Do they EVER cook from scratch? or garden?

[Flossie]

Here's something we make often, it's really good:

Hearty Taco Soup
 
1 lb. hamburger, extra lean if possible
1 med. onion, diced  (1 cup)
1 green bell pepper, diced  (1 cup)
3 C. beef broth
1 can (14.4 oz) tomatoes, chopped with liquid (1.75 cups)
1 can (14.5 oz) pinto beans, drained  (1.5 cups)
1 can (15.25 oz) whole kernel corn  (1.75 cups)
4 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
6 crisp taco shells
2 C. grated cheddar cheese
 
Brown meat, green pepper, and onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat (350 degrees in an electric skillet).  Drain fat.
 
Add broth, tomatoes, beans, corn, and seasonings.
 
Reduce heat to low (250 degrees in an electric skillet), cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
 
Crumble 1/2 taco shell in each bowl, add soup, and top with cheese.
 
Serve hot.
 
Serving size 1 Cup (serves 12)

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

5 hours ago, SoybeanQueen said:

I made dinner tonight using no fresh ingredients (enchilada casserole). After this thread, I felt oddly pleased with myself over it. Canned diced chilis, a can of cream of chicken soup, and sour cream and cheese. I guess the last two are sort of fresh. Frozen chicken. NOT CANNED.

I served it with fresh fruit, though, because scurvy seems bad.

You're not going to get scurvy because you ate canned foods. Scurvy is caused by a severe lack of vitamin C. Sailors got it because they went for months eating only things like hardtack, which is filling but completely devoid of nutritional value, because everyrhing else would rot if kept too long. Scurvy was cured by eating fresh fruits and vegetables because that's what they had access to when they finally got off the ship, but any diet high in vitamin C will treat scurvy. Both the chilies and the dairy products have vitamin C, you weren't at risk of developing scurvy. 

[samurai_sarah]

Quote

BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP 
7 lbs. frozen broccoli 
2 lbs. Velveeta™
1 quart sweet whipping cream 
enough water to cook broccoli
1 c. cornstarch w/ cold water to thicken after hot
Cook broccoli first. Add Velveeta™ & whipping cream.
Add corn starch to thicken. Enjoy!

I was trying to come up with a classy comment for this, but I'll have to go with: "Eeeeewwwwww".

[quiverofdoubt]

16 hours ago, Londish said:

I only use velveeta when I make macaroni and cheese. For people who don't use velveeta, do you have other substitutions or other cheeses that work for macaroni and cheese? I don't make it very often so I haven't really experimented with the recipe.

I use the martha stewart recipe, though she has a few.  Melt better, cook onions in it (i usually omit onions, especially since they give me pregnancy heartburn, but they are good in it), whisk in flower for thickening, add milk till warm, stir in salt/pepper/cayenne.  Mix in cheeses - cheddar is usually my base, but I usually add gruyere or gouda as well to add to the flavor depth.  Cook pasta till outside is soft, inside hard. Combine two together in layers in dish for oven, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, grated parmesan and bake. 

[samira_catlover]

That broccoli casserole---2 small boxes of broccoli (I'm assuming maybe 10-12 oz each) to fill a 13x9 pan, for 12 or more people? For freak's sake, I can kill an entire box of frozen veg all by myself! And instant Minute rice?---I'd rather eat the box, with a little olive oil and black pepper. Good heavens, get a decent rice cooker and use the Costco sacked bulk white or brown. 

Poor Man's Pizza, revised: Chop up 3-5 cups of onion, bell pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, summer squash, celery, finely minced carrots, spinach; saute gently in a bit of good oil, with or without garlic.  Stir in jar of spaghetti sauce and heat; serve over toasted bread or English muffins and top with shredded cheese.  Oh, I forget, these are the Duggars we're talking about.

If anybody uses a recipe nutrition calculator regularly (I've tried, and had SEVERELY bad failures making them work), I'd purely adore to see analyses of TTC and similar. Bet the fat, cholesterol, and sodium counts are through the roof.

 

[IrishCarrie]

I adore Mac and cheese so I've tried every variant under the sun - my favourite is to sauté finely chopped leeks and bacon, and stir through the cheesy pasta mix before it goes in the oven.

Yum!

And cheap. And filling.

[warriorblade8857]

I made some calculations for the Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe and got the following:

1 serving (entire recipe divided by 21)

909 calories, 34g fat (53% recommended daily value), 14g saturated fat (68%), 4g polysaturated, 14g monosaturated, 300mg cholesterol (88%), 1220mg sodium (51%), 2251mg potassium (64%), 72g carbs (24%), 25g fiber (49%), 5g sugar, 78g protein (157%).

[QuiverDance]

On January 30, 2016 at 8:09 PM, catlady said:

this is true for us, too.  the eggs are so much better than the basic store-bought, but i haven't calculated a cost on them.  our start-up was pricey (coop was $200, needed feed/water dispensers, including heated one for winter, and fencing for the run), but food and bedding are no more expensive than dog/cat food.  also, like any pet, chickens will not stink if they're properly cared for.  just as my house doesn't smell like cat shit because they're trained and i keep the litter box clean, the back yard won't stink if the coop is cleaned regularly.  i change out the bedding at least once a week year-round, take in all food/water at night to discourage rats, rake up their run as needed, wash the inside of the coop twice a year, and make sure they have access to loose dirt so they can give themselves dust baths.  it sounds like a lot, but they're really no more work than the dog.  i've asked my nearest neighbors if the chicks stink, and the answer has consistently been no.

That seems like SO MUCH work to me.  If I had chickens, I think my coop would stink.  Cause I'm lazy.  Which is why I have no fresh eggs.  I have had them many times from family members' coops, and they are wonderful.  My grandmother always kept chickens.  Eggs were her favorite food, and I get my appreciation of them from her.  

[samira_catlover]

Oh, dear, Checked the Duggar Family Blog for recipes. http://www.duggarfamilyblog.com/p/recipes.html

Found the nutrition calculator at http://nutritiondata.self.com.

Here's a partial readout/transcription for TTC (16-serving size; this analysis is for a single portion:

Per serving: 501 calories (25% RDA); 13% fiber, 39% fat; 34% saturated fats;  Vitamin A 4%; Vitamin C 22%; Vitamin D 0%; Vitamin E 5%, Vitamin K 10%; thiamin 13%; riboflavin 16%; niacin 24%; B6 19%; folate 16%; B12 3%; pantothenic acid 12%; calcium 12%; iron 15%; sodium 56%..

*******

Here's the Broccoli casserole: http://jujube2407.weebly.com/duggar-family-recipes.html  (I calculated for brown rice, 2% milk, and 8 servings)

Per serving: 323 calories (16% RDA); 12% fiber, 36% fat; 71% saturated fats;  Vitamin A 33%; Vitamin C 69%; Vitamin D 3%; Vitamin E 7%, Vitamin K 75%; thiamin 5%; riboflavin 16%; niacin 4%; B6 8%; folate 13%; B12 1%; pantothenic acid 5%; calcium 27%; iron 7%; sodium 41%..

*******

LUVVVVS my fats and sodium, but good heavens----can you imagine what their arteries will look like after 20 years of this sort of eating? *wondering if it's possible to run degreasing solution in an IV line*
 

[caszandra]

I think I would throw up if I tried to eat that Broccoli Cheese soup. Yuck.  I love Broccoli and Stilton soup, I found a recipe for 1 serving which is great for me and it is delicious.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil.

½ onion, chopped.

1 garlic clove, chopped.

100g/3½oz broccoli florets, blanched.

150ml/4½fl oz hot vegetable stock.

50g/1½oz Stilton.

salt and black pepper.

Method

Heat the oil in a frying pan, then add the onion and garlic and fry until softened. Add the broccoli and the stock and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Add the Stilton and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Allow to cool slightly, put it in the blender and blitz it until smooth.

[OnceUponATime]

to those of you who eat broccoli and cheese soup - does it keep ok? Can I just microwave the leftovers the next day or is it a soup that doesn't like that?

 

3 hours ago, samira_catlover said:

Poor Man's Pizza, revised: Chop up 3-5 cups of onion, bell pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, summer squash, celery, finely minced carrots, spinach; saute gently in a bit of good oil, with or without garlic.  Stir in jar of spaghetti sauce and heat; serve over toasted bread or English muffins and top with shredded cheese.  Oh, I forget, these are the Duggars we're talking about.

Or make toasties/toasted sandwiches with them. What they made is what we used to called pimped-up cheese on toast.

[warriorblade8857]

On January 31, 2016 at 6:02 PM, Hera said:

I'm resigned to the fact that vegetables and non-processed foods are never going to happen in this house. But if they're going to go with this abomination of a "meal," at least call it Grilled Cheeses with Marinara Dipping Sauce.  Calling it Poor Man's Pizza is an offense to both poor men and pizza.  More to the point, instead of that "pizza", why can't they just swap out the bread for a couple boxes of $1/box pasta and have pasta marinara? They can even throw some Parmesan cheese on top.  Not only will the pasta and one round plastic of jar of parm cost nearly the same (or less) than the bread and 4(!!) pounds of cheese, pasta marinara is also an actual simple meal.   Why instead make this pseudo meal that sounds like something a couple of college kids came up with one night when they were too drunk to go to the store and the pizza delivery place was closed?

They could also just make real pizza. You can buy tubes of premade pizza dough for less than a dollar, and all you have to do is roll the dough out.

[MoonFace]

On 1/31/2016 at 2:11 PM, Londish said:

I only use velveeta when I make macaroni and cheese. For people who don't use velveeta, do you have other substitutions or other cheeses that work for macaroni and cheese? I don't make it very often so I haven't really experimented with the recipe.

I use cheddar cheese for mac and cheese.    I make a white sauce and grate or chop cheddar cheese and melt that in the sauce.    I prefer Cabot cheese for this  - a sharp cheddar. 

OTher times I've had shredded cheeses in my fridge that I've bought for other things; - Mexican cheeses for tacos, Italian cheese for baked ziti, etc and just dump those in too. 

 

 

[Jucifer]

26 minutes ago, MoonFace said:

I use cheddar cheese for mac and cheese.    I make a white sauce and grate or chop cheddar cheese and melt that in the sauce.    I prefer Cabot cheese for this  - a sharp cheddar. 

OTher times I've had shredded cheeses in my fridge that I've bought for other things; - Mexican cheeses for tacos, Italian cheese for baked ziti, etc and just dump those in too. 

 

 

Cabot sharp cheddar cheese is THE cheese for making mac and cheese! 

[EmCatlyn]

2 hours ago, warriorblade8857 said:

They could also just make real pizza. You can buy tubes of premade pizza dough for less than a dollar, and all you have to do is roll the dough out.

Why not buy the pizza?  Little Caesar's "Hot and Ready" 14 in with or without pepperoni is only $5, no limit, no call ahead (you have to pick up).  There are Little Caesars in the Little Rock area and probably not too far from where the Duggars live.

Pizza at little caesars

Domino's often has deals for 2 or more pizzas at $5.99 also.  And many places will give sizable discounts for large orders especially if you pick up.

Pizza is one of the few things I see no point in making myself.  It is not really more economical because the pizza places get bulk discounts on the cheese, and I don't have the right kind of oven.  

When dieting, I have made a substitute for pizza that used less cheese and more veggies by spreading homemade veggie pasta sauce over French bread sliced length wise and lightly sprinkled with low fat mozzarella, but this wouldn't appeal to Duggars.  

I doubt their poor man's pizza comes out cheaper or more filling than th Little Ceasars "deal."(Personally, I don't like Little Caesars.  Mostly I pick up Mellow Mushroom-- but when my son was a teen and living with me, he and his friends would get those Little Caesar pizzas for snacks all the time.)

[PennySycamore]

@Jucifer and @EmCatlyn,  all this talk of Cabot Cheese and Mellow Mushroom is making me hungry! A couple of years ago, we not only got to go to the Cabot creamery when we were visiting Vermont, but also got to sample some at the stores at Queechee Gorge. They had some Cabot cheese that had been aged for 12 years.  It was extraordinary!

[Jucifer]

16 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@Jucifer and @EmCatlyn,  all this talk of Cabot Cheese and Mellow Mushroom is making me hungry! A couple of years ago, we not only got to go to the Cabot creamery when we were visiting Vermont, but also got to sample some at the stores at Queechee Gorge. They had some Cabot cheese that had been aged for 12 years.  It was extraordinary!

My little sister and I visited our big sister in Vermont last year.  We stopped by the Ben & Jerry's HQ but they were closed that day.  

As much as I I love Cabot cheese, I didn't think to tour the creamery.  Next time! 

 

[MatthewDuggar]

50 minutes ago, EmCatlyn said:

Why not buy the pizza?  

They do, they have been seen ordering pizzas and or going to pizza joints countless times.  I'm assuming the slop-pizza recipe was for those times they supposedly literally had no money and bought that crap in bulk.  Who knows really?

[SassyPants]

Duggar Pizza= the kind the crew picked up and likely paid for and I'm guessing the BOGO or kids eat free places.

[warriorblade8857]

34 minutes ago, MatthewDuggar said:

They do, they have been seen ordering pizzas and or going to pizza joints countless times.  I'm assuming the slop-pizza recipe was for those times they supposedly literally had no money and bought that crap in bulk.  Who knows really?

Who knows, indeed... because slop pizza is more expensive than dough-from-a-tube pizza! Per pound, sliced sandwich bread is not cheap.

Also, @EmCatlyn is right. Calculated per pound, cheese is really expensive. Some cuts of meat (aka chicken) are cheaper.

[Alye]

17 hours ago, SoybeanQueen said:

I made dinner tonight using no fresh ingredients (enchilada casserole). After this thread, I felt oddly pleased with myself over it. Canned diced chilis, a can of cream of chicken soup, and sour cream and cheese. I guess the last two are sort of fresh. Frozen chicken. NOT CANNED.

I served it with fresh fruit, though, because scurvy seems bad.

I am against can of this/packet of that cooking but there is one recipe I do this with and that's because I have never found a recipe that gets the same flavour. So here is my apricot chicken recipe;

Slice 1 onion and layer it in your Crock Pot then on top put 8 chicken drumsticks. Sprinkle over a packet to a 1 1/2 packets French (Brown) onion soup mix. Drain an 840g tin of apricots and put on top of the drumsticks with a 410g tin of apricot nectar. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Serve on top of cous cous.

I can follow a recipe well enough but I'm not the type of person who can look into their fridge and throw together a meal, instead I have a spreadsheet with what we have in the house and my recipes linked up so I know what we have most of the ingredients for and what needs to be bought.  I cook a lot of roasts from cheap cuts of meat and do things like salads and soups/stews from the leftovers. One of the favourite meals is a pulled pork (all spices and no coke or BBQ sauce) that the first day will be done just with coleslaw and jacket potatoes and the next day goes tex-mex when I reheat it, add some more chilli and a can of kidney beans and its tacos/nachos/burritos. This way I really only have to slave over the stove every other day at most.

I love my Crock Pot because it takes 5 minutes to prepare anything and you leave it for hours.

[Pretzel]

I can't get over the fact how lazy they are.

And they even have an industrial kitchen of which they use only a few items!!!! I wonder if there's also an industrial dough kneader somewhere. They could've even bought a big KitchenAid instead of some other supplies. It is SO easy to make pizza crust, I swear, you don't even have to buy pre-packaged dough: Water, flour ( a little whole flour can be added to make it healthier), yeast, salt and oil. That's it. Throw it in the mixer, let the mixer knead the dough, let the dough rise, et voila...pizza dough.It can be made in bulk and put in the freezer. It can even be used to keep the young kids busy. Give each of them a piece of dough and a rolling pin, provide some condiments and toppings and have them make their own pizzas. There is no need for poor man's pizza, ever. Actually, there is never a need for any crap that the Duggars eat.

[Pretzel]

All suggestions in this thread could give the Duggars a 180° turn in their diet. How sad that they'll likely never find this thread.

[SportsgalAnnie]

On 1/30/2016 at 8:21 AM, VelociRapture said:

My mom didn't really teach us to cook or bake - we learned by watching her and being lucky enough to be born with a bit of common cooking sense (meaning we find it easy enough to follow recipes.)

My husband is the same way. He loved helping his parents and grandparents in the kitchen and he loves cooking for me. I'm the cook in the house now most nights because I don't work and he does (and he works a lot right now because tax season.)

I think if people want future generations to know how to cook then they need to invest time and effort into teaching them when they're young. That's what we intend to do with our future kids - I want to teach them our family recipes. It's tough for a lot of adults to do that though because so many families need two parents working to get by. 

That's what happened with my cousins and I. Our Nanna and Pappaw would put us on the counter and we learned by Watching them. I love to bake that's my strong suit. 

[SpoonfulOSugar]

14 hours ago, sawasdee said:

I often cook frozen peas in with the pasta, and top the mac and cheese with bacon....tastes good!

Peas should not be tossed in anything.

By themselves, fine.

They do not belong in casseroles or stews.  IDK who came up with that idea, but it is WRONG.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.