my own joy of cooking

Bread is my favorite food group so I decided to ask for a baking stone for Christmas this year. My husband bought me a beautiful specimen which I inaugurated with Rustic Italian Bread, the recipe of which I found on the back of the Better for Bread flour package. It was pretty simple and turned out terrific.

Now I am not Julie, nor Julia and when I went to see the movie, although I admired the talent of both of them, I came out thinking, No Way! But then the new year hit and brought with it a renewed desire to be more organized, eat healthier, yada, yada, yada. A few years ago, at this point in time, I organized all those recipes that I have been clipping for 30 something years. I put them in sheet protectors and organized by category into binders, which has come in useful on many occasions since I actually know where to go to look for those scrap recipes.

But then I thought…I could work my way through my very own collection of recipes, many of which were ripped out before I had cholesterol issues and many of which I have never even tried. Of course, I now need rework some of those recipes or toss them.

I don’t aim to cook 500 and something recipes in 365 days. I’ll  actually consider myself successful if I make 50 new recipes this year.

Not surprisingly, I decided to start with my Breakfast, Bread and Pasta book. So far I have made the bread, previously mentioned, Pecan Sticky Muffins (recipe compliments of Phil Thompson, my state farm agent) 

and Amazing Apple Pancakes. I can’t honestly remember where I got the recipe for it, but it looks like something my friend Mary Gronlund would have given me.

Did you know that puff pancakes will actually puff when made with egg beaters! I forgot to take a picture before I ate two pieces.

Three tries, three very yummy successes. Yeah!

Next up, Cornmeal Crepes with fresh buttermilk cheese and blackberries, which the editors put in the “Fit to Eat—smart desserts” section of their magazine, but I filed it under breakfasts. Chances of me doing all that before breakfast is not high, but I am not opposed to having breakfast for lunch or breakfast for dinner or breakfast for a snack as my family will attest. As a matter of fact, I am not opposed to having dessert for breakfast either so this recipe works in every way for me. I just hope it turns out since I have never made cheese (low-fat buttermilk, cooked and cooled then stirred with sugar which provides the base for the filling) before. I have purchased low-fat buttermilk so seldom that I actually had to ask the guy at the store where it was located.

Now all I have to do is put on the pearls I inherited from my mother and get to work.

Bon appe’tit!