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[ronito]

Easy for parties or kids

2 boxes of noodles
4 cups sharp shredded cheddar
16 ounces cottage cheese
8 ounces sour cream

Cook the noodles and drain. While they're still hot put the rest of the ingredients in and stir. Makes enough for 2 nights of dinner.

 

[Pacey]

perhaps a little late but congratulations on the new place onkel.

 

[Iamnub]

Hey guys, just got a pasta machine but not totally sure what to do once I've made the pasta... I'm thinking ravioli/tortilini, anyone got a good recipe for the filling?

 

[Deleted member 8095]

My girlfriend and I made a feast tonight for V-day! Please excuse the shitty iPhone camera pics.... Enjoy!

Raw ribeye steaks:

Lobster tails:

Bread:

Wine:

Cooking meat:

Two plates:

Close up:

Awesome double layer chocolate cake with homemade frosting that my awesome gf made:

 

[entremet]

Looks like it was an awesome dinner. Dining in is so much better than dining out on Valentine's day, as restaurants are crowded to the teeth and service substandard since the waitstaff is exhausted and has to turn tables quickly.

 

[Deleted member 8095]

Looks like it was an awesome dinner. Dining in is so much better than dining out on Valentine's day, as restaurants are crowded to the teeth and service substandard since the waitstaff is exhausted and has to turn tables quickly.

Not to mention a fraction of the price. Especially when you factor in a whole bottle of wine. Plus we love cooking together.

 

[evilpigking]

Easy for parties or kids

2 boxes of noodles
4 cups sharp shredded cheddar
16 ounces cottage cheese
8 ounces sour cream

Cook the noodles and drain. While they're still hot put the rest of the ingredients in and stir. Makes enough for 2 nights of dinner.

That sounds pretty awesome and easy. I've always avoided Mac and Cheese because I don't want to buy flour. What's the texture like and I'd imagine it works better with smallcurd cottage cheese?

 

[SnakeXs]

That sounds pretty awesome and easy. I've always avoided Mac and Cheese because I don't want to buy flour. What's the texture like and I'd imagine it works better with smallcurd cottage cheese?

Wait what?

 

[ronito]

That sounds pretty awesome and easy. I've always avoided Mac and Cheese because I don't want to buy flour. What's the texture like and I'd imagine it works better with smallcurd cottage cheese?

Very not floury, it all mostly melts to the noodles it's definitely not saucy as the sour cream really acts as the media and it's really thick, and yeah small curd cottage cheese.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Wait what?

maybe some people don't want to mess with flour due to fear of a mess?

 

[OneEightZero]

Wait what?

Think he's talking about the flour for the roux. ^_^

 

[CrystalGemini]

Ok cake time.  Made a flourless chocolate cake for Valentines Day for etiolate and I.

Every so often I try to drink an alcoholic beverage in hopes that I may acquire a taste for it.  This time we decided to give champagne a try. 

Still a no go.   There's always cranberry juice. :-\

 

[Kangaboo]

Every so often I try to drink an alcoholic beverage in hopes that I may acquire a taste for it. 

Have you tried Lambics? Or Prosecco?

If not & you're up for trying new things I would recommend those.

 

[CrystalGemini]

Have you tried Lambics? Or Prosecco?

If not & you're up for trying new things I would recommend those.

No I haven't heard of either. What kind of drink is it (ie. wine, beer..etc.)? What's different about them? O.O

 

[OnkelC]

Re: alcohol, I had to completely quit alcoholic beverages about 11 years ago and haven't had more than half a glass of champagne per year since.

It's no problem not to drink alcohol IMHO. Only conversations at parties get a bit difficult to follow later in the evening, and always being the designated driver can be tedious at times:lol

MyFaceIsOnFire, nice surf'n'turf!

CrystalGemini, recipe for the cake plz.

 

[Kangaboo]

No I haven't heard of either. What kind of drink is it (ie. wine, beer..etc.)? What's different about them? O.O

A lambic is an open air fermented beer. They're Belgian & fruity & wonderful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic

I prefer peach lambic. It's kind of like drinking a peachy fizzy cider.

Prosecco is an Italian sparkling wine. Itis no where near as dry as champagne tends to be. It actually tends to be a bit sweeter.

 

[CrystalGemini]

CrystalGemini, recipe for the cake plz.

Sure! It's actually pretty close to making a chocolate mousse only you bake it. I always go through a bunch of recipes I find on the internet/books and alter them to my liking so I'll just post the one I used as a base recipe with my changes in bold:

7 oz (200 g) semisweet chocolate (45-50 % cocoa) 8oz 72% dark chocolate
4/5 cup (200 g) butter 3/4 cup butter
1 cup (220 g) sugar A little less than 1 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated

Powdered Sugar
Blackberries
Raspberries

Preheat oven to 350deg F (Gas mark 4 or 180 deg C).
Line a 9 in (23 cm) cake tin with greaseproof or other non-stick paper and grease the tin. I did not line the pan with paper.
Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with butter over hot water.
Beat the egg yolks with half of the sugar.
Fold in the melted butter and chocolate mixture.
Beat egg whites until frothy by using an electric mixer; gradually add the remaining sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.
Fold in the beaten egg whites.
Bake at 350 degrees until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, approximately 40 minutes.
Use a knife to separate the cake from the non-stick paper. Didn't need to do this the cake came out just fine when greased with PAM.

Please observe that the cake is quite sticky!

Dust cake with powdered sugar and berries.

http://www.cacaoweb.net/flourlesschocolatecake.html

 

[dragonlife]

Lobster tails:
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg300/jeremybrown4/rawlobster.jpg[/mg]
[/QUOTE]I will be honest: I was only looking at the pics so I was thinking, "Did he sneak that in there? :lol" I looked at the pics first, then read what they were...

I thought the lobster tails were a joke 'cause they looked phallic in nature XD You know, Valntine's and all...

 

[Rewrite]

That cake looks amazing and I'm not even a fan of cakes, CrystalGemini!

:drool

 

[Keen]

Still a no go.   There's always cranberry juice. :-\

What champagne is that? Looks kinda gimmicky tbh. What was it that you didn't like about it?


edit: Ah, it's not a champagne but a sparkling wine from Napa valley. After reading some reviews it doesn't sound half bad actually.

 

[British Monsoon]

I might not see eye to eye with Christianity, but Shrove Tuesday is the best excuse to eat pancakes disguised as a religious event ever. Yay pancakes!

I had a pancake with apple sauce filling, topped with sugar, lemon and vanilla ice cream

 

[Iamnub]

I attempted angel food cake following
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/angel-food-cake-recipe/index.html
Came out alright, think I accidentally dropped in to much cream of tartar though

Egg whites, cream of tartar and orange zest in one bowl, half the sugar and the flour in the other.

Egg whites all whipped up to medium peaks with the sugar right before the flour/sugar mixture was folded in.

Getting toasty in the oven

Finished product and some delicious sweet wine from a winery in Napa that's been sitting in the fridge for 5 months.

 

[OnkelC]

the cakes look great, thanks for sharing!

 

[GaimeGuy]

IronGAF, I need your help.

I'm a senior in college. want to start cooking for real, but all I can muster up is the strength for is to cook rice or microwave shit. All the time, I try to convince myself to start cooking,but the hassle of cleaning the pots and stuff after cooking a mere pot of rice ends up feeling like a hassle and taking away from my homework or leisure time, and I end up falling back into a habit of just picking up food at one of the fast food places around here (Chipotle, burger king, arbys, and Canes are all within a block or two. Jamba Juice is another block or two away, near my classes, so I'll often get a smoothie or one of their granola + smoothie mixes). Or I'll get one of those big boxes of like 24 packs of ramen and have one as my dinner 3-5 times a week, which lasts at least a month.

I LOVE chicken, and am also a fan of shrimp (and beef to a slightly lesser extent). Only type of pork I'm a fan of is bacon (who DOESN'T love bacon?)

I love soups, but not the creamy kinds. Noodle soups, chicken soups, you know, the really plain stuff mostly. (Matzoh ball soup too, as a jew )


LOVE fruits. Apples, banans, clementines, grapes, lemons (yes, I will have lemon slices.), Oranges, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums, strawberries, watermelon.

Not a big fan of most veggies: onions, garlic, carrots, celery I could eat for fun, and corn and mushrooms when cooked. I can force myself to eat a salad of greens, but I don't like dressings, so that's kind of dull :/.


Oddly enough, I also like vegetable and minestrone soups.

Potatoes are great.

Only real dairy product I enjoy is milk. Hate cheese TBH. Butter goes well with lots of stuff of course, although it isin't the healthiest thing.

Big fan of nuts: cashews and peanuts especially (almonds are probably my next most favorite).

Breakfasts for me often consist of crunchy grain cereals in 2% milk, plus a glass of orange juice. (Cheerios/rice krispies, though lately I've lately been getting into some granola cereals, like quaker's oats, honey, and raisins granola.)

Not really a big fan of bread tbh. i'll have seasoned bagels if they're toasted with butter, or pancakes and waffles with maple syrup, but my grains seem to be kind of limited to the pastas, rice, and cereals.


Help me break out of my slump with some advice, and some simple recipes I might enjoy (We have plenty of spices and seasonings here, actually.)


I do have a crock pot too, so that should help, no?


Edit: also a fan of spicy

 

[Zyzyxxz]

I assume you want to keep it clean and simple.

One pan/pot recipes are what you should be looking into but there are so many of those. In truth most simple recipes will require one pot or pan at most.

There is really so much you can cook and your preferences are very widespread and general so it's hard for me to recommend something.

If you can get a ricecooker as that is almost no hassle and cleans very easily.

One thing I love to cook in one pot is curry. You can buy pre-made roux (although homemade taste so much better) and just dump it into a pot of boiling water with potatoes, carrots, meat and let it simmer.

 

[ChryZ]

IronGAF, I need your help.

Get a dish washer, a rice cooker and a veggie steamer. Until you got more into cooking use teflon coated pans and pots. They are inexpensive, easy to use and to cleaned.

Cook one pot dishes (chilies, curries, stews, etc) in bigger batches, dump left overs in the freezer. Even rice can be easily microwaved in 2-3 minutes from frozen to table ready.

The internet is great source for recipes, e.g.

Over 100 Quick and Easy Healthy Foods
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/over-100-quick-and-easy-healthy-foods.html

Just search youtube or google.

 

[ElectricThunder]

IronGAF, I need your help.

Now I don't actually know how to cook, but what I DO know is that people get so screwed up on dishes in terms of waiting to wash them. It goes AMAZINGLY faster, everything by hand at that, if you wash immediately after feasting and perhaps make use of paper towels/foil as a serving apparatus instead of messing up tons of plates(really depends on the situation). I was left to my own devices for a matter of weeks with pretty much one of most things and proper rinsing/washing right after eating was a breeze by hand.

Do this in conjunction with the recipe suggestions from the actual "cooks" on here and you'll be in good shape taste wise AND not lose a bunch of time in your evening or whatever pointlessly.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Alright I got some korean marinated beef short ribs in my ghetto rigged sous vide cooker right now.

Hopefully 48 hours @ 133 F (or 56.1 C for the non-USA) will be enough to render them tender as hell. Although most home sous vide practitioners are cooking them 78 hours I'm somewhat impatient.

 

[ChryZ]

Zyzyxxz, please take pictures in the process. I'm most interested to see how it all turns out.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

There's so little documentation on this stuff so I'm winging alot of it. I did buy Thomas Keller's book on it but its so high end and conceptual the main things I use it for is the temperature guide in the index. To those who are interested I suggest reading this: http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.html the guy is a scientist first and a cook second but his technical explanations are perfect for performing safe sous vide at home and knowing how temperatures work with the food.

I tried to cook a steak sous vide at 135 F and while it did come out medium rare throughout the entire steak I only cooked it for an hour. Probably not long enough for the muscle fibers to start breaking up a little.

So here is it in my bedroom of all places (didn't wanna bother taking up kitchen counter space)

I know it does not look appetizing in this state but chefs like Thomas Keller have used the technique with amazing results. I'll report back in two days when they will hopefully be tender as butter.

Another exciting use for sous vide is more practical Goose/Duck Confit. The amount of fat you need to use it significantly reduced and the precision temperature control ensures the fat never burns. I plan to give that a try in the coming weeks.

 

[ChryZ]

So that Sous Vide Magic Sous Vide Magic doohickey thingy comes with some sort of hot plate and thermometer combo? The rice cooker is just a cooking container, right?

 

[CrystalGemini]

What champagne is that? Looks kinda gimmicky tbh. What was it that you didn't like about it?


edit: Ah, it's not a champagne but a sparkling wine from Napa valley. After reading some reviews it doesn't sound half bad actually.

I don't have a problem with just that bottle - it's more a issue with acquiring a taste for alcoholic beverages in general. It just tastes bad to me. Same goes for rice, bread and pasta though to a lesser extent. They all give me the same gag-reflex only for alcohol it's quicker.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

So that Sous Vide Magic Sous Vide Magic doohickey thingy comes with some sort of hot plate and thermometer combo? The rice cooker is just a cooking container, right?

No the rice cooker is plugged into the Sous Vide Magic and a heat sensor goes from the unit into the rice cooker. Then the controller monitors the temperature and regulates the energy going into the rice cooker to heat it up only to a certain amount to get to try to get within 0.1 F of the target temperature.

 

[fireside]

Made some beef lo mein for dinner from leftovers laying around the fridge.

I deep fried some of the noodles for a texture change.

 

[Maklershed]

Oh. My. God. That looks amazing. I love lo mein and that looks awesome. I want some now (even though its 8am :lol)

 

[trancekr]

For lunch - Beef stir fry

 

[Zyzyxxz]

well my sous vide experiment went horrible. Seems 48 hours was not quite enough to get the muscle to really start breaking down and it came out tough. Next time I should be more patient.

Well back to the drawing board!

 

[ChryZ]

I made Puerco Pibil last Saturday. It's a slow-roasted pork dish that involves marinating the meat in strongly acidic citrus juice, coloring it with annatto seed, and roasting the meat while it is wrapped in banana leaf. My version sans the banana leafs, but at least I was able to hunt down the annatto seeds at an Asian supermarket of all places.

Courtesy of Roberto Rodriguez's recipe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO8EiScBEjA

 

[parrotbeak]

I made dinner for about 10 friends on Saturday. Kinda made this up without referring to any recipe, although of course it uses all simple ideas and mostly things I had in my kitchen already. But people wanted to know what it was called and I didn't know. I just called it chicken and pasta.

The amounts are guesstimates; I didn't measure and just used what I had available.

4 lbs deboned and skinned chicken thighs & drumsticks
2 lbs celery
1 lb carrot
1 medium onion
5 clove garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
8 oz mushrooms
3 cups flour
8 oz bacon
Oregano
1 packet Rigatoni
2 lemons
2 cups chicken stock
Salt & pepper
Butter
Olive oil

Cook bacon in a small pot on low heat until fat is liquid and bacon is crisp. Remove bacon and leave on side. Add 1 cup flour to make a roux. Cook roux for 3 hours.

Dice half the celery, carrots, onions, and garlic. Mix 2 cups of flour with oregano, salt and pepper. Heat large pot with some olive oil. Flour the chicken and place in pot with diced vegetables. Once chicken has browned, add stock and cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add any leftover flour to roux. Use butter or olive oil to help even out the roux.

Zest and juice 2 lemons and leave on side for now. Chop rest of celery, carrots, onion and garlic. Chop the mushrooms.

Once chicken has cooked for 1 1/2 hours, add the rest of the chopped vegetables, diced tomatoes, and mushrooms. Add roux to thicken. Add lemon juice and zest. Crush the cooked bacon and add that.

Boil Rigatoni for 6-7 minutes, then remove and add to the main pot. Stir it all up, adding more stock if needed. Adjust salt and pepper once the rigatoni has soaked up the sauce.

I actually cooked the rigatoni for about 8-9 minutes but it was slightly overcooked by the time we ate so I would cook it less next time. I took it to my friend's house so I wanted it to be a one-pot dish, but if serving at home, I probably could have cooked the pasta for 10 minutes and kept it separate until plated.

Any ideas for improving this or making it simpler is appreciated. I probably wouldn't make it again anytime soon because it was a lot of stirring. Unfortunately no one took a picture, but everyone loved the flavor. It wasn't so interesting to look at. The smell was really good.

Also anyone know what this would be called?

Oh, there was a lot of other food there, so I don't think this would satisfy 10 people on its own (not my friends anyway!). Maybe 6-7 hungry people. It was pretty rich though.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

I made Puerco Pibil last Saturday. It's a slow-roasted pork dish that involves marinating the meat in strongly acidic citrus juice, coloring it with annatto seed, and roasting the meat while it is wrapped in banana leaf. My version sans the banana leafs, but at least I was able to hunt down the annatto seeds at an Asian supermarket of all places.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r162/13373475/miscellaneous/p1000606.jpg[IMG]

Courtesy of Roberto Rodriguez's recipe: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO8EiScBEjA[/url][/QUOTE]

ooh nice pics. Is that an All-clad pan btw?

 

[ChryZ]

ooh nice pics. Is that an All-clad pan btw?

Cheers. That's a roaster from Fissler.

 

[OnkelC]

well my sous vide experiment went horrible. Seems 48 hours was not quite enough to get the muscle to really start breaking down and it came out tough. Next time I should be more patient.

Well back to the drawing board!

shame to hear

everybody else: Great stuff! ChryZ, I was looking for the Rodriguez vid from the moment I saw your headline, but you stole my thunder!:lol :lol :lol

My diet consists of flu pills and stuff against bronchitis this week, I'll spare the details.

Keep it coming, folks!

 

[otake]

is the goal of the thread to post a recipe and pictures of the result?

Does it have to be a rare dish?

I cook Puerto Rican traditional dishes and do puertorrican twists on everything else. Would that be appropriate here?

 

[OnkelC]

is the goal of the thread to post a recipe and pictures of the result?

Does it have to be a rare dish?

I cook Puerto Rican traditional dishes and do puertorrican twists on everything else. Would that be appropriate here?

totally adequate, I'd love to see some of that!

 

[otake]

totally adequate, I'd love to see some of that!

It's nothing crazy. The trick to puertorrican dishes is salt and garlic. heh heh.

Tonight my g/f and I are going to cook something, I'll make sure to take pictures.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

is the goal of the thread to post a recipe and pictures of the result?

Does it have to be a rare dish?

I cook Puerto Rican traditional dishes and do puertorrican twists on everything else. Would that be appropriate here?

just post what you cook, we aren't a pretentious bunch although some of us prefer to take nicer food porn pics its all so we can see each other's food better.

 

[ChryZ]

Also anyone know what this would be called?

Beats me, but the recipe sounds pretty good. I'd keep it as it is, don't try to make a faster version. Some dishes take time.

ChryZ, I was looking for the Rodriguez vid from the moment I saw your headline, but you stole my thunder!:lol :lol :lol

I'm sure it was you or somebody else in this thread who posted that youtube link. I've already made the dish a few times and really like it. Easy to make, doesn't need a lot of attention and feeds an army. This time I used 6 habanero chilies, tasted the raw marinate with my pinky and was pretty sure I ruined the whole thing, but the roasting took off the edge. Don't get me wrong. The dish was still devious hot, but more in a stealthy build up way. The pork, so tender

It's nothing crazy. The trick to puertorrican dishes is salt and garlic. heh heh.

Tonight my g/f and I are going to cook something, I'll make sure to take pictures.

Looking forward to those pics

 

[ExtraKr1spy]

no pictures but I tried to make lobster rolls with imitation lobster meat:lol :lol :lol last night. It wasn't bad but it wasnt good either. added sliced tomatos on the bread but it was still pretty bland.

 

[Axion22]

Apologies for not taking enough pictures, but this thread (and diminishing expendable income) has greatly inspired me to begin cooking for myself. So I picked up what I thought were supplies at the grocery store, one of them being a box of penne, which I kept in the back of my mind, wondering what to do with it.

Later did some googling and found this recipe, Three Cheese Penne Pasta (Low-fat) Recipe

but there's one problem... two actually, no three: onions and mushrooms. Mushrooms I can handle, sometimes, and onion; only in very rare cases, but for the most part, get out of my food. So I made some adjustments to the ingredients beginning steps. The third problem is "low-fat"

Ingredients (adjustments italicized, removals struck):
1 pound penne
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups low-fat (1%) milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1-1/2 cups shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese (6 ounces)
1-1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat Swiss cheese (5 ounces)
1 cup shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese (4 ounces)

I halved the olive oil because without the mushrooms and onion there'd be too much, I guessed.
I also bought whole blocks of cheese - next time I will buy it pre-shredded.

Cook penne in a large pot of lightly salted boiling water until al dente, firm but tender. Drain well.

This took the longest, actually, because the burner I was using is apparently broken. Stupid electric stove.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, saute 8 minutes or until tender. Remove form skillet.

Heat remaining oil in skillet. Add onion, saute 5 minutes. Add garlic; saute 2 minutes.

I just started with the garlic saute in the 1 tbs of olive oil.

Whisk together flour and milk in a small bowl. Add to skillet. Bring to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low; add salt and nutmeg and simmer 5 minutes.

This step almost got screwed because the water wasn't boiling and the timing went all off. Careful not to let the flour solidify in the bottom of the pan. That started happening because the penne was late. And they mean "large skillet" because I used a medium-large one. It was brimming and I spilled a few times.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Lighly grease a 12 x 9 x 2-inch shallow baking dish.

In same pot used to cook penne, toss penne with sauce, mushrooms, lemon juice and pepper.

Combine all the cheddar, Swiss, and Monterey Jack cheeses in a bowl; set aside 1/4 cup. Add remaining cheese to penne mixture, stirring gently. Spoon into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with reserved cheese.

Bake, uncovered, in heated 400-degree F. oven, 20 to 30 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

Yield: 8 servings

Result:

And those are cornbread muffins. I couldn't think of a better side. Also forgot to grease the muffin pan, so they were cornbread muffin tops instead.

It was delicious. Next time, I'm gonna try to add some chicken breast.

 

[levious]

Also anyone know what this would be called?

doesn't sound too different from chicken cacciatore... I'd have left the bones in though, unless you're just a boneless all the way person.