Do they EVER cook from scratch? or garden?

[Hera]

18 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

I wonder how much is laziness and how much is that they have no imagination.  Their recipes are a lot like their religion.  They want pre-planned, pre-processed simplified versions of food that take very little thought to assemble.  They are used to this. Anything different would taste strange.  Similarly their religion is pre-planned and pre-processed by Gothard and the rest of the ATI crowd.  Their "Wisdom Booklets" take the place of real reading of the Bible or thinking about right and wrong the same as tater tots and cream of whatever and Velveeta take the place of  real food and real cooking.  Religion doesn't "taste right" to them if it is not "pre-processed" -and the same goes for food.

This is an interesting point.  There is a general paint-by-the-numbers theme running through very much of what they do.  It's easy. It's all the same. You don't have to think or try.  There's no risk of failure if you stay within the lines. 

All jokes about their food habits aside, watching the kids who have grown up like this flounder after reaching their Destinations in Life is a very sad commentary on how raising children in this environment just fails to make them happy, well rounded and satisfied adults.  I do think that at some point, they start to realize that they're missing something and they have no idea where to even begin to look for it.  Josh, despite obtaining some "success" in the approved role of far right politics, went looking for validation and something different in his life on Ashley Madison.  Jessa, despite achieving the Highest Goal of Wife and Mother, seeks validation, but also excitement and challenge, by offending everyone she can on social media.  Jill, also Exhalted Wife and Mother, seems lost and just trails her husband around, currently bumbling around the world playing missionary and not really sticking with anything or having any real passion for it.  

What all three seem to have in common is the fact that being forced into this lifestyle and held there by fire and brimstone and fear doesn't fulfill or really engage them. Not that politics, motherhood and marriage cannot be fulfilling, but when, due to limited options, these roles are forced on you, as opposed to something you actively chose for yourself, it isn't the same.  Hell, Michelle and JB seem pretty happy with their choice to be crazy cultists; too bad their kids didn't get the same choices. The saddest thing about the Duggars is the promise of what the 19 kids could have been.  Lawyers, executives, nurses, doctors, educators, firemen, policemen, anything, really.  And instead, they were born to be cogs in their parents' cult machine for Gothard.  Also, they don't get bacon.  Because all Gothard knew about keeping kosher was that Jewish people don't eat pork?  Seriously? 

 

 

[Valerie3kids]

25 minutes ago, Hera said:

This is an interesting point.  There is a general paint-by-the-numbers theme running through very much of what they do.  It's easy. It's all the same. You don't have to think or try.  There's no risk of failure if you stay within the lines. 

All jokes about their food habits aside, watching the kids who have grown up like this flounder after reaching their Destinations in Life is a very sad commentary on how raising children in this environment just fails to make them happy, well rounded and satisfied adults.  I do think that at some point, they start to realize that they're missing something and they have no idea where to even begin to look for it.  Josh, despite obtaining some "success" in the approved role of far right politics, went looking for validation and something different in his life on Ashley Madison.  Jessa, despite achieving the Highest Goal of Wife and Mother, seeks validation, but also excitement and challenge, by offending everyone she can on social media.  Jill, also Exhalted Wife and Mother, seems lost and just trails her husband around, currently bumbling around the world playing missionary and not really sticking with anything or having any real passion for it.  

What all three seem to have in common is the fact that being forced into this lifestyle and held there by fire and brimstone and fear doesn't fulfill or really engage them. Not that politics, motherhood and marriage cannot be fulfilling, but when, due to limited options, these roles are forced on you, as opposed to something you actively chose for yourself, it isn't the same.  Hell, Michelle and JB seem pretty happy with their choice to be crazy cultists; too bad their kids didn't get the same choices. The saddest thing about the Duggars is the promise of what the 19 kids could have been.  Lawyers, executives, nurses, doctors, educators, firemen, policemen, anything, really.  And instead, they were born to be cogs in their parents' cult machine for Gothard.  Also, they don't get bacon.  Because all Gothard knew about keeping kosher was that Jewish people don't eat pork?  Seriously? 

 

 

But don't they eat pepperoni? I swear they eat it on their pizza. Or is that in their minds not pork?

You are very right. Children raised under better circumstances could have been so many things. Parents could have had so much to brag about. But, instead they are counting grandchildren. I fear for the generation they are now producing as they are even farther away from anything normal such as education. How much effort will the girls put into education? It is scary.

[Bad Wolf]

55 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

 

Don't know where the quote came from.

The kids are so controlled so that they cannot make any real mistakes and learn from them. It's painful to watch your children fail and get hurt, but worse to let them become adults with no coping skills.

[Cats B4 Quivers]

Dinner tonight is brought to you by "I've Had A Tough Day Of Studying" and some sale chicken.

Basically, I stir fried some leftover chicken and some frozen "California mix" veggies and we had it with freshly cooked rice. Took maybe 15 minutes of cooking for the rice, and 5 minutes during the rice cooking to stir fry the chicken and veggies. It's our go-to meal when my head hurts from a frustrating day of learning web development (my post code searching web page will not work). 

Yesterday, I made a pizza and it really doesn't take much time to make a pizza. It's more planning and preparing, which are actions not in the Duggars profile. In the morning, I made the dough. It takes 10 minutes to make in a bowl by hand. It's 2.5 cups of all purpose flour, 2.5 tablespoons of wheat gluten flour (not absolutely necessary. I like the chewy texture it gives the crust), 1 teaspoon yeast, 1 teaspoon salt. All of this goes in one bowl and you and then you pour 1 and 1/4 cup of warm water  over the flour mix. Just mix with your hand until you get a smooth dough. Don't worry if the dough feels sticky. It'll bake well. Greater amounts would take nearly as long in a stand mixer but still very similar ease. I buy the cheese in bulk shredded. I buy sliced salami. The sauce is easily and quickly made by either chopping fresh tomatoes and adding garlic and herbs. Or, opening a can of tomato sauce and adding garlic and herbs. Preheat oven. The toughest part is setting one of the oven racks to the lowest part of the oven (yeah, not too tough at all). Then, lightly oil a baking sheet. Stretch the dough to the size of the baking sheet. Layer sauce, cheese, salami. Bake til it looks good. The next is my favourite part: Eat! 

[Jucifer]

3 hours ago, Valerie3kids said:

But don't they eat pepperoni? I swear they eat it on their pizza. Or is that in their minds not pork?

(snip)

When I was a kid we had similar fundie dietary restrictions. My parents for some reason thought certain pork products were not made of pork: pepperoni, lil' smokies mini sausages... 

We kids knew better but we never told them- it would have meant more things we enjoyed being added to the long list of things that were forbidden.  : /

[Bad Wolf]

The Duggars make pizza. Josie used the lick and stick method on her ingredients. Another great teaching opportunity lost. No wonder they can't cook.

[LittleSpouseOnThePrairie]

I guess when the only places you eat are Pizza Hut and chick-fil-a, you don't really have a palate developed enough to crave better food. When Bin & Blessa were in Paris eating at fancy culinary establishment they didn't appreciate a damn thing on their plates. Kinda broke my heart because I'd love to have had that opportunity. Anyway, I wonder if the Duggar diet is based on the things that were quick and cheap that Michelle could get the kidults to eat without a fight when they were little, and since there have always been more littles the cuisine has just never evolved into something more elevated. (Although I'd never fill my kids with canned soup and velveta on a regular basis...)

[MarblesMom]

On 1/25/2016 at 9:38 AM, OnceUponATime said:

But that is the thing I don't get. Grow your own veggies - keep your own seed, make a compost and your only expenses are the initial seeds and occasional spray (if you do that). Seriously growing your own veggies if you have space/time (which they do!) isn't that hard and would keep down their living costs.

 

Sure if you want a really bountiful garden. I would like to polity disagree though.

 

 

Last summer, I had my very first garden and had NO CLUE what I was doing.  Mr MM tilled up a spot and I got some baby veggie plants, stuck them in the ground, hit them with some Ortho stuff once in a while, and very soon, we were up to our ears in tomatoes, onions, peppers, sweet potatoes, cilantro and cukes.  One cuke plant must have produced at least 40 - 50 pounds of cukes.  I could not GIVE them away, as everyone else had the same "problem."

The Duggars could be just as clueless as I was and get a decent crop - even if they didn't can, they could freeze.  Or at least save on veggie costs during the summer.

Clearly, this is not a priority for them.

[Fundie Bunny]

13 hours ago, batuityma said:

Sodium alginate? Isn't that the rubbery stuff used to make dental impressions? Gross. That explains the plasticky texture.

Alginate is also used to gellificate (does that word even exist?) food. Is an ingrediemt used commonly in high end cuisine

[MatthewDuggar]

It's really a shame they don't eat pork.  Imagine the debate we could be having regarding SPAM.

[HarleyQuinn]

I like to season and add mascarpone to my spaghetti sauce. I was thinking as I was doing this last night, no Duggar would ever try to spice up tomato sauce. It would just be plain. lol

[LittleSpouseOnThePrairie]

On February 3, 2016 at 7:19 AM, HarleyQuinn said:

I like to season and add mascarpone to my spaghetti sauce. I was thinking as I was doing this last night, no Duggar would ever try to spice up tomato sauce. It would just be plain. lol

I had a roommate in college who just ate canned tomato soup on her pasta. So gross.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

I have a friend now who thinks that Prego is the end all be all for pasta sauce. I just can't deal with it. Like, I get why some people like it, but at least admit that there are better tasting sauces out there, both homemade and canned. 

[sawasdee]

17 minutes ago, DuggarsTheEndIsNear said:

I have a friend now who thinks that Prego is the end all be all for pasta sauce. I just can't deal with it. Like, I get why some people like it, but at least admit that there are better tasting sauces out there, both homemade and canned. 

I find it a very useful base for my own additions.........................

[PreciousPantsofDoom]

1 hour ago, LittleSpouseOnThePrairie said:

I had a roommate in college who just ate canned tomato soup on her pasta. So gross.

My husband makes (assembles?) This sometimes. And, yeah, EW!  Thankfully he eats and cooks normal healthy things made from real fresh ingredients most of the time.  And he doesn't expect me to eat the pasta /tomato soup glop!

[samira_catlover]

MarblesMom, be super-careful about putting in strawberries!

I have a Certified Black Thumb (trademark pending), and a few years ago we wanted strawberries for 2 adults to gorge on, with maybe a few leftovers frozen. So we got 50 plants, figuring that at least 20% wouldn't survive (and we weren't gonna spray, either, or even do a lot of weeding).

The neighbors soon took to hiding when their doorbells rang, fearing we'd be out there again with a sheepish smile and yet ANOTHER big bowl of ripe berries that needed rehoming.

[smittykins]

On February 2, 2016 at 9:14 PM, Chickenbutt said:

Peas should be left in the garden for the birds. They should not even make it into the house or a human...

Can you tell I hate peas?

Me too!  The smell alone makes me want to hurl.(According to my mom, she tried to feed me peas at 11 months old, and I spit 'em halfway across the room.)

[PennySycamore]

7 hours ago, Fundie Bunny said:

Alginate is also used to gellificate (does that word even exist?) food. Is an ingrediemt used commonly in high end cuisine

The word you want is "congeal" although I do like your neologism of "gellificate".

Some of us need an algal congealing agent as we do not eat (or want to eat) gelatin which is from animals.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelatin

[OnceUponATime]

@samira_catlover you may come and nuture my strawberries. they have been planted (temporarily which was meant to be a month or two - has been over a year) in the least fertile place in our garden. they don't do well and the slugs/beasties like eating any strawberry that we get. Maybe the 2nd year will be better. Must get my herb/tea/fruit garden set up

[ksgranola1]

My FIL "farmed" on our property back in NY. One August I was swimming in cukes. My daughter had a birthday & I put one in each goody bag when they left. My daughter thought she'd "Die of embarrassment." But I got so many calls thanking me for those cukes. Can't grow shit in this hot Georgia sun & red clay. Had so many tomatoes one year, I made catsup.

[DuggarWatch]

3 minutes ago, ksgranola1 said:

My FIL "farmed" on our property back in NY. One August I was swimming in cukes. My daughter had a birthday & I put one in each goody bag when they left. My daughter thought she'd "Die of embarrassment." But I got so many calls thanking me for those cukes. Can't grow shit in this hot Georgia sun & red clay. Had so many tomatoes one year, I made catsup.

You could have made pickles.

[batuityma]

15 hours ago, MarblesMom said:

Last summer, I had my very first garden and had NO CLUE what I was doing.  Mr MM tilled up a spot and I got some baby veggie plants, stuck them in the ground, hit them with some Ortho stuff once in a while, and very soon, we were up to our ears in tomatoes, onions, peppers, sweet potatoes, cilantro and cukes.  One cuke plant must have produced at least 40 - 50 pounds of cukes.  I could not GIVE them away, as everyone else had the same "problem."

The Duggars could be just as clueless as I was and get a decent crop - even if they didn't can, they could freeze.  Or at least save on veggie costs during the summer.

Clearly, this is not a priority for them.

Degreed Horticulture Professional ^TM  here, feeling the need to say something that will probably turn into rambling. @MarblesMom please don’t take offense. This is a general statement NOT directed at you personally.

I’m assuming “Ortho stuff” refers to a pesticide because I’m only familiar with Ortho brand lawn & garden sprays as being pesticides (insecticide, herbicide, fungicide…) Maybe I’m wrong in this case, but nevertheless…I don’t want any budding beginner gardeners out there to get the impression that maybe the use of pesticides is the magic trick to such a plentiful harvest.

Many people don’t have success with their first gardening attempt. “I have black thumbs...I could kill a cactus!” is a phrase I’ve heard a million times. People have asked me what the “secret” to gardening is. One thing I can say for sure is: If there is one special “secret” to having a bountiful, thriving vegetable garden, using pesticides is NOT it! Pesticides DO have their place in horticulture/agriculture but PLEASE, for those of you beginners out there who are discouraged by previous failed attempts at gardening, please don’t think that the fix-it-all solution is to spray a bunch of chemicals on your plants. PLEASE! I see this all the time and it concerns me.

Most of the time, when someone isn’t having success the problem is one (or more) of three things:

• Too much or too little water
• Too much or too little fertilizer (can be soil related)
• The wrong plant in the wrong place (tomatoes in the shade, zone 6 plants in zone 4, etc.)

If you get those three things right then you are much less likely to have major pest/disease problems in your garden which, in turn, greatly reduces the need for pesticide use. And pesticides should be used properly, sparingly, and only if necessary.

Not speaking about professionally, but as a HOME gardener I can count on one hand the number of times I have ever used conventional chemical pesticides in 25 years (and NEVER on my veggies or anything else I’m going to eat.) It scares me when I go to Home Depot, Lowes, etc. and walk past the isles and isles of lawn & garden chemical products being marketed for home use. Most of them are NASTY chemicals - seriously toxic and harmful to humans, pets and the environment if used incorrectly. The instructions can be confusing (if they are even read.) Often people don’t know how to correctly use them or HOW TO PROPERLY DISPOSE OF THE UNUSED CHEMICALS. I’ve seen so many homeowners (and even professional lawn care services) in my own neighborhood using pesticides improperly AND ILLEGALLY out of ignorance of their proper use. It poses a danger to themselves, other people, and the environment.

A few years ago I begrudgingly decided to buy some broad-leaf lawn herbicide (something I normally don’t do but it’s a long story…) Went to a big box store and bought a major brand name product in concentrate form. It was labeled for HOME USE. I read the instructions carefully to see how to mix the product with water to get the proper concentration. There were all sorts of tables that listed ratios for ppm/acre.  That makes sense for large scale applications when using professional large-volume sprayers that can be easily adjusted and calibrated.  Absolutely NOT useful to me sitting there with a measuring spoon and a tiny cheap 1 gallon hand held sprayer. There was NOTHING in the way of how many ounces/mLs/tablespoons to add to a gallon or liter of water. If I had been at work I could have easily done the calculations necessary to get the ratio right for use with our professional spraying equipment. Hell, I had to pass a test on that stuff to get my pesticide applicator’s license, yet even I had an extremely hard time figuring out how to properly use this chemical at HOME. I can only imagine what the average person would do. Just guess??? That scares me.

I hope I’m not coming off as preachy. I’m speaking out of fear mostly. I have a background in environmental science as well as horticulture. While I’m very concerned about the large scale use of agricultural pesticides, what is almost scarier to me is the small scale, yet wide spread, home use of all kinds of toxic chemicals by people who don’t necessarily know what they’re doing. It freaks me out.

[halcionne]

8 hours ago, Fundie Bunny said:

Alginate is also used to gellificate (does that word even exist?) food. Is an ingrediemt used commonly in high end cuisine

Hahaha I guess that makes Velveeta a pioneer in the world of molecular gastronomy

[ksgranola1]

Oh, I did learn to put up pickles after that. Did you ever notice when you buy store-bought pickles, that the end is cut off? I always thought that was so they'd fit in the jar. Turns out, if you don't cut off the end, if promotes decomposition.

I made garlic dills & you had to let them float around in a brine for 10 days, each day, scraping off the "foam" on top.*It was mold.*

had to be in a dark, cook place. That meant dining room. Whenever anybody came in, they could smell this garlic-y brine festering in the corner. I loved it. I put up skinned whole tomatoes for sauce for the winter, too.

God, I miss that. Don't get old.

[MarblesMom]

@batuityma it was a feeder/fertilizer, not pesticide.  We didn't even think of  worrying about bugs! 

There were a few bugs around, crickets at the end, that sort of thing - but the bunnies were well-fed all summer LOL and the bigger pests, clearly.