which is a very interesting look into the 1950's and post war Europe. Anyway- the thing that I found interesting is that the meals that people are eating are usually very small or simple. She served a group of her husband's friends garlic soup. I don't know it if there was some post war era stuff going on - people got used to having nothing during the war and were glad to have ANYTHING?
When did the shift happen so that recipes got more complicated then they needed to? Any convenience or fast recipes have garbage in them that I wouldn't eat (ie. canned soup! What a waste of money canned soup is!)
That ends my food rant. Today we will be having the family's new favourite meal - MRI potatoes.
We took DS to the hospital for a baseline MRI. The locals believe that if you show up you are ON time. The hospital is using the travelling MRI machine because they haven't bought the new one for the new hospital, yet. Anyway! In order to combat the local lateness problem we were required to be in the patient registration area TWO HOURS before the appointment began. Granted - you can be in patient registration for a good, long while, but we weren't and did spend two hours in the MRI waiting room.
We watched TV (Man... Tracker? and Man VS. Food - gross) and read all the magazines. In one magazine was a picture of potatoes in a cast iron pan and you drop eggs and cheese on top- bake until everything is set. They all LOVE this. Dh and DS #1 put cheese on theirs, DD puts veggie cheese on hers, and DS #2 puts cheese and baked beans on his. I choose vegan or not as the mood strikes. I think the original recipe had chunks of ham... maybe...
I do ten lbs (or so) of baked potatoes at a time and this is one of the things we do with them.
I'm back at the Whole30, which is a really nice complement to my weird body needs. However, I get really bored with the foods. I am so stuck in the gluten-sugar-additives rut again. Not sure how I sunk this low, but I am having a hard time clawing my way back out of it.
Anyway, Lent being Lent and all, it seemed like a good time to hit the Whole30 again, except I'll be doing a Whole40 (Lent being Lent and all). I'm actually looking forward to the lifestyle change and how great I'm gonna feel in about a week or two.
I wish I had better access to really healthy food. I don't. Grass fed beef and pastured chicken is available me if I choose to raise it. Other than that, it ain't here. And organic pork sausage or lunch meat, and without nitrites? What the heck is up with that? It don't live HERE, that's for sure. Trying to find that stuff. I've got a message into a crunchy friend in Fort Wayne to see if she can direct me to where to go to shop for that sort of thing but on a budget.
Tonight, chicken breast. The frozen, solution-added kind, because I've got it on hand and need to use it. Last time I cooked it without the Italian dressing I usually marinade it in. It was unflavorful and dry. So, looking for a Whole30 way to prepare chicken that is not really Whole30 approved already.
Incidentally, we like potatoes and eggs with cheese, too. Can't eat it on Whole30, but yeah, that's a fav at our house!
Can't you make your own "Italian dressing" to marinate?
March 9 2011, 11:17 AM
Maybe some olive oil, some lemon juice or vinegar, throw in a few herbs/spices? That's whole, aka non-processed. I know the acid is what makes the marinade penetrate the meat.
* 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
* 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
* salt and pepper to taste
Oh, my goodness, it was wonderful! After I ate it, I looked at the label and realized that it had sulfites in it, which is a Whole30 no-no, but I had already eaten it on my salad. I had lettuce, baby spinach, sweet onion, tomato, and more avocado in my salad, with the balsamic vinaigrette dressing. I've never had that kind of dressing before--it's my new fav! Thanks for suggesting I make one. I did not know how easy that would be!
I agree with you that recipes have gotten too complicated, and what bugs me are ingredients that are hard to find or crazy expensive. I just heard on tv that gruyere cheese is just swiss cheese (with a higher price). Just silly.
How are the potatoes cooked in your recipe? Mashed or not already cooked?
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The road to success is always under construction.
may be swiss, but if it is, it's aged swiss, it doesn't taste like swiss cheese, it's extra sharp (and yummy in my book). What we find, is that it takes a cup of mozzarella to flavor what a handful of parmesean will flavor. I buy all my cheese at a local freight type of store - usually for .99/pound, occasionally $1.50/pound, so it ends up cheaper to use the traditionally more expensive cheeses, if that makes sense.
Dh grew up on what sounds like your MRI potatoes - A skillet full of fried potatoes (plus any other veggie in the frig that needed used), when the potatoes where ready to eat, they'd pour in scrambled eggs, to fill the skillet, stick it in the oven and bake. My Sis in laws call it poor mans quiche (today it'd be rich mans quiche, with the price of potatoes!). I don't know if they ever added cheese.
mom made extra boiled potatoes at every meal so that we could have this for dinner. but not baked. just scrambled, with whatever leftovers she felt like tossing in, peas and carrots, green beans, bacon or cut up sausage, other dinner meat. it's how she used up the stuff that there wasn't a full serving left of.
We didn't add cheese.
Potatoes are getting expensive? that's one thing we've noticed has stayed the same here. $1.99 for 5 lb on sale, or 2.99 for 10# on super sale. 20# bag of "unclassified" potatoes for $4 or $5 depending on the store. (we get those in the summer when we're making alot of vicheysoisse sp?)
This message has been edited by stina716 on Mar 9, 2011 10:22 AM
I never pay more than $1.99/10 lbs. and rarely that, since I make it a point to buy them when it's .99/10 lbs. Of course, I live in Idaho, where our license plates proclaim Famous Potatoes. But those Famous Potatoes are all grown in southern Idaho, and our transportation patterns don't work that way. Most of mine come out of the Columbia basin of Washington (Tri-Cities, Yakima, etc.). I'm working on a .99 sack right now.
Sandy in MI (Login SandyinMI) The Frugalista Files
here too
March 9 2011, 11:28 AM
I actually prefer red or gold potatoes, but generally buy russets because they're so cheap. The last time I bought them at Aldi's they were $2 for 10 lbs.
I keep hoping the price of cauliflower will come down. It's $2.50 a head or more here everywhere, even the usually cheaper greengrocer.
Dh has a recipe which he will only use Yukon Gold potatoes for - making homemade gnocchi. I love his recipe, and the dishes he makes with the gnocchi, but it's cheaper to buy the factory produced gnocchi than to buy the potatoes to make it.
$2.99 has become my buy point for #10 russet potatoes, but I broke down last week and bought them for $4.69. Grand had asked for mashed potatoes too many days in a row, I couldn't say no again.
I have heard of this before ( but not tried it)
The use of stale baguette is quite common in France - as French bread only stays fresh for a day at the longest,there must be lots of recipes that have developed to use up leftovers
Sandy in MI (Login SandyinMI) The Frugalista Files
I've made garlic soup
March 9 2011, 11:25 AM
It's been a long time since I've made it, but it was made with roasted garlic in a chicken stock base and then cream added at the end. No eggs. It was good, but not so great that I made it again.
I loved My Life In France, good book.
Man vs Food is gross. My husband used to like that show when we had Dish Network.
but there might have been. I did pick up the cookbook at the bookstore last time I was there and look at it. The recipes are very simple and do seem achievable. It is really not the way I eat at ALL, though.
I need Mastering French Cooking for the gluten free vegan =8-P
