Summation and the future

The project officially came to a close two days ago. I wish I could regale you with tales and photos of a beautifully assembled and delicious from scratch celebration meal that was a culmination of all the skills I have developed over the last two months. But alas, I petered along to the end just as I had all along. I didn't even keep very good track of what I ate in the final couple of days. I do promise you however that I remained faithful to the end. In fact, I have grown so accustomed to this manner of eating that I am committed to keeping it up now in my regular life. (Upon seeing a contraband package of goat cheese in the refrigerator used in a recipe made for someone outside of our family, my husband recoiled in shock.)

There will be a few slight modifications based on what I have learned so far. The following items will be admissable:

1. Canned tomatoes, tomato puree, tomato paste. (Tomato season is over, it is too late for me to learn how to can and put up tomatoes to use all winter, and these are useful in so many recipes. This is a rare instance where fresh produce is an unequal substitute, and the effort is not worth the reward. I hope to be canning like a frontiers-woman by next tomato season and we can amend this rule at that time.)
2. Olives (I love olives, and my research shows that they are extremely time consuming to cure, and there aren't many places to buy raw olives, and I hate buying things online for some reason. Also, olives are the kind of thing that people spend their lives perfecting, and I don't think I am going to make them better. Perhaps down the road when I am looking for a challenge I will investigate this further, but for now I want to enjoy some kalamata olives free of guilt.)
3. Salted nuts. (Because it is silly not to allow them.)
4. Dried Fruit. (I haven't bought any because of the sulfur dioxide counting as an ingredient. I think that's a little over the top for everyday living.)
5. Beer (Because I want to stay married. And, although I did go to the beer making workshop, and actually we need to drink that beer... this is another thing like the olives where I think that people dedicate their entire careers to making delicious beer, and I'm not going to all of the sudden make better beer. I want to experiment with this, and I do intend to make my own beer, but it also requires an investment in equipment, and in addition to hating to buy things online, I'm not crazy about buying special equipment in general. I like to improvise out of what I have, but maybe eventually I'll break down and buy some stuff to make beer. We'll see.)
6. Some combinations. Like the 13-bean soup mix that is just 13 beans. Or I saw a 10-grain cereal at the store, the ingredients are just 10 grains. That's one of those silly distinctions I am not going to worry about.
7. Homemade items made by someone else. (At the grocery store I go to they sell jam that is homemade by a person in the neighborhood. I support this idea and I intend to buy some of that jam. This will be applied on a per case basis, but if something is 'artisan' made and I support the ideology and practices I will buy it.)

These are the modifications I can think of right now. It's pretty minor stuff. Someone asked me on Saturday if there were specific things I really missed. Surprisingly I thought, not really. The things on this list were inconveniences I will be glad to leave behind or things I just don't see the benefit of making myself or not supporting. But I haven't woken up in the middle of the night jonesing for an olive or a beer. There are some foods I haven't really had that I look forward to eating sometime. Things like cheese, or a sandwich. But what I really want is to learn to make wonderful, springy, sandwich bread and a fantastic sharp cheddar cheese. I think I have mentioned that numerous recipes call for parmesan cheese and it is inconvenient not to have it available to me, and it takes a long time to make. But I have to some interesting conclusions about food and how we consume in relation to this project. Most fruits and vegetables are ready for consumption right off the tree or out of the ground. We can modify them to any degree we wish, but they are ready to eat right away if needed. Milk is more or less the same, you could drink it straight from the tap if that were available to you. But all other dairy products require some processing. You can do most of that processing yourself in your own kitchen. It just requires heat and time. The amount of time required seems to correlate well with how we should regulate our consumption. There is really no limit to the amount of fruits and vegetables we can eat in a healthy diet. Very few people are in danger of overindulging in vegetables. (I have eaten too much fruit and paid the price, but this isn't the same sort of problem as eating too many cheeseburgers). Dairy products are filled with important nutrients, but they require a little more moderation. The fact that it takes 24 hours to make a soft white cheese might make one think twice before slathering it so thickly on a bagel, and waiting 10 months for parmesan puts it into the luxury category where it belongs. The same can be said for meat. It always needs to be killed, butchered and cooked before you can safely eat it. This effort says that it is something to be eaten with a little less frequency than something that is ready immediately. And a step further, bacon takes a week to prepare, and should be eaten with more discrimination than a chicken that can be roasted within hours of being killed. This is rambling, but I hope it makes a little bit of sense. I don't miss the foods I haven't had, I look forward to enjoying them and the effort that goes into them on occasion. In the meantime, I have eaten more interesting and varied food in the last two months than in any similar span in my memory. I have been too busy loving the food I have been eating to miss anything else.

I plan to keep you all updated on my culinary adventures going forward. There are so many things I haven't made yet. I feel like I have barely scratched the surface on making things from scratch. I will no longer bore you and myself with lists of my daily meals. But I will continue to update with recipes and ruminations. And I will continue to want to hear your thoughts.

Round Two Day 27 & 28

I feel like I should be having some really exciting and adventurous entries here in the last few days, but in reality I'm still just trying to plow through the Thanksgiving leftovers and the CSA vegetables before they go bad. It's a little anti-climactic. I'm also getting a new box of veggies tomorrow, so I've got my work cut out for me. I had big plans tonight to make applesauce and mayonnaise (not together) but the siren song from the backlog of programs on my television DVR wooed me away and I did nothing. It's a miracle I pulled myself away to write this.

Day 27
Breakfast: Granola and Milk

Lunch: Potato Pesto Lasagna. I made this to take to my friend Kathryn who just had a baby. It made a lot, so I tested a bowl of it for lunch. I have to confess that this contained contraband. (Parmesan Cheese Ingredients: Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Cheese Cultures and Goat Cheese Ingredients: Pasteurized Goat Milk, Salt, Cheese Cultures, Vegetable Rennet- I justified buying these because I wasn't going to eat the dish myself, I swear that was my intention!) I did make the Pesto and Alfredo sauce from scratch though!

Dinner: Left over salad with mustard vinegarette. Leftover bean soup. The bacon that I added to the soup after finding it too thick and fatty for breakfast was also too thick and fatty for the soup.

Dessert: Two and a half sugar cookies and a small glass of milk. Drinking milk was not something I did before this project began. In fact we used rice milk in our cereal, the only time we had it in the house was if a recipe called for it. If I did use milk it was usually skim because it is the least milky. I'm not pouring myself a tall glass of milk to drink with dinner or anything. (a few of my brothers do this) But the fact that I would drink even a half cup of whole milk is rather surprising.

Day 28
Breakfast: Coffee, Buttermilk Pancakes with Maple Syrup and Butter.

Snack: A banana I shared with Baby J

Lunch: 2 mini-meatballs with Herby Tomato Sauce - This is from the organic Baby Cookbook... I made too many for him to eat before they go bad, and I have discovered he is too snobby to eat food that has been frozen. Jeez! This kid doesn't know how good he has it!

Dinner: Brown Rice Penne Pasta (This has been in the pantry for months! I guess it is healthier or something, but the consistency is just not right. It's so mushy. I am hoping to make my own pasta sometime soon, and I am going to stick with Durham Wheat Semolina.) shrimp, tomato, onion, garlic, lemon juice and leftover pesto mix from yesterday.

Dessert: Peach Cobbler

Homemade Bisquick

I don't require that anyone else be as much as a maniac as I am, and I am in love with all the recipes that were brought to our Thanksgiving. But I just did a quick search because I was curious about what exactly makes up Bisquick and here is what I found. I am going to take a break of making desserts for a while as soon as I finish eating that peach cobbler and the shortbread cookies, but I am going to make that Buttermilk Pie sometime for sure.

I found this recipe on FoodieMama

Homemade Bisquick Baking Mix

Ingredients for Homemade Bisquick:

• 2 1/4 cups white flour 
• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (you can skip this if you don't use it normally. Double the amount of white flour instead)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 cup safflower oil or butter-flavored shortening

Instructions for Homemade Bisquick:

1. In a large, flat bowl, blend first six ingredients.  
2. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients using a pastry blender. Continue to work the ingredients until the mixture has the consistency of corn meal.
3. Store in an airtight glass or plastic container.

Notes for Homemade Bisquick:

1. This needs to be kept cool and dry.
2. At room temperature, use within one month.In the refrigerator, it will keep about two months. In the freezer, you could probably store it for three or four months.
3. Use as Bisquick or other baking mix, cup for cup.

Thanksgiving Desserts a la Cousin Tammy

Hi all! It is a sincere pleasure to be able to post on CCA's ever impressive blog. I am in awe of the time, effort and commitment that have gone into this project. My cousins are amazing!

So, my go-to recipe for potluck/dinner desserts is an old family recipe -- Buttermilk Pie. If I'm not mistaken, my mom actually got this recipe off of the back of a box of Bisquick when I was very young. Since it is so cheap and easy to make, it was a regular at my house growing up in Oklahoma. We passed the recipe around a bit and it eventually became a staple at holidays and special events back home. I realized when I moved to California that no one had ever heard of this gem of sweetness, so I began sharing the recipe with friends in college and have always gotten rave reviews. Fast forward to this Thanksgiving where I was graciously invited over for the big event. I mentioned to CCA that I might bring my favorite dessert and she informed me that they weren't familiar with it at all! I guess the family recipe didn't quite extend to the whole family.

So the Buttermilk Pie was my primary dessert, but I always fear that people will not love the rich flavors. I usually compare it to cheesecake, as it is the closest thing I can think of, and I know not everyone loves cheesecake like I do. So....to be safe, I also included a second dessert (from the old arsenal of Bisquick recipes passed down from Mom) that I love -- Peach Cobbler. I love fruit cobblers, but I generally don't love the labor intensive cooking and making crusts, etc. The beauty of both of these recipes is that you mix a few simple ingredients and throw them in the oven and you have beautiful, tasty desserts with minimal effort (or expense). As CCA mentioned, I also brought some sliced strawberries for the Buttermilk Pie...it isn't in the recipe, but I have learned over the years that a lot of people enjoy the combination of the fruit with the sweet/sour of the pie.

Overall, I think the desserts were a success. I had a bit of a snafu with the cobbler, as I mistakenly mixed the sugar in with the rest of the batter mix, rather than the peaches, so it made it a bit more doughy than I had hoped. (I have been making these recipes for so many years, I only have the ingredients written down, not the instructions...I only remembered how it was supposed to go AFTER I had mixed all of the ingredients together.) Otherwise, it all worked out well and EASY. Here are the recipes for you to enjoy!

Buttermilk Pie

1 ½ Cup Sugar
½ Cup Bisquick® Mix
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Stick Butter (Melted)
3 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Beat until smooth. Pour into a 9” pie plate (lightly greased around the sides for non-stick). Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until golden and firm on top. Serve warm or room temperature for best results.

Peach Cobbler

1 Cup Bisquick® Mix
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Sugar
½ Cup Butter (Melted)
½ Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1 29 Oz Can Sliced Peaches (Drained)

Preheat oven to 375°. Mix Bisquick, milk and nutmeg together in a bowl, beat until smooth. Stir in butter until blended. Pour into ungreased 8” square baking dish (double the recipe for full 9”x13” baking dish). Stir together the sugar and peaches in a bowl, then spoon over mixture in baking dish, distributing evenly to sides/corners. Bake 50 minutes or until golden and firm on top.

Many thanks to the cousins for including me in their holiday! It was great to hang out with Baby J...I don't see him nearly enough and he's growing up so fast. I couldn't have had a better Thanksgiving and enjoyed being with my favorite cousins and their loving friends. It was a fantastic day. I am truly blessed!

Those Damn Sugar Cookies

So I am a huge Cook's Illustrated fan. Their recipes are super informative and delicious, but you need a membership, so I couldn't link it. I was forced to steal it. I feel bad because they don't accept advertising so they can tell the truth about product testing and I think that's cool. They are also on public TV as Americas Test Kitchen.

I really stuck to the recipe except for the tragical error of using aluminum foil on the sheets instead of parchment. TO HOT! BURNED BOTTOMS! There are those that say it adds something with tea or coffee though.

Oh, and I included the opening paragraph as I was surprised to learn that protein varies from flour to flour.

Cook's Illustrated:
The cookies are softer and more tender when made with unbleached flour that has a protein content of about 10.5 percent. Pillsbury or Gold Medal works best; King Arthur flour has a higher protein content (around 11.7 percent) and will result in slightly drier, cakier cookies. Do not discard the butter wrappers; they have just enough residual butter on them for buttering the bottom of the drinking glass used to flatten the dough balls. To make sure the cookies are flat, choose a glass with a smooth, flat bottom. Rolled into balls, the dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 week. The baked cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces), preferably Pillsbury or Gold Medal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened but still firm (60 to 65 degrees)
1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces), for rolling dough
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 375 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

2. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment or with hand mixer, beat butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, and brown sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add egg and vanilla; beat at medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed.

3. Place sugar for rolling in shallow bowl. Fill medium bowl halfway with cold tap water. Dip hands in water and shake off excess (this will prevent dough from sticking to your hands and ensure that sugar sticks to dough). Roll heaping tablespoon dough into 1 1/2-inch ball between moistened palms; roll ball in sugar, then place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, moistening hands after forming each ball and spacing balls about 2 inches apart on baking sheet (you should be able to fit 12 cookies on each sheet). Using butter wrapper, butter bottom of drinking glass; dip bottom of glass in remaining sugar and flatten dough balls with bottom of glass until dough is about 3/4 inch thick.

4. Bake until cookies are golden brown around edges and just set and very lightly colored in center, 15 to 18 minutes, reversing position of cookie sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time. Cool cookies on baking sheet about 3 minutes; using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

EM's Thanksgiving post

Hi! I am delighted to add "guest blogger" to my resume!
I brought two contributions to the Scratch Thanksgiving feast - Brussels Sprout Hash with Caramelized Shallots and spiced cranberries.
The Brussels sprouts I've made before to great acclaim. They were not as delightful this year, unfortunately. I didn't want to double the recipe, but I thought it wouldn't quite be enough for 10 people as written, so I tried to just add a bit more of everything. It's too bad I wasn't more successful as I was hoping to convert some skeptics into Brussels sprouts lovers - they are so good! The only note I'd give about the linked recipe is that it is quite labor intensive unless you have a food processor. I don't, but I kind of like how cleaning and chopping can be meditative. On Thanksgiving morning I "meditated" for the better part of an hour!
The cranberries turned out better taste-wise, but were MUCH too liquidy. I didn't follow the linked recipe very closely, it was more of a jumping off point. I added freshly squeezed orange juice in the place of some of the wine and put in lots more of the rind than called for. I was thinking that either the rind or the berries themselves would provide some natural pectin to firm up the sauce, but no such luck. I did use the suggested amount of sugar and found that it was a bit too sweet for me. It tasted like cranberries in mulled wine. Which was good, but not what I was aiming for. I will look for a different recipe next time. One thing that struck me as I planned for this, my first foray into cranberry-sauce-making: it is super easy. Cranberries, some sugar, some spices, some liquid to cook it all in and you're done! And even though it wasn't even close to perfect it was really, really tasty and nicely complimented the other dishes.
All in all a wonderful holiday replete with great food, stimulating conversation, plenty of booze, and some toasts that made me tear up (thanks DR!). The Blatty's are amazing hosts and I am thankful every day of the year that they are in my life!

Four days left

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with a little heavy cream. Some EXTREMELY fatty bacon. In fact, I couldn't even really eat it. I ended up cutting it up into tiny pieces and adding it to the very bland leftover bean soup in hopes it improves and makes them both useful. Coffee.

Lunch: Turkey and the last of the gravy. Although I am sad to see it go, as gravy is wonderful as a rule, it gives me a feeling of accomplishment to polish off whole items from this odyssey of Thanksgiving leftovers, I feel like I have crested the mountain and am on the downward road now.

Tea: Yes, we had tea today at 4pm. We are very civilized. This was really an excuse to eat two shortbread cookies in the afternoon... I still have a ways to go here, if anyone wants to come to tea tomorrow.

Dinner: Salad, the same one from last night. It is a very winter vegetable salad: cabbage, celery, apple, red onion. The dressing is from the beet salad recipe. We also finished off the stuffing (Hooray!) by heating it up and throwing some chopped up turkey in with it.

I am planning on going to the store tomorrow now that I can see around the leftovers in my fridge and am noticing things like we haven't had milk in four days. (We have 3 containers of heavy cream though). So while I was looking around and making a list I decided to make provisions I can with what is here. I am getting much better at figuring out how to work with what I have, adapting recipes or making things up completely on my own. Before this project began I was very recipe dependent, running to the store when I didn't have the thing I needed. Now I feel like I understand the basics of food so much better and can make substitutions more easily and confidently, and I almost never look around the kitchen with a feeling of hopelessness sighing, "There is nothing to eat here!" In fact, this weekend's gluttony aside, there has actually been a lot less food here than at almost any other point in the last several years, yet I can always figure something out.

Right now I am simmering a pot of chicken stock, waiting for toasted oats to cool to make granola, steeping fennel seeds in warm oil for a salad I am going to make tomorrow, and I just finished making mini-meatballs. I'm going to watch the Biggest Loser while I wait for the stock to finish. Good day.