Recipe Screw Ups .... and fixes (Recipe Fixes)

Well it seems I may have salvaged a recipe I messed up - and I thought hmmmmm I betcha lots of people screw up a recipe and find a way to save it without throwing the whole mess out.

.... so I found a recipe for stuffed zucchini on the net - but I don't have a printer, so I figured I could just write the ingredients down and remember the instructions - they're basic enough:

2 zucchini, about 7 inches long, halved lengthwise, stem end left intact

1 tablespoon butter
1 large shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoon flour
2 ounces feta, crumbled
paprika

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease an ovenproof dish.

With a small knife, cut around the zucchini, leaving a rim. Cross hatch the center, then scoop out with a grapefruit knife.

In a small skillet, melt the butter until shimmery. Add the zucchini scoopings, shallot and garlic and saute until soft.

In a small bowl, beat the egg lightly. Stir in the flour, feta and cooked zucchini. Stuff the zucchini boats. Sprinkle with paprika.

Bake for 25 minutes to 40 minutes (depending how firm you like your cooked zucchini), then brown slightly under the broiler.



here's my screw ups:

No shallots - substituted red onion

AND

I forgot to add the zucchini scrapings to the pan when I was cooking the onion and garlic. As a result, the stuffing mix was way too watery. Added another tablespoon of flour, it didn't help. Searched my cupboards for some breadcrumbs, Nope, none of those on hand. Settled for some saltine crackers, crushed them up very finely and added to the mix. Melba crackers would have been better, but didn't have any of those either.

Cooked a bit of the mixture in the microwave to see if it would taste ok when cooked -yep it's pretty yummy. I've got it in the oven now, and it smells delish! Oh ya... after 30 minutes in a 350 oven, I don't think broiling it for browning is going to be necessary either.

I think the recipe is salvaged.

Got any fixes for recipe ooopsies you'd like to share?

In the last few years I have fallen in love with squash, especially the little acorn ones.

if you oversalt soups or stews, you can put a potato in there and leave it for a while while simmering and then fish it out and it'll absorb a lot of salt

I don't know if this was as much a screw up as it was a disaster. When we first got married somebody gave us an electric waffle iron. Remember, this was before non-stick. I was getting pretty handy at making waffles...........It's a pretty involved recipe where you separate the eggs and beat up the whites and fold them in just before you cook them in the waffle cooker.
I had this brilliant idea of cheese waffles, that I thought would be a nice break from all that maple syrup and sweetness. I made a normal waffle recipe except that I added cup and a half of assorted cheese.....Cheddar, Mozza, cottage cheese, that I folded into the batter. What turned out was not waffles, it was space age glue. I couldn't open the waffle iron until it soaked over night.
There is no fix to this recipe, except that I won't do it again.

This is from a few years ago as well. My favourite pie before I discovered pecan pie, was pumpkin pie. I made the pie shell and put together the pumpkin filling, poured the pumpkin filling into the pie shell and put the pie in the oven. Turned the oven down after the prescribed amount of time and waited. When the cooking time was over I moved the pie and it was still liquid. I gave it ten more minutes and then I noticed the three eggs still on the counter. With a large spoon I scooped the pie filling out of the shell into a bowl. With a little electric beater I beat into the filling, a little more milk, and the forgotten eggs. Poured the filling into a new pie shell and started again. The pie set fine and tasted okay........It was just a little darker.

I have heard that if you burn rice put a piece of bread in to it this takes away the burnt taste ,(Don't quote me on this, as i have not tried this myself,as fortunately i haven't burnt any rice for a long time, but if i do this is what i recommend you do.!!)

Recipe? Is that what those lists 'n' things are? Recipe ... receipt .... I'm a bit of this, bit of that, bunch of something else sort of inventor.... Variety is the spice of life. I never eat the same thing twice.

Here's neat one.... No eggs? Use mayonaise....

I can understand that. Regurgitated food is never pleasant......

Birds don't seem to mind.... That's why canines bury

Don't anyone check out the eating habits of beavers

Is that the little dark green ones? I love those. I cut them in half, put butter inside, and
whatever else I feel like stuffing in there, then I cook them in the microwave,
I have to level off the bottoms, but make sure you don't do too much or they will leak.

Usually takes about 6 minutes or so, depends on size.

Sorry to put my tin foil hat on once more BUT.!!!!!!

Ten Reasons to Throw out your Microwave Oven

From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific
clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting
in our kitchens. Based on this research, we will conclude this article
with the following:

1). Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes
long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out"
electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the
brain tissue].

2). The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown
by-products created in microwaved food.

3). Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by
continually eating microwaved foods.

4). The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long
term, permanent] within the human body.

5). Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is
reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit,
or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken
down.

6). The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free
radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.

7). Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths
[tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of
colon cancer in America.

. The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to
increase in human blood.

9). Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system
deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.

10). Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration,
emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.

Have you tossed out your microwave oven yet?

Go here and read what it says

Health Freedom Resources

Public Awareness Announcement #1
12 June 2000

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Is it possible that millions of people are ignorantly sacrificing their health in exchange for the convenience of microwave ovens? Why did the Soviet Union ban the use of microwave ovens in 1976? Who invented microwave ovens, and why? The answers to these questions may shock you into throwing your microwave oven in the trash. Over 90% of American homes have microwave ovens used for meal preparation. Because microwave ovens are so convenient and energy efficient, as compared to conventional ovens, very few homes or restaurants are without them. In general, people believe that whatever a microwave oven does to foods cooked in it doesn't have any negative effect on either the food or them. Of course, if microwave ovens were really harmful, our government would never allow them on the market, would they? Would they? Regardless of what has been "officially" released concerning microwave ovens, we have personally stopped using ours based on the research facts outlined in this article.

The purpose of this report is to show proof - evidence - that microwave cooking is not natural, nor healthy, and is far more dangerous to the human body than anyone could imagine. However, the microwave oven manufacturers, Washington City politics, and plain old human nature are suppressing the facts and evidence. Because of this, people are continuing to microwave their food - in blissful ignorance - without knowing the effects and danger of doing so.

So, why are we still using them, we, the public have the numbers to put this to an
end, but again, we probably don't care, don't believe it, and can't be bothered to
put our numbers together to make it happen. We like our conveniences, and won't
do what it takes for our health.
I hardly use the micro wave, so how much use does it take to become dangerous, as
some restaurants use them all day.

Read the article friend it states that putting cereal grains in them takes away any if not all the beneficial effects of eating such foods

In Dr. Lita Lee's book, Health Effects of Microwave Radiation - Microwave Ovens, and in the March and September 1991 issues
of Earthletter, she stated that every microwave oven leaks electro-magnetic radiation, harms food, and converts substances cooked in it to dangerous organ-toxic and carcinogenic products. Further research summarized in this article reveal that microwave ovens are far more harmful than previously imagined.

The following is a summary of the Russian investigations published by the Atlantis Raising Educational Center in Portland,
Oregon. Carcinogens were formed in virtually all foods tested. No test food was subjected to more microwaving than necessary to
accomplish the purpose, i.e., cooking, thawing, or heating to insure sanitary ingestion. Here's a summary of some of the results:

• Microwaving prepared meats sufficiently to insure sanitary ingestion caused formation of d-Nitrosodienthanolamines, a
  well-known carcinogen.
  
• Microwaving milk and cereal grains converted some of their amino acids into carcinogens.
  
• Thawing frozen fruits converted their glucoside and galactoside containing fractions into carcinogenic substances.
  
• Extremely short exposure of raw, cooked or frozen vegetables converted their plant alkaloids into carcinogens.
  
• Carcinogenic free radicals were formed in microwaved plants, especially root vegetables.
  
• Decrease in nutritional value
  

Russian researchers also reported a marked acceleration of structural degradation leading to a decreased food value of 60 to 90%
in all foods tested. Among the changes observed were:

Deceased bio-availability of vitamin B complex, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics factors in all food tested.
Various kinds of damaged to many plant substances, such as alkaloids, glucosides, galactosides and nitrilosides.
The degradation of nucleo-proteins in meats.

Quandary

You are hijacking a perfectly good thread with information that is 17 years old. I don't believe this information and I don't think the authorities do either. Microwave units are being produced in greater numbers every year.

http://tinyurl.com/6s8vad

Talloola

You can also do that squash in your ordinary oven. Put the squash halves cut side down on a lightly oiled glass pie plate. put it in a 375 degree oven for forty five minutes. You can then turn them over and add butter, brown sugar and a bit of cinnamon or nutmeg and give them another 15 minutes.

PS - this was in response to Quadary's microwave panic.....

PPS - I don't know what difference the convection feature on our new stove would make.

I love the convection method, it's like 'surround cooking', and a lot faster than conventional method.
My daughter, who bakes all of her own bread, said that the convection method makes her
bread much better, you just have to adjust the time.

Speaking as someone who knows how a microwave oven works...

your reference to peacan pie made me wonder - we have a recipe for maple syrup pie, have you tried it?

Simply awesome.

Haven't tried it TenPenny but I would love to see it.

Btw, what do you think of Quandary's doom and gloom on microwaves?

The only thing a microwave does, is excite (ie heat up) the water molecules. By vibrating them directly. As opposed to normal heating, where ALL of the food heats up by conduction / convection heat transfer.

It doesn't 'change' the makeup of the food, or cause your lawnmower to eat gravel, or any other bizarre theories.

PS - I'll try to copy the maple pie recipe.

My oven at the cottage is an old one and I tried to cook a roast beef and Yorkshire pudding but the temps weren't right and the veggies were hard, the beef was rare and the yorkshire was flat......

Needless to say I bought a new oven the next day.

Wow ... a woodstove would really mess with your mind, wouldn't it. Hint ... it always tastes better cooked in the Findlay. You just have to watch it more.

Does this sound like it?

maple syrup pie


-- | November 1999
Restaurant Aux Anciens Canadiens, Quebec, Canada
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Tarte au Sirop d' Érable
"My husband and I had an absolutely fantastic dessert at Restaurant Aux Anciens Canadiens while on vacation in Quebec, Canada," Says Deb Kalikow of Natick, Massachusetts. "Maple syrup pie served with crème fraîche is its specialty. The pie capped off a perfect dinner of delicious French-Canadian dishes. We ate at another restaurant the next night and tried the maple syrup pie there. We were so disappointed by our first bites that we then went back to Aux Anciens Canadiens and waited an hour just to have another piece of their pie."
Don't be tempted to forgo the cream with this pie; it perfectly complements the dessert's rich silkiness and balances the sweetness.

Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr
Servings: Serves 8 to 10 (8-inch pie).

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Ingredients

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1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup pure maple syrup (preferably dark amber)
2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted Accompaniment: crème fraîche or unsweetened whipped cream



Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough into an 11-inch round on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin and fit into an 8-inch (3-cup) glass pie plate. Trim excess dough and crimp edges decoratively.
Whisk together brown sugar and eggs until creamy. Add cream, syrup, and butter, then whisk until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell.
Bake pie in lower third of oven until pastry is golden and filling is puffed and looks dry but still trembles, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool on a rack to room temperature (filling will set as pie cools).