Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Ok it’s been over a month since I wrote my last post and yes I am well over due for a new one. I have been doing a lot of experimenting on recipes and taking a lot of pictures but did not feel I was ready to write up a post on the various recipes I’ve been working on. Weather it’s because I felt I wasn’t ready or I was not inspired enough to write I have to push past those feelings or I feel I will never write again. So here it goes.

Mini Ham and Cream Cheese Sammys made from rolls made from Grandma May’s roll recipe

Lately I’ve ventured back to the passion I had when I was a teen which is baking but I have been exploring the world of homemade as apposed to semi-homemade and it all began with my Grandma Mary’s dinner roll recipe. Before I ventured into the world of food blogging I had a resurgence of a desire to really cook by learning as much as I could about ingredients, food production and how everything works together. I have had a desire to work more with locally grown foods and products. Although I love making things from scratch I do believe there is a place for pre-made products such as mixes and seasoning packets as much of my readers already know. I choose to embrace both aspects of the food world as I am not a food snob. There’s a place for everything and everything has its place.

So this post will be the introduction to a new aspect of food exploration. I like to find out how versatile a recipe is and how many different ways I can change it and still keep it the same if you know what I mean. Just like Alton Brown feels about multi tasking utensils in the kitchen I feel the same with recipes. I know that not all recipes can be multi taskers but the ones that are will be used more in my kitchen than the others because they are more versatile. I am a simple cook although I am sure I can tackle a complex recipe with no problem. I love to explore the dishes that are from the home and then see if they can be changed in any way to accommodate different tastes or occasion.


Chicken Pancakes made from using a basic home made pancake mix

Most of us have had pancakes at one time or another and most use a prepackage pancake mix, as I used to myself but every since the first time I made pancakes from scratch I have not purchase any pancake mixes. With this simple recipe I was able to come up with my loaded chicken pancakes which I have been told look a lot like a fritter. This is what I am talking about when I say a versatile recipe. What else can I do with it? What other I direction can I take? Can this recipe be used as a substitute for a fancier recipe? Asking questions is my way of exploring the world of cooking and food.

I hope you will stay with me as I post up my explorations.



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