Maxwell 18: Creating at Least One Mini-Steve

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

The Dress house is big on rice and gravy.  Being southern I think of it as a food group.

Left over rice added to ground meat (which can also be left over)  add an egg to bind and whatever spices strike your fancy and then brown in a little oil or bake = Voila -- porcupine meatballs.

Left over rice is the bomb -- the basis of so many dishes in the Dress house. Stir fry, veg rice casserole, pilau, rice pudding, rice waffles (add mashed rice to waffle batter), etc, etc, etc  When I make chicken soup from a roast chicken carcass I'll add left over rice a few minutes before the soup is ready.

I actually have a cook book from the 1940s put out by the rice growers assoc( I think) that has abut 75 rice recipes, many of which are for left over rice.

The Maxwells are not only boring, but devoid of imagination -- which I guess Stevehovah thinks is of the devil.  He probably secretly loved that disgusting casserole

 

[bluelady]

I don't understand how they're going to make a "series" out of this. They didn't give any tips or explain anything. Anna literally just threw what they had in the fridge together with no regard for taste or, apparently, food safety.  My 3 year old can do that!

[Dandruff]

14 hours ago, catlady said:

Note to self: stay the hell away from ham gravy because it is of a hue I have long called  “baby-shit brown.”

Looks like they got the texture too.  Wonder how it would compete against Bro Gary's pink weenie gravy.

#barfarama

[danvillebelle]

When we had four kids at home, and the older two were teens, I would make TWO 9X13 casseroles of whatever casserole it was - usually chili cheese bake, their favorite (it is mostly rice and beans and really good).  Sometimes there were leftovers, sometimes not.  Often what was left would get eaten by someone before bedtime.  

An 8 X 8 casserole for six people who obviously have the means to provide more is just....sad.  It screams food issues to me.

If I served my husband (who is 6'4 and about 240) an 8 X 8 casserole, he would straight up think that was his and we were going to eat something else.  

[theologygeek]

6 hours ago, bluelady said:

I don't understand how they're going to make a "series" out of this. They didn't give any tips or explain anything. Anna literally just threw what they had in the fridge together with no regard for taste or, apparently, food safety.  My 3 year old can do that!

They really need to remove that blog post.  Four to five day old cooked pork is dangerous.  It goes bad even before it starts to smell.  When in doubt, throw it out!  Someone who is not knowledgeable in food is going to follow their recipe and get their whole family sick.  Children and the elderly are especially susceptible to food borne illnesses. 

[usedbicycle]

23 hours ago, molecule said:

One of my friends from the South has always said that for Thanksgiving, her family always had gravy over rice rather than over mashed potatoes. This sounded so weird to me, but she said that potatoes spoil too easily where she grew up and that this is common.

The potato thing is true! In southern Louisiana if you didn't have proper AC in your house, potatoes started growing shoots and get soft within a couple days.

I'll admit it, my kids would probably love that casserole because they wolf down anything fatty and savory. Let's just say ham gravy is not in my usual repertoire of healthy meals . 

[JermajestyDuggar]

13 hours ago, theologygeek said:

If my elderly parents were eating five day old pork, I would 1) start crying 2) think they had a financial hardship that they didn't tell me about 3) run to the store and go food shopping for them, and 4) give them money. 

Either the Maxwells are broke or they are just stupid.  Hopefully they are just stupid because I would feel terrible if I called a poor person's food "slop." 

I've always gotten the impression that the Maxwells live like they are poor even when they have plenty of extra money in he bank. I think that even if they were rolling in dough they would make these kinds of choices. If they weee that starved and poor, they would've cooked the casserole right away instead of letting it sit and rot for two more days.

[bluelady]

22 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I've always gotten the impression that the Maxwells live like they are poor even when they have plenty of extra money in he bank. I think that even if they were rolling in dough they would make these kinds of choices. If they weee that starved and poor, they would've cooked the casserole right away instead of letting it sit and rot for two more days.

I don't understand that part. Why let it sit for 2 days?  If you've got leftovers you need to use, eat them or freeze them!

[singsingsing]

I've been super paranoid about spoiled food since a bad bout of food poisoning a few years ago, so reading that post made my stomach clench up. I'm also confused about why they wouldn't just make the dish with the leftovers right away. Why let leftovers sit untouched in the fridge for two days? Unless they have so many leftovers that they've been eating what's in the fridge over those two days, and this is what's leftover from the leftovers. But that sounds so unMaxwellian. I can't imagine the Maxwells, the people of the two animal crackers, making so much extra food that they have four days worth of leftovers.

[albanuadh_1]

According to google, properly cooked and stored pork spare ribs can stay in fridge safely 3-4 days. I'd say this mess was just on the edge of being thrown out or thrown up!

[AllisonWndrland]

We love sausage gravy over biscuits. It is fricken delicious and total comfort food. However, the thought of dumping ham gravy over rice and throwing old biscuits covered in inexplicable parmesan cheese on top makes me want to vomit. I have never had ham gravy, but it sounds so salty and just gross. 

Mr. Alison took one look at the casserole and questioned the size of the pan, the garlic salt and cheese, and the color of the gravy. It is exactly the shade of some of the blowout diapers my kids had as babies. 

Maxwells, there truly are better options for you! Cook books! Cooking websites! Eleventy million stay at home mom blogs filled with decent recipes! Anything but ham slop dusted with random cheese! 

[VodouDoll]

Agree with everyone else:

1. An 8x8 casserole is barely any food for six adults, unless they had a side vegetable or salad with it

2. That meat was suuuuuuuper old by the time they ate it. They're lucky they didn't get sick.

3. It looked really yucky. Just a bunch of glop. And I can't even imagine how those flavors would go together. Ham gravy and parmesan cheese? I wonder if it was real parm or the green can kind.

[Bajovane]

46 minutes ago, singsingsing said:

I've been super paranoid about spoiled food since a bad bout of food poisoning a few years ago, so reading that post made my stomach clench up. I'm also confused about why they wouldn't just make the dish with the leftovers right away. Why let leftovers sit untouched in the fridge for two days? Unless they have so many leftovers that they've been eating what's in the fridge over those two days, and this is what's leftover from the leftovers. But that sounds so unMaxwellian. I can't imagine the Maxwells, the people of the two animal crackers, making so much extra food that they have four days worth of leftovers.

I nearly lost a dear friend to food poisoning.  She was hospitalized for a long time and crashed several times.  They don't even know what it was that got her so sick but she had been out on day trips that weekend before and could have gotten it from a restaurant (although no one else reported any illnesses)  E-coli is no joke.

The Maxwells are playing with fire.

[Granwych]

3 hours ago, theologygeek said:

They really need to remove that blog post.  Four to five day old cooked pork is dangerous.  It goes bad even before it starts to smell.  When in doubt, throw it out!  Someone who is not knowledgeable in food is going to follow their recipe and get their whole family sick.  Children and the elderly are especially susceptible to food borne illnesses. 

For sure.  One of my nursing professors told us that suffering through food poisoning makes you want to die.

[catlady]

@Granwych, i second that.  i once had food poisoning badly enough to need medical attention, and yes, there were moments where i genuinely wondered if i might die, and the thought didn't scare me.  and it was pork that caused it; i still eat pork, but i'm really careful with storage, prep, and leftovers.

[singsingsing]

I'm still not sure what I was actually sick with - sorry for tmi, but I had no diarrhea, only vomiting. I suspect it was a spoiled piece of chicken at my grandparents' house. As I was eating it I noticed it tasted kind of funny. A couple days later I had a terrible stomach ache, and then I started vomiting, and continued to vomit every three hours or so for days until I finally took a gravol which stopped it (just barely). I really should have gone to the hospital, and I certainly would if it happened to me now.

My grandparents are terrible when it comes to food safety and I have no idea how they haven't made themselves ill by now. After Christmas dinner my grandpa said he didn't feel like cutting up the turkey and putting it away, so he'd just leave it in the oven overnight and do it the next day. My step dad and I were like, "WHAT? NO, DON'T DO THAT!!!" I love them dearly but I won't eat at their house anymore and I especially won't eat any of their leftovers.

[gameofunbeknowns]

@singsingsing I can relate to this a bit. I grew up in a family very conscious of food safety (owned a couple of grocery stores and a catering business) but have worked in a community where it is largely ignored. The leaving food in the oven as if it were a refrigerator is legitimately a thing where I’m from (especially among elderly people with less means, in my experience). I never understood this line of thinking. Hell, put the food in the drawer while you’re at it, put it under the porch. Put it behind the blinds. It’s all the same thing temperature wise.

Its also my experience, however, that those same people tend to not fall ill, because they’re used it it; but everyone else does.  I’ve known quite a few people who grew up eating spoiled food and it doesn’t affect them because, well, they grew up eating it.

i didn’t want to voicerously denounce the post when I first responsed for fear of BEC but my thoughts were they could KILL someone with this nonsense and it really shouldn’t stay up,

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 hours ago, bluelady said:

I don't understand that part. Why let it sit for 2 days?  If you've got leftovers you need to use, eat them or freeze them!

Wasn't on the schedule until two days later.

[Granwych]

Oy vey.  I just saw the picture of that mess and my stomach turned.

[usmcmom]

The Maxwell life is so tightly scheduled, I can't imagine what would come up to keep them from eating a prepared meal. EXCEPT.....

A baby!  Maybe one of the extended family wives has given birth and they aren't going to share it right away; if at all. 

Back to the food. I had rice and gravy when I attended college in The South. I also learned to love fried okra down there. What I want to know is if anybody else eats bread and gravy.  We used to eat that almost every Sunday evening. My mom would heat up the leftover gravy and, if there were no mashed potatoes left, she'd spoon it over a slice of warm bread. We'd ear it with lunch leftovers or scrambled eggs. When my young daughter came home from her babysitter's and said "We had this really neat lunch - bread with gravy!" I almost cried. I was reminded once again why her sitter was PERFECT for our family. I mean a woman who serves leftover gravy on warm  bread?  She's one of us!! 

[Koala]

I am still sitting here with my mouth open.

1) That is the most bizarre mixture of leftovers that I've ever seen.  Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

2) 8x8 for 6 adults?  There are 2 adults and 2 teenagers in my house, and we would have needed a 9x13 w/ a salad, bread, and possibly a dessert.  I don't even own an 8x8.  

3) Leftovers last one day, here.  I know that's extreme, but I am serious business about foodborne illness.  If it's not eaten the next day, I put it in the trash. 

[gameofunbeknowns]

18 hours ago, jakesykora said:

Ooh or Chopped - the best show ever for coming up with ways to use a few really random ingredients! That'd be great if they'd let Anna watch that!

One of my friends used to watch this with (especially the youngest of) her kids.  Eventually on a rainy day trying to fill time, discovered this was became the favorite thing for the kids to do as 'games' for one another and so they'll just do it spur of the moment sometimes. And both the boys are exceptional cooks now because they can create meals out of anything and incredible sauces.

And their whole family even with the now married w/ families of their own older kids (or as the goofy Maxwells would say, "extended family" d oes annual all family Chopped competition where for the mom's birthday she goes to the store and picks out the (typically very off-the-wall/unusual) ingredients for each round, and she serves as main judge, and the rest all cook (but then they also do assign points to the other participants each round - so sort of like a twist on the Chopped After Hours Judge Rounds where they all try the food the others make and comment). They LOVE it...and I love being invited for meals at their house because they are always creative just because of the influence of years of their Chopped 'games!'

I always play a game of Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay in my head when looking at fundie food. It’s glorious.

[meee]

1 hour ago, usmcmom said:

The Maxwell life is so tightly scheduled, I can't imagine what would come up to keep them from eating a prepared meal. EXCEPT.....

A baby!  Maybe one of the extended family wives has given birth and they aren't going to share it right away; if at all. 

Back to the food. I had rice and gravy when I attended college in The South. I also learned to love fried okra down there. What I want to know is if anybody else eats bread and gravy.  We used to eat that almost every Sunday evening. My mom would heat up the leftover gravy and, if there were no mashed potatoes left, she'd spoon it over a slice of warm bread. We'd ear it with lunch leftovers or scrambled eggs. When my young daughter came home from her babysitter's and said "We had this really neat lunch - bread with gravy!" I almost cried. I was reminded once again why her sitter was PERFECT for our family. I mean a woman who serves leftover gravy on warm  bread?  She's one of us!! 

That would be odd though. Teri said she didn't even remember what came up. Why lie about something like that?

Not saying I disagree with you, just saying they make no sense.

[Black Aliss]

I love biscuits and sausage gravy, but I've never made that dish at home. That what I eat when I find myself sitting down in a red vinyl upholstered booth at a rural diner. mmmm. That said, why not just nuke the leftover biscuits and gravy and have it for lunch? 

At our house the leftover spare-ribs would have been our lunch (looks like there was a lot of leftover ribs). It it had been just a rib or two they would have probably disappeared during the night and if not, the meat would have found its way into fried rice the next day (someone here uses the same recipe I do, with eggs, green onions, soy sauce and toasted sesame oil; anything else is optional). If I didn't have an immediate use for the rice I would have frozen it for another meal or dehydrated it for backpacking. 

Okay, I just realized they couldn't have the leftovers for lunch if they weren't already on the menu plan. I do believe they all sit down together for all three meals and there is a set rotation of lunch menus. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 hours ago, usmcmom said:

The Maxwell life is so tightly scheduled, I can't imagine what would come up to keep them from eating a prepared meal. EXCEPT.....

A baby!  Maybe one of the extended family wives has given birth and they aren't going to share it right away; if at all. 

Back to the food. I had rice and gravy when I attended college in The South. I also learned to love fried okra down there. What I want to know is if anybody else eats bread and gravy.  We used to eat that almost every Sunday evening. My mom would heat up the leftover gravy and, if there were no mashed potatoes left, she'd spoon it over a slice of warm bread. We'd ear it with lunch leftovers or scrambled eggs. When my young daughter came home from her babysitter's and said "We had this really neat lunch - bread with gravy!" I almost cried. I was reminded once again why her sitter was PERFECT for our family. I mean a woman who serves leftover gravy on warm  bread?  She's one of us!! 

I'll do you one better. Creamed tomatoes over bread/toast. My great grandparents never really gave up their depression era cooking. Plus any and all gravies over bread/toast.