A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 Where is your half and half?

I know...

I hate the thought of something possibly biting me back -- in one way or another.

Getting sick would be my own fault for impatience!

Merme

I like my meat on the rare side but I don't eat raw fish at all. We southerners do cook are veges until there isn't a vitamin in sight.

Merme, shouldn't you be getting ready for your fun night out?

Bestofour ~ are you also a part of the southern culture that adds bacon fat to cooked-until-all-vitamins-disappear vegetables?

I used to have some southern friends who cooked that way and it was delicious but it scared me, too.

Merme

Okay, I confess, I don't like rare. Medium rare is mooing enough...and there is no danger with beef cooked medium rare unless it's hamburger or that sort of thing. E. coli is the thing to worry about, and it's only on the outside if you don't grind the meat, and heat kills it. (If it's even there at all.) No parasites in the U.S. beef industry.

Merme, I don't add bacon fat but I grew up that way. My grandmother cooked the best green beans and potatoes, with the fat back and bacon grease from a jar that sat on her stove. growing up my mother had a jar of bacon grease sitting on her stove too. My dad recently died from heart failure - his mother, his first wife - imagine that.

when I first moved south I wondered what I had been doing wrong with my green beans for 40 years since they never tasted as good as what I experienced here - and then I learned about the bacon fat, etc... it tastes delicious but I don't want my veggies to have more fat and calories than my chocolate chip cookies. Boston Market has yummy green beans. I know there's garlic in them but I don't think I want to know about anything else.

PS yesterday I saw someone put whipped cream (a lot of it) on pancakes.

I have a jar of bacon fat on my stove... I never professed to be a "healthy" cook!
Bev...if you don't want to use bacon in your green beans...add 1 or 2 beef bullion cubes, garlic powder or minced garlic. I always have bacon pieces in my green beans...and lot's of garlic!
I don't cook my veggies to death though...I really like the flavor & texture of steamed veggies. I cannot imagine cooking crooked neck squash without bacon...

I just use onion in my crooknecked squash, but I'll admit, Vanessa's alternate recipe for green beans sounds...yum! I used to eat 'em without bacon for several years for the healthiness, but I got back to using one or two bacon strips, diced, and some green onion or yellow onion. What's a little fat?

Never hurt anybody...besides..it will make your hair shiney!
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OOPS! I forgot...you don't have any hair!!!!

but it's blonde

I use beef boullion in my green beans too. I put 2 cubes per 4 servings. I think that tastes just as good as bacon. I cook my squash with onion - I fry my squash. Not exactly healthy but very tasty.

We went to the Olive Garden tonight and had some not raw food, except for the salad. Boy was it good.

ewe...I love the Olive Garden...we don't do Italian food a lot....I'm not really sure why! We also don't eat out a lot. When we do we like to hit Outback Steak House. I haven't been to an Olive Garden in years!

We don't eat out a whole lot either. That's really not true because we buy food and bring it home for dinner a lot. We just don't go out to restaurants a lot. While I've been sick I've been laying around watching the Cooking Channel and it made me want to eat at the Olive Garden for some reason. It's around 45 minutes from here but it sure tasted good. And this cheesecake is out of this world. Monroe, NC is hurting for good restaurants.

Sheri, I'm not a TV "watcher" at all...wouldn't even own one if it were up to me. But...for some reson the thing is always on. So...I have been putting it on the Food channel so I can listen to it....I love it now! The only problem I have is that I usually always have our meals pretty well planned out..and then I start listening to the food channnel..and I cange my mind 47 times during the day!

I used to LOVE half-and-half with apple or cherry fritters back when I could eat apple and cherry fritters and drink half-and-half.

You actually drank the half and half? Isn't it cream?

4Ruddy, until lately, when I've been down and out I rarely watched TV. Reruns of Seinfeld and sometimes My Name is Earl. Now that's about all I do, except I have read 2 books. Until yesterday I could only stay up for short periods at a time, so laying flat on my back it was reading or TV. My daughter and neices are always talking about the cooking channel and I had never watched it. It's so funny that my sisters (3 of them) and I hardly cook but our children watch that channel and cook a lot. My daughter, Ginger, that lives alone, cooks for herself a lot. And my nieces all want kitchen gadgets for gifts. Go figure.

My mom use to pour it over strawberries & peaches...and she would put it on her cereal!!!

You guys should try that "crooked neck" squash cut up thinly, with onions, sauted in some Blush Wine. As a side to fish, particularly on the grill, you can't beat it!

But I'm curious, how do you fry your squash, Bestofour? Do you dip it in anything first?

Merme

K...gotta' say sumthin' here.....maybe it's because of my European raising....but I have never used whipped cream out of a can...always homemade with real whipping cream, lil' sugar and a lil' vanilla..yummy!! I think Rachel Ray uses far too much processed, canned and precooked food...might as well buy a TV dinner. Beef...hasta' be medium rare..some gourmet chefs wont even cook it any different..they feel thats the only way..eat it rare...or dont eat it at all. I'd rather add bacon fat to green beans than boullion cubes...the sodium in those is ridicious!!! Yes..it's good flavour but I bloat up like a balloon when I over do it with salt. But...thats just my opinion.
Christina

Christina, I think that's why Rachael is so popular, especially. They feel like they're cooking but their doing it conveniently. I suppose you have to weigh the options between a little fat in the beans or some sodium. I don't have a problem with salt intake so I opt for the boullion.

Hey Christina beef is a lot more tender med rare for sure. I cannot imagine a WELL DONE steak
The bullion does have a bunch of sodium...but bacon pretty much does as well (I guess depending on how it is cured) like I mentioned before...I'm not much of a "healthy" cook...guess I should be...but I'm more into YUMMY!!!

Merme, is wine all you use for the sauteing?