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I never even saw a prisoner. The guards however leered at me and made inappropriate suggestions about searching me. Horrid horrid place and people.

Coffee Creek prison is not the sweetest place but as far as prisons go it is pretty nice. Surprising, since there is every level of inmate there. Every inmate that goes to an Oregon prison goes through Coffee Creek to be evaluated medically and mentally, and a few other things. Many stay at CC for the duration of their sentence (a few I met yesterday and there for 25 years) and some are sent to other prisons after evaluation. The staff/officers/guards are for the most part very professional and joke around a bit but are not inappropriate. I did get a bit miffed at one guard last night when some inmate began to have chest pain and I had to go to the cell block to evaluate him. The guy was scared to death and in a lot of pain and while I was doing the EKG the guard kept telling him that he'd better let me know that he had been violent to staff in the past. This poor guy was in no way able to be aggressive or violent at that moment and his EKG showed an MI in progress and I was trying to keep the guy from cardiac arrest and the guard was making my job more difficult. I had to convince the guard that if he didn't help me get him to the infirmary he was going to die in the cell block and that would not be good. That's the only time I experienced anything but professional demeanor from staff. We are not supposed to sit and chat a lot with the inmates but I really have no desire to do that anyway! I felt badly for a young woman who gave birth the night before and had to leave her baby to be cared for by her brother until she is paroled next year. Sad, but this was her 3rd time in prison for drugs so she made that choice. If I had the energy I would write a book as I do this. It's an interesting experience but I would not choose to work there for a long time because I would become cynical and that is not my goal!

In keeping with the subject of this thread, maybe I will get the prison recipe for their chicken ala king. Oh, I forgot - it is not worthy of being called food.

You should write a book, Judi. I think it would be really interesting. At least keep a journal in case you want to write it someday.

Somehow the discussion wended its way to prisons last night when we were having dinner with two other couples. One woman had visited Angola, in Louisiana, which is supposed to be the worst one in the country. For some reason she was taken to see their death row, and she said that the prisoners kept trying to engage the visitors in a really creepy way. Not a good experience. Another friend visited Alcatraz and said that there were taped sound effects so you could get a sense of what it was like when there were inmates.

A woman who comes to our artists' breakfasts on Wednesday mornings is a flautist who also works in the local prison. It is a really hostile environment for a woman; the male employees all make nasty comments and there's no point talking to HR about it. She has a couple more years before she can retire and she just plans to stick it out.

Does anyone have a secret ingredient or tip on making killer mac n cheese? My granddaughter has requested this for her 12th birthday dinner. I'm planning to make a fairly rich sauce with several cheeses (gruyere, sharp cheddar, parm, maybe some ricotta), top it with toasted artisan breadcrumbs and bake. She still in anti-onion phase, but I may saute some garlic and shallots (cut really tiny) for flavor. Or leeks, I think she is OK with those. Fun shape pasta, maybe some crumbled bacon. Any other ideas?

OK, so this may sound totally ghetto, but I have always thought that the best mac and cheese starts with velveeta/milk sauce as a base. You can add everything that you want to it and the flavors come out, but the creamy consistancy of the velveeta blends it all together rather than having it lumpy/oily. I also add browned hamburger with chopped onions... DH would love to eat like this (what he calls "cowboy food") every night if he could.

Julie, as I recall my cousin (who is active in a gourmet dinner club) also uses velveeta in her mac n cheese. I'll give it a whirl.

According to a guy I was with for 3 years who is a superior court judge, Pelican Bay prison in California is one of those "worst" prisons. I can't even imagine. The words "Angola" and "Louisiana" in the same sentence makes me wince. The Oregon prison is quite progressive, as is Washington's. Of course, because the PNW is more progressive!

I love the term "cowboy food" - very descriptive. I remember from years ago a dip made from Velveeta and salsa. It was pretty good.

We always used velveeta in our mac and cheese too. We didn't bake it. Just put the cheese sauce (basic white sauce with velveeta melted in) over cooked macaroni noodles and that was it. Love it!

I made zucchini freezer pickles today - lots of zucchini in my garden. It is super easy and the recipe I used makes bread-and-butter type pickles.

First thinly slice about 4 cups zucchinis. Do the same with an onion. I also used a red and a yellow pepper for color. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 Tblsp salt and mix. Let stand for 3 hours, then drain.
In a small pot mix 2 cups cider vinegar, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 2 tsp tumeric, a few peppercorns, some ground pepper. You can add whatever spices you'd like. Heat the mixture just until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over zucchini mix and let cool. put some in a jar in your refrigerator, and the rest in small freezer containers and freeze. How easy is that!

Judi, sounds just like my recipe. Have you done them before and are they as good as the bread and butter cucumbers?

My cucumbers are hopeless this year, much to my dismay!

This is the first time I have ever made pickles so I have no comparison. But they are good! I found the recipe on the internet and it said you can use either cucumbers or zucchini. The next time I am going to use Asian rice vinegar for a slightly different flavor. My neighbors all have excess zucchini and we are all trying to foist them on one another. It has turned into a sort of game, with people sneaking around under the cover of darkness and leaving bags of zucchs on door steps.

Anyone have a really good chicken soup recipe?

Jud, it is a standing joke here than you dare not leave your car unlocked when you attend the local fair, as you will find it packed with zucchini when you get back.

My mother's secret for chicken soup is to use lots of bones for the stock, and brown/caramelize them in the oven before making the stock. I discovered something by accident - Sheltons makes delicious turkey sausage links, and I cook 2 packages of them according to the pckg directions in a copper skillet, and brown well using a little butter. They can be kept in the refrigerator and nuked for breakfast. The drippings are really really really good, so I pour a bit of chicken broth in the sausage pan and use that for extra flavor in the soup.

Sharon that's funny about the zucchini in cars. LOL

I use a stewing hen for chicken soup. You're supposed to include the feet, too, but I know where they've been so I don't.

The French add a bit of vinegar while the hen is cooking. It helps get the flavor out of the bones and imparts a nice taste. Other than that, I stud a whole onion with whole cloves, add carrots and celery, and cook in a crockpot overnight. Sometimes I put a bit of nutmeg in, as well, and/or some rosemary.

Does she just put the bones in the oven dry or is there some liquid in there with them when she's browning them? I usually use a left-over chicken carcass for my stock, so I figure the bones have been cooked once already. But they aren't really browned.

Do you use those turkey sausages in your chicken soup as well or just the drippings?

Mom puts the bones in the oven dry - and gets them nice and brown. She does the same thing with beef and turkey bones for soup/stock. So of course I do the same thing when I have time. Then, make stock with the broth from the turkey sausage pan, 1 whole chicken, the browned bones of 2 or more chickens (including necks), carrots, celery, onion, parsnip, whole herbs, peppercorns. After about 3 hours strain, cut meat from whole chicken and add to strained stock, then add what ever you want. I usually use carrots & celery (not the ones from the stock), and onion, parsley, waxy yellow potatoes, and rice - since I can't have noodles and I don't like the gluten-free ones in soup. Sometimes I add a few other vegetables. I don't use the turkey sausage for the soup - have it for breakfast with a little maple syrup oh yum. About a year ago I was cooking some of the sausage and tasted the drippings and they are just too good to throw away. They stick to the pan so it's difficult to scrape them up to save, so I put in the broth and scrape the pan and the drippings eventually melt into the broth. You can also freeze that mixture and save to use in turkey gravy.

Looks like we're going to have to eat a lot of chickens to get all these bones!

Whenever I make chicken I put the bones in the freezer. There's a whole coops-worth in there.

Whenever I make chicken, I immediately make broth from the carcass that night. I'll have to start stockpiling.

When I make goose I use the carcass for rillettes. I keep them in small containers in the freezer for hors d'oeuvres or what we call French lunches, with baguettes or crackers, cheeses, pâtés, and fruit.

I have never cooked a goose, and I don't even know what rillettes are. But what you describe as "French lunch" is what I usually have for lunch, substituting salami or turkey for the pate - but I call it "grab what you see" from the fridge.

This message was edited Sep 24, 2010 10:36 AM

Judi, I like that. My friend has a Cuban sister-in-law. One evening she announced they were having 'musgo' for dinner. Expecting an exotic Cuban dish, my friend asked how it was prepared. Very simple, you open the referigerator and everything in there must go. We now have musgo quite frequently ourselves.

That's funny, Judi! We call it a French lunch because most of the cheeses are French, and we put it out on a cheese board with little Laguiole knives and fruit. I like the idea of musgo, too. That's what we often do for lunch but we don't call it that!

Late with this - but on Mac/cheese -

I was guest - and asked hostess - because it was WONDERFUL -

she said - make mac/cheese however works for you - but put it all into a slow cooker w/ extra milk.

Don't know how long it was cooked - but it was just the way I like it - cheesy, thick, somewhat chewy - no runny parts

Just an idea

GG - I prefer local cheeses. There are some excellent ones here in the PNW. So I look for those produced in Oregon and Washington. Support the local economy, no jet fuel - that sort of thing.

You might be interested in the recipe thread in Dave's County Fair contest. I have entered my baked bean hotdish recipe and I see Pony has entered too. Haven't had time to look over the thread yet, but seems it should have a wealth of good stuff.

My daughter the Chef was over today and we made the following recipe which we took the basic recipe from the foodnetwork and elaborated it. Yummy and I hate pumpkin pie! Kelly came up with the Struesel topping idea and we both decided chocolate chips were called for. We used bittersweet..the good ones with 60% cacao..yum! We forgot to buy the raisins while shopping so made without ...still yummy if raisins are not your thing. Sending some to my other daughter away at college.

Cider Pumpkin Bread w/ Raisins and Walnuts and Chocolate chips w/Struesel Topping
(oh my!)

(Kelly & Bernadette’s version )

Ingredients
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup veg oil or (½ cup apple sauce & ½ cup veg oil) less calories adds moisture
• 1 cup apple cider
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup golden raisins ,
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips ( our addition) optional
Struesel topping – Chef Kelly’s version
. 1 stick butter
2 cups oatmeal
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
Mix all the ingredients together until well blended.


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine brown sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, and cider. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix until moistened. Add raisins, walnuts, chocolate chips and mix thoroughly. Divide the batter into 2 portions and pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Sprinkle streusel topping on each loaf. Place in oven and bake for 50 minutes. Cool in pans on a rack until room temperature. Remove from pans and serve.

Wow, sounds delish!