Cheating in the Kitchen

[digitS']

Marshall, not only did I not have sisters but my father was 1 of 9 children, 2 died in infancy but all were boys.

The odds of my grandmother having 9 sons is astronomical but . . . anyway. Dad was a pretty darn good cook. In fact, when he first left home he found a job as a short-order cook. That's how mom met him. (She ordered something & he showed up .) That job lasted until he went in the military. The boys had no choice but to help their mother in the kitchen.

DW baked salmon yesterday and then left for "girls' night" and dinner at a restaurant. Thinking about how to make a salmon casserole today was simple and matched the beef soup I made 2 days before, in most particulars. It was just a matter of substituting one thing for another and replacing some of the stock with a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup. Every ingredient was cooked and most were hot before it all went under the shredded cheese and in the oven.

I've never used carrot leaves for anything. I imagine they would have the flavor of carrots and, why not ?

Steve

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

I don't think you're a cheat, either!
In fact, my only wish is for an invite to dinner.

 

[seedcrazy]

I LOVE making stock and generally roast my bones and veggies in the oven to darken and then plop in a big pot of water. My BF is a vegetarian so I make a lot of vegetable broth and have found adding a few prunes to the pot makes a nice dark delicious vegetable stock. Can someone tell me, how long do you pressure can your stock. My freezer is acting up and I think I'd rather can mine than freeze it and risk losing it all.

 

[canesisters]

Sounds like dinner at my house on a regular basis.

I have a couple of containers in the freezer door. Every time we have any veggies or gravy/sauce left over it goes into one of those containers. Once one is full - into the crockpot it goes. Toss in some frozen beef or chicken cubes and by the time I get home it's soup.
My basic recipe is -- some sort of meat, with some sort of veggies, mixed with some sort of sauce, over pasta or rice - DINNER!

No where near the lengths yall go, but it works (most of the time).

 

[digitS']

Yikes!

Don't lose that stock! Someone will know - there are TEG canners.

Prunes in vegetable stock, huh? Not only had I never thought of that but I haven't been very impressed with vegetable stock, ever. I like prunes and just about all dry fruit. It makes sense, the flavor is concentrated and changed thru drying. Pulling those flavors out by boiling - yeah.

You know, I have used coffee for this and that thru the years, and not real closely related to this idea -- beer, as well. In fact, stale beer is never dumped out. Seldom allowed to grow stale, either.

Steve

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Phwew... I thought I was a thread killer!

 

[thistlebloom]

Phwew... I thought I was a thread killer!

I would have guessed it was that hint for a dinner invite Daisy!

>crickets...<

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

*LOL*
That'll teach me!!

 

[journey11]

I'd like a dinner invite too. Any fella who can bake such a fine looking pumpkin pie is a good cook by my estimation!

When you think how much a 32 oz box of broth costs in the store and just how simple stock is to make...wow, what a savings. Definitely frugality at its best. And to think Grandma always did this and how much better it tastes than the boxed/canned stuff at the store!

When I was a newlywed, I hosted Thanksgiving one year and my grandpa brought a smoked turkey. (At least they didn't put me in charge of the turkey--I'm sure that would have been a total disaster.) He told me that I absolutely must save the carcass and make turkey stock with it. I'd never made stock before, but since the smoked turkey was so good I obliged. Well, I followed the directions for chicken stock and when it was done I put the hot stock into a tea pitcher to let it cool in the fridge so I could skim off all the fat. The next day I took it out and had a solid block of turkey jello. Thinking surely I had done something wrong, I tossed it out. (Shhh...please don't tell my grandpa that.)

But how many young people today even know what stock is? I bet that would have made one awesome turkey pot pie, now that I think of it. I'm still embarrassed... Now I make stock all the time. I'm with you, Steve. I always beg for the leftover bones from the Easter ham too.

 

[897tgigvib]

There should be a topic for beginner cooks...

Like Hayley