Sunday Stealing-Cooking

 

 

Hi! Our host is Bev Sykes of the blog "Funny the World". . Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

 

From Food Questions

 

 

 

1. How often do you make food and eat it?
My spouse usually cooks because she doesn’t have as many pain issues as I do. I will sit and prep vegetables, and sometimes I will make takeout from scratch. Char Siu, egg foo young, beef and broccoli, Kung Pao Chicken. I’ll also make eggplant pizza rounds, eggplant Parmesan layered and prepared as if it were lasagna (no pasta). I got lazy during Christmas break and made tamale pie instead of tamales. So much faster, same ingredients, tastes the same. I will admit since the torn meniscus and sprained LCL, I haven’t done anything that necessitates standing at the stove. Anything my wife can cook in the oven I will sit and prep it.

2. Do you consider toasting bread, preparing instant noodles, or boiling an egg to be cooking? Why or why not?
It’s still food...and it’s being changed from an uncooked state to a cooked state, so why not? Besides, you can fancy anything up. Toasted bread becomes a BLT. Instant noodles become Pho, and a hard boiled egg can become egg salad, or deviled eggs.

3. What’s your favorite dish to make?
I really like my eggplant Parmesan lasagna. I rarely, just about never, eat real pasta. (NO zoodles!) I also make Eggplant Rotolo. The recipe is from my blog Lola’s Victory Garden which I haven’t posted on in ages, but my recipe is still there.

4. Cooking or baking: what’s more fun? What’s more difficult?
I don’t bake much anymore. I will be making Pineapple Upside Down Cake for Easter or my kids will hate me. It’s a tradition from their Great Grandmother. Since I’m diabetic, I don’t bake much because if it’s around I will eat it. I can’t stand fake, artificial sweeteners and I will not use them. I use sugar, honey, or real maple syrup in recipes. Cooking is more fun because there are so many recipes, and they are easier to make low carb than baked goods. Also, it’s easier to screw up when baking. If you don’t use the correct, and/or proper amount of a leavening agent (yeast, baking powder, baking soda) you are not going to get the desired result.

5. Who did most of the cooking in your house when you were growing up?
My Mom cooked in the house, my Dad was the grill master. After my Mom passed away, my Dad became famous for Steak and Nothing. Just a really big steak with nothing else. Every Father’s Day we have Steak and Nothing in honor of him. My kids start asking about it in early April. (It gets to be obnoxious how many times they ask well in advance.)

6. How have you learned the cooking skills that you have?
I learned many things from my Mom, but she grew up in the depression and we hit some hard times when my Dad had his back surgeries, so there was a lot of starches because they stretched a meal. A lot of pasta and rice. I also have a lot of cookbooks and my Pinterest account is full of saved recipes. I’ve also watched a lot of cooking shows.

7. Have you ever taken a cooking course? If so, what did you learn? If not, would you like to do one? What would you like to learn?
When I was a kid in 4-H my Mom taught a cooking class. I also took Home Economics in High School. Other than those, I really don’t have an interest in taking a class. 

8. Have you tried cooking food from another culture? What did you prepare? How was it?
I’ve made:  Indian-Butter Chicken, Aloo Gobi, Chicken Tikka Masala, Samosas, Saag Paneer, Chicken Curry; Chinese-Char Siu, Beef & Broccoli, Kung Pao Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Crab Rangoon, Egg Rolls, Shrimp Lo Mein, Moo Shu Pork, Shrimp Fried Rice, Beef Chop Suey, Cuban-Ham Croquettes, Cuban sandwiches, Fried Plantains; Mexican-Tacos, Burritos, Wet Burritos, Enchiladas, Red Snapper Veracruz, Quesadillas, Tomatillo Salsa; Italian-Pasta from scratch, Ravioli from scratch, Sauce from scratch, Bracciole, Sicilian Steak, Mussels in Red Sauce, Arancini, Meatballs, Chicken Parmigiana, Fettuccine Alfredo, Pizza Dough, Calzones; Greek-Greek Chicken, Greek Lemon Potatoes; Thai-Fried Tofu, Chicken Pad Thai; and many more dishes. Everything has tasted good. I don’t think I’ve ever had a recipe fail, but then I spend forever studying Pinterest recipes to select the best recipe for a dish I want to make.

9. Is it cost-effective to do your own cooking? Can you save money by cooking?

I save a lot of money cooking at home. Even with expensive ingredients, it’s still so much cheaper than a restaurant. No ill behaved children (now they are ill behaved adults lol!). You know exactly how fresh everything is, and there is no waiter that has to be tipped. 

10. Would you rather do the cooking or do the washing up afterwards?
Cooking!  These people that say wash dishes as you go? Bwah hahahahaha! Seriously?

11. Do you use recipes to cook? If so, where do you get the best recipes? Do you get them from friends, family, online, or from cookbooks?
The recipes that are my Mom’s, that I created myself, or that I cook often, I don’t need to to look up the recipe. I have lots of cookbooks, I use Pinterest, and I also clip recipes and put them in one of those photo albums that has the plastic you peel apart to stick photos in.

12. Have you ever tried to prepare some food and just totally ruined it? What happened?
I’ve made Split Pea Soup and someone thought they were being helpful, turned the flame up, causing the bottom of the pan to burn. The smell! There is no way to save it when that happens.

13. Do you prefer cooking at home or eating out at a restaurant? Why?
Right now, cook at home. I am not eating IN a restaurant for the foreseeable future. I do wish I had an upright freezer so I could cook extra and freeze entire meals. Then I wouldn’t have to buy those salty frozen dinners from the grocery store when no one feels like cooking.

14. Is cooking a social activity for you? Do you like to do it with other people, or do your prefer to do it alone?
I’d rather cook alone. I might ask for an ingredient to be found, but otherwise, I don’t want the distraction.

15. Do you have a lot of cooking equipment? How often do you use it all? Do you have any pieces of equipment that you rarely ever use?
I have a ton of cooking equipment. The one thing I don’t have, that I don’t want is that sous vide thing. I don’t see the need for it, and I don’t understand it. I’ve got just about everything else, so I don’t see why I’d need it. 

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