marthavila, please let me know what you think of imrainey's cookies if you try them out LOL

In the meantime, rainey, I think it's an awesome idea to bake for your little darlings. I buy them treats at the farmers market for $1 and up PER TREAT!! This is much more cost effective and I won't gain weight.

Here's another one I've been meaning to make:

Pea"Mutt" Butter and Pumpkin "Pup"cakes

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg (slightly beaten)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup peanut butter (chunky)
3 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl mix water, pumpkin, egg, vanilla, and peanut butter thoroughly. In a large bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Mix wet and dry ingredients together and stir well. Spoon into a greased mini muffin pan, making sure to fill each cup completely and piled high. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until firm (but not too brown). Cool completely and store in an open container or paper bag in the refrigerator. Makes 30 mini pupcakes.

Artichokes: if you still have any baby ones, trim the ends of the leaves, split, drizzle with olive oil, grill on a hot griddle. Great with sliced grilled chicken over fettucini. Artichokes are even better if you do the chicken first so that they pick up some of the leftover flavor when you grill them.

I doubt anyone would want to eat them. But come on over and bring the puppies! I just did a double batch. ;>

Thanks for the peanut butter and pumpkin recipe, loves2cook4six. I'll try that next time.

I have recipes for cat treats too but, so far, I haven't hit the combo my kitties are interested in. ...and the one with the catnip in it sounded so promising. I also made ones with real tuna baked in them and they turned their picky little noses up at them too. ::shrug::

By all means give making pet treats a whirl if you have dogs -- they'll eat anything. They're sooo much less expensive when you do them yourself and there isn't anything tricky to them at all. Recipes are all over the web.

I'll play! Here is our bounty from the farmers market on Sunday. Sunday night I made refrigerator garlic dills for DH.( first batch I made 2 weeks ago is gone!)Last night we made salsa and salsa verde( brought a bit to have on my lunch OMG too good)! Tonight we will make peach jam and not sure what else from the peaches something for the freezer! And I will make blackberry roly poly with the big blackberries!drool. Yeah, I know I didnt take photos of all of the steps and my DH - my kitchen be-atch as he called himself chopping all of the ingredients and washing up! He is awesome. BTW notice the plywood is gone and we have almost finished windows? Guess who's table saw died and went to saw heaven- 6 cuts away from finishing?acck! :(

And I do need the doggie treat recipe Imrainey- I have a good dog bone recipe to share- yeah I even have a bone shaped cookie cutter! I think these guys need a lot of treats! Especially after hiking and swimming on Sunday!

I am away less than 24 hrs and look at ya'll ! WOW ...treats and recipes.... I am cutin and pastin. I am so glad that we keep adding new voices to our thread. I am looking forward to Part 2. c

Yes! Yes! Hooray for new voices and new formats!

The dog treats are simple as can be:

1 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup of rolled oats (the real thing - nothing instant or 1-minute)
1 cup of warm water
1/4 cup of peanut butter

Preheat your oven to 300˚. Convection is a plus since you want these to completely dry out.

Mix the dry stuff (you can add any old thing like whey powder or wheat germ too).

Put the warm water in a 2-cup measure. Add the peanut butter to the 1 1/2 cup mark. Mix them together. Pour into the dry stuff and combine. Go light on the mixing so it doesn't get too glue-y. A little dry flour isn't a problem.

Scoop out little balls that are about 3/4". Flatten them slightly.

Bake for up to an hour checking on them at 45 minutes and every 5 minutes or so after.

Cool on a rack then store in an airtight container.

You can also use the same recipe for cheese treats if you use 1/3 cup grated cheese and 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil for the peanut butter. Add the cheese to the dry ingredients and the oil to the water.

I am not sure you could roll this recipe out as is but I don't see a problem in adding more flour to make the dough stiffer and drier.

Hope that keeps those active dogs happy!

That looks like you're going to be cooking up something delicious! Don't forget to share! ;>

I'm jealous that you can still get jalapeños. It's a desert for jalapeños here in SoCal where they are a staple. I had to go to the nursery and buy a plant. I'm hoping I can find a spot for it where it will grow. My most promising location is where gophers (curse them!) have settled in and already taken out one mature bell pepper plant. =o

No more kitchens in action?

I really don't want to dominate this thing but I'd love to see it keep going.

What are you up to? Even if it's coping with not having a kitchen I bet that would be of interest.

No more kitchens in action?

I really don't want to dominate this thing but I'd love to see it keep going.

What are you up to? Even if it's coping with not having a kitchen I bet that would be of interest.

Yes, yes! Today my kitchen was in action. Actually, yesterday, too, but I forgot to take pictures of the
moules marinières I cooked in about 5 minutes. Damn! No recipe - I sauté'd some garlic and shallots in olive oil while I rinsed the mussels. Added some thyme, salt, vermouth (my all-purpose white cooking wine per Julia Child), threw in the moules and steamed till they opened - about 5 min. Divine!

Today, since I had some pickling cucumbers languishing in the fridge, some previously fresh mint that had dried out, and I always have yogurt, it was time for - you guessed it - cucumber yogurt mint soup.

It turned out more like raita than soup, but it was delicious.

Once I was finished with that, I got down to my REAL work - an in-process piece of fiber art I needed a large surface to work on.

Last weekend we had 5 pizzas on this wonderful, heatproof, stainproof, soapstone island. Today, it was the perfect surface for pinning, cutting (with a cutting mat under the fabric) and ironing.

So now you see my kitchen TRULY at work!

Wonderful, raynag! I just love moules marinières (if only my husband weren't allergic to shellfish....) AND fiber arts.

You've been a busy and creative girl!

Rainey I made your gazpacho tonight for guests and it was easy and wonderful. DH even ate it! Next maybe I'll try the cumcumber mint soup!

Raynag, that soup looks wonderfuly appealing for a hot summers night dinner.

I'd love to see more of your fiber art. What are you working on? I have a needlework bag of a Chagall window in progress. I've allowed myself 4 years to finish. I'm right on track...1/4 done in one year.

OT but just gotta say, Rayna, I lovvvvvvvvvvve your backsplash! :)

Glad you enjoyed it, iris! ;>

Thanks, Mary in NC - I love it, too. And loves2cook - I'll post the recipe anon - I just have to go to sleep, it's past my bedtime.

OT - below, the link to my website and from there you can get to my blog.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rayna's website

Everything looks sooooo good ! Wow I love that soup ! Stay tuned for pics from catmom's kitchen....we leave soon for the train out to her house ! What great fun ! c

imrainey thanks for the recipe for the dog treats I plan on making them Fri eve.
My DH and I made 12 pints of peach jam and 3 tubs of freezer peach jam Tues night. No photos. lots of fun though. crashed last night early.
fun thread!

imrainey - I e-mailed myself that soup recipe. I can't get enough of Indian food and love to cook it myself. Thanks!

OK - here's another working kitchen picture story and then I'm done cooking for the weekend! Recipe in the link below. I saw it this morning in yesterday's Times and bought basil and zucchini while I was in the market. I had the rest of the ingredients, but skipped the other random herbs and just stuck to the basil.

Instead of putting on the oven, I put on the grill and baked the zucchini outside. Since I forgot to take a beauty shot before I put them out there, here is reality, foil and all, as they are cooking.

I may put them back on or serve them at room temp with hot ciabatta. And the grill will get either trout or wild sockeye salmon, depending on what DH is in the mood for.

Here is a link that might be useful: NY Times pesto/zucchini recipe

Well, I had all my canning done (at least for now) before this thread started and I don't normally think to stop and take pictures when I'm cooking.

Yesterday, about this time, I remembered that I was supposed to take a special birthday dessert for a 91st birthday at 7:00. I hadn't settled on a recipe yet and had been so tired all afternoon I just forgot. Anyway, I found a recipe I hadn't tried before but sounded great -- a chocolate souffle cake. The espresso syrup, melting chocolate and whipped egg whites and the two combinations folding together would have been rather picturesque, as was the tall souffle cake when it came out of the oven (it shrunk, but was still very light), but no pictures. I was doing good to get the thing baked, decorated, the kids fed (DH got home and helped with that), cleaned up and out the door.

There are others using their kitchens. We're just not clever enough to cook and photograph at the same time. Sigh.

So I had today off. After reading this thread I felt inspired to try my first "all from scratch" pizza. (Well, almost all from scratch. I didn't make the pepperoni!) Yes, I am embaressed to admit that at 43yo this is my first attempt at pizza from scratch! I had a life scarring experience with bread making at the age of 11 and never attempted it again until now! :) It actually turned out pretty good! I think it was the good karma from the pizza stone. It was passed on to me by the owner of one of the best pizza places in Asheville.

Mary, your pizza looks ready to eat right off the monitor! And your soapstone looks so great with the flour on it. What is it about that stone?

That is ONE AWESOME pizza for a first time out! I'd hate to tell you how weird mine look.

LOVE your stone! I think it's better than 2X the depth of mine and I got the deepest one I could find.

I see lots of company sniffing their way to your door.

Great looking pesto too! Is there anything that smells better than freshly chopped basil? Why doesn't someone come up with a perfume based on that?

I can just see those zukes all brown and bubbly. Bet they're yummy!

YUMM!! Wish I could swipe that Pizza right off the screen. Really need to get me a peel.

Now come on and share the dough recipe.

That looks like a Wolf oven. Is that the Wolf baking stone?

Mary can you share the recipe for the pizza? we had pesto tonight that I made last summer. yum.

Imrainey- I'm impressed! You know your ovens! Yes, it is a Wolf DF. I love it! The stone was passed on to me by the former owner of the house. He has a pizza parlor downtown. I think it is a stone intended for a commercial oven. It is 1 1/2 inches thick. I searched the web and have yet to find a stone that thick!

The pizza reicpe came from an old Cooking Light mag:
Heat oven to 450.

Basic Pizza Dough

2tsps honey
1 pkg active dry yeast
3/4 c warm water (110degrees)
2c (10oz) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
cooking spray
2 tbsp cornmeal

Dissolve honey and yeast in water in a large bowl. Let stand 5 minutes. Add flour; stir until soft dough forms. Knead until smooth and elastic (10min on 2 on my Viking Mixer). Place in oiled bowl, turn once. Cover bowl set in draft free area, let rise 30min or until doubles in size. Roll into 12in circle. Place on pan, put in refrigerator for up to 30 min.

SAUCE
1/4 c finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup white wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
1/8tsp fresh ground pepper
14.5oz can crushed tomatoes, undrained
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar.

Heat a large sauce pan, coat with cooking spray (I sprayed olive oil). Saute onions until tender (3min). Add garlic and saute 30sec. Stir in wine, cook 30sec. Add tomato paste, oregano,pepper, and crushed tomatoes. Reduce heat and simmer 20min until thick. Remove from heat, stir in basil and balsamic vinegar.

Top pizza dough with sauce, cheese, toppings. Bake at 450 for roughly 10minutes.

ENJOY!!

I am excited to have your recipe, it looks sooo good. And I luv pizza!

I forgot... the cornmeal is for your baking pan or your pizza peel. Keeps the dough from sticking. :)

Hey, shouldn't y'all be over at the cooking site? Sorry to be a stickler, but all this wonderful talent is not on topic, and the cooks are missing out!

Carrigan- I see you just joined Aug 7th. Welcome to GW!

Actually, showing how wonderfully our new kitchens work for us (and how wonderful it is to work in our newly designed spaces) is certainly in keeping with the spirit as well as the intent of the kitchen forum! :-)

hey Robin, you can't just pop on here and not show off all the cooking you did this weekend with Caroline. Come on now...WE.WANT.PICTURES!

We never got around to cooking together--too much lunching and chatting!!! I'll post some pics of our visit and some of my own cooking pics on a different thread since this one is getting slower and slower to load w/out the addition of more pics.

Can I play ?

After several years with no workable kitchen (microwave and sink only), being able to cook plain old pasta was one of the things I missed most. In anticipation of being able to actually COOK again, I joined a Community Supported Agriculture program, and get a big box of lovely fresh produce delivered every two weeks. This week's box had (among other things), beautiful cherry tomatoes, eggplants and a big bunch of fresh basil. So I made Bucatini with Roasted Eggplant and Cherry Tomatoes. Delicious. (But unfortunately no "in-progress" photos :-( )

And another kind of kitchen action ... I watched my friend's miniature poodle for the weekend, it was like Romper Room here (check link)... I told them to enjoy the space until the butcherblock table goes in ....

Here is a link that might be useful: Dog-WWF in the kitchen

Everything looks Fabulous ~~ We have had great times in NYC and look forward to sharing pics.

Yep this is Kitchens in Action...not cooking per se. We are trying to show how the appliances perform and the countertops and hoods and organizational areas...and the space in general. The only way to know what you need in a kitchen , if you intend to use it to cook as many of us on this forum intend to do, is to see how everything is coming together for the folks that have "completed" their space.

So even though some may not appreciate the educational benefits of these posts there are many that do. Let's enjoy each other in the spirit of sharing and community. c

Fabulous, flatcoat! Glad you have you join the party with such a yummy goodie. Is there anything that says "love" in your stomach like pasta?

And, carrigan, I think your remark was entirely legitimate but it's not such a great burden for a couple threads to remind us of what kitchens are about and celebrate being able to use them. Meanwhile, I thank you for the suggestion because I didn't know about the cooking forum and there's a lot of interesting stuff going on over there too.

Oh I'm sorry! I didn't get that all of you have NEW spaces!
It just seemed odd to see all those food closeups 'here'.

Carrigan : we would LOVE to see where you are "cookin"...we started this as a way of letting people know what works well for each of us.

A strong thread in this forum and appliances has been what is the best appliance. Well the only way to know what works is to use it. To that end I and others have tried to show what works for the way we cook. That of course is the crux of all of this. How do you cook? What do you cook? For how many? All of these must be answered or you can't choose the right cooktop/range, oven. hood...etc. So we are trying to increase the knowledge base of those who are in the "process" of making a new space as well as those who have appliances and utensils and equipment that they don't know how to use or never utilized in a certain way...like the chinois post I made. The more info the better, the more participation the better....c

WELCOME !! c

Boy, trailrunner! You've hit on one of my sore nerves. When I was picking out appliances (or even knives) I was having to make important decisions virtually blind. Sure, I could read other people's opinions and consult Consumer Reports but who buys a car based on someone else's opinion or by reading CR or Car and Driver or whatever? A man (the traditional car buyer) demands a test drive. And get's it! A woman making a $2000 or a $3000 or an $8000 or a $10,000 decision gets bupkus.

I am very happy with my Wolf but if I had gotten to take one for a spin I would have found out that setting temperatures and the timer would be much improved but a little digital technology. And I can't tell you how often a knife is boxed up and clerks have actually told me I could make a decision by holding the box. ::speechless::

I say if something has a useful life of more than 3 years we should get to operate it before we have to make a decision to buy it. There! I've gotten that off my chest.

Totally agree with trailrunner and rainey. I was lucky enough to test drive an induction cooktop (a Diva even though we ended up with a de Dietrich) and all I can say is that if I hadn't tested it for myself, I would never have bought it on the advice of others alone. One of my absolute FAVORITE features and I use it ALL the time is the timer on each hob. I can st a pot of rice and know it will turn off when I need it to reducing the chance of the the rice burning on the bottom. In fact I haven't burnt rice once since cooking on the induction hob. It was happening so often on the old gas cooktop that we took to making rice in the microwave. Another thing the induction hob is great for: melting chocolate. I set the pan DIRECTLY on the hob - no double boiler needed - and use a very low setting. 4 works really well. The chocolate melts smoothly and doesn't burn either. Can't do that on any other cooktop but induction.

Here are my chocolates and butter all nicely melted for the Mocha Truffle Cookies from Lisa Yockelson's Baking by Flavor. It's one of my favorite books. I've never had a recipe that didn't turn out amazing. These cookies were inhaled by kids and grown-ups alike at our BBQ tonight.

And then there were the ovens which weren't cheap either. When we picked appliances we were once again lucky enough to be in a city where there is a Wolf kitchen and a Miele showroom. The gaggenau's were just coming out but we weren't ready to commit to them although with the side opening doors I wish I'd waited. We baked, tested and tasted at both before picking the Miele and even though we had issues with the ovens initially, Miele bent over backwards to sort it out and I love the ovens now.

Here are the cookies I made in the oven (and yes flatcoat - I hear the snicker especially with two dogs around - they do look rather like.... LOL). I snuck a rack from the bottom oven so I had 4 racks in the top oven and I baked on convection at the temp called for but for less time.

On Friday loves2cook4six let us show off our challah on her thread.

We have a Gaggenau 30" convection oven (not steam), and to tell you the truth, I am still having a hard time with it. A part of it may be our altitude (5400) which affects baking, and another part may be that I can find no rule with this oven in terms of baking time. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes a shorter baking period. If there's an auto-convert feature on this oven (because every recipe I have, which is set for sea-level so I've already my hands full trying to figure out how to alter it for the altitude and relative humidity, let alone how much less time or a lower temperature for convection) I have yet to figure it out.

Following our tried-and-true (from California) challah recipe, it should have baked for at least 30 minutes: here, it was overcooked at 30 minutes. Good inside -- not quite as chewy as one would expect, and the crust was hard.

But tonight we made a (vegan) brownie pizza!

{{gwi:1918094}}

getting ready to melt soy butter and unsweetened chocolate -- this is an Emeril pot which we bought sight / hand unseen [I hear you trailrunner and imrainey!] and, luckily enough, we like it!
{{gwi:1918095}}

adding Ener-G vegan egg replacer -- it's so-so, but we're trying to get back to our veganism [we fell into vegetarianism during the remodel -- so many things had cheese in it that I just gave in!] -- the children and I do better without dairy, and I think my husband does as well, esp. considering he grew up without it [he's Japanese]
{{gwi:1918096}}

singing an ode to brownie pizza -- please notice his middle finger on top of his "little chef" car [he likes "the rat movie," aka Ratatouille, so he will often have a "little chef" when he bakes]
{{gwi:1918097}}

decorating with strawberries & blueberries

It had a delicious flavor (naturally -- I mean, it's chocolate!) but again, I could not figure out when it was done. The recipe called for it to be done at twelve minutes but it was still wet in the middle (and it's only about 1/4 of an inch thick); so I baked for two more minutes and the crust was so chewy and hard it was dangerous for dental work!

So we ate the insides. Waste not want not! To quote our family: "oishii!" (delicious) Ruffin (my youngest) didn't have any (yet) -- he had a scary reaction to the amoxicillin he was prescribed for an ear infection. So to tell you the truth, this baking was therapy for me, to help calm my nerves after the scare in my Little Angel! I don't drink but maybe I should look into it ....

I love love LOVE watching all of you in action! I'm keeping good wishes for a speedy and easy recovery for trailrunner's son!

I'll play. Follow the link below for video of my three kids making jam:

Here is a link that might be useful: Making jam video

I am so glad you posted the link to the other thread. I missed all of those bread etc ! Wonderful pics and recipes. I started making Challah in 1975 and have done it almost every week since.

There are some fantastic cooks and wonderful communicators on this forum. I love the "jam" video !! Too cute !

My DS1 btw is very sore now on his other ankle and his wrists and his r knee is so chafed from the pressure of having it on the rolling stool while cooking.It was graduation at AU this past weekend and they had to downsize the amt they could do since he was so exhausted from trying to maneuver behind the line. He said they turned away a huge number of reservations. Will have to make it up this Fall. Thank you for asking.

Also the apples I used for the sauce were from his tree. Don't know the kind, it is a very very old tree . They are a summer green apple though only for cooking. They are VERY tart. Hope that helps . c

Okay, I had to get in on this one, too. A year ago this wouldn't have been possible. We couldn't have more than one person and one large dog in the kitchen at a time. Like rhome said, sometimes it's not all about the food...

Yesterday we had a family breakfast. DH and DD were "team pancake" with DD being the official "dropper inner" (chocolate chips in some, blueberries in the others). DS's were "team sausage and eggs" and Ddog and I were the clean up crew. It was a fun (and messy) morning.

Team pancake:

Team sausage and eggs: (notice the goldendoodle eyeing that spatula?)

DS#1 (aka egg boy...but notice he's only cooking enough for himself AND he broke the yolk!)

DS#2 (aka sausage boy...and he's so HAPPY!!!)

104 lb goldendoodle (looking to make it to a nice round 105 lbs) Notice how he positions himself between both cooking stations, just waiting to fulfill his clean up responsibilities?

And just for a bit of breakfast eating entertainment, a little rock n roll on the air spatulas:

Oh! Those chocolate cookies look luscious. I can hear the crunch of the outer crust in my mind's ear and feel the silky smooth inside.

And, mrkitchen and soigne, you guys really have some serious action going on in your kitchens! And music too! I remember having little ones in the kitchen but it was a long time ago.

Once when my fussy 2yo just couldn't be settled while I had to make dinner, I remember just startling her and then captivating her by channeling Julia Child (or Dan Akroyd, I'm not sure) and explaining how to peel a tomato. It was so funny to see her try to figure out what had possessed her mom.

As a retired preschool teacher I have to say that there isn't a more rich environment you can give your kids than a kitchen and I see you guys are making the most of them! Hooray for you and for them!

Looove the kid pics!!! They are all just too cute (and that 104 lb "puppy"--what a sweetheart!).

Must shut off computer now, you guys are making me hungry!

I had good intentions. reeally. But this is as far as I got with the photos. My DH and I made peach jam and froze several quarts of sliced peaches last Monday evening. We made 12 pints of peach jam and 3 containers of freezer peach jam. On the Sunday before we went to the farmers market and then hiked and them made pickles and salsa verde and red salsa and cherry jam. All turned out yummy. All the standing and bending aggravated neck and back and now am on pain meds. Found out I need multilevel fusion of my cervical spine. If I decide to get it.This may be the most action my kitchen gets for awhile. :(

OK...last night (late last night!) I tried to make a gluten-free version of the Peach Blueberry Cake only w/nectarines & plums (my family's preference). [I got the idea from Loves2Cook4Six...thanks!]

I couldn't find my springform pan (still packed away somewhere!) so I used an 8" cake pan lined in "release" (a.k.a., non-stick) foil like someone else did on Epicurious (source of recipe). Results were mixed:

As usual, the crust didn't stay together that well, but it did taste good...which is an achievement all by itself!

It was also runny even after I let it cool to room temperature. I wonder if it's the gluten free flour I used...

Most importantly, though...it tasted good! So, I'll play around w/the recipe to see if I can get it to work as well gluten-free!

Here are the pics...I forgot to take them along the way (and my DH thinks I'm crazy to be taking pictures at all!)

Ready for the oven. These are most of the ingredients & the dirty dishes! I used a pastry blender instead of a food processor to create the dough. It came out light, not heavy at all (maybe too light as it crumbles easily...but that could be the "gluten-free" flour.)

Baking in my upper oven. I'm baking it on regular bake since this is a new recipe and the cooking time seems to vary based on comments at Epicurious. I'll try on convection next time.

The results! It's the first "gluten-free" crust/cake that came out tasting very good! Usually, the crust/cake tastes either like cardboard or like rice. (It's also the first time I've used the Arrowhead gluten-free baking mix instead of a rice flour.) My DS also likes it...DH & DD haven't tried it yet!

Cooperbailey - all that jam!! WOW, do you eat it all in a year? Hopefully you'll be off the pain meds soon. Wishing you a speedy recovery

Buehl lovely looking pie. Is tapioca gluten free? Did you use it. I added extra to my filling as the peaches were so juicy. It did set but took a while. This is such a easy pie it's worth playing with it more.