So Bad, But Oh, So Good

Recipe: Alfredo Sauce
Source: The Old Farmer's Almanac: Everyday Recipes
Time: 10 minutes
Ease: 1
Taste: 5
Leftover Value: 5, does not freeze well
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer

Alright.  We all know that heavy cream is the devil, and butter is his close, faithful subject.  We also know that sin in sweet for a short time, and then you wake up one morning with your thighs twice their normal size and when you stand up your feet disappear.

If you can forget all that, please enter the world of Alfredo sauce.

The good news is that by making this recipe you avoid all the preservatives of buying Alfredo sauce in a jar and you shave off probably half the fat you would have had if you ordered it at a restaurant.

The bad news is that it involves heavy cream, and if you've been paying attention so far heavy cream = devil.

While this is not the absolute best Alfredo sauce I've ever had, it is workable all things considered.  Up until this recipe, making homemade Alfredo sauce involved a Kraft recipe where cream cheese was the main component.

So again, all things considered, this is a pretty good recipe.

The only issues I had were:
1. It does not freeze well.
2. Even though I was generous with the amount of garlic and seasonings I put in it, it could have still used more.

Here's what you'll need:
+1/2 stick butter
+1 cup heavy cream
+1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan
+minced garlic
+salt
+pepper
+nutmeg
+parsley

This sauce literally takes less than ten minutes to make.  Make sure to boil the water for the fettuccine well beforehand.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.

I love melting butter.  It is one of my top ten reasons for getting up each morning.

After the butter is completely melted, stir in the cream.  Simmer for five minutes.

While the butter and cream simmer, grab a hunk of Parmesan cheese and grate a cup and a half.

Smile to yourself because you've had that Parmesan cheese sitting in your fridge lonely for a little over a month.  For a short time there you had been worried that it would never fulfill its lifelong destiny of becoming Alfredo sauce.

Perhaps I'm the only one with such an experience?

I hope not.

Add the cheese to the butter and cream.

Toss in some minced garlic.

Sprinkle in a little nutmeg.

If you want to get fancy, throw some broccoli or peas into the boiling water with the fettuccine.  Drain, then return back to the pot.

Give the Alfredo sauce a little whisk.

Realize that you forgot to add some parsley.  Sprinkle it in (and take a picture focusing on your pretty bracelet rather than the parsley).

Pour the sauce over the noodles and stir.

Convince yourself that this was so much healthier than buying a jar of Ragu Alfredo Sauce, which in the end, it really, truly, is.

It's all about eating with a clear conscience.

Bananas for Bread

Recipe: Sour Cream Banana Bread

Source: The Old Farmer's Almanac: Everyday Recipes

Time: Approx. 1 hr 15 min (includes baking time)

Ease: 3

Taste: 7

Leftover Value: 9

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer:  Keep it in the Strainer!

I hate bananas.  However, I say this with great woe.

I wish I liked bananas.  Of all fruit, they seem to be the heartiest and the most durable to being carried around in a purse.  But yet, I cannot eat them.  It is usually when I am extremely starving and I find them sitting on my kitchen table that I choose to give them another try.  To which I am always greatly disappointed.  Something about the aftertaste of a banana makes me wish I'd never met such a creature.

I am fortunate though.  I can bear the taste of banana bread.  So long as it is accompanied by chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate.

When the recipe for "Sour Cream Banana Bread" oddly did not involve chocolate at all, I substituted the 1/2 cup of chopped pecans for chocolate chips.  My initial intention was to double the called for chocolate.  However, if you know anything about the average bag of chocolate chips you know that it is approximately two cups worth.

And I just couldn't let that one cup sit alone in the bag without it's counterpart.

The bread turned out as decent as can be, all things considered.  The top of the loaf sort of sunk in as it cooled, but I've made peace with the fact that it might have been the chocolates' fault.

The taste was still delightful, much better than if it had been made with only pecans.
 

Blueberries and Sour Cream

Recipe: Wild Blueberry-Sour Cream Muffins
Source: The Old Farmer's Almanac: Everyday Recipes
Time: 30 minutes total
Ease: 2
Taste: 8
Leftover Value: 10
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the strainer!

I'm supposed to go blueberry picking at some point this summer.  I had hoped to have fresh blueberries hand picked with love from a local farm for the first time I made this recipe.  Unfortunately, I had to go with farm fresh blueberries packaged up at our local farmer's market instead.

Same thing, they just weren't picked with love.

This recipe is fantastic.  But then again, what recipe including sour cream isn't fantastic?  It gives that perfect amount of moisture to any baked delight.

And to think that I wrinkled my nose to sour cream during my years as a youngster.

What I particularly love about the page this recipe is found on is that on the opposite page there is a section that gives a formula for making "Muffins As You Like Them".  So, you could choose to make an awesome recipe like the Wild Blueberry-Sour Cream Muffins, or you could create your own masterpiece of a muffin recipe.

More to come on that later, perhaps.

The recipe for the blueberry muffins was simple and quick to do.  If you're being leisurely, perhaps it could take you 45 minutes total, but being leisurely is totally overrated for me.

The recipe said it yields 12 muffins.  I made 12 muffins, plus had enough batter left over to make about 12 mini muffins.

Mini muffins are good.  They have less calories, even if you end up eating exactly 10 zillion of them, like I did.

Shhh, that's our little secret.