Inspiration & Resources for the modern homemaker
I bought a grain grinder when I lived in Charleston. The ducks in our front pond (yes, our apartment complex had a duck pond) ate a lot of less-than-ideal loaves of bread. To this day I wonder how a loaf a bread can come out heavier than the combined weight of its ingredients. I had a blast finding grains. Except… Read More
This post is one I was going to research and do later in the year. But…I’m in the middle of creating a new dessert: “Butterscotch Blondie Cheesecake.” And various recipes for butterscotch and cheesecake call for multiple types of dairy products: milk, heavy cream, whipping cream, heavy whipping cream, etc. And I’ve been wondering how much I really, really need… Read More
A little personal background: I have to admit to a prejudice against oil. If a recipe calls for it, I almost always consider substituting butter. I have attempted to overcome this recently. A red velvet recipe called for a cup and half of oil. Yes, seriously. I winced pouring it in. And surprisingly (to me, anyway), the cake was delicious…. Read More
As you have probably noticed, there is a bit of a trend towards trying to make everything healthier. (Could you hear the sarcasm in that?). Thankfully, the medical establishment has changed their mind and now announced that not all fats are from the devil. This is good because butter is vital not only for taste, but for texture. Have you… Read More
Semi-quick story: My husband likes coarse sea salt. I don’t get it, but whatever. I don’t dump salt on finished food anyway. For Christmas I was making brined turkey that called for 1 cup of kosher salt. Now, I quickly checked Google (what did people do before Google!? I mean, I made it through high school referencing newspapers, books, and… Read More
The cause of many failed recipes is bad ingredients. Not bad as in spoiled or expired; bad as in low-quality or the wrong ingredient. I have to admit that when I started cooking- with my sense of thrift- I had a tendency to go for cheaper ingredients. I’ve stopped that practice. And everything tastes better. High-quality and the correct ingredients… Read More
I suspect the hidden cause of many a failed recipe is bad ingredients. Not bad as in spoiled or expired. Bad as in low-quality or the wrong ingredient. I have to admit that when I started cooking- with my sense of thrift- I had a tendency to go for cheaper ingredients. I’ve stopped that practice. And everything tastes better. High-quality… Read More
As I’ve said before, ingredients matter. High-quality and the correct ingredients are the difference between a delicious recipe and a…well, disaster. Or at least a low-quality product. We’ll start with flours. Below are the many types of flours you will run across. I’ll start with the most common, those made from wheat. Part 2 will include all the other types,… Read More