If you couldn’t tell from February Feasts, and other posts highlighting memorable meals, we thoroughly enjoy eating good food. And most of the time, we are making that food ourselves, at home. While we do enjoy a nice meal out from time to time, and we’re always hunting down the best wood-fired pizza, some of our best meals are made in our own kitchen. Grab yourself a drink, and let’s chat about food and kitchen experiments.

Cooking Together
As mentioned previously, we love to cook together, and even made homemade ravioli while we were still dating. {That reminds me: we should totally do that again, especially with my new fresh egg source!} Anytime you put multiple cooks in the kitchen, it has the potential to get interesting. While Mr and I work well together, there are sometimes hiccups: I am a recipe follower. I love recipes. I love the structure, and following the instructions. Especially if it’s the first time I’ve made something; once I’m familiar with a recipe, I am open to deviation. Mr is definitely a “make it up as you go”-type cook, which makes my poor brain start spinning its wheels.

There’s something special about working together to create a delicious meal, then sitting down and partaking of said meal. Or, even better, sharing it with family and friends who are like family. If it’s possible to have a “couple’s love language,” ours would definitely be feeding people.

Quality Ingredients
This one has been touched on before too, and obviously the fact that we grow a lot of our own vegetables speaks to our desire for the freshest and best quality ingredients we can access. I know for many this is a luxury, and we are so fortunate to be able to either grow many of these items ourselves, or purchase them. You are fueled by your food, and the older I get the more I believe that putting good, quality nutrition in will result in feeling better.

I think you can also taste a difference, even in things as “simple” as butter. Or eggs. {The eggs I gather have the most gorgeous yolks, and you can taste the freshness}. In-season tomatoes will always taste superior to out-of-season ones that have been trucked in from who knows where. Farm-fresh berries and peaches. High quality {ideally grass-fed and grass-finished} beef. Chocolate. While I love a Snickers or a handful of m&ms as much as the next girl, once you’ve splurged on really good chocolate? It’s a whole new world.

Fresh-milled Flour
From fresh, quality ingredients, it’s a short jump to our newest practice: fresh-milling our own flour! After talking about it for literal years, we decided to take a portion of our savings and buy a NutriMill at Christmas. We opted for the stone-ground version, and it is making all my Little House on the Prairie dreams come true. Aside from being much louder than anticipated, it is extremely easy to use and I have been slowly expanding my application of the flour.

We are currently using a hard red wheat, which cooks up a lovely toasty brown, and has been used to make bread, muffins, cookies, and pizza crust. The muffins and cookies I split the recipe, using half fresh-milled flour and half “regular” store-bought flour. After experimenting with the pizza crust, I think the sweet spot is half fresh-milled flour and half sifted-fresh-milled flour. The amount of “loss” when sifting was surprisingly minimal {but I also grind on a fine setting}, however the texture difference was noticeable. I’m almost to the point of being able to make a whole post about the pizza crust recipe/process!

Next time I make cookies, I’m going to swap the regular flour for sifted fresh. With all the added nutritional benefits of milling your own organic flour, that makes cookies healthy!

One Sauce, Two Uses
We saw a YT short about one of the French “mother sauces” that looked simple and delicious so we decided to try. Lacking a recipe or any sense of the ratios needed, we nonetheless ended up with a very good sauce. So good that we used it one night with mashed potatoes, rotisserie chicken and cabbage, then the next night we thickened it up a little for dipping quesadillas!

If you want to know more about the “real” sauce, here’s a great rundown – and one we will reference next time we attempt the creation.

Leek & Potato Soup
This was another YT inspiration that worked a lot better. We’ve already made this twice, and I don’t know how such a simple soup can be so delicious, but it may be my new favorite.

Dreaming of Tomatoes
As cozy and comforting as the soups and pastas we’ve made this Winter have been, I’m dreaming of fresh tomatoes … making sauce from our own tomatoes to go on homemade pizza. Making cherry tomato pasta sauce. A thick juicy slice of tomato on a BLT or burger. Fresh pico de gallo.

Do you follow recipes or let inspiration lead the way in the kitchen?
Do you enjoy cooking alone or with someone?
Have you ever used fresh-milled flour? If so, what’s your favorite recipe?
What seasonal flavor are you dreaming of?