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I've tried it. I haven't made it, but I have tried it. It's not terrible.
I never said that it was, actually. I just said that it's not too far removed from Hamburger Helper or anything else that is made with a box or a packet and that if those were the only types of recipes in my repertoire, I probably wouldn't brag about being a superior home cook. Actually, I have lots of homemade recipes and consider myself a pretty good cook, but I don't preach to others or talk about others behind their back because they make convenience foods. I'd feel like a hypocrite. Heck, I love Hamburger Helper. I even buy a box of Cheeseburger Macaroni flavor about once a year because I get an occasional random craving for it.
The roast doesn't taste ranch-y at all, actually. It tastes a little vinegary and zingy from the pepperoncinis. It's really oily, which isn't too surprising, since a chuck roast is already a little fatty, and the roast does call for a whole stick of butter. It's also a little salty, or the one that I tried was, anyway. I don't know if she salted the roast before putting it in or if it's from the packages, but it was noticeably salty...and I'm not one of those people who is super-sensitive to salt.
If I were to attempt it, I'd probably avoid adding salt to it at all, look for low-sodium "packets," use unsalted butter and cut the butter in half, at least. I'm not sure that it needs much or any butter at all?
This recipe was all over Pinterest and Facebook for a while.
The past two years, we've gotten our family Thanksgiving dinner from Balduccis, and it's been an outstanding meal! We'd much rather spend the time with each other than slaving in the kitchen.
We enjoy cooking together. There are lots of good memories in our recipes. And we all enjoy being in the kitchen, open floor plan so we can visit while preparing the meal.
To each his own, but we wouldn't get as much pleasure out of taking the lids off of store-bought side dishes and unwrapping a prepared turkey.
Hardly anybody grows their own wheat, mills their own flour, raises their own chickens for eggs, or pasteurizes their own dairy these days, yet they all have the gall to call their stuff homemade!
I've seen people (on here, especially) who roll their eyes at using *shudder* a premixed seasoning packet to season chili. I've done the "ground the cumin myself in a granite molcajete" thing, too, don't get me wrong. But a packet of chili seasoning works just fine, too. And, I bought the cumin seed IN A STORE, too, anyway *shudder again*.
Wick Fowler's Two-Alarm. Just made a batch two days ago!
We enjoy cooking together. There are lots of good memories in our recipes. And we all enjoy being in the kitchen, open floor plan so we can visit while preparing the meal.
To each his own, but we wouldn't get as much pleasure out of taking the lids off of store-bought side dishes and unwrapping a prepared turkey.
I love cooking and have been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for about 6 years now, but I did skip cooking last year. My mother-in-law was dealing with some issues, so we had to "go to her" with dinner. I'm not a big fan of cooking in someone else's kitchen, at least not a huge meal like Thanksgiving dinner, especially since her apartment kitchen is very, very small. Preparing everything and dragging it to her house just seemed like a big pain, too, because we were actually in the process of partially renovating our kitchen. I'd also been putting in a ton of work hours because my husband and I were getting ready to take off on a cross-country trip right after Thanksgiving. Not only did I not have a ton of time, but dealing with leftovers and partially-used ingredients when we were about to take off for almost a month seemed annoying, too.
Anyway, because of all of that, my husband recommended buying a pre-made, to-go dinner from Cracker Barrel. I can't remember exactly, but I think it was around $60 or $70? Maybe a little more with the desserts (they were extra), but I know we didn't spend $100. We got sliced turkey, sliced ham, dressing, 3 (?) family-size sides, cornbread muffins, biscuits and cranberry relish. I did make a green bean casserole (with the cream of mushroom soup, just like my MIL likes it!) and a sweet potato casserole (with tons of marshmallows, just like my husband likes it), but that was it. We bought a pumpkin pie and some other type of pie...some kind of apple-cinnamon pie, maybe?
It was pretty good, and as much as I enjoy cooking, it really did take a load of stress off of me at the time. However, we all kind of missed all of the "special" homemade stuff that we are now used to having for Thanksgiving. The experience just wasn't the same, and even I, the one who has to stress over it all at Thanksgiving, missed the whole ordeal. I usually start making "lists" weeks before Thanksgiving arrives, then start shopping...picking up things here and there leading up to the holiday, then going on a huge shopping trip a week or so beforehand. I usually start preparing and cooking a few days beforehand, sipping on wine and listening to music. I scrub the house clean and make sure all of my fall decorations are just right. On the day of, I kind of enjoy the chaos, even if I have to send my husband out at the last minute to pick up some forgotten item at a ridiculous price from the convenience store down the street. And even though the clean-up is a big pain, it's all kind of worth it when everyone -- including me! -- is thoroughly enjoying everything that I've cooked. The experience just wasn't the same when I placed the whole order online, entered my credit card number, then pulled up to a tent outside of Cracker Barrel to pick up the whole meal in a perfectly packaged box.
Plus, unpacking it at my MIL's house just didn't feel like Thanksgiving. It just didn't feel that different from the other times that we've brought takeout over to her house. She was clearly pretty disappointed, and so were we, in a way.
All in all, it wasn't a terrible experience. If the situation calls for it, it's quite handy that these options are available. And I definitely think that sitting down and enjoying a meal with loved ones is the most important thing (I feel that way about regular weekday dinners, too, even if it's just a Mississippi roast or a pan of Hamburger Helper). But no, I couldn't imagine that being our way of doing things every year. I'm already planning for the big feast that I'll be preparing this year, so things will be back to normal for 2016.
I've tried it. I haven't made it, but I have tried it. It's not terrible.
I never said that it was, actually. I just said that it's not too far removed from Hamburger Helper or anything else that is made with a box or a packet and that if those were the only types of recipes in my repertoire, I probably wouldn't brag about being a superior home cook. Actually, I have lots of homemade recipes and consider myself a pretty good cook, but I don't preach to others or talk about others behind their back because they make convenience foods. I'd feel like a hypocrite. Heck, I love Hamburger Helper. I even buy a box of Cheeseburger Macaroni flavor about once a year because I get an occasional random craving for it.
The roast doesn't taste ranch-y at all, actually. It tastes a little vinegary and zingy from the pepperoncinis. It's really oily, which isn't too surprising, since a chuck roast is already a little fatty, and the roast does call for a whole stick of butter. It's also a little salty, or the one that I tried was, anyway. I don't know if she salted the roast before putting it in or if it's from the packages, but it was noticeably salty...and I'm not one of those people who is super-sensitive to salt.
If I were to attempt it, I'd probably avoid adding salt to it at all, look for low-sodium "packets," use unsalted butter and cut the butter in half, at least. I'm not sure that it needs much or any butter at all?
This recipe was all over Pinterest and Facebook for a while.
Really?
Have you shown this thread unedited to the *friend* you mentioned in the original post?
What kind of chili seasoning are you all using and where do you find it? I add a generous helping of my favorite chili powder, a bit of cumin and some other spices/herbs, and some chopped canned chipotle peppers with the sauce. If I want heat, I add a dash of cayenne and chopped fresh hot peppers to taste. I don't think I've ever heard of packaged chili seasoning. Who makes it?
I have a coworker who loves the store-bought, prepackaged Rice Krispie treats. We went to a bakery to get cookies after lunch and they had thick, delicious-looking Rice Krispie treats in the cookie case. My coworker said she didn't know you could make them from scratch.
Rice Krispie treats #2:
Another coworker brought in Rice Krispie treats that she said she make from scratch. They were very sticky and soggy, difficult to even get out of the pan. I asked her about the ingredients, and she said the recipe she used only had two ingredients: marshmallow cream and cereal, and then you mix them up and put them in a cake pan.
Come on, people. Rice Krispie treats were one of the first recipes I ever made as a kid. And we didn't even use the microwave, we melted the marshmallows and butter on the stove.
LOL. I have to laugh .. I make my own marshmallows. Silly me. I could buy fluff I guess. Does that stuff come in lime or blueberry or raspberry or chocolate?
randomparent - I have never used chili seasoning myself either but I see it all the time at the grocery store though it may be in various places depending on your store's organization - try the spices aisle, the gravy mix area, or even the ethnic area.
OP - I get what you are saying. My condolences. I have friends like that too.
I'm now kind of intrigued by this ranch-flavored roast.
I've heard it's good. It's all the rage on the low-carb recipe blogs, etc. I've always made pot roast with a packet of Lipton onion soup, so ... I guess I'm not a "foodie" then. Dang ...
I've heard it's good. It's all the rage on the low-carb recipe blogs, etc. I've always made pot roast with a packet of Lipton onion soup, so ... I guess I'm not a "foodie" then. Dang ...
I don't consider myself a foodie either. I actually think it's a really stupid term.
I don't like onion soup mix in roast, but I *do* like it mixed in with hamburger meat for hamburgers. I haven't had burgers that way in a long time, but I always thought they were really good.
I stopped using so much "cream of" soup and "onion soup mix" because of my husband. Actually, he never *told* me he doesn't like those things, but I started noticing that he loved everything that I cooked *except* for things that had things like that (those particular ingredients in particular). Because of that, I mostly moved away from using those ingredients...and now, when I do eat things like that, I actually do notice the difference (I didn't before.) I'm not saying that I don't like them or that I'm "better than" those who cook with them. I always cooked with them before without thinking about it, as did my mom. I do notice the difference, though, and in some foods, I do prefer recipes that don't have those types of ingredients in them, in most cases.
Also, my husband is not a food snob because he doesn't like those ingredients...I really just figured out that he was raised by older "parents" (his "parents" are/were actually his grandparents), and they always cooked pretty much everything from scratch, with fresh veggies (usually from the "family garden"), etc. Very few processed foods...they cooked things "the old way." I think my MIL's cooking is very bland, but I will say that it's very fresh. In six years of eating there here and there, I have yet to taste or see a thing that was cooked with anything processed OTHER THAN when she does "taco night."
I'm not saying her way is better...some of her food just isn't that good to me...but after a while, I started to understand why things like onion soup mix and cream of mushroom/chicken/celery soup tasted "off" to my husband...because he had never really eaten foods like that.
I guess I feel like I have to defend myself over and over again in this thread. I thought I was really, really clear in my OP that I'm not anti processed or convenience foods and that I don't judge those who use them (including me, although less these days than in the past), but I guess I either didn't make that clear enough with my multiple references OR people are scanning and not actually reading what I wrote.
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I guess I'm not a "foodie" then. Dang ... 