Definitely Not Martha Stewart, but I try

This morning, being my only day off of the week, I got up early and set off to attempt some of my Pinterest recipes I have been “pinning” for the last few weeks. Adam was sound asleep.So, around 7 am I popped up and headed into our kitchen (just steps away from our bed).

I turned on the computer, opened up Pinterest and decided on these treats for the morning. Homemade Pickles, Zucchini Bread, Homemade Peanut Butter and Egg McMuffins (well Kind of).

I altered each of the recipes a bit, due to the ingredients I had (including which veggies are in season here) and my lack of attention to detail when I cook.

For the pickles, My aunt had just sent me a ton of spices in the mail (they are hard to come by in Korea) so, it was perfect timing… plus I had saved a salsa jar and a spaghetti sauce jar. I followed most of the directions. Seeing as though cucumbers are in abundance here right now,I bought 8 for a dollar yesterday at the market, this was perfect timing for pickles. Also, here you can only find sweet pickles not dill.

I put apple cider vinegar (I couldn’t find white at the store…not being fluent in Korean, I had a hard time distinguishing), pickling seasonings (courtesy of Aunt Judy) and hot water in a bowl. Cut up 2 long skinny cucumbers, diced 3 cloves of garlic and mixed. Put them in the jar, then poured the brine over them. They are now in the fridge being stored upside down. We shall see what they taste like tomorrow.

Next I made the Zucchini Bread, this too is completely in season and I picked up 2 huge zucchinis for a dollar. I didn’twant to make the full recipe for fear of 2 loaves tasting like bland bread, so I half the recipe (but forgot that I had done this as I put in the full amounts of baking soda and cinnamon. I also was not able to find vanilla at the store, only vanilla butter and last time I cooked with it, it was way too strong, so I used a drop of rum. I followed the recipe pretty much all the way besides that. I did add raisins and some walnuts.

Although, when I was grating the zucchini with our hand grater, it ended up looking more like zucchini mush, so after about a cup of zucchini mush baby food thrown in the recipe I hand chopped about a 1/2 cup more. Adam says it is fantastic! And I have to admit, it does taste pretty darn good.

Adam is a peanut butter fanatic and loves the natural kind. All we have been able to find here is Skippy and it runs about $5. So, I decided to attempt to make my own. Yesterday I picked up about 5 cups of peanuts for $5. and today ran our little mini blender on them. I found this recipe although it is chocolate peanut butter, I just used it for reference. Basically all i did was put 2 cups of peanuts in the mixer..blended it up. Added some Olive oil and a tiny bit of powdered sugar. Viola! Peanut Butter, Natural, with great oils on top. 

As Adam eventually rose to my peanut blending (it was very loud) I figured it was time to make breakfast. Breakfast is Adams favorite time of day. I found this recipe. So, I chopped up more veggies… I think the greens are a form of BokChoy (SO CHEAP!) some red pepper, zucchini (I have a ton of it) and a little eggplant, also a tiny bit of ham. You really don’t need much to fill the muffin tins. Mixed some eggs with milk (the eggs here are 32 for $5 at the market, and they are huge) added a little black pepper, poured it over the top of the veggies and baked. They came out yummy. But, next time, I think onion and some jalapeños are necessary to add a little punch.

So, now off to collect recipes for next weekend (we are going camping for our 2nd Wedding Anniversary, so the recipes will be a little different)



Nicole       &         Adam
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