple Dead by Sammi Carter. The result of my attempt was flexible hard candy. It just did not end up hardening. I think it is because my candy thermometer is off and I did not boil the mixture quite long enough. It still tasted good, but it was kind of hard to make into pieces and really enjoy, so it mostly ended up in the trash.

Recipe 43: Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

This recipe ended up a disaster and hence kind of ended my muffin making streak in June. They tasted okay, but after a day they were very rancid tasting. Only odd thing I used was using flax to replace the eggs as the container said. It might have been the bananas were already too ripe, but I kind of doubt that. Even if it was the flax that messed up the muffins I do not think they would have been all that great when the peanut butter was too minimal flavor compared to the awesome Peanut Butter muffins, which still could use a little more peanut butter flavor.

Recipe 42: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

The Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins were the second in my little groove of muffin making in June. They were not as good as the Peanut Butter muffins, but they were still pretty tasty. I used a recipe in the Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook for these and was quite happy with the results. I do not know if I will make these again, though, as bananas in our household rarely last long enough to be good for baking and the peanut butter muffins are my favorite to make instead.

Recipe 41: Peanut Butter Muffins

I really need to catch up on this blog. At least I am only a little behind on the 100 recipe goal, as I just made recipe 52 today. The Peanut Butter Muffins were my first try at making muffins from scratch.

The peanut butter muffins turned out to be quite delicious. The kids I nanny for loved them. I have not gotten around to making them again, as I experimented with some other muffin recipes, but this is now my favorite muffin and I am thinking of making the, as cupcakes with jelly frosting and calling that another recipe towards my goal (the frosting part will at least be new to me).

By the way I followed this recipe. I used some of the suggestions in the reviews, though, such as lemon juice instead of cream of tartar and used oil and applesauce. I also used less sugar than called for.

Recipe 40: Pasta with Ginger Oil, Dill, and Cheese

Back in May I was bored and decided to make a random pasta recipe with what was in the kitchen. It ended up being quite tasty, although kind of odd. I simply made the pasta (cool flower looking pasta) and tossed in some shredded cheese (Mexican blend by the way), a little bit of ginger oil, and dill. So simple, yet so tasty, too. Just one of many ways to upgrade mac and cheese.

Recipe 39: Crab Cream Puffs

Finally I am into the recipes I made in May. For the Crab Cream Puffs I used the eclairs recipe I learned from the Baking Boot Camp to make the puffs. I found the Crab filling recipe online here. They turned out pretty tasty, although piping the crab filling is kind of hard because it is thicker than the normal cream puff filling. I will definitely be making this again and in fact probably this week.

Recipe 38: Garam Masala Spiced Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

This is the last thing I made at the herb and spice cooking class back in April. It was a really tasty cake. I might make it again in the future, but I still am not a big fan of cakes.

Recipe 37: Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Pesto

This is another sauce I made in the Herb and Spice class back in April. I never have been much of a fan of cilantro, but this was actually not too bad tasting. Not sure I would make it again, though, as I really do not know what I would use pesto with.

Recipe 36: Tarragon Aioli

The Tarragon Aioli (stuff on left in photo) is one of the things I made in the Herb and Spice Class I took back in April. It was pretty good with the Shrimp Fritters as well as not too hard to make. I just do not often make stuff to that aioli would be useful to go with.