Practically Gourmet

My mom rarely cooked when I was a kid. We seldom sat down to eat together and most of our food was whatever I could cook or whatever she could make in 5 minutes or less. She often brought home leftover food from whichever restaurant she was working at, but we mostly got by on packaged foods, hot dogs, tv dinners, donuts, candy bars from the gas station on the corner, that sort of thing. We qualified for food stamps so once a month or so there was a trip to the grocery store and that was pretty exciting. Chocolate pudding in cans! Fruit Loops cereal! Bologna! Wonder Bread! Those were big treats for my sister and I. So obviously I grew up with food issues, childhood food habits that I have been trying to override almost all my adult life. At least I don't really crave any of the specific foods that I grew up eating, mostly since we had the same foods so often that I still can't bear to even look at certain things. Velveeta cheese and Hamburger Helper would be good examples of that. Heh.

But once in awhile my mom would pull out her cookbook and make a real dinner, especially if family was coming to town to visit. We were always excited about that but I am afraid it always ended badly. She had two dinners in her repertoire; one was a chicken/rice/Lipton onion soup mix casserole which wasn't bad (I make it once in awhile) except that she always overcooked it. I was shocked to learn as an adult that rice was actually soft and not crunchy. The other thing she made was meatloaf, which always smelled good, but then had a suspicious vomit like flavor to it that was pretty disappointing to say the least. I never did figure out what she added to get that flavor.

Anyway, my mom died over a year ago and last summer I received some of her belongings. I have been slowly sorting through things and greatly appreciated the irony of getting her cookbook and box of recipes. I make most of our food from scratch and while my kids certainly have the occasional crappy food, mostly we eat unprocessed, organic foods. I was so proud when my children expressed utter horror when they saw these three recipes:

In case you can't believe your eyes, the recipes are for Coca-Cola Cake, Dump Cake, Wacky Cake (wacky ingredient seems to be vinegar?) and the real stomach turner is Mayonnaise Cake. I have a vague memory of that one, it was actually a chocolate cake and the mayo was supposed to make it more moist. I suppose it tasted ok but well, maybe it should have a different name. And who wants Miracle Whip (of course we only had Miracle Whip) in their cake? yuck.

There were other interesting things in the book too. I left my mark on her notes for her work in a furniture repair shop, and yes that is a cigarette burn mark on the paper, my mom was never without a Kool Menthol in her hand. Don't get me started on how everything of hers STILL smells like smoke....

This was a coffee cake recipe written by my grandmother:

And oddly, my mother's tax return from 1975 was tucked in the cakes and cookies section which was just classic. But it was also a poignant reminder to me of my childhood and of how hard she worked; she mostly had waitress jobs, but that year she got a "better" job refinishing furniture, a job that she thought might have a future. Unfortunately, there were no tips at this job and her income - $2,450.83, was far less than what she earned as a waitress. She went back to waitressing the following year and stuck with it until a few years before she died.

Well, I am off to bake something, anything to rid myself of thoughts of Mayonnaise Cake running through my head!

Cooking Frenzy

Two Parts, 2007, Oil on Panel, 18x18

So last week, I managed to get a little bit of work done, mostly by just spending an hour or two, here and there in the studio. Doug and our son were in the Grand Canyon for a boy scout camping trip and so I was home with the girls and our other son. I let them watch too much tv, but we also kept busy with some art projects and games.

Mostly though, what I did, was to spend many hours in the kitchen, cooking! It started with two dozen muffins that I made for a party/brunch/easter egg hunt last Saturday. They turned out great and I realized that I hadn't made muffins in about ten years. Which set of a three day obsession with making more, really good muffins. Unfortunately, none of the subsequent batches turned out quite so well, and so the chickens ate most of them. But in between making the muffins, as well as the usual cooking for dinners and so on, I decided to try my hand at making cheese. And yes, I have been informed that I could be insane because of this. I have had a book and a few kits for awhile, but have been a bit put off by how much work it seemed to be. Finally though, with a bit of extra time available it seemed like a good time to jump in. Turns out that it isn't a lot of work, it's just a project that needs attention at crucial intervals. My first few attempts failed because the milk didn't firm up, but after adjusting a few things, I finally ended up with something resembling a cheddar cheese wheel. And because when I do something that is fun, or successful, I always have to do more, more, more, and so I made another batch of cheddar and then a few rounds of goat cheese for good measure. The goat cheese is unbelievably easy, and tastes so much better than the store bought. The cheddar has to age for a few months which will be a good exercise in delayed gratification. I plan to make a few more varieties of hard cheese in the meantime, even though it is a bit of a risk as I won't know for awhile yet how the first ones turn out. But what the heck! I am just enjoying the process at this point.

And on Monday, the snow day, I topped this cooking frenzy off with a cake for my son's birthday. It was a three layer chocolate cake, with chocolate ganache between the layers and what else? chocolate butter cream frosting. We have all been in a sugar coma for two days now. Heh.

The funny thing is, is that while I was making the cheese I realized that the way I cook is the same way I paint. I like to do things that take awhile, yet I tend to choose simplicity over a lot of details or finesse. Patient, yet not. That's me.

A Different Kind of Art

During my years as a full time, stay at home, breastfeeding, cooking, organizing, diaper and spit up cleaning super mom, I embraced homemaking. I taught myself to sew, knit and to cook. I made all of the kid's snacks, I found cracker recipes, healthy cookie recipes and I made all of our meals from scratch. Some were complete disasters but for the most part I have turned out to be a pretty good cook. I don't make really elaborate food, I am a bit too lazy for that, but I am great with the basics. With the exception of omelets. I have never been able to make a good omelet. So that is part of Doug's repertoire, along with pancakes, fried matzo and quesadillas.

Now that I am working as an artist, I don't have as much time to cook. And I sure miss it! I still make a homemade dinner most of the time, but I admit to letting in those prepared, fake chicken nuggets and packaged french fries once in awhile. And since I am trying to limit my sugar intake, I hardly bake at all anymore. But the holidays are here and I have an excuse to make a few desserts, which I will take to parties and other people will eat them, not me. Well with the exception of a bit of the batter. Heh.

While I don't plan to compete with this blog, I thought that just for today, I'd put up one of my favorite (and fairly easy) dessert recipes. Feel free to put up your own recipes in the comments section too. I always love a new recipe.

This recipe is from one of those magazine type, recipe books from the shelf in the check out line in the grocery store. I have been slightly obsessed with those over the years and have 9,693 of them on my cookbook shelf.

Chocolate-Glazed Fudge Cake

Cake
1 cup butter
16 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tsp vanilla
6 eggs, lightly beaten

Glaze
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tbs light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
3 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

Garnish
2 tps chopped toasted hazelnuts or other options:
raspberries, strawberries, chocolate shavings, edible flowers or glitter, sprinkles

Heat oven to 350. Grease 8" round cake pan. In medium saucepan, melt butter and 16 oz chocolate over medium-low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Gently stir in eggs until well combined. Pour into greased cake pan. Place cake pan in 13x9 pan. Add water until 1" deep.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until center is set. Remove cake from water bath; place on wire rack. Cool 40 minutes.

Carefully run knife around edge of pan; invert cake onto wire rack. Cool an additional 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small saucepan, combine whipping cream, corn syrup, and 1 tsp vanilla. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add 3 oz of chocolate: stir until melted and smooth.

Place cake on serving platter. Pace pieces of wax paper under cake to catch drips. Slowly pour glaze over tops and sides to cover. Sprinkle hazelnuts (or other garnish) around top edge of cake. When glaze is set, remove wax paper. Store in refrigerator.

I am making this today (in between paint glazes) and will take it to a party at my daughter's girl scout troop leader's home. It's a bit too intense for kids but I think the adults will understand the concept of a cake made of eggs, butter and chocolate!