My Baking and Cooking Bucket List

Quiche

I’m starting a baking and cooking bucket list! Are you wondering why? Well – here’s my story. A lot has happened since I last wrote on this blog. I qualified to benefit from a grant for building a house on my land to replace the mobile home that burned in a forest fire in 2020. I’m in far-northern California, the home of big, destructive forest fires. Over 200 homes burned in my community.

At this time (October 2023) the house is nearing completion. As I write this I hear the sound of roofing being nailed to the top of it. I think within a month I may be living there!

A real kitchen to bake and cook in!

My thoughts often turn to the excitement and joy I’ll feel when I have a full kitchen again. I’ve been living in a loaned travel trailer for nearly three years. The refrigerator/freezer broke about a year ago. The oven has never worked for me. I’m very much looking forward to having a home with all new, working appliances!

Bread baking – something I want to do again.

I like to bake. In my younger years (I’m now 71) I loved baking bread. I want to start doing that again. I’ll have a nice island in the kitchen where I can knead bread and cook to my heart’s content. I do plan to make use of it. I’ve never used a bread machine and do not anticipate doing so.

This is the recipe I used last time I made bread, when I lived in Idaho: Amish White Bread. I want to use this recipe again.

All my bread pans, metal and glass, were destroyed in the forest fire. I’ll need to buy more.

Glass Bread Pans

These are Anchor Hocking glass bread pans. They are similar to the pans I inherited from my grandmother. I had glass rectangular baking pans, bread pans and a pie plate all from her collection. My grandmother was a great cook. I’m so sorry all her baking pans were destroyed in that fire. I want to replace them now that I’ll have a new home. I will buy from Amazon.


As I look forward to a time of having a new kitchen I’m thinking of all the food I’ve never made that I wish I was good at making. I’m researching recipes and plan to start baking and cooking and creating all the treats I want to eat. So this page is my bucket list of foods I want to make in my new kitchen.

My baking and cooking bucket list:

Empanadas – I love pumpkin and pineapple empanadas. Once I learn to make them, I may experiment with other savory fillings.

Empanadas, photo from Pixabay

Quiche – I’ve never made one. That’s crazy. How did I get to age 71 without ever baking a quiche? I remember when my mother found a quiche recipe in a magazine- this was back in the 1960’s. She’d never heard of it before but liked the recipe and wanted to try it, but she didn’t know how to pronounce quiche. She was calling it “Quicky Lorraine” … until eventually someone told her it was called “Quiche” not “Quicky.” Still, I have to hand it to Mom – she made great quiches, and she made them fairly frequently. So how did I make it to age 71 without ever making one? This should give you some idea of what a failure at cooking I’ve been.

Quiche photo from Pixabay

Flatbread – I know nearly every culture has some kind of flatbread. I’ve tried to make Indian tacos which use a flat bread, but I wouldn’t call my attempt successful. I’d like to experiment with flatbread recipes from several different cultures and find something that will be perfect for me. I’ve made flour tortillas but really want to try recipes from other cultures.

Italian cuisine - photo from Pixabay

Chile Rellenos – Whenever I go out to a Mexican restaurant I order chile rellenos. I’d like to bring that experience home by learning to make them myself.

Chile Rellenos are made with Poblano Pepper, like these:
Poblano peppers - photo from Pixabay

Chocolate Layer Cake – I guess I’ve made brownies and carrot cakes from scratch, but other than that, I’ve never made a cake without a boxed mix. Well, it is time for me to grow up and learn to actually bake a cake, and my favorite flavor is chocolate.

Chocolate Layer Cake - photo from Pixabay

Cinnamon Rolls – I’ve never made them and really want to learn. They would be so much better homemade rather than store-bought. I’d better stock up on flour!

Cinnamon Rolls - photo from Pixabay

That’s all I have on the list so far, but I also want to host gatherings in my home and serve these kinds of things to people. Wish me luck. I want to honor this great gift of a new home by using the kitchen and learning to cook better than ever before.


Photos from Pixabay