What type of meals???

[norgeway]

Does everyone like to fix? If I have a choice, I am mostly an old fashioned meat and potatoes Southern cook, I dont use a outdoor grill unless im just about forced to! and while I can fix gourmet food, I usually don't,my favorite thing to do is to bake, what kind of dishes does everyone else like to fix??

 

[whirlcool]

BBQ ribs, the Texas way.
Schnitzel made with chicken served with and spaetzle.
Pan fried Scallops
Grill baked Salmon or Swordfish filets.
Red Bean & Rice
Pork Tenderloin roast with sauerkraut and bread dumplings.

Deep Dish pizza like you used to get at Pizzaria Uno in Chicago before it got bought out. We even managed to get an authentic pan out of them because we asked very nicely and explained we were from a place where they don't have a unit.

We usually bake a potato for all of the above and just use butter & chives on it.
Neither of us do sour cream on potatoes.
Vegetables are Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts (which we love!) and maybe green beans. I can't stand zucchini or black beans.

[this post was last edited: 5/28/2012-17:13]

 

[xraytech]

For me it is mostly the kind of stuff you woul get at grandmas, good homey food. I coming from a family with alot of Croatian and Hungarian background there is a good bit of Eastern European fare I make, such as chicken paprikash, goulash, creamed string bean soup, csorge(a fried dough), pierogi, haluski, halupki, I also like stuff like roast beef, baked hams, meatloaf, spanish noodles, stroganoff, spaghetti sauce(homade with home canned tomatoes as my great aunt did) meatballs, barbequed chipped ham sandwiches, several variations of potatoes, lots of egg noodles, not much rice, stuffed peppers, stuffed hot peppers, chicken stuffed shells, lots of green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots.

 

I also enjoy baking, I hate to make cookies so it only happens once a year unless I have a friend in need of wedding cookies. I like making cakes like chocolate, angel food, hummingbird cake, orange cake, lemon poppyseed, jell-o poke cake, lady baltimore. Also enjoy making fruit pies like black raspberry, sour cherry, peach, lemon meriunge, apple

In summer I also enjoy alot of preserving such as tomatoes, green beans, applesauce(with July apples), blackraspberry jelly and jam, sour cherry jelly, purple plum jam, pickled beets, hot peppers and tomatoes, and garlic dill pickles, bread and butter pickles

 

[westie2]

Like to cook many different foods for family and friends.  I like to try recipes given here and cook books are my downfall.  Love to collect them and read them and cook differnt recipes.  Also have a big garden each year to be abe to presereve things for winter use. Favoraite is to make Apple Pic Filling.  Every other year make saurkraut to last us 2 years.  Nothing better than homemade kraut.

 

[arbilab]

Also a 'meat & potatoes' type, with excursions into rice and noodles.

Beef and sausage spaghetti, first thing I learned in college.
Beef stroganoff, Swedish meatballs (they're very similar).
Ham rolls, family legacy.
Broiled filet, but that's over for the season, broiler argues with AC.
Au gratin potatoes and anything.
Calzone.
Not strong on veggies. Mostly corn, beans, spinach, broccoli.

I used to have a good dessert repetoire but lost my taste for sweets.

 

[frigilux]

I like the cuisine of many cultures, but as I've gotten older I have to say I tend to make "comfort food" more frequently. Roast beef, roast chicken, baby back ribs, spaghetti, lasagna---you get the idea.

My dad worked in Minneapolis when I was in elementary school back in the 1960s, and he used to take me to a cafeteria-style restaurant. Don't remember what it was called, just that it was in downtown Minneapolis. I loved eating there because you'd walk through the lines and pick up a little dish of whatever you wanted. There would be quite a collection of dishes on your tray by the time you got to your table. I still enjoy eating cafeteria-style, and do it all the time when I'm eating alone (in the family room in front of the TV, of course). If I have only one or two guests for a casual meal, we'll eat that way---they usually get quite a kick out of it.

And people wonder why my dishwasher gets such heavy use, LOL!

 

[frigilux]

Speaking of comfort food...I'm having a friend over for dinner in just a few minutes. We're having spaghetti and ribs with garlic bread. And for dessert-----peach pie, with the season's first peaches, straight from the trees in the produce aisle of my HyVee grocery store!

 

[lordkenmore]

Most of the time, my cooking now is is pretty much what gets me in and out of the kitchen the fastest. I like cooking, but it's hard to get much enthusiasm when it's just for me. Every now and then, I do something a little more elaborate (say, when an interesting recipe shows up here).

My diet is currently mostly vegetarian--cheap, and it does seem to keep things simple. At least, I'm eating lots of vegetables (most days, at least), and I'm cooking from scratch most of the time. Thus, I figure I'm eating "better" (from a health view) than many Americans.

As for eating, I have tried a wide range of cuisines: Italian (at least American Italian--I've heard it's more like "old Italian" and the modern Italian is different), French, Chinese (my favorite restaurant my family ate at when I was a teenager was Chinese), Thai, Indian, Japanese, and, I think, Vietnamese. Plus plain American cooking. I have liked some dishes from each of the above. And there have been some dishes from some of the above I haven't been wild about, and--in some cases--have absolutely hated.

Years gone by, I was more willing to spend time in the kitchen. Back then, I was limited only by grocery budget, the kitchen resources, and whim of the moment. I'd probably go back to this model if I were cooking for someone else (which is not likely to happen until I'm living someplace else).

 

[wetguymd]

I work at home 3 days a week and my biggest problem I leave the tv on the food network and seem to hear everything from Barefoot Contesa to Sandra Lee to Rachel Ray makes and then for some reason find myself making a grocery list and heading to the store to make something I have seen that day. ... lol... I too love good ole southern country foods... I will try just about any recipe that I come across. Some days I get in those moods where I love a challenge and look for recipes that require lots of time to prepare and then sometimes I just want to make a box of hamburger helper and call it a day. Today I did ribs on the grill and I have been cooking for the past 6 hours for a cookout this evening. Potato salad, deviled eggs, 3 bean salad, 6 racks of ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, (wouldn't be a cook out with out those)..chocolate cake and ice cream.. Now I'm stuffed... all 14 guests have gone home stuffed and happy.. and I still have left overs for tomorrow...

Eugene.. that peach pie looks like heaven! That is my favorite fruit pie!!

 

[wayupnorth]

YUM, everything you people mentioned sounds great. I always make a good meal every night, even though it is usually just me. But for company, Roasted stuffed chicken, slow cooked fall off the bone ribs, even my corned beef is always a big hit. Today at a neighborhood BBQ, I brought a chocolate chip, cocoanut cookie loaf with chocolate glaze that was completely devoured. I learned to really cook in high school when I worked at the biggest truck stop in the state and was a short order cook as a junior. Guess they all liked my cooking because I got lots of compliments. The chef told me his secret was there is more to make food tast good than just salt and pepper, seasoning just right makes all the difference.

 

[arbilab]

Pepper, mustard, soysauce marinade makes indoor broil taste like outdoor. Don't like the splatter? I don't either. So I make foil wells that fit the meat. Catches the juice too, pour over mashed or rice.

Dish I invented (1968), fried potato/spam/egg/cheese hash. Ketchup welcome.

 

[strongenough78]

I just made some oven fried chicken from a recipe I got from the back of a Alber's Yellow Corn Meal box. I highly recommend it, it was delicious and it came out so moist. I did substitute a couple of ingredients that I didn't have. If anyone needs the recipe, let me know.

 

[strongenough78]

Eugene.....

That peach pie looks fabulous. I'm willing to share my Black Russian Cake recipe with you if you're willing to share your peach pie recipe with me!

 

[appnut]

If I could get away with it, I"d make something every night that had pasta in it. Range anywhere form a traditional tomato-based sauce to a cream or alfredo type sauce; a 50s casserole type of effort with a "cream of" soup or two thrown in; lots of cheese, various flavors. beef, chicken, pork, veggies, meatless. also mac & cheese. Pasta to me spells comfort food. I love to boil some pasta toss it with some olive oil or butter, chese, and maybe some spices.

I also love meatloaf. "Mexican" food can also be comfort food for me. But Italian or just anything with pasta is first. Italian can also (depending upon where originated in Italy) include potatoes as well as rice and risoto and let's not forget roasted veggies and such too, depending upon the Italian province of origin.

Then there's the "Southern" Bear in me that loves the types of recipes Hans posts. Not everyone is a "fan", but I love Southern Living's annual cookbooks too.

I am far from what one would consider a "meat and potatoes" guy.

 

[frigilux]

Vern-- The recipe I use for peach pie is pretty basic, but I'm glad to share it with you.

PEACH PIE
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Crust</span>
1 14.1-oz. box Pillsbury Pie Crust (or make your own)

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Filling</span>

4 to 4-1/2 cups peeled, sliced peaches (or use thawed and drained frozen peaches)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 to 1 cup sugar (depending on natural sweetness of peaches)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Egg Wash</span>

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon water

pinch of salt

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position. Lightly flour a small rimmed baking sheet. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2. Fit one circle of dough into a standard 9-inch pie plate. Cut the other circle into strips. Place strips on small baking sheet and freeze for about 15 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4. Fold together filling ingredients in large bowl. Pour into pie plate. If there is too much liquid, spoon some off.

5. Weave frozen dough strips into lattice. Cut overhanging dough from strips with kitchen scissors. Flute edge of pie crust. Place pie on large rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes.

 

6.  Whisk together egg wash ingredients.  Pull pie from oven and brush egg wash onto lattice and around edge of crust.  Sprinkle lattice with some sugar.  Return pie to oven and bake an additional 20-40 minutes, or until crust is browned.  When edge of pie crust begins to get brown, shield with foil. 

[this post was last edited: 5/29/2012-06:37]

 

[polkanut]

I'm mainly a baker, and also do lots of comfort food like meatloaf, baked chicken & rice, crock pot beef roasts, crock pot pork roasts, etc.

 

My meatloaf is quite simple, and it's cooked in the microwave:

 

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup catsup

1/2 cup milk

1 cup seasoned croutons

1 1/2 to 2 lbs ground chuck

 

Soak croutons in milk until soft and mushy, add chopped onion & green pepper to taste.  Work crouton mixture into meat, and season to taste with seasonings of your choice (I use a little dry onion soup mix).  Spread mixture in a microwave-safe baking dish.  Cook for 15-20 minutes on high, or until center is no longer pink.  Drain off any fat immediately after removing from oven. 

 

[twintubdexter]

When my partner was alive I really enjoyed cooking every night. Now that I'm alone it just seems easier to do simple things with easy clean-ups, I hate a mess. I could live on sandwiches. I do have friends over and cooking for them is great fun. The one thing I do "cook" is a tray of baked chicken thighs once a week to mix with my dog's dry food. They probably eat better than I do.

You people that fix a nice meal every night are to be commended. The photos look great. Maybe it's better that I don't cook and bake for myself...I could take that peach pie and a fork and eat half of it before my "apestat" said stop! you're full now. Cemetery here I come...