Question of the Day Wednesday Sept 15

catkiki

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I am totally brain dead today...

Do you like to cook? What is your "Signature" dish? Do you have any cookbooks?

I love to cook but do not have much time. I make a mean pot of chili, so that may be my signature dish. DH loves it and it can last a week. I have 3 cookbooks. two "Biggest Loser" cookbooks which I have never used and probably will sell on Ebay, and one from my church that I just got. It has some yummy recipes I want to try.
 

nanner

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I've started cooking alot over the last year. I asked for cookbooks for Christmas last year and I want more this year!
I think my signature dish is probably my 5-hour beef stew, but I've really gotten into pastas, and just throwing what I have on hand into some olive oil - lots of veg, olive oil, garlic, onion - yum!!
 

ut0pia

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I have my moments when I feel like cooking, but I really have no patience for making very elaborate dishes - I can make simple stuff like pasta, soups, etc and I love to experiment with different spices..
 

capt_jordi

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I LOVE to cook and to bake! I dont have a lot of cookbooks now, but have a lot of recipes online!
I think my signature dish is Catalina Chicken. Super easy, but taste great!
 

momofmany

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I love to eat and in the right frame of mind I love to cook. I don't have a single signature dish, but DH claims to have fallen in love with me over my lasagna, but I think he loves my manicotti even better. I also do some very good slavic, Tex-Mex and Cajun dishes. I love ethnic foods.
 

strange_wings

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For the most part I do. I hate clean up, though.
I have a few cookbooks but the only time I reference them is if I'm baking. I'll also look some stuff up online but see most recipes as just guidelines and suggestions as I make my own changes. Usually I'll look at a finished meal and taste or smell it and figure out how to cook it from that.

I'm not sure if I have a signature dish.
 

Winchester

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I love cooking and baking and just love working in the kitchen. For me, it's a lot of fun. I just love feeding people. And people seem to love coming here for dinners and for picnics and such. Just a few weeks ago, my family all said that we should go out for dinner as we hadn't been out for awhile. Then my nephew suggested that everybody meet at our house for grilled pizza! And, of course, that was fine with us. It was so much fun that we did it the following weekend, too.

I probably have about 700-800 cookbooks right now. DH had a large bookcase built especially for some of my books. It is deeper than a regular bookcase and is about 7-feet tall. I also have cookbooks in boxes in the computer room closet as well as boxes under our bed. There are some on top of the hutch in the kitchen, too. DH's favorite cookbooks are all my cookie books; he's the original Cookie Monster and loves it when I bake cookies. He likes going through my cookie books and suggesting new cookies for me to try.

Last year for our Easter dinner, I made a 12-layer cake for dessert. It was delicious. A little complicated, but not overly so. And part of that was the challenge. I like to do something, just to see if I can do it.

I've done three of my own cookbooks, too. Just finished up the printing of my newest book....just need to work on a cover for it. It's called "This Kitchen Never Closes" because well, my kitchen never seems to close!

I don't know that I really have a signature dish. Maybe my layered vegetable salad as everybody loves it and it's my own recipe. I also work with recipes to give them my own spin. Several years ago, I found a recipe for a shredded BBQ beef. I've turned that into my own BBQ dish and it's really delicious. When I go to CT to visit one of my GFs, I'll make it the night before and take it along with me and that's our dinner our first night there. She provides some nice crusty rolls and a good salad and we eat the shredded beef. And dessert is usually my white coconut cake, which I'll sometimes make into cupcakes instead of a large cake. It works for us.

I love making bread. I've worked my way through several outstanding bread books, notably The Bread Baker's Apprentice. It's such a good book. The Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche was a wonderful bread. I also make ciabatta and different kinds of foccacia. We hardly ever buy pizza anymore because I make my own doughs and sauces.

Yeah.....I love to cook!
 

larussa

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I really despise cooking and only do because I have to eat. The kitchen is my most hated room of the house. For me it's just a waste of my time and I don't like the feeling of being a maid cooking dinners for everyone else, that's just not my style. My kitchen is not a restaurant.
 

libby74

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When I was 11 my younger sister became very ill and was hospitalized for a week; my Mom was with her constantly, so the cooking duties fell to me. I was cooking full meals for my Dad and 3 older brothers.

I like to cook most days, some days I just do it because I have to, and some days I absolutely love to. I guess my 'signature' dish would be Chuckwagon Beans, a variation on baked beans that includes meat. That's what I'm asked to bring to every family gathering.

I have way too many cookbooks, especially cookie recipe books. I love trying new cookie recipes
 

swampwitch

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I cook all of our meals from scratch, which is extremely time-consuming, so it's a good thing I like to cook.
Three meals a day, though, I admit that sometimes it gets old and I just "go through the motions." I started cooking when I was 7 because my oldest sister left for college. I love baking.

My favorite recipe book has always been The Vegetarian Epicure Book II. Never had a bad recipe from that book, even kids like the recipes, everyone else always raves about the dishes. I don't have Book I but would like to someday get it!
 

goodcat

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I'm not too fond of cooking day-to-day for myself, but when it comes to cooking for other people I love it. My friends all love my stir-fry, which I make with udon rice noodles, chicken, teriyaki sauce, and a ton of different veggies depending on everyone's personal preferences. I'm also learning/intend to learn a lot of my family's Italian recipes that were passed down from my great grandmother.

My girlfriend rules over me in the baking department, though. She has a few books of cake recipes, the best of which so far has been a chocolate raspberry rum cake that we made for a friend's birthday last winter. And just last night we made an apple crisp that came out absolutely amazing. I love apple season!
 

tigerontheprowl

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I love to cook. I especially like experimenting with different foods and flavors together. My signature dish is an old German dish called Schmon. It's really easy to make and it's delicious. It's basically just fried dough. Just mix eggs, milk, salt, and flour and pour it into a pan greased with vegetable oil. After a few minutes, flip it and fry the other side and cut it up into little 2-3 inch squares and serve it with cream corn or pork and beans. I also make a good omelette. I have probably about 30 cookbooks, but I rarely use them. If I'm having company over and want to make something nice I haven't made in a while, then I'll use them. But if it's just me it's usually either experimentation or something basic.
 

nutrolori

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I like to cook, I don't like to clean up after but I like to cook.


I am a big pasta eater so any pasta dish that looks good I will make. I also love salads. I know there isn't any cooking really involved in a salad but I tend to do well adding just the right amount of everything. At least that is what I am told.


I recently tried a Lemon Meringue Pie with filling made from scratch. Unfortunately it didn't set up so it was more like Lemon Soup!
It was good anyway. I will figure out what went wrong and fix it.
 

zohdee

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I love to cook!! I don't use books but have tons of recipes I have found on line bookmarked. I hate to measure so mostly it is just by sight and taste.

I make a great General Tso's Chicken. My picky son says its better than at a restaurant.

I think my best is either ribs or chili.
 

tara g

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I'm sporadic when it comes to enjoying cooking
I've started to get back into it more, but most of my meals are pretty simple. The most complicated lately has been shrimp picatta, and I use a kit available at the store


My mom is a wonderful cook though. Mmmm never knew how good I had it!!

I have a couple cook books, some from the 1940s that my grandma gave to me last time I was up there.
 

cattybird

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I like cooking. My signature dish is a Chicken Casserole that they asked me to make so many times that I finally refused to make it any more since it was the only thing they asked me to make and I can make other things. Honest.
 

cruisermaiden

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I like to cook. Actually I like to eat so I cook.


I have several cookbooks. My stepmother got me one of those sets where they mail you binders and mail you pages every month so I have a huge collection from that series (Creative Cooks series), DH collects antique Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks, and I am currently working on transcribing all my personal recipes and those from my mom and
grandmother to turn into a Family Cook Book which I want to have printed for my siblings. Eventually I also want to get DH's favorite family recipes and some of his mothers best and add them to my book so I can create a big "Family Favorites" album for my children. We are even taking pictures for it.

I am most known for my Apple Pie. Its a simple recipe, but everybody goes NUTS every time I make it. I even had a catering company pay me for the rights to use (not own) my recipe for their "Country Favorites" menu!
 

cococat

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I cook all the time since we like to make our meals and eat fresh food at home. Signature dish? Black bean salsa, homemade pizzas, veggie stir fry's, loaded portabella fajitas, salmon sushi, spicy veg tortilla soup, grilled blackened salmon, miso soup, tuna wrap, deli veggie salads, roasted potatoes, there are lots of ideas but I don't know. I don't like baking much as I am not into sweets.
 
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