"Julia, Julia" . . .Food

The theme for the Brenda's Photo Challenge is "'Julia, Julia'. . .Food." Pop over here to see the other photos in the challenge.

I love a good laugh on myself and I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I do. I am not the most consistent cook. Some things come out just perfect on the first try and then other things come off the stove or out of the oven not so good. As a first time gardener, I might say the same about what I've raised.




I harvested a total of four eggplants, and I think these look pretty good.



Eggplant is one of those vegetables I'm trying to learn to like as well as cook. This is sort of the recipe; I had to improvise. Slice the eggplant; salt and pepper; mix up olive oil, garlic, and fresh basil; let it rest for an hour or so then brush on both sides of the eggplant. Broil it for ?? and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese a minute or so before removing from the oven. Well, I think I was suppose to peel the eggplant and perhaps salt both sides about 30 minutes before I brushed on the mixture. I'll try that next time.


My tomato harvest from five bushes.

A little background: my old breadmaker died and so I bought a new one. When I went to purchase the mix, the price was $3.59. It was $2.00 last year. I decided to make my own. All one had to do with the old breadmaker was put the ingredients in the pan, lock it down, punch one button and voila the machine started immediately. There was one more button controlling whether or not the bread was light, medium or dark. The new breadmaker has 16 different programs and so many other buttons that my eyes crossed. After carefully examining all bread recipes that came with the machine, I bought ingredients for a whole wheat loaf including Vital Wheat Gluten with Vitamin C, which also increases the protein value.

I read the instructions, followed them to a T, and performed Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Step 4, i.e., the start button. Stepped back with anticipation of hearing the machine begin the process. I waited, waited, waited - 20 minutes passed. Pulled out the instructions, performed the steps again. Then waited, waited, waited - 25 minutes passed. I read the instructions again, unplugged the machine, waited 15 minutes, plugged it back in the socket. Performed Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, and pushed the start button. Nothing happened. I called the company. The male tech decided the machine was defective. But just before I dumped the ingredients, I chose the first program for white bread, pushed the start button and it started doing its thing. I called the company again and this time made contact with a female tech. She asked what program I using and told her the one for whole wheat at which time she mentioned a chart in the recipe book. We found the chart and the whole wheat program does not start for 30 minutes since it warms the ingredients before cranking up. Go figure. Now to give the male tech a break, the female tech said she had the machine over a weekend and happened to find the chart when she was trying out the breadmaker.

So what was I to do? Stay with the white bread program which has a much shorter time for mixing, kneading, and rising, etc.; was there any way I could start over again on the correct program; or should I take it out and do it manually? I opted to do it manually. It was noticeably dry for some reason and did not punch down like it should. Nevertheless, I pressed on. This is what came out of the oven. A floor tile would have broken if the loaf had been dropped. It looks like a moon rock - tasted pretty good if you had good teeth to chew, which I do. One piece and you did not feel hungry for hours. In fact, one piece for breakfast and no hunger pains until about 5 PM.

This loaf reminds me of a cake my youngest baked for a Cub Scout contest. It came out in chunks. He patched it together the best he could and smeared some frosting on it. It was so unique that the Cub Scout leader made up a special category after we quit laughing -- out of his sight and hearing I might add. Wooden spoons were the award designation and his read something like "most unusual cake" as opposed to most creative, most beautiful and whatever. This loaf of bread fits in his special category. lol

It has been two weeks since the whole wheat bread attempt, but I think this weekend is up for another try.

Until next time, God bless.