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Cooking from scratch tribe, the original thread, come chat, save and/or learn! - Page 2

post #21 of 384
7/1/08 at 9:47pm
I love this thread! I do a lot of from scratch cooking. We have a garden that produces well, but come middle of winter I am buying canned tomatos for sauces and cooking. Always mean to get more of it in the freezer, but find that we just cook it up and have friends over.

This thread has got me thinking about getting back to baking bread and learning how to make flour tortillas. I used to do much of our baking, but got out of the habit. Time to restart!

Our new favorite for chicken has been to saute some chicken breasts and then chunk it up. With this I add a large onion thinly sliced, some garlic minced and cook through. Then I add some coconut milk (using canned) and some diced up chili peppers or jalapenos whichever I have on hand, Add to this a good curry spice mixture and heat through. Add diced tomato if I've got it. When it is almost done, wilt some spinach over the top. Served on brown rice or alone - it is fantastic!
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post #22 of 384
7/1/08 at 10:14pm
When I make yogurt at home, I add just a little bit of sugar (a teaspoon to a tablespoon, depending on how big a batch), and some powdered milk. That may be 1/3 to a 1/2 cup.

I have one of those incubators with the little jars. I like it a lot. Very easy. Plus, I like the jars.
post #23 of 384
7/1/08 at 11:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BananaBreadGirl View Post
I especially like making the following things from scratch: granola, refried beans, veggie burgers, bread and buns, yummy jam, baked goods that use local or garden fruit.
Does your homemade granola have clusters? I've been making my own lately, and although it's quite good, it doesn't chunk up like the store-bought stuff. And I admit, I kind of liked the clusters. I haven't experimented enough to see what I need to do to get clusters--I'm guessing more sticky stuff (maybe more honey?) and a lower, slower bake. Anyone know?

I'll sub to this thread. I cook from scratch, and I do almost all of our bread and I've just recently started doing our yogurt. I don't have room for much of a garden (although my five tomato plants are looking good!), but I do can and freeze food from the farmer's market. This past week I made homemade whole wheat pitas from scratch for the first time and was very pleased. Yummy and easy too!
post #24 of 384
7/1/08 at 11:19pm
granola - I have had more luck with corn syrup than honey. honey always stays soft in granola. I don't use corn syrup any more but you may want to try some other sticky stuff and see what works.

I make my granola in a skillet and pour the sticky stuff in (oh brown sugar is good) while the pan is still really hot. then it gets crunchy as it cools.
post #25 of 384
7/1/08 at 11:55pm
I'm slowly starting to make more and more food from scratch. DH and I made our first raisin bread a few weeks ago and it came out great! We found a wonderful website called theFreshLoaf with lots of instructions and pictures Our garden didn't work out so well this year (first real try) so we buy most supplies from the grocery store.

I hear that pizza dough is one of the easiest things to make so we'll try that next. Does anyone have a good recipie? We're going to try oatmeal cereal bars this week too. DS1 loves to help cook, we made lemon and chive potatoe salad today and he gets so excited to eat things that we make.
post #26 of 384
7/2/08 at 7:56am
Hi all! I cook mostly from scratch, but do have some convenience stuff on hand for when I am running behind schedule.

On the menu for this week is our adventure in homemade flour tortillas. : I found a good recipe and will post if anyone is interested! We eat a wrap almost everyday for lunch, so I have decided the store bought tortillas have to go.

Also ~ granola. I have been making granola for years becuase dh loves to take it to work for snacking. I do half honey/ half maple syrup for sweetner and safflower oil. Always clumps

Cant wait to read and learn more!

And am going to try out the bl bean refried bean recipe - thanks!
post #27 of 384
7/2/08 at 8:13am
Great idea!

I cook and bake mostly from scratch. I'll use canned products as an ingredient... not very often as an actual recipe component (I use canned tomato sauce to make my own homemade enchilada sauce). I buy our sandwich bread as we have great artisanal bread locally and I enjoy supporting local business. I make all the rest of our bread products from scratch. All of our meals are from scratch unless you consider using things like canned tomatoes and jarred sundried tomatoes taboo. I don't have the garden space to provide all the food for my family year round. I also make all of our grain dishes from scratch... rice, couscous, bulghur, etc. I make bean dishes from dried beans, although I keep canned beans in my extensive pantry and will use them occasionally if I haven't thought ahead far enough.

I don't make our own yogurt... my dh is from Turkey where yogurt is a major staple of the diet and I would spend most of my time making yogurt if I had to keep him flush in yogurt, not to mention dd. We go through more than a gallon of plain yogurt per week and I cook a lot with yogurt as an ingredient.

I have a nice garden, although this year will have no broccoli (darn rabbits!!) that sustains us during the summer/fall with enough to put up as well. I have 4 farmer's markets within a few miles of me, so we also get a lot of produce there.

I don't really make snacks because our snacks are almost exclusively fruit (fresh and dried), nuts, & dairy products . Fruit is probably my single greatest expenditure in my food budget. Definitely above meat (because we buy meat by the entire animal or side of animal). We do buy a bag of all-natural chips occasionally and we'll get granola bars every once in a while. Dd likes Annie's bunny crackers and we eat commercial cereal.

We have about a 1-year supply of foods in our pantry. 80% of that is commercially canned products this time of year and 20% is homemade. In 4 months, those numbers will be reversed. I have a dehydrator, my beautiful All-American 25 qt. canner, and two freezers that hold lots of frozen veggies and a side of beef and pig (although right now we have only about 40% of that left, as we get our meat in the fall).

I probably cook as much from scratch as I ever will. As it is, I spend an average of about 4 hours per day in the kitchen as it is. When canning season starts, it'll be 12 hours per day for a while. I absolutely LOVE cooking. My waistline shows it. I am not very talented in other things, but cooking is something that I have a knack for and is my creative outlet. Especially ethnic dishes. Turkish, Indian, Northern African, French, German, (not much Asian), Mediterranean... we love them all, including dd. I am going to enjoy this thread!
post #28 of 384
7/2/08 at 10:10am
Great idea!

I'm a grow and can it yourself type of girl. Every day I question the things I do and ask 'can I make this myself? Can I do this myself?'

I have a blog on scratch cooking at http://scratchcooking.wordpress.com Each recipe is made using bare basic ingredients (flour, milk, veggies, eggs, etc.) and if a recipe calls for soemthing that is not a bare basic ingredient a recipe for that not so bare and basic ingredient is/will be included.

It's a new work in progress, but so far seems to be helping people. I'm adding recipes from my master cookbook and that thing is huge by now so I'll have plenty to add over the coming however long :-)

This year my garden has over 30 tomato plants, over 3 or 4 rows of carrots, tons of peas, green beans, squash (acron, butternut, yellow and zucchini), pumpkins, watermelon, beets, onions, leeks, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, green pepper, jalepeno, herbs, corn, strawberries, cucumbers and I know i'm forgetting a lot. My goal is to #1 have enough fresh veggies for my kids to graze on till their hearts are content, enough for me to cook with fresh, enough to can or freeze (to last until next harvest, ideally), and enough for me to put out in front of my home for my community and have available as gifts over the holidays. We live in a very low income area and surprisingly I don't see any gardens... The Lord is putting a ministry on my heart for next year to help my community learn to garden, cook from scratch and become more self sufficient/save money. I don't know how that is going to form yet - still waiting on Him for the next step but i'm excited to see where it goes.

By this time next year I will hopefully be not so grocery store dependent. We are gathering supplies now for meat rabbits, will keep a couple hens for eggs, and when I garden I do it big so *hopefully* I'll only ever need things like milk, flour and basic pantry items that I can't do on my own. Ideally we'll go to the grocery store once every few months. Freeze a coupe months worth of milk, store a couple months worth of flour and other necessities. From what I hear it's a time consuming task to grow your own grains then prepare them for grinding then making flour so I think I can make better use of my garden space and just buy flour. We just moved, so I don't have anything left over from my garden last year (it was too small), wasn't able to put an early garden in this year for early produce, and had a lot of things to do around our new house so haven't had time, resources or money to get involved in raising our own meat... But by this time next year hopefully we'll be doing better, providing the weather is cooperative for a garden and whatnot!

Holy cow i'm rambling!
post #29 of 384
7/2/08 at 10:19am
Thread Starter 
Yay!!! I am so glad to see so many here! :

I will try that bread book. I bought baggettes from the farmers market near our house yesterday so I should be good for a few days, but heck, I have this awesome stove so I should make my bread!!!!

Last night I had HOOTOWLS (husband out of town or working late) supper club. A bunch of us get together without the guys and have a potluck. The kids all eat and we all eat. DH is studying for an exam for a certification so he encouraged me to join. Anyhow, I put out some pasta and a defrosted piece of chicken in the fridge. He was very happy to make up a pasta dish with whatever assortment of fresh veggies etc we had in the fridge.

I do keep canned items on hand that are store bought-

bamboo shoots
water chestnuts
olives of all sorts
refried beans for in a pinch
tuna
assortments of pastas (dh loves to make the home made version though!)
tomato paste
pizza sauce

Does anyone have a recipe for tomato paste? I will have plenty of tomatoes in another month or so to play with so do share!

pizza sauce- I am all over the board with a good recipe. I have made several and bought several, usually whats on huge sale. We make pizza almost every Friday night. The dough is easy to make and my girls love making their own pizza. Funny the whole thing gets consumed by them.
I make a different one every week. You never know what it will have on it! My favorite the last month or so: sauce, dried figs, prussiotto ham, and blue cheese and top w mozzella. Yummm!

Granola, we get the wholesale Tierra Farms granola but I would love to make my own that tasty.

I also use yogurt for not only every morning at breakfast, but for salad dressings, cooking and dips. I have the yogurt maker but its little jars and they would be gone in no time! But I might try to start some just to see how much we use and how quickly...
post #30 of 384
7/2/08 at 10:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappiLeigh View Post
Does your homemade granola have clusters? I've been making my own lately, and although it's quite good, it doesn't chunk up like the store-bought stuff. And I admit, I kind of liked the clusters. I haven't experimented enough to see what I need to do to get clusters--I'm guessing more sticky stuff (maybe more honey?) and a lower, slower bake. Anyone know?
My granola is chunky. My "recipe" is a combination of recipes I've seen. It goes like this.

7 c. dry ingredients (mostly oatmeal, can use some what bran, nuts, seeds, cinnamon)
1 to 1 1/2 c. wet ingredients (half sugary, half oil, a bit of vanilla or other flavoring)

mix together. Spread on pan and put on 350 degree oven. Turn oven off and leave granola in overnight or for several hours without opening. You can add raisins after it cooks. I like this method because it is quite hard to burn it.

I usually use brown sugar/water mixture, maple syrup, or corn syrup for the sugary glue. My favorite flavor combinations are cinnamon raisin and almond (flavoring and nuts).
post #31 of 384
7/2/08 at 12:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Norasmomma View Post
Speaking of Mexican food, does anyone know how to make authentic red enchilada sauce and cabbage pico de gallo? Those two things are my favorite.:. Thanks.
I guess this is authentic. The recipe is from my MIL who is mexican. For enchiladas, I use a big can of tomato sauce and a soup can size of tomato sauce. Pour the big one into the blender, add one onion and as many jalapenos as you want, depending on how spicy you want it. Add garlic and blend until smooth. My MIL layers enchiladas like lasagna. Sauce, tortillas, chicken, cheese, sauce etc.... It makes them so muche asier to make if you are not sitting there trying to roll up individual enchiladas. I have no idea about cabbage pico.
Gossamer
post #32 of 384
7/2/08 at 12:39pm
Gossamer-does she put any cinnamon in it? I know that some put that in as an ingredient.
post #33 of 384
7/2/08 at 1:01pm
Nope, no cinnamon. Now my MIL is from Vera Cruz which is much farther south than most people think of.
post #34 of 384
7/2/08 at 1:16pm
Subbing for ideas
post #35 of 384
7/2/08 at 1:21pm
maybe this would go better in meal planning but can someone post a menu for a week or so? I really want to make things that are very cheap yet healthy and fairly easy as I have a 1yo who wont entertain herself for long. Right now we are just doing soup and bread and pasta. So pizza, sandwiches, mac and cheese, pasta sauce and pasta. DH pretty much eats soup and sometimes canned soups and crackers.....



I do chicken once in a while but the freerange/organic stuff I like is so expensive.....
post #36 of 384
7/2/08 at 1:53pm
I'm in! I love to cook and although I am not the primary cook in our household (dh cooks from scratch every night) I have a say in what we eat and buy. I cook more for pleasure than for everyday.
That said, I currently have black and white beans soaking so I can make a nice bean salad for the weekend's lunches.
I am vegan and try to do as much organic as I possibly can.

I am dying to get that artisan bread book! I have been considering taking bread baking up as a hobby.
post #37 of 384
7/2/08 at 2:07pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by yukookoo View Post
I do chicken once in a while but the freerange/organic stuff I like is so expensive.....
I buy them as a whole chicken, cut up pieces and freeze, then take the bones etc and make a huge huge vat of stock. I bought two organic whole chickens at costco last week for less than $20.

As far as menu, I print out a month calendar and tape to the fridge door. We plan our dinner menu on that and pencil in for a 3-5 day forward plan. That way you can change but still have the ingredients/supplies on hand. I also ink in set plans such as out of town, dinner out etc.

I have noticed, when you plan out, you have an abudance. Leftovers are reserved for dh to take to work the next day and we also eat them for lunch as well. Otherwise Lunch is mainly hot dogs, lunch meat, mac n cheese (home made from scratch) casadillas, beefy nachos etc.

When we have a rather large collection of chicken bones, I throw them in a huge stock pot, add old celery and the leaves, onion, a carrot, spices, and salt and pepper. Cover it with plenty of water, bring to a boil, skim off the stuff on top and then cook on low for a while, then simmer for hours and reduce reduce reduce. After straining and cooling, I freeze into 1 cup, 2 cup and 4 cup portions. It gives the house a nice aroma and I have all the stuff on hand anyhow.
post #38 of 384
7/2/08 at 2:13pm
we do enchiladas often, I love them! My red enchilada recipe is:

1 quart or large can of crushed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
2-3T chili powder
1 jalapeno, chopped fine
1 cup shredded cheese

sautee the onions and garlic till soft, add tomatoes, stir to mix. Add chili and jalapenos, mix well. Turn low, simmer for 15-20 minutes, then take off heat and use stick blender/food processor/blender to mix and chop. Add 1/2 cup cheese and mix. If doing meat or beans, set aside 1 cup sauce, then add meat/beans to rest. Roll in tortillas (or layer like lasagna) and pour remaining sauce and cheese over top. bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so.
post #39 of 384
7/2/08 at 3:50pm
This is the first week in a while that I haven't had a set meal plan, but I'm trying to use up random things in my kitchen so wanted to just be loosey-goosey about what we have for dinner. Tonight we're having grilled veggies (broccoli rabe, mushrooms and eggplant from the farmer's market, tomatoes and onions from my garden and red pepper and zucchini from a friend's garden) on foccacia that I've got in the oven right now. It smells SOOOOO good I'm going to have to seriously restrain myself from eatng a hunk of it when it comes out of the oven.

Foccacia recipe (adapted from King Arthur's 200th Anniversary Cookbook) also makes great pizza dough!

1 1/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon stevia or honey (or sugar, but if using sugar bump water to 1 1/3 cup)
1 T yeast
4-5 cups flour (I use 1/3 unbleached all purpose, 1/3 white whole wheat and 1/3 whole wheat)
1 T salt
1/4 cup olive oil
optional: fresh or dried herbs: basil, rosemary, oregano; and onions for top
salt for top

mix water, yeast and sweetner till dissolved
add 1 cup flour, mix well
add salt and oil and another cup flour, mix
add remaining flour in 1/2 cup increments, mixing well after each addition
when dough begins to hold together well, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead, adding remaining flour as needed
add herbs if using and incorporate well
shape in ball, put in lightly greased bowl until doubled in size
After rising, turn out onto floured board and cut/shape as desired (for foccacia, I divide the dough in half and shape into flatish round discs)
put on baking stone, cookie sheet or foil
dimple the surface of the dough with your fingertips, then brush liberally with olive oil. sprinkle with salt, herbs and/or onions as desired
allow to rest from 10-30 minutes, depending on the time you've got
preheat oven to 475
bake for 15-20 minutes

For pannini-style sandwiches, I do this in rectangles instead of rounds, and then slice it in half horizontally (like sandwich buns)
we'll be grilling the veggies tonight for the sandwiches, so I'll brush the insides of the bread with olive oil once it's cut and put them ont he grill to crisp up a bit
post #40 of 384
7/2/08 at 4:50pm
Jilian, my favorite pizza crust recipe is the one on the side of the Bob's Red Mill bag, it's super easy and tastes great.
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