3 layer lasagna all put together. I put it into the fridge for later, it's for Mark, my mom and the girls tonight. I will be going to a dinner party and will be sure to take pictures for my next entry. I only did 3 cheeses this time; fresh grated mozzarella, parmesan and ricotta.
I often wonder what baking was like when they didn't have blenders n' such. So I wanted to make cookies today and experimented by hand mixing my batter. It took a while and my arm sure did get a good work out. The cookies themselves taste wonderful, they're peanut butter chocolate chip chunk. A recipe that has a bit of a different after taste to them b/c it has cinammon. Haven't used it in years. Anyways, they were good, but they sure came out flat. Could have been because my butter was too soft I think.
Back to the back to basics part, I always think - what if we lost power for a while and didnt know how to do anything because a machine always does it for us? I prefer to knead my own bread, thats what makes it mine. I prefer to stir my own chocolate and whip my own creams and frosting and such. I find it's a better learning experience.
I also recently acquired Marks grandmothers recipe box. I haven't had time to go through it thoroughly and I don't want anyone to look at it yet b/c I'm a die hard fan of family/secret recipes. What I have found so far is that just in the last 50 years, we have lost touch with real baking. I find recipes and the steps are so darn basic, I wonder how they evolved into such complicated procedures. So I plan to do a little tribute to Martha and her 94 years of cooking and baking skills by trying out her recipes one by one as I find time and to follow them exactly as she wrote them - or didn't write them! It should be interesting and it will be a good lesson. I am very excited about this little project. If things go well, I'll have to take her samples and see if she recognizes them..
That is totally aweseome Val!!
ReplyDeleteThis is very awesome- I have wondered what it must have been like without all of our appliances. I'm glad you experimented because I'm too lazy. I can say that i thank God for the washing machine regularly. :)
ReplyDeleteWashing machine - yes! Dishwasher - yes! Anything bigger than a hand mixer - no thanks! I've read that they tend to over mix things and therefor have frequent problems with rising.
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