RSincere

Oh, boy. And I thought I was courageous for trying capers.

Herb-basted roasted chicken breasts with bone and skin on, Yukon Gold potatoes and mushrooms alongside, basted with the same stuff. From allrecipes.

I love love love it with peanut sauce!

Hey, we're the same then, I'm a cooking novice/peasant too. I'm very wedded to recipes. I'm kind of sad about that cookbook; a couple months ago my mom helped me sell a bunch of cookbooks on eBay, and I think that one got in the mix accidentally even though it's my favorite crock pot cookbook. The only other ingredients I (think I) remember would be chicken stock and canned tomatoes!

This is fascinating--keep posting pictures! I've never heard of this stuff!

Believe me, I've read about this, it was a big deal in our town. I have a friend who is strongly anti-Walmart (she has a small tourist shop in town) and I have been lectured many times. I live in a small town in Wisconsin, and when I need to go get toilet paper or cat food or a quart of milk, that is the only place to go--because they did run others out of business. I also check out the soon-to-be-expired meat (they mark it down between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m.) and sometimes I buy some. However, every two weeks, I use up a quarter tank of gas and drive an hour to go grocery shopping in another town. I do this even though I could get everything I need at Walmart, which is only a half-mile away from my house. The store I go to is a locally-owned small Wisconsin chain with decent prices (not quite as low as Walmart) and a great selection. I mention the gas expense because I am only budgeted $20 every two weeks for gas. So I am putting my money where my mouth is, and I'm not going to feel bad about my occasional forays into evil Sam's world. Yes. It is. ETA: Decided to remove whiney part of post. Sorry about that. I can't afford to be political right now, so I appreciate your original comment "don't want to pass judgment."

Good stuff! I haven't had it since I was a kid. (Plain on Wonder Bread.) That's the same thing as Braunschweiger, right? My mom always had it on hand because wrapping a pill in liverwurst is the best way to get your dog to take it.

I've been wondering about this too ever since I found out TJ's is owned by the same people who own Aldi. I used to work at Aldi. They used to sell only basics, canned tomatoes, beans, mac and cheese, rice, etc. Now they are coming out with their own "gourmet" line called Grandessa; you can buy granola with coconut and dried pineapple, marinated artichokes, and frozen manicotti stuffed with portobello mushrooms, etc. They are even selling wine for $3.99! I am wondering if Aldi sells some of the exact same product as TJ's under a different label. Malawry, I have found ground almonds just in the baking aisle of Walmart. I bought a bunch when low-carbing to use as flour, and now that I'm not low-carbing anymore I'm using them up by making French toast using fresh orange juice, eggs, and vanilla, and then dipping the batter-soaked bread into the ground almonds. It is very good.

I've used it in a soup with Italian sausage. It was a recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens crockpot cookbook and I thought it was really good. You probably don't need a recipe though.

Maybe many people on this thread are Supertasters.

Today I made stir fried beef/onions from How to Cook Everything. My problem is, I'm putzy when I cook. So I was so focused on getting the ginger and garlic chopped and the onions sliced etc. before starting the dish, and it took a lot of time. I even had the hoisin sauce out for later. I got into the thick of cooking; just as my onions were brown and I was taking them out, getting ready to throw in the beef, I realized--I hadn't made any rice! I start cursing very loudly (my husband says I should have my own show, "Cooking with Pottymouth," b/c I swear over my food often) and Jason came running. I was in the middle of stir-frying and I had meat hands so I had to talk him through getting out the can of vegetable broth and finding the right pan and the rice, etc. The stir fry was finished 15 minutes before the rice was. It still tasted good though.

I tried the crockpot chicken thighs a few weeks ago. Whatever you do, don't make it with the big jar of Spanish paprika from Sam's Club. That stuff tastes awful. I bought some Hungarian paprika from Penzey's and a little jar of Hungarian half-sharp paprika and I may try this recipe again. I'm going to give the yucky paprika to my mom, because she only uses it to sprinkle over casseroles and devilled eggs, not to flavor her food.

Today I made a chunky soup, the best I've ever had, verrrry loosely based on a recipe from Food Network. The ingredients: Boneless skinless chicken thighs, mild chorizo, a poblano pepper, 3 cloves garlic, a yellow onion, 2 diced Yukon Gold potatoes, a can of black soybeans, a can of Muir Glen fire-roasted diced tomatoes, a quart chicken broth, ancho chile powder. Grated Colby cheese on top. It was very simple but very delicious!

My husband Jason buys generic Walmart ice cream and I think it's disgusting. The Schwan's guy comes while Jason is at work so I buy good Schwan's ice cream and put it in the chest freezer in the garage. Jason never looks in there because that is our meat freezer and he never cooks. I tell myself it would be a waste to give the good ice cream or sherbet to him because he eats like a Hoover and he wouldn't appreciate it. Let him eat Walmart ice cream if he's so wedded to generic everything! If I buy myself a candy bar or a bag of Pepperidge farm cookies it goes in my closet in my computer room. That's where I hid the Cuisinart that I bought on the Sears card. But Jason found it the other day when he decided to stash some of our son's clothes in my office closet. I told him that I bought it last year in a manic spending spree and forgot about it. I think he thinks I'm going to take it back. I was trying to figure out a way to put it in the kitchen so he wouldn't notice it. It doesn't look anything like our yellowed old Hamilton Beach!

Dinner should have been a disaster based on how many mistakes I made, but it was pretty good, even though the skirt steak was somewhat tough. (Yes, I cut it against the grain.) I made Spicy Asian Beef from How to Cook Everything, over basmati rice with shallot and garlic. Also, I put fish sauce in the beef--finally worked up the courage to actually put it in food--and it was great!

I'm trying to cook lots of things in my new cast iron skillet so it will be fully seasoned sooner! I eat dinner alone so tonight I sauteed a pollock filet (seasoned with lemon pepper) in butter and garlic in my nifty skillet. There was lots of extra butter/garlic in the pan so I quickly washed/trimmed a big handful of green beans and threw them in there too. Everything was done at the same time and it was delicious.

I was going to make stir-fry with a piece of skirt steak but I'm having one of those days where I just can't read a recipe with comprehension. So I browned up some smoked Chicken Cordon Bleu sausages from Usinger's in my cast iron pan! They were wonderful. I am not always enthusiastic about sausages, sometimes the smoke flavoring is too much for me and sometimes there's some kind of sharp bite of a flavor that overwhelms it for me. (Not sure what that spice is, it's usually in brats.) But these were so good, I could have eaten four. I am lucky that I live in Wisconsin and our grocery store carries Usinger's. If you've ever hesitated about trying their Chicken Cordon Bleu sausage, hesitate no more. And no, I don't work there.

Very interesting! Our butcher guy closes his shop on Wednesdays for slaughtering...maybe I'll meander over there on Thursday and pick me up some of this freshly dead meat.

merstar, thank you! That is exactly the information I was looking for. I'm glad you found that because I was trying to think of a good way to call Penzeys and say, "Why is Watkins vanilla so much cheaper than yours?" That said, and based on what I've read here, I'm going to stick with my imitation vanilla and spend my food dollar somewhere where it will have more oomph for me. Not being facetious, but I can't exactly complain about the chemical-ness of the imitation stuff when I drink 2 cans of diet Coke a day.

This is very interesting. I didn't know that about the Mexican vanilla, but the price sure seemed fishy. That explains it. However, I still don't understand why there is such a huge disparity in price between the Penzeys 16 oz. at $66 and Watkins 11 oz. at $14. They are both double-strength, both are Madagascar Bourbon, and I don't see where the Watkins extract says that it's imitation. I have to be missing something obvious. Penzeys: http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-p...gthvanilla.html Watkins: http://www.watkinsonline.com/productDetail.cfm?product=576 I wouldn't get the Penzeys at that price, chemicals or no. The Watkins, I would maybe spend $14 on if I had the extra money. But not if it's imitation, because I can get a huge bottle of that from Walmart for $1.79.

I would love to upgrade from "Great Value" fake vanilla stuff to the real thing. I understand that if you buy double-strength vanilla, it isn't twice as expensive as single-strength, yet you can use half the amount the recipe calls for, so it's a smart purchase. I looked at Penzeys.com, and their double-strength Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract is $65.99 for a 16-oz. bottle, complete with an apology on their vanilla page for how much they are forced to charge. Then watkinsonline.com, they have an 11-oz. bottle of double-strength Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract for $13.99. And what about the super cheap Mexican vanilla extract on eBay? How much of a risk is it to buy that? Why are the prices so all over the place? There must be a basic difference between Penzeys and Watkins that I am missing.

My first cookbook was The Kitchen Survival Guide by Lora Brody. I liked it very much. However, this was 10 years ago and I was college age; the book might seem to talk down to an adult. She seems to be writing for people leaving their parents' home for the first time, and can be a little cutesy, i.e. "Having a manual cleaning oven does not mean that someone named Manuel is going to clean your oven." (paraphrased) But she talks a lot about different ingredients, and what needs to be refrigerated, and has recipes for staples such as boiled eggs, fried eggs, macaroni salad, hamburgers, as well as some "fancy" but easier "company" dishes. I LOVED her apricot poppyseed muffins made with apricot baby food. I lent or gave away or lost this book but if I saw it at a garage sale I'd buy it again.

Round steak baked in broth/sour cream combination with onions. Basmati rice as a use-up, needed to use up some scallions and grean peas so I added them in.

This is actually not too far off from something I did last week. I don't know how to "fabricate" or "butcher" to save my life. I had four chicken thighs/legs that needed to be separated and trimmed, there were little organy bits on them and everything. I realized after getting into it that the meat was still probably 60% frozen. I also have a very, very dull chef's knife. So, I'm trying to do this over the sink, and between my inexperience, cold hands, dull knife, I ended up flinging chicken juice and fat ALL over. I got it all over some of my utensils that are in a revolving thing on my counter...chicken juice on my kitchen window...on the floor by the 5 expectant cats...heck, probably on the cats...on my cookbook...on my glasses and in my hair...it was DISGUSTING. It was almost funny after a while because it was just so bad. Several times I wanted to throw the meat away and give up. Afterward I went around with bleach and wiped down everything I could see, and took another shower! We didn't get sick, but the dish didn't turn out for me anyway. Now, after that story, who wants to come to my house for a nice home-cooked meal?

All my recipes make two cups of mayonnaise. I wouldn't use that much in a week. I buy the two-cup jar of Hellman's, and I just used the last of a jar that expired 10 days ago. Guess I'll just stick with Hellman's, and make my own if I have a recipe where mayonnaise figures heavily.