Cooking
I've tried to understand why I love mixes so much and I think it comes down to one thing:magic. There is a magical quality to cooking, like being in a chemistry lab where you mix a few things together and voila! you end up with something else. I know that mostly things made from mixes don't taste as good as made from scratch, but still they appeal.
My personal take on mixes is to doctor them. I guess people have been doctoring cake mixes for a long, long time. There is even a series of cookbooks by "the cake mix doctor". She has a web site too where you can try a few recipes before you commit to buying a book. Cakes can be tough to make. Inaccurate oven temperature can spell disaster, and measuring ingredients with measuring cups instead of weighing can also throw things off. But cake mixes are foolproof by design. I once experimented and made a chocolate cake from a mix, adding Kahlua and some shaved Mexican chocolate and it was quite a hit. Using a cake mix you can be adventuresome with a measure of safety thrown in. Who wouldn't want that?
This week faced with little time to prepare dinner, I made a soup out of 1/2 a package of Knorr Spinach soup mix, milk, some leftover cheese sauce and a whole mess of chopped fresh spinach. A little swirl of sour cream and a pinch of grated nutmeg and you'd swear it was homemade.
- Bob's Donut:shop
The pleasure derived from a warm fresh French or French cruller doughnut is almost beyond description. It's a very different kind of doughnut than say an old-fashioned. It is light and crispy and almost eggy in the center. While many doughnuts are...
- Spinach & Yogurt Soup Recipe
When I was growing up there was a good, inexpensive restaurant my family ate at frequently. They had a very simple menu, mostly fresh fish and burgers, nothing fancy. But every meal started with a salad or their famous Leek and Spinach soup. It was so...
- Dining With The Bloggers - April 20th
So what was that I was saying last week? Oh yeah, "I'm going to be good". Ha! This is one of those weeks. It started with a cookout at my parents, followed the next night by dinner out with my family to celebrate three birthdays, and then I had to...
- So Maybe White Chocolate Doesn't Hate Me, After All
It's not the prettiest picture I've taken, nor is it the most attractive cake I've ever made. But here's the thing: It's made from white chocolate, and it's in one piece, it didn't crumble, it didn't seize. It's a...
- Trial And Error
Or, When a recipe goes wrong. Last week, I made a White Chocolate Pound Cake. I just felt like baking one. I carefully followed the directions, as I (almost) always do. Melted chocolate in the cake, as well as white chocolate layered with the batter:...
Cooking
Doctoring Mixes
I've tried to understand why I love mixes so much and I think it comes down to one thing:magic. There is a magical quality to cooking, like being in a chemistry lab where you mix a few things together and voila! you end up with something else. I know that mostly things made from mixes don't taste as good as made from scratch, but still they appeal.
My personal take on mixes is to doctor them. I guess people have been doctoring cake mixes for a long, long time. There is even a series of cookbooks by "the cake mix doctor". She has a web site too where you can try a few recipes before you commit to buying a book. Cakes can be tough to make. Inaccurate oven temperature can spell disaster, and measuring ingredients with measuring cups instead of weighing can also throw things off. But cake mixes are foolproof by design. I once experimented and made a chocolate cake from a mix, adding Kahlua and some shaved Mexican chocolate and it was quite a hit. Using a cake mix you can be adventuresome with a measure of safety thrown in. Who wouldn't want that?
This week faced with little time to prepare dinner, I made a soup out of 1/2 a package of Knorr Spinach soup mix, milk, some leftover cheese sauce and a whole mess of chopped fresh spinach. A little swirl of sour cream and a pinch of grated nutmeg and you'd swear it was homemade.
- Bob's Donut:shop
The pleasure derived from a warm fresh French or French cruller doughnut is almost beyond description. It's a very different kind of doughnut than say an old-fashioned. It is light and crispy and almost eggy in the center. While many doughnuts are...
- Spinach & Yogurt Soup Recipe
When I was growing up there was a good, inexpensive restaurant my family ate at frequently. They had a very simple menu, mostly fresh fish and burgers, nothing fancy. But every meal started with a salad or their famous Leek and Spinach soup. It was so...
- Dining With The Bloggers - April 20th
So what was that I was saying last week? Oh yeah, "I'm going to be good". Ha! This is one of those weeks. It started with a cookout at my parents, followed the next night by dinner out with my family to celebrate three birthdays, and then I had to...
- So Maybe White Chocolate Doesn't Hate Me, After All
It's not the prettiest picture I've taken, nor is it the most attractive cake I've ever made. But here's the thing: It's made from white chocolate, and it's in one piece, it didn't crumble, it didn't seize. It's a...
- Trial And Error
Or, When a recipe goes wrong. Last week, I made a White Chocolate Pound Cake. I just felt like baking one. I carefully followed the directions, as I (almost) always do. Melted chocolate in the cake, as well as white chocolate layered with the batter:...