Recent content by TexanFrench

I usually cut/burn myself once or twice a year when I am both very tired and also trying to hurry with the cooking. That said, I am firmly in the camp that a knife that is not sharp is more dangerous than any other, because when it doesn't cut well, it is more apt to be used for multiple...

Well, our 22 year old stove died this summer and I had lots of fun (?) with the microwave. Not good for meats that you want browned--OK for most veggies. Hard to get multiple dishes cooked simultaneously. I found myself using more canned and frozen ingredients, rather than fresh, for some...

Our first microwave. Huge, didn't fit well in our kitchen, underpowered, a real clunker, a total waste of money. Finally dumped it. Years later, bought another, much smaller one that sits on top of a bookcase in the computer area and has been wonderful.

Some moisture will come from the meat itself, in addition to the wine & chili sauce. And all moisture should recycle as steam if there is a good lid on the baking dish. As Andy says, you are braising, not roasting. If you are not covering the baking dish, it's a different story!

Well, having done this, ages ago (I grew up in a beach town)... I agree with Michael in FtW. You're gonna have to work with what's available at your destination. Which means that you are probably going to be doing a firepit or a barbecue, or maybe something in one big pot. And your guests...

Sounds like you are a great mom! Every child is different--think of all the mixed-up genes in all the various strands of your family and your husband's. (Especially for those of us in the USA, who are descended from folks all over the earth.) But what every child needs is a mom (and dad)...

Dogs in the "natural state" would normally eat the entrails of their prey animals, which in the springtime would be filled with partially digested high-nutrient young sprouts of newly growing plants. Your pets may be reacting to an age-old instinct/need. I only have a cat now, but I do...

Hoping for the best... This is always such a hard thing. But if he feels it went well, it probably did. And even if they don't take him, he got to practice his "interviewing skills" and he will be that much better prepared for the next one! Keeping the fingers crossed...

Raising kids these days requires vigilance on so many fronts. What they are eating, what they are doing, who they are doing it with... and who is around them. When we were buying our house, I insisted on a fenced backyard, with big kitchen windows looking into it, just so I could keep track of...

Herbs are fairly easy to grow, and we usually have several versions growing in the garden each year. Basil, mint, rosemary, and whatever else strikes our fancy... I also use dried herbs when the need arises. I make my own seasoning blends, too, and usually use dried herbs for those.

Well Quadlex, don't know if you'll read this before you eat the next serving of your "boring slurry" but I would bet that the mediterranean sauce mix from your mother wasn't up to the job of flavoring everything you cooked, all by itself. I agree with the folks who are suggesting...

I've cooked with my share of inexpensive-but-serviceable pots and pans, and also some top-of-the-line pans. Inexpensive pans tend to have disk bottoms, which may or may not cover the whole heating surface. A tiny rim of burned/overdone food at the edges is a giveaway. You need lots of...

I never use anything but extra virgin olive oil. And when I have a pan of onions that I'm stir-frying, I do better with grapeseed oil. Sometimes I'm just not up to the delicate touch required with evoo. I'm sure the ancient Greeks didn't care if their oils smoked a bit, and they certainly...

Aside from the saturated fat/cholestrol content and flavor, the other big variable is "smoke point" -- i.e. the point at which a fat will burn. Butter, for instance, has a very low smoke point, as does olive oil. You don't want to use either of those for heavy-duty frying. However, don't...

Ah, the memories... In the early days of our marriage, DH was attending college part-time to finish his degree, and working the night shift, and we had a pre-schooler. I did tutoring (bringing the small one along with me) just so that we could have grocery money, since our budget covered...