Author: Carma Spence

Carma Spence has been experimenting in the kitchen since she was four years old and loves trying out new recipe ideas. She is the author of Bonkers for Bundt Cakes and Your Perfect Pie, as well as author and contributor to several more non-food-related books. With Carma's Cookery, she is taking her passion for empowering people and blending it with her passion for cooking, gift-giving and entertaining.

Food Fiction & Essays Special Occasions

The Gingerbread Man Is Coming to Town!

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date October 13, 2009

Public domain photo via pixabay.com

Once upon a time, there was a father who really loved gingerbread men. So, he made up a Christmas tradition for his sons and daughter. On Christmas Eve the Gingerbread Man would come to town and give all the children their very own gingerbread men to eat.

This father was my grandfather and my father has passed this tradition down to me. In fact, although I am in my 40s and live several hundred miles away, I can expect a gingerbread man to be mailed to me every year.

The funny thing is, when I was growing up, I thought this was some old Scottish tradition. Nope … just my grandad loving his gingerbread.

Good thing I love gingerbread, too. I can tell you, I really look forward to that package every year!

Do you have any special Holiday traditions that are unique to your family? I’d love to hear about them!

Tags Christmas, gingerbread man

Tools of the Trade

How To Choose The Right Pot and Pan Set

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 16, 2008
1 Comment on How To Choose The Right Pot and Pan Set

Public domain photo from pixabay.com

No kitchen or cook would be complete without a great set of pots and pans. It simply cannot function without them. So, this equipment needs to be a priority.

How can a pot and pan set do all of that for you? Well, it is really very simple. Believe it or not, the pans and pots in your kitchen mean a great deal to the foods you are cooking and just how tasty or delicious they are. Here are some tips to help you shop for your perfect set.

Tags pans, pots

Cooking Techniques

Basic Cooking Terminology

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 9, 2008

Public domain photo via pixabay.com

O.K. If you’re going to follow a recipe, you’re going to need to understand some basic cooking terminology. Many recipes use terms that have specific meanings. Many use abbreviations that you need to understand. (For example, a Tbsp. is much larger than a tsp. – I once made a batch of gingerbread men that turned into saltbread men because of my own confusion between these two.)

So let’s get to it!

Boiling
This means to bring any type of liquid to a boil. The boiling point is generally 212 degrees. Boiling is usually accomplished when bubbles have broken the surface of the liquid.

Bone
When you see this in a cookbook, it is generally telling you that you will need to remove any bones from the meat.

Braise
With this cooking technique, you brown the meat first and then place it in a pot with liquid. Then you tightly cover the pot and slowly cook the meat.

Tags glossary, terminology, terms

Cooking Techniques

Tips for Novice Cooks

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 2, 2008

Public Domain photo via pixabay.com

Everyone wants to be able to create wonderful meals, and, truly, it’s not rocket science. However, there are a few basic things that every novice cook should know in order to start creating culinary delights. So I thought I’d use the next few posts to cover some of them. Here are the first six.

1. Keep your cooking area clean.
A cluttered kitchen can lead to adding the wrong ingredients. Worse, if the kitchen is not clean, it could lead to disease. You should disinfect the counters and any other surfaces you’ll be using, such as cutting boards, before and after preparing a meal. This is especially true if you are cooking poultry or any type of raw meat.

Tags cooking tips

Cooking Techniques

Cooking The Perfect Pasta

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date March 26, 2008

Photo Public Domain via pixabay.com

O.K. Last post I promised to finish the recipe. And then I took the week off — my back spasmed and I really needed to avoid the computer for a few days. Any, here is the rest of the recipe, along with some tips on cooking pasta. See! I’m giving you two posts in one!

Homemade Pasta, Part II
Using your hands, flatten the first ball of dough in your palm. You want the finished thickness to be roughly half an inch. If you are using a slot machine, you want to be sure that the width is the same size or smaller than the width of the pasta machine slot. When feeding the pasta machine, make sure you keep hold of your pasta, but avoid pulling it as it goes through the machine. You usually want the setting of the machine to be at a one.

Tags Pasta

Recipes

Italy and Pasta

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date March 12, 2008

Photo Public Domain via pixabay.com

Did you know that Italians are probably the world’s most prominent pasta eaters? Many of today’s pasta recipes, such as spaghetti and lasagna, were originally developed in Italy.

Did you know that Italian lasagna looks different from American? In the U.S., we tend to use lasagna noodles with ripples in the end. Whereas in Italy, lasagna noodles are usually un-rippled.

Did you know that the two main ingredients — tomatoes and pasta — of much of Italian cuisine are not native to Italy? Noodles were imported from Asia and tomatoes from the New World. But, they embraced those ingredients and made them their own.

Tags foreign flare, Pasta

Well Stocked Pantry

Celebrate the Noodle

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date March 3, 2008

Photo by qoo monster (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo by qoo monster (Flickr)
[CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Did you know that March is National Noodle Month? If not, don’t worry — neither do many other people when asked. Why does the noodle have its own honored month? Well, pasta is one of the top foods in the United States. Heck, Mac ‘n’ Cheese is practically a national dish!

Pasta History

The very first commercial pasta plant within the U.S. was founded in 1948 in Brooklyn, New York. Many more plants were build over the next few years that the manufacturers and retailers decided create the National Pasta Association. This way they could pool their resources and help each other with issues in marketing and manufacturing. The NPA was founded in 1981.

But noodles got their start much, much earlier than that. In the 4th century B.C., pasta was eaten by the Chinese and was even mentioned in Greek Mythology. There are two notable figures who have been credited with the introduction of pasta. Marco Polo, who brought noodles from Asia to the Western world, and Thomas Jefferson, who brought the first “maccaroni” maker to America n 1789 and later invented a pasta machine of his own.

Tags noodles, Pasta