Cooking From Scratch

[BBGuess45]

I'll be 70 in April. I started cooking when I was about 10, I learned from some very good cooks I met. I cook from scratch, buying bulk foods, Quinoa Brown Rice. I cook them together...same water grain ratio, lessens the high price of Quinoa by mixing it with lower cost long grain brown rice. I spend 1/2 of my food budget on bulk foods. My kitchen has 12" cast iron skillets, Revere ware sauce pans and soup pans. I make Polenta regularly, using Corn Meal Grits, and Cous Cous fairly often. The Grains, Polenta, or Cous Cous have chopped fresh and frozen vegetables added to them along with diced chicken breast meat, Turkey Bacon chunks for flavor, Tempeh, Tofu, and my treat cubed Oregon's own Tillamook Reserved Extra Sharp Aged Cheddar, Spices include Olive Oil, Bragg's Liquid Aminos, Worcestershire sauce, White Pepper Dry Yellow Mustard.

I make a lot of these combo dishes, package them in microwaveable freezer containers, and always have meals in my freezer ready To Nuke and eat.

Cooking from Scratch has become less popular with Instant Ready to Eat, ?Food?

I'm disabled and hire Care Givers who learn to cook my way. Those are big exhausting recipes to make.

So few people that I hire know how to cook using the cheaper, healthier raw ingredients. I guess its age. My parents generation, Before 1950 cooked from scratch. It's a dying art, food you make yourself.

I just joined this group. I have miles to learn, and hopefully lots to teach I'll post my recipes, and welcome any critiquing they get

[SimoneHU HealthUnlocked]

Hi BBGuess45! Welcome to the community

What a lovely post. I love poleta!! I confess each year I cook less and less. I am lucky I can find some nice restaurants (that do cook from scratch) near me. So my biggest motivation is actually the cost. If I spent 1/2 of my food budget (=restaurants) in bulk foods I would save A LOT.

Please share your recipes

[BBGuess45 in reply to SimoneHU]

Polenta is inexpensive. I find it best baked. There are different ways of making it. It is afterall Corn Meal Mush made with Corn Meal Grits. Mush isn't a very appealing word. I bake the mush with veggies, the diced proteins in my Grain dish and Cheese, Aged Sharp Cheddar.

It takes some practice and reading to learn how to prepare the protein foods I use, Tofu and Tempeh acquire the tastes of the foods with which they're cooked. If you're not familiar with Tempeh, that's normal. It's higher in protein then meat. I cube it and saute` it in Olive Oil with minced garlic and onions, with a few shakes of Bragg's Liquid Aminos. add cubed firm or extra-firm tofu to your Tempeh stir fry, add the veggies too, then mix it into the Polenta and bake. All Recipes has a Polenta Recipe, that excludes the tempeh tofu, cubed chicken white breast meat, the veggies, including Edamame, of course, and the Aged Sharp Cheddar. They'll learn the right way to make Polenta some day. My way is definitely not the traditional way to prepare Polenta. It is my traditional way, though. See what you think. Don't forget to serve it with Fresh Tomatoes sliced on top

[Hidden]

My mom used to own a restaurant and always cooked everything from scratch... When I left home and got married I found myself calling her all the time asking her how to cook this that or something. I never had Paid attention growing up, but I can tell you now...I know I'm a great cook... My Hubby loves my cooking and I've gotten him to eat things he never would. His whole family comes here for thanksgiving cuz they love my food! I cook fairly healthy 80% of the time but still love my casseroles loaded with cheese, potatoes, etc.... Today I'm making sour cream pork chops in the crock pot.... With baked potatoes, and Green beans!

[Balance]

Would love to see more of your recipes made by scratch. What a great ideal making them ahead!

Thank You!!

[BBGuess45 in reply to Balance]

My Mainstay are my Protein Oatmeal Cookies, High Fiber, High Protein I have no idea of the cost per cookie, but a bunch.

We make 4 batches a month.

I'll try pasting the recipe into this message. If there's another way to do that. I'm not familiar with it yet. Protein Oatmeal Cookies are a modification of Scotchies, in particular Banana Oatmeal Scotchies. I use canned Pumpkin instead of a banana. Wisely choosing you ingredients can make these addictive cookies affordable. I buy Protein Powder online, Vanilla Whey Isolate Protein Powder.

I don't know the forum rules on mentioning where I buy, but Puritans, buy one get one free, buy two get three free.

Here goes:

1 1/2 CupHealthy Margarine,Or Butter

1 CupDark Brown Sugar, If your bucks are rolling

Use Sucanat

1/2 CupHoney

1/2 CupMolssses, preferably Blackstrap Molasses

4Eggs

OR

3Eggs

1 Ripe Banana

3/4 CupCanned Pumpkin

1 1/2 CupsWhole Wheat Flour

1 Cup(Suggested)Gluten Free Flour, for cookies with

OR a fluffy, cake-like texture

2 1/2 CupsWhole Wheat Flour

2 CupsWhey Isolate Protein Powder

1 TspBaking Soda

3 CupsOld Fashioned Oats(Never Quick Oats), or Try 50/50 with Granola & Oats

1 TspCinnamon

1 TspNutmeg

1 TspAllspice

1 TspVanilla

1/3 Cup Peanut Butter, optional

1 CupChopped Mixed Nuts,

Chopped Walnuts, Pecans, Almonds &

Cashews!!

1/2 CupRaisins, Dried Cranberries Mixed

1/3 CupDried Coconut

1/3 CupSunflower Seeds

Suggested:

Pumpkin Seeds

Chopped Dates, and/or Figs

Dried Blueberries, if your bucks are rolling

1 CupCannabis Flower Tops, Rolling Bucks Only

Preheat Oven to 350°, Form cookies with an ice cream scoop, filling up a baking sheet with cookies spaced at least 2" apart. Bake for 15-18 minutes

Eat Well, Enjoy

[BBGuess45 in reply to BBGuess45]

Health interfered with free time topost. a calm spell is near. hired a new Care Giver that cooks from scratch for her kids and others, more recipes soon

[Estera]

Hello!

Lovely post! I'm vegetarian and I don't speak English very well, but I'll try to follow your post.

See you soon!

[BBGuess45 in reply to Estera]

I was vegetarian, vegan for awhile, until I was seriously injured and hospital doctors didn't understand the one's body takes incomplete proteins from meals throughout the day and makes complete proteins. A Vegetarian or Vegan diet can supply ample protein without meat or any animal products.

To pacify my doctors I agreed to eat Fish and Poultry, And Tofu. The hospital put together a Tofu Caesar Salad for me. The Hospital is Oregon Health Sciences University(OHSU), one of the Best, But

Doctors are only a little more hip about nutrition now. They're still pretty ignorant about healthy eating, and healthy Living.

I'll be putting my recipes on Healthy Eating. There is Vegweb.com which has a Huge database of user tested recipes, They tend toward Vegan, but make your own mind up.

Before you forsake Vegan, look up, Beverley Lynn Bennet, the Vegan Chef,

veganchef.com/ knock yer eyes out

[Estera in reply to BBGuess45]

Thank's a lot for your response! Actually, I was born this way....and than, after years, I realize that I cannot do otherwise. I'm sorry for mu English, but I'm still learning.

[BBGuess45 in reply to Estera]

Born what way? liking good food? Uhm, whadda curse!

[Estera in reply to BBGuess45]

When I was born, my parents didn't eat meat. So, I grew up as vegetarian. For me is normal....

[BBGuess45]

You grew up eating healthy, or healthier. Suggestion: Say that you were raised by vegetarian Parents. Saying that "you were born that way" sounds like you have an abnormality. You don't. You were raised differently than most others, and that is certainly not abnormal

[Beek]

Sounds like you have big exhausting pans too, BBguess45! I am certain that scratch cooking is the way forward. You know exactly what is going into your meals and by bulk buying and cooking enough to freeze portions you'll also save on the production costs. I take my hat off to you!

I am looking forward to reading your recipes. I think we older people should help the new generation to know how to create less expensive meals which are still - probably more - healthy!

[BBGuess45 in reply to Beek]

Agreed. We know, We Teach, the younger ones are eager to listen, at least most of them are, those trapped in Fast Foods, and Microwaveable dinners, don't really have the time, and don't want to listen/learn. That some younger ones do want to learn is encouraging. Cooking from Scratch should never become a Lost Art. I make my own microwaveable meals so I can dash and run to my many appointments, and always eat healthy. I keep a blender of Protein Drink Smoothies in the frig, made with Whey Isolate Protein and a separate container of Casein Protein Smoothies. At 70, I am getting stronger daily. Aging is a mind-set of false ideas about Age. Older years are in many ways our best years. The kiddies have yet to learn that. Treat yourself well keep your nutrition high, supplement wisely. Read on non proprietary sites about nutrition. I'm dashing to get to bed or I'd post some links. There's time I will

Later