Scratch Cooking Continued Sept. 2nd

So although it has been three weeks, I still cannot get myself to buy anything packaged. It just feels wrong!

The last few weeks have had a lot of sadness. Mallaury's dad died a couple weeks ago and she called me from France right after. I feel so sad for her and her family, but so grateful that she went home early and had a chance to see him. Losing a parent at any time is bad, but as a teenager, it seems particularly bad. I imagine that at 17, grief is coupled with guilt over every time you were nasty or rude. I don't know if children realize how quickly parents forget those moments. And I feel for her mother who has to deal with her own grief while helping her children through theirs. It's all very heart breaking.

I also had to find a new family for Robin's dog. He bit our dog a few weeks ago and it seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. We found a great place for him with a family with two young kids, but it feels like one more tie that's gone. I dreamt about Robin for days leading up to it. Ah, guilt!

Some of the things I have made over the last few weeks - chocolate macarons with vanilla buttercream filling, devilled eggs, tacos with fresh beans, buttermilk ice cream and lavender honey ice cream.

Here's some of the recipes:

The devilled eggs were really simple since I don't like mayonnaise - mix six egg yolks with a big heaping tablespoon of mustard, salt, pepper and a little olive oil. Spoon back into the egg whites and sprinkle with chopped scallions and paprika.

The fresh beans for the tacos were fresh black eyed peas and some other kind of bean that was similar. I sauteed them with a whole chopped onion in olive oil until the onions were soft and beginning to carmelize. Then I added about 1 cup of white wine and cooked at high heat until the wine was absorbed. They were fabulous! We made some guacamole and piled it on home made tortillas with a little white cheddar.

The ice cream recipes were the same as I have been using with some slight modifications. For the Buttermilk Ice Cream, heat up 2 cups of cream until hot but not boiling. Mix 4 egg yolks with 3/4 cup of sugar. Add the hot cream and put in pan over heat, stirring constantly until starting to thicken (will coat the back of a spoon). Take off heat and add 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk and a pinch of salt. Chill and then run through ice cream maker. It is absolutely lemony and delicious!

For the Lavender Honey Ice Cream, heat 1 1/2 cups of milk with 2 tablespoons of fresh or dried (edible) lavender. When hot, cover and let steep for 30 minutes. Remove lavender and re-heat milk. Mix 4 egg yolks with 2/3 cup honey. Add hot milk and then heat mixture until thickened. Remove from heat and add 2 cups cream and a pinch of salt. Chill and run through ice cream maker.

Nina is having a clam back on Monday, so these ice creams will be among the desserts that we bring. Stay tuned for  others!

Consider this the first installation of scratch cooking, year 2!