What's your specialty?

[Thistle]

Everyone has this one food that they make better than anyone else...or else they're the only one who makes it 'cause who else in their right mind would ever consider putting that combination of food together??? So what's yours?

My specialty is my spaghetti sauce, which isn't hard at all, but everyone wants ME to make it. I just take a package of spaghetti sauce mix that you can get at any grocery store for like $.33, a can of diced tomatoes and green chilies (for that sauce with a kick! Rotel lets you pick your heat), a can of tomato sauce, a can of tomato juice, and half a pound of cooked hamburger meat. Put the tomatoes and GC, sauce and juice and mix in a blender(I always mix mine up in a blender 'cause I don't like chunky spaghetti sauce), then pour into a 2 quart saucepan, add cooked meat, and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Good stuff.

My !!OMG!! specialty something I learned from my mom, which she always called scrambled hamburger and spaghetti. I call it barbeque spaghetti. I love spaghetti, notice? It sounds nasty as hell, but I love it. Pound of cooked hamburger in a skillet, and the rest is just eyeing it. I don't suggest trying this at home, even if for some bizarre reason it sounds good. Anyway, you add to the meat Mexican chili powder, onion powder, pepper, salt, Heinz 57 and A-1 steaksauce, a can of tomato juice, Worstechire sauce and just a hint of liquid smoke. Then add cooked spaghetti. Simmer in skillet until hot.

Yum.

[Stormbringer]

Ok...I'll play.

My specialty is actually Lasagna, from scratch, with all imported Italian cheeses and homemade sauce from tomatoes, fresh herbs, italian sausage... weighs 1/2 per bite and tastes so good it's hard to stop...

BUT Skydark would say it's my biscuits and gravy...just because I am *FORCED* to make it every Sunday for breakfast, and after 6 years together I've never made SD my Lasgna.

-heh-

[Tanigawa]

I have two specialties, both simple to make but I'm too lazy to type out all the steps in detail and I'm sure that would be boring. Specialty #1: breaded yogurt chicken (i'm actually not sure of the title) You just coat chicken with nonflavoured yogurt (don't try that stuff by itself--I learnd the hard way just how gross plain yogurt is)and extremely fine bread crumbs that have a whole bunch of spices in them and bake for like an hour.
Specialty #2: vegetarian stir fry. Chop up whatever vegies you like, fry them then add sauce (combination of soy, cornstarch, chicken broth and a couple other things.) It's a really simple recipe but tastes great. No one else is allowed to make stir fry at home.

[Spatula_girl]

Well I don't think I have a specialty. Well when I was a child I was the only 11 years old that could make a meatloaf that people actually liked. I haven't made it in a long time.

My all time specialty though wasn't food. It was making pot holders with nylon. People would actually request my to make pot holders. So I ran myself a little business around that age of 9.

[Tess_the_succubus]

Um, I have a couple,

Choclate Chip Cookie: Mrs. Feilds has nothing on me.
Fantasia Parfait: Choclate, Coffee, Amaretto, Whipped cream, in a frozen tasty treat.
Chocalate Mousse in Between a dark chocolate and a white chocolate heart... (presentation baby)
Chicken Pot Pie, from Scratch
Baked Pork Chops with Sauteed Apples...

The list continues... did I ever mention I like to cook??

[Thistle]

Heh...you're a girl after my own heart, Luna. I love to cook myself, but it stays so hot in Texas that I usually have to limit myself to really cooking in the winter. Which is a shame, 'cause I've been on this breadmaking kick lately...

[TwilightsChild]

hmm .. specialty .. i don't really have one.

i like making meatloaf, i use extra lean ground beef and quaker oats. i need to find a different topping that ketchup, tho.

Tri tip. love tri tip. with sesame teriyaki marinade. mmmmmm

i like stir fry. being a bachelor, I'll just use the frozen stir fry vegetable packs and sauce from a bottle. quick and easy, littler higher on teh sodium if that bothers you.

probably my favorite dish is Rin's Chicken. Two chicken breasts, cover in paprika and garlic (or whatever suits your fancy) and a dab of butter on each breast. (no, the chicken you perv, yeesh) then 30 minutes at 400. goes great with rice and the veggie of your choice. :]

-Matt
it's hard cooking for just one person ... ::nudge, nudge, wink, wink::

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: twilightschild on 2002-04-18 21:08 ]</font>

[Brat Prince]

Whatever was my speciality my mum usually learns to make, some how changes it so its not the same, and I dont like it anymore, or cook it.
But I make great pies (fruit)
and this stuffed chicken breast thing i dont have a name for, but is really nice.
Plus my father and brother rarely like experimenting with new foods so i cant really create much. Oh usually the best meals i make are ones where there is nothing much in the house, so i substitute what i have for what i dont have in a recipe.

[Thistle]

Speaking of meatloafs, this is the BEST recipe I've ever found for it. My dad will kidnap me just so I'll make it again. ^_^

COTTAGE MEAT LOAF

1 1/2 LBS lean ground beef
1/2 c. tomato ketchup
1/3 c. tomato juice
1/2 tsp. each salt and black pepper
1/8 tsp. red pepper
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c. fresh bread crumbs (I use the Italian kind)
1/4 c. finely chopped onions
2 tsp. prepared mustard

TOPPING:
1/4 c. tomato ketchup
1/2 tsp. prepared mustard
2 tsp. brown sugar

PREPARATION:
1. In large bowl, combine ketchup, tomato juice, salt, black and red peppers, eggs, bread crumbs, onions and mustard. Mix until thoroughly blended.
2. Add ground beef. Mix gently but thoroughly.
3. Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with foil. (Though I never do--I just spray) Press in beef mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the topping ingredients, mixing well. Spread topping over the meat loaf.
5. Bake at 400 degrees F for 35-45 minutes or until done.
6. Drain off fat (though again, I never do). Rest meat loaf 5 minutes before serving.

It's really good with green beans and/or corn, I've found. I like Au Gratin potatoes as a side, too.

And there's your cooking lesson for today, boys n girls. Now I'm off to the dentist! Gotta get another wisdom tooth yanked out. Owie...and now I'm all hungry.

[Tess_the_succubus]

Oh yeah! Did I mention I hate making things from packages so I do everything from scratch? I make really good filet mingion stuffed with shitake mushrooms, garlic, and bell peppers.

[Thistle]

See, I'm not quite like that. I'm a simple country girl at heart, and while some things are made better from scratch, the only thing I really look for in my food is it to be good and plenty of it. I know there's a lot of people that like the whole fresh and/or imported ingredients, but I'm a money-grubbing whore. Plus I'm picky as hell and most of that stuff I don't even like anyway. *sigh* This is why I shall never marry. I'd drive my hubby nuts. "What?? Pasta again??"

Hee...give me country cooking over everything else.

[Spatula_girl]

Wait! I remember this one time I had to make a "Bouche de Noel" for Friench class. I made the filling up as an experiment which was chocolate pudding and whip cream.(To make it a lighter filling) When it came out... It didn't look too hot. In fact it looked like a giant turd but everyone really seemed to like it.

I always found Macaroni and Cheese made a excellent side dish for meat loaf and I used dried onions instead of fresh ones. Anywho... I think I might try your recipe.

[Thistle]

On 2002-04-19 13:05, Spatula_girl wrote:
I always found Macaroni and Cheese made a excellent side dish for meat loaf and I used dried onions instead of fresh ones. Anywho... I think I might try your recipe.

Hope you like it! And mac & cheese makes an EXCELLENT side dish! Totally yum. When I choose it over Au Gratin, I'll usually spend the extra $$ to get the Velveeta Deluxe kind with the real honest to gosh cheese. Oh, that stuff is sooooo good. It makes a meal all on its own.

Now there's a versitile food. You can have mac & cheese by itself, or you can add tuna (like I do), and I've met people that go as far as to add peppers or peas or anything their little hearts desire. Cheap and easy and $.33 a box...unless you wanna splurge for the deluxe. I love that stuff. I owe my continued existence to it. ^_^

Oh, and I always use onion powder myself. But that's only 'cause I don't care for onions.

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Thistle on 2002-04-19 15:47 ]</font>

[KamiKaze]

On 2002-04-19 15:46, Thistle wrote:

Oh, and I always use onion powder myself. But that's only 'cause I don't care for onions.

*head shake* What? What's wrong with onions??? I love them! Fry them up and pile them on a nice big slab o' beef....mmmmm....^_^

Less see....my cooking is mediocre, at best--Wayne thankfully does most of it--but I'm better at baking. I make kick-ass butterscotch oatmeal cookies, hell, any kind of cookies---cake, brownies (I don't like chocolate that much *gasp*, but everyone else loves 'em), fights have broken out over my peanut butter cookies, and I made this really cool cake once-- a flowerpot with a holly plant in it--made the leaves out of frosting, and used red hots for the berries--too frickin' pretty to eat, it was...

[Stormbringer]

On 2002-04-19 09:00, Thistle wrote:
...I know there's a lot of people that like the whole fresh and/or imported ingredients, but I'm a money-grubbing whore...

Why do you think I haven't made Lasagna since I've been in Atlanta? That, and the fact that I haven't found an Italian Grocery yet.
So, you'd probably love my Sauasage and pepper(white) gravy over Grands biscuits.
Originally being from the midwest I have this ingrained tendency to "country fry" everything and drown it in gravy.
(Jeez...made me realize I missed the Rattlesnake hunt in Oklahoma again.)

I love ethnic foods though. (Atlanta is full of REAL ethnic dining.) Even have a few Japanase specialties I make now. AND that's not sushi and rice Thistle!

~the Annoying~

[Thistle]

So, you'd probably love my Sauasage and pepper(white) gravy over Grands biscuits.
Originally being from the midwest I have this ingrained tendency to "country fry" everything and drown it in gravy.

Are you kidding?? I grew up on my mom's milk gravy and biscuits!!! Ohhh, that was soooo good...and now I'm homesick. Wonder what Mom would do if I suddenly just showed up on the porch. "Hey Mom! Can I have some gravy and biscuits?? Oh, and laundry! Gotta do laundry!"

Gads...I really do have to do laundry...eh, it can wait till tomorrow. I'm not quite naked yet.

And Grands biscuits were the greatest things ever invented by the biscuit industry!!!!!! Especially the butter kind.

[Skydark]

On 2002-04-18 06:15, Stormbringer wrote:
Ok...I'll play.



BUT Skydark would say it's my biscuits and gravy...just because I am *FORCED* to make it every Sunday for breakfast, and after 6 years together I've never made SD my Lasgna.

-heh-

That's so true. Why have lasagna when I can have buscuits and gravy? MY specialty is Tonkatsu and Miso soup, made from scratch with konbun and tofu...it's so very japa-yum. My more mundane specialty is Croissants filled with chicken and cream cheese, both of these things I *have* made for dear old Stormy.

SD