Week 4 down … unfortunately a number of failures, but at least I’m learning from them … maybe!
July 2 – National Anisette Day
Anisette is an anise-flavoured liqueur, used in Mediterranean countries. I thought I’d sit this day out …
July 3 – National Eat Beans Day
| A healthy Day again. I contemplated making chilli with beans, but there was some green beans in the fridge when I was making dinner tonight, so I thought they would do for the food of the day. And it does show that I’m not just about the desserts (mmm … chocolate and peanut butter …. sorry, got distracted there for a bit!). |  |
July 4 – National Barbeque Spare-ribs Day
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First time we have ever tried to cook spare-ribs – had no idea how to do it, or whether to bake or BBQ them. We found an American BBQ sauce at a local supermarket that contained hickory and brown sugar (very American?), so we marinated a whole pile of pork ribs overnight in the sauce, then baked them in the oven, covered with aluminium foil, at 180C for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, took the foil off then grilled/broiled for about 10 minutes for the sauce to thicken. Very nice … my father-in-law went back for thirds, and that’s saying something!! |
July 5 – National Apple Turnover Day
I was on a plane for the majority of today, there may have been a chance of me buying an apple turnover at an airport, but the chances of that being gluten-free was little-to-none, so this was again a rest day for me. I did eat a red delicious apple though – does that count?
July 6 – National Fried Chicken Day
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I had another cooking failure with this day. I really should just leave frying of chicken to Grant. I had the oil too hot to begin with so seriously burnt the first batch. Then just didn’t get into the right groove. The family still enjoyed it (with lots of roast chicken gravy over the top) but I still felt very disappointed with myself. I hope there will be another chance to redeem myself at some stage …! |
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Fortunately, my brother helped … with his knowledge, we were able to make some really tasty fried chicken, much more oil in the pan, at the right temperature. And covered with cornmeal with desert spices. Really yummy – thanks Brian! |
July 7 – National Strawberry Sundae Day
| Again, strawberries and ice cream (didn’t I just have this last week for National Strawberry Parfait Day? But I tried something else. This was French vanilla ice cream, with a combination of whipped cream and strawberry puree, then strawberry puree, topped with fresh strawberries. It was actually quite yummy … don’t think it will become my favourite dessert, though! |  |
July 8 – Don’t Put All your Eggs in One Omelette Day
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From someone who used to hate all things eggs after having had way too many egg dishes growing up, I have definitely turned my view inside out and quite regularly put together an omelette, either for breakfast, or a light meal depending on how much cookie dough I’ve eaten during the day! My favourite combination is sliced meat (ham, chicken, turkey etc) with spinach (a must), tomato, capsicum, zucchini or whatever other veggies are around. Unfortunately, being at someone else’s house, meant I didn’t have my normal cookware, and my omelette turned into scrambled eggs …! Still yummy, though! |
Coming up next week:
- July 9: National Sugar Cookie day
- July 10: National Pina Colada day
- July 11: National Blueberry Muffin day
- July 12: National Pecan Pie day
- July 13: National French Fries day / Beans ‘n’ Franks Day
- July 14: National Macaroni day
- July 15: National Tapioca Pudding day
Stay tuned to see which ones I choose to make/eat and how successful (or not) I am!
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