A Dash, A Pinch, A Smidgen. (Oh...and a Tad)

A dash, a pinch, a smidgen - they are all the same right? When ever I came across one of these words in a recipe I did the following:

- a dash - well obviously that means giving the salt or pepper shaker a few shakes
- a pinch - was as much as I could "pinch" between two fingers and toss into the meal
- a smidgen - was a little less then a pinch but procured in the same way, by grabbing a small amount between my fingers.

Last Christmas my husband gave me a new set of measuring cups and spoons which included these.



To my surprise one of the sets of measuring spoons had the measurements a pinch, a dash and a smidgen. Oh and I just noticed a tad is on there too. Turns out those little words do mean something. So I did a little looking around and here is what I found out.

A dash is 1/8 of a teaspoon
A pinch is 1/16 if a teaspoon
A smidgen is 1/26 of a teaspoon

But the more I looked around the more conflicting information I found on the true measurements. Seems as though there is a continuing debate on the subject.

While such small amounts may not make a difference in the final outcome of that big pot of chili you are cooking, it may make a difference when baking. So now that I have these handy dandy new spoons I will be sure to use them, that is unless they are too hard to find in my utensils drawer, then I'll go back to my old measuring system. But now I will have to figure out what I think a tad is and how to measure it.

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Beef Cutlets in Mushroom Gravy

I have been sneaking some items into my cooking lately that my husband doesn't enjoy. But since this cookbook is so good he is willing to try it anyways. This weeks meal included olives. Yummy to me, not so much to him. Once we were done eating and I asked him if he liked it his response was "meat is meat". So I took that to mean it was fine. I enjoyed the dish well enough but don't think I will make it again. I would prefer to have the Blueberry Beef Burgers over these ones any time. The flavour of this burger mainly comes from the salty olives and the mushroom and onion gravy overtop.

SERVED WITH: Boiled red potatoes and broccoli

COOKING TIPS: Make sure to chop up your olives small enough. Mine were a little chunky and a few escaped the patty to sizzle in the frying pan.

RATING:6.5. It just seemed like to much work for the end product.

Lentil and Tofu Stew with Mushrooms

Over all this was a pleasant dish. The flavours are basically the same as the chicken rice casserole which I happen to be having for dinner on Thursday. Needless to say I may be sick of Italian seasoning, which is used in both dishes, by the end of the week. As with most recipes in this cookbook it was very easy to prepare and cook and was ready in about 35-40 minutes. The flavours were quite mild. I might try spicing it up a little the next time I make it.

SERVED WITH: I served this stew over a bed of brown rice.

COOKING TIPS: For some reason I just couldn't find any dried mushrooms at the grocery store this week so I had to substitute in some fresh mushrooms. To add a different flavour I choose a mixture of white and cremini mushrooms. As a result I didn't have any soaking liquid left over from re hydrating the dried mushrooms so I used an equal amount of chicken stock instead.

RATING: 7. It was hearty and certainly healthy but no as flavourful as I would have liked.