Scratch

I thought about titling this post “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!”  Or maybe “100 years too late.”  Not sure why I went with “Scratch”  Maybe  I should just write and you all can decide what would be the best title=)

For the past month or two, I’ve been thinking that I was born in the wrong century.  Seems like I would fit in better in the, say, early 1900’s, when most people knew how to cook GOOD food, they could make their own clothing, and housework was actually seen as a job.  These are all things that I enjoy doing and have gotten pretty good at them, but aside from my family, I get no validation.  In the back of my head, I have this idea that it’s nerdy to be a wicked good seamstress and only slightly less nerdy to be a foodie.  Probably crazy, I know, but this is my head we are talking about here=)

Anyway, so ever since the arrival of the mixer, my cooking has improved by leaps and bounds.  We are now doing ALOT more baking and making of things from scratch.  We haven’t bought bread in quite a while, and delicious desserts are a norm around here.  Today was no exception.  DS1 had a VERY short quiet time . . . he was done shortly after DS2 finally fell asleep.  DD was still sawing logs, but she woke up maybe 30 minutes later, so I really didn’t get a chance to get anything worthwhile done in the sewing room.  Generally, I would be fraught with frustration and annoyance.  Today, I figured I couldn’t sew, then I could at least do my other hobby, cooking.  So off we went to the kitchen . . . the kids in their Learning Tower and me, well, just in the kitchen.  We made hamburger buns, mushroom/bean patties and whipped squash.  The babes only lasted for about half of the process, but it entertained them for awhile and kept them out of trouble long enough for me to get the bulk of the cooking done.  Not only did we have fun, we had a yummilish and healthy supper.  Coming on the heels of my “wrong side of the bed” week of last week, it was a nice feeling to have had a good afternoon, to have gotten supper on the table EARLY, and to have everyone enjoy it!

So, I think I’ve found a new solution to the “shoot!  Noone is napping, now what?” dilemma . .. we’ll just cook!  I’m on a quest to find the perfect bread recipe as well as modifying a chocolate chip cookie recipe I found to make it to die for.  I see lots of great cooking in our future.  Plus, it’s summertime, so the fresh fruits and veggies are going to be bountiful.  Ahhh, I can’t wait!

And because I like to post pics with most of my ramblings, here are a few shots of the yummy supper we had.

Hamburger buns (that only took about 45 minutes to make)

Mushroom patties (it’s a good basic recipe.  I’ll probably use portabello shrooms next time and add a bunch more.)

Stay tuned for more pics and hopefully more recipes from my “slowly becoming a gourmet” kitchen=)