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Quick Cooking
Oct. 3rd, 2006 09:29 pmI recently happened upon a forum where someone asked people for ideas on quick cooking. I believe it was a cooking forum, so everyone was all about the stir fries and the crockpots and other things that aren't that quick.
My favorite treatment of what I think of when I think of quick cooking comes from Peg Bracken's I Hate To Cook Book (1960, but still available, I believe). She says:
Does one of these describe you?
Sometimes in the summer I am a milkshake person. I try to make them healthy, so I normally put a banana and frozen berries in. Or sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie spice (this gives it a pumpkin pie a la mode flavor that people besides me actually like, although apparently this sounds disgusting). I like peanut butter shakes. And of course chocolate. And chocolate peanut butter.
Ms. Bracken recommends frozen or canned fruit; rum, brandy, or whiskey; instant coffee; sliced bananas; thawed frozen fruit-juice concentrates; and fruit, chocolate, or caramel syrup. Plus a raw egg for nutrition. She also recommends vanilla ice cream if you can store only one flavor. And she highly recommends a blender.
But mostly I am not a milkshake person, but the type to make a Macaroni and Cheese with Something in It. Normally I just add garlic and extra cheese, plus replace the butter with cream cheese (half the calories). You can put any leftovers in, too, like milk or butter milk or sour cream or yogurt and like meats or vegetables.
My favorite treatment of what I think of when I think of quick cooking comes from Peg Bracken's I Hate To Cook Book (1960, but still available, I believe). She says:
[T]he reluctant solo cook is rather a creature of habit, who tends to major in one--and only one--of several eating patterns.
1. The English Muffin (or soft roll) with Something on It
2. The Egg with Something under It
3. The Milkshake with Something in It
4. The Soup with Something beside It
5. The Baked Potato with Something over It
That is, when the chips are down, and the freezer contains mainly what you don't feel like thawing or eating, it will be one of these you revert to.
Does one of these describe you?
Sometimes in the summer I am a milkshake person. I try to make them healthy, so I normally put a banana and frozen berries in. Or sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie spice (this gives it a pumpkin pie a la mode flavor that people besides me actually like, although apparently this sounds disgusting). I like peanut butter shakes. And of course chocolate. And chocolate peanut butter.
Ms. Bracken recommends frozen or canned fruit; rum, brandy, or whiskey; instant coffee; sliced bananas; thawed frozen fruit-juice concentrates; and fruit, chocolate, or caramel syrup. Plus a raw egg for nutrition. She also recommends vanilla ice cream if you can store only one flavor. And she highly recommends a blender.
But mostly I am not a milkshake person, but the type to make a Macaroni and Cheese with Something in It. Normally I just add garlic and extra cheese, plus replace the butter with cream cheese (half the calories). You can put any leftovers in, too, like milk or butter milk or sour cream or yogurt and like meats or vegetables.