I am at war

With my oven.

evil oven


Oh yes, the dear sweet beautiful oven I was so excited to get. I can't seem to get anything I bake in it to turn out right. (only one time was error on my end)

Things don't cook right - they either burn like the blondies

or today I tried to make chocolate peanutbutter chip cookies and they came out undercooked - even after cookng for well over the time on the recipe

ewwy gooey cookies


( I like gooey cookies but I tired this and I feel like if I ate a whole cookie I'd have a tummy ache and probably salmonella. )

- and then of course the next batch i burned.

they may not look burned but they are hard as a rock. SIGH


This is really upsetting to me- I haven't successfully baked something since I moved here. :( I called my mema today to whine about this and ask her advice since she has used a gas oven forever. She suggested Iget an oven thermometer to make sure the oven temp is accurate. So I am going to do this when I make it to walmart. Hopefully I can get back in the baking game. I am of course the wanna be baker...and I wanna be baking. SIGH.

I am open to any and all suggestions out there. I promise I will bake soon. In fact I am doing a little baking this weekend for my dad's bday - but I am waiting til I get to Frederick to use Moms oven. I know I can bake in that. :-D

French Dip Sandwiches with Au Jus

[Printable Recipe]


Matt loves french dip sandwiches, and always requests we make them - or go to a place that has good ones. One night he was thinking out loud about how he wanted one, and I said find a recipe, go to the store and get the stuff and I will make it. So he did.(Recipe from Allrecipes.com) I have never actually had them - maybe a bite of Matt's. These were very easy and very good. Makes for a really easy dinner. Typically when you make this you roast the beef in a slow cooker for a day so that it is very tender. I don't have a slow cooker- and we didn't decided on this until 7pm so a day of roasting wasn't possible anyway.

Ingredients:

1 (10.5 oz) Can beef consomme

1 Cup water

1 pound thin sliced deli roast beef

8 slices provolone cheese

4 hoagie rolls.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 - open hoagie rolls and lay out on baking sheet (we used the small toaster oven - and buttered the bread a little before toasting.)


bread with butter for toasting


heat beef consomme and water in a medium saucepan over medium- high heat to make a rich beef brother. ( We added garlic salt - though garlic powder will be used next time the consomme was salty enough, onion powder and pepper to season) Place the roast beef in the broth and warm for 3 mins.

warming the consomme and spices


Matt adding the beef


beef warmed and ready to go


Arrange meat on the hoagie rolls and top with 2 slices of cheese ( we added the cheese to the rolls half way though toasting so the cheese would melt to the bread)



melted and toasty





Bake the sandwiches in oven for 5 mins or until the cheese just begins to melt ( we skipped this as we had already melted the cheese)

Serve sandwiches with small bowls of the leftover broth for dipping.

meet piled on and sauce for dipping. (this was Matt's with extra meat)


This was very good and will be a repeat on the monthly menu.

Blondies

[Printable Recipes]


Matt and I were flipping through the tv one night- and there was this dude on there baking cakes and other pretty yummy looking cakes and desserts. It was on pbs and that was about all I knew, but I knew I needed the recipe for these things he was making. Matt went to the internet and figured it out. It was called Everyday Baking, Matt found a recipe for Blondies and requested I make them. So last Friday before I went to meet my mom, I threw them together. Making them was easy, but I wish I knew how my oven would handle because the sides were a little dark and hard. My oven is gas now - I am used to electric. I guess I should have watched them a little better. The recipe said 40-45 mins so I put them in for 40 and figured I'd be ok...I think they would have been perfect at 35.

Ingredients

1 stick butter melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts (I left these out)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper leaving an over hang on 2 sides. Spray paper and pan with Pam (or butter it)



In a large bowl- whisk butter and sugar until smooth, then whisk in egg and vanilla.

butter , sugar, egg and vanilla


Add flour and salt and mix until moistened.

flour added


Fold in chocolate chips saving a little for the top (Walnuts too if using them)




Put in pan and sprinkle with a little more chocolate chips.



sprinkled with choc chips and ready to cook


Bake until golden brown 40-45 mins (or 35 depending - just watch them)




Set pan on wire rack to cool. When cook remove with parchment paper and cut into 16 squares.




These were good - I wish we could have had more than 4 or 5. I will be making them again. Maybe I can find the recipe for the topping they use on the blondies at Applebees and I can have my old roommate Carol, and her NJ friends over. That's what blondies remind me of. Applebees with Carol and Zanzibar Scuf. (Sigh I miss college) They were very easy to make. Plus I love my kitchen so I want to spend more time it in. :-D