What are you cooking or baking today?

Lilac said:
@RadishRose, I love cooking my bacon in the oven. No splattering mess to clean up. I used to put it on a rack, but that was a pain to clean. Now I just lay it on a foil lined sheet pan & flip it once halfway through cooking.

Today it was Amish oven fried chicken, mashed potatoes & fried corn with apple pie for dessert.
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@Lilac, I ended up doing the same as you....foil lined sheet pan. :)
I love fried chicken, but never make it for the same reason as you.
Now I might try the oven. I found the recipe online.
 
@RadishRose, years ago I bought both Cooking from Quilt Country cookbooks by Marcia Adams. There have been several good recipes from those that I make all the time. She had one oven fried chicken recipe in each book & I sort of blended the two seasonings together.

I love fried chicken, but I don't like the mess & the oven is the answer. I find I'm "frying"in the oven more. And foil is the answer to clean up.
 
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@RadishRose, here is the recipe I use if your interested. Just a side note, some think it's a lot of salt to use, but it's not since it's spread out in the crumbs/flour/cornmeal mix & you'll have leftover breading.

Amish Oven Fried Chicken (orig. from Cooking from Quilt Country by Marcia Adams)

1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup butter (2/3 stick)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. ground sage or marjoram
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
4 pounds chicken pieces (about 14 pieces*)

Combine oil and butter in a shallow cooking pan (jelly roll pan is perfect) and place in an oven set to 375° F to melt. After melted, pull out of oven and set on top of stove.

Combine flour, bread crumbs, cornmeal and seasonings in a plastic bag. Roll chicken pieces in oil/butter on pan and then drop in bag and shake to coat. Place on dish or wax paper.

Place the coated chicken in the pan skin side up. Bake 50 to 60 minutes longer or until top crust begins to bubble & chicken reaches 165° F.

GRAVY (if you want it)

Scrape the dripping along with oil (you will need at least 4 to 5 Tablespoons) from the baking sheet into a frying pan. Add enough flour to equal the amount of oil from the drippings to make a roux and cook over medium heat to cook the flour until light brown and thick. Whisk in several cups of milk (depends on how thick you want it) to make a gravy and cook to thicken again.

*NOTE: Cut the chicken breasts in half. This will allow the pieces to cook evenly. One whole chicken weighing about 4 pounds cut up will give you the following: 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 breasts cut in half. Just buy more parts if you want more.
 
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Today was the day to prepare veggies for Jackie, my Congo African grey. I do this about once per week.

Wash all veggies before prepping and do the UTMOST to drain off and absorb water. Water is a killer.

Ingredients:
  • Broccoli pieces, hand-torn from the crown
  • Kale, torn into pieces
  • Carrot, diced
  • zucchini, diced
  • yellow squash, diced
  • sweet peppers, diced
  • half an apple, cored and diced
Toss all veggies in a bowl and add to a food processor, pulsing 4-5 times for a rough chop.

Spread out the processed veggies onto a towel and allow the towel to absorb excess water.

Transfer the chopped veggies into a paper-towel lined container and refrigerate.

Jackie gets about 3 tablespoons of this mixture along with a bean mixture that is home-cooked. That's her staple. She gets a treat at about noon, which usually consists of 2 raw almonds, a tiny piece of cheese, or another home-cooked treat involving sweet potato and other stuff. Sometimes a tiny bit of cooked chicken or even a cooked chicken bone (she eats the marrow out of the bone).

She gets a wedge of apple at about 4 PM and she usually does a good job in destroying that and flinging a lot of it throughout her area. (Birds are messy.)
 
Lilac said:
@RadishRose, here is the recipe I use if your interested. Just a side note, some think it's a lot of salt to use, but it's not since it's spread out in the crumbs/flour/cornmeal mix & you'll have leftover breading.

Amish Oven Fried Chicken (orig. from Cooking from Quilt Country by Marcia Adams)

1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup butter (2/3 stick)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. ground sage or marjoram
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
4 pounds chicken pieces (about 14 pieces*)

Combine oil and butter in a shallow cooking pan (jelly roll pan is perfect) and place in an oven set to 375° F to melt. After melted, pull out of oven and set on top of stove.

Combine flour, bread crumbs, cornmeal and seasonings in a plastic bag. Roll chicken pieces in oil/butter on pan and then drop in bag and shake to coat. Place on dish or wax paper.

Place the coated chicken in the pan skin side up. Bake 50 to 60 minutes longer or until top crust begins to bubble & chicken reaches 165° F.

GRAVY (if you want it)

Scrape the dripping along with oil (you will need at least 4 to 5 Tablespoons) from the baking sheet into a frying pan. Add enough flour to equal the amount of oil from the drippings to make a roux and cook over medium heat to cook the flour until light brown and thick. Whisk in several cups of milk (depends on how thick you want it) to make a gravy and cook to thicken again.

*NOTE: Cut the chicken breasts in half. This will allow the pieces to cook evenly. One whole chicken weighing about 4 pounds cut up will give you the following: 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 breasts cut in half. Just buy more parts if you want more.
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Thank you @Lilac! I copied your recipe and saved it. It's better than the one I saw online. Very nice of you to take the time. 🌹
 
Marie5656 said:
My mom made a good beef barley soup. That is the one of her recipes I have not been able to duplicate as good as hers
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I have a good recipe for mushroom barley soup, but will hold off because the recipe doesn't use anything that's in my freezer. I put in a lot more vegetables than she calls for, but otherwise follow the recipe pretty closely.

Perhaps you could add beef to it and use beef broth for the liquid???
Mushroom Barley Soup
 
StarSong said:
I have a good recipe for mushroom barley soup, but will hold off because the recipe doesn't use anything that's in my freezer. I put in a lot more vegetables than she calls for, but otherwise follow the recipe pretty closely.

Perhaps you could add beef to it and use beef broth for the liquid???
Mushroom Barley Soup
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Looks yummy. Do you use the dehydrated mushrooms or a substitute. I had some sitting in my cupboard for ages and just gave them away. They were so tough.
 
Jules said:
Looks yummy. Do you use the dehydrated mushrooms or a substitute. I had some sitting in my cupboard for ages and just gave them away. They were so tough.
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I have a Trader Joe dehydrated mushroom mix in my pantry. They've been there awhile. (Dehydrated food lasts nearly forever, right?) :cool:

In any case, I let them soak for longer than as she recommends, then put them through my mini chopper/processor with some liquid to make a slurry chopping them into teeny tiny pieces. Don't know if they'd be tough if I didn't pretty much liquefy them.

6186h7rqz0L._AC_UY218_.jpg
You could probably use more fresh mushrooms if you don't have dehydrated ones.

Searing the fresh mushrooms is a key step. Makes them amazingly flavorful.
 
Jules said:
How old is Jackie, how long have you had her and what is the expected life.
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Adopted her from an avian rescue organization out of Kansas City about 6 years ago. Best we can tell, she's about 18 years old. Greys generally live to about 50 years (in captivity) though the two previous greys we had died much younger than that (freak accident for one, and an unknown cause for the other).

To answer the expected question, Jackie was not properly socialized with humans when she was a baby. That means she is far more skittish than the two other greys we had. She does not know that she can fly, though she has all of her flight feathers. She does not talk, though she tries to say her name. I've taught her a couple of recognizable whistles, which she uses to get my attention. In short, she's a "special needs" bird.
 
Marie5656 said:
Have you seen the You Tube videos of Einstein the African Grey who is from Texas?

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Yes, I have and he is impressive! I well remember Alex, the grey, who was owned by Dr. Irene Pepperberg who made efforts to prove scientifically that African greys were about as intelligent as a 7-year-old child. Alex died about 10 years ago or so, but Dr. P's work continued with other greys.

There are other great talking birds on YT.

Personal story -- I and my wife at that time visited a pet shop in Celle, Germany. This was about in 1990 or so. Just inside this small shop was a cage with a mynah bird. I saw him and I called out a greeting, something like, "Hey, buddy, how ya doin'?"

He sat there on his perch and very slowly and distinctly said, "Hah. Hah. Hah" in a very condescending voice.

No, I didn't buy him. Bought a lutino cockatiel instead.
 
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Lilac said:
@RadishRose, that looks so good! I bet it tastes as good as it looks.

Tonight was thin pork cutlets smeared with mustard, season with pepper & marjoram fried in butter with oil topped with sauteed onions & apples. Made some potato pancakes out of left over mashed along with a salad.
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@Lilac your cutlets sound interesting! I would like apple that way; usually I'm not much for apples.
Hmmmm..... :)
 
Making some salad dressings for the fridge & starting mushroom ketchup which is similar to the Lea & Perrine white wine Worcestershire sauce which is no longer available.

Going to make a large batch of cranberry sauce & put it in 2-cup containers for the freezer.

Not sure what I'll make for dinner yet.
 
I actually make something that turns out fairly well (if I don't forget about them) - oven fries. This method will work with white or sweet potatoes. I cut them into French fry size and shape pieces, put them in a bowl and toss well with olive or cooking oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder (to taste). Bake at 425F for 20 - 25 minutes, flipping them over once about half-way through cooking time.

oven fries.jpg
 

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