Cooking...

[RandomAnthony]

What's your "go to" dinner you can cook and wouldn't be ashamed to have other people eat? Do you like to cook? Do you make a big deal out of dinner on a regular basis?

I make a decent spinach lasagna, and I do a decent roasted vegetables collection (it's easy as hell). I'm not a great cook but I like to cook when I have the time. On Sundays, esp. during football season, I can stretch out and take a little more time with cooking. On most weeknights we do something easier (e.g. Indian food, pasta, tofu, although the kids usually eat something different). We try to eat together but that doesn't always work.

Oh, I'm also good with scrambled eggs. And after a teenage stint working at Mrs. Fields cookies I can make some decent cookies.

I'm better with simple cooking...when I read terms like "reduce" in the recipe I get worried.

And...you?

[Sarah]

My partner is a classically trained chef, which makes cooking a little intimidating for me. I have go-to meals, but I tend to make them for potlucks or whatever, rather than at home, where I usually end up as sous chef and dishwasher, which I don't mind, since I wind up with a far yummier meal than I would have made on my own.

My go to dishes that I make okay on my own: a sorta-chili black bean thing that tastes good as a dip or in a tortilla. A pasta with chickpeas and brocolli and lemon and dill. A butternut squash bake with mushrooms and greens and feta or goat cheese.
That's about it.

[Sally, la reina]

That sounds nice, I love butternut squash. In fact, I love squash.

I cook. Pretty much every day - one the weekends it is all day long. I make a really great breakfast casserole with sausage and hash browns. I can also hold my own with quiche - I've made this neat one with stuffing for a crust and cubed turkey and swiss inside.
I love to make chicken soup from scratch. Meatballs are fun - either Italian wedding soup or meatballs and spaghetti. My favorite thing I make for us - or others is my scratch Mac and Cheese. I've been tweaking the recipe for years and it is distinctly mine now. I love that.

[Félix]

I just made my perfection of mac & cheese last night. It's one of my favorites to put together. I inherited the basis for Italian stuff from my ex (well, here mother, actually). I make meatballs that get raves, and a baked rigatoni with ground beef and ricotta/mozzerella that I usually eat way too much of. I also do a zucchini parmasan that everyone who who's had it thinks is very good.

Cooking is fun. It's comforting, too.

Oh and I really like butternut squash, too. I roast it with olive oil, salt and pepper until it's beautifully browned, then whip it up like mashed potatoes. Lots of butter, and a little nutmeg make it perfect.

[Sally, la reina]

I agree, Larry! Cooking is my rock. No matter what else/all is going on in my day, my kitchen is my sanctuary. I step in there, pour a glass of wine, turn on NPR, and find a good recipe. Then I make do with what I have on hand and spend the next hour chopping, simmering, sauteeing, and roasting.
Sweeter loves everything I make, so it is fun to try new stuff out. I never feel limited or constrained.

[Félix]

Life is good.

[Sally, la reina]

I'm craving corn tortillas. I might try to make some huevos rancheros for breakfast.

[Félix]

huevos ranch-handos lots of tabasco

[Sally, la reina]

One of my favorite parts of Centennial was the cattle drive, and more specifically, the Mexican cook they hired at a time when nobody was hiring Mexicans. The food he made sounded so ... rustic. Like the cast-iron pot of sourdough starter he kept hanging on a peg in the cooking wagon. mmmmm. My sister hates sourdough, and I've never understood that. I think it is so yum.

[Félix]

I read that so long ago I had forgotten that part.
Yes sourdough is very good.

[Sally, la reina]

*pokes Larry with cattle prod*

[Félix]

*jumps ten feet in the air*

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

I make a good spinach lasagna too, and homemade mac & cheese with onion and diced tomatoes in it. Mmmm! I can make Greek avgolemono soup.

[Félix]

avgolemono

Come again?

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

Avgolemono is a chicken broth, rice, egg and lemon soup, Larry. I used to make it fairly often, but now Chris has trouble digesting eggs. I think he ate too many undercooked popovers, and can no longer handle any eggy things that aren't cooked for a long time.
Including Greek egg-lemon soup.

[Félix]

Sounds good. The soup, I mean, not Chris's digestive ailment.

[Leslie]

My go to meal would have to be stir fry--I buy these bags of veggies all ready for the wok and then have cans of baby corn and water chestnuts, lots of soy sauce, sesame seed oil, garlic, ginger, a little oj concentrate or pineapple if I have it, a little rice wine vinegar--yum!!! Then some rice or pasta. I have a big wok, I really like cooking stir fries.

[Félix]

That makes me hungry, Leslie.

[Sally, la reina]

woks rock.

[Félix]

Yeah that's why you should have one of those rings under it so it's not so unstable over the burner.

[Sally, la reina]

no, no ... oh wait. Um, Houston, we have a problem.

[Félix]

When I first saw #19, I thought it said "words rock," and I thought, wow, that's really profound, and sounds like something Sally would say ....

[[deleted user]]

I make delicious refried beans. They're everybody's favorite. Yay, cumin!

[Félix]

Yay, lard!

[[deleted user]]

No.

[Félix]

No lard?

[[deleted user]]

I'm a vegetarian, Larry. But I am a friend to fats; don't worry.

Olive oil! And Queso Fresco!

[Félix]

That makes sense. Emeril isn't always right about it being a "pork fat thing."

[Leslie]

Cumin is a must for refried beans--and garlic! YUM!

[Félix]

Agreed.

[Sally, la reina]

Tonight for supper I made some fantastic enchilada/mole sauce from scratch. It called for a tablespoon of cumin and I added two. Cumin rocks.