Give and Bake

It's been quiet around here. I know.

I have to admit, I haven't been spending as much time as I usually do in the kitchen, lately. I'm happy to report that it's not because I've been too busy preparing for Christmas; I've been mostly ready for the holiday for weeks--it's easy to prepare when you aren't planning on buying any gifts. This year, I decided to use the money I'd spend on presents--measly as the gift fund may be--and donate it, in an attempt to truly grasp hold of the season of giving. Check this out!

I'm really excited about gifting something so important. And what I'm genuinely looking forward to this coming weekend is the time that I get to spend with my family. We're all over the place--like most families--and it's hard to find time to see each other, so this weekend should be a real treat.

The reason I haven't found myself cooking much is because I have a freezer full of leftovers I'm trying to take advantage of. One of the many perks of being single is that I follow these recipes and end up with enough food to feed a family of four; that leaves me with dinner for two or three (sometimes four our five!) nights plus that same amount stored away in the freezer for later. My last trip to the grocery store yielded a total bill about half the size as it normally is because I didn't have to purchase any ingredients to make dinner for two weeks--I had that covered. And, somehow, I'm going to be able to manage to do that, again, over the coming two weeks. My pocketbook and my tummy are both happy.

Not to mention, because I'm young and single and have a family full of amazing women (my grandmother in particular) who take pleasure in serving the Christmas meal--I haven't had to worry about putting that together, either! Although, I am thrilled to report that I'm making Christmas Eve dinner--the homemade enchiladas I put together a few weeks ago. But other than that, aside from some homemade crackers here, some fresh baked cookies there, an attempt at focaccia bread here (I promise to blog about that soon!), things have been pretty quiet.

But tonight--I'm baking!

I'm baking bread...

I think I've decided that bread is one of my favorite things to make. I can't really tell you why, other than I love bread and knowing that I can make it and that it's not always as difficult as the taste may lead you to believe; or, maybe it's because I'm so picky about the sort of homemade bread I'll eat and I like exploring different avenues of bread I've yet to experience made from scratch. Whatever it is, I'm going to cling to it--and tonight, the result of my fascination is going to be Rustic Rosemary Garlic Bread.

This is the second time that I've made this beautiful and delicious bread; I found the recipe here! It's definitely worth a try, in my opinion, and good enough to give as a gift--which is what I intend to do.

I hope you all have a wonderfully merry Christmas!
Rosalyn

Food & Tradition

I grew up in every sense of the term "nuclear family." Mom, Dad, Little Sister, me. Where other kids had grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and even neighbors around that were considered family, I just had my tiny, four person unit. I have grandparents (we occasionally visited), and aunts and uncles and cousins (I love those who have stuck around dearly), but my family is separated by the pains of divorce and distance. Our lack of extended family to cook for over the years has resulted in very little consistency and tradition..

I remember my mom saying almost every holiday something like, "We have to start our own traditions," and try as we did, nothing ever stuck. I do not have any vivid food memories from my childhood that involve traditions or holidays. No special cookies, like the ones my mother in law makes every year, no memories of my own mother cooking dinner or baking. The one most vivid food memory I have from my childhood is eating at a free school lunch program one summer when my parents were struggling to make ends meet (I remember being embarrassed and grossed out by the smelly cafeteria).

I grew up eating meat and never really questioned why. It was just food. I never thought of meat as anything other than that. In March of 2007 my husband (then boyfriend) and I were attending a small church that had decided to participate in Lent. At the last minute we decided that we would give up meat for the 40 day fasting period. We were unprepared, excited, and motivated. We had come across some statistics about world hunger and vegetarianism that we were eager to share with our friends and family.

Little did we know at the time that we would stay on the path to permanent vegetarianism.

Our unpreparedness at first led us to eat a lot of unhealthy things such as fast food burritos, cheese pizzas, veggie burgers (with fries of course!). Our new culinary path was not one necessarily of health, but simply of no meat.  We were trying to eat all of the things we loved when we were meat eaters. Although our diet evolved and we had the resources and know-how to make much healthier choices with our diet, we found our selves stuck in a rut of lazy vegetarianism.

Fast forward to today. Thanksgiving 2011. My family cooked prime rib, fresh green beans (sans casserole), sweet potatoes, and a choice of cheesecake or pumpkin pie for dessert. I contributed a beautiful vegetarian lasagna packed with thinly sliced zucchini and tons of cheese (with my sauce that I made from scratch!) We still have no set traditions. My family does not care much for turkey, and so we had no use for stuffing, or cranberry sauce. The Thanksgiving staples are almost foreign to our family table.

To be honest, I never really noticed that we didn't have real traditions until I got married. Seeing my husbands big family gather year after year and enjoy each others company and favorite foods has made me long for a sense of tradition and home. As I start thinking about raising a family of my own I dream about handing down recipes to my children who I hope will hand them down to their children and their children after them.

So I have started a journey. I am cooking from scratch and making my own versions of recipes that I love. I am searching for a food culture and a set of traditions that I can call my own. I hope that through this experience, I will change the way my husband and I, and my family, approach food. I hope to create memories and gain lots of new cooking skills.

I sincerely hope that you will join me on my new journey as a scratch kitchen chef, as I cook, learn, and create memories and traditions from my kitchen.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Megan