I like the idea of making my own food. This way, I know where it comes from and I know what’s in it. Over the last 5 years, I’ve become increasingly aware of what I eat and how bad store bought food is. Thus, I’ve attempted to eat better, make more of my own meals, and chide myself when I don’t.

When AJB and I moved into this house, one of the biggest selling points for me was the large kitchen – plenty of storage space, two ovens, and scads of counter tops. It’s the kind of kitchen you want to cook in. I’ve taken some time gathering good equipment, filing my favorite recipes, and gazing lovingly at foodie blogs (thanks to my sister’s influence). I’ve always loved cooking and I think I’m pretty good at it. Whether the Food Channel will call me and offer me my own show – well, that’ll never happen, but I do love being in the kitchen. I especially like making things you wouldn’t ordinarily make. I’m really getting into it. For example: Butter. I also recently got a brand-spanking-new Kitchenaid Stand Mixer for my birthday and have been anxious to try it out.

Homemade butter is so simple, it kills me. You imagine Danish girls on a country farm laboring over churns, but it’s so much easier than you think. In fact, all you need is a stand mixer (you don’t even really need that) a sieve, bowl, spatula, and a container for the butter. That said, I won’t tell you how to make your own butter. Go here for that. Truth is, I’m also not good at it, just yet.

Today’s experiment went over pretty well, but I don’t think I’m the butter master just yet. What I ended up with is very much like store bought butter, but tastes so much better. And because it’s organic, it’ll only last a week, so we’d better enjoy it. I wasn’t able to get all the buttermilk strained out. In fact, that’s the hardest part. Most recipes say to use a sieve, but I couldn’t figure out why the buttermilk wasn’t just coming out like in the instructions. I think that I should have left it in the mixer a bit longer. I ended up using thin kitchen towels to squeeze out the buttermilk. Probably not the ideal method, but it mostly worked. Oh well. What I got is pretty great, tastes good, and is so good for you! I’ll try again next week, I think.