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...

This is what my 11 year old daughter made for youth fair. So you could do this. What is a daquoise? it is a meringue cake (usually the meringue has nuts but this one doesn't) that usually frosted somewhat like a normal cake. This one has a white chocolate and dark chocolate buttercream that goes between the layers of meringue and then is topped by a ganache. uh-huh. The buttercream is not the typical birthday cake buttercream that is just butter and powdered sugar, in fact the dark chocolate has a bit of the bitter taste of dark chocolate (enough so that my kids didn't like it without the meringue). Anyway, it is wonderful! but it is also incredibly time consuming. This is something to make for a big anniversary dinner, not a I-feel-like-having-chocolate Thursday. The first step is to make a meringue. And here is the cast of characters that play in the meringue: And yes, buy the 18 pack because you will only have 2 eggs left - and a freezer full of yolks. Unless you ...

We just participated in our county's 4-H Food and Nutrition contest. Again. This was Daisy's 4th year and Juniors 3rd and I honestly just wasn't into it this year. It just felt rushed and we weren't able to participate as well as we would have liked. Plus some things I just didn't feel like messing with or forgot to put down. Anyway, although Daisy did well (from comments made by the judges and overheard by a friend) she didn't do well enough to win. I didn't really think she would when I saw who she was competing against. Junior on the other hand TOTALLY would have won if his age group got any sort of prize that was based on performance. Seriously, at that age a kid could say "I don't know anything about it, my mother made it, I don't even like to eat it" and still win a ribbon. Junior LOVED his dish though - since it was hummus I think a lot of the people were leery of it - this is East Texas. But Junior loves it. When he was asked ...

So did you guess what this is? Well here is another hint: Did you figure it out? How about this: It is a recipe box that I worked up from a basic wooden box that I picked up at Hobby Lobby (here is a set of 3 and the one I used is the middle one ). I found a piece of wood to go in the middle and with some glue and craft sticks I fixed a divider. Sorry, no pictures of the process because I am a bad blogger. I then painted it black, but not just any black. No, I used chalk board paint (which was the most expensive part of the project). Since I used chalk board paint, I can let the kids decorate my box and then it can be wiped off later. I can also write on the inside, maybe a recipe I want to look for or try. Or something to add to the shopping list. Or the plan for a big dinner, like Thanksgiving dinner. With the extra room, I can keep the family recipes that we can't eat but have been written by family members. I have room to add other things, like a list of...

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.

Our 4-H group starts off each year with having a cookie contest for the first meeting. The kids make the cookies and then judge but there are 2 divisions, 12 and under and 13 and up. Then for snack they have the cookies. Can you say "sugar high"? Daisy made her cookies with almost no help - I got stuff off of high shelves for her and put them in and out of the oven but that is all I did. She did Cowgirl cookies that I found on Bakerella 's website (I would directly link to the cookies but the site is down right now for maintenance). They were a bit too dry and crunchy that night but the next day they were really good. Junior made Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies. Have you ever heard of them? They are the perfect fall chocolate chip cookie! Yummmm! We really weren't sure how good they would be because really, pumpkin and chocolate. together. But we loved these. Again, I got the recipe from Bakerella although we did not frost ours. Because I was tired. and it was...

Ok, I have to be honest this is more of a method than a recipe. The nice thing about soup is it is really difficult to ruin it - unless you burn it and there is no rescue that I can find for scorched soup. If you know of one, let me know please. Anyway, since the whole family wanted to come down with (or fight) some sort of respiratory illness (kids had "the crud", Hubby has sinus issues, and I am trying to come down with the crud) I thought it was the perfect opportunity for Chicken Noodle Soup. Junior thought it was a horrible idea until I let him help me decide what to put in it. So here is what we did:

I thought I would add a new category that is stuff my kids have cooked. For the most part, these are fairly simple recipes. I don't use very many mixes though, I want them to know how to make a bechemel or gravy or cornbread without a mix. You know your child better than I do though. If they can't make an edible peanut butter and jelly sandwich, then they probably aren't ready for the more complicated stuff. Some of the other stuff posted is something kids can cook, but mine haven't yet. So look for the label Kids Cook .

This dressing comes with a special recipe for salad complete with apple and cranberries and is probably pretty good. I have never made it though. I have only been interested int the dressing. This dressing is amazing. Think of a tart lemonade. It's good on a salad, good as a fruit dip, and good as a marinade.

Oh my. This stuff is the best ever. If you ever had that jarred muck in the store, and thought it was gross, try this. It's like apple pie and applesauce had a child. Great on toast or applesauce bread. My kids love it in peanut butter sandwiches. A fruit butter is fruit cooked down slowly with sugar to make a spread. Butters use less sugar than jams or jellies and so would be somewhat healthier. With the really sweet fruits, butters can taste better because of the less sugar; peach butter is divine, but I find peach jam too sweet.

This yummy sounding recipe came from a very good friend of the family. Her daughter and I were more like sisters growing up. Junior is going to make this for Christmas dinner because . . . it sounds good and it looks fairly simple. Plus I like them being able to take part in the preparations.