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05-31-2020, 02:45 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-31-2020, 02:45 AM by Jeffery.)
Curious, what is your favorite "home-made road snack"?
Let's say it is a long road trip travelling from one state to another. Let's call it a 12 hour trip. Sure, we stop at fast food resturants and maybe even truck stops for the main meals. What about any in-between snacks?
There are different scenerios such as what I call the "Lone Ranger Road Snack" wherein you are all alone and its a long trip. Then there is the family road trip with a car load of kids and the wifey I call the "Riad Trip to Hell and Back Road Snacks".
You know, 'not' the usual potato chips, m&ms, whatever.
Mine is home-made peanut brittle.
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05-31-2020, 04:10 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-31-2020, 04:11 AM by Kurt.)
(05-31-2020, 02:45 AM)Jeffery Wrote: Curious, what is your favorite "home-made road snack"?
Let's say it is a long road trip travelling from one state to another. Let's call it a 12 hour trip. Sure, we stop at fast food resturants and maybe even truck stops for the main meals. What about any in-between snacks?
There are different scenerios such as what I call the "Lone Ranger Road Snack" wherein you are all alone and its a long trip. Then there is the family road trip with a car load of kids and the wifey I call the "Riad Trip to Hell and Back Road Snacks".
You know, 'not' the usual potato chips, m&ms, whatever.
Mine is home-made peanut brittle.
When I was a kid whenever we took a road trip my mom had to stop at Stuckey's and get a box of peanut brittle.
If I want to make good time I'll get some bottles of something like Ensure. It's the only time I drink them but they're easy. For other trips pizza, burritos and/or subs.
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(05-31-2020, 04:10 AM)Kurt Wrote: For other trips pizza, burritos and/or subs.
Pizza and subs seems kinda messy unless you stop at a rest area.
I like mixed nuts, jerky, and trail mix (nuts and dried berries) myself.
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(05-31-2020, 12:40 PM)JoeSpirit Wrote: (05-31-2020, 04:10 AM)Kurt Wrote: For other trips pizza, burritos and/or subs.
Pizza and subs seems kinda messy unless you stop at a rest area.
I like mixed nuts, jerky, and trail mix (nuts and dried berries) myself.
Pizza isn't messy. In cold weather just wrap slices in foil and toss them on the defrost to keep them warm. And subs/sandwhiches are good in hot weather. Freeze them the night before and they'll defrost just in time to be cool and fresh at lunch.
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I'm a sucker for kitchen appliances. I got an air fryer 6 onths ago or so and like it a lot. It's really cut down on how much I use the microwave.
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06-04-2020, 02:58 PM
What is your most used appliance and what is your favorite appliance?
Mine are the coffee machine and the microwave.
Back in the day I used to work at Kwajalein Missile Range and the antennas use microwave guides. One day I was in one of the antenna rooms and the guys put sausages on the microwave guides (wave guides). It works and was yummy.
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At home I use the NuWave Oven a lot. Out in the RV I use mostly the NuWave Oven and Stovetop.
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Air fryer and immersion blender...
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Kurt's Rules of Taco Making:
When making tacos you never put the cheese on top of the lettuce.* Instead, the proper place for cheese is on top of the meat and below the lettuce.
1. I don't care if lettuce falls off the top.
2. Cheese is the perfect buffer between the hot meat and the cold lettuce and it can be fully melted if it's on the meat. After putting the meat and cheese in the shells I like putting them in the air fryer for a couple of minutes. It browns the cheese and makes the shells really crispy.
*Exception: You can put cheese on top ONLY if you also include cheese directly on the meat too.
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Root beer makes a really good sweetener for BBQ sauce.
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What food are you really picky about? For me it's eggs. I don't eat a lot of eggs and only really like them scrambled and omelettes. The eggs can't be at all runny but they can't be browning either.
Bachelor recipe: I love putting little chunks of cream cheese in scrambled eggs and directly in the beaten eggs for omelettes.
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Soggy lettus, slimy bananas/ anything okra and squash. My hillbilly grandma used to barter for brown apples at a general store - something that a store won't sale today. She made apple pies and apple fritters that she sold back to the general store and road side. She would laugh at her own joke: A fritter a day keeps the police man away.
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I love red beans and rice and only have made it from a box from the store. So I decided to give it a try.
When it was time to add the cajun spice I found I didn't have enough. So I added some chili powder with the cajun spice. Then it was time to add the red beans. I thought I had some kidney beans but didn't. So I added pinto beans instead.
I let it simmer for a while and was worried that it wouldn't be very good. And it wasn't. It was the worst red beans I have ever tasted.
Then I took another bit and thought that although this doesn't taste like red beans it isn't bad. So I kept eating it and it started tasting really good. And it dawned on my that it wasn't red beans, it was chile!
Once my mind understood it was really good chili and not really bad red beans it was great. Something about the half cajun / half chili seasoning and extra onions, garlic and peppers made it really good. It's funny how expectations affect opinions.
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BTW have you ever "shocked your taste buds"? It's when you pick up a glass without paying much attention and take a sip expecting ice tea and it turns out to be V8 and it short circuits your brain for a second?
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06-21-2020, 01:13 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-21-2020, 01:15 AM by Jeffery.)
Ha, reminds of seeing a soldier wake up 'drunk' in a tree stand over a pond and take a swig from a beer bottle. He shouted, staggered and fell into the pond.
His buddies replaced the beer with old coffee.
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06-21-2020, 10:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-21-2020, 10:48 AM by Jeffery.)
Why Most of America Is Terrible at Making Biscuits
The Atlantic Amanda Mull
There’s a scientific reason no one outside the South can nail them.
Excerpts:
Biscuits.. “you want a flour made from a soft wheat,”
Bread.. "If you want to make bread, you want a hard wheat. Northern biscuits suck because they are made with bread flour."
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(06-04-2020, 07:26 PM)JoeSpirit Wrote: At home I use the NuWave Oven a lot. Out in the RV I use mostly the NuWave Oven and Stovetop. The NuWave is like an air fyer (convection oven) plus infrared right? I really like the air fryer. It's faster than the oven and it browns unlike the microwave. You do need an oil sprayer with an air fryer to get the best results.
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(06-22-2020, 09:25 PM)Kurt Wrote: (06-04-2020, 07:26 PM)JoeSpirit Wrote: At home I use the NuWave Oven a lot. Out in the RV I use mostly the NuWave Oven and Stovetop.
The NuWave is like an air fyer (convection oven) plus infrared right? I really like the air fryer. It's faster than the oven and it browns unlike the microwave. You do need an oil sprayer with an air fryer to get the best results.
The NuWave is infrared. My Mother used to like it for baking a whole turkey. I recently used it for a whole chicken and it turned out well.
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Remember this is "Bachelor Cooking"...
With that in mind, I have a question. I made my own vanilla extract and am running out. It's basically just some vanilla beans soaking in vodka.
So...if I add imitation vanilla extract to the real vanilla beans, because I don't want to buy vodka and imitation is cheap, am I making real vanilla extract because of the real vanilla beans?
Or is it fake vanilla extract because of the fake vanilla extract?
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My guess is a after drinking enough of the vodka a bachelor wouldn't know the difference?
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07-09-2020, 08:08 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-09-2020, 08:09 PM by Kurt.)
(07-08-2020, 09:43 AM)Jeffery Wrote: My guess is a after drinking enough of the vodka a bachelor wouldn't know the difference?
It's funny...even in my drinking days (many years ago) I didn't like vodka. The first thing I drank and got sick and a hangover from was screw drivers and a ham and swiss. It was literally 25 years before I could eat swiss cheese again and I still can't drink vodka. But I' ve always been OK with OJ and sandwiches.
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Soup/stew, chile and lasagna all taste better as left overs after they sat in the fridge over night.
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What's your cooking skill level?
When I was young I worked as a cook for a couple of years. I'm far from being a gourmet chef but I can cook things that would be on a Denny's menu...except for eggs over easy. I can not cook an over easy egg to save my life.
I am a good slicer though. Give me a decent chef's knife and I can slice and dice pretty well. I often cook in the crock pot, then freeze half and eat the other half for a couple days.
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07-15-2020, 12:01 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-15-2020, 12:02 AM by Kurt.)
Add about 1/3 cup of blueberries (or strawberries) and about 1/3 cup of cream cheese to a big coffee mug and microwave for about 25 seconds. Add some sweatener and vanilla and stir and repeat as much as needed.
Make sure you break the cream cheese into small chunks or it may explode in the microwave. Trust me on this.
Cut a thick slice of homemade bread, like Texas toast.
Slice the bread in half "depth-wise" a little more than half way so it makes a pocket.
Stuff the pocket with the blueberries and cream cheese.
Dip in a mixture of egg, milk and vanilla then fry it to make cheesecake stuffed French toast.
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07-23-2020, 09:02 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-23-2020, 09:03 PM by Kurt.)
I made tortillas for the first time using this recipe:
https://www.justataste.com/30-minute-hom...as-recipe/
I cut the recipe in half to check it out. They turned out pretty well, not the best tortillas I've had but better than store bought.
I tossed the ingredients in the bread machine just to knead the dough then rolled out 6 tortillas.
They take time and store tortillas are fast and cheap. The biggest issue making them is the pan has to be really hot..."almost on high" hot. And then it takes longer to cook than it says in the recipe.
I probably won't make them often, especially in the summer with the stove on high for 30 minutes. But I'll probably make them again.
Instead of 6 I'll make only 4 bigger ones next time and maybe add some taco seasoning and/or cheese to them next time
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07-24-2020, 02:42 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-24-2020, 02:44 AM by Alton331.)
I make my low carb pizza crust using ground chicken, cheese and spinach. It usually turns out really good. Wrote:I used the bread recipe above "as is" for pizza dough once before. It was OK but was "too bready" tasting, so I tried something a little different this time.
I cut the yeast to 2 teaspoons and instead of salt I used garlic salt and added some italian seasoning to the flout.
I'v read about xanthum gum which is used to make pizza and french bread more "chewey" but I didn't have any. So I googled "xanthum gum substitute" and saw a site that said you could use plain gelatin instead. So I added a teaspoon of gelatin to the flour.
I used the bread machine on the "dough" cycle to knead and rise the dough.
Then I used a rolling pin for the dough. I noticed this time it seemed to shring back a lot more this time as I rolled it and it took more rolling to get it to the right size and thickness.
I baked it at 425f for about 14 mins.
It was really good! The gelatin really made a noticable difference in the crust. BTW the pic below uses a 16 inch pizza pan and there was enough dough to also make another smaller pizza using a baking sheet. I need some work on shaping the pizza into a better circle but I'm more into taste than looks.
Now if you can show me how to make homemade show polish, I will be able to "Rise and Shine". Wrote: (04-06-2020, 04:54 PM)Kurt Wrote: Here's an interesting article on how to make your own yeast at home. This is how bread was made for 1000s of years before commercial yeast was created about 100 years ago.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/31/21199...self-bread
I started this a couple of days ago to see how it goes. I didn't notice at first but this is actually sourdough starter. After some research, I think this is how to adapt my bread recipe above to use sourdough starter instead of store bought yeast. Bascially you substitute a cup of starter in place of the yeast/
Since the cup of starter is half water and half flour, you need to take out half a cup of water and half a cup of flour from the recipe. It also needs to rise for a lot longer, for 4 hours. So I'll use the dough cycle on my machine then take it out and put it on a baking sheet to let it rise longer.
Adjusted recipe for home made sourdough bread:
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar (honey/brown sugar, etc)
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Use dough cycle
Take out the bread and shape it on a baking sheet
Let rise for 4 more hours.
Add a pan of water to the oven and bake at 425 for about 40 minutes (I think).
I'll try this in a few days and let you know...
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07-27-2020, 10:48 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-28-2020, 12:46 AM by Kurt.)
Remember "Bachelor" cooking...I love fake cheddar cheese. I love real cheddar too, but the fake cheese powder on Cheetos, box mac and cheese is great too. I buy extra boxes of mac and cheese so I can have extra cheese. It's also good on other things. Then I end up with a bunch of macaroni I didn't use in a big bag that I keep for a couple of years until I decide to toss out.
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Kurt, You have to see these two vids in their order. I find them cute.
Vid 1 of 2
https://youtu.be/53me-ICi_f8
Vid 2 of 2
https://youtu.be/bGtR3l_JeUo
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I've been playing with the jam setting on the bread machine. It's pretty cool because you just dump in all the ingredients and it does all the stirring.
Watermelon Strawberry Jam
1 cup mashed watermelon
2/3 cup strawberries
1 1/2 cup sweetener (I used Splenda)
Big splash lemon juice
1 tbs corn starch
Put the bread maker on "9" and press the start button.
I blend it a little bit when done cooking to make it a little smoother.
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01-23-2021, 06:02 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-23-2021, 06:03 AM by Kurt.)
I've made both of these. They are pretty much the same recipe only the soup has more water/stock. My senior aunt said the tomato soup was the best she ever had.
Basically just simmer tomatoes, butter and onion.
The Simplest Tomato Sauce Ever- Marcella Hazan
https://www.food.com/recipe/the-simplest...zan-273976
Easy Three-Ingredient Tomato Soup Recipe - How to Make Homemade Tomato Soup
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02-02-2021, 06:31 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-02-2021, 06:35 PM by Kurt.)
Quick sourdough starter...
It's been about a year since the sourdough "craze" began. In case you aren't aware this is because folks were afraid of food shortages during the first stages of COVID and wanted to learn how to bake bread. Sourdough is just a way of making your own yeast instead of using store-bought industrial yeast (which is good too).
It can generally take a week to get a good starter going...this can cut the time almost in half by using just a pinch of yeast.
2 tbl water - gently warmed to lukewarm.
1 tablespoon honey, sugar, brown sugar, molasses, etc. Use a real sweetener to feed the yeast (bacteria)
1/4 teaspoon yeast
Mix together and let sit for about 8-10 minutes.
Now mix:
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup flour
and the yeast mixture from above.
Leave it uncovered for about 4-8 hours, the cover loosely with a wash cloth or towel.
Twice a day feed it 2 tbs of flour and 2 tbs spoons of lukewarm water and keep it a room temp.
Once it starts really bubbling up, drip a few drops in water and if it floats it's ready to go.
You can store it in the fridge, just feed it once a week. When using, be sure to pull it out of the fridge, feed it, and let it come to room temp.
Then just substitute one cup of your sourdough starter for half a cup of flour and a half of cup of water (and the yeast) in your bread making recipe. Note that sourdough will take a lot longer to rise and won't rise as much as "regular" yeast.
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I really like the combo of slow cooker and air fryer....
Add your favorite rub to some pork ribs along with a sliced onion, a garlic clove or two and about a half cup of broth/water and put it in the slow cooker for 5-6 hours on high.
Then add your favorite BBQ sauce to them and cook them for a few minutes in the air fryer to give them a nice char.
I just cook up a pot of ribs and then do the air fryer each time I'm hungry.
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These are the best hamburger/sandwich buns...
1 cup lukewarm water
2 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
After yeast proofs for 5-10 minute add to it:
one egg
1/4 cup room temp butter
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup powdered milk
4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
You can substitute bread flour for all-purpose, but I found all-purpose with added vital wheat gluten is a lot cheaper in the long run. Vital wheat gluten is a protein that makes the bread chewier. Typically bread flour has more gluten/protein than all-purpose flour.
I use a bread machine on the dough cycle, then form into the buns and let rise again.
Then wash with milk and top with anything or nothing. I like to top with dried onion, onion powder and bacon bits.
This recipe is probably best for 8-9 buns but I get 12 smaller buns just for my own "portion control".
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Easy sourdough-ish pancakes and waffles.
Following the directions on the pancake mix box, add the water to one bowl and the mix to another.
Heat the water until it just feels warm to the touch.
Add a tablespoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of yeast.
Let the yeast proof in the water for 5-10 minutes.
Add the yeast water to the pancake mix, stir and let sit for 4 hrs to overnight.
If you need to add any more ingredients, add them after sitting and just before cooking.
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