RSincere
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Posts posted by RSincere
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Brewer's yeast and nutritional yeast are two different things. I have definitely heard of nutritional yeast used on popcorn. It's a yeast grown on molasses (I believe) and is a favorite of vegans because it provides B vitamins. Brewer's yeast is extremely bitter and not meant to be eaten on its own.
That said, I'm a popcorn salt/melted real butter girl myself. I pop the kernels in a paper bag in the microwave, held shut by 2 staples, a la Alton Brown. You have to watch it because it burns easily this way, but if you're careful it turns out wonderfully.
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The Gourmet Cookbook (can't decide if I want the one available now with the controversial pale yellow typeface for the recipe titles, or the next printing which will be easier to read)
CI The Best Recipe (the new one)
The Spice is Right
Any Madhur Jaffrey book I don't have yet
Cooking Under Pressure and Pressure Perfect by Lorna Sass
Subscription to Fine Cooking and Cooks Illustrated (and Taste of Home...don't laugh)
That's a good start! I could go on...
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My mom bought a small box of Lucky Charms (we called them Yucky Germs) and mixed them in a Dannheim's ice cream bucket with generic Cheerios. Picking out the marshmallows was strictly verboten. You got what was poured in your bowl. No cheating with your hands!
I'm the middle of 5 kids; girl boy girl boy girl. We all had to have a cereal box in front of us as we were eating in order to block the view of our siblings. Sometimes we'd really block ourselves out using three boxes. We all fought over reading the back of the boxes. We had to take turns on the premiums. I usually had the box in front of me to block out any view of my brothers, but then had a book to read as well. One of my brothers has serious sinus/allergy issues and always had to chew with his mouth open--and would slurp his milk--and he often ended up eating alone.
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Hmmm... d'you think she's lurking around here???!!!
I was paranoid enough to worry that she might come across this thread somehow, but not a chance she's lurking here. You couldn't tear her away from eBay and her custom doll clothes empire and her doll lists and quilt lists...
Plus, she likes to cook and is a good cook, she just happens to cook food that a Lutheran Minnesota woman of a certain age would cook, but she's not that into food. -
Oooh, Thanksgiving--it is all about the love, isn't it?
Hee!
Now, 10 years ago I wouldn't have ever said such a thing to him. But he's mellowed in his later years, plus, I can outrun him now.
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For us, if it's just not great but not terrible either, the consensus is generally "Well, it's edible."
We rarely go out to eat, but if we do, and don't like the meal, we also usually say "I should have ordered something else."
We absolutely HATE to throw away food and avoid having to do so if at all possible. Jason will eat leftovers of the same thing 5 meals in a row and he doesn't care. Even if there's only 1/4 cup of stir-fry and 1/2 cup of rice left, it goes in the fridge and is used for a future meal. Therefore, on rare occasions, I will say, "We don't have to save the leftovers." That is the highest insult to a meal in my house!
To my chagrin, that happened just yesterday. I tossed about a cup of pork/hoisin stirfry, because the flavor was just so terrible. There's a disconnect with the dark soy sauce somehow, I don't think I bought the right kind and whenever I make a meal from a particular cookbook that calls for dark soy sauce, it turns out too salty or has an unpleasant flavor. I have Pearl River dark mushroom-flavored soy sauce, or something like that. Anyway, it went down the garbage disposal and I'm punishing the cookbook by taking it out of rotation for a while!
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I've been upgraded! Mom emailed me and said that she meant to ask me to do the vegetables, so that she wouldn't have to. She's making the mashed potatoes, and she makes a small sweet potato/marshmallow casserole for her dad every year (no one else likes it but it's important to him) so I can make whatever I want. She wants something colorful. I'm trying to decide if I should bother trying to cater to my dad's taste or not. He doesn't like food with real onion and garlic in it, only powdered.
I can't decide if it's appropriate to give him a taste of his own medicine..."I don't care how horrible you think it is, your mother cooked this and you are going to sit there and eat it until that plate is clean, and I'm going to sit here and watch you eat it, and if you're still eating at bedtime there will be trouble!"
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Behemoth, love the idea of the pig intestine jigglers. My parents would freak. I'm still immature enough to relish that possibility.
"Amuse" means an hors doeuvre, right?
bloviatrix, Jello Jigglers are like jello, only made with less water so they're firmer and can be eaten out of hand. I really don't like them. But I have a bunch of sugar-free Jello to use up from my low-carb days, so it wouldn't be a problem. Love the idea of making that rainbow mold! You want Jello, I'll show you JELLO!
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I got the grand prize in the 4-H competition at the Brown County Fair in New Ulm, MN when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I made a bundt cake with a cinnamon/nut filling. My mom still has the recipe; I believe it's my Aunt Bert's favorite coffee cake and that's why I chose it. We did not pursue the title to the State Fair, though, because my parents weren't about to drag their 5 kids all the way to Minneapolis for one bundt cake!
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Lots of great input!
I did some thinking, and realized that at other Thanksgivings I was asked to bring food. However, it was always because it was gimmick food, for lack of a better term. I was a strict vegetarian for many years, so my mom would ask me to bring a few vegetarian dishes so that my own family would have something to eat. Then, a couple of years ago I was low-carbing, so two Thanksgivings in a row my mom asked me to bring sugar-free desserts so my diabetic uncle could have something. Now that I don't have a "gimmick," I'm relegated to Jello Jigglers. Hmmmmm. Maybe I can exploit this angle somehow.
The thing is, I have never, ever thought of my mom as a control freak. She's always been the kind of person who puts everyone else first, she volunteers in so many different directions, and she never insists on having her own way. But I remember a big to-do last year because my sister-in-law, who is a very good cook, insisted on doing Thanksgiving at her house last year. But my mom wouldn't go there on Thanksgiving because mom's dad lives in town and wouldn't be able to travel to my brother's house, and she didn't want him to be home alone on the holiday. So we had the big meal on the actual day at my parents' house, then the next day traveled to my brother's so sis-in-law could have her moment.
I think I'll take your suggestions and figure out something to just bring. I'll definitely make a sugar-free dessert for my uncle, otherwise he won't get anything, and try to figure out a really great side dish or dishes that can travel for 3 hours in the car. And, of course, those Jello Jigglers. I think there's a recipe for those in the Les Halles cookbook.
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My mom's cooking style is that of a midwestern 1950s woman complete with Campbells Soup, onion powder, garlic powder, and celery salt substituted for onion, garlic, and celery.
I wrote her an email flat-out begging her to assign a couple dishes or desserts to me for Thanksgiving. I explained how I wanted a distraction and would have so much fun perusing my cookbooks and deciding what to make.
She wrote back in all seriousness and asked me to make Jello Jigglers.
And maybe something with carrot so that there's color at the table.I wrote her back and said, "I have 60 cookbooks and you're asking me to make Jigglers? Who in the what now?!" Still have yet to hear from her. If I'm lucky, I'll get to make the green bean casserole.
Anyone else not allowed to contribute in a meaningful way, even though you want to?
Am I the only 31-year-old who will be sitting at the kids' table this year?
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I want to add that I do realize that someday I will feel that I'd give anything just to have my mom around for Thanksgiving again. However, that will not stop me from bitching while she's still around.
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After about a year, she left it out on the cabinet and my Dad came home and it was the first thing he noticed. Very angrily, he said "Where did THAT come from???!!!" - my mother simply replied "Oh, we've HAD that! Why do you think you've had such good dinners and salads this year?"
I have so had this conversation.
But Jason's on to me now, and if he sees a new cookbook or something and I claim "Oh, I've had that for a while now" he always looks at me suspiciously. And sometimes, I'm even telling the truth! The other tactic is, "Oh, that was 88 cents at Walmart," which is what I use for new utensils.
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I have three sets of plastic measuring cups--all complete except for the 1/3 cup measure. This is a problem that has plagued me since I first moved out on my own at age 19. I buy a set of measuring cups and within 2 weeks the 1/3 cup is gone forever. So every once in a while I get fed up and buy a new set. No joke, each time, within 2 weeks, the 1/3 cup is no more. I have no idea why this happens.
I have three incomplete sets of measuring spoons adding up to a complete set.
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Cup a bread roll in my left hand while sawing away at it with a dull serrated knife with my right hand. I know better. I KNOW BETTER. Yet my middle finger has a band-aid because not only did I hit flesh, I kept sawing for a second.
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I wonder, speaking out of total ignorance here--would heating up the Lactaid milk kill the added enzymes that help you digest the milk? If you make a dish with Lactaid and cream, might the enzymes in the Lactaid also help you digest the cream?
Maybe you could find that over-the-counter pill that's supposed to make you able to have dairy if you take it while eating dairy. Can't remember the name.
Just curious.
Daniel is intolerant, or has an allergy, or something. When I was breastfeeding him, and drinking a lot of milk, he'd nurse and cry and nurse and cry some more, for the first 6 weeks of his life. I stopped drinking milk and it was like he was a new kid. Also, his stool would literally make his skin blister and burn wherever it touched; that stopped as well after I stopped drinking milk. My doc said that the milk proteins that were going into my breastmilk were causing the problems. Something like that.
Anyway, he drinks soymilk but he can eat cheese and yogurt and ice cream as long as he doesn't overdo it. If he does, he has problems where his BM burns his skin and makes it bleed. Weird.
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3 lb roasted butternut squash (not seasoned)
10 oz. ham steak
10 oz. fresh spinach
Please assume that I have or am willing to purchase additional ingredients, within reason. I'm wondering, some kind of creamy soup? If possible, since this would probably make a large amount of food for us, I would like to make something that is freezeable.
Thank you!
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Ok, I think we have a consensus on the square-cut pizza...NOT a Chicago thing
I have lived and worked in MN and WI, in food service and specifically various pizza joints, and I have always known that cut as "Chicago-style." That's how it's been described on menus and that's how people ordered it if they didn't want it cut in wedges. Weird.
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Thank you, Anna! The food looks wonderful. Loooove the bacon on the potatoes.
And please keep us updated on Miss Jess!
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Anna, thank you so much for your blog. Those meatballs are going on the "must try" list!
Rachel, I only wish we ALL liked Indian food but The Dane will just tolerate one or two Indian dishes! And I have to tell you that I have tried most of Monica's recipes and aside from the lentil dishes (I just don't LIKE lentils) have found them all to be delicious. Her Shrimp Fritters (Jhinge Ke Pakore) are a permanent part of my repertoire for appetizers and my daughter has served them to just about everyone she knows with rave revues. These shrimp are an Indian dish that The Dane requests (all too frequently).I am just the opposite. I like lentils, but just do not like shrimp at all. I've tried it many different ways and it's not the recipe or my cooking at fault, it's just that I can't stomach shrimp, both the texture and the flavor.
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Wow, Anna, that must have been scary for Jess (and everyone else)! Good that she looks none the worse for wear.
That's cool that you all like Indian food. I can't wait to try the Chicken Tikka Masala, looks great. If you haven't tried Monica's Butter Chicken recipe, you must. It's amazing.
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And in pre-made land the Smorz cereal my kids insisted I buy were DISGUSTING. They won't eat it either!
I just had that this morning. We had a couple kids overnight for Daniel's birthday and it was only $1.29 a box--thought they'd like it. I liked it! But then I never claimed to have a lot of "taste," so to speak.
These little fruit snacks I bought for my kids (they begged me). Oranges & creme, I thought maybe they would taste like a creamsicle. I thought WRONG.Oh, gawd. Fruit Smoothie Blitz? I get those for Daniel too. I tried them and liked them.
0 for 2.
Gah. The lab is always out of all but the orange flavor when I do these tests.Don't feel bad, the lemon-lime is disgusting as well. Maybe less disgusting than the orange, but it's the only kind I've ever had. And I totally agree that having to down that, after fasting, it's a recipe for vomiting. Especially if you're used to diet soda.
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I've never been one to notice this stuff, but your serving dishes are really cute. And your pictures look great!
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Anna, do the meatballs stay together pretty well or do you have to be really careful? And you said the shape of an egg--the size of an egg too?
They sound good!
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Anna, this is great! The wilds of Canada indeed.
Your kitchen looks really cozy, I bet it would be fun to sit at the bar and chat and watch you cook.
Do you cook mostly Danish food? What specific flavors are common in Danish food?
Popcorn toppers
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
Yep, that's about it. Except I skip the oil. Alton Brown said in his book (I think) that when he tried it without the oil he didn't notice a difference so he no longer uses the oil. I don't bother with it because it's messy, and I'm going to dump a bunch of melted butter on the popcorn as soon as it's popped anyway.