Ever since my oldest child (daughter, age 8) was about a year and a half old, we've done at least one recipe from a child's cookbook every week. We started with doing it on Thursdays; now we normally do them on Monday and Thursday.
We have three cookbooks we use in turn, all of them somewhat vintage. One is the Better Homes and Gardens Junior Cookbook published in 1963, one is Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls , and the other is Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cookbook from 1978. There are newer editions of these, but I find the newest ones to be cartoony and pandering toward children, rather than teaching children how to cook from the beginnings.
My system for which recipes to choose is a bit complicated to explain, but suffice it to say we have a pretty wide variety of recipes and techniques to work with.
We didn't make anything from the books yesterday, on Monday, but we did today, an orange cake with a glaze, also orange. The cake itself was made from a yellow cake mix, with the addition of grated orange peel. The more involved part was the glaze. Josie had to cook sugar, water, and cornstarch, adding in juice and finally butter, very much in the same way that she's seen me do in making lemon meringue or similar styles of pies. However, the glaze is far less thick than that type of filling. It was also quite a large amount of glaze for covering a 9x13 cake and might need to be reduced in quantity for future use.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
What are you known for?
I may be developing a reputation for lemon meringue pies. I contributed two of them to a bake sale at an event on Saturday and I think they both sold pretty promptly. (One sold while we were still there; I don't know about the other.)
Lemon meringue pie is familiar enough to people to be attractive but not so terribly common as to be dull. It's an old favorite. I began with the recipe as written in the 1953 Betty Crocker cookbook but over time, I've tweaked it to our tastes. My finished product is less sweet and more tart (okay, sour!) than as written.
One secret I'm happy to share, also, is that a successful meringue should have one more egg white than is called for. The pie filling uses three egg yolks and thus the meringue is written calling for three egg whites. That should work nicely, but if I use a fourth egg white, a more generous meringue is the result. (Who knows how many egg whites must go into the mountainous meringues on the pies in any self-respecting south Jersey diner?!)
Lemon meringue pie is familiar enough to people to be attractive but not so terribly common as to be dull. It's an old favorite. I began with the recipe as written in the 1953 Betty Crocker cookbook but over time, I've tweaked it to our tastes. My finished product is less sweet and more tart (okay, sour!) than as written.
One secret I'm happy to share, also, is that a successful meringue should have one more egg white than is called for. The pie filling uses three egg yolks and thus the meringue is written calling for three egg whites. That should work nicely, but if I use a fourth egg white, a more generous meringue is the result. (Who knows how many egg whites must go into the mountainous meringues on the pies in any self-respecting south Jersey diner?!)
Friday, January 23, 2015
Chili update
My sister-in-law's chili for last week's cook-off, won first prize. Now she has a reputation to uphold!
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
WHOO's in the kitchen?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/207268934/owl-print-half-apron?
I have more owls! These turquoise cuties are wonderful.
I have more owls! These turquoise cuties are wonderful.
Coming soon...
Daisies on pink background. Thinking ahead to spring and bridal showers? Check here again soon to see!
Friday, January 16, 2015
Chili
I think chili is one of those things that everyone does a little bit differently. We made a batch earlier in the week, using a recipe from our trusty Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cookbook. (The edition we have is the 1978 edition, not the most recent, very cartoony one.)
Usually, chili is supposed to simmer several hours to be good, but this recipe cooks for less than an hour, start to finish, and we've liked it a number of times. Its quite from scratch, apart from using canned kidney beans. Onions, green peppers, ground beef, and plenty of beans and tomato make a pretty good finished product.
We also must wish my father-in-law and my sister-in-law the best of luck in a chili cookoff tomorrow!
Usually, chili is supposed to simmer several hours to be good, but this recipe cooks for less than an hour, start to finish, and we've liked it a number of times. Its quite from scratch, apart from using canned kidney beans. Onions, green peppers, ground beef, and plenty of beans and tomato make a pretty good finished product.
We also must wish my father-in-law and my sister-in-law the best of luck in a chili cookoff tomorrow!
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Muffins
Yesterday was, as every Wednesday, our baking day. I made two different batches of muffins. One was the peanut butter muffin recipe found here:
http://thiswomanwrites.areavoices.com/2013/10/15/recipe-peanut-butter-muffins/
Those came out very nicely. That was a first-time recipe and a bit unusual because of using the whole-wheat flour.
The other was the family recipe for "Morning Glory Muffins", meant for church. Those are very good and very labor-intensive. They have diced apples, gratedc carrots, chopped nuts, and usually coconut (which we did not have on hand!) In other words, dirty up everything we own! Unfortunately, I left out one ingredient, namely Grape-Nuts cereal! They came out well enough despite that omission but I think it'll be necessary to make a second batch on Saturday to take to church after all.
What are your favorite muffin recipes?
http://thiswomanwrites.areavoices.com/2013/10/15/recipe-peanut-butter-muffins/
Those came out very nicely. That was a first-time recipe and a bit unusual because of using the whole-wheat flour.
The other was the family recipe for "Morning Glory Muffins", meant for church. Those are very good and very labor-intensive. They have diced apples, gratedc carrots, chopped nuts, and usually coconut (which we did not have on hand!) In other words, dirty up everything we own! Unfortunately, I left out one ingredient, namely Grape-Nuts cereal! They came out well enough despite that omission but I think it'll be necessary to make a second batch on Saturday to take to church after all.
What are your favorite muffin recipes?
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Owls!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/207279831/blue-and-green-owl-print-apron-full?
Owls are definitely in! I've liked owls since well before they started to be trendy, as evidenced by the amount of owl décor in our home. (Much of that, in turn, is creditable to my father's earlier liking for owls!)
Check out the owl apron!
Owls are definitely in! I've liked owls since well before they started to be trendy, as evidenced by the amount of owl décor in our home. (Much of that, in turn, is creditable to my father's earlier liking for owls!)
Check out the owl apron!
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Pink and ribbon!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/197282611/dainty-pink-hostess-apron?ref=shop_home_active_1
Take a look at this pretty pink apron!
Take a look at this pretty pink apron!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)