cook's profile


Ivy
 
Living In: Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Member Since: Feb. 2008
Cooking Level: Expert
Cooking Interests: Baking, Grilling & BBQ, Frying, Slow Cooking, Mexican, Italian, Southern, Quick & Easy, Gourmet
Hobbies: Knitting, Quilting, Sewing, Gardening, Hiking/Camping, Camping, Biking, Reading Books
At the Pumpkin Patch
About this Cook
I am obsessed with my kitchen. It is never totally clean because I am always using it! I bake daily, and cook almost everything from scratch. If I used canned goods, I prefer having canned it myself. I am constantly looking up, tweaking, and experimenting with recipes. I love to have a big garden every year, and this is going to be the biggest. My husband is an avid hunter, so are privileged to have a lot of wild game around the house. Nothing like a meal that you grew and shot yourself! I am actually looking into culinary school at this point trying to find out how to pay for it.
My favorite things to cook
Potatoes, strangely. Rarely does a dish go wrong that involves potatoes. And BREAD! My true, undying passion is bread. It is a beautful thing, alive and hearty and healthy and real. Nothing makes me happier than the smell, taste, feel of freshly baked bread. Heaven...
My favorite family cooking traditions
Cooking IS a tradition nowadays. Growing up my family did not cook a lot, but I am changing that for m kids. Dinner at the table every night and breakfast from scratch about 4-5 days out of the week. My kids are already food snobs, and probably would starve after a week without home cooking, lol!
My cooking triumphs
I was making holiday dinner for the whole neighborhood. My turkey had spent 3 days in the fridge, but apparently the fridge was on the fritz, and the 20-lb bird was still frozen solid morning of. I had to par-steam it to get it to thaw, then put it in the oven stuffed with fruit and onion. I got rave reviews because the steam has made it so moist, and the stuffing made it so flavorful! What was a disaster waiting to happen turned into a gorgeous meal.
My cooking tragedies
I have yet to perfect my Butternut Squash Soup... It's got a long way to go, and being a seasonal vegetable I can only work on it half the year.
Recipe Reviews 13 reviews
Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers
These were awesome, once I got them working. When I put the egg in, it made things WAY to liquidy, so I doubled everything else to make up for it. It only made about 4 patties for me, even after I doubled. In all, this is an EXCELLENT base for bean burgers that all my friends liked. It needed a bit more spice, but I had forgotten the hot sauce when I made it. Next time I will make a nice peppery broccoli slaw to top them, and these burgers will rock!

0 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: May 26, 2009
Carrot Cake III
This was disappointing to me. A little bland, and too oily for sure. I followed the recipe exactly, though, and normally I tweak them just a bit. With a few of the suggested changes it would have been great. More spice, applesauce instead of oil. Good start, though.

1 user found this review helpful
Reviewed On: May 26, 2009
Cream of Pumpkin Soup
I got many many great comments when I made this for my cook's meeting. Personally, I thought it was a little bland, and a few others thought the same, but had I doubled the seasonings like others had this soup would have been wonderful. Warm and rich and smooth, and very versatile. You can take this dish in a lot of different directions.

0 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Apr. 27, 2009
 
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