Kitchen Chaos

Sometimes when developing recipes, it has to be tried several times and tweaked. Other times it just all falls into place but you never quite know which way it will go. A few weeks ago, Living Without sent a newsletter with a recipe for a sourdough bread and we had been wanting a sourdough. Yum. So I called Daisy in to help me mix up the starter, mainly so she could see that it wasn't a big deal. It isn't a long complicated thing, it just takes a few days. Four days later we had a loaf of sourdough bread with supper and Daisy took one bite and said "contest bread!" We had been experimenting with some yeast bread and had pretty much picked one out but once she tried the sourdough, she loved it. I had seen a beautiful round loaf on Pinterest that had herbs baked onto the bread crust as decoration. Daisy and I thought it looked beautiful and since the judges won't actually taste the food (worries of food poisoning), it needs to look as good as possible....

Each year my kids have participated in our county's 4-H Food and Nutrition contest where they make a food and then have to tell how healthy it is. Its a long list of stuff they need to do and know since they need to know the calories per serving, which food group it goes with and how that fits into a healthy diet, could it be made healthier, as well as explaining how they made it. They have to know what primary nutrients the dish provides (ie protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals) and what those nutrients do. They also have to tell what community service they did, what sort of leadership they did, what they have learned in the project and what sort of activities they did to learn those things. This was Junior's first real year to compete. In previous years he would make the food and the older teens would ask questions but he would get a ribbon just for showing up. He could say he didn't make it, his mama did and he would get a ribbon. He could say he didn't even ...

The meringue is the persnickety part of the whole thing. Or at least the most persnickety. If you missed part one click right here Next comes the buttercream but it isn't the sugary sweet stuff on the store cakes. Ok. If I am honest it is still plenty rich though. This is with the white chocolate but you get the idea Using a double boiler you melt 6 ounces of semisweet chocolate and 2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate. If you have never done a double boiler, you place a bowl over a saucepan with an inch or two of boiling water but be sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. I like covering the bowl with cling wrap to be sure that no water droplets get in the chocolate so it doesn't seize. It will take about 8 minutes. You then remove that bowl from the heat and put on one with 8 ounces of white chocolate and let it melt for 8 minutes. The dark chocolate will need stirring to make it look melted and then after the while chocolate is done, you stir it as well. While t...

Both of my kids love participating in the 4-H County Food and Nutrition contest. Daisy has to go into another room with three adult judges and then gets judged and ranked. Her first year she won first place for applesauce bread, last year I don't remember how she placed with her baked apple. This year she won first place again! She made Butternut Squash and Chicken Pasta which is so perfect in the fall.

Both of my kids love participating in the 4-H County Food and Nutrition contest. Junior is considered a "Clover Kid" and so he isn't really judged - he gets asked questions but his ability to answer isn't scored. His dish for 4-H Food and Nutrition was Baked Cheese and Pasta - well Macaroni and Cheese but he didn't do macaroni noodles. His dish has been more challenging for me just because of various problems. The first time he made it, I forgot we were doubling the recipe when we added the cheese. So it only had half of the necessary cheese. It was good, just not cheesey.