We watched "The Next Food Network Star" last night. Yes, even Ramona gets to stay up and watch the culinary excitement. We don't do American Idol, but ... food? We're there.Anyone else watching this?
We each decided what our "culinary point of view" would be if we were to compete on the show. Atticus said his would be, "You can cook anything once you learn a few kitchen basics." He's right. I know he is, because he's actually taught me to cook a few things.
Anne-with-an-e's would be "Literature in the Kitchen." She would present dishes to go along with her favorite books. (Sigh. I'm so proud.)
Mine would be -- you guessed it: How to cook using the fewest possible pots, pans and utensils. (And, I would fervently hope that Alton Brown wouldn't dislike me from the first moment, as he did with Lisa. Ouch.)
Here's another recipe that I've lazied up, by throwing it into a 9"x 13" instead of using loaf pans. My kids love this, so I make it year-round.
Lazy Mom's Pumpkin Bread
3 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 c. pumpkin
1 c. oil
3 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice or ginger
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9"x13" pan. Combine sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and oil and mix well. In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients, then add slowly to the first (or, do as I do, and throw it all in to make it happen faster.) Mix well, pour in pan and bake for about an hour.
Feed to children for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Think about what you can make for dinner tomorrow night that will involve only a crock pot and paper plates. Pat self on the back, but realize that Alton Brown would not be impressed.
9 comments:
Hi Karen,
I just had to comment even though my family and I didn't watch the show. We do watch the Food Network, so we know Alton well. We all watch Iron Chef America every Sunday night at 8 here, but last night the power went out at 8! Bummer, but we can watch it later even though it's not quite the same when it's not Sunday.
Anyway, thanks for the laugh this morning! :)
I'm with Anne. The idea of a literature based cookbook is a brilliant one and a literature based cooking show... Well that would be absolutely awesome. Think about the things you could do. Meg Murray's liverwurst sandwich from A Wrinkle in Time, Anne Shirley's fruitcake with hard sauce, or Marilla's cherry cordial, the jelly doughnuts from At Bertram's Hotel, the omelet in Strong Poison (minus the arsenic) Farmer Maggot's wife's dish of bacon and mushrooms... That's only a small sampling. I'm sure that Anne could think of many, many more. I love books that describe the food the people are eating. I often am inspired to cook dishes based on what I've just been reading (and not just cookbooks!). So I'm definitely rooting for Anne was the Next Food Network Star.
I do sympathize with you, Karen, about the dishes. I currently have bread rising and a sinkful of baking dishes soaking...
How's about a recipe for a whale sandwich from Moby dick?
We're watching! Haven't watched last night's show yet, though--it airs at 10pm here. It's on the docket for today.
Last year's winner, Amy Finley, lives in our town here in east San Diego county! I keep expecting to run into her in Trader Joe. (Not this summer, though--her family is in France until September.)
I love this! I too am on a quest for lazier food. Years ago I used to make these very time-consuming pumpkin muffins...but this pan bread looks doable.
I was a foodie before I became Catholic and was so glad to find John Zmirak's foodie/Catholic books.
I too am staring down a pile of dishes that my daughter is should have already loaded in the dwasher...in Christ, Sara
ps I so enjoy your writing!
I often enjoy watching Alton Brown, but I think he might be something of a difficult guy to please.
My brother met him at some kind of food convention (he's in the biz), and, with delight, told Alton that he thought of him as the "Bill Nye of food." (I've often thought the same thing myself!)
Alton indicated that he'd never heard of Bill Nye the Science Guy, though my brother was not the first to make the comparison; and that he'd much rather people were telling ol' Bill that he reminded them of Alton Brown.
Maybe it was just Alton's offbeat sense of humor at work, but he seemed so offended that my brother -- who of course meant it as a huge compliment! -- felt bad that he'd said anything to him.
Just one of those things I think of every time I see Alton Brown now.
Oh, well!
I love cooking up crazy complex meals, but summertime and the attendant heat brings out the lazy cook in me. I'm all for the one pot meal.
I'm still searching for the perfect pumpkin bread recipe. The pumpkin bread looks good, I'm all about easy. We'll have to try it on the next rainy day when turning the oven on will seem like a good idea.
Yes, I am watching it...gotta love the drama...
BTW, I love your culinary point of view...a great one for homeschooling moms everywhere...I particularly like it because my dishwasher broke (again) and we are thinking that this time it may not be able to be revived...
Tell Anne with an e that I made some Turkish Delight for the members of our book club when we read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Some loved it; others hated it (me included.) If she wants the recipe and the bottle of rosewater I had to buy, I'll email it to her. I have often wanted to cook the dishes from literature also. Let me know if she does any of that!
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