This has been out for a few years and I normally only find the 4 pack, but this time I found the 12 pack.
It has a very strong taste of ginger. It normally does, but this feels intensified along with the cloves and other spices.
Its also sweet, so I’m glad its only comes out once a year.
I can’t believe it. Today I had a chef come to my house and talk to me about healthy food and my food allergies. I’ve booked them for weekly visits. We made a simple pasta dish with asparagus, spinach and pesto.
I had some for lunch and saved some for dinner.
I might add some chicken next time I make this.
(c) How not to cook 2020
This isn’t really a recipe. I just wanted to share something I’m drinking more of now because summer is looming and I don’t want to drink sugary soft drinks. I already have dental, weight and health issues, I don’t want more health problems.
I found this good new shaker bottle to use. Then:
Slice the cucumber into thin slices and add to clean bottle. (It can be a plastic drink bottle that has been rinsed out.)
Add some clean filtered water. You can use tap water.
I had strawberries left over so slice and added those.
The add lid and leave over night in fridge to infuse the flavours.
Not really a recipe. I actually looked recipes for recipes on You tube about cucumber water and they are all different. I guess you make it to your own taste.
(c)How not to cook 2020.
I had some left over strawberries that I didn’t know what to do with. I decided to remove the green stem, slice them roughly then ad them to a half full bottle of lemonade I had in the fridge.
This made the lemonade very bubbly, I guess because of the sugar in the strawberries, but I’m not a scientist so i’m not sure.
I put the lid on and left it in the fridge over night. The next day, the liquid was a clear reddish dark pink colour and tasted really nice. Very sweet from the lemonade but with a strawberry taste in the background.
I’ve made this twice already and will make again in the coming summer. I normally hate how sweet soft drinks are, but if I have a small cup of this with ice, it will be okay for a hot summers day.
(c) How not to cook 2020
Living during the Covid pandemic is stressful, lets face it. No one likes it and we all have to find ways to get though it.
For example, I ran out of butter and didn’t want to drive the 15 minutes to the supermarket to buy just butter. So I decided to improvise.
We had some ricotta in the fridge so I decide to try that in place of butter. People replace butter all the time, with hummus or avocado, so I thought this might work.
It didn’t. (I’m a bit sad I won’t be starting a new trend).
Ricotta has no taste and did nothing to add flavour to my sandwich. There was no moisture, it just tasted like ricotta and jam on dry bread.
But I ate it because our cupboards were almost bare and the fridge empty. Also, the last time I ate take away hot chips I became very ill, so I’m not risking that again.
(c) How not to cook 2020.
I used commercial yeast in a box and the recipe on the back of the packet for this. I may have used water that was a bit too hot, but “warm” is not a temperature.
I used oil like the recipe said, but I think I used too much because it made strange oil lumps that I couldn’t knead out or roll out.
The dough that I didn’t crush with the rolling pin turned out well, it rose and was hilly, so I guess the yeast survived.
I forgot abut the second pizza and left it in the oven for at least half an hour. You can clearly see its charcoal. I was distracted by playing a game and only remembered when my partner asked about the pizza.
I’ll make the recipe again, but I’ll remember to put on the timer so I don’t burn my house down.
(c) How to cook that 2020.
I admit, I have tried to make bread in the past , but it failed. It always was burnt or like a rock and crumbly inside.
I borrowed a book from the library (yeah its open now) and found a recipe I liked.
This bread was easy to make and turned out okay. It was still crumby so I don’t know what happened. Maybe I didn’t knead it long enough to encourage the gluten to be released.
It doesn’t matter. My partner liked it and ate most of the loaves.
I want to get better at the kneading part. I think it will be relaxing once I make bread that’s not sticky or clumpy or excessively dry. I also want to make bread that has air holes like I see in so many videos.
(c) How not to cook 2020
I don’t know if I can really call this seafood salad since I’m not sure what the crab stick are made from (not real crab), but I found them in a frozen bag at Woolies so thought I would try it.
We already had celery and mayonnaise, so I chopped the ingredients and put them in a bowl. Then I mixed it, but the seafood stuff was still frozen. I was hungry and didn’t want to wait so I put the bowl by the fireplace. It didn’t defrost so I covered the bowl and put it on the fridge.
I had to wait till hours for the seafood stuff to defrost. I had left it out of the fridge so I don’t know why it took so long to defrost.
Maybe in summer it might be better. Or maybe I made the recipe wrong, I don’t know. I thought it would be easy to make since it only has 3 ingredients, but maybe I missed something.
(c) How not to cook 2020.
I thought I was done with cooking pork, but my partner pulled me back in. I prepared this in the usual way and it turned out okay, but I still do not like the taste of pork. I even added apple sauce, but pork has a strange taste. I’m also not a fan of the grey colour it turns after being cooked.
I poured boiling water over the cut rind to make the crackling and it was mostly good.
It’s strange but stressful being home almost all the time now. I have more time to do things, but I feel like I have less time now. I don’t understand.
Does anyone else feel that way?
(c) How not to cook 2020.
This was another box mix from Greens. I think this is my last one. I’m glad they’re all gone and I don’t plan to buy anymore.
I haven’t made cheesecake before and I wanted to wait till I could buy a new spring form pan, but my partner wanted me to make it so I tried to.
I don’t think I added enough margarine spread to the biscuit base. I know I was meant to use butter but we had run out and I didn’t want to visit the supermarket just for one thing. It was hard to spread in the bottom of the glass dish and I used a spoon and a glass to form the base. It was still uneven and too thick on the bottom.
Then I mixed the cheesecake batter then added it to the glass dish. I had difficulty spreading the batter over the base and the base keep lifting. I gave up after about 10 minutes and put the dish in the fridge.
After a few hours I served it. I didn’t enjoy it. The taste was strange, like processed cheese. My partner like it and said it tasted like lemon meringue. He ate most of it.
I won’t make this again. If I make cheesecake again, I’ll start from scratch and have the proper ingredients and the correct pan.
(c) How not to cook 2020.
How Not To Cook 