Cooking thread

In that case, go for it. Cast iron is cast iron, as long as it is solid and the lid fits snugly, any brand should do. My mother has one she inherited from her mother's mother. It's a no-brand, solid, piece of black iron that has better non-stick surface than any teflon you'll ever meet... and she's been cooking in it for as long as I can remember. I have no idea how old the thing actually is but it is awesome.

 

I live in the south. Raised on cast iron cooked food. I don't use them very much, but love them.

My Dad caught so much hell for washing the cast iron stuff... :-D

 

I have a glass cooktop so my very old cast iron skillet only goes in the oven or on the gas grill because I don't want to scratch the glass cooktop. But I do love it and before the glass cooktop I used it almost everyday for something.

Fred I always wash my cast iron skillet and then I lightly coat the inside with Crisco solid shortening then lay a paper towel inside until next use. Works for me. I remember my mother-in-law thought you never washed it either but it kind of grossed me out. LOL

 

My Mom is from the don't wash them generation. I wash mine depending on what I cooked in it.

Did someone mention bacon? :drool

 

I wash my dutch oven with a mild hand wash soap, immediately wipe it completely dry, and then give it a thin coat of canola oil.

Cast iron in a dish washer is one of the few travesties that are worse than cooking wine.

 

What is this dishwasher you speak of? I just have a sink. :-D And for the life of me I can't train my dog Max to do dishes.

 

Dogs are very good at cleaning plates, if you let them. Mine cleans the kitchen floor.

Also. Sonofa...! :mad

No wonder the link was gone from the blog.

 

Looks at Mimsy kinda funny... Girl, have you seen what those dogs lick?:-D

 

Hence why I added the "if you let them" part. my dog does not get to go near anything that I plan to have food on. She does however enthusiastically clean up anything that is spilled on the floor while I cook. By licking the floor. My very own walking garbage disposal.

Nothing says "Love" like 65 lbs of dog wrapped around your legs while drooling openly... rolleyes

 

Maxwell is banned from the kitchen when I cook. He has his own couch.

 

Chardonnay Salmon with Shrimp

This is one of those "I wonder if this will be good"-experiments that turned out really well. Just had it for dinner.

• Salmon filet
• Lemon pepper
• Shrimp, at least two dozen of them
• Chardonnay
• Cooking spray or equivalent

Coat the salmon in a thin layer of lemon pepper.

Preheat oven to 400F, broil setting.

Coat the inside of a large oven pan with cooking spray or whatever you prefer to use. Needs to be something with tall sides, because we'll be adding the wine. I use a glass lasagna pan.

Once oven is preheated, put the salmon in the pan and the pan in the oven. Cook for 10 minutes.

Remove salmon pan from the oven and scatter medium-sized shrimp all over and around the salmon filet.

Drizzle the chardonnay over the salmon until the liquid is about 1/2-1 inch deep in the oven pan.

Put everything back in the oven for ten minutes.

Cover the pan/fish and shrimp in aluminum foil and cook for another ten minutes.

Yum, yum. :yum

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/ChiliCat/20141110_192338_zpszqmp4ra1.jpg

 

Where is everyone? Surely my salmon wasn't that repulsive?

 

This is the good stuff.



http://www.vitacost.com/Images/Products/1000/Stubbs/Stubbs-All-Natural-Marinade-Beef-Soy-Garlic-And-Red-Pepper-734756002017.jpg

 

I am about to try my hand at making cranberry sauce. I have never done this before... this should be interesting.

 

That looks very simular to a recipe I have called Banana Split Dessert.
I make a layer of each ingredient, top with cool whip, sprinkle top with chopped pecans and drizzel chocolate syrup over the top. I do not add coconut, although it would probably be good. I don't freeze it but I might try that. Sometimes I substitute Cherry pie filling for the strawberries. It is yummy!

 

I would be more excited about these desserts if I wasn't allergic to coolwhip. What else could one use for either one?

 

Not sure what it is about Cool Whip that gets you, but maybe Dream Whip? Same idea, but it's a powder you mix with milk and vanilla. It's the only thing that would hold up in something like that... Reddi Whip or actual whipped cream tend to deflate quickly.

 

It's the milk. I can't digest it, so the allergy manifests with food poisoning symptoms.

 

Oh, ack, I'm sorry! Dream Whip contains caseine, so that probably won't work, either, even if you mixed it with soy or almond milk. I can't think of anything offhand (all the vegan ones I know of are the kind you have to whip yourself, and won't be stable enough for either recipe), but if I come up with something I'll report back.

 

Mimsy is coconut milk a non dairy option for you? If so you could try this.

Dairy Free Coconut Milk Whipped Topping
1 can full fat refrigerated coconut milk (use a brand coconut milk with high fat content for a better whip)
⅓ cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.Chill the unopened can of coconut milk in the refrigerator for an hour or two to fully chill. It needs to be cold so the cream and liquid portions separate. When you open the can, the solid portion will be on top.
2.Scoop the solid part into your blender. (Keep to the liquid, see note below.)
3.Add the sugar and vanilla and blend on high until smooth and creamy.

Note: Uses for the liquid portion of the coconut milk, add it to soups or curry dishes, or use it as part of the cooking liquid for rice, or quinoa, or make a smoothie or iced coffee.
Store liquid in a glass jar with a lid in the refrigerator up to 3 or 4 days, or freeze for later use by pouring it into ice cube trays and freezing, then add a few cubes to what ever you like.

 

Coconut milk is an option, yes. I cook with it on a regular basis. I will have to try that topping, it looks delicious. :yum

 

Something to do with left over turkey.

Chicken Casserole
Pre heat oven 350 degrees.
Spray casserole dish inside edges with pam cooking spray, optional.
Cut up cooked chicken breast or turkey and place in bottom of casserole dish. I prefer to just shred it with my hands.
Mix 1 - 6oz. carton sour cream with 1 can un-diluted cream of chicken soup together.
Spread over chicken.
Crush 1 or 2 sleeves ritz or town house crackers and sprinkle over soup mixture.
Slice 1 stick butter and place over top of crackers.
Bake uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes, depends on size of casserole dish. Crackers should be browned a little.

I make this a few times a year with chicken breast but once a year I substitute left over cooked turkey for the chicken.
This will freeze well also. If I freeze it I do it unbaked, you can divide it into two casserole dishes and bake one now and freeze the other one.
Take it out of the freezer the night before and put it into the refrigerator. Bake it for dinner the next night.
You can cook your own chicken or use deli rotisserie chicken. I prefer the white part of the bird but if you prefer the dark use that.
Sometimes I go crazy and put a layer of cooked rice oh top of the chicken then the soup mix.

 

That even 'sounds' like good. Is it like a homemade pot pie?

 

Wondered if the red pepper makes it hot n spicy? I assume it is. LOL

 

The annual bonus from work came in a couple of paychecks ago. I bought myself an early Christmas present with it... a new stove! I'm a little nervous about cooking the Thanksgiving turkey in an oven I've only owned for about a week, but I think it'll work out okay.

Thank you again Laura for saving my Thanksgiving recipes!

 

Mimsy, when I got my new oven one of the first things I did with it was my holiday baking. Talk about an adventure! Hope your turkey (and everything else) came out spectacularly!

Me, I'm getting a new stove top on Monday. I found out late Tuesday I was making Thanksgiving dinner. So... this is what I came up with given the lack of prep time and the non-working stove (thank all that's holy I have a separate oven and stove top!).

 

It didn't. It was an epic fail on several levels I refuse to go into detail about. :-o

Thankfully we had no guests for Thanksgiving this year, so there was no public humiliation, and The Guy was impressively patient and understanding about having to wait an additional couple of hours for the turkey to finish cooking... I am now determined to cook a turkey again between now and New Years, to try and get it right for next time. Frankly, it was flat out embarrassing, and I am deeply grateful that the rest of the family were out of town for this.

On the other hand, the new mashed potatoes recipe I tried was spectacular. :yum

 

P.S.: forgot to tell y'all about Thanksgiving Dinner, LOL

The Turkey was fine.....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g309/Zobor/New_2013/2014_New/Turkey1_zps3e6e2e65.jpg

The Steak and Onion Pies were good, as well...

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g309/Zobor/New_2013/2014_New/pies2_zps8dfeff84.jpg

The pastery mice and cat tasted yummy, but poor old cat ended up looking like an Owl after its head blew up and went all weird. Ha!, ha!...

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g309/Zobor/New_2013/2014_New/MIce3_zpsb3ae883a.jpg



P.P.S.:- Noticed I just Posted this in the wrong Thread, LoL! Welp, at least it's the cookin' Thread. Har!

 

Phantom I have to ask what pastery mice and cat is?

Mimsy have a funny story about my Aunt's first attempt to cook a turkey. She planned a nice dinner, invited guest, and cooked a lovely looking turkey and had my Uncle bring the turkey she was so proud of to the table to carve in front of the guest seated at the table. When he made the first cut blood ran out of the turkey. Now that is something to really be embarrassed about. LOL Wait the story gets better. The guest dinned on the vegetables and the dressing without turkey. Then she brought in the homemade pie that looked perfect and the Uncle went to squirt the canned whipped topping on his piece of pie not holding the spout downward enough and squirted whipped topping in the guest sitting across the table in the face.roflmao Perfect end to a not so perfect dinner.:-D My Uncle loved to tell that story year after year.

 

They are just my, (very lame!) pastry sculptures with fruit mince in them. They were experimental, but hey, I never got to eat any, so I guess they were good, LoL!.:drool

(I don't think I'll give up my day job to become a Sculptor any time soon, either. )

 

OK if I squint my eyes the one on the right kind of looks like a hamster.:-D

 

Oh no! Phantom killed Kenny!

 

LOL! ...Funny you should say that. The G./F. said the exact-same thing. "Looks more like the over-fed Hamster you have!".
Bah!..I'll give her Hamster one day, heh!, heh!

@ Fred:- "You killed Kenny!!!...You B@st@rd!!"...ha!, ha!

 

Look what came while I was away!

 

Nice Sgt. Tibbs. Just in time for Christmas.

 

Oooh, Tibbs, that is a very nice looking stove top! The timing is perfect too.

 

It's that time of year you are ask to bring finger food to a party or into work.
What are you going to fix and take?

Don't know about you all but I am a bit of a germ phobic, so I shy away from dips. I don't know/trust that someone didn't double dip. Yuck!:mad
Here is a take on the classic cheese ball. Little indivudial balls with a toothpick stuck in each one to pick it up with.

Mini Cheese Balls:yum
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 tablespoon finely chopped onions
1 tablespoon finely chopped red bell pepper, or pepper color of your choice
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Dash ground red pepper (cayenne)
1/4 tsp salt
Ritz Crackers, finely crushed

Beat cream cheese and Cheddar in small bowl with mixer until well blended.
Add all remaining ingredients except crackers; mix well. Crush crackers.
Shape into 1" balls or smaller and roll in finely crushed Ritz Crackers.
Stick a tooth pick into each ball.
Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

You can roll in chopped nuts and serve crackers if you prefer. I like the idea of the crackers are already on the cheese ball.

 

I've been making Grinch Kebabs for a couple of years. They're really popular, stupid easy, and festive all at once. :-D

On a toothpick, layer a green grape, a banana slice (I dip mine in lemon juice to prevent browning), a strawberry, and a mini marshmallow. I have a better picture, but apparently I already attached it in this thread, probably last Christmas.

 

So I recently got a pretty major bonus from work for being awesome, and I wanted to celebrate. So I decided to do so by cooking a prime rib roast this weekend. Just to see if I could since I've never done it before. :major

Recipe (and I use the term loosely):

Purchase a well marbled standing rib roast. This is the most important ingredient, either splurge on a good one, or cook something else.

Take the roast out of the fridge several hours before you intend to cook it. The roast should be room temperature when it goes in the oven.

Preheat your oven to 500 F.

Rub the outside of the roast with a mix of salt and freshly ground pepper. Stab it with a meat thermometer and make sure every part of the thermometer sensor is buried in the roast without touching the ribs. Bone heats up way faster than meat and will throw off the temperature readings.

Put the roast in a roasting pan and set the whole thing in the oven.

Roast at 500 F for 15 minutes.

Lower you oven to 325 F to cook it the rest of the way. If you like your roast rare, take it out of the oven when the meat thermometer hits 115-120 F. if you like it medium, wait for the meat thermometer to reach 125-130 F.

After removing the roast from the oven, wrap it in aluminum foil for about 20 minutes to allow it to finish cooking from its own internal heat.

After the 20 minutes, slice the roast, apply potatoes and gravy, and enjoy.

(Unlike the monumentally failed Thanksgiving turkey, the roast was an epic success. Any time the person I cook for goes back for seconds more than once is successful cooking as far as I'm concerned.:yum)