Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Experiment gone to the dogs...

We have a bunch of bottled carrots that I did a while back. It was the first time I'd done bottled carrots and we had quite a few of them. My hubby LOVES carrots, so I wanted to set as many by as I could while we had access to a large quantity. I pickled some and they turned out lovely. Everyone loves the pickled carrots. However, for some reason I still haven't figured out, the "regular" bottled carrots turned out rather bitter. And kind of mushy.
I hate to just toss the lot of them, so every once in a while I will pull a pint or two out and try to find something I can use them for. So far I haven't had much luck, but I decided that it was time to try again. Money is tight so I need to see what I can do with what I have, and that includes those silly, stupid bitter carrots.
I had an idea about doing a carrot soup. I wanted to try it on a small batch so as not to waste other items if it went south. I'm glad about that, because it so very much did not work. I was going for a creamy carrot ginger flair, but even after adding honey, and then more honey, it was still bitter and I decided I'd had enough of messing with it for the day.
But I still hate to just throw things out. Especially when I can still make use of something. And we have dogs who would just love it if I made them some carrot ginger treats.

First, I need to say, I do not have exact measurements for this. I was experimenting an had planned, if this worked at all, to do a "proper" batch tomorrow and take measurements, and pictures, etc. But after this failed today, I thought that it would be good to show how I still managed to turn it into something positive.

So, for the "failed soup", I used:
1 pint bottled carrots
1/2-1 cup of rice milk
1 tbsp of canned pumpkin
1-2 tsp pureed, bottled ginger
2-3 tbsp honey

(I was going to use some broth and other things, but it just wasn't going there and I wasn't going to waste things I might need later..)

To this concoction, I added:
2-3 tbsp powdered whole eggs
@2 cups quick cooking oatmeal

Mix this all up and place by spoonfuls onto a baking tray or stone.




I let these bake for about 15 minutes.
Then let cool. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.

Little one on the left is Gir, Moki in the middle, and her son Petey on the right

Kikkoman up front on the left, Gir, Moki, and Petey not looking at me. He'd the shy one..
Be followed around, stared at, beggered and pestered by a seriously happy bunch of doggies.
Kikkoman was following me around trying to get a second one while he was still holding his first in his mouth. They are still watching me now wanting more...
It's (false) break up season here, which means melting, which means mud. 4 dogs = blankets on furniture..

I think they approve. So, just keep this in mind. You cooking failures can almost always still be turned into a win with a little creativity.
(I will also admit that I tried these.. and they're not bad. A little more tweaking and they'd be pretty darn good cookies for people, too.)





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