fundy/Amy D definition of "homemade"?

[nutella addict]

So, I thought I'd finally watch a few episodes and play a little catch-up, my curiosity piqued by all the snark. I apologize if this has already been discussed somewhere; I didn't see it anywhere.

 

In the episode with Michael's first doctor's visit, Amy makes "homemade" raspberry bars and talks about how Southern girls know how to cook and how she's a good cook and all that nonsense, rambling Amy-style as usual. She joked about not measuring anything, and how she used the wrong size pan. As far as I'm concerned that was obviously a baking mix and a packet of raspberry filling she just squeezed and put in. Just because you made it at home does NOT make it "homemade" Amy, if it still comes out of a box. Now I know it's possible to include a box of some sort of mix to make something that isn't what the mix is labeled as, in which case you could perhaps argue it's actually homemade (eg, using pudding mix to make cookies), but really, if those were homemade then so was the Kraft mac'n'cheese I'm eating for dinner. After all, I also added butter, and even milk! Woo!

 

Perhaps I'm just particularly annoyed because I like precise definitions of words and when I say something is homemade, it means I actually did make it from scratch. But anyway it annoyed me enough to vent about mid-episode.

[gezykah]

I didn't see this episode but I did see the one where she made a cake for Mackynzie and I wouldn't trust anything that was really homemade from her.

[marmalade]

No, this is another one where she ostensibly made "Raspberry Bars" for Anna. Joy was over that day, took a bite of Amy's gastrointestinal nightmare and looked like she was going to chuck it right back up. Of course, Smuggar came home and ate the rest of the pan.

The recipe was so gross. Two sticks of butter and that raspberry "jam" that is agribusiness' wet dream: chock full of high fructose corn syrup. They had some sort of nut sprinkle on the top and Anna proclaimed them "healthy." The nutritionist in my died a little that day, but was in no way surprised; those two women are seemingly fighting for the same brain cell.

[CanadianHippie]

I didn't see this episode but I did see the one where she made a cake for Mackynzie and I wouldn't trust anything that was really homemade from her.

Ah yeah, I can't remember if she even said "homemade" made for the cake, but I do remember thinking "then why are you buying cake mix?" (well something along those lines).

I also remember her saying with the raspberry bars that southern girls know how to cook and then mentioning the wrong sized pan, and not measuring anything and thinking "Ok, it's not rocket science, but measuring and using the right sized pan are kind of an important part of cooking." If cooking were as easy as just dumping the right stuff in the bowl, mixing it, and then baking it in some random pan, then why the hell do people spend years at school to learn how to do it professionally? I'd like to see her pull off an actual home made cake that way.

[Effie]

It's only home-made if you make it from scratch. Or that's what my little sister who has cooking skills would say. :lol: She often tells me that I'm a lazy vegetarian, because I use quorn (semiproducts) in the food I cook. She makes her own steaks out of kidney-beans and other kinds of beans (everything from scratch).

[Trynn]

Ah yeah, I can't remember if she even said "homemade" made for the cake, but I do remember thinking "then why are you buying cake mix?" (well something along those lines).

I also remember her saying with the raspberry bars that southern girls know how to cook and then mentioning the wrong sized pan, and not measuring anything and thinking "Ok, it's not rocket science, but measuring and using the right sized pan are kind of an important part of cooking." If cooking were as easy as just dumping the right stuff in the bowl, mixing it, and then baking it in some random pan, then why the hell do people spend years at school to learn how to do it professionally? I'd like to see her pull off an actual home made cake that way.

Maybe she meant that she doesn't use measuring spoons, but uses her hands? some cooks I know do it that way, and their stuff turns out really good Amy probably doesn't mean that though. Not measurin in any way shape or form is a sign of a BAD cook!

[dormouse]

What about wontons/dumplings? Are they considered homemade only if you make the wrappers? Store-bought wonton wrappers are like 3$ for 200, hardly a big expense. Then you add the filling of ground pork, egg, green onion, water chestnuts, etc.

A couple years ago, my husband and I were visiting a couple of his friends in his hometown, who had just bought a house. My husband started bragging about my cooking skills, and said that since it was the Christmas vacation I had a little more time and decided to make wontons. Then the perfect little wife snaps: "Oh, I made some too, last Tuesday after work! And I made the wonton dough!" I asked if she had a noodle machine, and she didn't. I'm a person who holds grudges, so one day I decided to make homemade wonton wrappers. In addition to losing a whole day, I couldn't feel my right arm for a week, and a pain in my shoulder blade that lasted way longer. That'll teach me.

I make cookies with cake mix too!

[Deleted03]

I remember thinking how easy it is to make the raspberry filling! get frozen raspberries, a little sugar, boil and done! (I think that was my recipe)

Seriously just some people never cook and when they do have to, things are weird. My roomate really wanted to make this apple "crumble" and the recipe she'd found called for 1 no salt in the crumbly thing, 2 for 2 tablespoon of cinnamon (of course borrowed from me, like i have buckets of those!). I was uh I think you should put some salt and lower the amount of cinnamon O_O

Which she did not do, because what do I know? I only cook everyday! and those two were obvious mistakes in the recipe.

Amy would have to start cooking, to be able to think about not using a mix for something as simple as raspberry bars.

[notsocommon]

UGH, I can't stand the 'it's homemade' when it clearly came from a package! We do simple meals, mostly, and rarely is a package involved. What we do buy, we get as 'pure' as we can find.

Chicken with a little seasoning and seared is good stuff! Squash sauteed with fresh herbs is delish! Cake made with flour, eggs, buter, etc will beat the snot out of anything that came from a box! How hard is it to boil potatoes, drain, mash, and throw in a little butter and milk (or cream cheese and or sour cream if you are creative?)

Thise 'slice and bake cookies with your kids' commercials drive me nuts! How about making REAL cookies that are not full of crap!?

It is not that difficult to do REAL homemade. The pre-packaged industry just has us all convinced that it is hard, time consuming and impossible.

I bet Oliver could have found a recipe online in less than a minute that was easy and did not involve crap.

[BravaAmica]

UGH, I can't stand the 'it's homemade' when it clearly came from a package! We do simple meals, mostly, and rarely is a package involved. What we do buy, we get as 'pure' as we can find.

Chicken with a little seasoning and seared is good stuff! Squash sauteed with fresh herbs is delish! Cake made with flour, eggs, buter, etc will beat the snot out of anything that came from a box! How hard is it to boil potatoes, drain, mash, and throw in a little butter and milk (or cream cheese and or sour cream if you are creative?)

Thise 'slice and bake cookies with your kids' commercials drive me nuts! How about making REAL cookies that are not full of crap!?

It is not that difficult to do REAL homemade. The pre-packaged industry just has us all convinced that it is hard, time consuming and impossible.

I bet Oliver could have found a recipe online in less than a minute that was easy and did not involve crap.

THANK YOU!!!!! DS and I bake cookies every week- Snickerdoodles, peanut butter, chocolate chip... And they don't take long and taste awesome. (And if I have slice & bake cookie dough, I will eat all of it before it gets to the oven :oops: )

And yes, wontons are still homemade if you use store bought wrappers, just like lasagna can be homemade if you use store bought noodles.

[Markie]

I think (hope) Oliver was attempting to poke fun at herself by saying she was a great cook and does lots of "homemade" baking. The raspberry bars were gross looking, and I have no idea why Anna thought they were healthy. The birthday cake, from last year, ending up looking pretty good. Thanks to Grandma Duggar - or perhaps Amy... but TLC decided to go for the very ditzy footage, rather than the kind of ditzy footage. Don't think there's any non-ditzy footage of Oliver.

[oscar]

I would not call this dessert homemade if I made it - I would say it was made from a mix. But I wouldn't think anything of it if someone else called it homemade. And one of my friends, who is committed to sustainable, low-impact living, doesn't consider her baked goods really "homemade" unless the flour was ground from their own wheat.

It only bothers me when people call things made from packaged mixes "homemade" when they act like it means they have more domestic skillz than other people, even though they only did something very simple.

[clarinetpower]

Dear Amy,

apple crumble (apple, brown sugar, butter, oats, flour, spices, walnuts)

homemade yogurt (milk, cultures)

chicken stock from a chicken, veggies, herbs and water (not a box or can)

quiche (eggs, cottage cheese, milk, cheese, onions, ham, sweet peppers, herbs and spices)

salad (fresh veggies, nothing from a bag)

vinaigrette (oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper)

leftover lasagna rolls for lunch (noodles, spinach, cheeses, egg, sauce)

And that's just the last 24 hours.

I WIN.

Love,

A Yankee

[clibbyjo]

I have my son making homemade bread right now. My 2 oldest kids make bread so often now they don't even use a recipe anymore. Snap

[Witsec1]

What gets me is the mixes for quick bread and muffins. To make from scratch, you just have to mix the wet and dry ingredients together and throw in a pan. The mix has the dry ingredients measured and mixed for you, which saves, what, about 2 minutes?

[Rosa]

What about wontons/dumplings? Are they considered homemade only if you make the wrappers? Store-bought wonton wrappers are like 3$ for 200, hardly a big expense. Then you add the filling of ground pork, egg, green onion, water chestnuts, etc.

A couple years ago, my husband and I were visiting a couple of his friends in his hometown, who had just bought a house. My husband started bragging about my cooking skills, and said that since it was the Christmas vacation I had a little more time and decided to make wontons. Then the perfect little wife snaps: "Oh, I made some too, last Tuesday after work! And I made the wonton dough!" I asked if she had a noodle machine, and she didn't. I'm a person who holds grudges, so one day I decided to make homemade wonton wrappers. In addition to losing a whole day, I couldn't feel my right arm for a week, and a pain in my shoulder blade that lasted way longer. That'll teach me.

I make cookies with cake mix too!

Awesome story, Dormouse. I laugh at cooks who say they never use any "processed" food - what, shall we all quern our own cornmeal so industrial metal blades never touch them? Folding/stuffing wontons is plenty of work without having to roll them all out too.

[clibbyjo]

Awesome story, Dormouse. I laugh at cooks who say they never use any "processed" food - what, shall we all quern our own cornmeal so industrial metal blades never touch them? Folding/stuffing wontons is plenty of work without having to roll them all out too.

I actually do make my own flour. :oops: Only because I have a Vitamix and I can throw a bag of organic rice in there and have rice flour in 30 seconds. I also have an electric miller,but the Vitamix is cleaner and easier.

[mirele]

No, this is another one where she ostensibly made "Raspberry Bars" for Anna. Joy was over that day, took a bite of Amy's gastrointestinal nightmare and looked like she was going to chuck it right back up. Of course, Smuggar came home and ate the rest of the pan.

The recipe was so gross. Two sticks of butter and that raspberry "jam" that is agribusiness' wet dream: chock full of high fructose corn syrup. They had some sort of nut sprinkle on the top and Anna proclaimed them "healthy." The nutritionist in my died a little that day, but was in no way surprised; those two women are seemingly fighting for the same brain cell.

My sister and her husband arrived from Texas yesterday and she brought her homemade jams with her. The strawberry/black pepper combo was interesting and yummy. She was proud of the fact that these jams, like Mexican Coca-Cola, were made with real sugar and not high fructose corn syrup.

[rhianna]

I dunno . . . I think the fact that we have separate terms for "homemade" and "from scratch" indicates to me that these are in fact two different methods of food preparation. To me, anything that is actually cooked/baked in your home is "homemade," whereas something you buy fully made from the store and maybe only reheat is "store-bought." Then again, if someone went on and on about their homemade brownies and then I found out they were from a mix, I would be a little . . . :roll:

[xReems]

I just loved how Anna said afterwards how a good cook Amy is and wants to learn a few things from her. I almost died of laughter, considering they had a pop up on the show saying that Amy's cooking skills go as far opening up canned soup and microwaving it (it was the episode when Amy was baking that Noah's Ark cake).

[ilovetchotchkes]

I'm going to start to make my own pasta with a machine. I make all my own spaghetti and pizza sauces. Homemade pickles and homemade catsup (almost more work than its worth but holy crap the results are so delicious we can never go back to Heintz). I'm just so fucking domestic.

HOWEVER, I am a stay at home mom with a child who is obessed with sesame street. I use this to my advantage. I can catch an hour or so of canning time while he blissfully tunes in to "Elmo's world" (call me a bad mom? whatever, its friggin sesame street). Most of the stuff I grew myself. ~I miss the summer, I used to be able to weed while he played in his playhouse and plastic junglegym thingy.

That being said, i understand when people have you know JOBS that they can't make everything homemade or from scratch. Homemade bread from scratch is incredibly easy if you get a no knead recipe. Other than that, most of the homemade from scratch stuff takes a lot longer to do.

[jenny_islander]

I dunno . . . I think the fact that we have separate terms for "homemade" and "from scratch" indicates to me that these are in fact two different methods of food preparation. To me, anything that is actually cooked/baked in your home is "homemade," whereas something you buy fully made from the store and maybe only reheat is "store-bought." Then again, if someone went on and on about their homemade brownies and then I found out they were from a mix, I would be a little . . . :roll:

When I was first going out with my now-husband, I did go on and on about my now-MIL's homemade brownies and cakes. She took me aside and told me her secret: Betty Crocker mix with an extra egg and the biggest eggs available. People used to tell her that her cakes should be entered in the state fair.

[clibbyjo]

I'm going to start to make my own pasta with a machine. I make all my own spaghetti and pizza sauces. Homemade pickles and homemade catsup (almost more work than its worth but holy crap the results are so delicious we can never go back to Heintz). I'm just so fucking domestic.

HOWEVER, I am a stay at home mom with a child who is obessed with sesame street. I use this to my advantage. I can catch an hour or so of canning time while he blissfully tunes in to "Elmo's world" (call me a bad mom? whatever, its friggin sesame street). Most of the stuff I grew myself. ~I miss the summer, I used to be able to weed while he played in his playhouse and plastic junglegym thingy.

That being said, i understand when people have you know JOBS that they can't make everything homemade or from scratch. Homemade bread from scratch is incredibly easy if you get a no knead recipe. Other than that, most of the homemade from scratch stuff takes a lot longer to do.

If you have a kitchen aid, get the pasta maker attachment.Its awesome and the noodles are so good. I used to roll my dough out and cut them with a pizza cutter which took forever.

[Deleted03]

What gets me is the mixes for quick bread and muffins. To make from scratch, you just have to mix the wet and dry ingredients together and throw in a pan. The mix has the dry ingredients measured and mixed for you, which saves, what, about 2 minutes?

The only baking mix I buy is trader joe's pumpkin bread mix, :P

[Sweetpea1]

Dear Amy,

apple crumble (apple, brown sugar, butter, oats, flour, spices, walnuts)

homemade yogurt (milk, cultures)

chicken stock from a chicken, veggies, herbs and water (not a box or can)

quiche (eggs, cottage cheese, milk, cheese, onions, ham, sweet peppers, herbs and spices)

salad (fresh veggies, nothing from a bag)

vinaigrette (oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper)

leftover lasagna rolls for lunch (noodles, spinach, cheeses, egg, sauce)

And that's just the last 24 hours.

I WIN.

Love,

A Yankee

I'm coming to your house... and Clibbyjos house.

I have my son making homemade bread right now. My 2 oldest kids make bread so often now they don't even use a recipe anymore. Snap

I've never understood making cookes from a mix. How hard is it to mix the dry ingredients together?