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One of my favorite memories from when I was growing up was dinner time. We all (5 kids plus my parents) would gather at the dinner table and talk about anything and everything. On Sundays dinner was usually served around 2 and was usually a little more formal than week night dinners.
Now I know everyone thinks their Mom's the best cook, but, I have to tell you, my Mom really was the best cook. Most of her influence was from her southern roots. Her potato salad and her fried chicken--to die for! She was also infuenced from many other parts of the country because we moved a lot. While living in Michigan she learned how to bake from a little Hungarian neighbor. From that experience my Mom learned to bake the best apple pie you have ever tasted! To this day, my Dad still won't eat pie because he knows it won't be as good. When we lived in Ohio, she and my Dad would often go out on Lake Erie and fish for perch. Then my Mom would fry up a huge plate of fish and we would all stuff ourselves. I could go on and on.
Tonight I'm making one of my favorite meals--meatloaf (from MoMark's secret recipe) and mashed potatoes. I love comfort food! Anyway--just wondering what everyone else will be serving. I think it will be interesting to see if meal choices are influnced by family heritage, area of the country, today's weather (chilly outside or very warm) or all of the above. Let me know, but I warn you--I may be inviting myself over to your house if it sounds really good!
My mother flat out could not cook. At 41 I am still trying to find my way around the kitchen. Many of my "finds" are, ahem, less than the desired outcome .
Tonight we are having cajun spiced shrimp w/rice. Influenced by the fact that I usually get this one right, and shrimp were on sale for $5.99/pound.
My mother flat out could not cook. At 41 I am still trying to find my way around the kitchen. Many of my "finds" are, ahem, less than the desired outcome .
Tonight we are having cajun spiced shrimp w/rice. Influenced by the fact that I usually get this one right, and shrimp were on sale for $5.99/pound.
I said my Mom was a great cook--never said I was. Didn't know to pay attention to what she was doing in the kitchen.
I forgot about other things that can influnence meal choice--grocery store sales, working or not working, etc.
I always worked nights when my girls were at home. When they were younger I usually had something started in the oven before I left, but when they got older my oldest daughter would often cook. She loves to cook and is definitely a better cook than her Mom.
BTW--cajun spiced shrimp sounds really good!
My mom was a very good cook also, but now I'm the cook in my family (wife and I). Truthfully, she thinks I'm an excellent cook and I do 85% of the cooking at our house. Part of the reason she married me is because of my cooking. She loves my grilled steaks and fried taters. I absolutely love her potatoe salad.........BLUE RIBBON/1ST PRIZE....I tell her. Her French Toast, Spagetti and Blue Berry Pancakes are also the greatest.
Tonight? Probably steak and a baked tater. Sounds good to me. Coming from the farm life, I'm a major meat/tater man.
I would be happy to have steak for dinner 7 nights a week. My husband, however, requires VARIETY in his diet. Also, I am something of a steak snob. I will only eat a porterhouse. These go for close to $11/pound in my neck of the woods, so I wait until they are on sale and stock the freezer.
Nothing quite like a perfectly grilled steak. Mmmmm.
Mmmm, shrimp.
We had this lime/jalapeno shrimp thing last night. It was pretty good.
Tonight I am roasting a chicken with fines herbes and mashing some potatoes.
I am one of those rabbit people who have to have fresh vegies every night, so we always have salad or something green.
Grammy164, I hope you enjoy the end result!! I'm tempted to make it myself today as it's chilly and overcast and I just bought a bag of potatoes which with garlic would be pretty darn tasty... However...I pulled out the crockpot yesterday morning and didn't really know what I was going to make, but I wanted something hot and decent...So, I threw in two cups of white longgrain rice, 4.5 cups of water, the other half of a white onion that was in the refrigerator and diced it up, a fresh turnip cut up into small squares (those puppies are tough to cut), then I threw in the rest of the pack of Kosher hotdogs I had leftover, diced them up into smaller pieces, then added garlic, black pepper, and a can of Cream of Mushroom soup, mixed it all up, set it on low, and came back six hours later... It actually tasted ok, but it grew into a huge amount, so guess what I'm eating today
For French toast (my favorite morning food), I like it simple. Five eggs, a splash of milk, a capful of real vanilla, then beat the heck out of it with either a whisk or fork. Then instead of butter I use olive oil in the pan and pick the pan up every once in a while to cool it off just a tad to keep the French toast from flash-frying. I can eat half a loaf, so I usually make ten or more pieces when I do it and the frying in olive oil makes it unbelievably light. It doesn't sound good I know...but in reality, it adds the most subtle crispness and flavor contrasted with the vanilla and it's DELICIOUS.
For chocolate chip cookies, I make them from scratch too. I also use unbleached all-purpose flour. But I refuse to use Crisco, even the so-called "trans-fat free" variety. That stuff is artery clogger. I use real pork lard I get from a place in Arkansas. I know the first thought is...ARTERY CLOGGER!! But it's actually far healthier than crisco. I have learned to reduce the amount to about 2/3'rds of what's called for in the recipe, cut back a bit on the white sugar, add a bit more of the brown sugar, use an entire stick of butter, and add about 1/2 more dark chocolate chips than is called for. The resulting cookies are crisper and soooooooooooo good! :-D
Last edited by MoMark; 09-24-2006 at 02:21 PM..
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Steak to Go!
However...I pulled out the crockpot yesterday morning and didn't really know what I was going to make, but I wanted something hot and decent...So, I threw in two cups of white longgrain rice, 4.5 cups of water, the other half of a white onion that was in the refrigerator and diced it up, a fresh turnip cut up into small squares (those puppies are tough to cut), then I threw in the rest of the pack of Kosher hotdogs I had leftover, diced them up into smaller pieces, then added garlic, black pepper, and a can of Cream of Mushroom soup, mixed it all up, set it on low, and came back six hours later... It actually tasted ok, but it grew into a huge amount, so guess what I'm eating today 
