The bread. I didn’t like the wheat bread my mother made when I was a kid. She bought and ground the wheat herself and baked loaf after loaf throughout my childhood. Wheat bread for a kid is a hard sell. I wanted what the neighbors had: store bought bread in the white plastic bag with the red, yellow, and blue circles, colorful breakfast cereal, bologna sandwiches, and boiled hot dogs for dinner, on white buns.
That was living to me when I was in grade school. But at our house, meals were usually made starting with raw ingredients. We were the house that had cod liver oil in the fridge, raw walnuts for snacking, raw milk with cream on the top, ice cream we made ourselves, and a container of brewer’s yeast that my mother taught me to stir into orange juice and drink because it was good for you. We had a cookie jar, which was an exception, since store-bought cookies were allowed, though I raided the jar constantly, so the supply never lasted long.
Grocery shopping was on the disappointing side as item after item picked from the shelves were given a once over to check the ingredients on labels. I had to put back many boxes of crackers, pretzels, and chips when preservatives were found.
There were some meals and desserts made from scratch that I loved such as Baklava, lasagna with homemade marina, what we referred to as “The French Cake,” which was a flourless cake with butter frosting, as well as homemade salsa that my mother made anytime we had tacos. Nothing from a jar.
The Baklava was a particular favorite, straight out of the oven, fresh, roast-y crispy browned edges, and not as too sweet and gooey as store-bought.
While the label scanning and making it from scratch never left me as I grew up, it took several years into my adulthood to really grasp the value of both. Today, I’ve taken them to a more advanced level and make more from scratch than my mother ever did. She taught me well! Knowing what the ingredients are leaves no lingering doubts in your mind. I grabbed a baby powder product from the store shelf one time since the label said, “pure corn starch." I interpreted this to mean it was a container full of pure corn starch and nothing else. But when I looked at the label more closely, I discovered that yes, there was corn starch in there, but also other things. I put it back. Why not just the pure corn starch? I can make my own . . . .
Today, our house is filled with everything I create. The list is long, and it is comforting to know I added every ingredient myself. I have my favorites, which also make excellent gifts for the holidays: homemade ranch dressing, roasted sweet and salty nuts for salads, laundry detergent and softener, fertilizer for the garden (saved onion and garlic skins, soaked 24 hours in water, strained and watered on plants).
And my kitchen garden: sprouts from celery, salad, and onion ends, are clip-able at the top and tossed into every salad; the foods that keep giving!
