Adventures in the Kitchen

Although cooking in the Isler household is primarily my job, there are times when it truly is a family affair. Some Friday nights we have homemade pizza. I pull out my Bosch mixer and make the dough, then we divide it up and make at least 4 different kinds of pizza. Last night, I intended to make pizza, but I didn't start the dough early enough and the kids and I had to go to a meeting that went long. When we got home, my husband Chuck had put together an amazing meal, a curry-type dish with oriental noodles. He also made an apple cobbler with homemade whipped cream. This morning he was at it again, making potato cakes with his own made up recipe. We ate them with my homemade heart-shaped biscuits. Yum!

Last Saturday, Chuck made his special pancakes with mashed bananas and cinnamon. We use the batter for waffles or pancakes, and have enough for a couple more mornings. He took the opportuniuty to train our son Will (7), who hates bananas but loves the pancakes.

On New Year's Day, we got to use two new kitchen gadgets we got for Christmas. One is a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer. Chuck and our vegetarian Emily experimented with different combinations, preferring the apple-orange concoction.

Erin later got out the pasta maker my mother (Granny) gave her. She and Emily spent about three tireless hours making the pasta dough and then pressing it through the pasta maker. She made fettucine and ravioli. Chuck made two fillings for the ravioli, one mushroom-based and the other with spinach and cheeses. He also made an alfredo sauce for both the fettucine and the ravioli.