Pizza! Good. I have your attention.
When I was a kid, Friday night was Pizza night. That worked out very well. That way us kids always knew when we were going to have pizza, it was something to look forward to, it was a great way to start the weekend, and I got to bake the pizza.
Real Estate!
Real Estate?? I hope I still have your attention. How is real estate relevant to cooking? I noticed that cookbooks have what I call a 'real estate' problem. All their instructions are squished into small paragraphs with small print because they only have so much room in any given cookbook. Their sentences are run-on sentences with no end as you do one thing then you need to do the next and move on and stir this while that is being microwaved and don't stir what you've been microwaving because you are stirring what will be added to what is in the microwave blah blah blah. You get my point. I have broken all my instructions down into simple steps. I use simple sentences. There may be 20 or 30 sentences and instructions. I take the original recipe, and then I simplify it. I break it down into simple steps. I understand that most people can only do one thing at a time. Multi-tasking in the kitchen is usually a recipe for disaster. I hope you enjoy my style of writing recipes.
Molasses! Good. I still have your attention.
God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, Trish, and two daughters, Abby and Miriam. After Miriam was born, Trisha's allergic reaction to molasses become worse and couldn't tolerate it as much as she once did. So, now, I bake all types of fun stuff for her that are molasses free. Molasses is in brown sugar and most syrups. So, I never cook with brown sugar. I always substitute white sugar and it causes no problems.
Ratatouille!
That was a fun movie. Anyone can cook! Disney Pixar's Ratatouille came out in 2007 - the same year Miriam was born. The same year Trish could no longer have molasses, brown sugar, or desserts from just about any place. Anyone can cook! And so I started cooking.
Banana Bread!
One of the first recipes I tried was Banana Bread. It is very simple. It is actually a lot simpler than I originally thought it was. Then I was on vacation and I came across a Cook's Illustrated magazine and on the cover was a recipe for Ultimate Banana Bread. I bought the magazine. I made the Ultimate Banana Bread. It was delicious. Trish got me a subscription to Cook's Illustrated as a Christmas present. I have learned that some of the Cook's Illustrated recipes are a bit involved but are well worth the trouble. I also use other recipe books as well just to compare how two recipes can be done differently.
Facebook! (it's a great program - I'm a Facebook addict)
For the past several years, I have been posting what I am baking in Facebook, posting recipes in Facebook's notes section, posting recipes and links in Pinterest. I will continue to post in Facebook and Pinterest. This blog will hopefully keep me more organized, allow me to go into more detail, provide anyone who might read this with ideas, and encourage people to bake more. Also, I am going to be completely honest about what went right and what went wrong. Sometimes, I will try a new recipe and it will be a complete disaster. As these mishaps occur, I invite you to laugh with me as I laugh at myself.
Abby and Miriam!
God has blessed me with two wonderful daughters, Abby (2004) and Miriam (2007). The kids love to help me bake. Abby likes to pour the ingredients into the bowl. Miriam likes to stir the ingredients in the bowl. It is great family time. It is healthier to bake your own goods - I can pronounce all the ingredients as opposed to the ingredients on the food labels at stores. It helps the kids with math. Once Abby took a math test and she did extremely well. I looked over the questions, and all the questions had to do with food or cooking. Whenever we bake, we also listen to classical music (the family revolted the one time I tried listening to Shania Twain). Abby and Miriam will hear a song playing and say, I heard that on 'Little Einsteins' or Abby will say, I heard that in music class. So, it is healthy, educational, fun family bonding time, and when it is all done, we get to enjoy and share what we just baked.
Sometimes we listen to classical music. Sometimes we listen to my cooking playlist. These are fun songs that have something to do with food. I list all the "cooking" songs in a different post. Please check that out.
Blogging!
When I started this, I was new to blogging. I just chose Google Blogger to start with. It seems to work well. My only complaint is that sometimes when I copy and paste my blog link into Facebook that it does not always bring in the correct picture. I'll working on figuring out why it sometimes works and sometimes does not.
I do enjoy sharing my recipes with everyone which is one reason why I have this blog. I welcome comments and suggestions. I am always learning myself.
Enjoy and Jesus loves you!!
At the end of every recipe, my last instruction simple says "Enjoy". Now that I think about it, I will start adding, "Enjoy and Jesus loves you!" My faith in Jesus is very important to me, and since I don't know who all will be reading this, I thought I'd share that wonderful simple message with whoever is reading.
Hope you like my update. Enjoy!! Jesus loves you!!
