Tag: Baking
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Top secret? Never!
“Is the recipe top secret?” asked a Facebook friend when I posted a photo of Mary Emmerling’s Chocolate Chip Melt Pie from her American Country Cooking (1987, Clarkson N. Potter). Pish-tush, secret in my kitchen?! Never have I ever. We want good cooking to spread like a pandemic. Without sharing in the kitchen — person…
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Cornbread for quarantine
The little blue and white boxes full of sawdust are fine for “normal” times, but hard times demand the taste of browned butter ricocheting around your mouth like the silver shot in an old pinball machine.
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Punkin for pie. Also soups, pasta dishes, bread, etc., etc., etc.
How does a pumpkin get from being a decoration to one of the best ingredients you can keep in your freezer? First of all, pick out the right kind of pumpkin. Our neighbor Frank Myers used to share what he called cheese pumpkins with us. They were such a pale orange they were almost white, and…
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Strawberry pie; pork and cabbage salad
At the tire store yesterday to get a pickup tire patched, I bought this spring’s first local strawberries. (Hey, in our neck of the woods, it can pay to listen to the old men chatting amongst themselves!) They were perfectly ripe and sweet, he obviously picked them before the drenching rains hit, and I had…
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Eat, pray, love — the definition of supper at church
Last night we fixed supper for our church youth group: spicy lentil chili, broccoli cornbread, tossed salad, grapes and clementines, banana cake with caramel icing. It was some work but a lot of fun, unexpectedly so. As they finished their spring breaks, these teens were full o’ beans (even before the chili). They were also happy,…
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The Remains of the (Birth)day
“My mother likes to use recipes,” said our youngest daughter to her friend in a tone that implied I abuse kittens. Both of these young women are the kind of intuitive cooks that fix what’s in the cupboard. Me, not so much. I’ve never been an improviser — at the piano, on stage or in the…
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Off to see the wizard, bacon-herb cupcakes
Well, it’s here — reunion time. Can I hang onto myself, my grownup self, in the midst of all this nostalgic whoop-de-do? I don’t remember a half century ago through a scrim of fondness. Life at home was such that I remember thinking, I wish I could feel something, anything! (It was much safer not…
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Upside-down cake starts the weekend off right
The days dwindle down but not the garden. More and more and more tomatoes and peppers find their way into huge piles — like highway department de-icer in the winter — on the dining room table. I made a thick, sweet pasta sauce today (7 pounds tomatoes in 4 servings sauce) that tastes of tomatoes,…
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Bread of life
The recipe came originally from the King Arthur Flour catalog. So, eventually, did the Saf-Instant yeast that works like magic. I love King Arthur, even though the Bread Baker of the house tends to grab the new mailings and drool over them as if they featured naked women instead of luscious baked goods. When someone requested…
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