Cooking Baking Eating

I love making bread at home, but I do have one issue with that.

My skills with a bread knife and cutting in a straight line leave much to be desired. Its also probably why I can’t cut fabric in a straight line either. I think I have a genetic disposition to having a crooked hand.

I really hate the fact that my bread all turns lopsided when I try to cut into it. If you notice the cinnamon swirl bread on the right, the slice was rather lop sided. Either one end ends up twice as thick as the other or just all around retarded looking when I would come after it with a knife to enjoy its yeasty goodness.

I also hated the fact that I could never slice a good slice for a sandwich. Not only was it horribly lop sided but also super thick. More conducive to french toast than a turkey sandwich.

I had been thinking of buying a bread slicing guide online, but they always had such bad reviews for being cheap, thin plastic that would break or crack easily if used often.

But then I found this “beauty” while at a local thrift store. I love thrift stores, I think a good portion of my cooking and baking supplies have come from there. It only cost about $3 and was a nice sturdy plastic. I almost didn’t get it since I thought I would never use it.

I use it multiple times a day.

Its great because each slice is the same width and perfect for a sandwich. PLUS you don’t have that weird bread tilting thing going on after I’ve cut the bread.

Who knew that such joy could be found for only $3…

Sometimes I don’t think I’ve come a long way in my cooking, but then I starting thinking and go through old pictures.

Last year for Thanksgiving I wanted to cook a turkey for the first time on my own, make everything for a great meal and all that jazz. But unfortunately it was just Husband and I so there was a huge amount of food for only 2 people.

I found this picture and realized how far I’ve come. From a spoon stuck in a can opened from the bottom (why opened from the bottom I have no idea…)

To making my own cranberry sauce.

Good Gods I’ve turned into a food snob…

Now I have my pasta attachments for the KitchenAid mixer, I can make the pasta a heck of a lot easier than before with that stupid manual machine. I would relegate it to the craft area of my life but without the crank handle its just a door stop.

But now on to the pasta.

This was actually the inspiration for making the pasta. I bought this a few years ago with a friend when we were going to thrift stores. The thing I really love about it is the recipe and instructions that line the outside of the bowl.

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I love kitchen gizmos and gadgets. Especially ones that REALLY will make my projects easier.

A while back I decided I wanted to make fresh pasta. Why? Well, because I could. Plus I had never had fresh pasta and really wanted to try it. So I went out and bought a manual one.

It served its purpose, it helped me make pasta. But there really is one bad thing about it. Its MANUAL. As in you crank it to pull the pasta through.

I can’t tell you how tired my arm was after doing this. It was really quite annoying. Unfortunately now I’ve lost that damn handle crank so I can’t even use the stinking machine.

But then the times change… Read more »

I shock my husband. I really do.

Especially when I suddenly bust out things like home made cinnamon rolls randomly.

He’s slowly getting used to the fact that I’ve started learning how to cook. He still won’t take bites of things when I walk up to him with a spoon and say “eat this”. That freaks him out.

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I’ve been trying to perfect bread for a while. Or at least try and find that one perfect loaf that I can master easily, and make modifications to suit my purposes.

I do believe I have found it. This bread is sweet, lovely, mouth watering, and super soft. Its the bread I make at home that has that same softness as Wonder Bread from the store.

Its a sweeter bread, so it does make good sandwiches but makes them slightly sweet. It makes a mean Italian Grilled Cheese, and would probably make the greatest French Toast known to man.

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Sometimes I get a hankering for something and decide that I need to make it. Usually what I want to make I actually haven’t eaten before. Like meatballs. Or stuffed bell pepper.

So I tried making a stuffed bell pepper dish. It was alright, nothing to write home about. But I then realized that I really didn’t like the fact that I had to cut it with a knife and fork for some reason. I liked the slightly crunchy bell pepper, and the stuffing. I just didn’t like the way it was made.

So I decided to un-stuff them.

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I’ve wanted to make great pancakes forever. I mean really great pancakes that you can’t get enough of and absolutely must have every single day.

I haven’t quite got there, but I’ve gotten pretty darn close to it. I’ve made pancakes with banana, milk, everything but the actual ingredient that I SHOULD have used.

Buttermilk. Read more »

After my initial time roaming around the bulk bins, I realized then I needed to do a reorganizing of my kitchen. Specifically, my spice rack/cupboard.

Don’t give me that look. I know its slightly crazy…

After buying my bulk spices and putting them in their pretty bottles, I became inspired. I started looking around online for the best way to store your spices to get the longest shelf life out of them. Especially with the amount of spices I have its important to get the most out of them.

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I have a new love. The bulk bins at our local Winco Supermarket. I’ve never shopped bulk before but I find I now am in love.

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