23 Jul
Some might argue that this is a waste of a perfectly good bottle of brew, but I recently tried a new beer bread recipe from Epicurious. There’s only a handful of ingredients, no kneading and no rising time. What could be better?
Maybe beer bread with cheese. Or herbs. Or bacon.
I have some experimenting to do.
18 Jul
Ginger zucchini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from Martha Stewart.
If there was a cupcake suitable for morning, this would have to be it. It’s actually from a cake recipe, one that I made in college when I had a lot of extra time on my hands.
Now, baking is more therapeutic. Or maybe it’s a penance, I don’t know. I feel guilty about not always being able to work the traditional 8-5 because I have small children, and I feel even more guilt about not being fully engaged at home. The laundry isn’t done, the house isn’t picked up, the fridge needed to be cleaned out two weeks ago, and I’m working on the email I didn’t get to that afternoon because one of the kids needed to go to the doctor.
But, I can involve the kids (the healthy ones, anyway) in a baking project. Even Liv can wield a measuring spoon. I feel better about doing something that’s at least somewhat domestic, and I can take the finished project in for my coworkers.
It’s a win-win.
Actually, it’s a win-win-win, as there are cupcakes for breakfast.
15 Jul
While we were visiting Mom, I told her that I was in the mood to bake something. She simply pointed me toward the cherry tree outside.
This is truly baking from scratch…as long as you don’t count the crust!
My mom, who picks and freezes quarts and quarts of cherries each summer, has a handy little pitting tool. Still, this chore took about three times as long as the picking.
I followed a recipe for fresh cherry pie from a vintage Better Homes and Gardens cookbook–remember the one with the picnic-plaid cover? It simply called for three cups of cherries, a cup and a half of sugar and a quarter cup of flower. I added a bit of salt and vanilla.
Lattice tops are my favorite, usually because it makes rolling the top crust less stressful as there’s no need for a perfectly smooth round. Recent time crunches have pushed me to turn to Pillsbury, but I still love a pretty lattice.
Eighteen hours of pitting and picking later, here’s the finished product!
It was totally worth it.
11 Jul
Last week, Ava helped me make a batch of pesto (five batches, actually) from the basil we have growing in the garden. We followed this recipe from Epicurious. Usually, I make pesto in my Cuisinart, but the recipe suggested using a blender. It worked very well!
I packaged the pesto into half-cup containers and shared it with our friends and coworkers. We froze a few here, too.
I tossed it with pasta for dinner, and pureed a bit for Olivia to try. I won’t say that she loved it, but maybe she’ll come around by the time summer’s out. I hope so…we have a lot of basil.
13 Jun
I hesitate to fully endorse this recipe for strawberry rhubarb crisp with cardamom and nutmeg. While I thought it was fantastic, I brought home half of what I took to work, and Bryan passed it off as “too sour.”
Still, though, cardamom is such an interesting spice, and I really loved the tartness. If you make it, let me know what you think!
10 Jun
A few weeks ago, I posted about how difficult it is (for me, anyway) to bake a cheesecake without the top cracking. Well, finally, I had some success.
I made an cookies and cream cheesecake for Bryan’s birthday. I used a slightly different recipe: In addition to cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla, this one called for a quarter cup of sour cream and heavy cream. And peanut butter Oreos, which I did not need to know existed.
I think the real trick, though, was shutting off the oven after 40 minutes. Instead of taking the cheesecake out at that point, the recipe suggested leaving it inside (in the water bath) with the oven door ajar for another 30 minutes. Perfect!
3 Jun
Last week, I hosted a little celebration for our office receptionist. She’s leaving us for medical school, despite my pleas otherwise. She loves Mexican food, so I tried a few new recipes.
Pork Picadillo Empanadas with Chipotle Salsa:
I made my favorite guacamole recipe from Ina Garten. I also baked my regular brownie recipe, but I added a teaspoon of cinnamon and a diced chipotle pepper. Lanis made her famous lemon bars.
I served margaritas, too! It was a great menu–I’ll use a lot these recipes again. I’d highly recommend the black bean dip and the brownie trick. Both were delicious.
18 May
What is it about a gorgeous basket of strawberries that compels me to spend the afternoon in the kitchen?
Eight pounds of fruit, 21 cups of sugar and a few hours later, I have two dozen jars of strawberry jam. If I had any more time on my hands, this could be a dangerous hobby.
…
13 May
This is how I made Olivia’s sweet potatoes while we were traveling this weekend. I guess I really don’t need that fancy baby food maker after all.
Damn.
Smith Family Weblog 