<p>I’m a recipe follower, however, over the years I’ve become more creative with ingredients. I’ve been blessed with a rather eclectic palate so it’s fun for me to try interesting recipes. The challenge is to find recipes that can be completed in under an hour. I’m rather fond of peasant food. Paella, it’s Louisiana cousin Jambalaya, Gumbos, soups, pastas, stir fries, curry etc.</p>
<p>YES. But what I cook is so often like a mystery box that I probably couldn’t recreate exactly even if I wanted to. </p>
<p>@Silpat - I know how you feel about carbs, and believe me, you have every right to vent!! I have adult-onset Type I diabetes, and sure, it’s possible to eat carbs while diabetic, but sometimes it’s much easier to control one’s AIC by really, really cutting (eliminating) carbs. I miss scalloped potatoes and potato chips way more than I thought I would. </p>
<p>Have you tried Dreamfield’s pasta? When I make spaghetti for my H and I, he gets the “real” pasta and I get the Dreamfield’s. It’s pretty close to real pasta in mouth-feel, and the Dreamfield’s lasagna is close enough to the real stuff that my family can’t taste the difference.</p>
<p>Oops - sorry for the thread derail. Back to baking!</p>
<p>This might have been mentioned already, but I just bought The Flavor Bible for my daughter-in-law for Christmas. Really interesting book on how to combine ingredients. <a href=“http://amzn.to/1sJFZzE”>http://amzn.to/1sJFZzE</a></p>
<p>Tongue is appreciated in a lot of places besides America! France, China, Korea, Mexico…it’s fantastic in tacos. The typical Jewish preparation I use is to slice the cooked tongue and heat it in a sweet-and-sour sauce with raisins. Pickled (corned) tongue is a different story – you eat that like corned beef or pastrami, with mustard.</p>
<p>Among other books that I collect are cookbooks from 1850s onward. I USE more modern books as inspiration. Have I made things that I don’t remember the exact proportions…but the "best"stuff that I made and don’t remember how: during chemo. My family wanted me to write a cookbook: Cooking with chemo. But I would NEVER have tongue…</p>
<p>Oregon, what is your pumpkin bread recipe? I love pumpkin bread, I make mine in a crockpot, I think it is like a steamed pudding, so moist.</p>
<p>Ok, since this about people who can cook and it’s not my thing. I have some questions. </p>
<p>I am going to bake a cheesecake for Christmas dinner. I’m going to be out of town this weekend and coming home Tuesday night so I’d like to do some things in advanced. If I make the cheesecake tomorrow (Friday) will it keep in the refrigerator? I can freeze it but my freezer is pretty full and I would have to make room. </p>
<p>I’m making a prime rib roast. I bought it and the package says to use or freeze by 12/31. Can I leave it in the refrigerator or should I freeze that also? Also the directions say to use a meat thermometer. Is there a thermometer I can leave in the roast. I think the only ones I have are instant read. The last time I tried to make a prime rib roast, it wasn’t that successful. Had problems, too forever to cook. </p>
<p>Thanks. </p>
<p>Bevhills, so funny to look at old cookbooks, we have a batch of those paper ones that ladies groups in the 70s woulld print and sell, you know church groups, junior league etc. Well, oh my, it is obvious that everyone was so excited about canned technology, the recipes call for cans of everything- canned green beans, canned asparagus, ok maybe, but canned potatoes? Canned onions? canned carrots? How hard was it to keep root veggies around? </p>
<p>Somemom: My mother was an average cook. (May she rest in peace…she was a terrible cook). Canned leSeur peas…had them…canned carrots…got it. Then my mother was told that frozen was better and she switched.</p>
<p>I found on line Beverly Hills Women’s Club cookbook, circa 1920s or 30s. Chicken chos mein…beef stock…and have your cook do…</p>
<p>I too love junior league cookbooks, famous restaurants books and I always try to replicate a favorite meal from our travels. I did get 10 thumbs up for my steak frites…but I sort of forgot how I did it.</p>
<p>You can make the cheesecake tomorrow and it will be fine for Christmas. Cheesecake is actually much better if it sits for a few days. After it cools, keep it in the pan and wrap it in plastic wrap, then foil. Don’t just cover the top of the pan - wrap the whole thing in plastic, then foil. Leave it until Christmas morning, then slip a knife around the parameter of the pan to loosen it, then unbuckle the springform. Use a wide spatula to gently pry it off of the bottom of the pan - if it won’t loosen up (this takes a bit of finesse) you can leave it be and place it on a serving plate with the bottom attached. Add any garnishes at this point and return to the refrigerator until ready to serve.</p>
<p>If the beef says freeze by a certain date, then you must cook it by that date as well…so, you can keep it until Christmas without freezing it.</p>
<p>Thanks so so much gourmetmom. Most appreciated :)</p>
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<p>You want a digital probe thermometer. It typically has a probe that you leave in the meat. It’s attached (with a wire) to a unit that will show you the temperature of the meat. You leave that unit on top of the oven. If you do roasts this is a great piece of equipment to have. It’s worth the money especially when you’re cooking something like prime rib, which is really easy to ruin if you don’t watch the temperature carefully. Here’s an example of the thermometer:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cutleryandmore.com/all-clad/digital-probe-thermometer-p121020?gclid=CjwKEAiAk8qkBRDOqYediILQ5BMSJAB40A5UlbJWWXfO-ncpo3TYjZOZwYM1I3VrTn-sK70M9VSdmhoCRLHw_wcB”>http://www.cutleryandmore.com/all-clad/digital-probe-thermometer-p121020?gclid=CjwKEAiAk8qkBRDOqYediILQ5BMSJAB40A5UlbJWWXfO-ncpo3TYjZOZwYM1I3VrTn-sK70M9VSdmhoCRLHw_wcB</a></p>
<p>Deb922…do you have a good cheesecake recipe? I have one that is so simple and honestly is the best cheesecake I’ve ever had. It’s not a big tall cheesecake, which can sometimes get dry (and crack on too). It’s made in a pie plate with a graham cracker crust…takes about an hour start to finish. It would keep a few days too. Let me know if you’d like the recipe. Seriously easy peasy and gets rave reviews. </p>
<p>Shellz, I would love a good cheesecake recipe. The one I was going to make isn’t too hard even though it cooks in a water bath. The recipe has really good directions lol!</p>
<p>Thanks bromfield on the meat thermometer info. I have one that looks similar to this <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Scientific-AW131-Wireless-Thermometer/dp/B000RL2ZGO/ref=sr_1_14?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1418986665&sr=1-14&keywords=meat+thermometer”>http://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Scientific-AW131-Wireless-Thermometer/dp/B000RL2ZGO/ref=sr_1_14?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1418986665&sr=1-14&keywords=meat+thermometer</a>. I’m thinking it will work. My mil gave it to me for the grill. I may not be a great cook. But I can grill. So as nice as this thermometer is, I don’t really use it as I’m pretty good at cooking steaks without it. </p>
<p>@Scout59, thanks for the tip on Dreamfields. Dh would love to have lasagna on Christmas Eve this year.</p>
<p>@Deb922, prime rib roast can take “forever” but that’s okay as long as you know it in advance and can plan accordingly. If you weren’t happy with your last attempt, check out Shirley Corriher’s recommendations for cooking roasts. She’s a big advocate of the low and slow method, which results in a perfectly cooked roast. Be sure to allow for resting time as well as cooking time. </p>
<p>My version is to season liberally with Montreal Steak Seasoning, cook at 220 - 225 until the meat thermometer reads 120, remove roast from oven and reset to 450 (convection) or 475 (non-convection), and once the oven reaches the new temp pop the roast back in for a few minutes. After it’s nicely browned (we like the outer fat to crisp), let the roast rest for 15 - 20 minutes before carving. I think SC (and Alton Brown) suggest longer resting times, but we get too impatient. You can probably expect the whole process to take 3+ hours, depending on your oven and the size of the roast.</p>
<p>My mom was another big fan of canned and frozen foods. It was such a wonderful treat to visit my grandmother and eat freshly picked Silver Queen corn. Some fresh veggies I didn’t like at first as an adult because I was so used to the mushy texture of the canned version. What was worse was the frozen shrimp cocktail sold in a 3-pack of little tulip shaped glasses. We lived in a beach town and I saw the shrimp boats out nearly every day, but we rarely had fresh shrimp.</p>
<p>I am the Queen of 30 Minute Dinners 
I really enjoy cooking and think I’m good at it, but my specialty is definately coming up with healthy, tasteful meals in a short time (or I use my crockpot). I think this comes from the mantra of having dinners together every evening and doing what I could to make it possible as a single mother/chauffeur. I hear very few complaints lol. Baking? Can’t even do it out of a box. Now that my husband and I eat low-carb, its his job every Sunday morning when I get home from grocery shopping to do all the chopping of vegetables for the week. Makes those lunchtime salads so much quicker to make in the morning too!</p>
<p>It’s interesting to me that so many claim to be a decent cook or baker but not both. I enjoy both for different reasons. The one thing I do hate: coming up with dinner ideas. Life is busy during the day so I am often standing in the kitchen at 5 or 5:30pm trying to come up with a “quick” (30 minute sounds good!) meal. </p>
<p>@deb922 here you go. I guarantee you will not be disappointed…</p>
<p>For crust:
12-14 graham crackers (if I recall, 1.5 of the packages in the box)
2/3 cup Melted butter</p>
<p>For filling:
12 oz Cream cheese
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla</p>
<p>For topping:
1 cup sour cream
3 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla</p>
<p>Preheat oven to 350
Mix melted butter w/ crushed graham crumbs and press into pie plate (we use Pyrex dishes)</p>
<p>Mix filling over LOW heat, adding eggs last to avoid cooking them too much. I sometimes temper the eggs with a bit of the warm filling if I’ve let the mixture get too hot. The filling should be barely warm. Stir until well combined and smooth. Pour into prepared crust and bake for about 20 min until set in center. While it is cooking, prepare topping by combining ingredients in a small bowl. </p>
<p>Remove pie, cool for 10 min, add topping, return to oven for 10 more min. Remove and cool. Store in refrigerator. </p>
<p>Sometimes I add choc chips to the filling and topping. Or I buy the silver palate raspberry sauce to serve alongside.</p>
<p>Enjoy :)</p>
<p>ETA: we always double the recipe. If you are making one, ya might as well make two!</p>
<p>@shellz That’s my favorite kind of cheesecake! The kind with the sour cream topping. Much yummier than the drier NY style cheesecake.</p>