Do you like to cook/bake?

[Uncle Al]

How's this for the art of a cake decorator

Edible Art

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I wish I had this talent
This cake is too beautiful to eat

Uncle Al

[TSH]

I'd like to know who made this delectable beauty (seems too good to actually be an edible cake if it truly was baked).

I do think people should spend less time buying fast food; forgoing general convenience for the more economically (and possibly less environmentally-harming) option of making your food is something I'd like to do more often.

[Jim]

I cooked the pepper steak last night while my wife made the cayenne pumpkin pie.

[denimini]

There is no way I could take a knife to that .................... and I do like cake.

[Barleymower]

I don't bake but my wife does and even worked in a bakery so we are not short of some tasty baked bread and sourdough when she can be bothered.
I do the lion share of the cooking in our house since I work from home. My menu is:
Spaghetti bol
Spaghetti carbonara
Stuffed pancakes with spinach and soft cheese
Omelette and fried potatoes
Lasagne
Cauliflower cheese
Fried chicken kidneys with fried potatoes
Chicken stew
Red lentil soup
Cottage pie
Chilli con carne
Etc
Favourite veg Brussels and corn on the cob

[Fred in Skirts]

I love to cook and bake!!
I don't usually do much when it is just for myself, but when I have a group of friends over I tend to go all out. One of my favorites is my version of pineapple chicken. Where you bake the chicken in pineapple juice and then serve it with a crushed pineapple sauce. Add fresh green beans, home made mashed potatoes and for dessert a serving of strawberry upside down cake. All home made of course.

Thought I was going pineapple upside down cake didn't you.

That would have been tooo much pineapple!!

Fred

Here is something easy for Halloween....

Bloody Cupcakes

Ingredients for 8 cupcakes

Edible “Glass”

¾ cup water
⅔ cup light corn syrup
2 cups granulated sugar
cornstarch, for dusting

“Blood”

¼ cup corn syrup
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon water, room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons red gel food coloring
2 drops blue gel food coloring

Assembly

8 red velvet cupcakes, store bought or home made.

Special Equipment

candy thermometer

Preparation

Make the edible “glass”: Line a baking sheet with a nonstick mat or parchment paper.
In a medium saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the temperature reaches 300°F (150°C), hard crack stage.
Pour the candy evenly onto the prepared baking sheet and let cool at room temperature for 45–50 minutes.
Once cooled, drop the baking sheet onto the counter a few times to break the candy into 1–2-inch “glass” shards. Dust lightly with cornstarch to prevent the pieces from sticking together.
Make the “blood”: In a small bowl, whisk together the corn syrup, cornstarch, water, red food coloring, and blue food coloring until well combined.
Stick 2–3 pieces of “glass” into each red velvet cupcake. Drizzle the “blood” over the top.
Enjoy!

[Fred in Skirts]

Thought you also might like this recipe for slow cooker meatballs.

Easy Slow-Cooker Meatballs

Ingredients for 4 servings

32 oz frozen meatballs
2 cups pure grape jelly
2 cups Heinz chili sauce
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons chili flakes
fresh parsley, optional garnish: chives/green onions

Preparation

Add the first five ingredients into the base of a slow cooker. Mix until well combined.
Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours, stirring halfway through cooking. Keep covered and on the warm setting until ready to serve.
Garnish with parsley or chives or green onions if desired and serve.

My notes as I can't eat hot peppers or their preparations I leave out the chili sauce and flakes and add just some plain table pepper and BBQ sauce (Hickory flavor)

[Kirbstone]

No, but perforce sometimes I find myself having to self-cater. Cooking for one is always a challenge and I hate ready-meals or fast food.

I happen to love hot porridge for breakfast. Flahavans oatlets + twice volume of water. 7 mins in a microwave and there it is, steaming and lovely. Sometimes I will indulge and do myself a 'full Irish' (Breakfast) settling for just the eggs, sausages & mushrooms with perhaps bacon, no beans/puddings/hash browns. [Blue water on-board breakfasts tend to be a swim off the stern followed by yogurt with mixed fresh fruit added, plus coffee.]

I adore fish, you can't go wrong with those here. New spuds and mixed veggie with it and some white or rose grape. Beer will do fine, too.
I'm also nuts about Paella, stir-fry rice with prawns & veg to die for.

As staple however I was brought up on brown Soda-bread. Bread made without yeast using baking powder (sodium bicarbonate). Here Odlums do a soda-bread mix for baking with added milk. 200deg. preheated oven for 40 minutes. Result unequalled anywhere on Earth, although I do have a soft spot for German broetchens and French baguettes. I also like mature blue cheese.

It is said that God could have made a nicer berry than the strawberry, but he didn't. Wrong. Try the raspberry. They also freeze well and taste lovely at Christmas.

Tom

[pelmut]

[...]
As staple however I was brought up on brown Soda-bread. Bread made without yeast using baking powder (sodium bicarbonate). Here Odlums do a soda-bread mix for baking with added milk. 200deg. preheated oven for 40 minutes. Result unequalled anywhere on Earth...

The less bicarbonate you use, the less spongy it becomes and the quicker it will cook. In countries with fuel poverty, the bread is traitionally unleavened because it cooks faster and uses less fuel.  I carry wheat flour and Saracen flour [Buckwheat] in my van so that, in an emergency, I can make 'bread' (which is sweet or savoury respectively).  The dough can be cooked in a few minutes over a diesel or paraffin [kerosene] stove in a small non-stick frying pan or a mess tin, to give a single thick slice with a crust on each side.

If you are expecting modern spongy bread, you will be disappointed, but if you are expecting no bread at all, you will find it delicious.

[Myopic Bookworm]

I don't bake much, as I have enough fun in the kitchen cooking the meals for the family. Tonight we had a fish and vegetable curry made using a Goan-style spice pack from "Simply Cook": I get four spice packs a month by regular mail order, which can be very helpful when I've run out of ideas.

[denimini]

I do cook at home as I like good food, mainly Mediterranean, and nowadays there is no one else to do it.

The dough can be cooked in a few minutes over a diesel or paraffin [kerosene] stove in a small non-stick frying pan or a mess tin, to give a single thick slice with a crust on each side.
If you are expecting modern spongy bread, you will be disappointed, but if you are expecting no bread at all, you will find it delicious.

We have a local version of that called a "Johnny cake", grilled on a campfire and can be split open like a pocket when cooked. I find them a bit heavy but fine when out bush and hungry.

[Sepchugang]

We tend to share the cooking in our house more or less 50:50, although I must admit my wife is a better chef than me. My forte is making all the bread. I used to 'cheat' and spent about 5 minutes loading up a bread machine late at night, setting the timer and then coming down in the morning to freshly baked bread. For the past year though I have been making sourdough and it is so much nicer (and probably healthier too since it only contains high protein strong bread flour, water and a small amount of salt). Once you have the starter going it takes about two days to get the finished bread but only about an hour of actual work, as most of the time it is just left for the wild yeast to work its magic. I usually make four loaves at a time putting three in the freezer so it only needs to be done every two weeks or so and the starter keeps well in the fridge in the meantime.

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