Chicken Wings Of Yum

This is a hard recipe to really tack down and say "this is how you make it" because I make it different every single time. Sometimes I feel like salty spicy chicken wings, so I use mostly soy sauce, ginger, and chili flakes. Other times (like today) I feel like sweet wings, so I used orange juice, sesame seeds, and a bunch of honey. I think I can lay out some general guidelines, though, so you should be able to make your own Chicken Wings Of Yum.

Four Chicken wing halves (separated at the joint, little pointy bit discarded)
marinated for 1 minute to 24 hours in
Soy sauce - between 1-3 Tbsp
Ginger - between 1tsp - 1Tbsp, freshly grated
Acid (orange juice, lime juice, rice vinegar, etc) between 1tsp and 1/2 cup, depending on acidity
Honey (or maple or agave or whatever) between 1tsp and 1/4 cup, depending on taste
optional ingredients - add to taste
1/8 to 1 tsp sesame oil
1Tbsp sesame seeds
1tsp slivered orange zest (good with orange juice as the acid)
1 clove garlic, diced fine (good with less sweet versions)
chili flakes (I'm not a huge fan of mouth-burning food, so I use very little. You may use as much as you like)

Place your marinated chicken wings with their marinade in a small frying pan. bring to a simmer over low heat and cook on low, turning occasionally. Put a lid on it if you feel the marinade is evaporating faster than the chicken is cooking, take the lid off if you feel the chicken is cooking but the sauce needs to reduce more.
Taste the sauce when the chicken wings are almost done and adjust the flavors if necessary - adding a touch more vinegar, or soy sauce, or honey as needed.
Remove from heat when the wings are cooked through and the sauce is reduced and syrupy. Serve with brown rice and some sort of fresh vegie.

Sweet Sesame Orange Chicken Wings

This time, I used around 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce, around 1 1/2 tsp ginger, around 1 loose Tbsp orange zest, 1 Tbsp Sesame seeds, 1/4 tsp sesame oil, the juice of the orange... and I think that's it. It turned out very sweet and orangey and delicious. The orange zest turned out transparent and marmalade-y, I guess you could replace the honey and orange zest for orange marmalade, but I would look down my nose at you if you did.
(and I know the strawberry isn't really a vegetable, but I wanted to eat it with my lunch anyway)

And now - for the pet peave portion of my blog! (because it's MY blog and I can be grumpy if I want to!)
This is how your wings should look when you're done.

Finished Chicken Wings

If your bones are not AT LEAST this clean, you have not finished them and may not have dessert. Neither may you have seconds until these wings are done, and no you may not leave the table.
... I would be a mean mom.

Honey Oat Cookies Two Ways

I like oatmeal cookies.
Here is a recipe I ganked from the interwebs and modified to make into my personal cookie slave.
(don't try to reason with me about that previous sentence, there is no reasoning with me when I'm in one of these moods)

Honey Oat Cookie Base Recipe (plain jane)
1 cup honey
1 egg
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups oats
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together the wet ingredients with the oats in a mixing bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes to let the oats absorb some of the honeyfull goodness. Add the remaining dry ingredients but do not overmix.
If you like your cookies painfully plain, you can drop the dough as is by rounded teaspoonfulls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake @ 350* for 10 to 12 minutes, but if you actually like oatmeal cookies, I'm guessing you like them dressed up just a little.

Honey Oat Raisin Spice Cookies  (My Favorite!)
Stir in about 1 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
1/16 tsp cloves (just a tiny dash)
Add these ingredients along with the flour and cook as directed in the above recipe.

Honey Oat Carob Cookies  (dark and delicious!)
add about 1/4 cup carob powder along with the flour and cook as directed in the base recipe.
-I feel this recipe needs a bit of an explanation. I love carob. This is probably due to the fact that it was never pawned off on me as a chocolate replacement. (there can be only one!) I discovered carob on my own as an adult and love it for itself.

Honey Oat Cookies

There's a picture, don't you just want to grab a glass of cold milk and a dozen of those?

Other Variations:
Some people like nuts in their cookies. You could do that if you're one of them. I wouldn't go with more than 1/2 cup chopped nuts at a time until you know how nutty you want them.
Coconut Oatmeal Cookies? Sure, add 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes!
Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Cookies? Sounds great! I would go with the zest of one orange and a cup of dried chopped cranberries along with some cinnamon.... definitely going to try this one some day.

Enjoy this recipe! I know I say this on all of them, but it's a fun recipe. Play with it, all it wants is to make you happy!

Honey Baked Apples

For once, I shall blog not something that I have made, but something that someone else makes that I love eating.
Baked apples! Sweet and tart, with the juices caramelized around them.
Hot, fresh from the oven.
Very good with homemade icecream.
(can you tell yet that I love these apples?)

There is no specific recipe, you just go with what feels right (my kind of cooking!)

1 or 2 or 3 apples, depending on size. quartered or eighthed and cored. they should cover the bottom of a 9x13 pyrex baking dish with some space between - but don't put them in the dish yet. The better - tasting and crisper your apples are the better this dessert will taste.
about 1/4 to 1/3 cup honey - do put this in the dish
juice of one lemon - also in the dish
several healthy sprinkles of cinnamon - into the dish
1 to 2 Tbsp melted butter - in the dish
Mix the honey, lemon, cinnamon, and butter together until fairly homogeneous. Put your apple slices on top, turning once to coat them all over. Put in the oven uncovered and bake at 400* for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 375* and bake until the apples are tender and the juices are reduced and fragrant (but not burnt) about 30 to 60 minutes.
Serve immediately with caramelized juices poured over top and a little vanilla icecream to the side.
 

Turning the Apple Slices

Recipe Variations -
vary the seasonings by adding lemon zest, or nutmeg, or a dash of cloves to the mix. Alcohol-based extracts (like vanilla) do not work with this recipe because they cook out.
vary the fruit - replace the apples with pears, or add a handful of raisins or dried currants or some fresh berries in the last five minutes of cooking.
change up the honey - different honeys have different flavors. If you don't like store-bought clover honey, try local wildflower honey, orange honey, or my favorite - blackberry honey.

Enjoy playing around with this recipe, if you stay pretty close to the proportions mentioned in the recipe, you're guaranteed to have a great dessert. 

My Overinflated Ego vs Cheese Souffle and the Universe

I have a kitchen-ego problem. I tend to be able to cook anything I want to, make things up as I go along, eyeball quantities, make substitutions, and mostly ignore recipes with delicious results. Sometimes I start feeling a bit kitchen-invincible. Sometimes, I notice this is happening and intentionally set myself up for a fall - because, really, if my head gets any bigger I'll have to make myself some new hats.
Hence, my epic battle with cheese souffle and the universe.
On my Ego''s side, an eggy cheesy craving on my part and my generalized kitchen luck, also, the 12th edition Fannie Farmer Cookbook. (the best cookbook ever written).
On the Universe's side, lack of a souffle dish of any sort, poor quality store-bought eggs, only barely enough cheese, my inexperience with the medium, and the fact that I chose a "tricky" and "fragile" souffle recipe to start with. (What, you think I should start with the sturdy souffle recipe that follows the recipe I chose? Nonsense!)
No Souffle dish... Hmm, I'll just use a muffin tin and cut down the baking time. (Souffle is just like cake, right? Right!)
Recipe wants a 1.5qt souffle dish = 6cups volume vs 12 muffin tin, each cup holds .5 cups = 6 cups volume. (Perfect!)
Everything went well white sauce was thick and creamy, added cheese which melted in beautifully, beat in the egg yolks, didn't curdle, folded in the egg whites, didn't fall. Poured 1/2 cup souffle batter into each muffin cup, filling them to the top, popped them in the oven, put the timer on, waited.
Recipe called for 35 minutes, I thought 12 would probably be plenty for the muffins. At 12 minutes, they look a little pale still, decide to give them two more minutes.
At 14 minutes, I remove them
.

Removing Souffles

They look Awesome, so poofy! My ego begins to do a victory dance in my head. It doesn't last long.
By the time I get them to the table, they have begun to look more pancake-like on the top.

The Souffles Begin to Deflate

I manage to wrestle one out of the muffin tin, but they aren't so poofy anymore.

Scrambled Souffle

Still, the taste is great! The edges, were it they cooked more, didn't deflate like the centers did, and even the centers were a bit fluffy still. I think, with proper equipment, I could totally make a Souffle to be proud of.

Fallen Muffin Souffles

I guess my kitchen-ego hasn't learned much of a lesson after all...