My memory is SHOT.
But didn't our grandmammies write dat shit down.

...



When I was a kid growing up on perfectionism farm, lol, I thought a good cook was someone who could cook anything anytime.

Now that I'm older and living on perhaps less money, I realize, being a good cook can mean using what you have and still producing a decent meal.

I definitely differ from my husband in that although I enjoy "high quality" food, I realize most of that societally prized nonsense is out of my budget.


Inspired by Skyrim?
Its definitely ok to laugh, but one of my favorite and only video games, Skyrim, places huge huge huge importance on the kitchen. There aren't tons of recipes, unfortunately the designer didn't figure out how to combine Alchemy skill with Cooking (wtf), but the simplicity itself is what inpsired me.

The developers of the game are trying to show players how to survive on Staple cooking, ie using a few big seasonal foods to succeed in culinary pursuits.

What you'll see in Skyrim the most:

-Potatoes. These things are everywhere.
-small game protein, horse and cow too important to eat
-butter and milk, altho the drop rate is too low
-chicken galore and tons of eggs
-carrots
-leeks, unevolved onions pretty much.


....

Well strangely enough, although Spiritwind showed me a great pot roast using most of those items, I'd started trying to use more of this sort of food independently after playing the game, lol.

Kielbasa is simple, for instance. It uses cabbage, carrot, potato, onion and sausage in a boiler pot. The only trick is seasoning and not undercooking or overcooking the various vegetables.

The recipe Spiritwind showed me is similar, but a chicken roast.
-chicken breasts
-onion
-taters
-carrots
-butter
-water
-seasoning.
Arrange carefully in an appropriately sized glass dutch oven and go between 1 hr and 1:45 on, what was it, 350? Lol temperature is hard to remember.



I think even tho i suck at thread writing, it will be a fun thread with holidays so close. Lol

P.s. the kielbasa is one my husband cooks

One thing I cook often that is not super exciting but consistently ok to eat is sweet onions, eggs, and sour cream.

If you are one of those ppl who burns eggs or never seems to get them right, you'll love doing this. It's basically a scrambled egg omelet with onions as base.


Consistently Mediocre Onion with Egg

Get a pan, preferably Teflon.
Set stovetop to about medium high.
Put a couple pats of butter in the pan.
When the butter is mostly melted add one large sliced sweet yellow onion.
Add lots of pepper and some seasoned salt. I used Creole salt and black pepper.
Set timer for about 4:40 and let the onions cook.
Stir if they are browning otherwise just chill.
Add about 5 or 6 eggs when timer is done and stir the yolks into the onion without letting it all go under the onions.
Pepper again.
When eggs are nearly done but still moist drop a few tablespoons of sour cream and stir again until it is absorbed.
Remove from heat and plop into a paper plate etc or other insulated dish.
Don't forget to turn off the stove.
Serves 1-3 depending on whether you have toast and bacon.

Questionable Curry

Here's a decent recipe for using milk that's about to go bad as a base for your curry pot. This recipe is good if you can't afford coconut milk or coconut cream every time you want to cook a curry....


Ingredients
A small bag or bundle of fresh cilantro. You might not need it all.
Brown sugar, important if you're skipping coconut
Milk, about a pint or two
Lots of tablespoons of butter, maybe half a stick
Large cheapo container of yellow curry powder from your local discount grocery or sale
Large yellow onion sweet
A few carrots depending on size of pot and size of group
Potatoes as above, preferably smallish golden or red boilers
A few lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts or cuts of your favorite red meat, diced into approximately 3/4" cubes or 1" strips.
Black pepper
A bit of seasoned salt


Hope i didnt forget anything.


For this recipe you'll want a good medium or large pot, teflon or stainless steel. A huge saucepan or a small boiler is great.

Turn on heat to maybe medium or medium hi.

Put the butter in and melt it. The more the better.

Toss in the sliced onions and stir to coat.

A few minutes into this you can either start adding the curry powder and other spices including brown sugar and fresh cut cilantro, or you can drop the cubed chicken in. I'm not sure thst it matters.

Once you've sealed the flavor of the chicken, it should turn white then start browning slightly, you'll want to add the milk.

How much you use depends on how much moisture is evaporating. This recipe is as hi or lo maintenance as your stovetop settings permit.

Once the milk has gotten hot, start adding the diced potatoes. Having a machine for this is nice unless you have good kitchen tools... be careful cutting them.

Same with the carrots. . Don't slice your finger off if they are hard.

By now your concoction should be smelling so good and strong that you could practically smoke a joint in your kitchen. Lol


As you occasionally stir, also test the vegetables for softness and the meat for doneness and tenderness.

Try not to let it boil too hard, and cover it partially if desired as long as it's not boiling over.


I hope it's not too horrible.

Whoops. Forgot to add.

Edit: you might want to add a banana early on chopped up if you are skipping coconut milk. I forgot to add that id improvised that and rendered it down lolol

Some people like to put garlic paste and thai peppers in this dish.

Many also enjoy it on rice because it can be too hot.

You can substitute sour cream and water for the milk but be careful lol

P.s. my stupid front burner is not standard, it works great on hi settings but anything under medium heat becomes Goblin Schlop

The following is my favorite banana bread recipe because it's so versatile, and doesn't call for baking powder. I got it, with some personal modifications, from my oldest son's grandmother when he was just a baby.

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup soured milk (use either vinegar or lemon juice to sour)
1 cube of butter
3-6 bananas
About 1 cup of chopped walnuts
About 1 cup of raisins
And I add a heaping tablespoon of plain yogurt at the end.

Mix eggs, sugar, softened butter and soured milk, blending together. Add flour, soda, and salt, and mix together. Then add the bananas, walnuts and raisins. Then a bit of plain yogurt if you have it. Grease two small bread pans and split the mix between them, and bake at 350 for about one hour.


Pumpkin Bread

Instead of bananas add a 16 oz can of pumpkin and a tsp of cinnamon.


Zucchini Bread

Instead of bananas add about 2 cups of grated zucchini, a tsp of vanilla, and an extra 1/2 cup of flour.

And then, if you really want to be decadent, you can warm a couple slices, and add a cup of warmed raspberries with a heaping amount of plain yogurt. Super yummy!

Zucchini Rice Casserole
This recipe originally came from Laurel's Kitchen.

Cook 1 cup of brown rice
- 1 cup rice with 2 cups water makes 2 cups cooked (bring water to boil, pour in rice, turn down heat, put the lid back on, and cook for one hour, or until all the water is cooked out but not burned to the bottom, and do not stir until you've taken it off the heat with the lid on and let it sit for a couple minutes)

Slice 2 - 3 smaller zucchinis (depending on how big they are) into approx. 1/8 inch slices and steam lightly.

Put the cooked rice in a baking dish and mix with one cup grated cheese, salt, garlic powder, and a couple dashes of cayenne powder. Then take a 16 oz carton of cottage cheese and spread like a topping over that. Take the steamed zucchini slices and layer them next on top of the cottage cheese, and then top with another cup of grated cheese. Bake in 350 oven until bubbly and cheese is golden brown.

These are incredible, thank you so much!
(Tried to do banana bread from scratch last year, it turned out like a baseball bat, so I appreciate the recipe.... that thing got so hard that you could take one end and hit the oven with the other and it didnt break)

I'm terrible at cooking rice but plan to start trying more. Thank you especially for the reminder amd recipe.



P.s
For the curry, if the local stores aren't stocking the huge turmericor curry powder size, just go to the Hispanic foods section where the dried packets are hanging. They have a very pepper centric yellow curry for about 88c at least at walmart. Be careful, toot lol

Heres a good one from Google:

https://www.google.com/amp/www.food.com ... tter-21761" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brussels Sprouts in Garlic Butter

(254 Reviews)

By Tracy K

"This is a recipe from Joy of Cooking... totally changed my mind about Brussels Sprouts! It's imperative that you use fresh sprouts, the texture would be way off with the frozen ones."

See all of Tracy K's recipes



INGREDIENTS

15 Brussels sprouts, halved lengthwise
1 1⁄2 tablespoons butter
1 1⁄2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed with the flat of a knife
freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional)
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter and olive oil in a medium skillet (over medium-high heat) until butter is foamy.

Reduce heat to medium, add smashed garlic and cook until lightly browned.

Remove garlic and discard.

Add sprouts cut side down, cover, and cook without stirring on medium-low heat 10-15 minutes or until tender when pierced with a knife.

The cut side of the sprouts should get nice and browned, with a nutty, buttery flavor enhanced by garlic.

Top with freshly grated parmesan and salt & pepper to taste.

READY IN 25 mins
SERVES 2-4

Even if you fark it up this recipe is good.

Medieval recipe site, lol:

http://www.medievalcuisine.com/Euriol/m ... Pies-Tarts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.medievalcuisine.com/Euriol/my-recipes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;