Lauren Loves Good Food

By now, I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m not quite the recipe diva that many of my co-bloggers are.

What can I say, I like to be a mindless recipe reading zombie sometimes most the time.  But that doesn’t mean, I’m incapable of doing things on my own.  Or of sharing good recipes I’ve come across at the very least.

A couple weeks ago, I finally got the nerve to make my own jam.

I’m constantly consumed by a fear of food going back and am always tossing things in the freezer.  Only to be annoyed by my inability to plan ahead and give things time to defrost.

I pretty much threw some strawberries, blueberries, lemon juice and a tiny bit of sugar into a pot and cooked it till it got nice and thick (20-25 minutes or so?)  <— Lamest excuse for a “recipe” ever.

I’m sure you can make jam into a much more complicated process.  I was totally lost when my internet searches started talking about pectin and sanitizing jars.  I went with the simple route and thought it turned out delicious.

I mean, it’s not freezer jam, but I still think it’s great.

And it’s great on top of oatmeal, but I’ll be honest.  I had ulterior motives with this jam.

You see, I’ve been being naughty. 

Every time I close at work, I get to take home whatever pastries we haven’t sold (the rest are donated) and I’ve been bringing home way too much crumb cake lately.

Yeah, that’s the one.

Delicious: yes.  Good for me: not so much.  I figured I could make my own with a much better ingredient list.

I used this recipe from Cooking Light.

Changes I made:

• almond milk in place of f-f cow milk
• reduced the amount of butter
• cut back on the powdered sugar

It turned out great!

The real deal.

Layering!

Baking!

Enjoying!

Fresh out of the oven.

The only complaint I had was that the crumb topping was a little too buttery.  Or maybe that butter just wasn’t the best.  It may have been the cheapest one at the store…

Either way, I now  have homemade crumb cake in the freezer (told you I’m always stashing things in there!).  So long, mystery ingredient crumb cake from work!

Okay, this next one I’m really excited about.

Veggie Pigs in a Blanket

I realize veggie pigs is contradictory, but cut me some slack.

1.  four veggie dogs (or regular hot dogs) – I used chipotle Field Roast Grain Sausages

2.  one batch(?) pastry puff (modified from this recipe):

• 1 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon butter, cubed and chilled
• 1/2 cup milk (I used almond)

1. Preheat oven to 375*.
2. Mix flour, salt, sugar and baking powder together.
3. Transfer flour mixture to a food processor and add butter.  Pulse until butter is “pea-sized.” **Alternately, you could do this with your hands.
4. Add milk and pulse until dough forms.
5. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead a couple times.
6. Roll out to 1/4” thick and slice into four long strips.
7. Wrap strips of dough around dogs and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.