Not my day in the kitchen.

Today’s been a long day, you guys. My kitchen’s a mess. Which, on the one hand, is good because it means I’ve been DOING THINGS! On the other hand, though, it means a lot of cleaning.

Thus, I’m glad to soon be leaving the kitchen to go play games with Bill and some of his co-workers. Not that I don’t enjoy cooking, but today I’ve dropped things, spilled things, forgotten ingredients and so forth. It’s not been an easy day in my kitchen.

However, all that said, I did want to send out a “hello”. A quick list of some recipes you’ll be seeing posts about soon: banana bread, turnip greens, chocolate cake, potato and bean gratin, brussels sprouts with bacon, port-braised onions and stuffed mushrooms (the last two you already knew about, but still haven’t seen).… Continue reading →

[52] “Mom’s” Pumpkin Bread

Have you ever had “that recipe”? You know the one. The one you make for any potluck, any occasion and gets just rave reviews? The one that you’re very proud of and know you make excellently? The one where you never volunteer the recipe? This is that recipe for me.

A couple of you already have this recipe, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to some hesitation about sharing this recipe at large. I don’t like the idea of losing the specialness of “that recipe” once everyone can make it. I have heard that happens to some people. But, really, why not share it? And for those who are wondering, yes, it’s in a cookbook I own, so it’s sort of accessible. Sort of, because…

There’s no cookbook link for this recipe, as it’s one of those fund-raising cookbooks (like the Pie Town pie cookbook).… Continue reading →

[51] Beer-Glazed Black Beans with Bacon (and Tomatoes!)

How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman

Oh man, oh man! I’m so far behind on getting recipes up, and I’m not quite sure how that happened. Still, it’s an exciting time for me. We knocked out seven recipes last week (including this one and the previous post), and are on target to knock out another seven or eight this week. And that’s including having punked out and had pizza last night, our attending a game night Thursday, and our being off to a birthday celebration Saturday.

Woo! Of course, that means I better get a crackin’ on posting these old recipes, eh? Well, here’s the starter.

My hint for this recipe is to be careful with your chili/chile powder.

h2. Ingredients

4 – 8 oz bacon, cut into cubes or small pieces
1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp minced garlic (I just used about 3 big cloves.)… Continue reading →

[50] Cooked Beans, the Quick Soak Way

How to Cook Everything, Revised Edition by Mark Bittman

Hooray! We’ve managed 50 recipes so far. I know we really could have been chugging along at a better pace, given when we started, but I’m still pretty pleased with 50 recipes. If nothing else, it means we’re still both dedicated to making this work.

Plus, it’s been a lot of fun.

So last night was one of those wonderful nights where we managed several recipes at once. In that case, it was three. It was looking like it’d just be two, but I realized I had never made dried beans before, and wanted to give it a go. Plus, this way, once the power goes out for three days this upcoming winter, we can eat the canned beans we have. It’s like we’re survivalists! We have canned food and a manual can opener.… Continue reading →

New Mexico

We’re in New Mexico again, visiting for my mother’s birthday (which has passed, but this was the weekend she wanted to celebrate).

As you can imagine, I’m not doing a lot of cooking right now. I have, however, decided that I’d like to get a jump start on menu planning for next week. This is somewhat augmented by the fact that I’d planned three meals for while Bill’s mother was in town, and then we did not eat at home. (Thankfully, I had not bought the ingredients for anything yet, so no money or food was wasted on those plans.)

Unfortunately, this planning is also hampered by not having my cookbooks with me, and not knowing what’s coming in our CSA. I have gotten a “sneak peek”, but planning around previous sneak peeks went poorly for us when we didn’t get any beets (among other planned for things).… Continue reading →