PANTRY « A Woman Sconed

Fulfilling an apple dumpling destiny

By rahoward, on October 21st, 2018

Why do we prolong the things we want most? I’ve read that fear keeps us at bay from fulfilling the dreams we desire most intensely, and that being fearful of the thing is proof that it is the thing we should be doing.

I don’t know that I have been scared of apple dumplings (really, . . . → Read More: Fulfilling an apple dumpling destiny

Baked Sunday Mornings: Marveling a Marble Bundt Cake

By rahoward, on October 7th, 2018

Marble cake offers the best of both worlds, well, at least the best of both flavors — vanilla and chocolate cake batters are swirled together to bring two favorite tastes in one.

I confess it’s been a long time since I’ve marbled anything — cake or otherwise. I do believe the last marble cake . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Marveling a Marble Bundt Cake

Bread of the Month: Loafing with streusel and scones

By rahoward, on September 30th, 2018

Sometimes I wonder why it takes me so long to get to things. Like recipes. Like a Cinnamon Scone Bread recipe, in particular, which I first saw back in 2014 on the Food52 website, and at that moment declared, “Oooo, I gotta make that!” Just how long could one deny oneself layers of scones sandwiched . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Loafing with streusel and scones

Baked Sunday Mornings: ‘Drowning’ in a coffee dessert

By rahoward, on September 23rd, 2018

I can’t remember which cooking maven (it was either Ina or Nigella) I first saw make affogato. But I never forgot this dessert — as simple as they come — where piping hot coffee or freshly brewed espresso is poured over a creamy mound of freezing cold ice cream. The version I saw used vanilla . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: ‘Drowning’ in a coffee dessert

Pleasing the plum palate

By rahoward, on September 23rd, 2018

Is it possible I’ve been hypnotized by a fruit? If so, it is the plum that has seduced me, once again. Fortunately — or not, really — the season is woefully short, but during it, I find myself drawn, again and again, to the stunning array of plums, pluots and plum/cherry hybrids, gleaming like jewels . . . → Read More: Pleasing the plum palate

Harvesting late-summer creativity with ratatouille

By rahoward, on September 22nd, 2018

If you’ve never seen the movie “Ratatouille,” you should. And if you’ve never made the vegetable dish that, in part, inspired the film’s name, you should go there, too. Both exemplify the best of what I love about art, cooking and creativity and the hope inspired in one’s passions.

Both are “simple”:

Released in 2007 . . . → Read More: Harvesting late-summer creativity with ratatouille

Baked Sunday Mornings: Sizing up a Monster Cookie

By rahoward, on September 9th, 2018

Many memories were stirred up as I mixed and baked a batch of Monster Cookies for the Baked Sunday Mornings online baking group this week. The recipe (you’ll find it here: http://bakedsundaymornings.com/2018/08/31/in-the-oven-monster-cookies/), from “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking,” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito (2008), is an old-fashioned drop cookie, described as “One part oatmeal . . . → Read More: Baked Sunday Mornings: Sizing up a Monster Cookie

Hushing with a sweet Charlotte

By rahoward, on August 31st, 2018

“Curving back within myself, I create again and again.” —Bhagavad Gita

In recent years, I’ve pondered the word “faith” a lot. I think it’s a term most associated with religion, but beyond that, it is, I think, a firm, reliant belief that there is something beyond us, taking care of things or (here’s one to . . . → Read More: Hushing with a sweet Charlotte

Bread of the Month: Pureéing mango for quick bread

By rahoward, on August 28th, 2018

Idon’t have a lot of experience with mangos, outside of the occasional fresh spear or using frozen chunks (very handy and yummy) for smoothies. Mango is unique in flavor — it is subtle in both taste and texture, iseeming to fuse together peaches, pineapple, melon and citrus. It’s delicious, but not overpowering, a mellow . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Pureéing mango for quick bread

Roasting sweet tomatoes

By rahoward, on July 31st, 2018

I wrote a column recently for Kansas Country Living magazine about summers from my childhood that were virtually a real-life version of the “attack of the killer tomatoes.” In essence, there was an overabundance of these juicy red fruits, to put it mildly. Dozens of tomato plants were cultivated in my parents’ garden each season, . . . → Read More: Roasting sweet tomatoes

“People ask me: "Why do you write about food, and eating, and drinking? Why don't you write about the struggle for power and security, and about love, the way the others do?" . . . The easiest answer is to say that, like most other humans, I am hungry.”
--M.F.K. Fisher

"It was in a yellow limestone church in Stockdale, Kansas, a crossroads town, that I sat dreaming during summer Sunday sermons, not of heaven or hell, but of the good dinner to come."
--Clementine Paddleford