Baking with Tété

I’ve always done a lot of cooking, but I never baked much after my mother died. When my kids were little I seldom baked with them. Homemade dessert items, let alone bread, were a rarity. As a child, I baked a lot, because my mother baked. We mostly ate homemade bread; the crazy woman used [...]

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Dark Days Challenge recap: Week 6 WEST group

The Dark Days are really upon us in earnest, despite the extended mild weather in parts of our region (with apologies to the Plains, still digging out of the pre-holiday storm. The real Upper Midwest seems to have gotten hit, but here in the central midwest the mild weather extended into the new year. It [...]

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Real holidays: Happy New Year!

We had our friends Steve and Gayle over for the holidays last week (here’s the meal we made). Our grown daughter and their two grown sons (one of whom played Simon Birch just as an aside!) were over too, and we told them about a New Year’s Eve in about 1979 or 1980, when, as [...]

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Eager to Learn

Mr Chiots and I were talking about our three favorite things to do the other evening. Along with hiking and gardening, reading and learning new things was also on my list. I’m an avid reader, always have been. As a little girl I read through all the books in the house and then discovered the [...]

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Seasonal Sweets: Cajeta (with strawberries, naturally!)

Several months ago I read an article about mexican Cajeta while searching for a good carnitas recipe. I love all Mexican foods, and I know I have mentioned before that I am afflicted with a terrible sweet tooth, so upon discovering what exactly cajeta is I discovered a strong pining sensation radiating from me. Have [...]

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Real food recipes: More Easter goodness

My mother grew up in the Greek Orthodox tradition. She threw out all the religious stuff, but happily kept the food. My daughter and I make these together every Easter, just as I did with my mother, and she with hers. Greek Easter Twists (Koulourakia) 1/3 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 [...]

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Out With the White Flour

As I was mixing up some sourdough pancakes last night (I mix them up the night before and cook them in the morning) I was thinking about an area that I should have mentioned for my Real Food Challenge. In January I decided to quit buying white flour, at least for us to eat. I’ve [...]

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Pear Spice Scones

One of the hardest meals for me to get motivated to prepare is breakfast. I’m not one of those people who wakes up hungry, and I don’t enjoy sweet things on my belly first thing in the morning. These scones, on the other hand, are a treat I could manage every now and then if [...]

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Spontaneous Granola (and a brief Introduction)

Are you a fan of granola? Have you ever made it? I certainly hadn’t until yesterday! Real Food has been a challenge for us over at Tanglewood Farm simply because we are not, by nature, folks who cook. We prepare food, if it’s easy, but intensive cooking and baking is certainly beyond my attention span, [...]

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Sunday Photos…Winter Baking

“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight”   – M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating *** Here at Chiot’s Run I spend a lot of time baking in the winter. Freshly baked bread is good all year long, but there’s [...]

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