Marlene

In a walk down memory lane with my mother today, we went through all of my dad's cookbooks. Score 15 more for me including an original signed volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I - Julia Child and an original signed volume of The New York Times Cookbook - Craig Clairbourne. I'll post the other titles when I get them sorted, but those two stand out in my mind.

I'm also with the majority that says don't cover. I'd also use some sort of fat rather than oil. Bacon fat, duck fat, lard, something like that.

I could only wish it was OTMH. I wouldn't have to spend an hour and bit on the road every day. The hostpital is Scarborough General. Anna, most hospitals these days will allow food to be brought in. They realize it's in the patient's best interests to eat and if that means bringing stuff in, they say go for it. Most patient lounges have a small fridge and microwave in them as well.

It was a good food day yesterday for the patient. I took cookies, beef stew and lazagna to him as well as some no pulp orange juice. He's not eating much at any given time, but by the end of the day, he had finished one container of beef stew 4 cookies, 1/4 of a sub sandwhich and 3 single servings of orange juice. We were able to get him into a wheelchair and took him outside for a bit. He enjoyed that so much, he polished off a doughnut I bought at the coffee shop. I love the idea of milkshakes. Calories and calcium at the same time. I have a milkshake maker. I wonder if I could get the supplies there without them melting? He's also asked me to make some creamy garlic soup which tells me he's getting his taste for spice back a bit. I'll make that up on Sunday to take on Monday. He has pictures of his loved ones and I brought him a set of flatware yesterday. I brought him enough food yesterday to last for a few days, while I think about what to make up for the coming week. I also need ideas for foods that will help rebuild muscle. As I mentioned, there's been tremendous weight loss and the operation cut through a serious amount of muscle and tissue along his spine. .This is also a good idea, which might also remind us to eat! His girlfriend and I spent 8 hours at the hospital yesterday and I don't think either of us had anything more than a coffee and a tea.

There are no dietary issues that I'm aware of. He can have whatever he wants to eat, which yesterday, was a quarter pounder with cheese . He isn't mobile, or at least not very. One of the other guys in the room or the nurses or his girlfriend or me get this stuff for him usually. He's just had surgery and really does need to build his strength up as he'll likely be up for chemotherapy once he's gained some strength from the operation. Having said that, I hear what you're saying Steven and it occurs to me you're bang on. Calories are key here. He's lost 45 lbs over the course of this illness and he needs to put some of that back on. If he eats anything nutritious, bonus as far as I'm concerned, but I'll feed him pretty much anything he wants to eat!. Mizducky, we are fairly fortunate in that the room with the fridge and micro is in a little alcove attached to their room. The only ones who have stuff in there are the people that share the room. So far, nothing has grown legs and walked away. I've got stock in the freezer, so I'll make chicken soup definately. Lazagna. Mac and Cheese is a great idea. Roast beef sandwiches and cookies today. The bring your own silverware is a great idea. I'll throw some in my bag for him. Keep the ideas coming. I can't make him better, but damn it, I can cook for him!

Too bad about the spicy.. I was in the hospital a couple of years ago with legionaires disease and my mother brought me thai food every other day. ← We'll add spicy in a few weeks.

Ok, there may be a relevant thread here but I can't find it. I'm going to be spending a lot of time visiting someone in a hospital over the next several weeks. He is already gagging on hospital food and so isn't eating very much. I've just made a lovely batch of chocolate chip cookies to take tomorrow, but that's hardly nutrition oriented! They do have a small fridge and microwave just off their room so I can take single servings of things and put them in the fridge for him to warm up. So what should I make? Lasagna is a given I think. We'll want to stay away from anything too spicy for now. What else transports well in single servings?

Hmmm, mine would be Beer Burgers. Or short ribs braised in beer a la Molly Stevens. I have a very old cookbook called Cooking with Beer. I'll dig it out and see what other treasures it gives up.

Yes! Please post it in RecipeGullet and link it here.

The puff pastry I get from President's Choice here in Ontario is indeed made with butter.

Hmmmm. They don't look much deeper than my cookie sheets, so I guess I could try one of those. I just wasnt' sure it would be deep enough, and to tell you the truth, I've never actually seen a jelly roll pan!

The recipe looks delicious, so I've printed it out and will be trying this one. Of course, I'll need to go buy a jelly roll pan. Oh my, the things we have to do in the name of taste testing.

Do you have a crock pot Kris? There's lots of things you can throw into a crock pot without too much prep. Ribs. Throw them in with some sliced onion on the bottom and covered with bbq sauce. Let them cook on low all day. Or on high for about 4 hours. I usually brown them first, but it isn't really necessary.

While I adore my all clad pans, I'm not sure I would pick All-Clad for a saute pan. I thought that's what I wanted. In the course of a discussion with someone though about how my hand grips the handle, I discovered it might not be quite the right fit for all that shaking and tossing one might want to do. I have very small hands and while the All-Clad handle does fit my hand pretty well, I'm not sure I'd get a good a grip as I'd need for sauteing, with the way All Clad shapes their handles. Thus, I continue to look for a saute pan!

I have several pieces of all clad and I love them as well, in particular my roasting pans.

Yay pizza! I'll try and do one before I leave on vacation, otherwise, I'll join in when I get back!

I have last year's version of this one. This year's version looks like it has two individual fry baskets which could be good or bad. The wattage on this one is the big thing. at 1800 watts, it was the most powerful one out there, at least at the time. I've been really really happy with it's performance. Waring Pro

I used peanut oil in the deep fryer.

Mostly three pieces per batch. I could probably have fit four in, but I didn't want to over crowd the basket.

It really did taste as good as it looks. I fried it at 365 and the deep fryer had no trouble with temperature recovery at all. Each batch took about 12 minutes in total.

I'm very much afraid I'm going to have to buy a pressure cooker now to experiment with pressure cooked chicken Thanks Susan. It was awesome!

Rice Krispie Squares!

Following the Minnie/Martha soak of buttermilk, tabassco and salt, I prepared yet another batch of fried chicken. This time deep fried. Oh my: served with onion rings. Because you can't have too much fried food at once! This was incredible chicken. Crispy on the outside, juicy inside. The flour was seasoned just right, making the chicken tasty but not too salty. Clean up was a breeze. Minne/Martha can definately be successfully deep fried!

I've got Aunt Minnie/Martha's chicken soaking in buttermilk. I"ll be deep frying this one tonight and this will conclude my experiments with the various methods both pan fried and deep fried

I did the Zinfidel Pot Roast tonight. I used a rump roast for this one. Browning the roast: The wine, carrots and onion. I didn't have any celery Added fresh parsley and sage: Even though we had carrots last night, I decided to try the glazed carrots anyway. I used baby carrots. (have I mentioned how much I hate peeling carrots?) Be aware that baby carrots take a lot longer than the sliced carrots Molly calls for. I've ordered a brisket from my butcher and the Pot roast with rubarb and honey sounds interesting for the next one!