Confession: When it comes to desserts, I love the impractical. My favorite impractical ingredient right now is phyllo dough (pronounced fee’-lo or fie’-lo). It really looks like it shouldn’t be edible—it’s papery thin, crackly, and dry. It’s probably made of tree bark, I don’t know. It has no nutritional value at all,* and it has […]
How to work with phyllo Read More »
1. Start with good chocolate. Many cooks use melting chocolate, purchased in small discs or large blocks. Functionally it works well, particularly for large batches; but I find the flavor bland and the texture waxy. I prefer chocolate chips—ordinary and delicious: either semisweet or milk chocolate, depending on what I’m making. Go name brand, not
Tips on working with melted chocolate Read More »
(With apologies to Gina at Home Joys, who also had granola bars on her mind and just posted a recipe for chocolate ones. View her recipe here.) ***** Confession: When it comes to granola bars, I like to pretend they are ENTIRELY HEALTHY. You know. And sort of ignore away the sauce ingredients, which in
Homemade granola bars Read More »
And how exactly do I have access to real whipped cream, as in real cream whipped, as in skimmed off a gallon of milk from a local farm? I’ll tell you. Her name is Brooke, and she’s our new milk girl. About a month ago, Brooke moved from a rural area into town. One of
Every year about this time, Ryan and I bless the Lord Jesus for the man (or woman) who planted our blueberry bushes. It must have been thirty years ago at least; the bushes are taller than my head—about a dozen of them in a long row. Last year we harvested 13 gallons of berries. This
Blueberry freezer jam Read More »
Confession: I didn’t feed my kids that chocolate cake. I fully intended to, I really did. But… I found I was perfectly able to eat it all by myself. And now I’m eating something even better. Look. A strawberry field is strangely like the sea. Your voice carries too far. The horizon is flat, and
Strawberry blessings Read More »
So I have an idea and the idea that I have is this. Let’s each say what we cook All The Time… the booooring stuff. And if we want, let’s say what we do when we want to make it special. Because to somebody reading this blog, it won’t be boring, it’ll be delightfully fresh:
An idea swap for summertime cooking Read More »
Today I did not feed my kids enough, I guess. They asked for food every fifteen minutes. Mommy, can I have a snack? as I was washing up the lunch dishes… Hmm. Thought you would be makin supper by now… at 3:30 in the afternoon. Mom, I’m gonna DIE… at 5:00, after plenty of snacks.
Today, a piece of cake Read More »
Advice: If ever in doubt about summertime food, throw on some fresh fruit. It’s like the little black dress—always tasteful. Plus it’s more crazy gorgeous than anything you can possibly create. I love how Jesus unites such lush color and flavor and texture. You can layer fresh fruit atop cakes, cookies, cheesecakes, or salads. For use
Confession: I never saw much point in jellybeans. The only ones I ever truly liked were the Buttered Popcorn variety from Jelly Belly. But their chief virtue lay in how much they tasted like something else. Sigh. Still, when I found a poem* justifying their existence, I decided to share it with my Sunday school