no more

no more, people, family say I am to negative. they can't handle the truth.

More on Holiday Planning

   Happy Sunrise, Happy Saturday, and coffee is hot and ready !

So the planning goes on, do make up your menus ahead of time, or is it just wing it sorta of thing ? I do menus in my head, although I should start writing them out, sometimes I will come up with something really good, then forget about it, then remember it after the party.The next holiday is the forth of July, and there seems to be a standard for the food from what I have seen and heard. It starts with a briskets, ribs, pork butts hamburgers, hotdogs, and beans, potato salad, cold slaw, dips, chips and vegetables, my thing is it is so much food for such a small group. Guess I need to figure out the guest list and how many will show up too. After doing a guest list, it will be menu time. Getting the smoker and the grill ready is a job without adding anything to it. More to come next week.

Holiday Planning ?

     Happy Sunrise ! another Saturday is upon us, yes the coffee is hot and waiting.

   Who plans the meals for the holidays ? does it depend on who is attending ? your family or hers ? hopefully the friends are all mutual or at least likeable by both. So if it is her family, do you plan your meals to her likes and dislikes or just make your plans ? I have found  through out the years the best meals are the ones that I plan, they always are loved and the food turns out the best. Let me tell you a story, when we first bought our house we put in a pool

and held most of the family gatherings, it was her family since mine all live in Michigan, I would have brisket, hamburgers, hotdogs, steaks, coleslaw, baked beans, and her potato salad. One time I decided to add a  raw vegetable tray with ranch dip, I was told that will be a waste of money, surprise it was gone in the first couple hours. 

 

Now I cook and plan the get together and if something else is wanted I will add it, or the guest bring it. I have been planning a Fourth get together for this year, took the week off, so I can prep and cook. I can't wait to get started, still need to find some dry wood since it has been raining hawgs and cows here, areas are still flooded and it keeps coming, hope it stops soon. Will continue on next week with more on our Texas Barbecue.

What is for Dinner ??

Happy Sunrise ! It is Saturday again and the coffee is hot!
  Decisions Decisions meal planning, has to be one of the most difficult task, to keep meals different and still pleasing to the taste buds of the whole family. I try to plan meals out for 3 or 4 days in advance, so I can pick up the ingredients from the store and keep it fresh. Protein choice usually comes from what is on sale this week. Do I fix a protien every meal, no some times it is just a vegetable tray to snack on, or apples, cheese, and crackers.

     I know we are suppose to eat 3 meals a day, maybe I will do that when I retire, as for now I eat breakfast and dinner with a snack in between. Probably should be eating 6 times a day smaller meals and snacks but time does not allow for that, my job as a Electronics Tech for a grocery company who believes that they should be the primary focus in your life and only them, glad I only have 474 more days to retirement, which should of been 3 years ago but when your the primary insurance carrier in the family that has to take priority, and the cost to carry insurance is so high you can not afford it you do what you have to. I will leave it there because it is best not to get into politics that goes in another place. Do you use meal planners I am going to start looking into these, but that is so difficult, because of my picky eater, so many plans include stuff she will not eat, and I would love to. 

I

 I am looking for something that gives just the basic healthy stuff, and I will expand from there.  So do any of you use meal planners or do you just shoot from the hip ? I made goulash last night, the wife added her touch of garlic bread, made for a good dinner. Stay dry, have a nice day.

OLD WAYS AND OLD ARTICLES

HAPPY SUNRISE ! COFFEE IS HOT AND BLACK !  

  Old articles often hold some of the best kept secrets and recipes. If you can find some of those old magazines that got saved, take a look you never know what you will come across, go to your second hand shops look for those old cookbooks, ask you friends and family for handed down recipes, there is a treasure out there just waiting to be found.

 Problem with old ways, it is a repeat of the same food over and over and over, they never try anything new, and it is really a problem because they have made up their minds before it even gets cooked and will never try a new way of fixing the same food or even try new dishes. So am I the only one to suffer from this ? Some of you are going to say just fix what you want and let them starve or fix something else, but only problem is now I would have double the clean up and a lot of wasted food, you see it is my kitchen not hers, although she visits it once in awhile. Also you have to keep peace in the family, and of course when I cook, I cook with passion and serve with love, most of the time it is enough.Not much to say today, other than have a great Day ! Share the kitchen with someone you love, and remember above all keep peace in the family.

Menu changes and the frustration of cooking for a picky eater

Happy Sunrise ! coffee is brewed and hot !

It is Saturday morning once again. One thing you can count on, is no matter what you have planned for the menu, some one is going to have their own idea of what they want you to cook, how they want you to cook it and often have a recipe they found somewhere. So difficult to keep your cool and yes dear just for you. One of these days it will be, hire you a  chef and maid, I am not your slave, oh and by the way you pay their wages. Well, we all know that won't happen, I am not Donald Trump or any where close to being that rich. Tell me ladies if you do the cooking does your man tell you what to cook and how to cook it and give you the recipe for it ? For me that is a lack of respect, for the person and their ability to cook, especially since you don't cook the meals. What use to be traditionally a women's world, has progressed to now a Gender free zone, but have the females really given up control or is it I might not cook but I am going to tell you how too. I really don't want to use this blog as a bitch session but it is part of the problem with Men in the home Kitchen in today's world.

 I have so many variations of a Baked Potato Soup, and of course another recipe now that has been thrown into the batch, it is a little different then the majority of mine, but I will use it to make mom-ma happy. If it was for me I like a potato soup made with the water I use to boil the potatoes, it has the starch in it which thickens the soup just to the right constituency, and of course the Yankee influence by adding my touches to it, She even said it was really good, but oh well one of these days I will get it right for her. The recipe she found is not even right, she does not want any crispy bacon in the soup wants to add it as a garnish with sour cream when it is served which usually what I do anyways but she just had to tell me.

Going to make my corn bread to go along with it, ain't no changing that, I have not found any better, and the wife loves it. The recipe comes from John Besh, according to him, it was from his Grandma, so it has to be good, coming from those bayous in Louisiana down by New Orleans.

http://www.chefjohnbesh.com/recipes-1/2015/9/18/basic-corn-bread

Saturday Mornings

Happy Sunrise ! in my kitchen the coffee is always hot and black, pull up a stool and sit a spell, conversation is always welcome, but keep it clean and friendly please. A little about my back ground, my cooking instruction comes from watching cooking shows, and trying to copy the dishes. It has actually turned into a great way to learn, I started out and got hooked on Emeril Live,

learned so much by watching his shows, yes you have to pay attention especially when we did not have DVR no backing it up and watching again. I will say now that you tube has allowed me to see almost pure perfection watching Chef Gordon Ramsay cook with his children, nothing like Hell's Kitchen makes you really appreciate his passion and love of cooking near perfect food. As you will see in post to follow I am a damn Yankee living in Texas cooking Cajun/Creole food, which I have fell in love with, thanks to Emeril and John Besh. I like to do a thing on Face Book: Called On the Menu and WHATS COOKIN IN YOUR KITCHENS THIS WEEKEND ! Think I will make some Texas Red Chili this weekend along with oatmeal raisin cookies and maybe a Texas Chocolate sheet cake. Have your self a nice day, cook with family and tell your Mom, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY FROM TEXAS, DON'T FORGET TO CALL