My Cooking Blog

If you are anyone who knows me, that line ought to catch your attention. I love cooking and baking; however, cooking and baking do not love me. I can't cook without a precise recipe to follow. It's disastrous. There's even a running joke in my house that no one can be present at Christmas cookie making time because I lose it. I have no idea what they are talking about. If it was so bad, I wouldn't keep doing it. Obviously!

Back to the story. My mom got me the book Too Many Cooks by Emily Franklin. It's written by a mother of four bound and determined to introduce her kids to something other than chicken nuggets. The book is made up of stories and recipes. It's a good book. I really liked it, so I decided to try some of her recipes this weekend.

First on the menu was dinner yesterday Hamburger, Macaroni, and Peas. I know the different coloring really helped you with reading. There was nothing else in this dish besides those three ingredients and salt. She talked it up so much as a "comfort food" that I didn't think it would be anything but great, since I am a comfort food junkie. It didn't go over too well with my clan. Everyone agreed that it must be missing something. We just didn't know what it was. We have a whole pot of it in the fridge waiting to be reheated with pasta sauce. We'll see if THAT ever happens!

Next up was a dish I had to prepare last night for breakfast this morning, Upside-Down French Toast. I had to buy vanilla bean...not as easy as you would think. Then I had to figure out how to split it and scrape it. I managed and followed all the directions to heat all the ingredients, put french bread on top, and pour the milk and vanilla mixture over it to bake this morning. How hard could it be? Here are a couple of embarrassing moments from prep. First, I had cleaned my counters off, so for some reason I thought, "Why do I need a cutting board to cut the bread. I just cleaned the counters." Now, my counter has the slice marks from a fully cut french bread loaf. I take that back. I figured out that I was cutting the counter at the second to the last slice. Instead of just finishing it off, I got out a cutting board that I didn't need to dirty and cut the last two pieces on it. Wonderful! But wait, there's more. I was trying to crack the eggs and nowhere I hit was cracking it, so I got some shell in the milk, vanilla mixture. So I stood there trying to fish out the little piece of shell I got in there. I finally just left it there and hoped one of the kids got it. :) Just kidding sort of.

After I prepared the spice mixture on the stove and poured it into my newly purchased, heavy bottomed, 9X13, baking dish, I put the bread on and poured the milk mixture over the it. I found the little piece of shell still in the bowl, so that was good. Then three pieces of bread popped up to the top of the milk. I was tired by this time, so I said forget it, covered it with plastic and put it in the fridge. Before I closed the door and since it was bothering me so much, I stood there with the plastic pried up with a fork trying to push the three pieces that were floating back down. After about three minutes I gave up.

This morning, all the pieces were floating, so whatever. I baked the dish. The recipe says to flip it over onto a platter. I don't own a platter, so Kevin said to use an aluminum-foiled cookie sheet. The problem was that my baking dish had raised handles and wouldn't fit flat against the cookie sheet to turn over. Kevin and I both had to do it which is why I have no video of it. Sorry. Some spilled on the floor, but overall, it wasn't too bad. It turned out to be kind of custardy. I am NOT a custardy person. We gave it to the kids first. Rory got up and spit hers out in the trash. Logan said he liked it, and then said he didn't. Kevin and I just looked at each other while trying to chew...squish...no...push it against the roof of our mouths. He asked me what I thought, and I said that I was having a texture issue. Just then Logan says, "Hallelujah." That's his new word...anyway, it couldn't have been more perfect timing. Pictures!

Here's what it looked like.


Here's the piece of french bread that is supposed to be on the bottom.

Tonight for dinner, we were supposed to have Apricot, Rosemary, and Sage Roasted Chicken from this book. We didn't. I'm kind of scared, since we're two for two. Now after all that, aren't you glad I don't have a cooking blog?!?! You would have to read these boring stories and not see any picture of any kids. How fun would that be? Because I'm a merciful person, here's a pic of kids!

For those of you interested in the recipes tried, I've posted them below. Bon Appetit!

Hamburger, Macaroni, and Peas

1 box elbow macaroni 1 bag frozen peas
1 lb. ground meat salt

Salt water and cook pasta according to box directions. Drain well. Saute meat in a pan, then drain fat. Add meat and peas to pasta and cover for a few minutes to cook the peas enough so they're done but still have bite. Season with salt. Serve in a bowl with a spoon to your nearest and dearest.

Easy Upside-Down French Toast

1 vanilla bean 3/4 stick of butter
3 cups milk 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg 5 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 2 tsp. vanilla
12 pieces of crusty 1/4 tsp. salt
bread- French baguette
works best

Split the vanilla bean, scrape it into the milk, and let the bean bathe. Melt butter, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a saucepan on low heat. Pour into bottom of heavy-bottomed baking dish (9X13). Place bread on top. Take the vanilla bean pod from the milk and discard. Mix eggs, vanilla, and salt into milk and pour over bread. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 325 for 40 minutes then 350 for 5-10 minutes more. Turn the baking dish over, inverting onto a tray and serve, or, if you don't have a tray or platter, let people serve themselves from the baking dish.