35 replies to this topic

[out_of_the_ordinary]

We cook mostly scratch. That's how my mom cooked. Growing up, the only canned soup we ever had in the house was tomato soup, and that was to use as an ingredient in stuffed peppers and cabbage rolls. Most everything was homemade. With me avoiding gluten and many allergens and then DH needing to be on a low-sodium diet, the few convenience-type things we did buy, like taco seasoning mix, were out.

By the way, 's website has a recipe for homemade taco seasoning mix. Thank you!


Someone gave us a little cookbook about 10 years ago. I was shocked by the recipes--ok, what they were calling recipes--more like "assembly instructions". One was for grilled cheese sandwiches! Not some fancy new kind or something, but buttering 2 slices of bread, putting a slice of cheese between 'em and putting it in a skillet! It even told you when you should flip it over.

Edited by out_of_the_ordinary, 21 April 2012 - 07:27 PM.

[Cat]

Yeah, my brother watches those shows and thinks he could be a chef. At 50, in poor health, having never really cooked anything from scratch in his life. He keeps thinking he's gonna need all kinds of fancy equipment. I have tried to give him good ideas for alternatives, but it's all *dreamin'*. At least he's not "investing" in equipment because he doesn't have the money.

[winknasmile]

I had to laugh at your post Cat. When I did most of my cooking when the family was home we had no money for anything fancy. Most of my pans and dishes were gifts from my MIL or garage sales. Now that I don't cook nearly so much I have discovered Pampered Chef. A friends daughter sells it and has a party once a year for us. My but it's fun to shop at her party. Actually she's having her party at the library this year on May 16th and I have a number of things on my list. I'm looking forward to it.

I still cook pretty much from scratch, it's just a different kind of cooking now that the kids are grown and it's only for DH and I. Now it's pretty much grilled meat, baked potatoes, salads, etc. Good but just not the same as a chicken fried stead with potatoes and gravy.

[Motherhen]

There are some young people out there these days who think once they get married that all they have to do is sit around while the new hubby goes to work...and then comes home to take her out to dinner each night. Where someone would get this idea, I can't figure out.....and how did 'he' not see it coming? The marriage ended within the year--no wonder. I can't understand the mentality of this. I don't know her family except to see them but I know the mother of the husband always cooked very healthy meals from scratch--always canning, etc....but I just wonder where the new young wife got this idea of eating out daily from.
Then I have another friend who is in her 60's..now she 'can' cook but just can't be bothered doing any work anymore. We were talking about squash and I was saying that its work/tie consuming to trim the peels off of butternut squash. She told me that they have it at Walmart for $2/bag, already peeled. I looked at it....and you get about a handful for that price. I can buy the entire large squash for a lot less than that. (this year, I'm hoping to grow my own)
She also told me that she has friends---in their 70's, who have a beautiful kitchen but never use it. The wife of the house doesn't want to mess it up---so they go out daily for their meals, only having some tea during the day or the odd easy meal like sandwiches for lunch. Not only is that expensive (though they have the money) but its time consuming to be going out for meals! Who would want to do that?
As for autism, I always thought that it came from vaccines but a new concept recently opened my eyes. I've been looking into dyslexia for my son. I read a book called The Gift of Dyslexia by Ron Davies. In it, he explains how dyslexia is started in babies....if it starts after 3 months, then the child is dyslexic but if it starts earlier than that, then the child is autistic.
It is worth reading this book. I find it a hard read in that I don't quite understand 'it'-->what the child sees compared to other children of those ages (you'll see what I mean if you read the book)...and yet it all makes a lot of sense when I see the big picture when I compare what he says to what I know about my husband and son. My husband was dyslexic too but not recognized in school...esp. in 'those' days as we are in our early 50's now. Here in Canada, within the school system--at least of Ont, dyslexia is not recognized even now and our son is 10.
Off the topic here of cooking from scratch....but a person has to have interest in cooking and to see that cooking is not hard to do. Start with the basics learned, then do a lot of experimenting. Experience is the key I think and to have confidence...and then experimentation. Also to realize that even experienced good cooks have occasional flops...at least I have!!

[Ambergris]

Getting flashbacks to my undergraduate days, when I lived in a scholarship house funded by a private charity. Ten of us pooled grocery money and utilities, and took turns at the chores. I remember showing several queasily fascinated housemates how to cut up a chicken, and how one of them rushed off to throw up. After that, the house nearly always just bought leg quarters.


Then again, I was the one who made three-bean salad by opening three cans of beans, dumping them together in a bowl, and putting the bowl on the table.

Edited by Ambergris, 22 April 2012 - 07:45 AM.

[mimi]

I can't remember the last time I peeled a squash. I just stab them and throw them in the microwave like a potato. When they are done just cut them in half---scoop out the seeds--scoop out the squash and eat or just sit down at the table with salt, pepper and butter to eat the whole thing right out of the shell!!!! YUM

[winknasmile]

I'm with you Mimi. I poke holes in squash and pie pumpkins and cook in the microwave.

I have no idea how many I cooked that way last fall but I made gobs of pumpkin/squash breads, pumpkin bars, pumpkin pudding and froze them all, the bars and pudding were in individual serving size.

Thinking as a prepper I used nuts and raisins in some of the breads in case the . I thought it was added nutrition in case of a shortage for some reason.

[Motherhen]

I do that for many types of squash, depending on the recipe that I am making, but in this case, I needed peeled cubed squash so I had to.

[Annarchy]

OOOOOoooooooooooooooo,

You all have made my day.

Crazy as it sounds, in our history, we have the most notorious modern convenience. The microwave.

Our parents and grandparents, had electricity and the advent of the blender, kitchen aid and such. My parents and grandparents revolted and kept on using their non-electric appliances. lol

I cheat as much as possible with my micro. Saves on defrosting time, cooking the simple little thing that I would not, normally, be able to do, in the fraction of the time it takes the nuke machine to prepare.

However, when we had no gas last month, things were prepared over an open fire on my BBQ. Had 'ToDo' a dry run of Life Without Modern Convenience.

I am going to try your squash tip.... Mmmmmm

[Jeepers]

Someone gave us a little cookbook about 10 years ago. I was shocked by the recipes--ok, what they were calling recipes--more like "assembly instructions". One was for grilled cheese sandwiches! Not some fancy new kind or something, but buttering 2 slices of bread, putting a slice of cheese between 'em and putting it in a skillet! It even told you when you should flip it over.

Gees, I guess I should write a cookbook geared toward 'those' people. My recipe for;

Grilled Cheese Samich (American Style)

2 slices of bread
1 slice of cheese

Put bread in toaster. When it pops up put unwrapped slice of cheese between the the two toasted bread slices. Microwave for about 10 seconds just until you see the cheese melt around the edges of the bread. Now, it will be hot so wait a couple of minutes before you eat it.

[Jeepers]

Amazon must be reading us. This was just offered free for Kindle.
Cooking 101: How To Make Delicious Chicken From Scratch

http://www.amazon.co...ASIN=B007TMQL1Y

[CrabGrassAcres]

Remember Hints from Heloise? When I was about 12 or so, I read that you could make grilled cheese sandwiches with the iron. Well we always had the ironing board set up (I don't even have one now!) so we would put our buttered bread and cheese together and wrap it in alum foil then use the hot iron to make our sandwich. I never even knew you could make it on the stove. LOL

[windmorn]

I feel sorry for many of the current generation of kids. So many of them don't know how to do the simple things in life, because many in my generation wants to do everything for them and many of them don't want to learn differently (parents or kids). I get disgusted thinking about when ds was 9 and her friend's mother still dressed her (not just laid her clothes out, but put on shirt, pants, etc) AND gave her a shower!!! (No disabilities there either.) Her friends' parents can't believe I let her help cut up ingredients and cook - "they're too young for that, aren't they?" NOOOOO They aren't! Some of them aren't even allowed to use the microwave because they might cook it too long and catch it on fire. I would get rid of mine, if dh didn't like using it. The kids and I hardly ever use it, and what it is used for the stove works much better and the food tastes better. I usually only use it for occasional baked potatoes or to cook steam in the bag veggies that were on sale when I want to save on clean up.

What really brought home that this generation is in trouble is y-day ds told me most in his scout troop have no cooking skills and it aggravated him. They don't catch on when he tries to show them there are different things they can do besides hamburgers, hot dogs, lunchmeat sandwiches, and honey buns. He really hoped at least spaghetti would - jarred sauce, box of noodles and frozen meatballs. They loved it, but nobody duplicated it. Same with backpacking. DS took all home prepared meals to rehydrate. (Girl Scout Ramen Noodle stuff is one of his favorites). I had shared some ideas - Knorr noodles or rice and canned chicken or tuna, ramen noodle recipe, etc. I also shared they should eat some dehydrated foods ahead so it doesn't hurt their stomachs. It was a waste of time.

Ellen just showed a clip from a show called Mama's Boys from the Bronx that is an excellent example of how spoiled some in our society have become. These 30 something boys still live at home. The clips she showed had the son let his date for the night out the door in the morning and then beg mom to cook breakfast until she gave in, even though she had to go to work. These are the people that will have trouble when .

I spent a lot of time at my dad's parents when I was little. They did many things the old fashioned way. If I spent the night on Sunday, we on Monday. I remember the old wringer washer and never saw the electric dryer my grandmother was given used for anything but storage. We broke beans, shelled beans, shucked corn, canned everything, made ice cream, put canned milk mixed with water on corn flakes and many other things that I now realize that I thought were normal that most of my friends, if any, never did. The older I get the more I thank God for the things I learned from my grandparents and wish I'd paid more attention to somethings and asked more questions about others. My sis and only cousin on that side were several years younger than me and they didn't get the benefit of their knowledge, nor did they want it.

[Amishway Homesteaders]

Now THAT'S what I was talking about!
The 'normal' people that have no clue as what to do to make a meal.

And Yes, CGA I too was one in collage that 'cooked' with an iron! Anything we could put in tin foil was fair game BUT I could make a mean Reuben Sandwich I made.

[arby]

Hmm, wonder if one could make 'grilled cheese' sandwiches on a camp toaster, the ones that fit over a burner on the stove.
I was going to get one actually. I can feel good putting it away in the cupboard but make toast then, and use it over a small fire or coleman stove burner to do same later while camping or surthriving if need be, lol.
Just toast the bread and put the 'unwrapped' cheese slice on the bread and leave on for a bit longer? Close up with other grilled cheese.......

although its easy enough for me to use a pan for that.
I can see where the iron would be affective though, lol.

[arby]

am working on perfecting a single loaf bread recipe, it is going well. Rose really well this time too.

found out that condensed sweetened milk works well to replace the sugar mostly and provide milk if you are out of other milk forms you might use..... added warm water though.....

Smells so good.

I had to make sure kitchen was good and warm too. Whole place was quite chilly this morning so I warmed it up good before I went to mixing and rising the dough. It helped!

I think I will enjoy this loaf
Practicing only cooking what I know I will eat is a little skill I am wanting to learn better how to do. Most recipes are for much more and I think this helps me ration it out better for just one person who needs enough but also to not overeat.