RosieAgrimony

What a fun thread. Thanksgiving Dinner is under control and I have had the most amusing break! First, my Mom hates cooking. She is pretty good at baking and has a couple dishes that are pretty good, but, basically she used a lot of canned soup, little seasonings, etc. One memorable dish was something she got from Weight Watches, back in the '70's called "Skinny Spaghetti". Take several cans of French style green beans, drain a little and place in a 13 X 9 pan. Cover with browned ground beef seasoned with a tiny bit of that dry minced onion and a little pepper dust. Cover with sauce, which is canned tomato sauce, sprinkle with a tiny amount of canned dried oregano, and cover with square slices of imitation or diet American cheese squares. Bake till bubbly and lightly browned. Luckily, she let me take over a lot of the cooking at a young age. Although, that was a challenge as Dad didn't like things with much seasoning. That has changed a bit and they both like my cooking. These days, they also eat out a lot. My worst meal though was a Thanksgiving Dinner. My boss's (and a long time friend) then girlfriend asked me to dinner. I was living in a Southern city and it was the first year I wasn't going home for Thanksgiving. Her Mother cooked most of the meal. I had asked what I could bring and she promptly replied " a congealed salad would be nice". After finding out what it was, I made a Jello cranberry mold my Aunt had always made. It is pretty good and the only Jello dish I like. Raspberry jello, you add some cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to the dry powder, then the boiling water, and when ready to add fruit, you add some chopped fresh cranberries, apple, and orange. And, as I was really into baking then, I offered to bring some rolls. The meal was awful. The turkey was dry and had a bizarre taste I couldn't figure out. I had never had dry turkey before that. Or not that dry. The dressing was made with some homemade venison sausage. I can't describe how bad it was. The mashed potatoes looked like nothing I had ever seen. They had a very shiny appearance, and were a very strange shade of grey white. They were half potatoes, half cooked mashed turnip. With margarine and skim milk, since that appeared to be the milk of the house. No salt as someone couldn't eat it. No pepper. These were on the table. The famous green bean casserole with canned greenbeans and generic soup. The onion rings on top were actually one of the tastiest parts of the meal. Candied yams which I despise under any circumsances. Iceberg lettuce salad and some add your own bottled (generic) dressings on the table. A rosey pink congealed salad with miniture marshmallows (the half the bag that didn't get used on the yams). I ate a few bites of everything to be polite, played with it and filled up on my Jello and a roll (large, warm and good, even with nothing on them as there was a tub of margarine on the table). I got away as soon as I could decently do so. I have never accepted an invitation to a holiday meal where I haven't tasted the main cook's cooking prior.

WOW, is this thread going to get my husband off my back or what? I only have about 1200 (maybe about 15 more than that) hardback and I have no idea how many paperbacks - those are mostly old and are in 3 huge Rubbermaid tubs awaiting me to figure out what to do with them. Most are upstairs on shelves, the ones I use a lot, about 20 are in the kitchen far from the stove area.

Wasn't there an article in the NYT last year or the year before on how to cheat at Thanksgiving using all store bought stuff? And, she/he took a couple of store pumpkin pies and made something out of them? Some other kind of pumpkin desert, but, I can't recall all the details.

My husband had a massive list of things he wouldn't eat and a taste for the bland. Wonder Bread, smooth peanut butter, no spices, etc. I thought, B___S___. I made what I wanted to make, and, told him, eat it or make a PBJ or something. And when we went out, I encouraged adventure.Maybe it finally hit him he was only screwing himself, maybe the it was the sight or smell, but, he began tasting. And, liking. After I had my MIL's cooking I understood why. The woman had 10 recipes when he was growing up. 2 for each night of the week that had a theme (chicken night, beef, etc. Her casseroles were horrible. He was always telling me she made something once every two weeks called Johnny Mazetti. I collect old cookbooks,found several recipes (it was a ground beef casserole with tomato soup and such from the 50's. ) I made it following the directions for the hell of it and it was not too bad, definitely comfort type food from the past. I think she cut corners and didn't add seasonings or used American Cheese in everything or something. Anyway, he was astounded. I make it now once in a while taking a lot of liberties. But, all in all he is quite the foodie now and enjoys food. Do I enjoy my own food? Yes, most of the time, although sometimes I think I am like others in that cooking it can ruin my taste for it. Mostly I like it. I like good restaurant meals. I like eating at friend's who can cook. We have a few who are really exceptional and you always know you will get a great and often unuasual meal. I hate eating at some relatives that don't cook well. Most people like mine, so, I always try to like theirs. Even when I really want nothing more than to give them cooking lessons!

Just watched the Minneapolis episode. One question? Where can I get a Tony Towel? Not sure what I would do with the Bobble Head, but, who knows?