krisdata

I think I'm starting today with jambalaya... I have a good recipe for making it in a crock pot, which makes it easy today and easy after it's frozen. Thanks everyone for the tips!

Yummm... These all sound so good! I was wondering about freezing the stir-fry, or other items where a lot of the surface is exposed to air because of freezer burn... But this works out for you? Enchiladas sound yummy too. Thanks for the tips... And the link!

My husband is soon to start a job assignment during which he may work 14-16 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week. As such, he'll be eating almost exclusively away from home. I'm not exactly in possession of free time either, being a full-time employee and 3/4 time student, so I'm looking for ideas that I can put together for him for dinner in advance that he can take to the job site. Ideally, I'd be able to make a large amount of any given item, package it into your plastic portable food container of choice, and freeze them for his selection later. There are, of course, prepackaged meals like this, but I'd really like him to get a home-cooked meal occasionally, even if it has to go through the nuking process first. That, and those TV dinners can get darned expensive... Chili and chicken soup are already on their way to the freezer. Does anyone have any other ideas? Or maybe you've dealt with a similar situation before, and have some ideas for me? Are there any foods that you'd really recommend NOT freezing in this manner? TIA...

I was just talking to my mother on the phone, and she says: "Have you watched that Semi-Homemade show on FoodTV? She was making Tiramisu the other day..." ARRGH! I usually don't say anything in situations like this, but this thread inspired me to share stories of Kwanzaa cake, etc. with her. I'm not sure I converted her, but maybe she'll think twice...

Thai lettuce wraps, adapted from a recipe in Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer. And pita and hummus. I could live off the stuff...

Most of us make spaghetti out of a box. Am I missing something there? Sometimes I make fresh pasta, but it's just different and rarely approaches the quality of the best packaged dry pasta from Italy. Jarred sauces vary, but there's no reason why one couldn't be excellent. I'm sure it was standard "whatever's on sale" spaghetti and it might have even been Hunts spaghetti sauce out of the can. And it was perfectly good food (especially to my child's taste buds). But to these other kids, it might as well have been a top-notch steak dinner. In their house, boil, drain, sauce was too much dinner preparation...

The hubby and I got an Oreo gift set this year... two mugs and four snack-size bags of regular-sized Oreos. Last year, we got a Rice Krispie Treats maker: a plastic tub with a plastic divider-type insert that cut the treats into six squares. You know, if you don't have a knife handy, but do have the RK Treats maker. Come to think of it, I think it was from the same people...

Just one... Krispy Kremes The only other doughnut I will eat are the kind you get straight from the fryer at a cider mill or other similar setup. This is actually a food spoiler from 2003!

My mom tells a story of when we were kids and another family joined us for dinner. She made spaghetti, out of a box, with sauce from a jar, and everyone's favorite virtually everlasting "grated parmesan cheese." Now, I still cook this occasionally because it's easy, but I wouldn't exactly call it high cuisine... However, the other family's children were in awe of the dinner. They had never had spaghetti before, only Spaghetti-O's... To some people, any amount of preparation is special...

From the hubby: I got a digital thermometer for the oven, with a timer and alarm setting for temperature fluctuations. This was very helpful, as I discovered my oven runs about 50 degrees hot. I also got some Crate & Barrel holiday plates. From my boss: A stainless steel food scale. And a olive oil decanter shaped like a chef (his hat is the stopper... it's too cute ) with dipping bowls. I'm sure there's more to come when we visit the inlaws for the holiday. Kitchen-related items are my one "sure gift," the thing everyone can get me and know that I will love.

What I had for dinner last night: Little bits of dough and broken pieces from mexican wedding cakes, coffee snaps, chocolate no-bakes, peanut butter no-bakes, cream cheese and regular spritz cookies. Oh, and a tummyache.

Huuummm... Was her name...by any chance... GWEN!!??!! I am not alone! It was mostly an uncomfortable situation for that particular dinner. And I really liked that recipe because it was easy and good, and a full time student with a full time job needs all the "easy" she can get. Ah well... Now I bring biscuits. And there really is no recipe for those. We're back to "a little of this, a little of that." Measures completely by the eyeball method...

In college, a group that I was involved with would have pot-luck dinners for almost every holiday. I always brought the same dish, and everyone knew that I would bring that dish to each event. I suppose you could say that I became "famous" for bringing that dish... "Kristi's famous potatoes." One of the girls in the group asked me for the recipe. I gave it to her gladly. It wasn't even my recipe in the first place, so why should I mind? At the next pot-luck, she brought my dish... I stopped sharing recipes within that circle of people. And I had to go find something else to bring. Of course, most people have better manners than she did... Otherwise, I always share.

I've recently gotten better at planning the week's meals, and as a result a lot of the items that I used to always have (onions, garlic, redskin potatoes) I now only have if I know I'm going to use them that week. However, there are some items that are always in the house: The emergency standbys: Canned tuna Boxed Mac & Cheese Canned tomato soup Because the hubby packs sandwiches for lunch: Wheat bread Mustard And the rest: EVOO Salt Pepper Soy Sauce Microwave Popcorn Coffee Veggie oil Self-Rising Flour (for that emergency batch of biscuits) Margarine And the cat food. Always cat food, and usually in large amounts. I used to buy other yummies on a regular basis, but was just wasting so much food...

Call me the uneducated consumer. Not having the pleasure of having travelled to Italy, and living much of my adult life in an isolated, rural area, I am definitely one of those people who was not aware of what good espresso could be. However, I've moved from the sticks to the big city (Chicago), and had a wonderful experience with an after-dinner coffee at Blackbird. My husband and I had a wonderful meal, fantastic dessert, but were truly wowed by the coffee. We drank cup after cup. In any case, as we were so impressed by the quality of the coffee (and this was not the first time we plunked down some serious cash for city dining experiences), I've come to believe that good coffee is the exception, and not the rule. That being said, I'd love tips as to where to find more exceptions.

Caffiene has an astringent flavor; I've heard companies explain that they caffeinate their beverages for flavor purposes, because they would never try to addict their customers. I feel vindicated. I have oft had this discussion, mostly with my inlaws. I don't like the flavor of caffeine free colas. I can definitely detect the flavor difference, and it is, to me, a "bite" of sorts that the caffeine provides. I haven't actually compared the ingredients listing, though, so perhaps there's an additional ingredient in the caffeine-free version that's turning me off. In any case, this explains why they all think I'm nuts when I say I can taste the difference between the two.

I'm a big fan of comfort food, so in my house we use your generic plastic-wrapped American cheese slices, although we use wheat bread in deference to my husband's taste. On days where I pretend I'm dieting, I use that butter flavored cooking spray instead of butter--it actually gives the sandwich a nice crispy exterior, if not all of the buttery goodness of the real thing. However, when I get creative, I really like gruyere and sauteed mushrooms, occassionally thinly sliced deli chicken, on whatever fresh bread I get from the market. I wouldn't taint such a sandwich with the butter spray...

Yeah. Me too. This diet was the idea of a coworker who asked me to join her. And it really does work better to have the two of us doing it together, although she hasn't lost any weight (we're on day 10) and I think I've lost less than 5 pounds. I do feel like I'm eating healthier however... Luckily, South Beach doesn't banish ALL fat. Steak is fine. Last night I had salmon in a tomato dill buerre blanc Ah well. I think after Monday we'll probably chuck it anyway...

I'm interested in this topic too... As of yesterday, I'm on the South Beach Diet. Now, I've never been a devotee of the fad diet either, but one of my coworkers talked me into this one. It's similar to Atkins, for those who don't know of it, in that for the first two weeks you're not supposed to touch carbs. After two weeks, you reintroduce carbs to your diet, focusing on whole-grain, less processed versions. The main difference is that South Beach also encourages low fat eating. From what I understand, Atkins allows bacon, etc. South Beach encourages eating lean meats and restricting fat intake. You can have all the low-fat cheese you want, but not the regular versions. Still, it seems like there's a lot of overlap. Does anyone have any interesting recipe ideas? So far this week dinners are and . (Although I did make some yummy lettuce wraps last night...) Any hints?

Relatively new poster, here. Go easy on me. Today, I had some incredible beer cheese soup for lunch, and some mashed potatoes made with cream. I have the benefit of a free cafeteria, but I must admit the fare is sometimes questionable. It was great comfort food though, and has already improved my mood for a Friday afternoon.