Question for Mom

Onion Quiche

A lot of recipes say to preheat the oven before putting food in to cook.  Are there any dishes you can bake without preheating?  --Amy V.

When you’re baking cakes, pies, cookies, quiches, bagels or anything made with yeast, pre-heating the oven is very important.  Just a few days ago I put my pizza stone in the oven but forgot to turn on the heat.  When I was about to slide my homemade pizza onto the stone, I suddenly realized my mistake. 

So the uncooked pizza sat on the counter on the pizza paddle until

Quiche Lorraine Sounds So Sophisticated

Back when I was a new cook, I didn’t know much of anything.  Every recipe I looked at impressed me.  When one of my sophisticated friends invited me to dinner and made Spaghetti with Garlic Sauce, I was enthralled.  Only when I dared make it myself did I realize how easy it was.

My first taste of Quiche Lorraine came at a cocktail party.  By then I was slightly more ambitious in the kitchen.  I liked the bacon-y flavor of the quiche but had no idea what was in it.  There was no Internet then, so I went to a bookstore and searched through cookbooks.  That may be when I bought my first copy of “Joy of Cooking,” which included a Quiche Lorraine recipe. 

Do Pie Crusts Scare You?

Rolling out pie dough often scares cooks so much that they forget about making a pie.  I inherited my grandmother’s rolling pin, which somehow gave me the courage to makes pies.  However, I’m still hesitant to make those that require a top crust.

This very easy pie crust recipe made out of cream-filled sandwich cookies (like Hydrox or Oreo) only works for desserts.  I came up with it several years ago when I was unable to locate a box of graham crackers.  I liked it better than a graham cracker crust and have been making it ever since.

Mom Cooking Tip 142

Pizza Dough with Oregano and Minced Dried Onions Added

Want to impress your friends and family with your cooking prowess?  Here’s an easy trick.  If you’re making a pie crust or pizza dough, add chopped fresh or dried basil, oregano, dill, celery seeds, chopped garlic, zatar or minced dried onions to the dough as you are mixing it.  Add 1/2 teaspoon per pizza or pie crust for extra flavor.

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Question for Mom

Old-Fashioned Tin Flour Sifter 

Why do some recipes call for sifting flour?  Do I have to do it?—Shelley D.  

Years ago flour sometimes was a home for bugs, and sifting it before use allowed you to get rid of them.  Today’s flour does not have this problem.  I stopped sifting flour years ago after making a terrible mess in the kitchen.  I’m told that sifting flour is still recommended if you’re making delicate pastries.  Rather than get my old sifter out, I’d choose to make something else. 

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Question for Mom

Does it matter if I start baking with a cold oven or must it always be at the pre-heated temperature when I put food into it?  Alyssa D.

If you’re baking cake, cookies, pies or most breads, the oven needs to be at the exact temperature the recipe requires.  However, if you’re roasting potatoes, beets, other root vegetables or large pieces of meat, starting them in a cold oven is fine.

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Ingredients Hiding in Plain Sight

Right now my refrigerator is stuffed with food that doesn’t quite add up to dinner: a slice of mushroom pizza, at least one cup of cottage cheese, a huge pan of rice left over from a business meeting, some mushrooms, 2 bell peppers + the usual block of cheddar cheese and several dozen eggs.

I really should pop out to the store or find something in my freezer, but I want to clear out the fridge shelves first.  What can I make from these ingredients?  Click on the links below for the three recipes.

Mom Money-Saving Tip 45

Make your own pie crust.  It may seem complicated at first, but it’s not.  And it will cost just pennies to prepare.  Click here for an easy recipe. 

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Teaching a Friend to Cook

It’s not often that I have an opportunity to give a cooking lesson.  Bart would rather eat a bowl of leftover plain rice than learn how to stir-fry some chicken to put over it.  But once a year or so my young friend Alayne drops in for the afternoon so I can show her how to make a few new dishes.  Then we eat the end results.

This time she wanted to know how to cook fish and bake a lemon meringue pie.  The Crunchy Baked Fish recipe she chose was easy. Click here for the recipe. (http://momscookinghelp.blogspot.com/2015/08/if-fish-didnt-have-bones.html).

Not so the Lemon Meringue Pie.  There are several ways to go wrong if you’re not concentrating.  One time I was so busy talking to a girlfriend while making this pie that I forgot to add the sugar to the beaten egg whites.  Only after I’d spooned them on top of the lemon filling and was putting the pie into the oven did I notice the meringue looked funny.  Luckily I was able to scrape the egg whites back into the bowl, beat in the sugar and return the now fluffy meringue to the top of the pie. 

Flour Overload

Pre-Baked Pie Crust

Maybe I went a little overboard the other day on my baking.  How many home cooks do you know who would be able to use 12 cups of flour making three different baked products in one afternoon?  I made 2 loaves of whole wheat bread, 1 pie crust for a quiche and 4 pizzas.

I like to bake, and I’m not afraid of yeast, but I don’t normally bake this much at once. However, our bread supply was running low.  I’ve made bread every week for years—not to save money but because we like homemade bread, especially when it’s toasted. That accounted for 7 cups of flour.

Mom Cooking Tip 24

To make a quick dessert pie crust, mix 1/2 15-ounce package crushed, cream-filled cookies with 1 tablespoon melted butter and press into a pie pan. Bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

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