HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Koffee Klatch...for Thursday!

Support Forums
>
Fibromyalgia
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 2/25/2010 5:49 AM (GMT 0)
What is your latest "Secret Ingredient"? We all need to cook from time to time. Some of us actually enjoy it. tongue But I'm one who just can't make a recipe exactly as written. So when I try new recipes, which I do a lot, I always seem to mess with them or resort to a few ingredients I like. Once in a while I pick up on a new way to make something and try it in other dishes. Here's an example.

I made some banana bread a couple of months ago that was called Maple Walnut Banana Bread. Wow, that sounded yummy and it is! It's like a basic banana bread but the one ingredient that was different was a 1/2 teaspoon of Maple Flavoring, which I just happen to have. It was sooo yummy. Well, next time I made some oatmeal cookies I put just a bit of the maple flavoring in them and wow, they were so much richer tasting. Any recipe that uses brown sugar for a sweetener might benefit from just a bit of this yummy flavor. So that's my latest "Secret Ingredient'. smilewinkgrin

What's new in your cooking techniques? Are you into balsamic vinegar? What about something new to spice up a barbecue sauce? Is grilling your latest thing? Let's share and help spice up each others meals and lives...

Chutz
Posted 2/25/2010 3:52 PM (GMT 0)
If I tell, it wont be a secret any more. But I made a pot of chili the other day. I used brooks chilli beans and tomatoes and all the good stuff. But put some extra cumin in it. Boy did it ever turn out good.

Another spice I like is basil. I put in my roasts and chicken when I bake it. Also a trick I learned about turkey. Put a little garlic under the skin of the breast. Yum.

Hugs, Karen
Posted 2/25/2010 4:24 PM (GMT 0)
The only recipe I have can be used on chicken, hamburgers, steaks, and probably pork too. It is a marinade that I came up with all on my own one night when I was making chicken for dinner. I really wanted teriyaki chicken, but all the recipes I found seemed too gross or too complicated, so I decided to try making my own. It was amazing how awesome it turned out. Both my hubby and I were pleasantly suprised at how well it turned out. I used teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, olive oil, some wine if I have it on hand, rosemary, parsley flakes, and garlic powder. Let me tell you, it is absolutely amazing. I would include measurments, but I don't measure with anything except my perception. One night, my hubby was grilling out hamburgers, and I decided to try my marinade on mine. It turned out soo juicy and good. It makes me want a grilled out marinaded hamburger right now. It sucks it isn't grilling season.
Posted 2/25/2010 5:08 PM (GMT 0)
Oh Sassy...any season it grilling season!! If you use a gas BBQ it's a bit hard since the gas doesn't burn quite the same but we've grilled with snow on the ground. Propane burns on vapors and when the tank is cold it's hard for those vapors to form. If the tank is stored somewhere that's warmer than the outside temperature, when you use it the propane will burn properly. Make sure the Chef has on a good winter coat...lol

Chutz

ps....never store a propane tank in your house, attached garage or anywhere there might be a flame. Those tanks will leak out of the expansion valve when temperatures change. Just be safe!
Posted 2/25/2010 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
hahaha... yes any season is grill season :)... We were making pumpkin pie one year and didn't quite have enough pumpkin to finish the last pie so we used the bananas that we still had in the house... Let me tell you it ain't the same without it... It was so good I can't make myself eat just regular pumpkin pie anymore.
Posted 2/25/2010 5:43 PM (GMT 0)
I don't cook much, but sometimes I increase the amount of onions. Or sometimes I add onions when there aren't any. Diane
Posted 2/25/2010 6:21 PM (GMT 0)
I, too, use basil on my roasts.  It makes the gravy extra flavorful, too.  I like to add Worcestershire sauce to many things I make. like goulash and meatloaf. 

 

Chutz, maple is my very favorite flavoring so I'm going to try your ideas.   

 

Sherrine

Posted 2/25/2010 8:55 PM (GMT 0)
Diane, my secret to cooking is my DH, LOL. He made himself a carrot cake last night, I can't have gluten and he doesn't like gluten free stuff.

 

Sassy, I use Lawry quick Teriyaki Merinade for my steaks. I don't have steak very often but don't want any if it hasn't been marinated in it.

 

When I do bake for the holidays I do like using different flavorings like black walnut in cookies instead of vanilla. I have put rum flavoring in pecan pies or maple. When I make my banana bars I use banana instead of vanilla that the recipe calls for. I like to use walnuts in a lot of things like a sweet potato with butter, brown sugar and a handful of walnuts on top, yummm.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Posted 2/26/2010 12:38 AM (GMT 0)
My favorite thing to use in recipes is garlic.  I use it so much and it's suppose to be good for you.  My dh doesn't always appreciate it, but it does add flavor to so many dishes.

 

God Bless!

Shannon

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply