Regrowing Green Onion Sprouts in Water

  By Kristen | May 11, 2012 - 9:07 am | General
Leave a comment

Regrowing Green Onion Sprouts in WaterBoth John and I really love adding green onions to many of our meals, and after doing a little research on the internet (just search for ‘regrowing green onions’), we decided to try a very simple experiment.Take the root ball end of the green onion (ours had a little green up top still, as you can see in the image) and put it in a jar of water in a sunny place. It will regrow at an alarming rate! This image, taken yesterday, shows growth of only about a day and a half. This morning it was even more surprising – like some kind of fragrant alien flora or the vegetable equivalent of a tribble. ;)

After reading some of the suggestions online, I think I’ll be planting these in soil after a few weeks/months too, and see where it goes from there. It’ll be fun to try this with other herbs too (basil was suggested in one article – buy a clipping and root it in water before planting), although eventually we’re going to run out of counter space and have no place to chop up the onions in the first place… or maybe that’s their evil plan to begin with!

Bookmark and Share

Crumb Top Apple Pie

  By Kristen | May 8, 2012 - 9:25 am | Desserts, Pies, Recipes
Leave a comment

This Crumb Top Apple Pie recipe is just the thing if you don’t have enough apples to make a regular apple pie; the recipe originally called for three cups of sliced apples instead of the usual six cups. Of course, this recipe requires a lot more butter for the topping than the basic apple pie recipe too, but we actually HAD butter we needed to use up (long story involving a malfunctioning refrigerator) so it worked out for us.

I started with the recipe from the The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook and made a few changes – you can get our modified version here: Crumb Top Apple Pie Recipe (also includes a link for a printable version.)

And here’s the glorious outcome!

Crumb Top Apple Pie by FoodFollies.com

The topping was nicely crisp, and since the apple filling layer is thinner, it’s not QUITE as much sticky-sweetness as a normal apple pie. I’d recommend eating it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to round out all the flavors nicely.

Bookmark and Share

Aw, Nuts. I mean, Trail Mix!

  By Kristen | March 27, 2012 - 10:00 am | Side Dishes & Snacks
Comments Off

John and I have been making our own homemade trail mix lately. It’s much less expensive than buying it in those little bags, you can make a lot to have on hand and fill multiple containers, plus you can put in EXACTLY what you want!

Our usual mix seems to have evolved into a can of mixed nuts, a can of cashew pieces (since mixed nuts simply don’t have enough cashews!), yogurt raisins, and golden raisins.  We also have some M&Ms, but we keep those in their own container – it’s safer that way – LOL. We mix together a bunch, then put a container out on the coffee table to munch on, and with nuts, it doesn’t take much to fill you up, plus there’s lots of protein and good fiber in the whole mix.

I highly recommend making your own trail mix – just think of all the weird things you’d put in your ideal snack!

homemade trail mix - foodfollies.com

 

Bookmark and Share

Chocolate Cream Pie

  By Kristen | March 9, 2012 - 11:12 am | Desserts, Pies
Comments Off

The other day I had just the right amount of the right ingredients to toss together a homemade chocolate cream pie – graham crackers and butter for the crust, instant pudding and milk for the filling, a cup of heavy cream for the whipped cream (with a bit of sugar), and a nice chunk of organic chocolate to shave on top. I love impulsive cookery when it works out!

I had a photo of the entire pie, but the up-close shot of the shaved chocolate was much more interesting that the ragged edges of the homemade graham cracker crust. :)

Bookmark and Share

Delicious Ginger Cookies

  By Kristen | December 8, 2011 - 10:04 am | Cookies, Recipes, Reviews
2 Comments

Our friend Tom not only gifted us with a fantastic (and fantasically heavy) new cookbook, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt In Your Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich, full of all kinds of amazing cookie recipes, he got us started by baking up some of the most amazing ginger cookies – with THREE kinds of ginger: candied ginger, minced ginger AND ginger powder. They were sooo delicious – with that cracked and sugared exterior and the soft, chewy insides, and the sweetness mixed with that hint of hot ginger spice. Just AWESOME. What? You want a photo? FINE…

We’ve only started to delve into all of the deliciousness promised in this cookbook, but even just on these cookies alone I highly recommend it! Click on the cookbook below to go to amazon and check it out in greater detail!


[Tags: , , , , ]

Bookmark and Share

Lemon Blackberry Thumbdrop Cookies

  By Kristen | November 18, 2011 - 10:52 am | Cookies, Recipes
Comments Off

Had the urge to bake cookies today!

I used this basic Thumbdrop Cookie Recipe but swapped out the almond extract for two teaspoons of lemon extract, and filled the cookies with blackberry jam.

They’re very tasty, and imagine they’d be really nice with ‘afternoon tea’ or the like, as they are somewhat delicate in flavor with that burst of berry. Happy Friday!

[Tags: , , , , ]

Bookmark and Share

Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

  By Kristen | October 6, 2011 - 8:47 am | Cookies, Recipes
Comments Off

Last week I made soft and chewy peanut butter cookies, with chocolate chips. They came out SO good. If you want to try an alternative to the more traditional crunchier type peanut butter cookies – this’ll do ya.

 

I started with an online recipe and made a few small tweaks, as usual. Here’s the recipe (which you can also find in our official recipe files by clicking here)…..

Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In medium size bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In large bowl, combine butter, peanut butter, brown and white sugar until creamy.

Add eggs. Stir well.

Stir in the corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Place loaded teaspoons of the dough on ungreased cookie sheets. Even when the dough is soft these cookies do not spread, so if you want your cookies a little flatter, pat each teaspoon of cookie dough down into a flatter cookie shape before baking. You can leave each drop of dough as is if you want them a little bumpier and irregular.

Bake each sheet of cookies for 9 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. After baking, cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Mmmm… cookies……

[Tags: , , , , ]

Bookmark and Share

Loaded Baked Potatoes

  By Kristen | September 26, 2011 - 7:19 am | Main Dishes
Comments Off

Here in the northern hemisphere, we’re edging into the kind of weather that’s great for meals like roasts, casseroles, and, yes, loaded baked potatoes! This one has sharp white cheddar cheese, bacon, and chopped green onions…

Other topping ideas include… diced tomatoes, parmesan cheese, broccoli, and probably a lot of other leftover things you have in your refrigerator. We usually eat loaded baked potatoes as a main dish, since eating them WITH other food seems like WAY too much to eat at one sitting, but your mileage may vary of course.

[Tags: , , , , ]

Bookmark and Share

Organic Marshmallow Farmer

  By Kristen | July 29, 2011 - 5:49 am | Desserts, Foodie T-shirts & Shopping
Comments Off

This design began with a really weird conversational tangent, became an Out of Context Quote, and then ended up on a t-shirt!

I think most kids would choose “Organic Marshmallow Farmer” as their desired career path if they were aware of their existence – they are a small, but growing community! *grin* Besides, marshmallows grown and harvested the all-natural way simply taste better. (Click the t-shirt to see all the apparel and other items available to advertise this environmentally humorous choice of vocation.)

[Tags: , , , , ]

Bookmark and Share

Portuguese Sweet Bread

  By Kristen | July 3, 2011 - 4:12 am | Breads
Comments Off

A little while ago we bought Easy, Fabulous Bread Making: A collection of quick, no-knead, homemade bread recipes by Barbara Mack (who is an online friend and independent author. And the book is now also available in a Kindle Version) and have been practicing our art of bread making as we get a chance. These are all no-knead recipes in the book; the first rise is done entirely in the refrigerator and you leave the dough in there anywhere from 8 hours to 5 days, so plan ahead and don’t get impatient! (My biggest ‘folly’ with bread making – LOL. But let me tell you that at least 8 hours of slow ‘refrigerator’ rising gives a GREAT flavor!)

Yesterday morning I made her dough for Portuguese Sweet Bread. At about 5 p.m. I took it out of the fridge, formed it into a boule (round loaf) on an oiled baking sheet as recommended. After about 3 hours it finally started to do more than ‘unchill’ itself and started to seem more like bread dough again. But then I broke from the directions and put it in a glass bowl I could also bake it in so it retained it’s shape and more depth, as it seemed like it was spreading out more than rising. It turned out to be a good move – the final bread came out nice and round and golden brown:

As it was too hot and too late to taste it last night, I had a healthy piece for breakfast and it tastes absolutely delicious! I doubt if it will last more than a day here. I will definitely be making this again!  Thanks, Barb!

[Tags: , , , , ]

Bookmark and Share