bread

Meals in the mail

I figured it was about time to talk about meal kit plans. We have tried several. And have canceled them all after a fair trial. I suppose this sounds like I’m condemning them, but I’m not. It’s just that after a while, it’s time to try something new.

My favorites are ButcherBox.com and WildGrain.com. These are not meal kit plans per se, but specialty food sources. We started with Butcher Box on the recommendation of a friend. And we love their meats, which is their specialty. Great ribeye steaks, the best chicken we’ve ever bought. Fantastic pork chops. Helpful recipes. Wild Grain got our interest because we wanted some authentic San Francisco sourdough bread and were too lazy to keep our starter going. We love their breads and biscuits and croissants. Not so much the “English muffins” or pasta, but we’d start this service again just for the sourdough varieties.

We’ve tried several meal deals where they send you all the ingredients and a 4-color glossy with instructions. These have almost always yielded tasty and nutritious meals that were fun to prepare together. After a while, like a couple of months, it was clear that the meals came out of the same mind. They got a bit boring. But I’m not complaining; it was just time to get back to home cooking and imagination. I think the most valuable lesson was that many meals are just variations on a theme. Sear some meat, add some spices and herbs to get the cultural vibe you’re looking for, improvise with stuff you have in stock, and execute the method with care. Volia! You surprise yourself with how versatile and skilled you are.

If you are the cook in the house, with folks looking to you for their evening meal, then I encourage you t o try one or more of the popular meal plan outfits out there, learn what you can from how they approach their recipes, and then you’ve reached escape velocity, take off into the next chapter in your cooking life. Bon cooking!

Bread, glorious bread

A tough topic for a Keto fan. What do I do about bread made from wheat flour—with all those carbs? Bread in all its forms is so basic, so universal, so loved. And the bread we know best is made from wheat flour. High in carbs and protein. The must-have food for probably every culture throughout history. Leavened or unleavened. Flat or raised. Three ingredients or many. But if you eat the typical American diet, you’re eating way too many carbs and carrying way too much weight. Ketoistas are going to have to do without the bread we love or find a palatable substitute for wheat-flour bread. What to do? Let’s start here with some background and a global perspective. Here’s a bread primer from The New Yorker:

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My first loaf

Another thing I inherited from Grandma—along with a deep appreciation for the warmth and sense of security that can happen in the family kitchen—was humility about my cooking and a certain dread that trying something new probably just won’t be as good as you’d hoped. “Oh, it’s not as good as…trails off…” always led to “Oh, it’s fine,” from my mom or another daughter-in-law. As the offspring of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and Norwegian Lutherans, I ask forgiveness for these feelings.

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“Food is something you eat with bread.” — Rick Easton

I avoided making yeast bread until now because it always seemed too fussy, time-consuming, and hard. Poor me. 🙂 Then, a friend started making his own sour dough bread. It’s reminiscent of San Francisco, our old home, and as good as any I’ve ever tasted. Now that I’ve got some time on my hands—you know why—I’m going to take the plunge. I’m starting with a no-knead recipe that I’ll adapt from recipes by Jacques Pepin and Mark Bittman. A day-and-a-half from now, I should have my first samples. Wish me luck.

Best banana bread

I keep working on this recipe because I like it so much and it’s my fail-safe way to use up those over-ripe bananas. This latest version is the best yet. This version updates the temp-time combo for the crispy outside and moist inside that’s the holy grail.

I’ve tried several recipes over the years including a great one learned from my sister-in-law (a legendary cook) that was my favorite until I tried this recipe. I like it because when it first comes out of the oven, it’s moist enough and if your oven cooperates, you get a nice crustiness on the outside and a fully-cooked bread all the way through.  But the important thing is to use up those bananas (and potassium) before you have to throw them away! So, here goes…

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