Weekend Cooking: Homemade or Store Bought?
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The other day I was talking to a friend about needing to put together a wholesale food order (something my neighbors and I do a few times a year) because I was running out of oatmeal. "Oatmeal?" she asked. "Why not get it at the grocery store?"I explained that I buy it in large quantities because I make all our granola. She was surprised but then understood. That conversation got me thinking about the food items I always make, sometimes make, and never make. Oh and those things I used to make and no longer do.
I'm curious if my lists look anything like yours. Let me know. If you want recipes for anything, just ask and I'll incorporate them into future Weekend Cooking posts.
Always (or at Least Almost Always)
- Salad dressing
- Granola
- Pasta sauce (basic red sauce)
- Roast chicken
- Pesto
- Guacamole
- Tapenade
- Bread
- Beans
- Crackers
- Chicken broth/stock
- Ricotta
- Ice Cream
- Salsa
- Yogurt
- Jams / jellies
- Sprouts
- Pie crust (the bane of my kitchen existence)
- Tortillas
- Pizza sauce
- Mayonnaise
16 comments:
I rarely make homemade bread because it is too good and I eat too much of it (hot out of the oven with lots of butter). But I do make homemade scones and biscuits, and also cakes. I don't like the taste of preservatives in store-bought cakes.
Your list is very revealing! I'm with you on some things (I can't imagine why anyone buys that bottled gunk called "salad dressing") and not so committed on others (so much good bread in the bakeries here!) and some I don't really eat myself (granola, tapenade, sprouts -- assuming you mean you used to actually sprout them).
Fun post!
best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
This is a good topic. When we have bread I make it because it's so much better than store bought but, as Rhapsody stated above, I am in danger of eating more than I should. It got better once I was making bread all the time but those first few hot love....heavenly.
I'm with you on many of the homemade items, especially pasta sauce, but I never could master yogurt.
We don't eat much bread and I'm not good with yeast so I never make that. I used to make salad dressing but don't anymore because Carl wants a different style than I do.
I make salad dressing and pasta sauce from scratch, and nothing beats the smell of a chicken roasting in the oven, although the lure of a $4.99 rotisserie chicken from Costco is hard to beat.
I am on the same categories for most of the 'always' items, but I have never made my own tapenade. What recipe do you use? I love it, and never thought of making my own!
Great topic! I used to make pie crust and I'm decent at it but last year Paul wanted an apple pie for his birthday and the day was a massive time crunch so I decided to just buy a pie crust. Well my husband raved about how good the pie crust was! Said it was the best one I'd made. Needless to say, I buy pie crust now. It's way easier and much less stressful! I'd like to make more bread. I enjoy making it but don't regularly make it right now.
I'm with you on most of it, though make kefir now instead of yogurt, and never did find a bread I liked as well as my own :) so have continued making it after quitting with the sourdough and going through a hiatus.
Fun and interesting post! I am in the always/almost always camp for salad dressing, granola, pesto, pasta sauce and guacamole and I'll add hummus to that list too. My sister and BIL were just here and she went home and finally bought a food processor because he loved my hummus so much more than store-bought. ;-) I most often make my own veggie stock (and garlic-Parmesan stock when they have rinds available too) as well jams, and I'm in the sometimes camp for ice cream, salsa, and beans. I fear I am not at all a baker, so I never bake bread or crackers--but I don't eat them much anyway and pie crust scares me. ;-)
I try to make most things myself too. My ALWAYS LIST is the same as yours, although I did break down and buy Kraft salad dressing recently as I craved their zesty Italian.
I sometimes make bread.
Pie crust I buy in a box, I have tried and tried to make it with no success.
I used to always make chicken stock but honestly I can buy the boxes on special and "stocked" up on them recently when they were $2 a box.
The things I always make: bread, pasta/pizza sauce, beans, pesto, tabouli, hummus, yogurt (well, Tom makes that), soups and stews, smoothies.
I have never used mixes.
I used to make taco shells but now buy them. I just need to buy a new maker.
I'm one of those old hippie, Laurel's Kitchen kind of women.
I desperately want to make bread and pie crust, but alas, I have yet to perfect the technique.
I love the idea of making your own granola (I use it every morning with my yogurt). Do you have any recipes you would recommend?
I would love to know some good no-bake recipes for summertime desserts, particularly no-bake cheesecake (not the instant Jell-O kind, but homemade). I live in the south and like to eat chilled desserts in the summer, but most of what I see is something like fruit with whipped cream on top- which is okay, especially with homemade whipped cream, but I'd like something a little more 'sophisticated' without having to heat up my oven!
I make my own meatballs, roast chicken, guacamole, and potato salad. I can't tolerate store-bought guacamole (it's so simple to make!) or potato salad from a grocery deli. I used to bake my own bread, but it was so good, we ate far too much of it! Oh, and I make my own buttermilk pancakes. Can't remember when I last used a mix!
Because of our location I am working hard to return to scratch for everything. In time including our bread. I would like to be there now, but I have learned a few things about how much one can do with the energy one has. Thanks for hosting.
I usually make my own breakfast granola, I never use a prepared tomato sauce for my pasts meals and I try to make my own pesto and guacamole when I have the time.
I sometimes make my own stock and I dry my own home grown herbs (when we've had a good growing year).
I'd love to make some of my own cheeses and yoghurts, but I suspect I will have to wait until my retirement years, to have the time to do this idea justice!
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