Paddy's Wanderings

Banana Fluff a la Better 1/2

Welcome to another edition of Cooking with Paddy.

In my ongoing attempt to try my rather noob hand at cooking, I tried one of our all time favorites, banana fluff. This is a pretty easy dessert to make, and rather yummy. After all, who doesn't like bananas, vanilla pudding, and 'nilla wafers? Okay, maybe some folks might not like that, but then they would be missing out on a yum dessert.

Okay then, let us get out the utensils we'll need. We need a large bowl, a large mixing spoon or a whisk,and the pan you will serve it in. I used a large spoon, I have not graduated to whisk school yet. But see? This is simple, not a lot of crazy utensils or big, scary sharp knives.

Ingredients

2-4 Bananas

1 Box of Nilla Wafers

I container of Cool Whip

2 Boxes of Vanilla Instant Pudding

1 Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Can of Regular Milk

Directions

Pour both boxes of instant pudding into the bowl and add the can of condensed milk, then use the can as your measuring device(this was a neato trick I thought-noob remember?) and pour in your regular milk. I used what was in the fridge, good old 2%, the stuff the techno-tyke chugs down at an alarming rate. Then slowly mix thoroughly. Once you got a mix and no pockets of dry pudding(important I remember that!) then you fold in the container of cool whip. Fold, as in gently mix, in the cool whip, bottom to top and gently, gently. Remember, we are making a fluff, so to keep it fluffy, we want to go slow, but mix thoroughly.

Now we are ready to put our fluff in the pan. First, open the box of nilla wafers and check for whole wafers. If you find any broken ones, eat them, anybody makes a face at ya, tell 'em Paddy said it was okay. Then cover the bottom of the pan with an even layer of whole wafers. Then cut up a banana and place the slices on top. Please note, the ends are pokey so you don't want to use those, you eat those, any problems, see above, Paddy said so. It depends on how much banana you want, but I used a whole banana for this first layer. Then spoon in your mixture until the pan is about half full. Now then, time for layer two.

Pretty much layer two is like layer one, in other words, repeat. Now your pan is full and you should have used all of your mixture. If not, well see above, finish it off and you can lick the spoon, Paddy said so. Me and the techno-tyke had a finger of mix and that was all that was left. Anywho.. I then put a few 'nilla wafers and a couple slices of banana on top, to be decorative.

And that, my fellow noob cook enthusiasts, is it. No baking, and its pretty much ready to eat. If you have any left, you must of course refridgerate, and you can throw it in the fridge before serving to make it cool. We demolished half of it right off the bat after dinner, and alas, it did not survive to morning. Those pesky older boys scarfed it all down over night. So it must have been okay.  Pretty much fool proof and if your not a cook(like me) you can whip this baby up and surprise your better 1/2.

Cooking with Paddy - Muffins

In an ongoing experiment, I am slowly graduating to the next level of baking. Leveling up in cooking is hard to do when you use just box mixes. I have tried my hand at a few and, by golly, if you follow the directions, it is not too bad. I am struggling with a cake mold, trying to get the cake to come out in one piece, not several. That is a problem with technique and how you grease the pan and when you take it out. Practice might help that. The cake tasted just fine, all gajillion pieces.

So to further my understanding of the baking process, and to work on using recipes and following directions, I took on a muffin recipe. It is a pretty simple recipe, straight forward and makes some pretty tasty muffins. The picture is not up to specs, kinda hard to take a pic of a hot baked good, but you know how it is, strike when the iron.. er muffin is hot.

Oh and fresh out of the oven, very tasty. So here is a crappy pic and a pretty easy recipe for tasty muffins. Please note, the instructions are for newbies, like me, who are trying their hand at baking. Naturally, experienced bakers and cooks the world over do not need to be reminded of measuring cups and bowls, but I find that it is much easier to have everything in hand, before I start, otherwise I am running around our tiny kitchen, looking for a tablespoon. Preparation is the key to success in everything.

Cooking utensils you will need:

Large Bowl, Small Bowl, Measuring Cups, Measuring Spoons, Mixing Spoon, Muffin or Cupcake Pan, Paper Muffin Cups

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 Tablespoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup Sour Cream

1/2 Cup Butter, Melted

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup Milk

1 Egg, Beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In the large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. I used a spoon and mixed thoroughly. In a smaller, glass bowl, I put the 1/2 cup of butter and put in the microwave for about 20 seconds, to melt it. Then added the milk, egg, and sour cream and mixed thoroughly. Then pour the wet ingredients into the big bowl, mix with the dry ingredients and add the chocolate chips. My in-house baker/chef recommended to fold and mix just enough, don't over due it. Then take the batter and gently spoon into the paper cups. The recipe makes 12 muffins so get it all in there. Then you can lightly sprinkle sugar on the top and put them in the oven. Baking time is 20-25 minutes.

Now I had an advantage, I had Steph backing me up. She can whip out muffins, cookies and the like in no time flat. She knows all the tricks and time saving techniques, plus she is confident in the kitchen, which like everything else in life, makes a huge difference. I take a bit longer, carefully measuring each ingredient and learning my way around the simplest of techniques.

A good example is using a knife to level the flour in the measuring cup. Sure I have seen plenty of baking and well, they just cruise along and they just know how much everything is, kinda like a mechanic knows that he needs a 9/16 wrench for that bolt. I was amazed and had no idea, but the stick of butter had a measuring guide on the wrapper. I was wondering how I was going to measure a hard stick of butter, problem solved!

I think I will do some more baking, it is a good place to start. Eventually, I will graduate up to pasta I think, maybe do some yummy Italian dishes. For now, the baking has been going okay dokay and the results have been good for the tummy.

I have to start practicing chopping vegetables and the proper way to shave garlic. We have some big, scary knives in that drawer, good thing we have a plentiful supply of band aids. Until next time my fellow wanderers, enjoy the fruit, or muffin of your labors.

Cooking with Paddy -Brownies

Welcome to Cooking with Paddy! Nope, the utensils survived my shining the camera at em and here we go, first post in what most likely will be an ongoing survival course. Seriously.

To put it bluntly, I don't know how to cook, at all. I could burn water if given half a chance. So I thought it would be fun to give it a try, I am following safety measures and I have a fire extinguisher! What I also have, is the best darn cook backing me up. Okay, I am trying this whilst she is at work, but she is just a phone call away! It will be fun and you can laugh right along with me, even at me, but I will try and I will have fun.

So a couple days ago, I tried my hand at brownies. Well, a brownie mix right out of the box. How hard could it be right? There is even directions on the box! I read the instructions carefully and put the box on the counter top, took a deep breath and started. First thing I grabbed was the fire extinguisher, just in case. Then I grabbed all of the ingredients I would need that don't come in the box. Egg, oil, water, a mixing bowl and mixing spoon, pan for cooking, oh and non stick spray, cause better 1/2 warned me to spray the pan first. Since I have been organizing the kitchen and pantry, I found everything just fine, even the measuring cup.

So I preheated my oven to 350 like the box said, and started mixing. Now I should state that I do know enough about cooking to be really dangerous. In other words, I have watched from afar enough, and been watching Food Network, that there are some things I think I may know. So I am happily mixing along, practicing folding batter like Alton Brown, and there are lumps! So I smash down with the spoon and furiously mix, there are still lumps, and I know this is bad, leads to weird goody with weird, non-cooked pieces parts. So I furiously whip it again, still lumps.

So I am standing there, thinking I failed a frakkin brownie mix, staring at the box. Then it dawned on me, hey the box says chocolate brownies with real chocolate chunks. Ha! By golly those aren't lumps, those are chunks, they are supposed to be there, woot! I continue, my hands shaking from the pounding I gave that poor batter, and I poured it into my pan. Now after watching Mr. Brown, I know you just jiggle the pan to get it to settle, no patting! So I do that and stuff it in the oven!

I look at the clock, I got 28 minutes to bake, the Red Wings are on, and I am gonna try to catch a bit of the game while waiting. Next thing I know, one goal later and its time. I grab the hot pad and pull it out, it looks good, but I know you are supposed to check it with a toothpick, make sure it baked all the way through the center. Drats! I can't find any toothpicks, but ha! there are plastic forks in the drawer. I stab a couple times, no icky batter, I think we are good. Time to cool.

At this point, the techno-tyke wanders by and asks if the goody is done. I say nope, gotta cool, then we can frost em! He looks at me all squinty eye, and says rather nonchalantly sure Dad. He was playing in the living room, I think trying to stay out of the line of fire. He had that look on his face like I was nuts, but I am used to that.

After about a half hour, I grab the chocolate frosting and smear it on, just before the chief chef walks in the door. She was surprised! She says well then, let me make dinner, then we'll try a piece. So we ate hot dogs and tater tots, fave food of the techno-tyke and we were ready for dessert, Brownie a la Paddy.

Hey! I took the first piece and ate it, just in case. I thought they tasted okay, not as good as better 1/2's, but not bad. She liked em, so did the techno-tyke. The two older boys scarfed them down over-night so there was barely a crumb the next day. But that is no indication of anything, they are eating machines and eat just about anything. 

First time doing it all by myself and no utensils were damaged, no fires or food poisoning and I even cleaned the kitchen. Not bad for a box mix. Not bad for a first time either. I do know there is a cake mix calling my name in the pantry, I think that will be my next victim, er, project. I think I'll be okay with box mixes and I can use them to get familiar with the kitchen and how to operate stoves and such. Seriously. For now, my fellow wanderers and cooking enthusiasts, I bid you farewell.

Happy Cooking!