vera charles
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Posts posted by vera charles
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Ina, the queen of the crumble, is going to make a crumble recipe from someone else's cookbook? LOL
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My sister told me that she made dressing (stuffing) for a potluck dinner. Several people asked her for the recipe, then one person came back complaining that she made it and it didn't taste the same. When my sister asked if the person had used the specific bread (baguette) that she had indicated in the recipe, the person said no, she didn't want to waste money buying that bread, so she used cheap supermarket bread. Well, of course the dressing didn't taste the same!
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Sorry to keep you waiting, but here is my version of Pimiento Cheese:
about 4 cups of grated cheddar cheese - I use Cracker Barrel brand, which comes in 8 oz. blocks and I use half sharp and half extra-sharp. Grate it on a box grater and use a little more than half of each block.
Add:
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
6 or 8 grinds of black pepper
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 a 3 oz. jar of chopped pimientos, drained (about 3 tbsp.)
about 8 pimiento stuffed olives, chopped fine
Stir together. It will seem too dry but don't add any more mayonnaise. Keep stirring and it will come together as a chunky spread. I don't add salt because the cheese and the olives are pretty salty.
My husband uses it to make a sandwich on white bread with more mayo on the bread. He also sprinkles on some celery seed. I just eat the cheese spread on crackers - Triscuits are especially delicious. The olives really add an interesting but not readily identifiable flavor.
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I am at work now, but when I get home, I will post my pimiento cheese recipe. I pm'ed it to several people on TWOP when we had a similar discussion there. I don't use cream cheese but I do use two kinds of cheddar.
I also do not get that thing about giving out recipes that are wrong. Why bother? I have given my younger co-workers so many recipes for macaroni and cheese, roast chicken, pot pie, enchiladas, all kind of good things I make from memory. They always thank me and tell me later what a hit the dish was with whoever they made it for. One of my proudest moments was having my recipe for Black Bean Chicken Enchiladas published in a newspaper. My fondest hope is that somebody cut it out, made them, thought they were amazing and kept the recipe on file for future use. Why would I want a recipe floating around with my name attached that did not produce amazing food? I also read that Southern Living story and thought, "That's not heartwarming, that's horrible!"
The Joy Of Cooking contains recipes for and explanations of the different kinds of barbecue sauce. I have made the Eastern NC vinegar sauce and it is very good. It also has a good recipe for cole slaw dressing that I use all the time. 3/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup white wine vinegar, 1 tbsp. sugar. That's it, stir and pour over chopped cabbage.
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She was riding a float that led off the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And the magazine seems to come out every other month, so she's got six issues a year to put together. And she showed up at that award show last year, wearing that horrible half satin / half gauze ball gown. She really is quietly fading away. I agree, it's the end of an era.
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I don't think Ina has been on a regular production schedule for several years. She does batches of six or eight episodes, they air, then there are tons of reruns in between. I think the last ones were the California shows and the ones before that were the "Cooking With Friends" shows. She seems to love a theme like that, rather than just cooking in her kitchen by herself.
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The tahini version of the eggplant spread also has cayenne pepper and lemon juice in it. I would imagine it would taste noticeably different from the other version.
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http://sagetrifle.blogspot.com/2014/12/saltine-cracker-toffee-bark.html
Here is a recipe for something similar to the Praline Crackers you guys have been discussing. I love this lady's food blog. I think she used to post on TWOP way back in the good old days, when we were all snarking on Sandra Lee.
Welcome, Mondrianyone! Good to hear from you again.
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Rev Run was part of Run DMC - they were huge in the 80's and are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I was pretty sure they were but I looked it up to verify. They were introduced at their induction ceremony by Eminem. Yeah, they were huge.
Those numbers sound pretty realistic for Ina, Jeffrey and Martha. Anyone who is publishing books and putting their name on merchandise is raking it in.
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Eastern North Carolina barbecue is the vinegar sauce that doesn't have any tomato in it. Western is also called Lexington style and it has tomatoes in the sauce. The smoky and sugary kinds of sauce are usually St. Louis or Texas.
Yes, between talk of barbecue and Chinese takeout, I am getting hungry, too!
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I love beets and all kinds of beans. I am kind of "meh" on mushrooms. I don't avoid them, but I don't seek them out, either. There are two things that taste like dirt to me - roast lamb and shiraz wine. Interesting how tastes differ.
BooksRule said:
....we all decided on having my dad's North Carolina-style BBQ sandwiches.
Is that Eastern North Carolina or Western North Carolina barbecue? My mother-in-law grew up along the Pamlico Sound, so they are Eastern all the way. Western is totally different, as in my husband's family doesn't even consider it barbecue. I love any kind of pork, so I would have enjoyed whatever you served. : )
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As far as I know, the origins of the pork, sauerkraut, black eyed peas, etc. all have to do with prosperity. Cabbage = money. Pork is rich and fatty, so it is associated with abundance. I have heard that you are supposed to eat as many black eyed peas as you want days/weeks/months of good luck and/or prosperity. Having sauerkraut to eat in the dead of winter means that you have plenty of food put away to sustain the family through the winter. Most of these traditions seem to be rooted in cultures where poverty and hunger where very real concerns. Nowadays, most of us have the opposite problem, but the traditions live on.
stewedsquash, it sounds like you fill your take-out container with the same dishes that I do. We have a Chinese buffet nearby that is owned by the family of one of my son's high school friends. They have the most delicious peanut butter chicken and sautéed green beans.Those and the lo mein make up the majority of my carry out dinner.
I also meant to respond to Lura - most of the times I have made the satay, it has just been for my son and me, so it wasn't really an official serve-to-company meal. I tried once to serve the sauce with pasta and it was way too heavy. I think if you made a lighter pasta dish, maybe with angel hair, or some kind of rice, it would all pair nicely. The peanut sauce is really lick-the-spoon delicious, but a little goes a long way, if that makes sense.
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Ina's Chicken Satay was the very first Barefoot Contessa recipe I ever made. It is delicious. At the time, I lived in an apartment without access to a grill, so I cut the chicken into strips before marinating it and cooked it in a skillet. I still cut strips, marinate, skewer, then grill. The way Ina does the chicken - cook the breasts whole, then cut into strips and put onto skewers - seems overly fussy and like it would be less flavorful. The sauce is what really makes the dish. I could just eat it with a spoon!
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I am in the process of making the Star-Topped Mincemeat Pies. I made the mincemeat a couple of days ago, so now I am making the crust. So far, so good.
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I cannot believe this, but instead of Nigella Christmas Bites, I ended up recording an hour of dead air. My machine, FIOS, my own ineptitude, TCC,??? Who knows, but this show will remain on my bucket list. : (
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All of their dresses are unflattering, but SLop looks like she has one giant boob that starts in her armpits and sits on top of her waist.
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Anyone watching "Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid" or "Not a Christmas Story" for the holidays? One of my favorite scenes is when Lou finds the little bottle-brush Christmas tree that Mary put on his desk, stares at it with that intense glare, then looks up at Mary and asks, "It isn't going to drop needles all over my desk, is it?"
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I think I read somewhere that Ina has been offered many opportunities to endorse kitchenware and furniture, a la Paula Deen and others, and she's always turned down the offers. It seemed like she didn't want to spend the time or effort, since she doesn't need the money and is already plenty famous. I was a little surprised when she did the mixes, a deal that has since fallen apart, and then the frozen dinners. It does seem incongruous that Ina would want her name on frozen food.
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You're welcome, Lura. I hope you try them because they really are delicious. I really like Ina's cream cheese dough and rugelach is different enough from other cookies that it really stands out when there are lots of baked goods around.
In looking at the recipe again, I realized that, just as often as not, I substitute raspberry jam for apricot or use pecans and currants instead of walnuts and raisins. They are all delicious because it's the dough that really make these.
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I make Ina's rugelach every Christmas. I have tried so many recipes and hers is by far the best. My only adjustment is, instead of rolling the dough into a circle and rolling up crescent shapes, I roll out a rectangle, make that into a jelly roll shape, then cut segments. It takes a fraction of the time and tastes just as good!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/rugelach-recipe.html
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I watched it this morning - how hilarious! Sandy and Kimmie acted like they were half-crocked in the opening segment and the Sandy-speak ("into this dish, I'm going to put...") was dialed up to 11. Their family punchbowl is a giant martini glass? Why am I not surprised.
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Today is Sandy's White Christmas episode. Prepare for snow blindness, unless you happen to be wearing sunglasses or tinted ski goggles. This is the one where Sandy and Kimber are dressed all in white, in a white kitchen, preparing all white food. They are visibly disappointed when a pork roast and gravy made with Crown Royal doesn't turn out white. They also get drunk on white chocolate eggnog and giggle like idiots as they glue sugar cubes onto miniature houses. This one is a classic!
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I happen to love grocery shopping. The last two years, my husband and I have gone to the grocery store during the Super Bowl. If you don't care about the game, the stores are very quiet and you can take all the time you need to look at everything without being in anybody's way.
I also wonder why people make grocery shopping a family occasion. Usually the dad is wearily pushing the cart with a kid in it, other kids are running around wreaking havoc, and the mom is trying to gather items while also corralling children. It would be easier for us and them if one adult came to the store and everybody else did something else. When my son was in elementary school, I used to go shopping after work and leave him at daycare until I was done. That was much easier than picking him up and dragging him along.
The very first time I ever saw one of those awful car-carts, my son was already too big to ride in it. Too bad, so sad, I wouldn't have had enough patience to push him around in it anyway.
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My mother is legendary in her dislike of grocery shopping. For the last 50 years, my dad's favorite hobby was going to all the grocery stores in their small town. They are both retired teachers and when we were growing up, they both cooked, but my mom just cooked what my dad bought. He has been having some health issues the past couple of years, so she has ventured out to the stores and is amazed at what is available nowadays.
My mom told me recently that someone told my aunt that they had seen my mom at the grocery store. My aunt told the person, "Oh, you must have seen someone else. She never goes to the store!"
The Mary Tyler Moore Show - General Discussion
in The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The new apartment has been explained several ways. When the producers went to Minneapolis to film new exterior shots, the actual homeowners had large signs saying "Impeach Nixon" all over the outside of the house. But also, Rhoda and Phyllis had moved away, so Mary was lacking in girlfriends to interact with at home. There supposedly were plans to add more neighbors, including Penny Marshall who did show up twice and Mary Kay Place. Those plans obviously got scrapped. Plus, she had gotten promoted at work and was probably getting tired of sleeping on that pull-out couch. I liked that, when she moved to the new apartment, she took her old furniture with her. So many shows change sets without doing that. At least Mary got to keep some of her stuff!