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FOOD FOOD FOOD!!! Holiday Season 2009 Expand / Collapse
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Jay in Sarasota
Posted Sunday, November 15, 2009 4:14 PM


 

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I’m starting off a food thread quite humbly here. Who isn’t interested in food? Maybe this will be like a twitter thread but it will be what it will be. I’ll tell several (4) stories to get the ball rolling but anything will be welcome I’m sure, no obligation to write an essay!

Number 1). How about those recipes we grew up with and still have on the Holiday table this year? Here’s one I remember even as a small child. It’s probably something that went around post WWII:
Date Nut Roll. 1 lb English walnuts, 1 lb graham cracker crumbs, 1 lb dates, 1 lb marshmallows, 1 can evaporated milk. Chop everything and roll into logs and refrigerate and serve with whipped cream.
We might see some really fun and nostalgic ideas here I hope.

Number 2). Need to put dessert near the beginning (again), of course, so here’s a cookie recipe that’s has a ton of ginger in it and that’s great for everybody taking NSAIDS. If you take a couple cookies right out of oven and make an ice cream sandwich you’ve got something really special (and sloppy). We all want to hear about favorite desserts for sure. Here it is:
http://www.gingerpeople.com/chewy-ginger-snaps

Number 3). Helpful tips for us with RA. This is just a simple tip I came up with when I’d make my veg medley for lunches. My dish is a mix of pasta, assorted colorful beans, and veggies in a tomato sauce base. But the tip I found to be really helpful was to get frozen stir fry vegetables and then I didn’t have to do any washing and chopping. I make enough for two weeks of lunches which as a man was no problem for me (i.e. eating the same thing for lunch every day for two weeks). So helpful tips for cooking with RA is what I’m suggesting we share.

Number 4). Special meals we remember: It will be great to hear about meals so special that you still remember them years later. Here’s a silly entry although I think most people will have holiday meal memories I’m sure. (If you’re serving food to some really bored teenagers this holiday maybe this story will help.) In ”the summer of love” give or take a year, Roxanne and I hitchhiked from Ohio to Eugene Oregon. We completely ran out of money and called home to get some wired to us. When down to probably less than $2 this is what our special meal was. We went to park and joined some other young people (we didn’t call ourselves hippies at the time) in a soft ball game and they had a keg of beer. So then for our dinner afterwards we bought biscuits in the pressurized tube thing and a can of cream of mushroom soup. We made a fire of twigs, had a small backpacker pan, and had biscuits and gravy.

So in summary I’m starting with the ideas of 1) favorite old time recipes; 2) great desserts; 3) helpful tips for cooking with RA and 4) special meals in our past. But anybody can add anything or send this discussion any where they want and hopefully we’ll have a lot of food fun (maybe a food fight or two will be fun too).

p.s. Rox and I will welcome any tips to our sorry biscuits and gravy meal since we (okay maybe just me) want to repeat that at our favorite park this TDay. Maybe that could be made into a nice Thanksgiving breakfast. Also I’d like to ask Bekah or anybody else if they think there’s any hope for making vegetarian gumbo. I don’t think so but am open for ideas.
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Gramma Ellie
Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 1:19 PM


 

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Hi Jay,

As I am a certified "Foodie", you shouldn't temp me like this. Hmmm, maybe I should change that to "certifiable."

Reaching back over the memories of years ago, my husband and I had a wonderful meal in our boat on Lake Champlain, NY. We had a patched together lobster boat, outfitted for bare bones cruising, and we took a 20 day vacation on the boat, going down the St. Laurence Seaway, leaving our two little ones with a sitter. The kids had a ball and so did we, but on day 19, we were down to $2.00 and a few cans of vegetables. We were parked next to an elderly couple with a lovely yacht, and they invited us to dinner. Whoopee! We tried not to eat like we were starving, but it was wonderful. The next night we invited them over for a cookout. Out of our $2.00, we bought a big 7 bone chuck roast, potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes. We put some marinade mix on the roast, and cooked it over charcoal like an enormous steak. It was delicious, although probably a bit chewy, but the memory lingers fondly. Every now and then my DH asks when we're going to have another chuck "steak" and we do fix it about once a year. We remained friends with our boating couple and visited back and forth until she passed away. Ironically she had advanced RA, but I never once heard her complain, even in her last days when she was bedridden.

I'll come up with some more modern recipes soon.

Hugs,
Gramma Ellie
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Txnana
Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 5:32 PM


 

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"Forgotten Cookies"

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2 egg whites
2/3 cups sugar
Beat egg whites until frothy. Gradually add sugar then beat until very stiff.
Add: 1 6oz. pkg chocolate chips
1 cup pecans chopped
1 tsp. vanilla

Drop by teaspoonfuls on aluminum foil (I spray with Pam).

Place cookies in preheated 350 degree oven. Turn off oven. Forget about the cookies!
Leave in oven for 1-2 hours for gas....can leave longer for electric.
Take out of oven. Place on serving plate. Enjoy!



My suggestion for RAers is not to hesitate to ask for help from others!!!!

Memory: My Mother cooked a hen, not a turkey.....it was delicious! I never ate turkey until I married and my husband's Mother cooked....hers was delicious too! We always had (and have) cornbread dressing....Southern Style

Great thread, Jay....Thanks!

Take care.
Txnana

RA and Sjogren's Syndrome

Remicade, MTX, Celebrex, Nexium, Lexapro, Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Calcium, Multi-Vitamin, Fish Oil, Diovan/HCT

"My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter."

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Aprilfreelance
Posted Sunday, November 22, 2009 12:51 AM


 

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As for heirloom recipes, I would have to say my paternal grandmother's cornbread dressing. I have had a lot of dressing and never eaten one that beat hers. If you want true "southern" dressing, here it is:

Make the egg bread first, even the day before:

1 cup fine ground white cornmeal
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Grease an iron skillet and heat in the oven while mixing the ingredients. Pour batter in heated skillet and bake at 375 until brown and toothpick comes out clean (about 25 minutes or so). Double, triple or quadruple recipe depending on number of people.

To make the dressing:

egg bread
2 slices white bread
1 can chicken broth
2 to 3 cups chicken boullion
2 to 3 stalks celery, diced
1 onion, diced
4-6 eggs
salt pepper

Break up the corn bread and white bread into a large bowl. Add celery and onion. Mix in the eggs (4 for doubled recipe, 6 for quadruple recipe), broth, salt, pepper. Mash together with a potato masher until well broken up and mixed, adding the prepared boullion as needed. The mixture should be soupy. Grease the casserole dish with 3 or 4 tablespoons of drippings from the turkey (or bacon grease). Pour mixture into the dish, put another 1 to 2 tablespoons of turkey dripping or bacon grease on top, and bake for 40 minutes to an hour (depending on the amount).

My mother usually makes the desserts, and my husband often does the baking at home, so I'm going to skip that one. I'm sure there are much better dessert makers than I on here.

A special meal I remember reminds me of my dad's ingenuity, and my mother's quiet strength no matter what is happening. When I was about three, we had a particularly strong hurricane come through this area. It knocked out power for several days, closed the schools, and caused a lot of downed trees and mess. The house we lived in at the time was small and had gas wall heaters. After three days in a house with no power with five kids, my parents and us kids were grumpy, stir crazy and tired of sandwiches and canned meat. So, my dad removed the grate from the bathroom wall heater, devised a brace and grille for it, and made my mother a "stove." She sat in the bathroom floor and fried chicken for 7 people in an iron skillet on that little tiny grate. I have very few memories of my earlier childhood, but I do remember both watching my mother cook and eating that chicken! My father has always amused and amazed us with his inventiveness, and this is just one of my fonder memories.

I'm still struggling with making things easier on myself to prepare meals, so I don't have any tips for cooking with RA yet, either.

36-years old. Diagnoses: PsA, PN, Primary Raynaud's. Taking Mtx injections, folic acid, Lyrica, B12 shots, Vitamin D, Zantac, and Demerol (when forced to).

The Bible in a nutshell: First half - be nice to God; second half - be nice to people.
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Gramma Ellie
Posted Sunday, November 22, 2009 8:37 PM


 

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Here is one of my heirloom recipes.

Virginia Sally Lunn, a light white egg and butter bread. Makes spectacular toast!

1 1/2 envelopes yeast
1 1/2 c. warm milk
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/3 c. sugar (less if you don't like a sweet roll)
3/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs
4 1/2 c. flour

Heat milk, and add butter, stir until partially melted. Cool slightly, stir in yeast. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer, combine eggs, sugar, salt, beating until well combined. Add milk & butter mixture alternating with 4 c. flour, reserve last 1/2 c. Beat until well combined. This should be a thick batter, but not stiff enough to knead. If batter seems too soft, add more flour by tablespoonsfull.

Cover with plastic wrap and towel and let rise for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled. Stir down. Scoop into about 24 well greased muffin cups (or tube pan, for bread). Cover with towel and let rise again until doubled. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 20 minutes or so for rolls, longer for tube pan.

Sorry, I never wrote down exactly how long it takes to cook.

This year I'm going to use less yeast and make up the batter the night before Thanksgiving and keep it in the refrigerator. It will take longer to rise in the pans, but I hope it will still be good.
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Tommy4
Posted Monday, November 23, 2009 10:56 AM


 

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Jay,

Is ginger supposed to help with stomach upset for ppl on Nsaids my wife is having a time taking hers.

Tommy
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Jay in Sarasota
Posted Monday, November 23, 2009 11:46 AM


 

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For Tommy - Here's what our own Arthritis Foundation Supplement Guide has to say about ginger.
http://www.arthritistoday.org/treatments/supplement-guide/supplements/ginger.php
These cookies are so good that you and your wife might not care all that much if they're good for you or not.
Jay
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Tommy4
Posted Monday, November 23, 2009 8:39 PM


 

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Jay

Thanks she had to come home early today stomach trouble bad after just 3 days of Voltaren back to the docter for her tomorrow I never could take the NSAIDS either.

Tommy
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Ronald2
Posted Monday, November 23, 2009 11:13 PM


 

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I don't have a recipe but why is Divinty so hard if not impossible to find? I see it on the web for a big container for 20.00 but how much divinty can you eat, ha.

Arava-Prednisone-Mobic-Daily Vitamin-and Vitamin D-Calcium.
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