Wednesday, July 31, 2013

My marathon weekend



Last weekend my daughter and I spent our entire weekend marathon-cooking.

We cooked from mid-day Friday till bedtime.

The next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn--well maybe I am exaggerating a little, but we cooked from early Saturday morning until about 9:45 pm when we just couldn't do any more. Above are some of our more successful attempts at making pancakes and muffins on Saturday.



We spent at least half a day on Sunday trying to wrap things up and I came home with a list of things to finish. I am sure my poor mixer was glad for the rest!


We messed up SO many dishes, measuring cups, spoons, bowls and we came up with some very good recipes and plenty of not so good things that had to be trashed.


For example, the above photo shows an attempt at hamburger buns. I know they look a bit like cauliflowers gone bad and after a taste test, were declared a failure.


This pie looks like of pretty. The crust was way too heavy but the berries were good. After a couple of tries we made the recipe worse so my assignment is to bake a better pie crust.


We did make a successful banana bread. This one was a keeper.

We are not trying to win a cooking award, we are trying to finish a cookbook and right now I have the utmost respect for every cookbook author out there!

Our book will feature gluten-free recipes with a southern flair and right now I can't wait until it is completed. I have tasted and trashed more food than I thought was possible and we have some great recipes and some that aren't quite there yet. I know that if we continue to plug away at it we will have something we will be proud to be a part of--at least that is my hope.

2 comments:

  1. hey Deberah, what a neat post - Sounds like you both had 'fun,' as you experimented!

    If you need some cooking inspiration, QVC (of all places!) has an interesting program: 'In the Kitchen with David.'

    He is one of their program hosts and wrote his 1st cookbook last fall. (He is now working on his second cookbook) 'In the Kitchen with David' airs Sundays at 12-Noon (usually 12-Noon to 3 pm) and Wednesdays at 8 pm

    They have great recipes to share / demonstrate, a 'Cookbook Corner,' featuring authors and recipes from their latest books, and of course, many kitchen gadgets, Smokers, pans and dishes for sale... *

    *I got 'hooked' on Temptations stoneware by Tara McConnell - it is wonderful!!! While I don't cook or bake (a lot), I sure have some tremendous stoneware dishes 'to' cook in!

    With Temptations, there is an ease of cooking:
    you can mix in these stoneware pans / plates / bowls, BAKE / MICROWAVE / BROIL (up to 500-degrees) Store them in the fridge or freezer, they are really neat!

    They also have some beautiful colors that mix & match (I have a lot of black & white pieces and they add-in 'lid-its' that you can bake on and thermal totes that have the black & white design on them). The coffee mugs are really wonderful - the stoneware keeps hot foods HOT and cold foods COLD...sorry to run on, but I enjoy 'Cooking with David' shows and when they feature new products from Temptations, 'I am There!' You might enjoy it too and many time, they have 'Specials of the Day' and the price is really low...

    Good luck with your recipes, and thanks for sharing with us, Joanie

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Joanie. I will certainly check out "In the Kitchen with David."

      I, too am a big fan of stoneware though I only have a few stoneware pieces. I never burn my cookies anymore because of my wonderful stoneware baking sheets and I have a great oval bowl that looks great as a serving dish. You also must know that I also love "specials." so I will be checking that out, too.

      Thanks for your good wishes! Deberah

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