Notes From my "Book"

Before I decided to have this little blogging adventure, I started keeping a food journal. There are some worthwhile entries in here that I thought I should share. I made quite a number of things before deciding to take it public. I had varying degrees of success.

1. Fresh Salsa
2. Ranch Dip (not the powdered stuff)
3. Pita Bread
4. Pizza Pockets
5. Pizza
6. Lasagna
   
7. Red Sauce
8. Pita Chips (a good use for the failed Pita Bread experiment)
9. My mom's chocolate no-bakes (my fave... finally got it down here in Morocco)
10. Hash browns
    
11. Mashed Potatoes
    
12. Breakfast Burritos
13. Flour Tortillas (to go with the burritos)
14. Pretzels
15. Matar Paneer (Indian pees and cheese- yes I made the cheese too)
    

I'm sure there were probably others, but these were some of the more noteworthy items in my book. I won't tell you what I did to make all of them... This would be a ridiculously long blog entry. I will tell you that the Ranch Dip wasn't exactly Ranchy enough... too much garlic. I didn't have powder so I had to use fresh. The pita bread didn't turn out like pitas (there wasn't really a pocket) though they made yummy chips. Pizza pockets were a real favorite of mine as well as the others who were there to eat some. I did it once with goat cheese and Edam, and once with Mozz and Edam. I think the goat cheese was my fave. So good! The no-bakes are an absolute must... I will post that recipe! I love them and they're so great for a chocolate fix. You can get all the ingredients here in Morocco. The mashed potatoes- I've made them so many times that I think I've perfected the amounts to my liking (and others too... they didn't last long at all). Breakfast burritos rock and I can do pretty good flour tortillas at this point. The Pretzels were great with garlic, Parmesan cheese, and sesame seed toppings. Finally, the Matar Paneer wasn't exactly Matar Paneer as I didn't have the right spices but it was pretty good never the less. The Paneer (the solid cottage cheese) turned out well and fried nicely, but next time I'd leave it on a little less... it was a bit too brown and didn't absorb the other flavors at all. I used curry powder and the flavors worked... it just wasn't like restaurant Matar Paneer.

So anyway, some of these recipes are definitely worth their own blog entry and I'll get there shwea b shwea (little by little). I'd hate to divulge all my new tricks so early. Plus, I'll be training all of next week in a town called Agadir and won't be cooking a thing.

Cheers!