Cookin' This Weekend..thought I'd share

[DDD]

As you guys know, I cook to relax. This weekend I made something
new that was a HUGE success. Leeks stir fried with bacon. :thumb: I think I originally saw it on Rachel Rae??

Anyway, you take 1/4 to 1/3 lb of bacon and dice it. Pop it into
your skillet and separate so it ends up being crispy little bacon
pieces. While it is browning up, clean a couple of leeks and dice them. (If you don't "know" leeks, you have to chop off the
ends, slice them lengthwise and then wash them because they are a
root and have dirt in between the layers. Lay the "half leeks" so
the rounded side is up and dice away.) Once the bacon is brown,
pour off excess fat if it looks too greasy, toss in the leaks and
they will be cooked in probably five minutes. YUM!

New thought I had today when simmering potatoes for potato salad,
I tossed in some dry dill weed and some dry rosemary. The house
smells heavenly and the potatoes probably picked up a little bit
of flavor too. Time will tell. :smile: DDD

 

[Hound dog]

:thumb:

Sounds delicious!!!!! :bravo:

 

[Wiped Out]

You're making me hungry!

 

[AllStressedOut]

I cook to relax too, thats why my is so big. Because I eat what I cook and I don't believe in healthy recipes. We should swap recipes sometime, if ya like fattening southern cooking. I'm the younger, Texan version of Paula Deen when it comes to cooking. Throw in some Emeril "Pork fat Rules" and thats me.

 

[mattsmom27]

That sounds delicious!! I am a leek lover. I love adding it into chicken stew and I make a mean chicken and leek pot pie. I had the pot pie at a pub in Wales and was hooked completely. It's a major favorite. I'm going to try the bacon/leek thing, draining really well, let it cool and add it to potato salad I am making today anyhow. Just have to hope our severe thunderstorm watch is not going to come to pass so I can make it to the grocery store for the leeks.
I love cooking too. I can't eat most of what I make anymore since gastric bypass, or I'll have just a spoonful or two to sample. But I love cooking for the kids. Baking as well. I made to die for cinnamon buns last night (I admit I snuck a bite, I just had to taste them, the house smelled divine). easy child all but begged for one for breakfast although normally breakfast is something healthy. I gave in :wink: . I'm also trying my hand today at making homemade croissants. easy child wants homemade bagels but I'm really dying to try from scratch croissants. Silly I enjoy it so much still even with a 1 ounce stomache and unable to eat it all! I'm glad I didn't lose my love of cooking and baking though, it is completely relaxing for me.

Anyone else? Recipes for summer???

 

[DDD]

I'm sure I could pig out on all of your recipes...if I let myself
go for it, lol. Sad to say, I rarely fix "fat food" (yumm!) and
almost never fry, bake or make desserts anymore. Wahhhh..
husband ran into some cardiac issues some years ago so I didn't have
much choice.

on the other hand, we both have a bagel at least a couple of times a week and
feel proud that we no longer consider it a morning given. We
only eat bacon a few times a year so it's a treat now.

Please share your recipes, however, because (1) I may just feel
decadent and follow it to a tee and gobble it up or (2) I may
adapt it down to a healthier level and still love it.

I'm looking more like Paula every day. Lordy she has packed it
on since she got married! She looks a heck of alot better than I
do from the neck up..lol. I don't have the time for hairdressers
and much makeup anymore.

I'd love the chicken/leek pie recipe.

Off to work. Have a good one. DDD

 

[AllStressedOut]

I'd love some healthy recipes to cook for the family, I just prefer to cook fattening foods when cooking for friends and extended family. Unfortunately, with one difficult child on such a strict diet, mostly what we eat are meat and veggies. If I cooked what I wanted, we'd be eating pasta most of the time.

 

[DDD]

ASO...I found that it was a long slow process learning to cook
healthier with-o being too boring. Some things we have changed are
no problem for us, although others might not like it. Here are
some examples:

We worked our way from whole milk down to 1% but it took quite
awhile! We use fat free sour cream now and don't miss the full
cream we used to use. We use Splenda for all our sugar needs in
cooking etc. We have finally found fat free salad dressings that
we all can enjoy (that took a LONG time as most of the choices
were too sweet for us). At most, I fry something a few times a
year at most. I do sautee in EVOO.

I better stop thinking of food and get to work. DDD

 

[Kathy813]

I don't know, DDD. There is something about the word "leek" that just turns me off.

Of course, I've never been a big fan of heathy eating. :rofl:

What was that thing you mentioned a couple of years ago that we gave you such a hard time about? It sounded so gross that I've completely wiped it out my mind.

by the way, bagels are one of my favorite things to eat ~ especially slathered with real butter. Yum.

~Kathy

 

[DDD]

:rofl: I can not imagine what I would cook that would make you
laugh, Kathy. Snails, perhaps???? Collard greens???? YUM, OH!

One thing I know for sure NOBODY has ever laughed at my wings
recipe. :smile:

Geez, now I am getting hungry! DDD

 

[AllStressedOut]

The nutritionist we saw told us that it is worse for my kids diet to go from whole milk to a low % milk because when they take out the fat, they add sugar, and thats what we're steering clear of. She also had bad things to say about splenda, so we don't use that either. Which was fine by me, because when I baked with splenda it had a bad after taste to me. I cook healthy for my family dinner and my son that is on a really strict diet eats leftovers for lunch the next day. His breakfast is eggs and meat typically and snacks are nuts. When I cook for others though, I am all for fat, sugar and taste. I just have to be careful about the recipes I use with my youngest difficult child. No white carbs, no sugar, no sugar substitutes, not many fruits either, kinda stinks. And its hard to find new recipes that my entire family would enjoy that don't include any of that, ya know? Cooking for 6 kids with different tastes is never easy.

 

[susiestar]

Sounds yummy. I am working on making triple or quadruple batches of stuff and freezing meal size portions so we can eat out of the freezer many nights. I can't manage once a month cooking, but I think I can manage 2 or 3 nights a week until I get my freezer stash built up.

I like to do broccoli, cheese and rice. I use a white sauce made with skim milk, lower fat cheese (when I can find it) and we just love it. I prefer brown or basmati rice in it, but both are difficult to find here.

I make a lot of lasagna. Any lasagna noodle will work fine with-o boiling if you put a layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan before you put the first layer of noodles in. Fat free cottage cheese, a mix of drained ground beef and TVP, low fat mozzarella and some eggs get mixed. This is layered with noodles and canned cheap spag sauce. (All the seasonings get put in the cheese mixture.) I make it "saucy" and it bakes up wonderfuly.

I use soy milk, plain or vanilla, in most of my baking. It has less fat but gives a more tender crumb to cakes, muffins, etc... I just sub soy milk for milk in equal amounts. But if you are making biscuits vanilla soy milk makes them kind of sweet. I do prefer skim milk in biscuits.

Somewhere I had a recipe for bagel bread in the bread maker. It could either be baked in the machine or taken out and cooked like real bagels (boiled then baked).

You might look on recipezaar.com for recipes. I find great ones there.

Susie

 

[Kathy813]

DDD,

I don't remember what it was but it was really strange. I do remember recommending that you bring it to your GGF's 8th grade party (a little bit tongue in cheek).

Now, as far as collard greens, I wouldn't touch the stuff but husband loves them having been brought up on good old southern cooking. The only time he gets to have them though is at Cracker Barrel.

Talk about cooking ~ when I was at the vet today picking up heartworm medicine for my dog, the vet techs were waiting for someone to come by with a plate of scrambled eggs for a dog. When I questioned them about it, they said they had a dog there that wouldn't eat so his "mommy" was cooking him up a big plate of scrambled eggs (his favorite food).

That's taking cooking to a whole new level.:rofl:

Personally, I think that if God had wanted us to cook, he wouldn't have created restuarants. :grin:

~Kathy

 

[DDD]

Good Grief, Kathy........he's going into 11th Grade in August.
I can't remember what I cooked last week, no wonder I am a blank
from 8th grade.

Is that a sweet story about the scrambled eggs or what? It made
me smile and almost get a little teary. I hope "the puppy" pigs
out, gets strong and is soon romping around in his own home!

ASO, I have never had serious dietary issues to cope with so I
am ignorant about a lot of nutritional issues. I didn't know
that there was more sugar in low fat milk...on the other hand, I thought the
experts said that there was more nutritional value. If I could
eat meat, cheese and nuts at your house.....I'd move in. I do
LOVE those three things. My difficult child unfortunately eats all the leftovers around 2 or 3 in the AM when he wakes up hungry. OTE
told me that it was a side effect of either the Risperdal or the
Depakote. Can't remember which.

Susie, I "used" to spend Sunday preparing meals for the whole
week. I still have a menu for the week which helps with $$$ control and really almost eliminates fast food from our life.
Now that I am older I try to make double or triple meals to
ease the pressure a bit but I'm not as industrious as I was in
my 40's!! The one absolute necessity is extra cooked ground beef in the freezer to be pulled out for tacos, casseroles etc.
That saves alot of time and is not hassle.

I have got to get to work...it's mid morning, for heavens sake!
DDD