Everything you need to know right on this Blog.

Chopping Onions ----------------------------- I cannot, I simply cannot, hand-chop onions. Yes I watch those cooking shows that demonstrate competent hands on knives as they chop into tiny morsels what had been a big bulb type of vegetable. I am not very good at chopping anything with a knife but onions?  Folks they destroy my lovely eyeballs. Yes I know that onions affects most people's eyes but mine burn with massive tears running down my face, not to mention that horrible burning pain. Above is a chopping device I purchased just for chopping onions.  It works quite well but I have a touch time putting it together to chop onions and taking it apart to retrieve the chopped onions. I would not use it to chop celery or other vegies.  I do not mind purchasing my vegetables already chopped even though they cost the equivalent of $85 a pound.  But I am cooking for only one person, me, and I prefer to pay more money then to be bothered with purchasing larg...

Potato Salad Indeed I did love to prepare meals for my meat=and-potatoes husband.  He's been gone for six years now and in the interim I have tentatively prepared meals that husband would never eat but that I love. To include potato salad, a home-made recipe I use although there are limitations. First, the type of potatoes.  I use Russet baking potatoes as they tend to absorb my zesty Italian dressing well, more on this later.  One can use red potatoes, which turn out with a little bit more of a bite than I like.  Regular white potatoes work well. I cannot stand potato salad with potatoes that are not fully cooked through.  Although I emphasize, the potato should not be so cooked through that it turns into a mashed potato. Then I boil the russet potatoes until a fork pierces a potato piece gently but does not break it apart.  At that point I generously drizzle some zesty Italian dressing on the cooked potatoes and let it soak in for about a half...

1/6/20 Thoughts of Day So I made the salad below as I quite like sauerkraut.  Here in Maryland, although hardly any bastion of German immigrants, we always have our Thanksgiving turkey served with sauerkraut. So the sauerkraut salad below, the one I made, is very good and very different.  Sauerkraut Salad   1 quart sauerkraut, drained 1 onion, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 1 green bell pepper, chopped 1 large carrots, chopped 1 (4 ounce) jar diced pimento peppers, drained 1 teaspoon mustard seed 1 1/2 cups white sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup cider vinegar Check All Add to Shopping List Directions In a large bowl, mix together sauerkraut, onion, celery, green bell pepper, carrot, pimientos, and mustard seed. Set aside this mixture. In a small saucepan, mix together sugar, oil, and vinegar. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Pour sugar mixture over salad, cover, and leave it in the refregerator for 2 ...

Best and Easiest Ribs to Make First, one of the best things about this dish is its sauce. Yes I thought the same thing.  A rib sauce made with mayo and mustard?  Further, ribs made in the slow cooker? Well I am not male and, thus, do not know how to barbecue.  And yes, in my world, ribs always had a red, spicy sauce. These slow cooked ribs are an abomination, I thought. Still, I do like deviled eggs.  And I am a big slow cooker fan. Try it for a change from your normal ribs. Also, since I often have to freeze the increasingly fewer meals I prepare. A rack of ribs as called for in this recipe would be three meals for me.  I take a third of the result, about five ribs. On this result I ladle the sauce upon.  I split the other bones into two meals to freeze, but do NOT put sauce upon.  The sauce is simple enough to prepare once ribs are thawed and ready to eat. Also, the recipe instructions say to put all the spices together then us...

Cooking.....Fun But With Some Anxiety The challenge of cooking and eating as age comes upon us. I've always enjoyed cooking, but as more of a necessity and a sub-hobby. I've never been especially good at it but I enjoyed it enough to not be half bad.  The problem is that I have, for over thirty years now, cooked in large amounts.  Not that my immediate family was all that big but a husband, child and various stepchildren over the years was a whole lot more hungry stomachs than just me, now looking close to 70 and preparing meals for one. One of greater joys in life is eating although it's probably not cool to say so.  And as a retiree I have more time to cook.  My goal is to cook good meals that aren't too difficult, relatively inexpensive and are tasty.  I also have a goal to purchase more pre-prepared foods than I did when my family was young. An example is the food below: This is a new type of canned tuna that I discovered during a grocery trip...

Cooking, Fun With a Little Anxiety Below is the recipe for corn pudding.  While I don’t want to work extra hard making meals, some are worth the extra effort. Give it a try.