A few weekends ago, I felt the urge to nest in a holiday sort of way. Last year, I made Christmas delights with my mom at her new home, but I hadn’t gone crazy with the Christmas cookies and treats in my own home, with my husband (and dog, who found a few sprinkles on […]
Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category
29 Aug
Peaches and Sauce and Jam…Oh My!
One of my goals in life is to be Susie Homemaker. I love cooking, baking, gardening, and anything that pertains to growing or making tasty, natural foods for my family. After the pressure canning disaster, I was a bit wary to can anything else… ever. Nevertheless, my loving mother knows my desire to be a […]
5 Jul
Wifey Disaster… Again
Scarily enough, the classic wifey disaster is becoming an annual occurrence. Hopefully, this will be the last big one, but knowing my culinary experimental tendencies, there are probably more coming… My latest endeavor was to make and can my own homemade jam. My mother gave me a Ball Home Preserving book for Christmas and I […]
3 Jan
Abbreviated Creations
Here are some photos and short descriptions of my latest culinary creations of note: Homemade Strawberry Jam: I did not follow a recipe, which is very characteristic of my cooking… Lesson learned? Follow a recipe. Made-up strawberry jam turned out more like made-up strawberry disgustingness. I won’t even grace it with pictures because it just […]
24 Oct
Southern-style Dinner: inspired by a picture book
About two weeks ago, I was helping out in a first grade classroom with their independent reading time. One of the students read a book to me about a family reunion. Naturally, this picture book included the traditional family food for this reunion, including an aunt’s “famous” barbecue chicken, yummy salads, and decadent chocolate cake. […]
24 Oct
Tradition: Homemade Applesauce
Almost every year for as long as I can remember, my mom would take my sister and me to Stuckey Farm to pick and buy apples, as well as bring home a delicious collection of dutch apple pies, real apple cider, and those delicious marshmallow caramels! The orchard experience was always a blast, but when […]
19 Aug
Pork Loin with Vinaigrette on Romaine
This is a variation on a tasty recipe I found last week in the Indianapolis Star. To my delight, pork loin was also on sale last week, so the creation of this dish was inevitable. There’s really no amusing anecdote to accompany this meal, so here it is, plain and simple: 1 1/4 pounds pork […]
28 Jul
Fettuccine with peas, shallots, and herbs
This turned out to be a surprisingly tasty recipe I found in the June issue of Real Simple magazine. The original recipe is a vegetarian dish, calling for fettuccine, peas, olive oil, shallots, pecorino or Parmesan cheese, parsley, and mint. Not having an unlimited pantry, I substituted a few items (as usual) and added chicken, […]
28 Jul
The First Wifey Disaster
So, my new sister-in-law’s birthday was last week, and I wanted to bake a delicious chocolate cake for the occasion. We had some friends over to go swimming and to stay for dinner and birthday cake. The day before the shindig, I set out to bake this fabulous cake. I had all my ingredients measured […]