Food Creations: Trial and Error

Last night after eating dinner and exercising, I decided I needed dessert. I came up with an appley carmely goodness.

First I made the caramel. This made just enough to kiss the dish. I took 1 tsp of butter (smart balance), 1 tsp of brown sugar and 1 tsp of honey. I melted the butter, then added the sugar and honey until it caramelized. Then for something sweet and crunchy, I took half of a small flour tortilla, broke that in half and then fried them in 1 tsp of butter and sprinkled about 1/8 - 1/4 of a tsp of granulated sugar on each side. I let the tortilla pieces fry until slightly crisp. Then I heated up 1/2 of a cup of apple sauce, and drizzled the caramel over the entire dish (including the tortillas).

It was actually delicious for a healthy treat. Though, it didn't plate well. I do have some ideas for plating and sprucing up the recipe a bit more.

After dinner I decided to make jam for the first time ever! The last time I bought organic jam, I got a small jar for $5. I thought the price was outrageous, and I figured I could make my own for much cheaper.

This week, mangoes and pineapples were on sale (probably for Cinco de Mayo).

I made the jam in my bread machine. I took one whole mango, a quarter of the pineapple, and put them in my food processor, so the chunks would be finer. The recipe called for one cup of sugar and 1 tbsp of low sugar fruit pectin. Oh and it also called for 2 tbsp of lemon juice, but I didn't have any. I figured it was used for a preservative, so I took a chance and used a bit of salt.

I was scared it would turn out salty. I was so wrong. I think I could have left out the sugar all together. The jam is too sweet. I still have left over fruit, so I am going to make another batch without sugar and mix the two together.

I plan on using some of the jam to bake over basa (fish) on Sunday night.

(That is a really large jar, I actually ended up with quite a bit)