“You get some weird things in the mail.”
This is what my darling fiancé said when I came home to this:
I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was on Jenna’s blog that I found a link where I could request a sample of red lentils. And, since I’m planning on milking the “I’m a college student” thing for all it’s worth over the next two years, who am I to turn down free? I love red lentils. I think I’ll make this or this, or maybe I’ll get really creative and make this (er….probably not). Now, I know these lentils would probably cost me $0.45, but hey, getting legumes in the mail is cool, I challenge anyone to tell me otherwise!
In addition to the red lentils, I was the lucky winner of Nicole’s Food Should Taste Good giveaway, so the good FSTG folks sent me SIX varieties of their chips to try! We got: Jalapeno, Sweet Potato, Blue Corn, The Works, Lime, and Multigrain. So far, I’ve tried the Jalapeno and Sweet Potato flavors. Mitch has been snacking on the Jalapeno ones, and my hand keeps finding its way into the Sweet Potato bag, funny how that works. I think the Lime ones will be really tasty the next time we have World Famous Bean Dip.
But honestly? I am not blown away by the FSTG, so far. I guess I’ve read how other bloggers rave about them so much that they got hyped up in my mind (the same thing happened when I finally got around to watching The Blind Side) and they were good, but not life-changing. I think I like my chips saltier, perhaps? I do like the all-natural ingredient list, but the tortilla chips we usually get are just corn, oil, and salt, so that’s pretty natural as well.
I’d give the chips a 7 out of 10, so I mean, they are good. Just not $5/bag good, in my opinion. But I know I need to try more flavors before I can really determine my FSTG stance. I tried to get a photo of all six bags, but Nina started investigating and that was more fun, for me anyway (I’m starting the #illneverbeaprofoodblogger hash tag on Twitter, ok?)
Like me, she wasn’t totally impressed.
Oh and guess what I did today! I baked. I’ve been really wanting to get more creative in the kitchen, and Mitch gave me some chocolate-covered raisins that he got at work, and I have a going away/fundraiser BBQ for a friend who is going to Thailand for six (!!!) months to teach English. If that combination is not recipe for…well, a recipe, I’m not sure what is.
Raisin-Rasinete Oatmeal Bars
Adapted a bit from this recipe
Ingredients:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups quick cooking oats
- ½ cup raisins
- ¾ cup chocolate covered raisins (chop up the big pieces)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×13” pan.
- Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl until smooth. Add in the egg and mix until well combined.
- In a smaller bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and oats together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir lightly until combined.
- Add in the raisins and the chocolate-covered raisins and mix. Add the dough to the prepared pan. You’ll have to spread it around a bit, because the dough is pretty thick.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into bars. Makes 24, or however many you cut!
And here’s my confession. I didn’t end up with a photo (but it’s not hard to envision.) This recipe needs help…because they took forever to set! They were all gooey after 18 minutes, even after I let them cool. So…I might have cut them into pieces and then put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes and they finally seemed right.
If you go to the original recipe, maybe you can help me figure out what happened, given my changes? The 10 minutes the recipe called for baking left them still raw, so I just kept them in until they looked done but I guess I misjudged. I think they’re cooked (as in, I won’t give the guests salmonella), so I’m going to bring them and I think people will eat them (if I had vanilla ice cream, I’d be a hero, but I don’t know what happened. Ah well, such is life.
If you make a cookie/brownie/bar/cake recipe for other people and it didn’t turn out as you expected, would you still serve it? Clearly, I will. As I’ve said before, I think homemade treats are so rare these days that they will get eaten, no matter what!
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FSTG chips aren’t the most amazing tasting chips ever, EXCEPT the sweet potato ones. those are da bomb.
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If the dessert still tasted good but didn’t turn out the way I expected, I would probably still serve it…just maybe call it something else?
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OH heck yeah, I serve baked goods no matter how bad they turn out (unless they are burnt to a crisp, of course). If it comes down to it I may even add it to our ice cream!
So the “Food Should Taste Good” chips weren’t all that great? I have seen those plenty of times but have never tried them. I would like to, just to see, but they are expensive! I mean you don’t get many in a bag, and now that I know they aren’t fantastic, is it worth it?! I did notice they are very low in sodium, which is nice, but perhaps that’s why they don’t taste so great! haha, that’s a shame….
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