The reason grandma won't give you her cookie recipe
For people who love to cook or eat, finding a really good recipe is like finding a nugget of gold in a big cave of rocks. I have only a few good recipes that I go to regularly because they usually turn out edible. I don't cook very much, not much time for food or laundry. But I was in a class once where we were assigned to work in small groups. My group started discussing food and someone said they had a great recipe for red velvet cake. She went on and on about how lots of people thought it was the best dessert they have ever had. She promised to give us her recipe but she made up an excuse every time someone asked her for it. I think she really didn't want anyone else to know it. My own sister has done the same thing. They enjoy recipe envy. Does the knowledge of how to get muffins to come out as delicate morsels instead of tough little balls of Styrofoam mean so much that people have to hoard their coveted food formulas? Apparently, having a good recipe that everyone likes is second only to guessing a winning lottery combination. Everyone adores you because of your coconut macadamia squares. But what happens if someone else can make the same treat? You become very ordinary and your recipe goes in the pile of other banal instructions. So I challenge you to share your best recipe with the rest of the world, or at least with me.
Here is my really easy potato soup recipe.
Put 5 cups of water in a big pot and boil it. Take a bunch of unpeeled red potatoes (5-6) and chop them up into cubes. Chop up a cup of celery and a big onion. Add all the veggies to the pot and cook for 10 mins. Add 2 tsps salt and 1/2 tsp. of pepper. Now take a hand mixer and blend the veggies until they are kind of lumpy but mostly blended. Melt a 1/2 stick of butter in a small pan, add 1/4 c. flour to the butter, cook for a minute. Add the butter mixture to the soup and stir. Now add 1/2 c. heavy cream...add a little milk if its too thick. Heat it up but don't boil it.
I like to sprinkle cheddar cheese and bacon on it. Bon Appetite!
Here is my really easy potato soup recipe.
Put 5 cups of water in a big pot and boil it. Take a bunch of unpeeled red potatoes (5-6) and chop them up into cubes. Chop up a cup of celery and a big onion. Add all the veggies to the pot and cook for 10 mins. Add 2 tsps salt and 1/2 tsp. of pepper. Now take a hand mixer and blend the veggies until they are kind of lumpy but mostly blended. Melt a 1/2 stick of butter in a small pan, add 1/4 c. flour to the butter, cook for a minute. Add the butter mixture to the soup and stir. Now add 1/2 c. heavy cream...add a little milk if its too thick. Heat it up but don't boil it.
I like to sprinkle cheddar cheese and bacon on it. Bon Appetite!
Comments
Yesterday, I did have my family over for a picnic and cooked a number of dishes from recipes. They were each GREAT but I didn't get the same buzz since they weren't my ideas.
I was actually considering doing cooking as my post this week. One of my recipes from yesterday was butter rum ice cream with candied bacon chips - it was too good not to spread the word that pork goes well in an ice cream cone.
tips I have learned:
1) When making instant mashed taties, use all milk (no water) for much creamier taties.
2) When in doubt, put cheese on it.
3) Food cooked for you by someone else always tastes better. Even if they use the same recipe you do.
4) The fattening factor is directly proportional to the yum factor.
My recipe: Eclair cake
1 box plain graham crackers
2 boxes French Vanilla Pudding
3 C milk
2 containers of Magic Shell
1 large container of Cool Whip
Mix pudding and milk. Beat until thickened.
stir in Cool Whip
Layer 9X11 baking pan with graham crackers (1 layer)
Add half the pudding/Cool Whip mixture
On top of that add one layer of graham crackers
On top of that add the rest of the pudding/Cool WHip mixture
On top of that add one last layer of graham crackers.
Put two containers of Magic Shell on top of the last layer of graham crackers (shake the crap out of the bottles first or this runny stuff comes out).
Put in the fridge until it sets (about an hour) and serve.
It's so stinkin yummy!