Tuesday, November 9, 2010

A Baking & Cooking Frenzy

When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It's also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be.

Molly Wizenberg, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, 2009


Today (Tuesday), I had a lot of pelvic pain. It wouldn't go away no matter what I did so I could not concentrate on reading in my cosy nook like I planned. Instead I cooked up some comfort food.

First up was some hot homemade soup. There is no recipe really. You just put whatever you want into boiling water. Whatever will satisfy your soul. Today I boiled up some pot barley along with white onions, celery bits, carrot bits, chopped potatoes, a can of stewed tomatoes and cooked hamburger. For flavouring I added Dr. Bragg's liquid soy seasoning, some splashes of hot sauce and salt to taste.


Then I baked some bread. You can see the recipe here. Today I mixed half and half white flour and whole wheat flour.

I also made up some pizza dough. Again I mixed white flour with whole wheat flour. These ones are oiled and wrapped in saran so they will go into the freezer for later use.


Last,  but not least, I baked up some chocolate chip cookies. These ones did not turn out as nicely as the ones I made here. Even though it is the same recipe.  Perhaps it is because I used an egg substitute as I had run out of eggs.

My egg substitute is as follows: 1 tsp. baking powder mixed with 1 tsp. oil to which is added 1/4 of water and mix it altogether. You can also use milk in place of water. This is a substitute for one egg. Although the cookies looked and tasted different, they were fine and I've now learned how to make cookies without eggs! I hope you will try it too.

6 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

Oh gosh, everything just looks so good and yummy! Beautiful golden bread, and that soup! Soup is about my favorite food. And what a great tip about not really needing eggs for baking! You are one of those people who cook wonderfully and don't need a recipe! I'm sorry you've not been feeling well.

Joyful said...

GINNY, so nice of you to drop by. I'm glad you like the bread and soup. This is just about my favourite for a meal also. I'm so glad I learned about the egg substitute and it sure is a lot cheaper than buying egg replacer. I'm a person who goes without recipes for my own creations as I really haven't much patience for cooking so I keep it real simple. When it comes to baking though I really need to follow a recipe though I often improvise.

Anonymous said...

Those cookies look super yummy! Fancy a guest for tea? :p xx

Kilauea Poetry said...

I like that quote! I always felt that way..its never just about the food- but this was put rather nicely! I'm sorry to hear about your pelvic pain..I can relate! Well your photos look terrific- soup (barley & braggs- you can't go wrong! I love home made bread! ttopped off with my favorite cookies! Looks very delicious! Hope you have a relaxing weekend:)

Joyful said...

I like that quote! I always felt that way..its never just about the food- but this was put rather nicely! I'm sorry to hear about your pelvic pain..I can relate! Well your photos look terrific- soup (barley & braggs- you can't go wrong! I love home made bread! ttopped off with my favorite cookies! Looks very delicious! Hope you have a relaxing weekend:)

Joyful said...

Those cookies look super yummy! Fancy a guest for tea? :p xx

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