Jaymes

Must say I've never seen $40 a day. I like 30 Minute Meals, but can take just so much. And also have never seen Sandra Lee, but have read a few of her recipes (linked to here on eG). They seem so ghastly as to be inedible. I may need to tune in just for the 'train wreck' factor.

"IDOIT"? Well, "I DO IT," too...cook from her books, that is. I find them helpful and handy at the end of a long day. In addition, I gave RR's "30 Minute Meals" cookbook to my daughter when she was in college. Her sophomore year, she moved into an apartment with three girlfriends. The apartment had a kitchen. The girls were busy. I thought giving them a few tips on getting started in the kitchen might slowly wean them from pizzas and burgers. It worked.

Date bars have always been a favorite in our house.

Unfortunately, it's been my experience that that doesn't work from NLD.

Lord I'll say. You should meet the witch my brother married. She's too good for Olive Garden for sure. In fact, she's too good for the rest of us as well. Finally, brother dumped her and got somebody a little easier to please. There are far more important things in life than restaurant preferences.

I think it depends upon how big your sign is, and how much paint you've got.

Ah yes, hilarious, and apt analogy as well. Thanks.

So true. One person's "I should be free to enjoy myself" is another's "Fine, as long as you don't disturb me." Actually, this analogy reminds me of that old comedy album (although I can't recall who recorded it) that included this hilarious bit: "Mind if I smoke?" "Not at all; mind if I fart?"

I'm just guessing here, but I think it's probably because he doesn't look down his nose at everybody that chooses not to spend $50 a game for Lakers tickets. I don't think the 'elitist' label sticks to somebody for what they do so much as for their attitudes regarding why they do it, and their opinion of others that make different choices.

Seems pretty obvious to me that peach cobbler is "from" the places where the peaches grow. Right, y'all? Right on. Peaches grow in Illinois. We ate peach pie, peach cobbler and Mom canned dozens of quarts for winter use. I got sick to death of asking what's for dessert and being told, "There's always peaches."Peaches are a Yankee food, y'all. So I guess we all get to claim them. Guess peach cobbler is 'Merican.

Seems pretty obvious to me that peach cobbler is "from" the places where the peaches grow. Right, y'all?

Lots of recipes with pecans....not only pie, but Pecan Rolls and Pecan Tassies.

I suspect this 'recipe' goes back into history as far as do milk and fire. Undoubtedly, somebody left the milk on the fire a tad too long. One can imagine the thought process: "Whoops! Oh dear, look at that. Hum, I wonder what that tastes like? Hey, not bad."

Here's a good thread with several excellent ideas: Cooking with crookneck squash.

Thanks. How old are they? My parents are both in their 80's, so that might make a difference. But they've been like this for at least ten years. I've read through the responses here, and have noticed several things that I like to make, but I have to be VERY careful about the spices. Soups, stews, goulash, pasta, baked beans, etc. If I add my usual compliment of spices to any of these dishes, I hear about it at the dinner table. And then later in the night, I can hear my father up rummaging around for the baking soda. And then the next morning, I hear all about what a rotten night he had. I think meatloaf is a great idea. You can bake up a nice big one, or even two. They'll be delicious, comforting, and a huge hit at the dinner. And afterwards, you can cut whatever is left into slices and wrap them individually and put them into the freezer. Leftover meatloaf is always handy. It heats up quickly and is good for sandwiches, as well. (Of course, I have to leave out the horseradish from my usual recipe. ) Roasts work well. I make beef and pork roasts a lot. Again, it's something where I can cut the leftovers into serving portions and individually freeze them. They're easy to wrap up into aluminum foil packets to reheat. With the pork roasts, my parents like applesauce, and baked sweet potatoes, and some sort of veggie. We eat a lot of squash this time of year. You can buy bags of individually-frozen chicken breasts at Sam's and Costco, and poach or broil them. They keep in the freezer, and are easy to pull out one or two at a time. They go well with a lot of things. Ditto flash-frozen fish fillets. In addition to broiling them with a little wine and butter, you can drop them into fish stock and make wonderful quick fish soups and stews. Two other things I cannot make enough of are corn pudding and seafoam salad. The corn pudding tastes great, goes with many mains, is nutritious, and keeps nobody up at night, unless I add green chiles, which I finally have learned not to do. There are many versions of corn pudding. One of the easiest is "Jiffy Corn Pudding," which I've posted a recipe for somewhere on eGullet. All of the old folk seem to really love that. And seafoam salad. We do not have a history of congealed salads in my family. So I don't recall ever making this until I became responsible for my parents' meals. But now, it seems they absolutely love it. Who knows why. Tastes change. I make it at least several times a week. It keeps in the fridge, and they'll even have some for a light lunch. I like the fact that they are eating protein in the cottage cheese. The recipe calls for nuts, but I leave them out. Neither of my parents can easily chew nuts anymore. There are many, many recipes for seafoam salad. This is the one I use. Seafoam Salad 1 large box lime gelatin 1/2 C mayo or Miracle Whip 1 C cottage cheese 1 C canned, crushed pineapple (do not drain) 1/2 C chopped nuts Dissolve gelatin in 2 C boiling water. Stir in 1 C ice cubes. When ice cubes melt, add mayo and stir until blended. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Chill until firm. Oh. And if you really want to be a hero, bake a couple of pound cakes. Cut back on the sugar called for (I usually cut back at least 1/3). Wrap them well and put them into the freezer. They are great to slice for dessert, topped with some fresh fruit, and a little ice cream. Or even to toast and butter as an occasional treat with coffee in the mornings. It's a nice luxury, and not so bad for you as cake with some sort of heavy, sugary icing.

This is why I usually request a straw. It is absolutely stunning to me how often servers (that have bussed other tables, fingered money via tips or taking dollars back and forth to the casher, stood around scratching various parts of their own bodies, etc.) absolutely insist on putting their hands all over the rim of my glass.

Good luck. You are dealing with a great many more issues than it would appear at first glance. I'd suggest you start by chatting up the grandparents, or, if that's not workable right now, whomever it is that currently either does most of their cooking, or knows them best. You need to know if they can handle spicy foods. And by 'spicy,' I mean anything with flavor. Many older folks love spicy foods, but their digestive systems simply can no longer handle it. And many things you'd think are perfectly safe will give them indigestion. My father has always loved curries, barbecue, Mexican food, chili, raw onions in salads, etc. But he can no longer eat any of them. Also, you'll probably need to cut back on the salt. It's quite possible that salt is completely out. Ask. And ask about any interaction with medications. A neighbor of my parents' recently brought over a grapefruit and avocado salad. My folks couldn't eat it because of the grapefruit, which interferes with their heart medicine. Most oldsters with health issues are also trying hard to cut back on fats. They really love baked chicken, some plainly-cooked vegetables, a simply-dressed tossed salad. Mashed or baked potatoes (and skip any sort of fancy seasonings or your impressive chive and roquefort topping). That sort of thing. This is actually what I do. Cook for the elderly. Day in and day out. Good luck. PS - of course, this all assumes that your grandparents ARE elderly. And not in their 50's or something. In which case, nevermind.

And so have I told y'all about the time we invited eight Iranian fighter pilots to our home for a "typical American backyard cookout"? And the guests showed up with several sacksful of groceries? And immediately went into the kitchen and prepared a dinner for themselves and for us to taste? And wouldn't touch my hamburgers? Until after dinner, when they finally confessed that they really hadn't wanted to be rude, but that they had to do something since my husband had told them we were having HAMburgers, and they couldn't eat ham?

Sadly, I had to separate them (because the "punchbowl" was actually my baby's plastic bathtub). But, knowing men, I'm sure he quickly found a replacement.

But wait. There's more! So my husband and I had only been married about a year. We were living in the Philippines in a small house -- two bedrooms, but only one bedroom (ours) had a bed in it. And we had these close friends. A married couple. They had been arguing a lot lately. And, in fact, had decided that when they moved back to the States (in about two months), they were going to get a divorce. It was sad for all of their friends to contemplate. For one thing, they had two young daughters. But everyone was trying to make the best of things. So we have this dinner party. Again, at least 20-30 people there. And round about 1 am or so, I can't find Bob & Judy. They hadn't said goodbye. They hadn't thanked us for the wonderful evening. They hadn't commented upon how delicious was the leg of lamb. They just weren't around. I looked outside, and their car was still parked by the curb. I looked out into the back yard where folks were chatting and laughing. I looked into the carport where a DJ had set up shop and folks were boogying. I looked throughout the house, but no Bob & Judy. Finally, puzzled, I headed toward the back of the house. And I heard giggling. It was coming from behind the closed door of our bedroom. I held my ear close to the door. Bob and Judy were in our bed, having sex. And clearly enjoying the hell out of it. So I told my husband and he said, "No way" and we both went and stood outside the door and he said, "Okay, so you're right? What can we do?" We agreed to do nothing. Just wait until they finished and reappeared and act like we had no clue. Oh, and change the sheets before we went to bed. My husband and I waited and waited and waited. We kept checking the door. But Bob & Judy had fallen asleep. My husband and I slept on our living room floor. You can imagine how embarassed Bob and Judy were when they finally reappeared around dawn. But I just looked at them and said, "Anybody hungry?" What the hell. Those memories are priceless now. And as for Bob and Judy....they did go back to the States. They did manage to keep it together for a few more years. But finally, those good times in the bedroom came to an end. For us all.

And that reminds me of the funniest "sleepover guest" story. We were living in New Mexico. It was winter. We had a dinner party for about 20-30, which was pretty typical. I made my grandmother's favorite punch. A whiskey punch. When asked if he'd like some punch, this one guy says, "I hate punch. It's for sissies and women. And ground pounders. But not me." So I said, "You ought to try it. My grandmother was a pretty good time gal and she never did like a lot of fruit in her punch." Now as I said, this was winter in New Mexico. It was cold. And so to save refrigerator space, I had this huge tub of this punch sitting on the hood of the car in the garage. The guy had several helpings of the punch, and commented upon how good it was. Along about midnight, I went to bed, as usual. The dinner party was still going strong. The next morning, when I stepped out to the garage to get another dozen eggs out of the fridge, there was my dinner guest. Asleep on the hood of the car, snuggled up to the punchbowl. Which was empty.

When I was young, and just married, and just beginning to entertain, this used to happen to me all the time. And I literally mean ALL the time. At least two or three times a month. At first, I'd attempt to wait 'em out, hint around, then try to push 'em out the door. Sometimes that even worked. But mostly, it didn't. Finally, I just decided what the hell. I'd go to bed. Usually around midnight. In the morning, I'd get up, go out to the kitchen, step over the bodies lying around the living room, and start breakfast. At one point, my husband said, "Look, maybe a cup of Jack Daniel's is too much to put into the Irish coffee. Especially since practically everybody has two." (I was serving them in beautiful glass beer steins. And believe me, they were tasty!) So I cut back. And that did help. But I still found myself making breakfast for impromptu sleepover guests more often than not. Actually, for about the next 15 years. 'Til one day, I realized with some sadness, we had all grown up. And the dinner guests were gone by 11. And even earlier now. Us old folk don't like driving after dark, you know.

Peanut Butter Pie? It was a big favorite, as I recall. Oh, and how about Pineapple Upside Down Cake?

With luck, your budget may have eased by next fall, but if not (and assuming you live in the US), here's my best tip for eating well while broke. 'Round about Thanksgiving, most of the large grocery chains put their turkeys on sale as a "loss leader." I've seen them as low as 33 cents a pound. And even free, if you buy $25 worth of groceries. At that time of year -- in addition to the one I buy for our holiday dinner -- I usually purchase at least two more. Butchers have meat saws that can saw these frozen birds in half, which I have them do. Then I wrap them well, and store them in the freezer. These turkey halves offer many GREAT and very economical dinner options later in the year. I frequently will BBQ one or two on the backyard grill in the summertime. Make up some cole slaw, bake some beans, and throw a few cobs of corn onto the fire, and that's good (and cheap) eating. The turkeys are always good roasted. You can make an inexpensive bread dressing/stuffing, pile it onto a cookie sheet, and then lay the turkey half over it before you bake. You can make turkey soups and stews, using inexpensive stretchers such as rice, potatoes, noodles. Use the meat for Turkey a la King, Turkey Spaghetti, King Ranch Turkey, Turkey Sloppy Joes, Turkey Cacciatore, curries, and any other casserole or dish that calls for chicken. I could get my family of five through an entire week with a turkey half and a sack of potatoes.

I've also managed to pony up for some RG beans. And while they may be more expensive than what I've bought at my local super, for me, it's been worth it for several reasons. They are NEVER old or stale. Often I've thought I'm saving money buying beans in bulk at my local discounter. It's no savings to have to throw them out because they never softened during the cooking process. It's bad enough when you're on a budget, but to have to either eat inedible food, or throw it away, doesn't help. Also, RG has an amazing selection. As I said, it's bad enough when you're on a tight budget. But pound for pound, bite for bite, beans are among the most least-expensive things you can buy. No matter how tight my grocery budget is, I feel like I'm a real high-roller selecting from such exotic-sounding items as Yellow Indian Woman beans. Most beans expand to three times their size during cooking. So one cup of beans winds up to be at least three cups of the final product at your dinner table. Four cups or more, if you've made a saucy version and you add the cooking liquid, as for Mexican pinto beans. And they are nutritious enough that you could live on beans alone, if you had to. They truly are a gift from Mother Nature.