(03-16-2020 02:54 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 01:38 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  Golly gee, does any women prepare meals anymore? LOL

My wife does some, but it's easier for me to do so than her because of her work schedule and I really enjoy cooking. I was the designated cook at the firehouse, and I do most of the cooking at the deer club and duck club.

My wife is a fantastic cook. I lucked out in that regard. I wish I could cook better. It's best for me to stay outside and cook on the grill because I'm dangerous if I try to bake anything or cook inside on the stove.

Blue Apron last night. Blue Apron tonight. Maybe Pizza Wednesday

(03-16-2020 03:49 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:54 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 01:38 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  Golly gee, does any women prepare meals anymore? LOL

My wife does some, but it's easier for me to do so than her because of her work schedule and I really enjoy cooking. I was the designated cook at the firehouse, and I do most of the cooking at the deer club and duck club.

My wife is a fantastic cook. I lucked out in that regard. I wish I could cook better. It's best for me to stay outside and cook on the grill because I'm dangerous if I try to bake anything or cook inside on the stove.

Baking is about the only thing cooking-wise I have trouble with.

Honestly, I don't know a male on either side of my family who doesn't cook. My maternal Grandfather cooked breakfast every morning because he got up earlier than my Grandmother, and at least once a week he would take a turn cooking supper. He never cooked Sunday dinner though, that was her domain.

My paternal Grandfather mainly stuck to the grill, the BBQ pit, or the fish fryer but he could cook on the stove, and he made the absolute best homemade bread.

One of my uncles has a tradition where he and his grands bake and decorate Christmas cookies the Saturday night before Christmas and watch Christmas movies until midnight. He's got grands ranging from three to twenty-three and all eight of them still show up.

(03-16-2020 03:28 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:59 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  I have mastered a recipe for spaghetti and sausage meatballs. Very tasty.

I just made a Lasagna for me and mine. Then again, I enjoy cooking all the family recipes. Don't go out too much as I prefer a home-cooked meal with me and mine around the family table.

(03-16-2020 02:54 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:47 PM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:28 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:17 PM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  My wife is making meal #1 from our prep stash. Chili in the crock pot (made with ground sirloin from our local farm), with some Jiffy on the side. We're good!

The peanut butter?

OK, understand. Even now I guess there are still regional differences that aren't so clear to us outsiders. That's like asking someone what kind of coke do they want to drink.

Whoa. Lol.

I thought for sure you were kidding.

(03-16-2020 04:13 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 03:49 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:54 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 01:38 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  Golly gee, does any women prepare meals anymore? LOL

My wife does some, but it's easier for me to do so than her because of her work schedule and I really enjoy cooking. I was the designated cook at the firehouse, and I do most of the cooking at the deer club and duck club.

My wife is a fantastic cook. I lucked out in that regard. I wish I could cook better. It's best for me to stay outside and cook on the grill because I'm dangerous if I try to bake anything or cook inside on the stove.

Baking is about the only thing cooking-wise I have trouble with.

Honestly, I don't know a male on either side of my family who doesn't cook. My maternal Grandfather cooked breakfast every morning because he got up earlier than my Grandmother, and at least once a week he would take a turn cooking supper. He never cooked Sunday dinner though, that was her domain.

My paternal Grandfather mainly stuck to the grill, the BBQ pit, or the fish fryer but he could cook on the stove, and he made the absolute best homemade bread.

One of my uncles has a tradition where he and his grands bake and decorate Christmas cookies the Saturday night before Christmas and watch Christmas movies until midnight. He's got grands ranging from three to twenty-three and all eight of them still show up.

I can bake some pretty good brownies out of the box. Other than I'm useless in the kitchen other than cleaning the dishes. I've mastered that.

My first marriage was starting to fall apart and I was working on an assignment in San Antonio. I went to lunch with a friend who lived there and she told me, "My parents stayed together because my mother couldn't drive and my father couldn't cook." I went home and told my wife the story. Then I said, "We can both drive and we can both cook, so it's going to take more than that for this to work."

Hey VA, your post reminded me of a friend while I was in the Navy Reserves. One time he was telling us how his wife pissed him off but that he got even with her. We asked him how he got even. He said that he washed the dishes reeeeaaaallll slow.

That's now you right? LOL

(03-16-2020 04:51 PM)JMUDunk Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:54 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:47 PM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:28 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:17 PM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  My wife is making meal #1 from our prep stash. Chili in the crock pot (made with ground sirloin from our local farm), with some Jiffy on the side. We're good!

The peanut butter?

OK, understand. Even now I guess there are still regional differences that aren't so clear to us outsiders. That's like asking someone what kind of coke do they want to drink.

Whoa. Lol.

I thought for sure you were kidding.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten cornbread in my life. I never grew up with it and that brand of cornbread is available in our grocery stores. We bought it once only because our son wanted to try it years ago. But neither me nor my wife ever grew up eating it. Interesting cultural differences to be sure.

I've heard southerners refer to marinara sauce as tomato gravy - or at least that's what i thought they were referring to.

(03-16-2020 02:15 PM)JMUDunk Wrote:  

(03-15-2020 10:42 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(03-15-2020 09:50 PM)miko33 Wrote:  As many have already heard, OH has shut down bars and restaurants indefinitely. However, take out/drive-thru services are still allowed - for now. My daughter works at one of the grocery stores and she said that more stuff has been flying off the shelves beyond just the earlier shortages we've had so far with toilet paper (WHY???), sanitizing wipes/hand sanitizers, regular rice (but can still get Jasmine and Basmatti) and Mac 'n cheese boxes. My guess is that people are starting their scrambles for SOME additional food stuffs in light of the bar and restaurant shutdowns. My family cooks almost all meals at home, so as of now we are in pretty good shape inventory wise, and I expect eventually the shortages won't be so persistent as people realize they have way too much of certain products.

It will be interesting to see how those families, singles and couples who don't cook, rarely cook or just got used to dining out regularly will cope with the temporary moratorium. My family eats almost all of our food at home. On average we go out to eat a little less than once per week. This won't be an issue for us.

While the bar and restaurant and bar shutdown officially didn't start until 9 pm tonight, today is officially DAY 1 of the restaurant ban. Today we made Linguine with red tomato based sauce with meatballs, side salad mix of red leaf lettuce, iceburg lettuce, grape tomatoes, diced roma tomatoes and sharp cheddar cheese (yep, not quite the theme of Italian...I know) and homemade garlic bread knots. We started with a little over a gallon of sauce prior to the 3.5 hour simmer so we have leftovers for tomorrow and will still be able to freeze the rest for future meals.

You guys making anything good while you wait out the Covid-19 fiasco? Any good recommendations for future meals? Hoping to see a lighter thread given the grave discussions going on around us - even if the whole thing is actually overblown IMHO.

Well my wife's a good cook. The only thing she lets me cook is enchiladas.

But one simple thing I used to make when single was to make Kraft Mac & Cheese (using only half the butter they suggested), frying some ground beef and then putting that in with it. And if you don't mind pink food, put some tomato sauce in with it too.

Variations on that (You learn a LOT of variations as a starving surfer over the summers) Mac-n-Cheese, dump in a can of drained tuna, toss on some sliced pickled jalapenos. Bake in a large ramican or "boat". Actually quite serviceable.

<You're pretty close to Tuna Casserole. Can of cream of mushroom soup and can of milk, stir. But I didn't add the jalapenos. Sometimes potato chips.>


Or, open the can of Chili that's been sitting on that shelf for 3 years, mix with the mac, Chili Mac! Damn fine meal, dump some Texas Pete on there for good measure.


Anyway, I'm a long recovering former Chef, The Mrs. is a fine cook from a family of fine cooks (I actually learned to cook cause my Mother HATED to cook. At all.). We typically do take out on a Friday or Saturday as a little treat, but that's about it. We both enjoy cooking, are good at it and will try just about anything. We both agree that Sea Urchin is a no-go for both of us, but other than that not much else.

Tomorrow's menu is a cop-out of sorts, but a hat-tip: Corned beef brisket, root veg's- Taters, carrots, parsnip, onion, maybe a turnip or two. Freshmade dark soda bread (yea, I know that's racissss!) Variety of the hottest mustards we can find for a little zing.

we keep a pretty well stocked pantry and frozen meats etc. Sausages of all kind, I make my own canadian bacon and dried beef for sandwiches or chipped beef. Do a LOT of cold and hot smoking and dabble in whatever fits our fancy.

<wife tends to keep things pretty well stocked. Good that we had decent stock of toilet paper. She hasn't seen any in 3 or 4 trips. Eggs are the other difficult thing. Guess people who can't cook much else can do eggs.>


Apparently local shelves got restocked already today, so not real worried there.

Also kind of "lucked" out (if you can say that here) in that both kids were out and traveling for SB, so we had put together "care packages" for each of them to take back to school. Coincidentally TP, spray lysol, bathroom cleaners, hand sanitizer, soap, shampoo etc., water bottles, gatorade, BEER, hard ciders you get the idea.

We were mistakenly REALLY well stocked weeks before the hysteria set in. Now she's home, he'll be home tomorrow, but both are stuck here for some time at least.

We'll see.

We usually ate out/carried in TH/F/Sat night and ate at home the rest of the time. Brought home a pizza Friday (all kind of tired-otherwise we probably would have gone out). But looks like we eat in for the duration.

At my house, we don't ever ask what's for dinner, but we do ask what's for supper.

(03-16-2020 09:24 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 04:51 PM)JMUDunk Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:54 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:47 PM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 02:28 PM)miko33 Wrote:  The peanut butter?

OK, understand. Even now I guess there are still regional differences that aren't so clear to us outsiders. That's like asking someone what kind of coke do they want to drink.

Whoa. Lol.

I thought for sure you were kidding.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten cornbread in my life. I never grew up with it and that brand of cornbread is available in our grocery stores. We bought it once only because our son wanted to try it years ago. But neither me nor my wife ever grew up eating it. Interesting cultural differences to be sure.

I've heard southerners refer to marinara sauce as tomato gravy - or at least that's what i thought they were referring to.

All good, I meant I thought you were joking about it being peanut butter, not that you'd necessarily know about the cornbread mix.

That's why I responded with the popcorn crack. Seems to have fallen more than a little flat. lol

(03-16-2020 09:24 PM)miko33 Wrote:  I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten cornbread in my life.

You poor, poor soul.

Quote:I've heard southerners refer to marinara sauce as tomato gravy - or at least that's what i thought they were referring to.

No, it's something different. Been years since I had any. Older guy we used to duck hunt with would make it on his mornings to take care of breakfast.

https://southernbite.com/southern-tomato-gravy/

While I have used Jiffy in the past, I like this better...

(03-16-2020 09:24 PM)miko33 Wrote:  I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten cornbread in my life.

Damn Yankee...

Not serving cornbread for supper in the south could be called a form of child abuse.

Being a proud Appalachian American family my parents made sure we had fresh bread at every meal.

Biscuits made in a skillet for breakfast, potato bread for dinner and cornbread for supper....

Anyone else ever hear of Sop.

My Grandfather wouldn’t set down for breakfast, dinner or supper without a bowl of rendered bacon grease that he called Sop...so he could drizzle it all over his food.

We lost my Grandfather in 1976. He was 56. He died from emphysema after smoking Lucky Strikes for over 40 years. Watching him eat I would have sworn it was heart disease.

(03-16-2020 08:33 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  Hey VA, your post reminded me of a friend while I was in the Navy Reserves. One time he was telling us how his wife pissed him off but that he got even with her. We asked him how he got even. He said that he washed the dishes reeeeaaaallll slow.

That's now you right? LOL

Nah, I try to knock them out as fast as possible. My wife is NOT the kind of person that cleans as she cooks so the mess piles up real quick. I sometimes complain but then I get the "Oh well you cook then" from the wife so I go back to washing the dishes.

(03-17-2020 03:57 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 08:33 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  Hey VA, your post reminded me of a friend while I was in the Navy Reserves. One time he was telling us how his wife pissed him off but that he got even with her. We asked him how he got even. He said that he washed the dishes reeeeaaaallll slow.

That's now you right? LOL

Nah, I try to knock them out as fast as possible. My wife is NOT the kind of person that cleans as she cooks so the mess piles up real quick. I sometimes complain but then I get the "Oh well you cook then" from the wife so I go back to washing the dishes.

Dishes were one of the reasons why I became the designated cook at the firehouse. I'd rather stick my hand in a clogged up toilet than put it in dishwater.

The first engine company I got assigned to they pretty much ate out every meal because other than rudimentary grill stuff or frying eggs and bacon nobody else on the shift could cook. As you could imagine it was expensive, and I was trying to support myself and a full-time student fiance on my meager salary. I made the comment that if everyone would pitch in for the groceries I would cook. First time I cooked the Sr Firefighter made the comment "The rookie cooked, so who's going to do the dishes?" The Captain said "We are" and that was a settled issue.

After my probationary assignment when I got my permanent assignment we had a couple of us who could cook, but I still cooked more than everybody else. Luckily my new assignment was at a recently renovated firehouse we had a dishwasher, so there was minimal hand dish washing.

(03-17-2020 03:42 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  While I have used Jiffy in the past, I like this better...

That’s a good one too, we like em both and we tinker with them fairly often too.

I’ve nearly perfected a quite good smoked cheddar/fresh jalapeño bread.

Wife does one that puts “regular” cornbread to shame but without the zing! that you get with mine, so we usually have both on hand depending on audience.
She uses a can of cream corn and some amount of sour cream. Really good, great texture

Time to make some chili!

(03-17-2020 04:12 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(03-17-2020 03:57 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 08:33 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  Hey VA, your post reminded me of a friend while I was in the Navy Reserves. One time he was telling us how his wife pissed him off but that he got even with her. We asked him how he got even. He said that he washed the dishes reeeeaaaallll slow.

That's now you right? LOL

Nah, I try to knock them out as fast as possible. My wife is NOT the kind of person that cleans as she cooks so the mess piles up real quick. I sometimes complain but then I get the "Oh well you cook then" from the wife so I go back to washing the dishes.

Dishes were one of the reasons why I became the designated cook at the firehouse. I'd rather stick my hand in a clogged up toilet than put it in dishwater.

The first engine company I got assigned to they pretty much ate out every meal because other than rudimentary grill stuff or frying eggs and bacon nobody else on the shift could cook. As you could imagine it was expensive, and I was trying to support myself and a full-time student fiance on my meager salary. I made the comment that if everyone would pitch in for the groceries I would cook. First time I cooked the Sr Firefighter made the comment "The rookie cooked, so who's going to do the dishes?" The Captain said "We are" and that was a settled issue.

After my probationary assignment when I got my permanent assignment we had a couple of us who could cook, but I still cooked more than everybody else. Luckily my new assignment was at a recently renovated firehouse we had a dishwasher, so there was minimal hand dish washing.

Yup. My first “job” (other than mowing yards etc) at 15 was washing dishes.

At a c-level greasy Mexican restaurant owned and run by two middle-age Pakistani guys. Real outfit.

No dishwasher, just sinks filled with soapy hot water, then a sterile rinse sink, then just water. Everything they did they tossed under the damn salamander so there was greasy half eaten cheese on every single plate or baking dish or whatever was used for 6-8 hours a day. Then clean the place up and mop the whole place.

I learned to cook REAL fast like.