A Very Berry Tart

I had never made a tart before, and maybe never even eaten one, but I stumbled across this recipe from the blog Cooking with my Kid, and was inspired to make it for a book club brunch I was hosting.

It was quite easy. I used fresh raspberries and frozen blueberries, and have decided that frozen works perfectly - just use frozen (don't thaw the berries first). I don't keep self-rising flour on hand, but here's a simple recipe to make it.

As I said, I'd never had a tart before, so I'll let you know it tasted like a cross between a cookie and a cake in terms of texture and density. Not overly sweet, with nice tart berry bursts.

Roasted Chicken

First crack at roasting a whole chicken, and I wanted crispy crackling skin. I followed this recipe for Perfect Roast Chicken, which was FANTASTIC. I used butter instead of margarine, and my only complaint is that it needed far less butter than it called for, so I will half the quantity next time. It also cooked faster than expected, so make sure to take periodic temperature readings as you baste it.

Homemade Pop-Tarts

On Pie Day/Pi Day, I was looking for an option for single-serve pies to make for dessert, after a quick Google search, I found Brown Eyed Baker's recipe for homemade Pop-Tarts.

I made some with brown sugar & cinnamon filling (pictured), others with blueberry filling, and improvised an apple crumble with some of the scraps and other ingredients.

While definitely NOT low-calorie, these were fun to make, but I don't think I'd do this specific recipe again.

Chili con Carne with a Portuguese Roll and Browned Butter

On the weekends, I usually only have two meals instead of three, and be more indulgent in the type or quantity of food I consume. The cold winter weather and sadness of a funeral today increased my need for comfort food. So, today, I made chili, following the instructions on the packet, grabbed a handful of baby carrots, heated up a bakery-bought Portuguese bun, and made some browned butter.

Weight Watchers points for this meal:

Chili (8 points)

Roll (6 points, estimated)

2 tsp butter (2 points)

Total: 16 points

Mmm... browned butter. So rich and nutty-tasting. I wasn't sure how the hardening process would go. It turns out that I needed to stir it occasionally (I did this every 10 minutes or so, who keeping it outside then in the fridge to cool). This was so the heavier brown flecks were evenly blended into the butter. This is the first time I have re-solidified this type of butter (I have used it once before in baking, so used it in melted form).