Thank you for all of your bug research and suggestions, from Wednesday’s post. I think that we have determined that it was a Wheel Bug (from the Assassin Bug family). The good news: it eats aphids and Japanese beetles. The bad news: it bites and the paralyzing enzyme that it injects makes it hurt “ten times worse than a hornet’s sting, and can take up to 6 months to heal.” The upshot of all that is that you can hope that you have them in your yard to control the pesky bugs, but steer clear of them yourself. (And use the zoom on your camera if you need to photo it.) I hope I never see another one.
I have two things to tempt your palate today. The first: THESE have got to be the very best caramels I have ever had in my entire life, bar none. (Yes, that’s quite a strong endorsement. And I mean every word of it.) The salted caramel flavor (Fleur De Sel) is unbelievable. I also ordered the English Tea flavor, and wondered how in the world “tea” and “caramel” could combine into something good. It does. Amazing. When you need a good caramel fix, try them out.
A couple of weeks ago I tried a new recipe from The Pioneer Woman’s Blog. (Digression: Do any of you read her blog? How in the heck does she have the time and energy to blog that much? I know that her blog is broken down into different sections, but holy cow. When I came home from the Sock Summit, I checked my Google Reader to see which of the blogs that I read regularly, had been updated while I was gone for a week. In that time, a couple of the blogs had been updated once, most had not been updated at all, and the Pioneer Women? 25 updates. TWENTY FIVE unread posts. In the 7 days that I was gone. The thing is, they’re all interesting and I do read them. She has a good thing going there.)
As with almost any recipe I make, I tweaked this. Not because it wasn’t good as is, but I’m a tweaker. I tweak. With this one, I added in cooked chicken breasts, a little more onion and cheese, and doubled the dressing. I also thought that it would be delicious (and colorful) to add in chunks of avocado. I might try that the next time. I hope you enjoy it!
Pioneer Woman’s Pita Chip Panzanella (tweaked by Loopy)
1 oz. bag Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita Chips (or the pita chips that you like)
5 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into 1″ chunks
3/4 cup medium red onion, sliced thin and chopped
1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 Tbl. red wine vinegar
freshly ground black pepper
kosher salt
(note to self: try adding in avocado chunks the next time)
Combine chips, tomato chunks, onions, Parmesan and chicken in a large bowl. Mix together oil and vinegar with a dash of salt, and pour over the ingredients. Add freshly ground pepper and toss to mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before serving.
It has been fun to read all of your comments from Monday’s blog contest! (If you haven’t added one yet, there is still time. We’ll draw for the winners on Monday.) We do one prize for every 250 entries and we’re up to 7 drawings for prize packages, so far. How fun!
Sheri doyoufollowarecipesaswritten,orareyouatweaker,too?
I tweak everything……. Receipes, patterns, tips. I just always have to put my twist on everything…..lol I have a very large spice cabinet to show for that and my children (not really children 23 and 20) love to show their friends the cabinet and tell them that, OH YES! she uses them all……..lol
I love Pioneer Woman’s recipes too. YUMMY! I do tweak recipes too though often I will try them as written first and then tweak the next time. Some recipes get tweaked over and over just trying to find the tweak I like best. I will be trying your tweaked recipe one day soon.
I tend to tweak, too – when I cook or bake,t hat is, which isn’t often these days! I’ve got another idea for you with that recipe… I bet it would also be great with broccoli! If I remember correctly, you just might have some broccoli in your freezer?! 😉
When I use a recipe, I tend to tweak. Of course I don’t cook much – takes away from knitting time!
Aren’t salted caramels the yummiest?! I just LOVE the combination of buttery, sweet and salty together. Will have to give these a try for certain. Thanks for the tip!
I love to add my own touch to a recipe. Then if everyone loves it I can say I made it up myself with a clear conscience.
No tweaking because I do not really cook that much.
You know there is going to be a run on those caramels!
That salad looks good. I just bought some pita chips from Trader Joes and I have a ton of garden fresh tomatoes. Yummy!
The first time I make a recipe I will follow it as written. After that I usually do some tweaking. My sister, on the other hand, never tweaks. She goes strictly by the recipe. My husband says I got the cooking gene from my mother who could create a meal for a family with very little to work from. He says that I am a creative cook.
I tweak. Always have and always will. I just think of it as cooking! The recipe is inspiration, that is my story and I will stick to it!!!
That does look good. and salted caramels are the best!
I generally follow recipes, but I add things I like or substitute ingredients.
The first time, I usually follow as written, and afterwards I tweak. Unless I see a recipe that looks like a good way to use up some veggie I have on hand but that I’m missing an ingredient for, in which case I tweak from the beginning.
The first time I make something, I follow the directions as they are written. After that, I tweak away. I am not a confident cook, so I must use someone else’s work as a springboard.
Definitely a tweaker, but that probably has more to do with being a vegetarian and tweaking recipes so they’re meat free!
Following recipes as is? Really hard for me: I’m a tweaker at heart. I never ever follow recipes exactly as written. Never… except when I really have to, and I do have to these days because I’m a recipe tester for a cookbook author. It’s a great experience, very interesting and exciting, but it means I have to follow everything to the letter. Hard!
I love the Pioneer Woman. I really only read two sections regularly, but I love her blog.
I don’t cook at all, but this panzanella sounds delicious! I think even I could handle making this. Thanks, Sheri!
Isn’t a recipe sort of a friendly suggestion? What if I don’t have all the ingredients and I don’t feel like shopping, but I do feel like eating? Ant way, your friendly suggestion this week looks yummy!
Recipes, sewing patterns, knitting instructions, — most things that are hand made get tweaked at my house. 🙂 However, it’s judicious tweaking based on research and/or experience. For example, I recently purchased a 3-1/2 qt slow cooker and a couple of recipe books. Having read up on people’s experiences with the pot I purchased, and the introductions of the cookbooks, when I decided to concoct my first recipe, there was already a little tweaking going on. Now, the recipes are just “guidelines”. Oh, but it’s fun to see what comes out of the crock pot next!!!
Definately a tweaker!
I tweak with cooking, but not usually baking. I tell people that “cooking is an art”, but “baking is a science”.
BTW…you know you didn’t cover up the word “chicken br**sts!” Now you’re going to show up in a lot of pervy searches…. 🙁
I am defintiely a tweaker! As a matter of fact, my Dad just asked me for a recipe the other day, and I said some carrots and celerty-he said how much-I said i don’t know-about a handful-and he said”don’t you measure anything?” MY answer – “no. ” I don’t ever touch a measuring spoon unless I’m baking. I have found it makes me a better cook-esp with soups.
I rarely cook but when I do I follow recipe because recipe follow fail will cause awful microwaved food. Okay okay I know they’re not recipes but that’s what I cook mostly.
I sometimes tweak when I don’t have an ingredient.
Love the recipe. We have a lot of summer company and this will be delicious. I am a big time tweeker. Thats how you make it your own. I go to dinner and when I order something I want to have again, I go home and copy it until I get it right then I improve it. Have done it many times. One of my favorites is Jasmine Chicken & Rice. I had it at Legal Seafoods, came home and worked on it until it was better than theirs. I can’t tell you how many people now have my recipe and request it when they come to my house. Tweeking is good
If you like PW, you’ll like this one too!
http://www.kayotickitchen.com/
Her recipes are awesome and different!
hah hah hah…I’m a tweaker! Have been…always will be…and won’t change.
Someone just asked me for my chocolate bundt cake recipe that I made about 10 years ago….! Couldn’t remember…but I always do Duncan Hines Devl’s Food Cake mix with a cup of Hershey’s Chocolate Chips, a 1/2 cup of Mounds shredded coconut….added to the regular recipe from the box and when the cake is done….a little powdered sugar w/ warm milk or water poured over the cake will do it!
Tweak…tweak…tweak!
Placed my order for the caramels….and some other goodies! Oh gosh..by next week….my hips will explode!
I’m definetely a tweaker.. the kids i am afraid are learning bad habits. The most commonly heard question when the kids are cooking is “mum how much is a touch/dash/dollop of such and such ? “. Funnily enough my girls are starting to get this but my son doesn’t, it confuses him and i have to physically show him how much it is. (We are an equal opportunity household you know .. being male doesn’t excuse you from learning to cook 😉 )
The closest I come to cooking is throwing chicken or beef patties on the George Forman Grill!! So, yes, I follow the instructions for cooking those meats. No tweaking allowed, or they are under- or over-done!
Have a great weekend!
Definitely a tweaker!!
I’m pretty sure the Pioneer Woman’s JOB is to blog . . . kind of changes the perspective and expectation doesn’t it?
I don’t always tweak, but if it’s the second time I’m making a recipe, I’m likely going to tweak it! I actually recently started a cooking blog, achefsdaughter.com, if you want to add one more cooking blog to your RSS reader!
It definitely depends. If I’m following a new recipe, I only tweak if something seems really really out of place (baking time for cookies comes to mind as something I tweak in a new-to-me recipe). The more familiar with a recipe/cooking style/ingredient/etc., the more comfortable I feel experimenting a little more, or just making it up as I go. Thanks for the tip on Pioneer Woman- I’m always looking for more blogs to read!
Tweaker and inventor. Today I invented a salad: spinach, cucumbers, celery, yellow pepper, orange slices, shrimp, avocado, and cherry tomatoes. Walnuts, dried cranberries, or roasted edamame were offered as toppers.
YUM. Seriously.
I usually read it thru and then do what I want. I usually mean to follow it as it is written but get sidetracked. The execption to this is a cake recipe that I have never made before. I will usually do it the “right ” way once and then let loose. Occasionally there is a poor outcome, but usually it turns out okay and sometimes exceptional.
You added chicken? I thought you cleaned out your freezer of chicken. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
OT. The prize from your contest arrived two days ago. This is my first week back at school, so I haven’t yet properly thanked you. I will do a blog post with pictures this weekend, but I want to tell you ahead of time that the prizes are lovely and more than anyone could have reasonably expected. I hope my knitting skills are worthy of the yarn.
oh wow, yeah totally stay away from that critter! Since I’ve become a knitter I’ve been so worried about something happening to my hands or my arms and making it hard or impossible to knit.
I’m an occasional recipe tweeker. I do love to add extra spices to foods, and if a recipe calls for a lot of oil I’ll sub it out.
OK, Sheri, now that I have found of weak spot of yours, Normandie’s salted cream caramels, now we can talk business… What about an endless supply of those delicacies, direct from France where I happen to live, in exchange for, let’s say, a little notice in advance of when you will have Numma Numma, those yarn delicacies ? So, what do you say ? XD Just kidding…
But those caramels are indeed something.
Another recipe, just to die of earthly happiness :
Prepare some thin pancakes, or crepes, as we call them in France,
Saute some apple chunks in butter until tender;
melt the caramels with some liquid cream, the cream just helping the caramels to remain liquid
and then pour the apple chunks and the liquid caramel sauce on the crepe,
And then, then dive into this unbelievable experience…
And yes, I tweak, following this forever true rule, that more is better : I just add more of everyhting that is yummy.
By the way, I love the PW too, she is indeed amazing.
Thanks a lot, Sheri, for everything that you do and that you are.
The first time I make something I will follow the recipe as closely as possible. The next time I make it I may tweak if I felt it needed something the time before, or if I am missing an ingredient… I collect recipes, and cookbooks like I collect knitting patterns and books. Love them and ‘read’ them for fun. I love to cook and bake and knit!
I like the way you tweaked the salad – I’d be more inclined to tried it your way. I’m not knocking PW, as I made her Chocolate Sheet Cake for Hubby’s birthday yesterday and it’s awesome w/out tweaking.
PS – I didn’t win the Le Crueset pot the other day on PW’s site. Slim chances when there’s over 10,000 comments….
I’m glad you tweaked. This looks so good and I agree on the avocado addition.
I used to follow recipes word for word when I first started cooking. Now I can’t help but tweak almost everything I make. i think it’s a good thing, to make a recipe your own.
the caramels look luscious. someday when i have dental benes again and neednt fear losing a filling—I’ll indulge!
I tweak. Even baking I tweak. I keep to the proportions but I add things. Nothing is ever the same twice in this house. It doesn’t always work but it makes for an interesting life. Incidentally, I found about the Pioneer Woman on one of your blog’s and now I love her.
Sometimes we tweak, and sometimes we invent. DH and I both love to cook and come up with ideas that get mulled over for a few days, then put forth for experimentation. Last night we made our own version of empanadas – we’d been making a curried beef version from a cookbook and decided to revise all of the ingredients except the puff pastry and the beef to make a more Spanish-style version. Yum!!!
Such an enabler of yarn AND sweets. I just spent $30 at that etsy shop! Also, I just noticed that their marshmallows are gluten, soy and dairy free. Holy crap. I will be ordering from them again at one point for sure!!!!
Also, my hubby and I are tweakers. Actually we’re re-inventors. Someday we plan to release our own cookbook of reinvented recipes. We take meat recipes and turn them vegetarian with just as much flavour (if not more). Mmm.
Oh my goodness HaveIt’s sel de mer caramels are soooo goood – it’s to the point of ” If i bring my lunch for a week I can get some caramels”
Love them!
THAT BUG !!
I ve been busy ..so a little behind on my blog reading…
last week I was eating dinner at a restuarant (where I also work )
and ‘that very bug’…well you know …that very species or whatever you call it …
hurled itself onto the plate glass window just inches away from my head !!
and would not leave !!!…it seemed to be watching me eat ….it freaked me out so much I could not finish my meal …and had to box it up !
I am not normally so squeemish but that bug is huge …and icky !!
I cannnnnot believe its on your blog !
iccchhhh !!!
some times a man would come in handy …for that sort of thing !
OMG ….they bite ???
are you kiddin’ me ???
ok one last thing …
my favorite guilty treat with broccoli …
I think this idea is Russian in origin …
melt a little butter …add at least 8oz.or so of cream cheese ….slowly stir together w/just a pinch of milk …into a dreamy delicious cream sauce …
add cooked pasta and lightly steamed broccoli
a generous sprinkling of cracked black pepper …and those bags of broccoli will vanish from your freezer !!
yum
1) I am a tweaker, too
and
2) you can’t mean that you read all 1800+ comments, can you???!!
I make a dish as written the first time. Then tweak the next time out.
Much like knitting 🙂
And I LOVE caramels, thanks for the link.