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General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks (Read 15879 times)

Ravens Tears God Member Offline Posts: 537 Joined: Feb 3^rd, 2011 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #25 - Jul 9^th, 2013 at 5:43pm	Print Post
	If you are interested there are some free heart-healthy recipe books for download from my province`Heart n Stroke foundation page http://www.heartandstroke.mb.ca/site/c.lgLSIVOyGpF/b.3759587/k.1CDF/Quick__Healt... For a very large turkey I thaw them in a large Coleman cooler because they don`t fit in the fridge. I haven`t used salt on a bird in years. Garlic and sage really do bring out the flavour. A bit of pepper is nice too


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #26 - Jul 13^th, 2013 at 7:48pm	Print Post
	Thanks, RT. My kitchen "restructuring" is still in the planning stages. I was looking at unfinished base cabinet units in Home Depot this morning and I'll be checking other places as time permits. So far it looks like my "middle of the floor" work station will be a 3 x 4 foot rectangle rather than a 4 x 4 foot square but that's okay as long as I have additional work and storage space! There was an "island" work station on display and while it was lovely, it didn't have the storage options that I need. Also, the price tag was steep enough to give you altitude sickness! So I shall continue to stalk home improvement stores with my tape measure and notepad....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #27 - Jul 16^th, 2013 at 1:50am	Print Post
	Added a recipe for low-sodium A & W root beer to the cookbook. The syrup has only 24 mg. of sodium per serving. I don't know if the carbonated water would have sodium in it and I'm wondering if it would work in a "Soda Stream" machine.....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #28 - Jul 16^th, 2013 at 11:32pm	Print Post
	I found a very low sodium sausage recipe last night that I've added to the cookbook. I already have a pound of 80/20 ground pork in the freezer available for testing so as soon as I have all the required seasonings I'll run up a small batch and see if it passes Skywise's taste test. I also added a sausage seasoning mix to the book that's somewhat heavy on salt but it could give me a starting point for developing my own blends. I dug my old blender out of storage and it looks like it might have died there and since it's over 30 years old, parts are no longer available. I won't know if it's really and truly dead until I can plug it in and the power cord is "questionable." Skywise will know if replacing it is possible/advisable. If it isn't I'll be latching onto a copy of Consumer Reports 2013 ratings book to check out their ratings on blenders. I was going to be doing that anyway for my other appliance purchases so I'll just be doing it sooner.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #29 - Jul 18^th, 2013 at 2:34am	Print Post
	Skywise checked my old blender over and given that parts for it aren't available, I'll be getting a new one. I've picked one out, based on Amazon.com reviews. Now I just have to find one! I've added a couple more recipes to the cookbook with the nutritional information. They will likely be tampered with to bring down the sodium damage.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #30 - Jul 18^th, 2013 at 4:35pm	Print Post
	Well, I was in Walmart today and checked their herb/spice selection and they have what I need for the sausage project but only in a "premium" collection with a premium price $2 or more over the price of the "regular" line. I'm going to check some other places before I shell out over $11 for two bottles of culinary herbs! In other news, while in Walmart, I hit the housewares department and found a blender. It's an Oster with 14 speeds and..... it's metallic red. That's about twice as many speeds as the one I'd picked out has so I'm very pleased. With that many speeds/functions I "should" be able to put off getting a food processor for a while. So Iz a happy cookingperson.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #31 - Jul 18^th, 2013 at 5:50pm	Print Post
	Here's a link to the specs for my new toy and a picture. http://www.oster.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=5461

	BLSTTG-PRP-000_14_5461_2_972960_001.JPG ( 25 KB \| Downloads )
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #32 - Jul 19^th, 2013 at 12:11am	Print Post
	After much careful measuring, I suspect that the blender cover pattern that I have will be too small to fit my shiny new blender. So I'm gonna have to get creative (again) with large sheets of paper and "test" covers. sigh A kitchen by its nature is rather.... mundane.. since there are certain requirements that can't be gotten around and my kitchen, due to it's size, is more utilitarian than most. So right now, I'm wondering what I can do to make that space, where I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the future, more "me" since "me" has rather "unique" taste. So "unique" that most people would call it "weird...." I guess I start with black kitchen curtains and go from there....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #33 - Jul 19^th, 2013 at 7:19pm	Print Post
	I had the chance to test my blender and so far so good. I tested it with water first to make sure all the speeds worked and then I made milkshakes. hehehe I'll move on to something more "trendy" after I have some recipes to try. I was looking at a mini-chopper in Walmart and between that and the speeds on my blender, I may not need a food processor which could cut down on the amount of my "new" storage space I'd need to use for new gear. I'm still thinking about a bread machine and a family sized George Foreman grill is STILL unshakably on the "Must Have" list.


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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #34 - Jul 19^th, 2013 at 7:29pm	Print Post
	I may have used my blender ONCE since we've gotten it.. We do have a bread machine, second hand and I've never used it, and I do have a food processor that I love. Hubby said something about making lasagna with ricotta in it sometime. Since I find ricotta's texture too grainy for my taste, what I'll do is whiz it in the processor to smooth it out and put the egg and other stuff into it after it's smooth. I love the taste of it, just not the texture, and I learned the whiz it in the food processor trick on America's Test Kitchen. Come to think of it, I learned a LOT from that show.

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #35 - Jul 19^th, 2013 at 7:59pm	Print Post
	This blender has 14 speeds on it so I think I'll be able to "whiz" anything that needs it! LOL Unless I find that there is something that a food processor can do that the blender or a mini-chopper can't, I probably won't get one. I have no problem mixing by hand and I have a hand mixer that's only a few years old that works very well.


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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #36 - Jul 19^th, 2013 at 8:04pm	Print Post
	I can't mix by hand too easily because of the CTS so I use the beaters and the food processor a lot for that kind of thing. I have whisked egg whites by hand and although it almost kills me, I find you have better control over how far it goes... You can easily overwhip the eggs with hand beaters or even a stand mixer! Same with cream.

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #37 - Jul 19^th, 2013 at 8:07pm	Print Post
	Yeah, CTS would make a difference. Fortunately, my knee problems don't interfere with my ability to cook. Not yet anyway! I agree. It's easy to overbeat. My favorite chocolate cake recipe really has to be beaten by hand. It comes out okay if you use a mixer but the texture is SO much better if it's done by hand.


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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #38 - Jul 19^th, 2013 at 8:16pm	Print Post
	And some of the best things, like kneading bread, are done by hand. I'm debating what else to put into the ricotta mixture when I make it. A lot of recipes use spinach and Hubby doesn't like it. I don't mind it, but he can't stand it... I think you can mix something like meats and other veggies into the cheese for flavorings. I'll have to do some research on it before I get around to making it. LOL

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #39 - Jul 19^th, 2013 at 8:21pm	Print Post
	That kind of research can be fun.


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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #40 - Jul 19^th, 2013 at 8:22pm	Print Post
	Yeah, that's the kind of research I like.... Well, other than stuff that's more appropriate for the adult area!

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #41 - Jul 19^th, 2013 at 9:06pm	Print Post
	I'll admit to a fondness for that sort of research myself.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #42 - Jul 23^rd, 2013 at 12:22am	Print Post
	If plans hold -- meaning that the Post Office doesn't pull a fast one with Skywise's schedule -- I'll be in the home improvement stores tomorrow looking at base cabinets and getting the wood for the very basic bookcase I need to corral the pile of cookbooks that are currently stacked on the floor next to the computer. There were 20 of them at last count and that's only about half of my collection. Since I plan to add recipes from all of them (ones I've tried and ones I'm gonna try) to my "master" cookbook and that file is currently being build on the computer, I need them handy. There's at least two that I want to pull recipes from that are currently MITM (Missing in the Mess). I'm pretty sure one is downstairs, the other one is anyone's guess.....
	« Last Edit: Jul 23^rd, 2013 at 12:23am by Penthesilea »

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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #43 - Jul 23^rd, 2013 at 6:43pm	Print Post
	I'm hoping to make some low salt pasta salad for the reunion this weekend... It's pretty easy. Cooked small sized pasta like rigatoni, fusili or rotini, your choice of diced raw veggies and Russian dressing, along with salt and pepper to taste. I found a recipe for Russian dressing (as in the RED stuff, not the stuff for Reuben sandwiches) that you COULD take out the sodium so it's low salt, and I may do that for the party... There are a lot of people with high BP that will be attending so the less sodium the better. Everyone who wants salt can add it themselves. I'll toss in a teaspoon of pepper, or none because my mom would shoot me, she hates pepper, especially the freshly ground stuff like I use. In the premade/bottled Russian dressing, there is 150 mg of sodium per TABLESPOON. That's a LOT.
	« Last Edit: Jul 23^rd, 2013 at 6:44pm by Veridian Etoile »
	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #44 - Jul 23^rd, 2013 at 10:11pm	Print Post
	Yeah, the amount of sodium in prepared dressings, even the "mix them yourself" ones are heart stopping. Literally. Much to our disgust, we've found the secret to "low sodium" bread. The manufacturers slice it THINNER so all the nutrition numbers are more attractive. Skywise had some pointed comments about that circumstance when he figured it out but I'll refrain from repeating them since this is, as you've noted, a "family show." It's looking more and more like "bread making" is in my future as soon as I have enough room to do it. I saw an electric slicer in Meijer today that was reasonably priced so when I have a place to put it, I'll be adding one to my kitchen arsenal. Being able to precisely cut bread, meats and cheese will be very helpful in keeping track of the amount of sodium in a serving. I also picked up another kitchen scale while I was there. It measures in increments of 1/4 ounce which I've been needing so I'm set there.�
	« Last Edit: Jul 24^th, 2013 at 2:24am by Penthesilea »

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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #45 - Jul 24^th, 2013 at 12:44am	Print Post
	Great, just flipping great about the bread... Glad someone caught it though! Good grief, I didn't realize just HOW much salt was in one tablespoon until today... I generally don't look at salad dressings because I don't use them a lot or I make a homemade lemon and olive oil vinaigrette with no salt in it, only freshly ground pepper and sometimes some fresh or dried thyme, etc.

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #46 - Jul 24^th, 2013 at 2:23am	Print Post
	Yeah, if something doesn't TASTE salty -- like salad dressing or bread -- you don't realize that there is salt in it if you don't read the labels. You can easily get nearly a full day's allowance of sodium from bread/bread products alone.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #47 - Jul 26^th, 2013 at 5:01am	Print Post
	I finished the restaurant sodium file this afternoon so that project is off my plate or will be once I've printed it out and put it in it's folder. The other parts of the sodium files can be filled in at a more leisurely pace as I pull things out of the pantry and add them to the list. On the "retrofit" front, I've taped together four 28 x 22 inch sheets of posterboard (recycling a mapping project that didn't work out) and cut a 36 x 48 inch "template" out of it. The template is the approximate size of the workstation that I want. I'm a "visual" planner. I really don't know how something is going to work until I have materials in my hands that I can shove around and/or up against each other. So I now have a posterboard rectangle more or less in the middle of my kitchen floor and I can really SEE how the workstation is going to have to be orientated so I can still move around, open both the oven and the dishwasher and get to the microwave (which will be moved to make room for the small chest freezer I want) and the refrigerator. Have I mentioned that I have a rather small kitchen? Thought so. Anyway, the way I wanted to orient it doesn't look like it will work -- not enough space in that direction at first glance -- so I'm thinking it will have to go the other way which means one pair of cabinets are going to have to be drawers since there may not be enough space to open doors. I wanted to have at least one cabinet that was all drawers but two might be too much. A cabinet with open shelves might be a possibility except that small furry persons would be looking to sleep in there..... Lots to think about before I start buying (more) stuff. Might need to move the copier and the microwave to their permanent spots to get a better idea of how things are going to work.....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #48 - Jul 26^th, 2013 at 3:57pm	Print Post
	I had another idea about the configuration of my workstation -- an "L" or "T" shape instead of a rectangle which would permit free access to all the cabinets. Have to think about it some more.
	« Last Edit: Jul 26^th, 2013 at 3:57pm by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: General Discussion about Cooking and Cookbooks Reply #49 - Jul 26^th, 2013 at 8:51pm	Print Post
	I just ordered two more low-salt cookbooks and a pocket low sodium guide from Amazon. That will give me three specifically "low sodium" cookbooks plus two additional "heart healthy" cookbooks that aren't necessarily low sodium. Amazon makes buying too easy but they also save me time on Saturdays hunting through the shelves at Barnes & Noble. sigh I miss Borders......


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