What did you have for supper tonight?

[The Bob]

Clarification needed from The Bob: When he says he eats "chips," does he mean chips, or does he mean steak fries? He loses a point for that.

I mean chips (hence I did not say french fries or steak chips or potato chips [point back ]).

Anyway is this being carried on? Do I need to say what I had yesterday and today and then tomorrow?

And what do I do with the virtual meals plus the Brits have nice restaurants. You must have been to Portsmouth ( ). I am up for the three questions.

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[holly]

Re: The Bob: Should he keep posting his suppers?

My opinion is, when a thread is made, the originator has no more say about what happens to that thread. Hence my snide amusement at the idea of people wanting to police the threads. If anyone wishes to continue listing their suppers, by all means do so. I made this thread as an experiment meant to reveal things, and it did. I asked for three consecutive supper reports, and received the reports. Now, the thread is on its own, with my thanks to all those who participated. MANY THINGS WERE REVEALED.

 

[Evo]

Re: The Bob: Should he keep posting his suppers?

It won't be the same without your comments holly. This has been a really fun thread.

 

[The Bob]

It has been fun but :shy: where are the results? Sorry.

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[jimmy p]

my supper tonight was Spaghetti Bolognese using Turkish spices mixed together by a very nice vendor, who mixed his meal spices together. I love Turkey.

 

[BobG]

Saturday meal:

My family meals are going steadily downhill. Left alone in the house with just my son to keep me company, we ate fast food - and not even from the same place. I had the Burger King Whopper (with cheese), french fries, and a coke. My son had the MacDonald's Quarter Pounder, french fries, and some kind of drink.

But I did make us some homemade milkshakes with Breyer's vanilla ice cream and Hershey's chocolate syrup. No milk, though - Holly's comment about my salsa going bad made we a little worried about the milk in the fridge. Made for some good thick shakes, almost as thick as a Frosty (oh, no! - is this some kind of fast food twilight zone?)

 

[holly]

BobG:
_______________________
Can you say Heimlich?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It has been fun but :shy: where are the results? Sorry.

The Bob (2004 ©)

I am pretty sure that at -1,000,000,050 points, I lost. Still not quite sure what though.

 

[The Bob]

Still would like to know the results unless they have not been posted yet.

I have most likely just missed them.

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[BobG]

BobG:
_______________________
Can you say Heimlich?

Funny.

But do you even know what Hemmi is? (Hint: It's not a Hemi.)

 

[holly]

Hemmi...hmmm...is it some funny sort of math tool?

 

[jimmy p]

Isnt it a slide rule?

 

[BobG]

Yes, kind of. Actually, it's a slide rule company. Not only did they make several different kinds of slide rules under their own name, but they made slide rules for Post in the US and Hughes-Owen in Canada.

And while slide rules once were valuable math tools, nowadays they've mostly become weapons of math instruction used by teachers looking for a little more visual way to show math relationships.

 

[cookiemonster]

Holly, I looked at the pre-cooked and it wasn't anywhere near $3! They were like $13! And none of the produce was on sale, and none of it looked too good, either... A few weeks ago they had strawberries for like 60% off and I bought some of those, but now they're back up to their normal costliness.

But I was thinking of buying some chicken, throwing it in a pan, and throwing it on the stove. Think it'll work?

cookiemonster

 

[holly]

cookiemonster, I am appalled at those prices on the chicken. I suspect this is because you are in California, and not in God's Country (Midland, Texas). A person can live decently here on very little money. You can have a nice house, get nice things to eat, have cute clothes, all reasonable in price. You can have a whole chicken, roasted with jalapeno jelly on it, for only $3.28.

Yes, you can cook the chicken on the stove. Do you have a pan lid? Do you know how to quickly saute the chicken to brown it, then slowly cook it in a very small amount of water with the lid on tightly? The problem with trying to help students cook is that the poor things have NOTHING. They usually don't even have a pan. I will be relieved when cookiemonster is being fed properly by the CalTech staff.

 

[Evo]

Well, I just ate some "lite" vienna sausages, 38 cents for a can. Holly, the ingredients say "mechanically separated chicken". Is this a bad thing?

 

[Monique]

Hey cookiemonster, I used to bake chicken in the oven.. rub the chicken with spices and lay it on some slightly oiled tinfoil in the oven and wait 15 min.. it saves having to wash dirty pans, you just throw the tinfoil in the garbage after use it tastes much better too..

oh wait, you only have a stove.. so what's the problem

 

[holly]

The Bob: I'm not revealing anything here. You already got a revelation over on the fortune-telling thread. However, you DID win the Big Eater Award. Prize: A Giant Wooden Spoon spraypainted Gold. Ta da!

Evo, I was already aware of the mechanically processed nature of the Vienna Sausage. If you look closely at the ground chicken packages in the meat case, they, too, note that it was mechanically separated. I'd advise against eating that. Mainly, though, they are taking the fat and using it to flavor other foods. It always boils down to chasing the allmighty dollar, I'm afraid.

Monique's recipe sounds good, although I am not sure why she is tasting the tinfoil after throwing it into the garbage? Maybe that's one of those Dutch recipes they had to invent after WWII.

 

[Monique]

Make up a batch of pre-mixed spices to use on the meat (aka adobo rub):
6 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 pinches cayenne pepper

What do you think Holly, that I would eat the tinfoil without first basking it in some condiments? I'm telling you, it tastes much better after having been in the garbage

 

[cookiemonster]

Yes, you can cook the chicken on the stove. Do you have a pan lid? Do you know how to quickly saute the chicken to brown it, then slowly cook it in a very small amount of water with the lid on tightly? The problem with trying to help students cook is that the poor things have NOTHING. They usually don't even have a pan. I will be relieved when cookiemonster is being fed properly by the CalTech staff.

I have a pan with a lid! And I have a mini pan... And I even have a pan that I could fit my head in--with a lid. It's the biggest pan I've ever seen. I have lots of pans.

cookiemonster

 

[jimmy p]

Tonight I had potato and cake

 

[Moonbear]

Holly, I looked at the pre-cooked and it wasn't anywhere near $3! They were like $13! And none of the produce was on sale, and none of it looked too good, either... A few weeks ago they had strawberries for like 60% off and I bought some of those, but now they're back up to their normal costliness.

But I was thinking of buying some chicken, throwing it in a pan, and throwing it on the stove. Think it'll work?

cookiemonster

Alrighty, cookiemonster, let's set you up with a nice, healthy recipe for chicken cooked on a stove. As I was explaining to the new grad student in my lab, we can't allow our students to starve. We tried that method of training and the experiment was a horrible failure; we now realize our students are much more productive when they are well-fed.

Starving Student Cooking Lesson #1:
Tools required: one big frying pan with a lid, a fork or metal salad tongs, a big spoon (wooden or plastic if you have a nonstick pan so you don't scratch your pan), a sharp knife, and one big pot with a lid.

Optional equipment if available: measuring spoons

Get yourself some chicken pieces...bone in, it will give you more flavor as it cooks (sometimes whole chickens are cheaper per pound than chicken parts, you can cut up a whole chicken if you have a good knife). Oh, and do you have a freezer? If you do, then you can make just a couple pieces of the chicken now and freeze the rest to use another day.

Take the skin off the chicken, pat it dry with a paper towel. I always believe in adding a little seasoning to the meat before you cook it so that flavor gets sealed in when you start cooking. For this meal, a little salt and black pepper will do the trick.

In a frying pan (a big one), heat some cooking oil (use a medium to medium-high flame...and keep an eye on it...never walk away from oil on a stove, and if it starts to smoke, you've overheated the oil and are at risk of a fire...turn off the stove and throw a lid on the pan right away). You don't need a lot of oil, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan lightly when you swirl it around (about 2 tbsp if you have measuring spoons), you don't need to drown your chicken in it! Cook the chicken in the oil about 15 minutes, or until it starts to brown (light brown, not black! Not surprisingly, this process is called "browning" the chicken). Oh, if you have some sort of tongs...salad tongs will do...that will be easiest for turning the chicken in the pan, otherwise, use a fork or even two forks to grab ahold of it to turn it a few times while cooking so it's cooked through from both sides. Be careful not to get splattered with hot oil!

When the chicken is nearly done (almost brown on both sides), add a sliced onion and a clove of garlic, minced (a clove is ONE of the little pieces that break off a head of garlic...a head of garlic is the whole thing you buy in the store; minced means cut in very small pieces...a mincing shortcut for the starving student: smash your garlic clove with a can (the kind with veggies in them, not beer...wouldn't want to shake the beer), then just slice up the smashed garlic. When the onion starts to look clear (this will make sense when you see it happen), drain off the excess fat (pour it into the sink and run a lot of hot water after it so it doesn't clog your drain...use the lid of the pan to hold the chicken in it so it doesn't all fall in the sink too).

Return the pan with the chicken to the stove.

Chop up half of a green pepper (chopped means small pieces- about 1/2 inch squares, this doesn't need to be precise or anything), and add that to the pan, along with 1 can of tomatoes (7.5 oz will do)...or if you can afford fresh tomatoes, use those (1/2 lb of fresh tomatoes doesn't cost much more than a can of tomatoes depending on the season). You can also add some mushrooms if you like...again, either add several fresh mushrooms cut into slices, or get a small can of mushrooms and add those (drain out the liquid first).

Add some additional seasoning if you wish - oregano is an inexpensive seasoning and will go a long way...just a 1/4 teaspoon will do (or if you don't have measuring spoons, a BIG pinch).

You can also add a little white wine to this if you have some around...any kind will do, but it's not required if you don't have it.

Stir everything together with your big spoon, when the tomatoes start bubbling, reduce the heat down to low or medium-low, give it one more stir, put the lid on the pan, and let it simmer (that's really slow bubbles) until the chicken is nice and tender (about a half hour to 40 minutes). Occassionally give it a stir and turn the chicken.

Once you have everything in the pan and it is simmering, get your big pot and put water in it. Add a little salt to the water and put it on the stove. Turn the stove to HIGH and bring the water to a boil (really bubbling like crazy, not just small bubbles starting to rise), add whatever kind of pasta you like to the water. Let the water return to a boil, then reduce the heat just a little to keep the water boiling, but to avoid boiling over the side of the pot, and cook for the amount of time the pasta box says to cook for (usually about 12 minutes for most types). When the pasta is done, drain off the water.

The chicken should be nearly done by then. When it is done (if in doubt, just take two forks, stick them down to the bone and separate the chicken a little to see if there is any pink blood still inside near the bone...if so, keep cooking, if it's white all the way through, it's done...scoop some pasta onto a plate or bowl, stick a piece of chicken on the pasta, scoop up some of the tomato sauce and pour that on top, and you have a delicious meal, cheap!

This is basically the starving student version of chicken cacciatore. I tried to remember to include all the necessary instructions, but as long as all the ingredients wind up in the pan and cooked, you really can't go wrong...if all you're feeding are a bunch of male students, they won't notice if the pepper is chopped or sliced or if the garlic was perfectly minced. Plus, this also makes a good meal for a date...just add a candle to the table and you're all set to impress!

 

[holly]

Sorry, Moonbear, I feel stupid now, I put a very dumb recipe on the other thread for cookiemonster, let's hope he gets to yours first, it's much tastier. WOW.

 

[Moonbear]

Sorry, Moonbear, I feel stupid now, I put a very dumb recipe on the other thread for cookiemonster, let's hope he gets to yours first, it's much tastier. WOW.

LOL! Tasty food doesn't have to be expensive or difficult to cook. A lot can be made from some basic, cheap ingredients. Actually, I've noticed that a few ingredients are very common across most cultures, and with just a few different spices, you can make a whole variety of dishes. Some of those are tomatoes (easy to buy in cans whenever they are on sale), garlic, onion (both of which can be stored room temp if you don't have a refrigerator, such as in a dorm, though should still be kept cool), green peppers (those won't keep very long without refrigeration, but will be okay a day or two if necessary), carrots and celery (which do need to be kept refrigerated), and potatoes or pasta (of course pasta keeps well on a shelf, while potatoes are cheap to buy a whole bag). Hint...don't keep your potatoes and onions in the same crisper drawer in the fridge...something in onions will make your potatoes grow those nasty eyes more rapidly.

Then a few basic seasonings: salt, pepper, oregano, garlic and onion powder (for when you don't have fresh...it's not nearly the same taste, but better than nothing), thyme (good on poultry, but more expensive, so you can do without if necessary), and bay leaves (for beef stews).

The hardest part of cooking when still a student is that you usually have a pretty sparse kitchen, unlike the plethora of gadgets available at mom's house. So, learning to improvise on things like measuring cups and measuring spoons, cooking things where exact proportions aren't all that important, and using as few pots as possible (I have a lot of one or two pot recipes).

And don't worry, I was a student for a very long time, so had a lot of opportunity to perfect these recipes. Maybe I should write a book :-)

 

[cookiemonster]

Heh. The fact that the instructions are about as long as the first three pages of this thread is daunting, but now that I think about it, it's just because it was dumbed down for dumb little me. =]

Get yourself some chicken pieces...bone in, it will give you more flavor as it cooks (sometimes whole chickens are cheaper per pound than chicken parts, you can cut up a whole chicken if you have a good knife). Oh, and do you have a freezer? If you do, then you can make just a couple pieces of the chicken now and freeze the rest to use another day.

Sadly, we have no knives. We have some miniature saws on sticks that proclaim themselves knives but really aren't, but I don't think they could handle a chicken...

The chicken should be nearly done by then. When it is done (if in doubt, just take two forks, stick them down to the bone and separate the chicken a little to see if there is any pink blood still inside near the bone...if so, keep cooking, if it's white all the way through, it's done...scoop some pasta onto a plate or bowl, stick a piece of chicken on the pasta, scoop up some of the tomato sauce and pour that on top, and you have a delicious meal, cheap!

Where'd the mysterious tomato sauce come from? The pan with the chicken?

... they won't notice if the pepper is chopped or sliced...

There's a difference between chopping and slicing...?

Plus, this also makes a good meal for a date...just add a candle to the table and you're all set to impress!

She'd never believe I made it. =\

I think I'll have to go grab some stuff from the store and try this sometime. Hopefully without burning down the apartment... Should I be worried that this would be more work than my parents have ever put into dinner?

cookiemonster

 

[Polly]

Last night I had
1. winter melon soup - basically winter melon + salt + water, boiled for 30 minutes, noted for its cooling effect.
2. brown bread + avocado slices + honey.

Tonight if I am adventurous, I will make a tomato (4)+potato(1)+apple(1)+pork(US$1.2) soup (cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours). If not then a repeat of 2 above.

 

[Moonbear]

Heh. The fact that the instructions are about as long as the first three pages of this thread is daunting, but now that I think about it, it's just because it was dumbed down for dumb little me. =]

Well, I did add a lot of extra instructions, it would have been just a few short lines following an ingredients list for someone who does a lot of cooking. It's not as hard as it looks.

Sadly, we have no knives. We have some miniature saws on sticks that proclaim themselves knives but really aren't, but I don't think they could handle a chicken...

Okay, miniature saws on sticks will not cut up a chicken. You'll have to splurge on chicken that's already cut into pieces. Fortunately, they sell it this way at the store. A halfway decent knife is a worthy investment. It's usually one of the first things men add to their kitchen, because playing with knives is fun.

Where'd the mysterious tomato sauce come from? The pan with the chicken?

You added tomato to the chicken (about halfway down the instructions). It's just the tomato that the chicken is stewing in...don't leave it in the pan to let it go to waste! That's valuable food there!

There's a difference between chopping and slicing...?

Indeed, there is. Chopping makes little squares (or rectangles) out of the food. Slicing makes slices See, this is why the instructions are practically 3 pages long. But, with this particular recipe, it really doesn't matter which you do, so don't worry about it, just brown the chicken and then get all the other ingredients into the pan in some form or another and you'll be okay.

She'd never believe I made it. =\

Well, you should try serving it while still hot, so that would mean she'd get to see you cooking it (I suggest you practice making the dishes a few times before you try to impress a date with your cooking skills), so she'd have to believe it. Trust me, men who can cook are VERY attractive to women!

I think I'll have to go grab some stuff from the store and try this sometime. Hopefully without burning down the apartment... Should I be worried that this would be more work than my parents have ever put into dinner?

cookiemonster

Oh, you poor, poor thing. Actually, once you've made it once and are comfortable with cutting up veggies, you'll find it's a very easy recipe. It sounds like a lot, but it's just a few ingredients all cut up and thrown into a pan (you'll have to cut onions, garlic and green peppers, the rest of the ingredients can be gotten out of a can if cutting up fresh is that scary...you do have a can opener, right?) that requires very little attention and very little clean up. There's a LOT to be said for easy clean-up! If you can make a complicated sounding dish in just one pot, the extra time cooking is well worth the time saved during the clean-up (well, assuming you don't burn too much to the bottom of the pan).

Bon Appetit!

 

[holly]

Polly, despite our rhyming names, I feel no affinity for your supper menu choices. The idea of honey touching a slice of Divine Avocado is enough to make one Hurl. However, the horrid honey-avocado combination sounds delightful after reading about the apple-laced "soup" you intend to make.

Of course you realize I am just being obnoxious...

 

[Math Is Hard]

My mom used to make ketchup soup when I was a little girl and we were poor. Actually I didn't eat the soup, she would eat it and spend the money she saved on her meal to buy me real food to eat.

 

[BobG]

Oooh. I used to eat ketchup sandwiches. We used to love them.

 

[holly]

And to think I had a fond feeling for Math is Hard and BobG. Hmph. I HATE KETCHUP. I HATE CATSUP. I put a potholder on if I have to even TOUCH the bottle.

Math is Hard, your story of the ketchup soup is sad. An elder sister, very poor, once bought a little birthday cake at reduced price, for her two-year-old. It had "Happy Birthday Shelly" lettered on it; her daughter's name is Katie. I sometimes wondered if "Shelly's" mother was too poor even for the pathetic little grocery-store cake. *sniff* I can still see my neice's delighted eyes when she surveyed the cake. It turned me into what I am today: A Communist for Christ.

 

[cookiemonster]

Ketchup is bad. =\

But I have a friend that loves it. I've never seen him eat a meal without it. Ketchup on his burgers, ketchup on his pancakes, ketchup on his chicken, and lots of it, too! He went through a third of a bottle of ketchup at breakfast one time... The breakfast before the first round of the state tennis tournament, no less. He (and I) regretted it once he got on the court and could hardly move!

Well, you should try serving it while still hot, so that would mean she'd get to see you cooking it (I suggest you practice making the dishes a few times before you try to impress a date with your cooking skills), so she'd have to believe it. Trust me, men who can cook are VERY attractive to women!

I'll have plenty of chances to practice before I have an opportunity like that. I'm a bit worried that I won't have enough kitchens, though. I might lose the first one or two...

Okay, miniature saws on sticks will not cut up a chicken. You'll have to splurge on chicken that's already cut into pieces. Fortunately, they sell it this way at the store. A halfway decent knife is a worthy investment. It's usually one of the first things men add to their kitchen, because playing with knives is fun.

Where exactly do you get knives, anyway? We once had a salesman come to our house and try to sell us knives, and we cut a penny in half. That was kinda fun. But I don't think I'd buy a knife from anybody that'd suggest using it on a penny. Pennies are meant for being thrown, not being cut.

cookiemonster

 

[Monique]

Ketchup is bad. =\

Actually, in the US ketchup is catagorized as a vegetable (some president did that) and ketchup is healthier than fresh tomatoes, because it is more concentrated.. supposedly..

 

[cookiemonster]

Hah! I'm 17! I don't consider the health content of my food! I was referring to taste, naturally.

cookiemonster

 

[Moonbear]

I'll have plenty of chances to practice before I have an opportunity like that. I'm a bit worried that I won't have enough kitchens, though. I might lose the first one or two...

Nah, just keep a chair or stepladder around to shut off the smoke detector when you burn stuff and get tired of it shrieking at you.

Seriously, that's why you should always have lids for the frying pans. If you do start a grease fire (that's really the only time you're going to set the kitchen on fire as long as you stay nearby and don't forget you put something on the stove), you can slam the lid down on the pan to put it out or toss on baking soda (given what you've described of your kitchen so far, I'm guessing baking soda isn't readily handy). Whatever you do, NEVER NEVER NEVER throw water or use a fire extinguisher on a grease fire...it will flare up worse as the flaming oil splatters out of the pan! Just think of it like a big chemistry lab...have the proper safety equipment on hand.

Where exactly do you get knives, anyway? We once had a salesman come to our house and try to sell us knives, and we cut a penny in half. That was kinda fun. But I don't think I'd buy a knife from anybody that'd suggest using it on a penny. Pennies are meant for being thrown, not being cut.

cookiemonster

Ack! :surprise: No, don't buy one they try to sell you by showing you how well it cuts pennies or aluminum cans or nails or anything else, unless you need another saw on a stick.

At an absolute minimum, the knives one should start out with are one 6" utility knife and one 8" chef knife. You can find them in the cookware section of any department store. Farberware is an inexpensive brand that is good to start off with. You might even find them in the grocery store if yours has an aisle stocked with baking pans and kitchen gadgets.

There are certainly some really high end knives that will last you a lifetime with proper care, but they are very expensive, so not good as a starter set (good weight to them, drop forged steel, single piece of steel forms the blade and shank for the handle to give it stability...once you've gotten spoiled on those, you'll never be able to go back to cheap knives, so settle for drooling over those for a while...besides, those have blades so sharp, you won't even feel them when you cut yourself...that's a bad thing when first learning to cook).

But, just wait, once you start doing a little cooking, it won't be long before you need to wear blinders to walk past all the gadgets and fancy knives. They're gadgets afterall, and how can anyone not have gadgets?!