Recipes!!!

[Schmeelkie]

Pressure cookers are making a comeback as they cook a lot faster than just stovetop. Mom always cooked potatoes for mashing in it, also stews. I inherited one from mom, but bottom isn't flat anymore and I'm worried about the seals. I assume my crockpot also uses less energy than the stove - I do use that from time to time. so, the value of 'old ideas' is making a comeback with increased concern about energy useage (for environmental or fiscal reasons). As for new products, the George Forman grill gets lots of use here when it's not outdoor grilling season (or when we're out of propane like now...), and due to the speed - hot dogs in 3 min, flank steak in 7min - likely uses little energy too.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

I've been looking at (and lusting after) the multicooker thingies - they're a slowcooker and a pressure cooker and a rice cooker all in one unit, depending on which buttons you push. :want: Pricey, though, and some people seem to have trouble with 'em. (If I recall correctly, some people also used to blow the kitchen up with the pressure cooker. Never happened to me, though...)

I used to have a pressure cooker. Wonder what became of it, it isn't in the kitchen now...

[jamiebk]

My mom always used to make pot roast in the pressure cooker. I remember some sort of valve/gauge thingy sitting on top of a small pipe vent. It used to whistle and vibrate. She used to warn us about messing with the thing lest we be injured...it scare the heck out of me at the time. The pot roast was always great.

[BigJon@Work]

My in-laws got us a pressure cooker. Dang thing was way too noisy. I want some peace and quiet when I get home from work not some loud hiss. We tossed it.

I didn't think that the meat was all that flavorful either.

[Trumpetmaster]

Crock Pots!!

[Haggis@wk]

Appropo of nothing specifically, I always thought the Plague Of Frogs was the lamest of the Old Testament plagues. I mean, all you need is a little butter and garlic and it goes from “plague” to delicious!

[Trumpetmaster]

Appropo of nothing specifically, I always thought the Plague Of Frogs was the lamest of the Old Testament plagues. I mean, all you need is a little butter and garlic and it goes from “plague” to delicious!

Anthing with GARLIC!

One day I will go to Gilroy, CA. Garlic capital of the world!!

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Driving through Gilroy is great. Just lower the windows and drive slow (not hard, the road's kind of narrow and twisty) and you'll be nicely marinated by the time you get to the 101 and hang a right for San Jose.

Garlic festival's coming around soon, I think. It's midsummer - end of July? It'd be a good time to get garlicked.

[jamiebk]

I'll be going through there tomorrow on my way to Watsonville for a meeting. Can smell it now!

[Giant Communist Robot]

Low Fat Chile Verde

2 tsp canola oil
3 tbspns yellow cornmeal
1 lb trimmed pork terderloin, the undisputed King of all Meats, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
6 or 8 chopped tomatillos
1 tbspn chili powder
1 can fat free chicken broth
1 can chopped mild Ortega chiles
1/2 cup sliced green onions
2 tbspns tequila
some salt

MIx chili powder and cornmeal in a bowl, add pork and coat it. Saute pork in pan, add what's left from the bowl, tomatillos, broth, chiles, and simmer ten minutes or so. Add anything else. Eat.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Yup, that'll work. If you drop the chicken broth into the blender and add a bit of garlic, a couple of jalapenos and a serrano or two it'll be a spicier chile. The yellow cornmeal could also be replaced with a an equal amount of masa harina (also corn flour, but nixtamalized before milling and so it tastes more like corn tortillas than cornbread).

I completely concur about the pork.

[Giant Communist Robot]

Its my belief that masa is fundamental to all chili. Its difficult to get here in Honolulu, which accounts for the yellow corn meal. On the mainland I know you guys can get all sorts of exotic chili powder also--I must contend with Safeway brand. I'd suggest ancho chile powder if available.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Try looking for the stuff that isn't available locally on Amazon. I found masa harina, and ancho chilis - both dried and powdered - easily. The shipping isn't prohibitive. If you want things to taste right, it'd be worth the trouble.

[Schmeelkie]

At Pumpkin's suggestion, I tried making meatball sandwiches for dinner yesterday. First came finding frozen meatballs without turkey or cheese (found pork sausage ones). Microwaved 'em, let them sit in some plain spag sauce for less than 10 min, slopped them onto hamburger buns and melted Lactaid cheese for Pumpkin and some colby-jack cheese for the big people on top. We loved them, Pumpkin was upset that everything started spilling out and he couldn't keep his together (partially a result of a slightly smaller bun and 5 meatballs, partially due to his smaller hands). He ended up eating the meatballs out with a fork, then eating the saucy/cheesy bun. He asked me to "NEVER make this again!!" Think I'll wait a month or so and try again with bigger buns and a little less 'extra' sauce on his. Bella will pretty much only eat chicken (preferrably in nugget form) and fish sticks for meat - so she just got some bun, a slice of cheese and vegetables. Now that her 2-year molars are in and she more consistently remembers to chew thouroughly, I'll be offering more kinds of meat to her (and they always put a little of everything on their plates at daycare, so she'll have more opportunities there). I've learned its often better to make sure kids eat SOMETHING, and that they are somehow hitting all the food groups, rather than make sure they eat everything you eat. I won't be a short order cook, but I will make alternatives available. quick eg - Pumpkin doesn't like vegetables with any sauce on them, so I'll offer frozen peppers instead (he got into eating them that way when HIS 2-year molars were coming in).

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

The meatballs could be sliced, or simply halved, and that'd make them less agile. Your Pumpkin is at a good age to help with "cooking" and you might get him to do the meatball butchery. Time permitting, he might even enjoy making meatballs from fresh ground meat - he can choose the seasonings, mix the glop, and portion meatballs out onto a baking sheet with the ice cream scoop.

Mike made a whole pizza for me, not all that long ago, using that pizza-dough-from-a-tube, jarred red sauce, and various toppings.

There's a Rachel Ray cookbook with kid-friendly recipes. Two recipe books that I found for Melle, with Easy-Bake recipes for real food that Mike can make in the Easy-Bake oven. There's bound to be others. The recipes have little line drawings with the instructions...

[piqaboo]

I love having Altoid help me cook. Her preciseness becomes an asset then. Its fun to watch her oh-so-carefully level the flour in the measuring cup, etc.
She was very proud of herself recently, for whisking the eggs to a uniform color without any help at all from mama. I was proud of her too.

It helps that all of a sudden, she's interested in arithmetic. We have fun showing how two half cups of water fill the 1 cup measure, etc. We did a little with displacement using butter and water, resulting in a completely befuddled child!

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Displacement. Eureka!
(I crack myself up...)

[Giant Communist Robot]

Starbuckesque Frappuccino

6 oz. double strength coffee, cold
1 cup low or fat free milk
3 tbspns sugar
2 cups ice

Pour into blender and push button. Whee! About a "Grande."


Mocha

Add 3 tbspns Hershey's chocolate syrup to above.

[Trumpetmaster]

Starbuckesque Frappuccino

6 oz. double strength coffee, cold
1 cup low or fat free milk
3 tbspns sugar
2 cups ice

Pour into blender and push button. Whee! About a "Grande."


Mocha

Add 3 tbspns Hershey's chocolate syrup to above.

GCR,
Can the 3 tbspns of sugar be replaced with Sweet n Low or Spenda?

TM

[Giant Communist Robot]

Can the 3 tbspns of sugar be replaced with Sweet n Low or Spenda?

I haven't tried it, but can't see why not. Just adjust to appropriate sweetness.

I don't drink coffee, but when I was with someone and wound up at Starbuck's I would buy one of these things. It always made me feel like a fool. Five or six bucks for what tastes like coffee with Hershey's syrup. Tim Harford's book The Undercover economist covers Starbuck's menu in its' section on price discovery. Harford says the difference in cost between the lowest priced item and the most expensive is negligible (suggesting that all items could be priced the same), so Starbuck's problem was price discovery. They solved it by letting the customer pay as much as they want. You choose! I choose to make it at home for a few pennies.