Homemade Potato Chips

Part of my Too Chicken Poop to Try series... homemade potato chips. Here is the key to it all, a mandolin. If you don't have a mandolin, it'll make your job that much harder. I talked myself into getting one because I wanted to make my apple chips thinner & more evenly cut. I am glad I bought it and I'm even happier that I conquered my fear of  making my own potato chips. Let me tell you, it's SO EASY! Please get a mandolin, do it. They have a more intense potato flavor & I'm excited to experiment with this.

 

Peel the potatoes & cut them in half . Slice on the smallest setting on the mandolin (mine just says 1). Just like making French Fries, you need to wash off the starch off the potatoes before frying them. I just placed the mandolin over a bowl of water & they just plopped right in.

Then I pulled them out of the water & left them in a colander to drain.

 

They were still kinda wet so I put them between paper towels & dried them.

 

Pat pat pat!

 

My first experimental chippie...

 

I did them in small batches. The bubbles become smaller as the chip is "done"

 

I just tossed all my done potato chips in a little salt. Yum, super yum.

 

 

Tips- once the chips are cooked, you'll need to take them out right away. There is a fine line as they are "done" before they become mostly brown. scoop them out quickly.

Also, if you cut them too thickly, they become more like french fries. The outside is done and the inside is more like cooked potato. I found this out when I fried the ends of the potato- they were thicker than my potato slices.

 

 

You'll need potatoes, I HIGHLY recommend a mandolin for even slicing, a pot with enough veg oil to fry. I also used a wooden spoon to slosh my chips around and get an even cook on them.

 

 

Crepes

I made crepes over the weekend. These are filled with strawberry jam... I also serve it plain with just maple syrup OR I change the extract to orange and fill with dulce de leche- SUPER YUM!

Here is a repeat of the recipe I use:

2C- Flour
1/4C- Sugar
1/2tea- Salt
2C- Milk
2- Eggs
1-2T- Butter
Vanilla (or other) extract

VERY QUICK Chicken & Stuffing

1- 8oz Chicken Stuffing
1 Stick Butter
4 large chicken breasts, cooked & chopped
2- 10oz Cream of Chicken Soup
2C- Chicken Broth

Combo stuffing and butter

Put stuffing on the bottom of a 9x13 pan
Arrange chicken on top
Mix the soup & broth and pour over chicken

Bake 350 for 40 minutes

Artichoke & Spinach Pasta

http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/02/spinach-artichoke-baked-pasta/


So I just made this for dinner... I give it a B-/C+. Basically I doubt I'd be making this one any time soon... although it was a really good concept. I'm still dreaming about that Lime/Cilantro/Coconut/Curry Chicken that I made last week.

Red Velvet Mug Cake *Perfected!!*

Ok, a few trials and errors and here it is. If you like red velvet cake-- and a single serving appeals to you (actually, I could only eat about half of this, so share this with a friend)... I've NAILED THE RECIPE!!!

I found the original on a website, but it didn't come out well... After I tweeked it, it's perfect.

Mix together in your mug:

4T- Flour
4 1/2T- Sugar
1/8tea- B. Powder
1 1/2T- Cocoa Powder (I used Ghirardelli)
3T- Veg Oil
3T- Buttermilk
1 Egg
1/2 tea- Red Food Coloring... (I used a red velvet extract)

Pop it into the microwave for about 3 minutes. The cake will pull away from the mug (use a large mug) and take a spoon and take a look at the bottom of the cake. It's ok if it's a little wet, but not a puddle of raw batter...

The topping is mixed in another bowl

1 1/2 oz- Cream Cheese
1T- Butter
1/4C- Sugar

Lime and Coconut Chicken

http://www.pinnedbydani.com/2012/04/02/lime-and-coconut-chicken/


I'm very excited to be trying this recipe tomorrow... will make this marinade tomorrow and will have it tomorrow night over a bed of white rice... I'm thinking a nice salad on the side would be great. :)

UPDATE- OMG! I will totally make this again. It's going into the reliable rotation!!! If lime, coconut, curry, cilantro sound good to you- then MAKE THIS MAKE THIS MAKE THIS!!!

These are the things I did differently.

1T of cumin instead of 1 tea
1T parsley instead of coriander
1T of curry powder instead of 2 tea
3/4 of a can of coconut milk
NO Cayenne or hot chili

I want 3rds, 4ths and 5ths RIGHT NOW! Super yum. Make it, love it, thank me later!

Mug Recipes Part II

Ok, so this weekend I had some successes... Today I tried 2 more mug recipes and both didn't thrill me.

The first recipe was a red velvet cake. I thought my cake was done at a 1 1/2 minutes and it wasn't. I added the frosting and it just went down hill from there. I have to re-test and try to cook the cake the full 2 minutes, make SURE the cake is totally cooked and then put the topping on.

http://kirbiecravings.com/2012/03/red-velvet-mug-cake.html

The second recipe was an "instant" mug of mac & cheese. I REALLY like the idea of this recipe, but i wasn't too thrilled, although I'm going to try it again and see if I can't fix it.

http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2012/05/17/instant-mug-o-mac-cheese-in-the-microwave/

SO Both of these recipes don't totally have my stamp of approval yet-- but I have a few ideas... must re-test soon!! ;)

Mug recipes series

I see this all the time, mug recipes. Ingredients that you mix in a mug and then pop into the microwave. The first time I tried it, my son & I made a brownie in a mug. Epic failure. Super gross.. I recently found two recipes that I kinda like! It's prefect to make an individual serving and not have to hang on to a huge cake. With that said- I don't think I would serve it to guests... I think if I just had a craving I would do it...

"Chocolate Chip Cookie in a mug" this is more like a cake- but has a lot great chocolate chip cookie flavor in it. DEFINITELY good for a cookie craving (so you're not sitting on a messy kitchen or having to turn on your oven OR stuck with a ton of extra cookies). Maybe I'll give it an A-...

http://www.pinporium.com/for-those-days-you-just-want-to-make-one-cookie-1-tbsp-butter-melted-1-tbsp-white-sugar-1-tbsp-brown-sugar-3-drops-of-vanilla-pinch-of-salt-1-egg-yolk-14-c-flour-2-tbsp-chocolate-chi


Ok, now the second mug recipe I tried was this morning... it was supposed to be a coffee cake in a mug. I would give this a B.

http://prudentbaby.com/2011/10/entertaining-food/a-cup-of-coffee-cake-in-under-five-minutes-2/

I have a few more recipes that I want to try out (mug recipes)... if you have any mug recipes that are really good or would like for me to try out- just email me at diycookingnation@yahoo.com