What was the last thing you cooked?

[Forest Cat]

I don't think it can be called cooking, but I turned the oven on and put a pizza in it.

 

[Mary Terry]

Super Secret Perfect Quiche Crust:

It sounds weird, but I swear this works. And it makes the most flavorful, flaky crust.

Instead of making a pie crust for quiche, get out 4 slices of bread.

I swear this works so stay with me....

Cut the crusts off the four slices of bread. Save the crusts.

Flatten the four slices of bread either by rolling or just pressing between your palms.

Arrange the slices of bread strategically around the bottom of a greased pie pan, tearing them and repositioning, to fill the whole bottom of the pan. You don't have to push them down or anything. As long as the pan's bottom is mostly covered, you're doing it right.

The bread crusts that you reserved are to be built up along the rim of the pie pan Just lazily laying in there. This will be the walls of the crust.

Pour in your fillings, and then your egg mixture.

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.

I don't know if I'll go back to regular pie crusts for quiche. This also works for pot pie. It tastes so good, and the crust flakes like real pie crust, but it is so much more flavorful! And easier, and less mess.

That's a great tip. I'll try that next time I've out of frozen pie crusts and too lazy to make it from scratch.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Cake Mix Blondies.

I had a box of white cake mix in the back of the cupboard. This morning I pulled it out and turned it into Blondies. I had about a cup of jam on hand, so I swirled that in at the end, before baking.

You can also make brownies this way, using chocolate cake mix.

Here's the recipe:

Cake Mix Blondies/Brownies

15 oz box of cake mix
2 eggs
1 stick butter, with a little bit reserved for greasing the pan.

Preheat oven to 350

Combine ingredients. Batter will be stiff, almost like bisquit dough, so you may have to use hands.

Pour mix into greased square or round pan (not enough mix for a normal cake pan).

Bake at 350, for 20 to 40 minutes, or so.

You'll know it's done when the knife comes out of the middle mostly dry. They will be fudgy, so there should still be some crumb and the tiniest streaks of batter on the butter knife. It will firm more as it cools.

They are so easy. And turn out really good.

 

[Mary Terry]

I don't think it can be called cooking, but I turned the oven on and put a pizza in it.

That qualifies as cooking. I turn on the oven and put a whole chicken in it. Just put salt and pepper on it first. No one would claim I didn't cook that chicken!

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

That's a great tip. I'll try that next time I've out of frozen pie crusts and too lazy to make it from scratch.

Flattened bread in place of pie crust, in savoury pies, truly does turn out amazingly. It sounds weird. But it works.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

That brings back memories! Velveeta mac & cheese was a staple when I was in college. Also, chicken spaghetti made with Rotel, cream of chicken soup and Velveeta. I used to like making cheese toast with a fat slice of Velveeta. It bubbles up and browns in a very satisfying way.

Bubbly Cheese! That unlocked a childhood memory.

The "cheese toast" you refer to, is it: A slice of Velveeta cheese on top of a piece of bread, and then broiled for 5 minutes til brown and bubbly?

My grandmother and mother made that sometimes. It was one of my favorite foods.

 

[Mary Terry]

Bubbly Cheese! That unlocked a childhood memory.

The "cheese toast" you refer to, is it: A slice of Velveeta cheese on top of a piece of bread, and then broiled for 5 minutes til brown and bubbly?

My grandmother and mother made that sometimes. It was one of my favorite foods.

That's it! Gotta use the zero-nutrition soft white bread to get the right texture.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

It's a couple hours after midnight. Yesterday evening was stressful, kinda scary.
There was an assassination attempt of a former president, and meanwhile just down the street from me, an outdoor Christian concert was attacked by Antifa rioters.

My daughter was shaking with fear. I felt weak and dizzy. But also protective. When people are timid, they need a good nosh, and a good laugh.

I noticed I had six hamburger patties left in the freezer. On the foreman grill I made something really special. Fancier and bigger than usual.

I grilled all six burgers (mind you, this is for two people).

After 10 minutes of cooking, I added slices of mozzarella, and tomato slices on top of each burger. I then layered them 3 high, so there were two burger towers.

I closed the grill and allowed the cheese to get all melty and the tomatoes to soften. The top layer of tomato and cheese seared nicely.

After about three minutes, I took those off the grill and replaced them with tater tots. I let them grill about 10 or so minutes while I set up the burgers.

For buns, I used whole wheat toast.

The burgers were layered like this, from top to bottom:

Bread
Mustard
Ketchup
Cheese
Tomato
Burger
Cheese
Tomato
Burger
Cheese
Tomato
Burger
Lettuce
Sriracha Mayo
Bread

The tots went on the side. My daughter had a schplop of ranch, I squirted ketchup on my plate.

On the side, were a few slices of apple.

We drank Dr. Pepper with it.

We prayed for our country, for our family, and for peace. Then as we ate, we watched a beautiful YouTube video about Uzbekistan and lost ourselves in geography, history, and imagination, as we ate our meal.

Neither of us thought we were going to be able to finish our plates. My daughter remarked it was too much food. I replied "It's all right. It's not a competition. Whatever we don't eat can go in the fridge for later".

But then, by the end of the YouTube video, both our plates were bare and the cups of soda were empty.

The food was good medicine. Just what we needed.

Meanwhile, my daughter had a batch of Cherokee Huckleberry Bread baking in the oven. It's a really simple recipe with few ingredients. A summer treat. It's a recipe from the days when government rations were sent to reservations.

It comes out of the oven tasting like blueberry muffins. It's a very soft bread, almost a pudding. It's eaten in a bowl.

We cuddled a lot this evening, and then just before bedtime, we stayed up late watching Nyan Cat Obi Wan Kenobi for a few minutes, then watched clips of Clone Wars, where Obi Wan was being extra sassy.

I presented my daughter and I with a bowl of huckleberry bread and a glass of milk each. We watched the funny videos, then hugged for a while, until I knew she was extra smiley. She went off to her own bed.

About one am, roughly an hour ago, I still couldn't sleep. Service is how I say I love you. I got up and made her work lunch for tomorrow.

Her work lunch is as follows:

Macaroni and cheese
Salad
Cherokee Huckleberry bread
Thermos filled with Dr Pepper.

On my way back to my bedroom, I stopped in her doorway and whispered how much I love her and how beautiful she looked, sleeping so peacefully, like a princess.

I promised my daughter I would come into her work three times tomorrow, just to hug her. And I intend to.

 

[AuAL]

@Yeshuasdaughter, can you please post your recipe for the Cherokee Huckleberry Bread?

Home baking tragic here.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I just cooked a rack of baby back ribs in the oven for the first time and they turned out really well. They were fall off the bone tender and very moist. I will definitely make them again.

 

[Judge]

Cooked? Well...microwaved I suppose.

A hot pastrami and swiss cheese sandwich on toasted rye.

 

[Jeff T]

Cooked a bunch of small eggs along with cheese, mushrooms, and "kick yo ass off" hot sauce. It wasn't really a omelet, more of a scrambled eggs concoction. The eggs came courtesy from a chicken which came to visit here last week, and stayed.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

@Yeshuasdaughter, can you please post your recipe for the Cherokee Huckleberry Bread?

Home baking tragic here.

Cherokee Huckleberry Bread

It's not an exacting science. It's very forgiving. A special treat, borne of government food rations.

2 cups Bisquick/Krusteaze bisquit mix, pancake mix, or self rising flour (whatever you have in the cabinet)

1 cup sugar (brown or white- doesn't matter -whatever you have handy)

1 stick butter

1 cup milk

1 egg

2-4 cups huckleberries (or whatever summer berries you have gathered)

Mix it up.

Bake it at 350 for 20 minutes or so, until knife in the middle comes out clean.

It's really, really good.

 

[HyperfixedAngel]

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Couple things.

My bean stocks are getting a little low. So I pressure canned 4 pints of pinto beans.

There is a certain peace one can find, while sifting through dry beans, picking out the stones.

Meanwhile, I made a ginormous pot of chili. With days worth of leftovers.

3 pounds of hamburger
1 onion
About a cup of tomatoes
1 can corn
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
3 tiny cans tomato paste
1 can butternut squash puree
2 cans of green beans, mashed (I wanted to sneak in veggies- they were indetectable vs any other beans)
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Paprika
Sage
Mustard
Splash of Fish Sauce
Pink Salt
And a ton of hot sauce

It came out beautifully. We ate nice bowls of it, with toast, and iced wildberry zinger tea.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

It's a little after 130 am, and I just finished making my daughter's work lunch.

I have been in a lot of pain these last few days, and not much energy. My daughter has done so much for me. I have been trying in little ways to give back.

Her lunch consists of:

A salad

Devilled eggs

Half of a grapefruit, sugarred

Strawberry Yoghurt

Cherry Pepsi.

 

[Rachie]

I cannot cook, I can just put something under the grill etc at best. Meet my dad. I put together a salad and one for me when he visited me today. Mine wasn't as jazzy. I put so much in it for him and took him by surprise when I joined him. I put prawns on his, boiled egg, chicken thighs, tuna, salmon, mackerel, olives, lettuce, sweetcorn, babycorn, cucumber, tomato with dressing. There was boiled potatoes as well.

 

[Mary Terry]

It's a little after 130 am, and I just finished making my daughter's work lunch.

I have been in a lot of pain these last few days, and not much energy. My daughter has done so much for me. I have been trying in little ways to give back.

Her lunch consists of:

A salad

Devilled eggs

Half of a grapefruit, sugarred

Strawberry Yoghurt

Cherry Pepsi.

You could start a home business making sack lunches for people! I'd buy them. But I guess the Board of Health would have a problem with that.

 

[Mary Terry]

I made coleslaw and oven roasted some sweet potatoes last night to go with some leftover chicken legs. Husband won't eat coleslaw, so I cooked some coleslaw shredded vegetables in a little oil for him. I used green and red cabbage, carrots, a little onion and roasted red peppers for the coleslaw.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Last night, around 2 am I got up for about 30 minutes and made my daughter's work lunch.

Mac and cheese

Apple sauce

A bottle of Squirt