Fake it 'til you bake it

Ever been to Pancake School? It could teach patience. I got my husband to bake some cheese bread with me recently and we impressed ourselves. Baking scares some people. Like me, sometimes. Cakes want to be pretty. But bread is often satisfied just being tasty.

I met a woman who brought a Texas-shaped cornbread to a party with little cornbread fish on top. I love a proud Texan. Not only did her offering look inviting, it tasted great. She says she gets her mix from Cracker Barrel. She encouraged me to take some home and didn’t need to say it twice. I warmed my slice in my little waffle maker and it came out crispy and in a whole new shape.

 

The satisfaction of baking is worth exploration. More baking and food-related reads are right here:

 

“The Forager’s Pantry: Cooking with Wild Edibles” – It sounds so romantic to take a picnic lunch into the woods and come back with fruits, herbs and nuts to savor into future meals. Of course, there’s the obligatory warning on mushroom safety. I’m game. Maybe start with a dry rub of powdered field garlic bulbs and spicebush berries. Wild Gingersnaps with Juniper Berry Icing would thrill me. Make your own rosewater and stuff yucca flowers with cheese. You can live anywhere and go find some grub, Ellen Zachos writes in her book. Greens and grains have their seasons, as do flowers. Learn what’s edible and what to do with it. My husband and I baked Herb & Cheese Quick Bread with feta and yogurt. Mugwort was an option, but on this rainy day we foraged in the pantry and chose an Italian blend. It’s so satisfying to create in the kitchen, knowing it all comes from the good green earth. Some of us Cajuns here are familiar with harvesting sassafras to make filé. Our author includes a recipe for gumbo that is artistically attractive in a photo with the pile of rice off center, in the 5:20 position, clockwise. I like this book so much I give her a pass for not liking okra. She says it’s the flavor, not the mucilage. So it’s her, not you. Haha.

 

·       What’s a unicorn know about baking? A lot probably, as they seem to be synonymous with colorful cupcakes. For the Herb & Cheese Quick Bread in the Forager book, I used Mightylicious vegan all-purpose flour so I could share with a gluten-free friend. Pancakes and other goodies have pleased my palate with this line. The label has a unicorn flashing me a peace sign and wearing aviator glasses. Learn more at www.mightylicious.com

“Grandma Magic's Pancake School” - Like Tyler T. Turtle, I have walked away from a pancake before flipping it. Like Twilly the Filly, I have cooked with too much heat. But like the characters in "Grandma Magic's Pancake School," I can learn to "flip it" and start over with a better attitude. Debbie Wolski's children's book tells us about this Grandma, who moved into a tree to open her pancake school. All her critter friends learned a lesson. Thank goodness there's a recipe at the end. I was getting hungry. 

“The Blue Plate” – Bears and salmon and watering and fertilizing the food that feeds our food are topics in Mark J. Easter’s book. “A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos” is the subtitle. A chart of carbon footprints of common foods shows tree nuts, citrus and apples on the low end with most vegetables. The very high end includes poultry, coffee, cheese and beef. Simple things we can do? Shop as locally as possible and keep yard and food waste out of landfills.

 

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie baking up a plan for culinary adventures of 2025. Got one for her list? darraghcastillo@icloudcom