Tuesday: concepts

The word scratch cooking conjures up all kinds of memories and scares some people.   I've heard I cant do it from many.   You can do.it.   One  s t e p at a time.  

The internet and Pinterest are full of easy scratch recipes.   Even some of the recipes that are not scratch can be made pretty much scratch by making your own mixes and substitutions.   

Dump cake is really popular.  Cake mixes are as low as .88 when they are on sale.   The thing that bumps up the price is when they use a can of pie filling.  Pie filling is only water, cornstarch, sugar, and the fruit .    Cut the fruit if necessary, add water and corn starch to thicken a sauce and sugar to taste.   Mix water and cornstarch so it looks like thin milk. Add to the fruit and sugar in a saucepan.   Cook just until thickened.   Remember, you are going to cook it again  when you bake the cake.  

Bread is easy with the advent of no knead breads.  The only problem you can run into is making sure the water is warm enough, but not too warm. And sometimes its hard to get it to rise if it is cold in the kitchen.   I solve the problem by turning on the oven for two minutes on 250 degrees.   Turn the oven off and set your dough in the oven.   Do not cover with plastic.   A wet towel works.  Refrigerater bread is on the King Arthur Flour web site. 

Muffins are one of the quickest , easiest things to make--no need for a mix.   There are mix recipes out there, but really, they are easy.   Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients and fold the two together.   Don't over mix or your muffins will be tough.   No problem, they are still edible.  

The invent of the insta pot makes cooking savory sooo much easier.   Beans are a snap!  No more soaking, rinsing and cooking for hours.    Beans and rice have a very short refrigerator life.   They are one of the things that spoils the fastest.   Beans don't freeze well.  They loose their consistency.   The insta pot cooks them with almost no hands on time.   Measure, sort to make sure there is not rocks, etc in them, rinse in a strainer, dump in the insta pot and cover with water up to your second knuckle. Water should more than cover the beans.  Close the lid, put the lever to seal and push the bean button. 

Walk away.   The new pressure cookers are a lot more safe and have safety features that our great grandmother's didn't have.   The second best method is using the slow cooker.  

There are recipes abound for ez efficient cooking of main dishes.   We explore them everyday here.  I want cheap, easy, and nutritious.   I want it all.   And, most of the time, we succeed.   LOL.  I don't have the stamina anymore to stand in front of a stove for hours.   When I did have the stamina, I had sometimes two or three jobs and a home and children to take care of.   Learning how to cook the things your family likes to eat efficiently, is a deal maker.     Picking meats /proteins that are versatile and limiting the cuts of meats simplify the shopping routine and allow you to make bulk purchases and save money and time.