In the Kitchen
But not barefoot (or pregnant!)
I spent much of last weekend (and part of the previous week) cooking like a mad-woman.
On Friday I made sourdough bread from scratch using my sourdough starter. Even though I've had this starter for a while (ever since I killed the last one) I've only ever used it to make sourdough pancakes (which are the best pancakes in the world, by the way. Comment if you want the recipe, or you want to come over for brunch some time).
This time though I wanted to make sourdough bread. So I started the night before and made the bread on Friday morning. While the bread was rising I decided to keep the oven warm by using the oven to make a double batch of bran muffins. I started eating bran muffins regularly when I was pregnant (I had anemia with my first pregnancy and the iron supplements, combined with just being pregnant, slowed down my digestive system substantially). I tried different recipes until I found one I really like and have just kept eating them ever since.
On Saturday we had a dinner guest, so I baked double chocolate brownies in the morning and cooked Chinese pork tenderloin for dinner. It turned out great and we enjoyed our dinner.
On Sunday morning I made a double batch of sourdough pancakes and bacon for breakfast. I put the pancake batter into a modified squirt bottle so I could make shape pancakes, and then dropped chocolate chips on top once they were on the griddle, because the kids love them that way. (I would feel worse about feeding them chocolate in the morning, but neither of them uses syrup if they have the chips, so I think it's a wash).
Then I was putting food away and noticed that there were a lot of apples in the fridge, none of them getting any younger. So I made a double batch of applesauce, and used my new food strainer attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer, which is great.
On Sunday night we made Japanese food, although I was just assisting - the Italian was in charge.
On Monday we went out to the Leonardo exhibit at the Tech Museum in San Jose for the day. The exhibit was nice and the kids had a good time. I was a little disappointed, I thought they could have done much more with the material, but it was still good to go.
And for my final food event on Monday night, after the kids were in bed, I made sausage. We've done it a couple of times before and the results were really good, so I had purchased the supplies on Saturday and needed to do something with the meat. Even though it's a multi-step process it's not hard, just somewhat messy. I use the food grinder and sausage stuffer attachments for the Kitchen Aid, and it is actually pretty fun.
I worry sometimes that I spend too much time involved with food, that I should be doing more with the kids instead. But I've come to feel that if the children grow up having good food in their lives, food that they know how to cook and enjoy, they will have a healthier relationship with food and may be healthier for it for the rest of their lives. So it's a good thing.
So it's been all about the food lately. The past few days have been less about the food (there's only so much time in the kitchen that I can stand). The one bit of kitchen news that is exciting (at least to me) - the Italian was able to track down replacement parts for the dishwasher - we may soon have a functioning dishwasher! (Ours has been broken since before Thanksgiving). Who knew that I could get so excited about an appliance!
I spent much of last weekend (and part of the previous week) cooking like a mad-woman.
On Friday I made sourdough bread from scratch using my sourdough starter. Even though I've had this starter for a while (ever since I killed the last one) I've only ever used it to make sourdough pancakes (which are the best pancakes in the world, by the way. Comment if you want the recipe, or you want to come over for brunch some time).
This time though I wanted to make sourdough bread. So I started the night before and made the bread on Friday morning. While the bread was rising I decided to keep the oven warm by using the oven to make a double batch of bran muffins. I started eating bran muffins regularly when I was pregnant (I had anemia with my first pregnancy and the iron supplements, combined with just being pregnant, slowed down my digestive system substantially). I tried different recipes until I found one I really like and have just kept eating them ever since.
On Saturday we had a dinner guest, so I baked double chocolate brownies in the morning and cooked Chinese pork tenderloin for dinner. It turned out great and we enjoyed our dinner.
On Sunday morning I made a double batch of sourdough pancakes and bacon for breakfast. I put the pancake batter into a modified squirt bottle so I could make shape pancakes, and then dropped chocolate chips on top once they were on the griddle, because the kids love them that way. (I would feel worse about feeding them chocolate in the morning, but neither of them uses syrup if they have the chips, so I think it's a wash).
Then I was putting food away and noticed that there were a lot of apples in the fridge, none of them getting any younger. So I made a double batch of applesauce, and used my new food strainer attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer, which is great.
On Sunday night we made Japanese food, although I was just assisting - the Italian was in charge.
On Monday we went out to the Leonardo exhibit at the Tech Museum in San Jose for the day. The exhibit was nice and the kids had a good time. I was a little disappointed, I thought they could have done much more with the material, but it was still good to go.
And for my final food event on Monday night, after the kids were in bed, I made sausage. We've done it a couple of times before and the results were really good, so I had purchased the supplies on Saturday and needed to do something with the meat. Even though it's a multi-step process it's not hard, just somewhat messy. I use the food grinder and sausage stuffer attachments for the Kitchen Aid, and it is actually pretty fun.
I worry sometimes that I spend too much time involved with food, that I should be doing more with the kids instead. But I've come to feel that if the children grow up having good food in their lives, food that they know how to cook and enjoy, they will have a healthier relationship with food and may be healthier for it for the rest of their lives. So it's a good thing.
So it's been all about the food lately. The past few days have been less about the food (there's only so much time in the kitchen that I can stand). The one bit of kitchen news that is exciting (at least to me) - the Italian was able to track down replacement parts for the dishwasher - we may soon have a functioning dishwasher! (Ours has been broken since before Thanksgiving). Who knew that I could get so excited about an appliance!
posted by Marie at 8:57 AM
1 Comments:
I know that my family's cooking binges have been partly due to the colder weather and the nesting instinct which goes with it. Lots of hearty soups, chili, and yes, bread! Much has gone into the freezer so we can enjoy the next few weeks at our leisure.
And yes, teaching your children that food comes from raw ingredients and your labor, not from the fast-food window, is a very important lesson. Best lesson ever: have the kids helping you with the easier tasks in the kitchen. It will serve them well in the future.
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