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:chuckles: .. well, Book .. my version of ramen is more like spaghetti-os .. would gross out most people, but feels like a treat to me. And actually it's more than a few hours before I get hungry again.

Jeanne .. I may try your recipes, they sound absolutely scrumptious. I used to be a really good and enthusiastic cook, but, frankly it doesn't seem worth the effort these days. As long as what I put on Edna's lap tray gives her a smile and she eats enthusiastically, I'm content. As for myself, I have a tendency to wait until I'm ravenous and then don't want to take the time to prep and cook something, so it's gotta be FAST. And 3 minutes in the microwave suits me just fine, lol. I'm awful. I know it.
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good. jeanne knows to get the pork with the fruit and make em play nice.. throw crushed black pepper on em if they misbehave..
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The pork and fruit played perfectly together, captain, but I did have to use both toothpicks and string to hold the roll together in the oven. The fruit compote had star anise, allspice berries, and a cinnamon stick, all of which should be removed before the compote goes into the port. The stars and stick were easy to remove, but who the heck can tell the berries from the dates and raisins? Crazy. Then to make the sauce you remove the cooked roast and add butter to the pan, scraping up the nummy bits. Cook the shallots in the butter until translucent. The shallots immediately are covered with the brown mixture in the pan! How could anyone tell if they are raw, translucent, or burned? LOL, glad I have a lot of cooking experience behind me. In spite of a few recipe jokes, the dinner was absolutely worth the trouble to prepare it. Wow! I hope to do this often, and use different fruits.

LadeeC, I do understand completely that cooking for just yourself is not very satisfying. I did much simpler cooking the last years I was caring for Coy. I'm delighted now to have a boarder who loves good food.
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Sounds delicious. Apricot goes well with pork or lamb. I once had an stove with a rotisserie spit in it and did a roast basted in apricot. It was great.
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Black-eyed peas, pole beans, fried okra and baked chicken. My daughter cooked and delivered. LOL
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One of the few times I tried to make a proper dish - it was a pork with peaches, I believe, not apricots, but same thing. The recipe required that I do a couple of relatively easy things at once, have one thing simmering while I'm prepping the other things… very normal stuff if you have experience cooking. I didn't. I made a complete frantic mess of boyfriend's kitchen, the dish was bad - terrible, even. He and I ate a little and that was that, he was the cook again from then on. And he was an excellent cook, I was very envious, he knew what to do and how to do it.

So I read all of your wonderful dinner descriptions and try to somehow channel how it is you all figured out how to make wonderful food. I'm very challenged in that area. :)
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Turkey sandwiches, potato chips, cole slaw, moose head salad (for your benefit Emjo) Well mom's husband is losing it too, trying to come up with the name for frog eye salad, you know tapioca, marshmallows, mandarin oranges, coconut, etc. Trying to remember the name for frog eye salad, all he could come up with is moose head salad. Not sure how I feel about him starting to lose it now too.:(
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that's funny and appropriate, glad, but sad that he is losing it too. I am sorry.
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its a labor of love alison and possibly an art form.
if its only a hobby its a dam fun one.
i make the chilidog from hell. smashed red beans in the meat sauce gives it moisure, flavor and makes em less messy. double grinding hamburger makes it more like DQ might serve, cept theirs has no flavor.
red pepper can benefit almost any dish. its flavorful even if you dont reach spicy / hot ..
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Alison, if Babe Ruth quite baseball the first time he struck out (or the second, or the 40th) none of us would have ever heard of him. Do you think those of us who are "good cooks" have never learned from failure? Good heavens! That is not the case. So, if you WANT to be a good cook, start cooking. Start with simple recipes that don't require doing two things at once. Take some cooking classes. Cook with a friend. There are lots of ways to improve.

But I don't think it is necessary for everyone to cook well. If you enjoy it, it is satisfying. If it is not your passion, don't worry about it.

I think I can speak for many of us when I say we figured out how to do it right by making our share of mistakes along the way!
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Tonight I made meatloaf in the crock pot. It was filled with a feta/spinach/dried tomato mixture which looked lovely when sliced and tasted awesome. With it I made steamed carrots and tiny peas with dill butter. We also had fruit cups with 4 kinds of berries, kiwi, and canned peaches. If we both weren't trying to lose weight, I would have included bread. We sure got in our recommended servings of fruit and vegetables, though. :)
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alison is about cute enough to get by without doing much cooking but i think shes missing the thrill of someone telling her " you really outdid yourself this time, that soup was delicious " ( my moms voice in my head ) .
lol, sour cream is the secret ali.. and red pepper / garlic powder..
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Captain, you were just very fortunate that your mom was supportive of you and had no problems being truthful of your cooking. Several times, I have tried to cook. My father was such a perfectionist. I was washing the rice wrong, measuring the water wrong, marinating the meat wrong, turning the meat wrong, etc... then when it was time to chow down - too salty (lie - I rarely eat salt and so I skimp salt when cooking), no taste (lie - I added other spices), too overcooked, too, etc.... In the end, I just stopped cooking. And came home with take out dinners. Can't go wrong with that - since I didn't cook it. Now that he's bedridden, I've been digging out my cookbooks and choosing simple recipes with very few ingredients. I'm slowly getting excited about cooking. And I find incentive when I read some of your meals here. sigh... you guys eat way too much variety of food for one mealtime... When I read your menus, I think it's like attending a dinner function and the host/hostess makes a variety of dishes for that one meal.
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Making Potato soup today......AKA...Heart attack in a bowl. Potatoes, onion,S&P, parsley,milk, butter, cheddar cheese, bacon and sour cream. Yum.
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Heart attack in a bowl ... what a way to go! That sounds awesome. I'm not feeling well today and I could use a bowl of soup. Do you share, Boni? Glad we have good leftovers in the fridge. I think I'll put off making today's menu for a day.

By the way, do you ever use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream? Course, that particular recipe doesn't sound like it can be redeemed, but I find we like yogurt in place of sour cream or even of mayonnaise in a lot of recipes.
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i agree about the multiple dishes , book. if your going to fry chicken, fry a bunch cause im eatin chicken. most of my meals are one course. ie, spaghetti , filled brotchen rolls , chili dogs, twice stuffed potatos, etc. all the ingredients you need in one dish.
still eating up my bean soup tonight..
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tonight we are having chili. I really try to keep meals simple. I don't like the cleaning up. With chili, you have protein, fiber in the beans, i use preseasoned tomatoes and some spices, so we have a veg in there too. Sometimes i use celery and onion in my hamburger too so more veg is added. Top the chili with a dollop of sour cream and some shredded cheese.... lookin good!!!!!! Not too bad for us, especially if you leave off the sour cream and cheese.
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Did you know that the making of Greek yogurt is very harmful for the enviroment? I need to look into this, but my daughter was telling me about it.
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I ALWAYS share! I grew up cooking for a family of 8, as soon as I could reach the stove. After 35 years in the restaurant business, I ALWAY make too much for 2. My brother stops by regularly for "take out" from Chez Chak.
I am a purest. It MUST be sour cream. FULL FAT! LOL
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Bookluv, you are very likely a very good cook. Wanting to be one is the biggest step toward that goal. I too struggle with cooking. I hate anyone being in the kitchen with me, and that has been the biggest issue with my parents being with us. Now mom is in NH and that has made it much better for me. You keep trying hon, and know you are capable of doing anything you want, and doing it right for yourself and no one else. (hugs)
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Bonichak, I hear ya girl!!! I bet you could make anything and I would eat it.
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boni, soup isnt soup to me unless its at least thickened with white sauce and or sour cream. white sauce = flour gravy. if it isnt a chowder , i call it briny swill.
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Bonichak i LOVE soup BUT i cannot eat it without cream and im not supposed to eat dairy I made carrot soup today and it just isnt the same without a "dollop" of cream.
someone said you can get "soya cream" i wonder what this is like and can you put it in soup?
I could give up anything,drugs,alcohol,smokes but i have a real problem with butter and cream whats the point in living if you cant have "real butter and cream".
This lower your cholesterol diet is the "pits". As soon as i get it down i may just have a little minipigout!
Ok im not looking at this post again its "too cruel".
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iammichele, well I know that some people consider raising dairy cows not the best use of the environment, but once you've got the milk, how is making it into yogurt harmful?
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Ah! The answer is dumping the by product so that it gets into ground water and ponds and oceans, etc. is not a good practice! But since the byproduct has some protein and other usable stuff, most manufacturers see that it gets recycled for animal feed, etc. So I don't see this as a problem likely to stop me from eating it. :D

Boni, I understand the purest thing. But I really do like the extra tang that yogurt imparts.
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Chicken and Kielbasa Jambalaya. It used up the last home-made sun-dried tomatoes we had from last summer (home grown and dried in our own food dehydrator). That, plus a special blend of various smoked paprikas (my husband keeps several kinds around and likes to mix them to meet his cooking mood).
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Geo, I want to come over for leftovers! I love Jambalaya and tomatoes from your garden would be awesome!

I think it is a very good idea to plan your meals for a week. Then you always know what you are deviating from on any given day. :D Yesterday was supposed to be a chicken pasta salad (to take advantage of $5 deli chickens) but I didn't feel well, so I changed to the day I had scheduled "leftovers." We had plenty. No problem. Today when I double-checked the salad recipe before going to the store I noticed that the salad had to chill for at least 4 hours. Oh-oh, too late for that. So I picked the day we were to use the other half of the chicken and made a Thai chicken soup that was easy and awesome. Also had cucumber sandwiches to practice for a tea party I am planning. And a GS thin mint. All was good, but not exactly according to schedule.

Tomorrow should be OK. Took the right stuff out of the freezer tonight, and don't need to go to the store.
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"Don't need to go to the store" 7 of my favorite words. :)
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eh, i took the easy way out and brought a suckway sandwich to ednas apartment to share .
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I had ramen tonight. Not too hungry.

I'm going to be making chicken paprika soon, one of my favorite dishes. The first time I made it I told my boys that it was chicken and 'cheese sauce' because neither one like sour cream and that makes up part of the sauce. They sucked it up like there was no tomorrow. THEN I told them what it really was. lol They've been eating it ever since.

Get some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Cut into pieces. Coat in your favorite breading mix, fry till crispy and brown on the outside. (they don't need to be done)

Get about 3 cans of chicken broth, throw in a handful of chopped onion, about a tablespoon or so of paprika and add in the crispy chicken. Cover, simmer about 25-30 minutes. Take out the chicken. Add in about half a cup...or more if you like...of sour cream with a tablespoon of flour mixed in. Simmer again, whisking until it's smooth and creamy. Add chicken back in and prepare to go to culinary heaven. :D Some crusty french bread is excellent with this, too.
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