What's going on in your kitchen?

Remember the phrase, "Take a look in the mirror"? Well, go in your kitchen and take a real hard look at what's going on in there? Is it working for you? Let me rephrase that, Are you making your kitchen work for you? Because, really, it's up to you. It's like delegating smaller tasks to get to the big picture. 
So we've been told we need to save time and it's has been ingrained in our heads by the fast and processed food industry. Excuse me, Saving time for what? Possibly to flip a remote as the unburnable calories sit idle on my stomach (yes, been there). I no longer want anyone to try and make my life easier that doesn't know me. There is no reason for excuses anymore. We've got resources and God knows we've got kitchens; resources to teach us and inspire us and the kitchens to bring them to life.

Remodeling kitchens and bathrooms is a way to increase the value of a home. Just by refacing the kitchen cabinets a person can add several thousands of dollars to their home's value. Many people have done this and resold homes by 'flipping'. Going into one of these homes, it looks lovely, untouched, perhaps what one might call 'a model home'. Stark, bare of personal effects. This is what they were supposed to look like, so you could imagine your life there; your belongings there.
But have these model homes become the poster child for how our homes are supposed to look? Unused, stark and bland?

Open it up. Life begins in the kitchen, that's why it's called "The heart of the home". It's where peace begins and childhood obesity stops. We wouldn't have to think about those things if we didn't just pass it by. Of all the rooms in our homes it should be made a working room; a welcoming place to be. Things we use should be seen and easily accessible - not tucked away, barely able to find, let alone use.
So, what's going on in there, these days? If I sound like I'm growing impatient, right on. Cooking well is not rocket science. The one thing we need to be reminded of when cooking is to give it time, allowing the food to become what it's suppose to be. Try blending a mixture of real, whole ingredients that look like the foods they really are and add time - allow it to come to life - in your own kitchen, in your own home. Just allow the food to cook, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Food Day is Almost Here

Food Day is about encouraging healthy eating habits by transforming our diets and the way food is grown and produced. It's about cooking healthy meals with whole ingredients...WHOOOHOOO!!!
Food Day is about eating real, starting with a day and making it a lifetime. Exactly what Inspired Home Cooking is about. Celebrate by cooking a meal from scratch with whole food ingredients...and please share...your pictures.

Home Cooking Survey

Is Home Cooking a daunting chore that you dread? Or are do you find cooking for the week comforting, something you look forward to?

We'd like to know how often you cook at home!
Click on the link to take a quick survey, Thanks!

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e504yfumgtelxib6/start

Support Food Day October 24, 2011

Fix America's Broken Food System.
Eat Real. Sounds really simple, but unfortunately it's not. Tastes great; but it takes some effort.
Effort? Yes, effort. Effort to walk away from an easy to heat up and quickly-ready-to-eat processed meal. Effort to buy whole food ingredients, take them home and cook them. This is what being real means. Buying food that looks like food. Cooking. I've said it many times: Cooking is not a spectator sport.

By not buying fast food or processed food we are not promoting industrial farming, which is producing GMO's, which are being used as ingredients. By not buying into the advertising campaigns we are not promoting 'factory farms' that pollute our water, soil and air.

We need to appreciate whole foods and love the ingredients for exactly what they are and what they can create when their individual tastes are combined. Again, Cooking Is Not A Spectator Sport.
Support Food Day which is coming up on October 24, 2011.
Support it but not just for that day, incorporate it into your life.
www.foodday.org

How do you save money on healthy food?

Stock up on fresh produce whenever it is available. Local markets usually state on the sign in the produce section where it's from. Farmers markets are filled to the brim at this time of year with locally grown, organic produce. Utilize your freezer and freeze as much fresh produce as possible. Be sure to get a good variety. If you know how to can, make jams and pasta sauce and pickles.

Support your local CSA, Community Supported Agriculture. You will get a bounty of fresh produce weekly from local, organic farmers that need the support and the quality is fantastic. There is so much care going into CSA's that it's amazing to watch. They even have newsletters with recipes for produce that you might not be unfamiliar with.

Find out about local farms and orchards in your area and support them. Contact them to find out if you can buy produce in bulk from them and stock up.

If you can, grow your own. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to grow a garden. It's late in the year now, so plan for next year. Measure for a raised bed garden. Plan to grow herbs in pots. Decide where you're going to get your seeds from. Look at all the different fruit and vegetables you might want to grow.

If you're meat eaters, contact a local butcher that has access to farmers who care about their livestock. Buy a certain amount of meat that will fill your freezer.

Buy from the bulk section of your market. Organic whole grains, flours, nuts, beans, legumes - it's all there without the packaging. Prices are much lower and quality is the same, if not better.

When you take steps to buy in season and stock your pantry, it won't feel as daunting to buy fresh organic milk and cheese that is more costly to budgets.

It takes forethought to eat quality food.  Every step we can take is worth it.

Organic Foods vs. Food Budget

I've been researching a lot about organic and sustainable farming. On the flip side I have also been reading about how to make it on a minimal food budget, of which I have experience. When you're on a budget, there really is no being choosy. Unemployment is at an all time high, not including many people not counted because they are not getting an unemployment check but not employed. On the flip side again, we are having to pay for things we never had to pay for before: satellite t.v., internet access, cell phones. Our quality of life in the kitchen has been on a decline, tragically.

We are constantly being bombarded through advertising that we need things to make our lives easier; that we can save time by buying premade, processed products - telling us that these things will make us feel better about ourselves.

There is a sense of urgency in the contradiction of low budget vs. consumer awareness in our food world: It is to find the balance. Make food quality a priority in our life while making it affordable? Realistically, good quality food is affordable; we are just not used to buying it and taking it home and preparing it and cooking it - because that sounds like a lot of work. Who wants to work, right? Wanting to use our kitchen as a place to make meals from whole foods is a challenge. Realising home cooking is not a chore and homemade meals are soul nourishing as well as healthy is worth the effort. Try going into your market and buying only whole foods; Only Whole Ingredients to make a meal. Just try it. Taste each ingredient as it is in its natural form before you begin to cook it with other ingredients. This is how it should be. And its easy and affordable. We just have to get used to it.

The fast food industry has taken over our grocery stores and farming industry. But there are things we can do - and it's our awareness of these other things that will bring us away from the corporate food world of 'instant gratification'. By learning to appreciate that good food takes time - to grow and to cook - we can do it. Once we can smell it and taste it and feel it in our soul. And know it came from our own kitchen.

Starting Out

It's not rocket science cooking at home. It does take a while to adjust your taste buds to your own cooking when you have a taste for a fast quick burger or pizza on the way home from work.

In starting to cook meals at home, it's wise to start cooking with just a few ingredients to create each dish. Dishes that you know you can make. Then begin to pan out by adding an additional item or a new flavor to create an adjustment or a totally different dish. This is cooking. Cooking is an experiment and a constant development. Taste as you go along and adjust to your liking.

Menu planning helps. Cooking one dish should make leftovers for 2 lunches and 1-2 dinners. This cuts cooking time as if you have a main dish to heat up, you may only have to make a side to go with it. Leftovers are a wonderful lunch to take to the office.

Make a start somehow, someway to cook from scratch with whole food ingredients for 5 days of meals out of the week. Then go to 6 days, then where you might go out once or twice a month

Quick Survey

How many meals a week do you cook in your home kitchen? 

I'm talking about actually chopping the vegetables and cooking them using your hands and taking the time. No opening of bags or boxes. No heating in the microwave. No pre-prepped grocery store helpers. What do you prepare and cook from whole foods for you and your family in a normal week?

Small Appliances and Gadgets Gone Awry?

An overabundance of appliances and gadgets gets in the way of cooking in a lot of kitchens. There must be a whole heckuva lot of good sales people in the world that get us to buy these things that we think we need. Infomercials, anyone?

A few years ago, I moved out of my condo and found I had 2 George Foreman Grills and an extra knife set, a breadmaker that I no longer needed because I learned how to bake bread and whole lot of gadgets. All these things got new owners and out of my new kitchen space.

Learning to cook makes you realize that you don't need a lot of electronic"helpers". Once I could make bread, I didn't need a bread machine. And using knives properly, eliminates the desire to have a bunch of gadgets in the drawer.

I do love my stand mixer, waffle maker, blender, crock-pot and coffee maker. I know I use certain things. I, also, love my cast iron skillet - that has too many uses to list. On hand at all times is a steel for knife sharpening, almost daily - making preparing a breeze. There is nothing better for preparing food than a good sharp chef's knife.

Periodically, I will look at something and think if I still use it. If I don't I will put it in the trunk of my car and drop it off at the local thrift store, for someone else to try out. I'd rather have the space.

Remember the best tools in the kitchen are clean hands.

Weird and Wacky Sandwiches

There's a great post on CNN's Eatocracy on weird sandwiches. I must be weird because I seem to go for the out of the ordinary. One I haven't tried is PB & Bacon, for some reason I have a taste for it right now. However, I can do without the onions and pickles!

Here are some of my own delectable tried and trues:

Peanut Butter, Strawberry(must) Jam and Banana
Chocolate on a warm Baguette
Cinnamon Raisin Bread grilled cheese and turkey
Liverwurst on toast with mustard
Cream Cheese and Jelly, also great grilled
Grilled PB &J
Tomatoes on buttered Sourdough toast
Peanut Butter and Butter
Nutella on toast
Cinnamon raisin bread grilled with Brie
Cream cheese and bacon
Ham or turkey with chutney and mayo on white or sourdough

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/08/22/weird-sandwiches/?hpt=hp_bn8

The Dinner Garden - Inspiring Story

I'm a little late in getting this out but I found this great story about Holly Hirshberg in San Antonio, Texas. She started The Dinner Garden, an organization that sends free packets of seeds to families that will actually grow to feed a family of four. It brought to my attention something called food insecurity, which is something I've written about before but never had a name for it. It's when you have to pay your bills, and you pay them but you cut back on your food budget, which means you usually do not eat well. Her organization teaches people to grow their food and it in turn gives them peace of mind by having healthy food in abundance in their own back yards. I love that she she is teaching self-reliance and resourcefulness with growing a garden!

I love this story and plan to follow her inspiration and her website.

www.dinnergarden.org

Keep Moving Forward

Have you got to the point yet where you are able to drive past a fast food place and not crave it?Do you truly believe that you and your home kitchen make your best meals and nourish your soul?

I know it takes time. I've been doing this for 15 months now and I will tirelessly tell people that eating home cooked meals made with whole ingredients and bare hands is the best thing for us. I like to see food for what it is and blend things together myself, see the ingredients for what they are; a whole fruit or vegetable, grains; meat in pieces that I can identify.

Start. It's that simple. Take a day or two a week - make a point of looking ahead. Think of the image of the meal on the table, how it will make your house smell and fill your senses and get your juices flowing. Eventually you can take steps to move ahead to make home cooked meals a way of life. And if you do go out, choose a place that has good authentic made from scratch menu items. Be choosy about it.

It takes cooking to be able to inspire oneself in the kitchen. I hope you enjoy my blog and will come to see that eating this way is a step in the right direction. Nourish your body and soul.

Truck Stops & Highway Cafes

We've all been on road trips, and if you grew up before McDonald's was at every exit on the interstate, you'd know that quarter pounders and mcnuggets have not always been around. There were always highways cafes to stop at for a good homemade burger, hot roast beef sandwich, fresh pies and one of my personal favorite - pancakes that were the size of the plate. Did I admit my age? Not going to do that.

When my son was young and we took road trips, we did stop at McDonald's or our favorite Dairy Queen. And my thing was that I always felt safe going into them with him as a young boy. I did look towards the Flying J knowing that their lemon meringue would be six inches high off the plate, and thought longingly, but most of the time I played it safe. On one of our trips we were near Clinton, Oklahoma or the northeast part of Texas and we went to a Dairy Queen and they had chicken fried steak fingers with dipping gravy on the menu. It was one of the best things I've ever had, and ingenious, I thought at the time. Better than any nugget of chicken sold off the side of a highway...It's summer, had any good road trip food?

Popcorn Junkie

I love popcorn...I am certifiably nuts about popcorn!! In the past year I have finally been able to rid myself of microwave popcorn. I have an easy, foolproof recipe that tastes fantastic. Try this and you'll never buy a box of microwavable bags again. I got the brewers yeast addition on a trip to visit my brother in Berkeley and have loved it ever since.

3 Tablespoons oil
1/3 Cup popcorn

3 Tablespoons butter
Brewers Yeast, flaked

3 quart covered saucepan

Heat the oil in the saucepan on medium heat for about a minute. Add the popcorn and cover the pan. Once I begin to hear the oil sizzle, I shake the pan - as in Jiffy-pop. Continue to shake until all the kernels have popped, this will  only take a few minutes. You will know all the kernels have popped after you they stop popping then take a peak, the pan should be full to the brim with popcorn. Turn off the heat. Immediately turn the popcorn into a bowl. Drop the butter into the hot pan until melted and pour over popcorn. Sprinkle liberally with brewers yeast...ain't no turning back.

Simple Beauty Products

Simplicity is one of the most wonderful things in life. I am always looking for ways to simplify...simplify...simplify. In ways that are not only economical but make me feel really good, too. Beauty products are outrageously expensive. And while I do not intend to let myself go and look like a man, I do want to use effectively pure products that will take care of me and have a good feel.
I've come up with a great nightly routine:

I have started using olive oil - kept in a small container - as my eye make-up remover and its perfectly amazing. I will even leave it on for a minute and massage it into the crows feet area. For years I've been using a glycerin soap from a health food store, at about $1.50 a bar, I feel like its a steal, and its a great soap that doesn't dry out my skin. I wash my face a couple of times, thoroughly. My new find over the last month is coconut oil, I dab this around my eyes, and use a little of my regular moisturizer to blend with it. I have found this stuff amazing, but only at night, since it's an oil. For an astringent, occasionally, I use witch hazel - you can get it with rose water added, either way I love it.

I love real bars of soap. Natural glycerin's like vitamin e or aloe, Kirks Castile pure coconut oil soap - great for the kitchen, Yardley of London Oatmeal and Almond for the shower, the scent is mild and absolutely lovely. Not only are they inexpensive, I love the scents, I love how they look in a soap dish. They are not sitting on the side of the sink in plastic decorated containers that are thrown away when empty. Simple, efficient, economical, and pretty cool looking.

A 'No Bull' Approach

My name is Julie Noble. With a last name like Noble, you might think of a pillar in the community or a good deed doer. I like those things and try to aspire to them because Noble is a nice name to have, it's my dad's name and I appreciate it. But, I like to think it has to do with a No Bull-Shit approach to life. Weed out the bull-shit and you have No Bull. Thank-you, Dad.

Everyday Vanilla Cake

When I was growing up, my grandmother always had a cake on the kitchen counter. Most of the time it was left in the pan, and never frosted, except for the occasional dusting of powdered sugar or a light glaze. Some were made from scratch but mostly they'd be from a mix. Fruit or jam might get mixed in. My grandmother was not a big chocolate fan, so the cakes were almost always vanilla, or possibly a fruit flavor. I was always watching my weight so I perceived this as a threat to my well-being and lo and behold, I always had a piece. These days, I make a cake or brownie or loaf bread once a week or so. I have no problem eating the whole thing myself, not at once, over the course of the week. This little recipe I found on the Epicurious.com website. It is the recipe for a caramel cake, but I have omitted the glaze, which I have made and love. But for an Everyday Cake, this one is just perfect.

Vanilla Cake (Adapted from Epicurious Caramel Cake)
2 cups flour
1 t. baking powder
3/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, well shaken

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8 inch square pan with nonstick spray, set aside.

In a mixing bowl, with a whisk or electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing each one until thoroughly incorporated. Add buttermilk slowly, then vanilla, mixing thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this mixture to the wet mixture in thirds, combining well after each addition. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Be sure to test with a skewer to make sure it is fully baked.

This cake has a nice sturdy crumb, it could be made in a loaf pan, if you prefer. Enjoy!

Water From A Hose

The tastes of summer...brings back memories. Simple food paired with sweet sunshine late into the evening, one of my favorite experiences. Eating outside is one of the sweet pleasures of summer. Walking on the boardwalk and getting a corn dog and a fresh lemonade, still one of my favorite things to look forward to in summer. When I was a kid taking a long drink from a hose until I couldn't drink anymore was standard summer fare.
Floats was something my grandmother liked: orange soda with vanilla ice cream, root beer floats, coke floats, cactus cooler floats. My mom, when I was very young, used to make us plain old grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup and a dollop of cottage cheese on top - after we had a bath having played outside all day long. I like to have my coffee or tea in the morning sitting outside. When there's still some dew on the plants; before it gets too hot.
When my son and I lived on a boat we had a stainless barbecue on the back and cooked on it all summer long. I dearly loved living on a boat, you could tell when summer was there, it sounded just like the first scenes from the beginning of Jaws, with water splashing, motors starting and voices from all around, from early in the morning. Washing down the boat and taking a long drink from the hose. Do people still do that? I do.

Cabbage Lovin'

My new love is cabbage! I bought a Napa cabbage head at the market the other day and did something very simple with it: I sauteed it in olive oil and added salt to to taste. It was amazingly good. So amazing, I couldn't stop eating it. I have cooked other cabbage this way, the plain green one, but this was so good and hearty tasting, it didn't need much of anything else.

5 Foods You Should Never Be Without

Ruth Reichl has a column on CNN and her recent post was 5 Foods You Should Never Be Without.
There were 2 on the list that I found good ideas, cooked rice or potatoes and eggs. Great.

My list goes like this:
Lentils, or beans of any kind. I have a very close relationship with lentils, they're nutritious, taste good and have kept me alive more than several times in my life given my budget. I feel safe knowing that I have a good pound of them in a glass jar in my cupboard.

Oatmeal. Cannot and will not live without this. I eat it almost every day.

Canned tomatoes. I don't buy pasta sauce anymore, the best sauce is made using canned tomatoes, garlic, butter, carrots, celery, onions - pureed in a blender.

Peanut Butter. It makes me feel like an American. I've eaten it my whole life so far and have no desire to stop.

Olive Oil. It's a splurge but I don't buy bottled dressings anymore. A decent olive oil tastes good and is worth its weight in gold.

There you have it. Yes, my list is pretty much a good pantry list. I have other things that are must haves, like onions and garlic, potatoes. Hot sauces, spices and flavors. But if you dropped me off on an island and said 'Fend for yourself' - If I got this 5 and had to make it on my own, I probably could.

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/05/20/55-ruth-reichl/

Supermarket Ripoffs

There are a helluva lot of rip-offs in the supermarkets. With the 47,000 + items they have to offer, there are tons of gimmicks from ad campaigns to try and get us to buy unnecessary items.

I don't think the philosophy of eating home cooked meals has completely gone out of style, I think advertising has shaped our lives by telling us we don't have the time for home cooked meals we've made ourselves in our kitchens. In generations before ours there still was plenty of work to be done; farm work from sun-up to sun-down; lots of walking and public transportation - both mother and father working. People still had time to cook at home and eat well. It's the advertising system embedded in our culture that tells us we don't have time and need more time for other more relaxing, stress less activities. Cooking a meal is stressful? Hmmm. In turn our quality of life has been diminished. This type of advertising has taken away our own forethought and planning by telling us we will be happy driving thru a drive thru and passing a boxed meal to the kids in the back to eat in the car while driving. Or, hey, let's buy a premade, processed - heat in the microwave meal - and there's dinner; everybody has what they want. Hmmm, again. Just think about this for a minute, the joy and quality in our food - in our meals - have been taken away by corporate advertising campaigns. This is us as and this is how we are perceived as a nation. Is this you? After a year on this road and a lot of thinking, I know it's not me. Just try it. Make a whole meal from scratch. Look at the ingredients as whole pieces and put them together to make the meal. I have to say, I have saved lots of cupboard space, too.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42883944/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/worst-supermarket-rip-offs/

One Year Anniversary

One quick note, Today is the Anniversary for Inspired Home Kitchen!!!

I will be marking this with more recipes and food for thoughton upcoming blogs!!

Cheers to Home Cooked Meals!! :)

Back Soon!!!

For the past week, I have been working on getting a virus off of my computer...malware...don't ever get it! To do it yourself takes time and hours on hold with tech-support.

Almost there!! Will be back blogging in a day or two!!!

Apple Bundt Cake Bliss

There is something so homey about a bundt cake sitting on nice cake plate. I think every bundt cake I've ever had, either made by me or someone else, but homemade - has been moist and tender. Chocolate, lemon, buttery vanilla - classic standbys that always look good and are pleasing to everyone, you can never go wrong. 

I have to admit it took me a long time to bake with apples. I dearly love them but have always been hesitant to bake with them. Not the case anymore, over the past year I have cooked many apples and I am always pleased when I do.

Apple Cream Cheese Filled Bundt Cake

Apple Filling
2 large apples - Granny Smith, cored and peeled and thinly sliced
4 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon Angostura bitters

Cream Cheese Filling
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon Angostura bitters

Cake
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bundt pan, then dust with flour - generously.
You will need 3 bowls.
Peel, core and slice apples, mix in bowl with sugar and cinnamon and bitters.

In another bowl, using a mixer, mix cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg, orange zest and bitters. Set aside.

For the cake, sift flour and baking powder. Add sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla and orange juice. Mix until thoroughly combined. Pour 1/3 of this mixture into prepared bundt pan. Evenly spread apples over the batter. Spoon all of cream cheese mixture over the apples (this does not have to be perfectly even). Pour remaining batter into pan and place in oven for 60 - 70 minutes. Make sure to test with a skewer to make sure cake is thoroughly baked. Work around the edges of pan with a small to loosen cake. Cake should come out easily if it is completely cool. Dust with powdered sugar.

Angostura &...

There are so many refreshing non-alcoholic drinks that are wonderful with Angostura!

I don't drink soda, but one of the most refreshing drinks that I like is Angostura Bitters and tonic water. Now that the tempurature has gone up, it's wonderful; and on a hot summer day nothing could be better. Just pour tonic water in a glass and as many dashes of bitters to your liking - I like a lot!

Think SUMMER!!!
Lemonade with bitters...fresh grapefruit juice...any variety of fruit punch...smoothies - absolutely! Pineapple, banana, mango, berry; adding bitters gives a depth of flavor and uniqueness...shakes and ice cream...vanilla is my favorite with bitters, and it goes very well with chocolate...orange sherbet/vanilla with bitters added...pecan praline flavor is to die for...omg rum raisin ice cream mixed with bitters...

I cannot fully explain my love for bitters, I just do. In warmer weather I tend to go through more bottles...