Topic: Christmas Season Baking

[bestofour]

I don't know if this is the appropriate place but I've got to tell this.  A lady at our church made us a one layer, no icing, sponge cake of some sort.  I thought how nice and I still think that.  It was wrapped in foil and I unwrapped it and ran my finger through the cake that was stuck to the foil.  I put my finger in my mouth and immediately threw the cake in the trash.  I couldn't make myself take another taste.  Johnny was standing there and after seeing the expression on my face he wouldn't taste it either.  I can't explain the taste and have no idea what in the world happened to that cake.

Last Sunday another lady at church was talking about how she'd been busy baking home made cookies.  She said she didn't use ready made cookie dough.  Jokingly I told her that my favorite cookie is peanut butter so last Sunday night her husband came in and handed me a gallon zip lock bag full of what he said were peanut butter cookies.  How nice is that.  They looked like peanut butter cookies with the fork marks on the top.  I couldn't wait for church to be over to eat one or two on the way home.  After church Johnny and I got in the car, cracked open that bag, got us a cookie, took big bites, looked at each other, I handed him a kleenex and got one myself and spit the cookie out.  I handed him another cookie and got another one myself and tried again.  Awful.  Johnny said "I'm not eatin' that poo".  I closed the bag back up, waited a few minutes, opened it again and stuck my nose in and took a big sniff.  You know how  you can smell peanut butter cookies CUZ they smell like peanut butter.??  These cookies didn't smell like anything.  Like I said they looked like peanut butter but they were NOT.  They went the way of the cake - trash.

I've never thought I was that great a cook but people will at least eat the stuff I make.  At least they do in front of me.  I don't think I could have swallowed that cookie if the cookie maker had been looking me in the eye. 

[landofoz]

Oh my god, that is awful!!  I wonder what was wrong with the cookies??  'Cause I mean, seriously, cookies are stinkin' simple and ya just follow a recipe...  Thank goodness you waited to eat them until you got in the car - so you didn't have to worry about having to swallow them!

[Tina]

The best PB cookies have 4 ingredients. PB, sugar, egg and a touch of baking powder.  No flour. I also am getting pickier about whatever flavors and textures  are going on in my foods. I'm wondering if it is an age thing?

[bayou girl]

The best PB cookies have 4 ingredients. PB, sugar, egg and a touch of baking powder.  No flour. I also am getting pickier about whatever flavors and textures  are going on in my foods. I'm wondering if it is an age thing?

i think it is tina.

my pb cookies have 3 ingredients.  peanutbutter, eagle brand, and bisquick.  if you like them chewy you bake them a little less than if you like them crunchy.

sheri, about that cake, if she used pam, or another type of "spray" some cake mixes will react with it.  i've actually had that happen.  where the edges/bottom of a cake were not edible where they came in contact with the non-stick spray.  i got real picky about my sprays/grease for pans after that.  i wonder if that is what happened to you?  if so, you did a good thing by tossing the cake. it would have had a hairspray taste to it no matter what you did to it.  on the cookies, who knows?

[duh]

Fortunately I taste before sending it on to others.  I was not a good cook for many years and still most of the time I don't cook and it's easy to loose techniques that I only use every few years.  

I remember one chicken recipe that I followed perfectly that was totally unedible.  Don't ask me how I got Super Onion but I must have because the dish ended up tasting like Onion Extract.  it was so stong noone could eat it.  My new husband tried and his momma was a gormet cook.  I've had some spectacular failures but fortunately they have ended up in my trashcan rather than someone elses.  

Currently I've run into a problem that the area that I live in is pretty rural and my globe trotting recipes are not a big hit at the pot lucks.  So it is a slow process of learning what the people here like.  So that I have something that fits in.  Usually the simpler the better.  It just doesn't seem like a party unless I can cook something complicated.  I'll have to get over that to fit in here.

[Tina]

Yes, cooking for potlucks often mean toning things down. I usually bring a standard that most people like and a smaller dish for an eating adventure for anyone wanting to try it.

[bestofour]

That is true around here.  I thought it was a southern thing.  Covered dishes are always chicken or ham, green beans, potato salad....... over and over and over.

[duh]

yeppers, no reason to make something no one will try.

[bestofour]

I fixed something tonight that ended up tasting like chicken pot pie, which is a good thing.  Tina got me interested in a stew.  I didn't want beef stew because my beef ends up tough so I did a chicken stew.  I served it with a Pillsbury croissant and it was great.

[Tina]

Chicken stew is wonderful!

[landofoz]

That sounds really good, Sheri. 

[bestofour]

What's everyone cooking today?

[Dianna]

Collards, peas, pork chops, and fried cornbread. What else would you expect?

[Tina]

I will have chops and noodles of some sort. I have a mess of veggies to use up too.

[landofoz]

I need a recipe for collards.  I've never had them before and would like to give them a try but I have no idea what a good recipe would look like. Anyone have one they'd like to share? 

[bestofour]

I don't care that much for collards but Johnny does.  I cut the stems out.  I use bacon, the really thick kind, that I cut crossways and brown in my cast iron skillet with a little bit of diced up onion.  When the onion is translucent I add a little bit of vinegar and sugar and scrap the bottom of the pan really good and put in the collards until they're wilted.

[Tina]

That is how I make my wilted spinach salad. I thought collards need to be boiled to get the bitter out? Then drained and cooked in your preferred manner?

[bestofour]

Oh dear.  I left out the  1-1/2 to 2 cups of chicken broth that I bring to a boil then add the collards after cutting out the stem, stir, and simmer for maybe 30 minutes.  I then add the collards to the pan.  I read somewhere one time to only use enough liquid to cover the collards because too much liquid is what makes them bitter.  Mine have never tasted bitter but like I said I don't like them that much.  Johnny's family loves them.  They say that Johnny's mother used to boil them for a long time and the house would smell terrible or maybe that's turnip greens.

[bayou girl]

it is the stems that make them bitter.  if you cut them out, they don't have that bitter taste.  collars, turnip greens, and mustard greens are all pretty much cooked the same way, if you take those stems out.  granny used to fold the leaves in half long way, and one slice of the paring knife and out comes the stems.  into the trash they went.  actually, she'd take and stack 5 or 6 folded leaves together, then swipe the stems with the knife.  afterwards, she'd cut them across the leaves like you would for cooking cabbage.  scott laughs at me because if i am eating any kind of greens, those stems get cut out the same way, even in salad.

oh, and you have to wash them before you cut them.  that may be the soaking tina is talking about.  but you don't have to boil them.  you just put them in the sink, cover them with water and a tiny bit of soap, shish them around good, or let them soak a minute, then rinse a couple of times.  i know a couple of old black women who swear by running theirs through a short cycle on their washing machine!

we didn't use the vinegar, but kept pepper vinegar on the table for those who wanted it.

[landofoz]

I've never heard of pepper vinegar.     I'm definitely going to give this a whirl!!  Thanks ladies!

[bestofour]

I have a salad washer from Tupperwear that I wash stuff in.  It twirls them around.

[bayou girl]

I've never heard of pepper vinegar.     I'm definitely going to give this a whirl!!  Thanks ladies!

sarah loo, want me to send you a bottle?  it is fairly easy to make, but also fairly cheap so most folks just buy it.  it comes in a bottle with a sprinkler type top.  just one hole, like would be on a soy or worchestershire sauce bottle.

sheri, i would imagine if i were making greens for us now, using your salad washer/spinner would work, but when i was helping granny at home, we made them in a huge pot.  they didn't stink, even simmering all day.  not anything like cooked cabbage.  i don't eat greens anymore though.  i ate too many one too many times, and just the thought does not sound pleasant.

[landofoz]

THat would be awesome, Jen!  I am 95% sure that we don't carry it because I've got a ton of different vinegars in my cupboard - especially now that I'm stuck with non-dairy dressings - and I've not seen it anywhere.  Adam just bought me a new salad spinner do-dad for Christmas.  Which is pretty funny 'cause he's been arguing with me for years that my old one isn't crappy (and it IS) yet he has to use it once and suddenly BAMO! New christmas gift for me.  Funny how that works sometimes!

[bayou girl]

that is funny.  when i go to the grocery next, i'll grab a bottle and send it off to you.

[bestofour]

I've never heard of pepper vinegar either but if it's in your store it's probably in mine.

Is it turnip greens that smell so bad then?