I bake bread for my family every week. Home baking is not that hard, not that time consuming, and certainly cheap! You don't need a bread machine or a lot of fancy equipment. This blog features a tutorial on home bread baking, tips on equipment and ingredients, and recipes for real home cooking.
It's just too easy to make a cheesecake! One of the guys at work told me that oe can buy premade cheesecake filling. Why bother, when it is easy to make cheesecake from readily pronounceable ingredients?
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 pound cream cheese, broken into small pieces
- Blend the cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the 1/4 cup of melted butter, and line the bottom of a 9 inch ungreased springform pan.
- Blend the sour cream, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the eggs, and vanilla in a food blender for 1 minute. Add the cream cheese. Blend until smooth.
- Blend in the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Pour into springform pan.
- Bake in the lower third of a 325 degree oven for 45 minutes.
- when the baking is finished, remove the cake from the oven and turn on the broiler. Broil the cheesecake, watching carefully, until the top shows little spots of brown.
- Refrigerate at least four hours before cutting.
This is the home made kind that we eat on special occasions.
- 2 T finely chopped onion
- 2 T butter
- 2 T flour
- 2 cups milk
- a bay leaf
- pepper
- 1/2 t salt (or to taste)
- 1 lb pasta
- 2 cups grated cheddar
- bread crumbs
- In a heavy fry pan, melt butter and saute onion until golden.
- Add flour and stir to coat flour with fat.
- Remove pan from heat. Scald milk in microwave. (If you add cold milk to a hot pan you will have lumpy sauce.)
- Slowly add hot milk to flour and butter in fry pan, stirring to avoid lumps. Salt to taste, and season with pepper and a bay leaf. Cook on low heat, stirring often to avoid sticking, for 20 minutes or until thickened.
- Cook pasta al dente, then drain.
- Layer a greased baking dish with pasta, shredded cheese, and a ladle of sauce. Repeat layers. ending with sauce. You can add a little more milk if it seems dry. Top with breadcrumbs.
- Bake at 350 degrees until it is browned and bubbling.
This is fast to make. Grind up the pesto while the water for the pasta is coming to a boil.
- 2 cups tightly packed fresh basil
- 2 Tablespoons pine nuts or shelled walnuts
- 2 large cloves garlic, peeled
- Salt
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 pound Fettucine or Spaghetti
- Start heating the pasta water
- Place the basil, nuts, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor, or chop these ingredients by hand with a sharp knife. If you are using a machine, pour in the olive oil and process until you have a smooth paste. If you are using a knife, chop as finely as possible, then transfer to a bowl and blend in the olive oil. (If you want to freeze pesto, stop here and put your pesto into small jars, coat the top with a little more oil, and then put it in the freezer.)
- Transfer to a bowl and blend in the cheese.
- When the water comes to a boil, salt it and then add the pasta. Heat a serving dish. When the pasta is cooked, transfer it to the serving dish. Blend a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water into the basil mixture, and then toss the pasta with the basil pesto.
About me
- I'm Susan Och
- From Lake Leelanau, Michigan
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There's more to food than just nutrition, otherwise we would all be eating custom-formulated kibble. I didn't exactly learn to bake from my grandmother, but my ancestors, even the ones I never met, have informed and influenced my lifelong exploration of cooking and food. Want to read more? Check out this entry from my home blog, French Road Connections