Week 15 done of my US National Food challenge with 4 out of 7 accomplished! Still juggling the demands of a new full-time job, living in the US, etc … but I’m starting to get the hang of balancing work, family and baking!
September 17 – Apple Dumpling Day
I couldn’t be bothered doing this one – with the probable disappointment of the pastry not turning out because of having to be gluten-free. Any of you out there have any success with gluten-free puff pastry?
September 18 – National Cheeseburger Day
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Homemade cheeseburgers (using my basic burger recipe and stuffing some cheese in the middle so it melted when it cooked), topped with all the family’s favourite toppings. Yum! Also added some Montreal Steak Spice seasoning into the meat, toasted the gluten-free bought hamburger bun, added some tomato and spinach and it was great. The family also added bacon and/or eggs with theirs and their expressions showed they enjoyed it too! |
September 19 – National Butterscotch Pudding Day
| Another recipe that I got to try for the first time. I found this on the internet and tried it out … Poor quality photo again, but the taste is definitely there! All the family loved it and it was really easy to make. I’ll post the recipe on the website shortly so you all can try it out! |  |
September 20 – National Rum Punch Day
Another alcohol-related day, and another day that I didn’t do …
September 21 – National Pecan Cookie Day
| I had made some pecan cookies previously for a US National Food Day, but this was the recipe the website put me through. It was basically a pecan sugar cookie, in a crescent shape, but they turned out really dry, even with some chocolate drizzled on top. This recipe won’t be making an appearance on this website! |  |
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So I tried again – I found another recipe that looked pretty easy – flour, brown sugar, butter and pecans. A bit better, but still not the greatest cookies I’ve ever made! I don’t think I’ll be hanging out to make pecan cookies of any variety again for a while! |
September 22 – National Ice Cream Cone Day
This was actually Grant’s birthday, and not wanting to gallivant around trying to find gluten-free ice cream cones, I thought I’d focus my energies on Grant, rather than this quest!
September 23 – National White Chocolate Day
| A day celebrating white chocolate, around Grant’s birthday? The only solution was to make our famous white chocolate cheesecake (recipe here) and adapt it to Grant’s wishes. So I made the fruity ‘graham cracker crust’ (recipe here) and added blueberries, rather than the standard chocolate peanut butter cookies (although those are SO GOOD!). Yummy!! |  |
Coming up next week:
- September 24: National Cherries Jubilee Day
- September 25: Crab Meat Newburg Day / National Food Service Employees Day
- September 26: Pancake Lovers Day
- September 27: National Chocolate Milk Day / National Corned Beef Hash Day
- September 28: Strawberry Cream Pie Day / Drink Beer Day
- September 29: National Coffee Day
- September 30: National Hot Mulled Cider Day
Stay tuned to see which ones I choose to make/eat and how successful (or not) I am!
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