Cooking from scratch...I DID IT!!

[SPKarenO]

Okay sad as this is...I made chocolate chip cookies, from SCRATCH, for the first time in ...uh...years!!!

AND i made pasta and grilled chicken for dinner.
Marinated the chicken in what was in my fridge and cupboard, a little of this, a little of that.

AND FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN MY LIFE -
I made pasta sauce from SCRATCH too!! (imagine my surprise, when i was cooking pasta and chicken, my stand by no fuss, easy dinner - and there was NO sauce in the cupboard!!!)

I just mixed a can of stewed tomatos, a can of tomatoe paste, some water, a bit o sugar, salt and pepper and some itallian seasoning and a bit more oregano and parsley for good measure and simmered.

DH isn't home yet for dinner...so I'll let you know how the sauce and chicken turned out.

WHAT HAVE YOU MADE FROM SCRATCH RECENTLY?

[emmalouise]

I've been cooking everything from scratch lately because money has been so tight!! :giggle
Somethings I've made this week are:
- wholegrain oatmeal
- date loaf
- banana bread
- date, honey and oat slice
- brown rice risotto with carrots and kale (even made the stock myself!)
- spaghetti with a vegetable and minced lamb tomato-y sauce
- dhal with veges served on quinoa
- lamb and vegetable curry

We've been eating same-y food all week (whatever's cheap at the organic store, basically), can you tell? :giggle

[herbalwriter]

You go girl! :rockon :rockon

I am a make from scratch type gal, so I am so glad you are discovering the joys of makin' stuff from scratch. I "scratch up" meals all the time. Tonight's was a disaster but I won't hijack your thread to get into that. :mrgreen I even make my own chocolate syrup!

[SPKarenO]

mmm...yummy!! it was actually okay!! i think it needed more garlic, cause when i sopped it up with my garlic bread it was REALLY delicious!!

keep em comming...

pp - curry - YUM...my neighbor has a great recipe for curry from scratch...i need to get that and try it.

[SouthPaw]

:highfive when my BF was over for my birthday she said that was the first time she had ever eaten a cake made from scratch :jawdrop i take it for granted that it's "the norm" for me! so glad you had some successes... it's really not that hard, and you get to be proud that YOU made it! :grin

this is what i always make from scratch, whenever we have it, plus a few things i made this week
-biscuits, waffles, pancakes
-spaghetti sauce
-cookies, pie crust
-pudding
-brownies
-banana bread
-eggplant parmesan
-fried rice

on the other hand, my favorite cheating-meals are
-kraft mac and cheese
-frozen chicken pot pie (though sometimes i make it homemade...but i like the frozen ones better :O)
-and grocery store bread.... i have never made homemade bread!


and at my grandma's house,
-pineapple upside down cake
-chocolate meringue pie
-fudge

[herbalwriter]

I did not give you a list before! I should do that. I make most stuff from scratch but the notable things are:

-bread
-cookies
-chocolate cake
-chocolate syrup
(hmm...noticing a trend here... :giggle)
-baby food (in the past)
-refried beans
-macaroni and cheese (usually! I keep Annie's on hand for emergencies)
-vegetable soup (I keep Campbell's on hand for emergencies too)
-chicken stock
-beef roast
-chicken breasts (I am always making up stuff for those)
-fried potatoes
-random vegetarian meals and skillet suppers (I love trying to be creative)

I am now kind of wondering what constitutes "from scratch..." I guess, no mix or pre-fab ingredients at all?

[Mother of Sons]

I make alot of stuff from scratch but my proud moment was chicken pot pie. I don't know what posessed me to want to make one because I don't normally even like it but I made one from scratch (ok, crust was premade :O ) and it was good! Now I want it all the time lol.

[beccafromlalaland]

I love making from scratch too.

In the Last week I've made
Apple Crisp
Yellow Cake with Lemon Curd Filling
Egg Noodles
Minestrone Soup (it was soooo yummy too...couldn't believe that I had made it!!)


I haven't made Pasta Sauce in a LONG time, because honestly...the premade jar stuff is just cheaper for me! I spend 1.99 on a jar of it. Or I spendbout $2.50 on the homemade stuff.

What I need to do when I get a house and plant my garden is can up a bunch of tomatos, Make salsa to can, and Pasta Sauce to can as well. That way I have all my staples :-)

Someday when I have a house LOL.

[SouthPaw]

I am now kind of wondering what constitutes "from scratch..." I guess, no mix or pre-fab ingredients at all?

:think i always wondered too. i mean, i don't mill my own flour or make tomato sauce from fresh tomatos. hmmmm.



oh another good "from scratch" thing i make is homemade microwave cocoa. milk, butter, cocoa, and sugar in varying amounts...microwave and stir... so much better than a mix!

[SPKarenO]

I did not give you a list before! I should do that. I make most stuff from scratch but the notable things are:

-bread
-cookies
-chocolate cake
-chocolate syrup
(hmm...noticing a trend here... :giggle)
-baby food (in the past)
-refried beans
-macaroni and cheese (usually! I keep Annie's on hand for emergencies)
-vegetable soup (I keep Campbell's on hand for emergencies too)
-chicken stock
-beef roast
-chicken breasts (I am always making up stuff for those)
-fried potatoes
-random vegetarian meals and skillet suppers (I love trying to be creative)

I am now kind of wondering what constitutes "from scratch..." I guess, no mix or pre-fab ingredients at all?


oh please oh please tell me how to make refried beans from scratch!! YUM!!

[beccafromlalaland]

Refried beans....cooked beans...squashed with some sort of fat binder...or you can nix the fat and just squash them in the pan.

At least that's how I make them. Usually with a little leftover bacon grease that I keep around :shifty :bag

[herbalwriter]

I totally made this up, but it tastes good.

Soak pinto beans overnight; put beans in crockpot with a chopped onion (water to cover plus about 1/4 inch) on high for 3 hours (thank you mamas at GCM!). Drain the beans, reserve liquid. Melt about 1 TB veg. shortening in a cast iron skillet - I use Spectrum Naturals non-hydrogenated...you could probably use safflower oil or something but I don't know - and add about 1/2 tsp. bacon grease (I second the :bag), then add the drained, cooked beans and onions. I use a potato masher to mash the beans until creamy, adding the leftover bean water as I go - makes it creamy instead of more grease. I add salt, salsa, chili powder or cumin, and maybe lemon or lime juice to taste. Then I spoon them into a pie pan, top with cheese, and bake at 350 or so just to melt the cheese. We eat them as is or top with chopped fresh tomatoes, green onions, and plain yogurt and dip corn chips into them.

THis is ds's "mood food" - loved it one day, hated the next. :shrug

check this site out:
http://sondahl.com/cooking.html

[SPKarenO]

Refried beans....cooked beans...squashed with some sort of fat binder...or you can nix the fat and just squash them in the pan.

At least that's how I make them. Usually with a little leftover bacon grease that I keep around :shifty :bag

ok so let me see if i got it...
pinto beans, cooked, mashed in the pan while cooking and add my leftover bacon grease while cooking.


ooh...leah posted while i was writing this...that sounds good too!

[Nightingale]

let's see this week I've made:

Roasted chicken in the crockpot (soo good and juicy!)
Chicken tortilla soup (well it does have a cup of salsa in it, so maybe that doesn't count)
corn bread
brownies
biscuits and gravy
chicken salad
chocolate chip cookies


I've been making more and more from scratch and I love it