Stop and visit, ... #33

Terry, I know you won't believe me but those sweet potato fries are so good it's not even funny.

Kid food is good but since I used to work at a garden I don't mind trying new stuff as long as it sounds good and normal. LOL. But if it looks like puke or if it jiggles and it's not jello then I won't eat it. I do have my limits. LOL

Kids don't but we do? Is that what you mean? LOL

LOL Terry you are too funny. You don't always use the big onion, it depends upon what you're cooking and how much your making. I used 1/4 of an onion last night, it was chopped up and went in the oven with my porkchops, cream of chicken soup, paprika, and a can of pineapple. And Red Onions are sweet, especially if you cook them, the heat and tartness is cooked right out.

You did take the Bay Leaf out of the meal when it was done cooking?? Bay Leaves are not strong at all to me, as long as you keep it to one and take it out when it's time to eat.

Ground Beef is always drained, just because they don't show it on TV it's usually done during a commercial. Olive Oil is A Lot healthier and has better flavor than veggie or corn oil, but you have to be careful when you cook with it, it'll burn real easy and a little goes a long way. Dave cooks with it all the time, I love it and I can't stand olives!

All of that stuff you mentioned is delicious. I love black beans, sweet potatoes, and chick pea salad, YUM!!

And Mac and Cheese, PB&J, I just discovered I don't like Twinkies anymore, way too greasy and sweet. Yuk!

Interesting about Krista, he knew exactly what he was doing by flipping her.

Sweet potato pie, baked sweet potatoes, sweet potato fries...

See?? That's just it!!! That sweet potato stuff that grandma made at Easter with the brown sugar and marshmallows on top?? That's just gross. And that is exactly why I won't eat anything sweet potato. Make sense? Not to me either....lol And Crissy?? Your dish didn't sound too bad, till you said pineapple?? Porkchops and pineapple? Huh? I don't like pineapple, buy mixing something sweet with something not sweet, I don't know. Sounds like the time my friend invited Krista and me to supper. John was working late (before this job), so sure, we went down. She had made (at noon and it had been in the oven on "warm" all this time, a meatloaf. Alright, maybe I'm the weird one, but I make a meatloaf like a loaf of bread, not all flattened out like hers was. Her husband put a piece on my plate and it was almost to my nose when I smelled something. What is that smell?? I put it in my mouth and I really wanted a napkin to spit it out in. It was yucky. I had to eat the whole thing? Oh my. So then her husband says "'tell her how you came on making it this way!! It's delicious isn't it???" I said "it's something alright!" They were clueless on what I felt. I didn't make my remark in any kind of tone or anything like that, and it wasn't meant cruelly either. It seems one day my friend went to make meatloaf and she uses oatmeal, so she went to get the oatmeal. Oh dear. Then she saw those little packet ones you make up individually? You know, apple cinnamon, cinnamon bun, those kinds. Not the fancy kinds, this was back in the late 80's, early 90's more likely. The one that made the most sense to her was the one with cinnamon. The funny taste in my mouth was cinnamon. Cinnamon and ground beef don't go together. Not in my world or my taste buds. Nope. Hence the brown sugar in potatoes with marshmallows on top. Now it's different if we're talking about baked beans. Those go together...lol I don't have a clue why some things taste good to me or smell good to me, and other things smell awful. Krista ruined my stomach for anything spicy. I don't know why, but it happened while pregnant with her. I thought it would come back, but it didn't. I haven't had a bowl of really good chili in how long?? Forget lots of chili powder and that stuff in there, I'm not doing it. My mouth has never been able to handle that. And I mean the spice, the hotness, the heat.

Crissy, I know about the EVOO!!! Peanut oil is another really good oil. But I meant, why do they add it in the pan before they throw in the ground beef or chuck or whatever they're cooking?? I've never added any oil to beef, it makes plenty of it's own!! I have never added a red onion that's sweet. Or bought a red onion that's sweet I guess I should say. I've bought plenty, they make the dish look nice. I won't eat them though. I won't even try one. I handed over one to John, "here. Taste", he said it was hot. Soooo, I didn't put a lot in the dish. I asked my best friend and my mom what they thought of red onions. Thought I get a different answer from my best friend since they all love onion anything. But nope. I got both of them saying they were on the hotter side. So I don't know. We sure don't have variety around here, that's for sure!!!
And yea, I took the bay leaf when I put the pan on the stove after I took it out. Just as the direction stated. It just tasted, yuck. It would be different if it were just me. But it wasn't. Like brats!! i bet you all like brats!!! OMG, talk about nauseating to my nose!! Seriously. Everybody and their brothers talks about brats and how good they are and I'd never had one. This was years ago. You cook 'em in beer!! I knew that much!! I started cooking then and thank goodness John was home because I had to leave the house. I absolutely could not stand that smell.Cooking beef tongue or heart would be on that level. It was that bad to my nostrils. And if any of you love tongue or heart, please please please!! I beg you, keep it to yourself!!!!!

Dang it. I'm out of time. I have a show on pause, it's been paused for over half an hour now! ooops!

I actually don't like brats. LOL. Don't like pork either except a really good ham. Onions are good as a add in in a dish but I won't eat just an onion and very rarely onion rings or blossoms.

Sweet potatoes with marshmallows and brown sugar....YUM!! Same goes for baked beans with brown sugar. LOL. That meatloaf I won't even touch. I prefer my fluffy too. And keep the darn cinnamon outta there!!! LOL

Funny the different tastes in food items. The ones I listed are yummy. I think most of the things listed here would be yummy, too.

My brother turned me on to peaches and chicken. Oh...my...goodness!!! Talk about delish! Onions? Love 'em. Sweet potatoes? Love 'em. PB&J? Love it. Garlic, pork, apples, turkey, pineapple, brats, meatloaf, pot roast (I just made a really yummy ones of those), etc...

Pork goes good with any fruit, I personally like peaches better. Terry maybe you should try some of this stuff, you might like it :) :) :) If you take something sweet and mix it with something else that's sweet, you have an extremely sweet dish, learning how to cook is learning how to off set the different flavors, sweet with sour, spicy with bland, salty with noodles lol

You add the oil for flavor, ground beef Grease, not oil, has no flavor and the olive oil or peanut oil or whatever oil you're using drains off just like the grease from the meat does. Grease is from fat, oils are from the extracts of the veggies.

Onions are hot when they are raw, they are not hot once they are cooked, they are very sweet.

Brats are all different, beer brats (you don't cook them in beer, they have beer in them already lol)

Terry you need to come visit me and Dave will show you how to cook and blend the different flavors.

It is funny how everyone likes different things. I like pretty much everything except anything that's pickled and cream cheese.

This message was edited Oct 4, 2009 10:39 PM

Then you don't like pickled beets? :~p

I LOVE pickled beets! LOL I always get them at the salad bar. Mmm...

Crissy, try mixing cream cheese with your favorite salsa. Pull out the corn chips and...mmm...again.

Yuk, I've done that Celia and I still taste the cream cheese. If cream cheese is in anything I can taste it, stands out on my tongue like a sore thumb.

That is a fun visual! LOL Cheesecake? Carrot cake with CC frosting? Cheese danish? Cherry cream coffee cake? Should I go on?

LOL this is fun! I do like Cheesecake without the cream cheese, put sour cream instead, and it's edible when it's smothered with fruit, or is chocolate cheesecake. Carrot cake gives me heartburn anyway so that's out. Won't eat Cheese Danishes or Bagels with CC on them, I'm a toasted Bagel with butter kinda gal. Love coffee cake with lots of cinnamon. LOL keep going! For our last office birthday party they got a chocolate cake with CC frosting. I didn't know it was CC frosting until I took a big bite. I ate that bite, of course, but that CC taste makes my jaws pucker.

What's in CC that does that? Do I have a texture issue or is it a taste issue?

Sausage cheeseballs? Fruity pizza? White choco-orange cake? Swiss and cc ball? Twice-naked potaoes? Provencale tuna pate? Peach pound cake?

This message was edited Oct 5, 2009 3:07 PM

LOL Celia!! You mentioned peach pound cake and I just made peaches and cream cake on Friday. Here's the recipe.

Crissy, don't look at it cause the icing has cream cheese. LOL

Peaches and Cream cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
1 cup of water
1/3 cup of oil

For Icing:

Large can of peaches
8oz cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar

Mix and pour the cake mix into a greased and floured 9x13 pan. Drain peaches and put the juice aside. Place peaches on top of batter.

For icing: Mix the cream cheese, sugar and some peach juice together. Note: Add only enough juice to get the consistenty that you need which should be fluffy and thick but not so thick that it doesn't easily spread. Spread the icing on top of the peaches. Keep the icing away from the sides of the pan.

Bake at 350 for 45-50.

Let's see, what can you use instead of Cream Cheese...??? lol

LOL Celia! You're making me hungry for cake and chocolate!

Which recipe do you want to try? I could see if I can find one w/o the CC.

I copied that recipe, Pep. Thanks!

That peaches and cream cake.

Here's one from Betty Crocker...

1 bag (16 oz) frozen sliced peaches, thawed
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup whipping cream
3 eggs
1/4 cup peach preserves
3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened (do not use margarine)
2 tablespoons peach-flavored liqueur
2 to 4 tablespoons whipping cream or milk
3 tablespoons peach preserves

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Grease bottoms only of two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with shortening or cooking spray. Reserve 8 peach slices for garnish; cover and refrigerate. In blender or food processor, place remaining peaches; cover and blend until pureed. Reserve 1/4 cup blended peaches for filling; cover and refrigerate.
2. In large bowl, beat remaining blended peaches, the cake mix, oil, 1/3 cup whipping cream and the eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pans.
3. Bake 8-inch rounds 32 to 36 minutes, 9-inch rounds 28 to 33 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pans to loosen cakes; carefully remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
4. In small bowl, stir reserved 1/4 cup blended peaches and 1/4 cup peach preserves until blended. Set aside for filling.
5. In medium bowl, beat powdered sugar, butter, liqueur and just enough of the 2 to 4 tablespoons whipping cream with spoon or electric mixer on low speed until smooth and spreadable.
6. Place 1 cake layer, rounded side down, on serving plate. Spread peach filling over layer to within 1/4 inch of edge. Top with second layer, rounded side up. Frost side and top of cake with frosting.
7. In small bowl, stir 3 tablespoons peach preserves; carefully spoon preserves around top edge of cake, allowing some to drizzle down side. Just before serving, cut reserved peach slices lengthwise in half; place on top of cake. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

Hey girls. Sorry, took a lot of time off waiting for my last surgery. Also had some drama with my brother.

Crissy, I will not eat anything sweet with anything sour, anything sweet with anything meat, anything that in my mind doesn't go together. And don't get me wrong! I make a mean meatloaf. I just won't be using any cinnamon or putting any marmalade of any sort on top of it. Sends shivers down my spine thinking of it. I also love, and make thru the winter, a pot roast. I use some onion, not a lot of it. I did however, in this last batch of goulash (grandma's recipe,might not be goulash to anybody else) my husband wanted me to make, use a whole onion. I would say it was a medium onion, even by the standards I've heard the "chefs" on The Food Network use. If you watch, it seems any of the chefs, they all pour some sort of olive oil into a pan, heat it up, then add ground beef, ground chicken or even bacon. I haven't heard why. I don't know why. Since they don't show how they drain, I don't know if they're using a spoon to scoop it out, or if they use a colander. I don't know. I know a lot of people dump it down the drain, but I'm not doing that and I doubt on the cooking shows they're doing it either. My mom has a metal baster that's older than I am and she uses that.

I was seriously grossed out watching Emeril the other day. He cut meat on his wood cutting board. Did they change the rule some time I don't know about? I've heard forever you don't do that. So for my meat, I use a plastic one, or whatever the material is. My wood cutting board is for celery, carrots, potatoes, that sort of thing. I ordered myself a new wood cutting board because mine is a thin one and it's cracked.

Forgot to add up above, I like onion rings or an awesome bloom. Whichever. Homemade is best.

As an aside that's not really not an aside since I'm talking cooking, they're cooking quail on the food network. Ick. No duck, no dove. As a Catholic you'd think I'd love fish. You'd be mistaken if you thought that. Love tuna or salmon though, which is fish I know. I just mean haddock or cod or whatever.

I like creamed cheese, so long as it's in something. Same goes for sour cream. The recipes above look good Celia, I'm just not much of a sweet eater.

I watch the Food Network more than any other channel, watch the Challenges, Iron Chef, The Next Food Network Star, Chopping Block, Hell's Kitchen (know that's not on Food Network but Love it!) let's see... Paula Deen, an Italian girl, Down Home with the Neely's, Alton's show whenever I can catch it, Oh! Bobby Flay's throwdowns, Rachel Ray, I think that's it. I don't like Emeril much at all and he comes on too late anyway.

Travel channel Andrew Zimmern and that guy who goes around to all of the restaurants and eats at all of their contests.

Terry, why not use a wood cutting board to cut meat on, just as long as you clean it when you're done with it? I missed that memo too. My grandmother was a Chef and she used wood for everything, just cleaned it with warm soapy water before switching what she was cutting. She had it made, they had a portable dishwasher and the whole top of it was a nice big cutting board, it was awesome!

Boy I'm having a mood swing LOL!! I was going to make some phone calls but I think I'll wait :)

Andrew Zimmern eats some really weird things. Things I would not touch or eat in a million years. Yuck!!!

Yea, it makes me laugh that he's not sick all the time, but if the locals eat it and they have the same system that we do so it must be alright, but I hate liver and anything that tastes like liver, and from the way he describes a lot of food it tastes like liver. Horrible texture that stuff has.

Wood harbors the bacteria in all meat which is then held in the wood. You don't wash a wood cutting board with any sort of soap because then the wood would taste of soap. Same holds true for a cast iron pan, you don't wash it with soap, ever. I did hear Rachael Ray say something about using salt on her wood board after oooops cutting meat on it (her words not mine) and that she'd use salt to clean it.

And doing a search finds that they now say the total opposite of what they used to say. If chef grandma is over, oh say 40 yrs. old, she's probably heard that they always said to not use wood to cut meat on for the reasons listed above. All it takes is a search and it's all out there.

I guess up here, we hicks all cook our brats in beer (they don't all have beer in them). You boil them in the beer, just till the skin bursts open, then put on the grill to finish cooking. If you grill them and the skin hasn't burst, the "juice" pops and flies out all over. Course, that's just how us hicks do it. :-)

Cast iron will rust if washed

Chef Grandma would have been 94 this coming December 31st. She was a cook in a diner in the 50's, then a Lead Chef in an expensive Chinese Restaurant in the 60's, then got a job with the County as the Lead Chef at Juvenile Hall until she retired in 1973. I'll have to look that up when I get home, she wasn't worried about it LOL!!

Huh, Dave just puts his brats in a skillet, I'm going to have to try the beer thing, I have enough at home :) Any special kind/brand of beer?

LOL Terry, like there are no hicks here!

Yup, also know that about cast iron. Problem with a new cast iron pan/pot, anything really, is just that. It's "newness". I had what they called a chicken fryer in cast iron. I'm not big on filling the whole pan with oil, a little is all you need, but being new, everything stuck. And yes, I "seasoned" it. But it's not seasoned until you've had it for generations. My experience with cast iron anyway. I would like one of those enameled cast iron dutch ovens. Do a roast, cook soups or stews in it. Best part is the no stick aspect!

My grandma would be just over 100, I believe. My brother said it just the other day and I've forgotten. Anyway, it was she who showed me an article she'd saved for me out of some cooking magazine she got every month, I think every month anyway. I can still hear her telling me to make sure I replaced my wood cutting board and used it only for veggies. I did, but I kept the old one for meat till it to cracked. I don't keep them oiled is my problem.

What ever brand of beer you like!! We had Bud back then (still do), but out at my parents where we cook them for Father's Day, dad has Michelob. Not sure if I spelled that right. Oh, last time we used Corona.

Oh my golly girl! Jez look around! Can't ye see me??? I's a hick! Ain't from the sticks as I know 'em, but I shore ain't from Chicago. (they think everyone else is downstate and a hick)

Oh ppaaaaalleeeeeezz!!! I'm from a city of 250,000 in CA and that city is full of hicks!

I like Michelob, and Corona, and Coors Light. I found some brats in the freezer, I'm planning on making Chicken Enchiladas this week sometime and want to fix those too but they might have to wait until next week. Let's see, I have a conference Thurs and Fri and a RU on Sat. My Goodness!

I don't use the cast iron, I use the Calphalon. Dave uses the cast iron and we only have one frying pan anyway lol!

When I was about 10 I decided to use a cast iron pan to cook something, probably bacon, and I let it sit overnight in water to get the grease off of it, let's just say my granny was not happy with me! She did get all of the rust off of it.

Have a great night everyone, Celia I'm thinking about your daughter and adding her to my prayers tonight.

Thanks, Crissy. You're a love.

Oh you're welcome Celia.

gulp 250,000 thousand people?? Thousand? OMG that's a lot of people. Farm people have, and probably always will, be called hick people. Seems they usually pick on IA a lot more than IL. But, since we're an hour away from IA, and this isn't a city we live in but rather a village, we're hicks and proud of it. And of course I've been kidding with you this whole time. Yes I have been called a hick more times than I can count, but I don't care. Reminds me of watching something, can't remember what now, but anyway the person said something about "you can find "whatever" in NY or CA". Nothing in between I guess. Or when we lived in TN and I'd say we came from IL, they'd always ask if we were from Chicago. Have you seen how long the state is? Man, it's 8 hours from here to the southern most tip. Not to mention it's how many hours to go north up to WI? You'd know, CA is a long state also. Probably longer than IL?

For pots and pans, I bought a Revere Ware set, back when I moved out in '78. I tossed out the frying pans shortly thereafter...since everything stuck/burned in it. Shortly after, I got the cast iron and that didn't work out either. I don't really fry anything, except potatoes I guess. I did borrow a frying pan every now and again from my mom. About 10 yrs ago I think, I bought Cooks Essentials from QVC. I do a lot of "frying" in the oven. I don't fry bacon in a pan, I have a bacon thing for the microwave. It's less greasy IMO. I feel your grandma's pain..LOL Phyllis' sisters grandson came and stayed in her house once when Phyllis was in the hospital. I couldn't believe she was going along with it, but hey, who was I. Anyway, he and his girlfriend used one of her cast iron frying pans and left it in the sink. It was pretty darned rusty when I found it after they'd left. It took some scrubbing, but I managed to get it clean. It was hard, because I didn't think I should use dish soap on it.

Celia, if your daughter needs prayers, she's in mine.

pepper, where are you?

I'm baack!! LOL. Was in Des Moines visiting family all weekend. Went riding, had a few mishaps, like having the saddle slip and throw me and my neice on the ground. LOL. Then my father switched saddles with me and when we got back to barn it got him too. Pretty funny. Played with my grandma's dogs and cat and chatted with an uncle that came up to town. Tickled my neice to death and just had alot of fun.

Thanks, Terry. We had a cancer scare but everything is fine. She does NOT have cancer.

Ouch, Pepper! I know that sudden stop when you hit the ground. LOL I used to barrel race and I've had more than one saddle slide out from under me. Sounds like you had a lovely time!

LOL Terry everyone assumes I'm from Los Angeles, and Modesto is 5 hours north and I was dead center. To get from the Oregon border to Mexico it would take about 13 hours to drive straight through, that's not including traffic from the big cities like Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Diego. It's close to 800 miles. What's funny is Ca is full of TX and OK transplants, mostly second and third generation now, everyone moved there for the gold rush and after WWII.

"There's gold in them there hills!"




This message was edited Oct 20, 2009 8:54 AM

I hit send before I wanted to. gggrrrr

Falling off a horse hurts big time! Glad everyone is ok and no broken bones.

Barrel racing, I bet that was fun! I used to tote Bobby Hurley and his crew around all the time, he's long retired now, but it was fun knowing those guys.

It was fun. Until you have a horse crash into a fence, roll over and end up with you hanging off his neck! LOL Thank goodness that dirt is so loose and deep!

LOL!! My neice kept getting scared while we were riding. Then she rode with my father and the horse he was riding was being a turd to put it nicely. Either that or her hormones were going haywire. LOL. He was riding a mare that we are 99% sure is pregant but they haven't called a vet to confirm. It should be a December or January foal.

Celia, how scary a time that was I'm sure. I'm glad all is well. My girlfriend used to barrel race. She won quite a few of them and was always annoyed at me because I couldn't/wouldn't come. Hello!!!! I used to say to her, I am so darn allergic to horses, it's no point at all when my eyes are swollen shut and she wants me to see her race and win? Cats are bad, really really bad, but horses? Oh good golly.

Crissy, have to honest here. CA is gonna fall off into the ocean the minute I step, or drive, across the state line. Add that into the fact I pay little to no attention to what town is where. It's not just CA mind you! If it's drilled into my head enough times, I'll finally get it. Not sure about CA though. There's a LOT of people from my class from high school that now live in CA. I know this, because when we lived in TN, there was a message on my answering machine one day from a guy that was in my class. I haven't seen him since we graduated. It was funny. I had never once been invited to our graduation reunion. At that time, it was what? 20 something years? And not a one reunion. I knew why. I had a cousin that was the same age as me. Actually I have another cousin the same age, she went to a different high school though. Anyway, my one cousin in my high school died. Not in high school, but after. In '90 she committed suicide. And I knew that everyone that didn't know me, the ones that don't live here, but are in charge of the reunions, think it's me. No matter how many times they're told that Terry is alive and well, I guess they didn't believe it? No clue. sheesh, I've been told it takes me 2 miles to get to my story and I see how true it is...LOL So the BIG anyway is that Mark, the guiy from my class, found me living in TN and even my phone number. I asked him how because I was so shocked and he told me "on the internet". He's a nice guy and I had a good conversation with him and had to call him with more info, but I swear. If the other people out there from my class are like him, they couldn't get their noses any higher up in the air!! Talk about making snooty comments about "my" little town. You know, some people can live in really big cities and some people like small. When I say small, I mean under 10,000 people. Ey, maybe 13,000 would be doable, but get any larger and I wouldn't like it. I didn't mind the little town we lived in down in TN, but we were just north of Chattanooga and all it's suburbs. BIG. So not used to that kind of traffic and I've never been a white knuckle driver, till we moved there. I'm not worried about my driving, it's all those crazies out there! Who drives so darn fast in the rain? Good grief! lol...they used to kill me. They'd close the school or cancel because it was supposed to rain. I'm serious! The women at John's work would tell him to make sure he stopped and bought milk and bread. I used to laugh. What am I supposed to make with milk and bread? Pudding? LOL

pepper!! Finally. And now I've rambled on so much I forget what I was going to say. Hate when that happens.

Speaking of rain. It's lightening out there something fierce. Think I'll log off for now.

oh wait! I have this radio station on, I think is from CA. I know our radio station doesn't have local on air people any more and the one guy is always talking about CA. The radio station I'm listening to is KLOS. And of course I left open the little window with the music, but came here on the tab opened for the radio station. I was looking for, I think his name is Tony Scott. Anybody else have Tony on from 3-7pm M-F? Classic Rock. WHOA that was nasty looking!!! I have to get off of here!!

I was riding the horse and the barrell lost! LOL

LOL Terry, the rest of the United States is going to fall off into the Atlantic Ocean! LOL

LOL Celia!! Better to have the barrel lose than win! So how fast do those barrel's run?

That sounds like a Los Angeles radio station, I'm going to Google it... YUP! it's KLOS 95.5FM Los Angeles. Never heard of it. My mom told me that back in the 50's and 60's when Wolfman Jack was DJ at a Los Angeles radio station if it was night and the weather was real real clear and no winds at all they could get the station in Modesto some 320 miles away. I think LA's smog stopped that from happening, now the whole state is one big smoggy polluted mess. One of the many reasons why I left.

How do you make that blue box with the quote in the middle?

This message was edited Oct 21, 2009 10:07 AM