Drop in and say HI Thread

[inu-kijo 0]

I made a banging shepard's pie yesterday.... and It has me on a cooking frenzy now.....

was looking at some reallllly cool things that I want to try

thinking about making one new recipe every week.
Tomorrow for dinner is gonna be garlic stuffed chicken. (not a new recipe, just what I am having.

[Bee1 0]

i like stuffed chicken with different things - cheese, mushrooms, garlic butter.

Sometimes I would wrap it in bacon rasher(s) too.
I like Shepherd's pie but have not made it for a while.
Do you know the difference between Shepherd's pie and Cottage Pie (at least here in UK).

I like trying new recipes too - I've made Jollof rice on tuesday (it's quite simple african dish I know from long time ago)

[inu-kijo 0]

I read about your rice.... with tomatoes, and spicy?? (if I remember....)

never heard of cottage pie.

I make mine with ground beef because of the price fo veal, have you ever had veal??
would it be worth the price??
there is a really yummy looking Normandy stew that I want to try, but its made with veal. was wondering if I should splurge for the veal, or just use regular beef.....

[inu-kijo 0]

just was googling... guess i made a cottage pie. : D

[Bee1 0]

inu-kijo wrote:

just was googling... guess i made a cottage pie. : D

yeah that's the only difference - the mince.

If it's lamb's mince then it's Shephers'd pie and if it's beef mince then it's Cottage Pie

I like veal but it's very very pricey in UK and not many shops stock it as there is too many people who think it's wrong to produce it.

Yeah the rice was cooked in stock with chopped tomatoes and tomato puree and you can add minced chillies if you want (I used cayanne pepper instead)

[Bee1 0]

I would say veal is quite strong and flavoursome meat so I personally wouldn't waste in for stews - stews are traditionally made with cheaper cuts of meat that need to be cooked for a long time to get it tender.

Now come to think of food - I should be able to found out for myself what you americans call gravy and biscuits (for breakfast)

[inu-kijo 0]

I've never had lamb either. yeah its pricey here too.
So not sure its even worth it, tbh......

rice sounds cool. I am not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes.

I also found a cool thing for salmon burgers..... i wonder if i ask someone at the store if they would be able to ground the salmon for me..... : /

been a while since I cooked real food, and its so much fun!!!!

[inu-kijo 0]

gravy and biscuits..... not really all that good to be honest.
or i least I dont really care for it too much


but you must try some grits. yum!! : D

[Bee1 0]

ground salmon?
I have made salmon burgers out of tinned salmon before and it was flakey so you didn't have to ground it.

Lamb meat is generally expensive here too and it can be quite fatty meat but you can get frozen lamb mince for a good price.

I tend to cook fair bit but I tend to do same things over and over so I also need to try something new.

[Bee1 0]

sorry it was salmon fish cake but it's similar to burgers

[inu-kijo 0]

yeah me too..... I cook a lot of southern "soul food" I guess, stuff I was raised to cook (the same for you I am sure)
But havent really explored new things, and as many cooking shows as i watch... think it would be neat to cook new things.

the only thing that really deters me, is that is it nightly costly to eat decently.

[Bee1 0]

that is so true - I'm suppose to eat lots of read meat because of my aneamia but it's so expensive (well if you want to get the lean one) that I just don't buy it. But being on tight budget doesn't mean you can't eat well. I either don't eat meat and make stuff with veggie or buy chicken as that's much cheaper. I also like offal (liver and heart) and that's quite cheap to buy.

What is "southern soul food"?

[inu-kijo 0]

everything that is really bad for you!!! : D
" soul food" is a term to describe southern home cookin'

Like.... you momma's deep fried chicken.
anything with gravy, cornbread, greens (collard, turnip, ect), fried okra, potato salad, ect.

A lot of people turn it towards the black community as well, so you could add chitlins (which is deep fried pig intestines) and other stuff.

But.... I guess, just think Paula Dean, and you are pretty close.

Yes, Ibuy lots of chicken and ground beef, but after qhile it get tiring, and much easier to buy frozen food, that while is not good for you, is quick and easy to make.

Can't imagine eating liver..... bleacck!!!

[Bee1 0]

I will have to look up Paula Dean.

I don't have deep fat fryer or even a microvawe (I know!) where I live so I can't really live unhealty

I have made cornbread once from Frannie's recipe and it was nice but not something I could eat all the time. I was brought up no variety of food as I was growing up with our gran who cooked every day. Well there were no frozen ready meal available at that time so there was no other option really.

There are millions of things you could do with chicken and ground (or as we call it minced) beef. I like chilli con carne for example. Cottage pie. You can use it to make homade burgers. Meat loaf.

Because I (technically) live alone I still follow the recipe for 4 people but freeze the extra 3 portions for later time and that saves me lots of cooking (I tend to have my main meal of the day at lunch at work and then just have something light in the evening)

[Bee1 0]

spaghetti bolognese
meatballs in tomato sauce

and as for chicken - do you get chicken portions or chicken breast?
Surely you can get all sort of cooking sauces in jar - different curries, sweet and sour, black bean, red wine etc that you just pour over seared/cooked chicken meat and boil for 15 minutes.

[inu-kijo 0]

I thought paula dean would be a name you might know......

when you come and visit Tan Tan and I will give you some southern comfort food. Just be careful, cause it really sticks to your bones!!!
Not sure what kind of cornbread recipe she gave you, cause there are like a billion different kinds.... some are sweet..... yuck!!
down here we cook it in a cast iron skillet.... you start it on the top of the stove, then cook it in the oven til its nice and crispy on the outside and sooooo good!!!
you can eat it as a side item (like a dinner roll) crumble it up, and serve beans on top of it, ect.
I really love to when its straight out the oven fresh, crumble it up and pour a bit of milk on top of it and eat it..... sounds weird, but its sooooo good!!!

[inu-kijo 0]

I usually get Chicken thighs. Love dark meat.


I'm not the biggest fan of cooking with sauces to be honest. I usally season everything up and cook them how I want to.
Sometimes take the drippings and make milk gravy, and serve those on mash potatoes..... that kind of thing.

Never had spaghetti bolognese, unless thats just usually sgetti here..... : /
dont like meatballs in red sauce too much.... usually do swedish meatballs. cause those are yummmmmy!!!

Like to make stuffed garlic burgers a lot here..... they are very tasty!

[Bee1 0]

it was savoury and it had bits of corn in it. She said she east it with her chilli.

There should be a pic somethere on my FB. I made it in cake it and baked it on oven.

[inu-kijo 0]

don't think that I have ever had it with corn in it, but like I said, there are like a million different cornbread recipes, (just as with anything else)

I will ahve to go look and see if I can find the pics. : D

EDIT: yes that is a bit more thicker than what I am used to, but I am sure it tastes very similar.
making me want a pot of beans and cornbread........... mmmm

[Bee1 0]

inu-kijo wrote:

I usually get Chicken thighs. Love dark meat.


I'm not the biggest fan of cooking with sauces to be honest. I usally season everything up and cook them how I want to.
Sometimes take the drippings and make milk gravy, and serve those on mash potatoes..... that kind of thing.

Never had spaghetti bolognese, unless thats just usually sgetti here..... : /
dont like meatballs in red sauce too much.... usually do swedish meatballs. cause those are yummmmmy!!!

Like to make stuffed garlic burgers a lot here..... they are very tasty!

I can see that US style of cooking and continental style of cooking is so different.

I love tomato based sauces and Spag Bol. is mince with onion, garlic and spices in tomato sauce served on spaghetti with some greated cheese on top of that..yum

I don't use cooking sauces a lot but somethimes when you want something quick and different they are good - I like the "chinese ones" like black bean or sweet and sour or schezuan. They work well with all sorts of meat or even veggies.

In Czech traditional sunday meal is roast meat with dumplings or boiled potatoes and either saurkraut or salad. We tend to cook lots of different meat in kind of gravy/sauce and that can be tomato based or cream based or just brown.

[Bee1 0]

inu-kijo wrote:

EDIT: yes that is a bit more thicker than what I am used to, but I am sure it tastes very similar.
making me want a pot of beans and cornbread........... mmmm

it was very spongy almost cake like but not sweet and had sweetcorn in it.

[inu-kijo 0]

yes most cooking in the states involves getting in the car and driving up the road to eat. : D


But southern cooking is different from other regions in the states as well.

Food is a unique experience wherever you go.

I remember going to Philly and being surprised at all the differences..... and being appalled at the fact that cheeze wiz is an appropriate topping for a philly cheesesteak!!! o___o

But food is fun, and its a way to share a bit of culture with anyone, cause ost of the time, our most favourite recipes are those that are passed down from like our grandmothers and what not.

[Bee1 0]

I guess beans are another "cheap" cooking ingredience - you can make strew/casserole with different kind of beans but it's in tomato sauce.
Eat it with rice or pasta or just with roll.

I could talk food for hours

[inu-kijo 0]

Oh and sweet tea, another Southern staple!!!

[inu-kijo 0]

yeah me too. : D
i LOVE cooking

you put tomato sauce with beans??

We jsut cook down the beans here with seasoning and let it create its own broth, if you have a leftover meat bone (like a ham hock or what not) you throw the bone in there and let it cook in there for the flavour. Sometimes meat pieces are added too.
serve it on rice or cornbread.

But I only like eating that stuff in teh winter.... not much for a sumer food.

[inu-kijo 0]

hate to leave, but its that WONDERFUl time for me!!!!

would love to excahnge a few favourite recipes with you, and perhaps we could try each other's dishes.

No fish head stew please. : D

[Bee1 0]

byeee Kijo and yes I love the idea (don't worry never made fish head stew - even I draw a line at that!)

[Bee1 0]

inu-kijo wrote:

yeah me too. : D
i LOVE cooking

you put tomato sauce with beans??

We jsut cook down the beans here with seasoning and let it create its own broth, if you have a leftover meat bone (like a ham hock or what not) you throw the bone in there and let it cook in there for the flavour. Sometimes meat pieces are added too.
serve it on rice or cornbread.

But I only like eating that stuff in teh winter.... not much for a sumer food.

I don't mean ketchup when I say tomato sauce . I don't tend to cook beans from scratch - takes way too long. I tend to get canned ones and then you just mixed different kinds together with some canned chopped tomatoes, chopped onions and season it and cook it for about 20 minutes.

[Zoonie 0]

Running through to say Hi and thanks to Frannie and Wish for the messages.
I've been trying to connect all day and on FB too, was in and out - so annoying when I bought a new router!

Am out all day tomorrow, and the girls are coming home for the weekend too, so will see you soon as I can
xxx

[Frannie 0]

It's after midnight where Gill lives.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ! !

[mindyjoy 0]

Hi Frannie!

I didn't realize it was Gill's birthday ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

[mindyjoy 0]

I've said this before but I'll say it again ... I have bunches of the pixies items from digging, if anyone needs anything, please ask!!!

[mindyjoy 0]

well I guess I missed you Frannie .... will check in later

[Zoonie 0]

Morning, I'm out today but will start a new thread for everyone