Four Foods On Friday 108

Val says, “Hi all!  Sorry I’m late this week, I was sick all day yesterday. With that in mind, I offer this week’s questions.”

1. Are there any drinks you feel help you get better when you’re sick?

Depends on what kind of sick.  Congestion & upper respiratory flu – hot green tea and regular tea, sometimes hot chocolate.

Stomach flu – Coke, Sprite, 7-Up
2. Are there any foods you feel help you get better when you’re sick?

Healthy foods, good homemade soups.  If it’s stomach flu, then nothing!
3. Starve a cold, feed a fever. Do you believe this?

No, and actually I’ve read that if you feel like eating, it’s good to eat to nourish the body. (healthy foods, of course)  Now if it’s the stomach flu, that’s a different story.  A person needs to go without eating for 24 hours to kill out the virus. Nibbling on saltine crackers after 12 hours usually won’t hurt.   Eating other food, though, just prolongs it because it feeds the virus.
4. Who cooks when you’re sick?

My husband might cook a meal, but usually he will bring something in.  Actually, I was sick with bronchitis a week ago, and he made homemade soup for us.  I sat and gave him step-by-step directions on how to make it.  He did a good job, and it tasted really good to me.

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#1. Egg salad or deviled eggs. How do you prepare?

I haven’t made either of those in ages.  In the past, I made deviled eggs more than I made egg salad.  I would just boil the eggs, scoop out the yokes and mix with mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, and a little pickle juice.
#2. French fries. Do you make homemade or frozen?

Neither.  I used to do both, but now we only have french fries occassionally when we eat out somewhere.
#3. Gravy. What do you use – homemade, jar, can or from a package?

We rarely have gravy, mostly on holidays, and I’m not the one who makes the gravy.  I used to make it from a jar, can, or package, and sometimes I would make it from scratch using broth with the fat skimmed off, flour or cornstarch, salt, and pepper.

(I loved my mother’s giblet gravy she would make at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  She would use the drippings off the turkey, thicken it, add giblets and chopped hard-boiled eggs.  So good!!  My mother passed away in 2000, so I haven’t had her gravy in 10 or more years.)
#4. Share a recipe for a hot (temperature, not spice) dish.

Easy Chicken Chow Mein

Four Foods On Friday 45

Here are this week’s four questions.
#1. Artichokes. Love em or leave em?
I can leave them…unless they’re in Spinach Artichoke Dip.  🙂
#2. What’s your favorite kind of bean?
I guess fresh green beans, but I really like black beans and pinto beans, too.
#3. Share a recipe for any kind of cake.
Summer Fresh-Fruit Cake
#4. What’s your favorite dairy product?
Yogurt

(I think this is my shortest FFoF.)

Four Foods On Friday 44

Here are this week’s four questions. They’re about potatoes.

#1. Potato Chips. What kind of chips are your favorite?

I rarely eat potato chips anymore.  My favorite kind, though, would be kettle chips.

#2. What’s your favorite thing to dip chips in?

For potato chips it would be French Onion Dip.
#3. What’s your favorite way to eat a baked potato?

My favorite way in a restaurant would be with everything on it.  At home, I usually have it with extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, and pepper.  That’s really good, too.
#4. How do you make mashed potatoes?

I don’t make them the traditional way.  I used to microwave the potatoes first, but now that my doctor says not to microwave foods, I’m thinking about steaming them first and, if I’m using organic potatoes, then use the skins too.  There was a restaurant that had delicious mashed potatoes that included the potato skins.  So that’s how I’m planning on making them.  (The reason that I don’t want to boil them is that most of the vitamins end up in the water that is poured off.)

Four Foods On Friday 43

Here are this week’s four questions. I’ve got the Olympics on my mind so this week they’re about fitness/physical activity/sports:

#1. What do you drink to rehydrate in the heat or after working out?

Water

#2. What do you eat to help boost or create energy?

Complex carbs such as whole grains, fruit, etc., and tea is usually energizing.

#3. What’s the healthiest snack you eat?

Raw nuts & seeds:  almonds, cashews, pecans, sunflower seeds

Hot air popped organic popcorn with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt

(We can get organic popcorn in the bulk food section at Central Market and, contrary to what some might think, it’s actually less than buying name brand popcorn that isn’t even organic.  If you want to know why we buy organic, read this about Genetically Modified Seeds (especially CORN, soy, and canola)  And note the comments for that post – a doctor left a comment and some really good info.  There are several good comments.
#4. Share a recipe or instructions for your ideal three course meal.

Salad, entree, and dessert.  Salad would need to be really fresh and chilled.  And for the entree it would be fish, chicken, or turkey.  Veggies would be fresh and steamed.  Dessert would be a fresh fruit mix with poppyseed dressing.

Four Foods on Friday #42

#1. What is your favorite appetizer?

Hmmm.  I guess it would have to be Spinach Artichoke Dip & Chips.  Guacamole, nachos, and Queso would be next.
#2. Do you eat enough appetizers that you get full and can’t eat your meal?

Usually not, but I have done that in the past.
#3. Do you usually make frozen or fresh appetizers?

I usually make them, either nachos, guacamole, or queso.  Actually, we make a meal out of the nachos.
#4. Share a recipe or instructions for an appetizer.

Easy Chicken & Black Bean Nachos

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#1. If you could travel anywhere to have a meal, where would you want to go and what would you want to eat.

I would want to go back to Hawaii and have fresh pineapple (pineapple just picked that day) and other fruits.
#2. When you go away do you make your own meals or eat out?

We always eat out.  That’s part of the fun of the vacation!

Now when I was growing up, my mother would always fix sandwiches to eat in the car.  A lot of times we would stay in a motel or cabin that had a kitchenette and she would cook.
#3. While traveling if you have to stop for a meal do you go in or do you go through the drive thru and eat in the car?

It depends on the situation.  If we’re in a hurry, we eat in the car.  If we need to get out and stretch our legs or use the restroom, we go inside.
#4. Share a recipe or food related trip for people making a long trip by car.

We always take snacks with us when we go on long trips, and the funny thing is that we’re usually getting into the snacks before we get out of town.  My husband teases us about that.  🙂

We have fixed “Trail Mix” countless times to take on trips throughout the years.  Here’s the simple recipe:

Trail Mix

1/3 part peanuts

1/3 part raisins

1/3 part M & M’s

You can make a small quantity or large quantity, depending on what you want.

Four Foods on Friday #39

#1. When you need to serve desserts, do you buy them or make them?

I nearly always make them unless I’m in a time crunch.
#2. When baking do you use butter, margarine or something else?

I’ve started using Smart Balance some, and so far it’s worked fairly well.  A few things require butter, though, and several things can use canola oil which is great.
#3. What meats or veggies do you cook in the oven?

I rarely use my oven.  I do a lot of stir-fry or saute veggies on the stove top.  I cut up chicken breast fillets and cook them in olive oil in a skillet.  I cook fish in olive oil in a skillet, also.  Every once in a while, I’ll use my crock pot to cook a roast or a chicken recipe.
#4. Share a recipe for anything that is cooked in an oven.

Crunchy Chicken Crescents

Four Foods On Friday #38

#1. Fruits and veggies. Do you prefer them peeled or not?

Definitely peeled because of all the pesticides on them.   Unless they’re organic and then I don’t peel them.
#2. What’s your favorite fresh fruit or vegetable smell?

There are several:  sweet strawberries, juicy peaches, an orange being peeled, watermelon, okra frying in the pan or just about any fresh vegetable cooking.

#3. What’s the worst food smell you’ve ever smelled?

I can’t think what it was right now, but I know my family would say cooked cabbage.  I’m the only one who likes it, and on the rare occasion I do cook it then they start gagging when they come in the kitchen.  lol    Actually, I’m not the only one in my family who likes cooked cabbage…our dog loves it!!
#4. Share the recipe for the dish that you love to smell cooking in your oven.

Again there are several:  Enchiladas, Lasagna, Sopapilla Cheesecake, brownies & cookies.

Here’s a recipe for Eggless Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies that I got from our daughter.  The neat thing about this recipe is that it’s safe to eat the dough.

Four Foods On Friday #37

#1. Cake. Buttercream, whipped cream or ice cream?

We like either, buttercream icing or whipped cream icing.  And definitely ice cream with the cake!
#2. When entertaining do you use real, paper, plastic or styrofoam dishes?

Depends.   Real for dinners, plastic for larger informal get-togethers.
#3. When hosting a party do you cook, have it catered or go to a restaurant?

Also depends.   I usually fix the food myself.  But once when we had a surprise birthday party for my husband, we had it at a restaurant.  And now that I think about it, we had a surprise party for our daughter at a restaurant also.
#4. Share a recipe that you frequently serve when having a party.

Chicken Fajitas, black beans, refried beans, guacamole, queso dip, and Sopapilla Cheesecake for dessert

Four Foods On Friday #36

#1. Name your biggest cooking influence.

My mother!  (and second place would be my mother-in-law)
#2. What is your ultimate comfort food?

Depends.  I like comfort foods that remind me of foods I had while growing up like fried okra, squash, potatoes.  (fresh veggies)
#3. Name one must have tool that you think every kitchen should have.

Kitchen shears!
#4. Share a time saving tip.

I use my kitchen shears to cut up chicken breast into chicken nuggets.

Four Foods on Friday #35

#1. Name one cookbook, cooking website or food blog that you frequently use.

I use allrecipes.com when I’m hunting for a specific recipe.  I like the email subscriptions I have from  Fun, Crafts and Recipes, Mom Cooks, and My Wooden Spoon.  I’m sure there are more good food blogs that I don’t know about.  (or have forgotten about)
#2. Do you watch any cooking shows on tv? Which ones?

I used to, but I haven’t watched any in a long time.  I like Sara Moulton and Emeril’s shows, and there are some others I can’t think of right now.  One of my favorite cooking shows that was on years ago was called The Frugal Gourmet.
#3. Are you in a cooking rut? Name a food or dish that you’d like to find a recipe for.

Yes, I am, and I need to get out of it!!   I printed out the recipes below to make this week and next.
#4. Share a recipe created by somebody else that you haven’t tried but would like to.

There are several:

Fried Rice With Eggs (chicken)

Fajita Turkey Burgers

Chris’ Paprika Chicken

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

Can you tell we like chicken?  🙂