Friday, February 21, 2014

Some of My Favorite Baking Buddies

Well, Friday is usually my day to bake.  As I promised on my last post, I will share a few of my favorite kitchen tools that make baking quick and easy.  These are items that are not pricey, but are very useful.  
First, I love these plastic storage containers with a handle and pour spout for sugar and flour.  They keep your ingredients fresh and easy to pour out for measuring.

Next, I have found this curved silicon spatula from Williams-Sonoma to be perfect for scraping every bit of batter  from the mixing bowl- in one swipe!  I believe it was less than $15.00. 


Finally, check out these little loaf pans.  You can spread the batter from one recipe for a loaf of banana bread into 3 loaves!  They bake very quickly and each loaf can have a different favorite add-in.  I put pecans in one loaf, raisins in one and leave one plain for hubby.


I hope these baking tools make your time in the kitchen easier and more fun!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Some of My Favorite Kitchen Helpers



If you don't have a skillet  screen, you really do need  one!  Mine is several years old and was part of my Mother's Day gifts from my sons one year.  This kitchen utensil will save you so much time from wiping splatters off your cooktop that you'll wonder how you ever lived without one!  (Check for it at kitchen specialty stores.)

Next time I will share a couple of my favorite kitchen helpers for baking.  If you have kitchen utensils that you just couldn't part with, please share in the comments section.  I'd love to hear about them...I might be missing some wonderful gadget!  
Look at how clean my cooktop is after frying a pound of bacon.  I did not wipe up one drop of grease!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

MawMaw's Milk Gravy Over Biscuits

With all of the cold weather and snow that we've had lately, I decided that we needed some comfort food!  Nothing better than  milk gravy and crumbled bacon over biscuits.
My mother-in-law, Louise, was the pro of gravy-making;  she reared 5 breakfast-hungry children!  
I was fortunate enough to watch her make gravy for breakfast when we visited them after we were married.  She could whip up a batch of this gravy while chatting on the phone and herding grand babies through her kitchen and away from the stove!  I, however, have to give it my full attention-no distractions!  Like most good cooks, Louise's most memorable dishes had no exact recipe...they were handed down from watching her mother, Violet.  So, there are no exact measurements here.  Good luck!  Better yet, maybe you are lucky enough to have an experienced gravy-maker in your family :). Go watch over their shoulder as they make it!

Milk Gravy
 1 pound of bacon(until crisp)in a large cast iron skillet.  Remove bacon and drain on paper towels. While bacon drippings are still hot, sprinkle white, all purpose flour, a little at a time, and stir in with a slotted spatula until smooth but not pastey(amount of flour is according to amount of drippings-aprox. 1/2 C).  Add milk slowly while stirring constantly.  Skillet should be 3/4 full.  When it comes to a bubbly-all-over state,  turn heat to low and, "let work".  When it's thickened, salt and pepper it to your taste.  Pour over biscuits that are hot out of the oven.  Crumble bacon on top.  Call the kids to the table!