Food and Recipes while under Coronavirus quarantine #5

[BetteDavisEyes]

The Pillsbury Bake-Off was huge back in the late 60s -early 70s and from the time I was 8 I was fascinated with it. My mom always bought a small cookbook every year with the winning recipes and runners-up.

I read everything I could about the competition, including tips about how to create your own recipes to enter.

One thing I remember was an article, “Baking is a Science.” It went into detail about how ingredients react with each other, and why exact measurements were absolutely necessary.

I've often heard the expression, "Baking is a Science. Cooking is an Art."

 

[IceIce9]

Here is my easy tomato salad of the day. It’s a recipe from Ina Garten, quite a few of my favorite recipes are hers.


Heirloom Tomato and Blue Cheese Salad


2 pounds heirloom tomatoes, cores removed
1 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Good red wine vinegar
8 ounces good Roquefort, such as Société Fresh basil leaves, torn or julienned
Good olive oil

Slice the large tomatoes and arrange them on a platter. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half through the stem and arrange with the tomatoes.

Sprinkle generously with salt and drizzle with vinegar. Set aside for 5 minutes.

Cut the cheese in slices and break into rough pieces, distributing the cheese over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with the basil leaves and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve at room temperature.

 

[Tbone144]

Chicken was on sale again. $1 per pound for bone in skin on breasts. I bought some to stick in freezer. Pulled the single breast from the last sale out of the freezer for chicken noodle soup for my husband this week for lunch. I have some cucumber chips I made in freeze dryer I’m going to try with some hummus. If I like it I may try making my own hummus. I’m going to have breakfast bowls for lunch I think. I am swimming in eggs, bought some spicy sausage, cheese, fresh hatch pepper pico and some avocado with a tomatillo salsa that I found and really like. I may throw some potato in there too.

Steaks tonight from beef supply with fried potatoes as my husband’s belated birthday dinner. We are grilling enough we’ll have steak fajitas with the leftovers. Once that’s gone then he wants ham and sautéed cabbage.

I still have gumbo, pork grillades, and sauerkraut soup in the fridge that need to be eaten so it’s hard to get excited about cooking.

 

[Inthedetails]

Here is my easy tomato salad of the day. It’s a recipe from Ina Garten, quite a few of my favorite recipes are hers.


Heirloom Tomato and Blue Cheese Salad


2 pounds heirloom tomatoes, cores removed
1 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Good red wine vinegar
8 ounces good Roquefort, such as Société Fresh basil leaves, torn or julienned
Good olive oil

Slice the large tomatoes and arrange them on a platter. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half through the stem and arrange with the tomatoes.

Sprinkle generously with salt and drizzle with vinegar. Set aside for 5 minutes.

Cut the cheese in slices and break into rough pieces, distributing the cheese over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with the basil leaves and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve at room temperature.

And now I know what's for dinner. Thanks for the idea!

 

[Puzzles8]

I've often heard the expression, "Baking is a Science. Cooking is an Art."

Never have truer words been spoken.

Some of my favorite recipes (cooking)are those passed down through the family. When I say 'recipes' I mean a basic list of ingredients. I ad lib when I cook - a little more oregano here, a little less rosemary there and that normally turns out well for me. But when I go to pass these as well as my own recipes down to my daughters, I realize that my recipe card is a just a starter and I've tweaked amounts and added a little more of this, a little less of that over the years. Just like my mom and grandmother did...

I can cook, but I can't bake worth a darn. Baking usually doesn't end well for me. For years, I've blamed my oven. I've gotten a little better over the years when I've realized that 1/2 tsp means exactly 1/2 tsp., not the heaping 1/2 tsp I casually throw in. The biggest lesson I've (the hard way) is the order in which to combine the ingredients. More lessons include having butter and eggs at room temperature and thouroughly combing the butter and sugar before adding anything else. I have also learned from a friend to add 1/2 of crushed pecans and a little kosher salt(on the top) of chocolate chip cookies.

I have actually found recipes from my ancestors that list ingredients as 5 cents of flour, etc.

My caramelized onions for fajitas tonight were amazing with the baking soda added! I am making a point of adding baking soda to my fajita recipe card.

Take care all!

 

[anneg]

Never have truer words been spoken.

Some of my favorite recipes (cooking)are those passed down through the family. When I say 'recipes' I mean a basic list of ingredients. I ad lib when I cook - a little more oregano here, a little less rosemary there and that normally turns out well for me. But when I go to pass these as well as my own recipes down to my daughters, I realize that my recipe card is a just a starter and I've tweaked amounts and added a little more of this, a little less of that over the years. Just like my mom and grandmother did...

I can cook, but I can't bake worth a darn. Baking usually doesn't end well for me. For years, I've blamed my oven. I've gotten a little better over the years when I've realized that 1/2 tsp means exactly 1/2 tsp., not the heaping 1/2 tsp I casually throw in. The biggest lesson I've (the hard way) is the order in which to combine the ingredients. More lessons include having butter and eggs at room temperature and thouroughly combing the butter and sugar before adding anything else. I have also learned from a friend to add 1/2 of crushed pecans and a little kosher salt(on the top) of chocolate chip cookies.

I have actually found recipes from my ancestors that list ingredients as 5 cents of flour, etc.

My caramelized onions for fajitas tonight were amazing with the baking soda added! I am making a point of adding baking soda to my fajita recipe card.

Take care all!

It's nice to hear that the baking soda was a good addition!

 

[killarney rose]

I cooked today. Chicken and dressing, cranberry sauce, tiny white , lady field peas, and pear cobbler. It was all good and we have leftovers for tomorrow.

A Guide To The Different Types Of Field Peas

Crowder peas, lady peas, zipper peas. Check out our guide describing the different types of field peas out there besides black-eyed peas.

www.southernliving.com

 

[Puzzles8]

I cooked today. Chicken and dressing, cranberry sauce, tiny white , lady field peas, and pear cobbler. It was all good and we have leftovers for tomorrow.

A Guide To The Different Types Of Field Peas

Crowder peas, lady peas, zipper peas. Check out our guide describing the different types of field peas out there besides black-eyed peas.

www.southernliving.com

What are lady field peas?

 

[IceIce9]

Never have truer words been spoken.

Some of my favorite recipes (cooking)are those passed down through the family. When I say 'recipes' I mean a basic list of ingredients. I ad lib when I cook - a little more oregano here, a little less rosemary there and that normally turns out well for me. But when I go to pass these as well as my own recipes down to my daughters, I realize that my recipe card is a just a starter and I've tweaked amounts and added a little more of this, a little less of that over the years. Just like my mom and grandmother did...

I can cook, but I can't bake worth a darn. Baking usually doesn't end well for me. For years, I've blamed my oven. I've gotten a little better over the years when I've realized that 1/2 tsp means exactly 1/2 tsp., not the heaping 1/2 tsp I casually throw in. The biggest lesson I've (the hard way) is the order in which to combine the ingredients. More lessons include having butter and eggs at room temperature and thouroughly combing the butter and sugar before adding anything else. I have also learned from a friend to add 1/2 of crushed pecans and a little kosher salt(on the top) of chocolate chip cookies.

I have actually found recipes from my ancestors that list ingredients as 5 cents of flour, etc.

My caramelized onions for fajitas tonight were amazing with the baking soda added! I am making a point of adding baking soda to my fajita recipe card.

Take care all!

I have some very old cookbooks that list ingredients by price. My favorite is “A dime’s worth of sugar” which wouldn’t be very sweet with today’s prices.

 

[Puzzles8]

I have some very old cookbooks that list ingredients by price. My favorite is “A dime’s worth of sugar” which wouldn’t be very sweet with today’s prices.

Just curious, do you know what year are those old cookbooks from? I estimate recipes I found were from the mid to late 1800's, Southern Wisconsin.

 

[killarney rose]

What are lady field peas?

the link I included explains them. They are a southern vegetable. Nothing like English peas. The are a staple here in the deep south.

 

[killarney rose]

I have my MIL’s home ec text book from the 1930s. She was going to put it in a yard sale years ago and I rescued it. It has menu plans for all occasions and for babies and small children, including the recipes. It’s fun to read but the food is so different from today’s foods.

 

[iamshadow21]

I have my MIL’s home ec text book from the 1930s. She was going to put it in a yard sale years ago and I rescued it. It has menu plans for all occasions and for babies and small children, including the recipes. It’s fun to read but the food is so different from today’s foods.

Yeah, once middle class houses got refrigeration, there is gelatin in everything. So, so many things. Please, midcentury people, PUT DOWN THE GELATIN. Also, people used to be fine with a LOT more offal.

I have one from my grandmother, probably from the '40s or thereabouts? Can't recall, but probably has instructions on skinning your rabbit, plucking your chicken, and gutting both. Ah, the good old days.

 

[IceIce9]

Just curious, do you know what year are those old cookbooks from? I estimate recipes I found were from the mid to late 1800's, Southern Wisconsin.

Mine aren’t as old as yours. The ones I have are depression-era, I think 1929- 1935. Some of the recipes are vinegar pie, Ritz mock apple pie (no apples) eggless butterless milkless cake, water biscuits, tomato soup cake, poor man’s steak, mock steak.

 

[IceIce9]

I have my MIL’s home ec text book from the 1930s. She was going to put it in a yard sale years ago and I rescued it. It has menu plans for all occasions and for babies and small children, including the recipes. It’s fun to read but the food is so different from today’s foods.

What a treasure!

My mom had an old etiquette book that had belonged to one of her grandmothers or great-grandmothers. I remember reading it when I was about 14 or 15 and it was (I thought) hilarious. I wish I had the book now, would be a fun read.

My dad had a book called Esquire Etiquette. It was published in the early 50s and had an orangish-brown cover. I would love to find it in a used book store some day.

Both etiquette books had chapters or sections on proper food etiquette, table manners of course but also what to serve and how to serve. Also alcoholic beverages.

 

[Puzzles8]

Yeah, once middle class houses got refrigeration, there is gelatin in everything. So, so many things. Please, midcentury people, PUT DOWN THE GELATIN. Also, people used to be fine with a LOT more offal.

I have one from my grandmother, probably from the '40s or thereabouts? Can't recall, but probably has instructions on skinning your rabbit, plucking your chicken, and gutting both. Ah, the good old days.

I don't have specific recipe's, but I've heard stories of my husband's grandparents in the late 1920's, early 1930's. For reference, Southern Illinois. This was during the Great US Depression.

The Great Depression

The longest and deepest downturn in the history of the United States and the modern industrial economy lasted more than a decade, beginning in 1929 and ending during World War II in 1941.

www.federalreservehistory.org

Every Sunday after church my DH's grandfather would go hunting for rabbits. Once he shot three, he would bring them home. I don't know who or how they were de skinned or de feathered.
His grandmother would then make Sunday Rabbit Stew..every week.

Thankfully that recipe was not passed on to me.

ETA - might have been mistaken. He might have been hunting squirrels. Might have been Sunday Squirrel Stew.

 

[IceIce9]

Speaking of old cookbooks, remember how cooks used to worry about cakes falling? It seems that every old cake recipe I can remember used to warn about keeping the kitchen quiet while the cakes were baking so they didn’t fall.

My great-uncle used to talk about how his mom used to keep him and his 8 brothers and sisters outside while she was baking cakes to make sure the cakes wouldn’t fall due to rambunctious kids playing g in the house.

 

[Puzzles8]

What a treasure!

My mom had an old etiquette book that had belonged to one of her grandmothers or great-grandmothers. I remember reading it when I was about 14 or 15 and it was (I thought) hilarious. I wish I had the book now, would be a fun read.

My dad had a book called Esquire Etiquette. It was published in the early 50s and had an orangish-brown cover. I would love to find it in a used book store some day.

Both etiquette books had chapters or sections on proper food etiquette, table manners of course but also what to serve and how to serve. Also alcoholic beverages.

It was by Emily Post. My mother had the same one. I still have it!

 

[iamshadow21]

I don't have specific recipe's, but I've heard stories of my husband's grandparents in the late 1920's, early 1930's. For reference, Southern Illinois. This was during the Great US Depression.

The Great Depression

The longest and deepest downturn in the history of the United States and the modern industrial economy lasted more than a decade, beginning in 1929 and ending during World War II in 1941.

www.federalreservehistory.org

Every Sunday after church my DH's grandfather would go hunting for rabbits. Once he shot three, he would bring them home. I don't know who or how they were de skinned or de feathered.
His grandmother would then make Sunday Rabbit Stew..every week.

Thankfully that recipe was not passed on to me.

Well, in case anyone does want to know, I just peeked in my Grandma's book, and it is a wealth of knowledge. I have no idea who wrote it or when, it is called Everyday Cookery, which I only know because it's at the top of the pages. The cover is long gone, the pages are crumbling to dust, and it's bound in the thing my Grandma used on just about everything - contact plastic with a lurid pattern. She used that and gloss paint on everything that didn't run away, bless her.

I don't know why the first image refuses to be upright, I have saved it multiple times in the right orientation. You'll all just have to tilt your heads if you want to read it.

 

[IceIce9]

My mom used to make a recipe for Poor Man’s Steak but she sometimes called it salisbury steak. She pounded flour into cube steaks then cooked them in a skillet in delicious creamy mushroom gravy. Then she served with mashed potatoes, peas, and fresh tomato slices.

It was one of my favorite meals. It smelled wonderful when it was cooking.