What's cooking at your house?

dday944 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:54 pm

Ok, Opal...what time's dinner?

I bet my gang would like those. I'll have to get some pizza crust next time I'm at the store. I usually make french bread pizza from the wonderful Earth Grains french rolls. I get them for $1 a bag at the bread store. They make wonderful pizzas.
Diane

Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

SmilieFace, thank you for looking up the data on the fresh spinach! Now, I'll buy some.

If memory serves, it also, contains some iron along with a whole slew of other, "good for you things." I just decided to look up the facts about the Healthiest Foods of which spinach is one. I don't care for it cooked, but do enjoy it at times incorporated into a salad, and most especially when I think about how good it is for us.

I believe for some of us, it may well be an acquired taste rather than just being an automatic one. Asparagus is one of the green veggies than can easily be bundled, squirted with a little olive oil, and roasted. You don't want to overcook it though, or then it tastes squishy to me, :shock:

and it isn't nearly as good.

Opal, those are great ideas as well. Good luck with the kiddos. I love all of mine, but I certainly realize why the good Lord gives babies to us when we are younger, so we can better do for them on a 24-7-52 week a year time table. :wink:

I'm glad I'm reading this thread. It's giving me some new ideas for when the grands come. Diane, I buy Earth Grains bread along with Pepperidge Farm, but I don't remember seeing those rolls at such a great price. Then again, none of our bread outlets sells Earth Grains to my knowledge. Ok Diane, now that you've mentioned it, how do you fix pizza using the rolls?

Phyllis I'm glad you're feeling at least some better. I feel a lot better tonight than I have for days. Is it spring fever so many of us have had?? If so, we'll all be glad when spring has sprung and we can forget about it. I know a lot of it with me is the pollen the dreadful spring chick weed has in it's tiny purple blossoms.

dday944 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:52 pm

Mary,
Our bread store is an Earth Grains/Sara Lee store, so we get some really great prices on some awesome bread! I have been getting 4 loaves of the White Wheat bread for 3.29, and I get the french rolls, sub rolls, and french bread $1 a pkg.
I use spaghetti sauce (however I may have doctored it!) as a base, but I've also used the sun-dried tomato pesto. Each roll gets sliced in half, then sauce and toppings spread on it. I bake it in a hot oven, 425 or so, until the cheese is bubbly.
These rolls are so awesome for pizza because they don't get so hard and crunchy that you can't bite into them. That is especially good if your kids are of tooth-losing age! (My now-15 yo ds burst into tears at dinner when he had his first loose tooth. I had forgotten, and I made steak and corn on the cob for dinner, both of which he loved. It hurt him to bite down on that tooth. I felt soooooo bad!)
Diane

Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

Ooh! I know how we sometimes hurt so deeply for our children Diane. I just really think it hurts us to see them hurt more than if the hurt were ours originally.

Thank you so much for sharing your ideas with the rest of us. These ideas may well come in very handy to more than a few of us.

We don't have one of those particular bread outlets, to my knowledge, but land yes! Those are fabulous buys on some good breads. When I eat such breads, I don't feel I'm just eating empty calories, and I can't stand just that ole white bread that has virtually nothing in it. I know there's a lot of it sold, but I just can't get it down, so I buy the other from time to time even though it is a tad pricey, and then I feel I'm eating real food. I tease one of my sons about that ole saw dust bread that doesn't even mold like real bread. :wink:

I know there isn't such a thing, but it's true, that just regular white bread must be so completely full of preservatives, it isn't funny.

yvette · **Posted:** Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:07 am

I love the french bread pizza idea. We are big pizza eaters in our house, especially this time of year with baseball practices and games, and all the other fun stuff we can do to enjoy the srping weather. We have a Enteman's outlet & a Wonder/Hostess outlet close, and a Pepridge Farms outlet sort of close, so I'll have to check them out for rolls. Thanks for the ideas Diane!
Yvette

tiffysma · **Joined:** Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:29 am **Posts:** 1187

Y'all have inspired me to make pizza for supper tonight. Sorry - I do have to make my own crust. I use Alton Brown's recipe and it's the first time I've found a pizza crust that I really like. I should have started earlier, as his recipe calls for keeping in the fridge overnight or several hours. I'll just do it anyway.I usually let my KA mixer do the kneading. Might let the bread machine do it tonight. DH doesn't eat much cheese, so if I make my own pizza, I can put very little cheese on it.

dday944 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:56 pm

Phyllis,
I have a food processor pizza crust recipe that is phenomenal...it just seldom gets made due to lack of time! My gang is almost as happy with the french bread pizza, and I can keep plenty of pkgs. on hand in the freezer, so it is a good solution for this time in our lives. I keep reminding myself that I won't be cooking for an army forever! I'm not sure yet what we're eating. My sinus infection is worse, and I feel pretty rotten. We may do takeout. I could handle something spicy, to see if something can open up my sinuses. The wasabi with my sushi at lunch didn't touch it. Enjoy your pizza tonight!
Diane

tiffysma · **Joined:** Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:29 am **Posts:** 1187

Diane, I'm sorry you are still sick. It must be a killer if wasabi didn't help! I'm finally better - still a bit of a cough and tired, but 100% better from how I felt driving home from Dallas on Sunday!

My son always loved french bread pizzas and we sure ate our share when he was a teenager! Just DH and I here now - so I can go slower (thank goodness). Spending a week with 3 grandchildren 1, 5 and 9 made me realize I'm too old for kids. There is a reason God gives children to young women. I am always in awe of how my DIL handles it! She has my respect, that's for sure!

Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

Well, I was wrong about the kind of dough my dil uses for her baked submarine type sandwiches. She buys a can (from the same grocery section as the canned biscuits)of bread dough, then unrolls that loaf of dough. On one side/half of it she layers deli sliced precooked meats of their choice, then cheese, then more meat. and more cheese. You can put however many layers on that you want. Then she flops the other half of dough over that, pinching the edges together all around, makes little slits in the top of it, in about 4 places, then bakes in whatever temp that can of bread states to bake the bread, for around 15 minutes. She said you'll just kind of have to watch and see about the time needed. It makes a fairly good sized sandwich, for more than one person, and as she said, it's something different they enjoy for a change. I'm not familiar with that loaf of canned bread, so I really don't know how many really hungry people it would feed. Maybe, some of you all have bought that bread and fixed it, so would better know the answer?? I guess if you started out with meat on the bottom, you could get it open to add whatever else you wanted in it, but didn't want to bake with it including such as lettuce and/or condiments. I can see where a person could come up with pretty much a quick and pretty satisfying meal in that one.

To my first dil, thank you for sharing with us!!

yvette · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 6:08 pm

Thanks for the update on that Mary K. I haven't used it a lot, but the only refrigerated canned bread dough I remember seeing around here is Italian (I think). I'm guessing that's what she uses. I may have to pick some up for Friday night's dinner. I usually don't cook dinner on Friday night's, but do "treat night" instead-my kids get to choose where we eat out at. But this week they had a school fundraiser pizza night tonight, so that is taking the place of treat night. All of that was to say I need a quick and easy dinner for this Friday! I think we'll try the sandwich with ham and cheddar.

Yvette

Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

Yvette, I looked on the Pillsbury site, and they show about 3 different kinds of bread that would seem to be in a loaf, and Italian is one of them, so I'll bet you're right. Let me know what you think of the ham and cheddar sandwich if you fix it. I haven't tried making one yet, and I even forgot to put the bread and some kind of fixings on my list. If I don't do it right when It's on my mind, I forget usually, but that would be pretty easy and filling.

dday944 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:55 am

I have a luncheon today for some students at the local university, so I have cooked up a storm. I made two batches of the Symphony Bar Brownies, a quadruple batch of Black-eyed Peas and Pasta, and a double batch of Ratatouille. Someone else is bringing a vegetable lasagna and a meat lasagna. We are also having salad, rolls, and a fruit salad. We prepare for 60, although we usually have between 30 and 40 (these are hearty eaters!) I always try to make sure there is enough food for the vegetarians, which is why I left out my usual sausage in the Black-eyed Peas and Pasta, and I'm serving the bacon on the side. Now I'm off to shower and get ready!!
Diane

Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

Diane, you have a busy day planned. If you have time, come back and share what you're cooking for your bunch at home tonight. I'm fixing to put on a roast with quartered potatoes just scrubbed and left in the skins, a few carrots, onion, and celery...pretty much the usual. I believe, I'll make that in the oven instead of the crock-pot since it's just pretty cool here today with our Easter Cold spell, and I'll have to be here closely today with people working on my house.

Is it too early for the rest of you all to have plans made for tonight's meal? If not, please chime in and share with the rest of us! Cooking seems to be contagious and we all love ideas floating our way.

dday944 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:41 am

Mary,
I think I'm making yellow rice with sausage tonight. I'll use chicken broth for some of the water. Maybe I'll try to figure out if I can cook it in the oven or the crockpot, since we have a special service at church tonight. It would be nice if it was ready when we got home!
Diane

Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

Diane, I've fixed rice in the oven, but don't know about the crock pot. I've never tried that one. Broth of some kind really makes a difference in the taste though. I like to mince some onion into mine for a little extra flavor. I don't know if this will help you, but maybe, it will someone.

Here are a couple very good links for FOOLPROOF OVEN-BAKED BROWN RICE

From (Cook's Illustrated, Feb. 2006) Oven Method Rice

I've never made yellow rice, but I've discovered you need to check your pkg. to see exactly how much liquid you need when using the above method, as the first time I made brown rice using the above method, it was dry, and when checking my pkg. discovered it really did need more liquid for the brand I used.

What's cooking at your house?

Who is online