Shepard Lane Garden

 I like cooking things nobody else in the house will eat.  That's sarcastic, but I do like to cook some odder things.  And I like to experiment freehand baking, while I'm already up and at things, and see how my chemistry brain works out. Strawberry Muffins  1 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg .5 teaspoon cream of tartar .5 teaspoon baking soda .5 teaspoon salt (would add a shake more next time) 1/2 cup of white granulated sugar soaked overnight in a handful of fresh strawberries from the garden, cleaned and chopped.  (I'd add several more tablespoons of sugar next time if I were baking this recipe with it.. but it is our standard preservation method for strawberries from the garden that are not eaten immediately)  This batch was not 'sweet'..more like an oatmeal muffin, so it would take more sugar to sweeten it up to most people's taste, or maybe some honey - that is worth further pursuit. about 3/4 cup of milk 1 fresh chicken egg 1/2 stick butter Stir toge...

   OK - trying this another time with some of the baking info I gleaned this morning looking at how different recipes are constructed.  Cooking is really just chemistry with easily obtainable ingredients and a stove.... the result was a little chewy on the outside, maybe one less egg white is in order?, but a good sweet but not too sweet inside of the cake that complemented cherry jelly nicely. 1 cup flour 1/2 cup granulated white sugar 1.5 tsp cream of tartar 1/2 tsp salt (mixed the cream of tartar and salt together well, then sifted it through the flour, then added the sugar and stirred it all up) melted 1/2 stick butter and separated into six Jumbo muffin pan wells started the oven heating to 400 degrees separated 4 eggs from our very productive chickens, and beat the whites together added 1 tsp vanilla extract added 1/2 cup milk beat that just a little to mix  put the pan with the butter in it in the oven to heat up added it all at once to the dry materials and b...

M ade another iteration of the popover-like recipe, not a failure, still needs 'something'... used a new baking pan with deep muffin wells and they came out of the pan like a dream, and were great with maple syrup, but still a bit heavy. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 1 c. flour, 1 tsp salt (little less), 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tbsp white sugar, sifted together. Melt 1/2 stick butter, spoon about 1 tbsp into each of 6 wells. Place pan with butter in it in the oven. Dump the rest of the melted butter into 3/4 cup milk, add 1 tsp vanilla, add two medium-to-large chicken eggs and beat. Slowly add wet mixture to dry mixture and then remove pan carefully to oven (butter should be bubbling), evenly divide mixture between six wells, place back in oven and reduce heat to 400 degrees. Bake about 25 minutes undisturbed in oven. Remove pan and tarts? should come out of pan easily to place on a plate. // thinking how this would go with cheese, or blueberries, or other things includ...

  Experimented today and made this recipe - would definitely like to make it again. 1/2 cup brown rice washed and rinsed bring to boil on stove with 1.5 cups of water, salt and olive oil reduce heat and cover 3/4 way, cook for about 30 to 45 minutes stirring until liquid is absorbed stir in can of pieces and stems mushrooms with liquid, add frozen okra add black pepper, celery seed and salt (used seasoning salt) let sit on low, stirring occasionally until the liquid from the mushroom can is almost absorbed add approximately two to three tablespoons shredded hard white English cheddar (used Kerrygold aged English cheddar) and 1 tablespoon Irish full-fat butter add dried oregano and more black pepper let sit on low, stirring often until shredded cheddar and butter combine with remaining liquid to make a consistency 'risotto' should be firm with all liquid absorbed serve on warmed plate made 2 servings

Cooking is Essential.   It is a Life Skill and an expression of Creativity.   And soup - it can make something out of a little. And yet many are just rediscovering cooking, especially in 2020 among my generation. During the pandemic, a lot of people have learned to cook 'for the first time in their lives.'  That seems so odd, but I do understand it having seen so many others in my generation with vastly different upbringings.  Some got to have frozen microwave meals and fast food.  We didn't.  Even when we lived in the house 'in town' and not miles and miles out in the forest (the rest of the time) we cooked from scratch most of the time.  I've been doing a lot more cooking this week just trying to sort out some of the things I use to cook on a regular basis.  The family cookbook I am working on contains things we all like to eat and also a variety of things like the Stone Soup recipe at the end of this post that I learned to cook from ...

  I tried to recreate this recipe yesterday, ended up close to a couple of Internet recipes but going to document it here as a 'first attempt' at what I used to make on a regular basis. Important equipment : parchment paper, large baking pan, rolling pin Heat oven to 450 degrees Ingredients : 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder Choose your spices : 1 tsp oregano (Italian seasoning, or any other flavor of herb you like), 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp strong garlic powder granules, dash of tangy ground dill weed herb. Mix all of this together in a bowl, stir well to combine. SETUP : important!  Do these now while your hands are clean Put up to 1/2 cup extra flour in a cup next to your cutting board. Tear off a piece of parchment paper (not wax paper) and place it on your prepared baking sheet on top of the stove. Warm up 1/4 cup of water (do it now, because it will be more difficult in a minute when your hands are full) Proceed :  Get out 2 tb...

   I have been taking these projects as 'eat the elephant', a little bit at a time, and making progress.  The one is a red octopus knit toy, and the other is an installment of tested recipes for the family cookbook.  I had planned to start onion seeds yesterday, but did finally get that halfway done today.  I'm still looking for the seed but it is going to take a minute to come across them again.  The pan is ready to go and I have a jug of water and a window waiting for it.   Herbed butter crackers for the cookbook.  I scanned three or four different recipes looking to see if I could job my memory about the crackers I used to roll out more than a decade ago.  Wrote down the info off of one recipe that seemed 'almost' right and changed it to include baking powder.  But, I had the instinct that one of the ingredients used to also be cream of tartar.  I didn't have any, so made it without.  I'll see if these are too hard without i...