Chicken Soup

Is there anything better than homemade chicken soup when you aren’t feeling well?

Recently when I wasn’t feeling well, I was dying for a cup of hot, homemade chicken soup, but not just any homemade soup. I wanted MY homemade chicken soup. The problem was that I felt too awful to make it for myself.

I decided to plan ahead to give myself the gift of soup for some time in the future when, for whatever reason, I need it but am not able to make it for myself. Now that I’ve done it, it feels comforting just knowing that it is there in the freezer, and all I have to do is add the pasta (ditalini or pastina!) or rice to it. Keep reading

Pastina Emergency!

I have been making Pastina for decades, since my children were babies. Back then, they called it “Stini”, and sometimes I still do. It was a quick, easy, comforting thing to eat and they loved it.

Making Pastina was also a tradition, because my mother and my grandmother made it for me when I was a baby and for all the years after that.

Over the past several months, I have been having trouble finding Pastina at the grocery store. I had quite a stash so I didn’t worry too much about this at first. I preferred Prince Pastina but decided that Barilla or Ronzoni would also be fine. Keep reading

Back to (bread) basics

Back to (bread) basics

I love bread.

Not just eating it! I love making it, too.

I started making bread over twenty years ago. I made all kinds of bread. For years I believed that there was only one way to make a yeast bread, and that way included quite a bit of kneading. Not my favorite thing. During one of those lengthy kneading sessions, I even made up a new word to describe it: tediosity

And then, around 2007 or so, I discovered Zoe Francois (with coauthor Jeff Hertzberg) and her new approach to making bread. I bought the book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (note: there is now a newer version of this). All you need is yeast, water, flour, and salt. Keep reading