What I do is get the overripe ones that are close to falling apart or ones that don't look very good and cook those down. By late August tomatoes are plentiful and cheap enough that there are more than enough to eat fresh and cook down.
Bread machine may be your answer. Getting the recipe right can be damned tricky though. Most of the bread I've made in ours ends up too dense.
Are you mocking underdeveloped buns in the oven? Basso was right, you democrats do hate special needs children!
I wish I could say I cooked most of the time, but I don't. The kitchen is tiny and gets completely messy when I try to make something. I've spent 3 or 4 hours making stuff that doesn't turn out right, which is frustrating and disheartening. I think what I need to do is buy base ingredients for a lot of recipes (easy to moderate) so I don't have to go to the store every time I find a recipe, and I also need to try and better dole out responsibilities so it doesn't feel like one person is doing all the work. I wouldn't mind enrolling myself and my husband in a cooking class someday...
One person cooks, the other cleans up. Then alternate. Having two people in the kitchen at the same time trying to cook the same meal together is a disaster, especially if the kitchen is small.
did not know how much of a minority i'd be in.. sandwich level which includes the classifications below it, of course--microwave and nothing!
First of all, it's been ages Mrs. Valdez, nice to hear from you. I'm still learning. I wish I had spent more time watching my mom in the kitchen, but I was at boarding school during the ages when cooking would have really been more possible for a young me.
I do the vast majority of the cooking in the house, my wife does all of the baking. During the work week I usually cook very basic because it is hard to do anything too gourmet with two kids screaming at you and because I am tired. And, as thegary said, kids won't always eat gourmet. I enjoy cooking a lot and prefer cooking "in the pocket" to using recipes. Obviously recipes serve a purpose but I prefer to learn generalities form them, adapt, and then go from heart with future improvisations. I make most sauces by scratch unless I don't have the time - enchilada, barbeque, various curries, bechemel, etc. I also make pasta sauces from scratch but not always because of the convenience/time factor.
I love cooking. There's just something about the feeling one gets from working with your hands and creating something out of raw ingredients, and then feeding others. To answer Fatty's question from earlier in the thread, while there's nothing wrong with using dried pasta (and sometimes, a lot of times actually, it's preferable to fresh), I personally always make my own pasta when I'm doing tortellini or agnolotti or something like that. As for the article... I don't think that this can be stressed enough. Even if you cook with lots of cream and butter and season aggressively with salt, chances are you'll still end up cooking something considerably healthier than a whopper with fries and a coke.
we dont cook as often as we would like, just so damn busy...but when we do if she cooks, I clean. I can cook, and I used to do it every night back when I was doing the Mr Mom thing with the youngest two. Love to use recipes from the internet or old ones from family...doesnt matter, Im up to try anything. One thing that makes it really good for us, we have access to fresh veggies....both us and her parents have gardens. Tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, new potatoes, corn, various beans and peas(black-eyes, purple hulls and limas atm), watermelons, cantalopes, strawberries and various peppers (bell, banana, etc). Right now, we cook in just over 50% of the time....we are really tryin to get that more weighted towards less eating out.
I frequently offer to help you with Dinner, but you're always trying to cook some fancy stuff that I have no idea about, plus I have been known to **** up even simple things like macaroni and cheese.
My wife prefers HER cooking than mine...if that says anthing to you. But, before we married I'd cook anything if I could cook, eat and clean-up within 1 hour or less.
When my kids are here, I cook 3 - 5 times a week. we eat leftovers, grill...When it's just me, I try to cook twice a week, but it's hard cooking for one. Just last night, went to Tom Thumb to pick up my $4.99 chicken...no sides, just chicken and tortillas...
