Cooking Woes | Pad Patter 8.23

Cooking meat if it's not done in the Instant Pot or crock pot...I'm super paranoid of getting food poisoning because I get it so easily. I know the temps the meats are done, and I always go 15 degrees over that.

 

I HATE deep frying anything, the splattering (bought a cover to help) and the clean up of all the splatters!

Coming up with new ideas/menu planning! If dinner takes more than about a 1/2 hour (to prep, make...not actual baking time), it doesn't make the list.

I get rid of oil in one of the many Gatorade bottles my husband throws away. I just got an air fryer so hopefully, that will take care of most of the "oil" mess.

 

I don't mind planning, I usually like cooking & creating the food....I don't like shopping or cleaning up. But I've recently started using wal-mart pick up and it's amazing!!!

Oh and I also don't like shredding cheese.

 

Peeling potatoes is something I really hate - my husband is great to help but if he’s not there, I will wash the potatoes (scrub really) and boil them whole with the skins on. Then I let them cool a few minutes and the skins come right off and then I can mash them. It does take longer to boil though.

 

I save empty mayo jars, I keep one in my fridge for grease/oil. When it’s full I just toss it in the trash.

 

This used to be one of my hated tasks and I bought this thing and now I actually love dicing onions. It's like a dream and it's really satisfying slamming the lid down, especially if I'm in a mood! just make full slices of onion, put them in here and slammo you have diced onions!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0764HS4SL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

We do fish frys quite often because my hubby fishes... a LOT! So we buy a big jug of oil at Gordon Food Service and we keep one empty one to pour the used oil back in when we are done. We cut a milk jug bottom off and use that as a really wide funnel too. Then in our city they have a hazardous waste day a couple times a year and you can just drop of the big jug of oil and they dispose of it properly. I can't remember what we did before that? Probably put it back in the smaller jugs and threw it in the trash.

 

I like mine nice an tiny too and evenly sized! That's spinner thing looks cool too! I have a bigger version like that @IntenseMagic that I used to pulverize strawberries when they are in season. I think mine is a tupperware version maybe?

 

I have muslim that I run it through a few times first, so I reuse oil at least 3 times. Depending on what was fried, I may even do more - potatoes and onions actually fry really really clean.
Then, I dump it in a glass jar that we buy salad dressing in (looks like a mason jar). We collect it until it's full, then toss the jar.
Once upon a more green yard, we had a stump that we were trying to kill. So, we would dump the oil on the stump to help kill it.

 

No offense @bestcee Courtney, but running the oil through a Muslim would be quite unkind....try muslin! oh what a difference a letter makes!

CAST IRON? try heavy/kosher/pretzel salt and a paper towel scrub

As you might imagine by my screen name, cookingmylife, I have loved cooking for ages but this year has done me in and my interest has vanished. What I dislike the most is being the one considered responsible for feeding 'us' mainly him. I will not eat almost any fast food and never have but if there's nothing he wants for lunch he will often go to Burger King leaving me to wonder what I'll eat...I've noticed since his cancer diagnosis and recovery he has much more of a desire to eat cr*p and while I'm not Ms Healthy Food I do try to eat good and tasty food. And a pizza a week doesn't cut if as it did ten years ago when I was a young 60something!

 

Mashed potatoes: Another alternative to boiling/cooling/ sliding skin off is to bake them, then scoop out the centers and mash them with your fav thinning ingredient...butter, cream, sour cream, or any combo of those. If anyone likes potato skins, you can slice them up and bake or saute them and sprinkle with salt or seasoning. BTW, I wish we could just take pills that would satisfy our hunger and cravings. Planning is the worst. Thankfully, DH has started making suggestions. He has been doing the grocery shopping since he retired 15 years ago. I'm happy to cook and clean up because he has done the hard part. He even puts the groceries away when he gets home, and at least a couple times a week does the hand-washables. In the morning while his coffee is brewing, he puts clean dishes away. Don't hate me.!

 

I am a huge fan of camerlized onions , but I DREAD peeling onions and chopping them!
and I totally get you on peeling potatoes ! I accidently slice my finger more often than not on those stupid potato peelers!

 

i have the exact same gizmo but now i'm jealous! this one has extra attachment thingo's!
i don't have those conical ones that do zucchini ribbons etc, i have another whole gadget for that (can you ever have too many kitchen gadgets?!) but i agree it was a game changer for onions (is 'chop/dice an onion" the first step of every savoury recipe?!) - i'm a drippy half blind from crying mess by the time i've cut half an onion usually no matter washing it or wearing sunglasses, hazmat suit etc so this was money well spent (even if i've cut myself a few times on the inner grid blades while washing). I've used it with potatoes as well (faster than the mandolin thing if you're happy with chunkier slices in a potato bake/gratin dish) and yep, my brain says 'slammo' in a very satisfied tone each time i start dinner prep too.

 

As far as 'woes', it's more the 'what's for dinner?' question and then the complaining (i plan the week before the week's grocery shop and ask for everyone's input and suggestions for the menu and usually just hear 'fish and chips', 'pizza' or 'pasta' or more infuriatingly just 'food' - and then when i say we had that last week or what do i cook the other half of the week? you'd starve!' and fill the rest of the week with other stuff, that still falls under 'food' technically, it meets with complaints funny enough; and DD's refusal to eat or saying she'll cook something else which inevitably ends in extra clean up and me trying to convince her to eat vegetables means the whole food situation is more about woe than the actual cooking and cleaning.
this is pretty much me:

i don't think chef's would be enthusiastic about cooking anticipating their diners and customers would look at the food and roll their eyes and everything that follows.