Dillards 66: Appropriate Spaces for Inappropriate People

[HarryPotterFan]

 

1 hour ago, catlady said:

@Imaginary_Wonderland, this might help:  a stick of butter is 11.43 cm long and is 113.4 grams. In the US, they’re sold in four-packs weighing a pound. So two sticks are half a pound or 226.8 grams. That’s a lot of butter.....

That just seems like random numbers.

1 hour ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

There are. A measuring cup for liquid is generally clear glass (or plastic) with measurements marked on the sides.

Measuring cups for solids are little "buckets" with a volume measurement, typically sold in 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, and 1-cup sets.

There are 8 fluid ounces in a cup. (volume)

There are 16 ounces in a pound. (weight)

Out measurrment system is so dumb. I’m suddenly remembering my frustration in elementary school that ounces could be both weight and volume and it just didn’t make sense 

[Dandruff]

4 hours ago, JillyO said:

It's pretty much an American thing from what I've seen. Campbell's   has done an amazingly good job of convincing people to not just eat their soups, but make them the basis of TONS of recipes. I've never been anywhere else in the world where canned soup was regularly used as the basis for recipes. But that's incredibly successfull marketing for ya. Lots of people grew up on cream-of-whatever-soup based recipes, and for many (like Jill) it seems to be a difficult habit to break. Even though, these days, it's hardly a secret how unhealthy they are.

I grew up eating canned soup and haven't purchased it in decades.  I realize that most companies have taken at least some of the "crap" out, but I still refuse.  It's not that hard to make a decent homemade soup with fresh, or even frozen, ingredients.

[feministxtian]

Re: Butter

There's no such thing as too much butter. Personally I like a little baked potato in my butter, sour cream, cheese and chives. I also like a little pasta in my butter and garlic. 

but...I'm an unsophisticated pig when it comes to eating

[Nomorethanfour]

I ran across this (old) article about a youth minister from Cross Pointe Church who went into the homes of over 40 parishioners and stole pain medications! Is this the Church that Dwreck and Jill attend?

https://5newsonline.com/2015/09/18/minister-arrested-on-suspicion-of-stealing-prescription-drugs-from-church-members-homes/

[Rachel333]

6 minutes ago, Nomorethanfour said:

I ran across this (old) article about a youth minister from Cross Pointe Church who went into the homes of over 40 parishioners and stole pain medications! Is this the Church that Dwreck and Jill attend?

https://5newsonline.com/2015/09/18/minister-arrested-on-suspicion-of-stealing-prescription-drugs-from-church-members-homes/

No, theirs is Cross Church. "Cross Pointe" is such a stereotypical trendy church name, though.  I used to pass that church and that unnecessary "e" at the end of "Pointe" always bugged me.

[justoneoftwo]

50 minutes ago, SilverBeach said:

If you are referring to organizations being required to accept properly executed powers, that would be a good thing.

 

Yes in the newest version of many state laws there is a significant amount of liability for refusing to accept a properly executed POA. Many institutions don't know this and sometimes it can be useful to point it out

[louisa05]

1 minute ago, justoneoftwo said:

Yes in the newest version of many state laws there is a significant amount of liability for refusing to accept a properly executed POA. Many institutions don't know this and sometimes it can be useful to point it out

A manager at my parents's bank refused to honor my dad's during the last week of his life. Not only did she refuse to honor it, she made a loud scene in the main area of the bank accusing me of attempting to rob my parents while my father was dying. 

Her reasoning for refusal was that I was the second named on the POA after my mother and there was no proof that a) my father was incapacitated or b) my mother could not come to the bank. Except the POA clearly stated that no proof of incapacity or unwillingness to act on the part of anyone named was required for it to be honored. Unfortunately, I did not realize that and did not have a copy with me. The bank had it on file. 

Mind you, all of this was over my attempting to DEPOSIT checks into their account and take out all of $100 in cash out of about 35 times that in the deposit. Because I was going to use the POA to steal that tiny amount from my parents who had around 4500 times that amount of money in that bank. And I was not going to get the $100 from one of the two accounts that actually had my name on them, either. Nope, I was going to use the POA to steal it from the deposit instead. Because I was not only a criminal, but the dumbest one that ever walked in their door. (And the manager knew what the transaction was and how much money my parents had in her bank, too). 

I had my own account in that bank at the time. Once dad was gone and buried and life settled down, I closed that account and told them why. When my mother redid her POA after dad died, their attorney told us that not honoring them on that ground had become a problem and he moved the statement that covers that from the last paragraph to the first hoping to alleviate it. I haven't had to use mom's yet, so I don't know how it is going to work. My and my brother's names are on all of her financial accounts now, though, so the bank should not become an issue again. 

[MargaretElliott]

Okay that picture isn't actually something I can criticize Jill for. It's well-lit, it's colorful, there's no messy background, and it's on a real plate. At a glance, it just looks like some kind of tomato sauce with chicken and vegetables over pasta. Nothing out of the ordinary.

However, the recipe itself... I think it must be a typo. She has to mean two tablespoons of butter. Two sticks is a little crazy.

[elliha]

1 hour ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

You're Sweden? You can't do that in the US, I'm pretty big on free range parenting and I'm cool with elementary age kids about 7 or 8 being allowed limited supervision for periods of time but even I cringed in horror at the idea of a 3 yr old and 18 month old outside with out a parent, this will get you arrested here in the states.  It just isn't safe for kids that young here to be outside unless they are in a fenced in back yard with no way for them to get out AND you can keep a somewhat eye on them.  I envy the safety you feel in your country, it must be amazing to not fear for your child every second they are out of your site.

I've also read that somewhere in your neck of Europe that sleeping babies are left outside in the cold for fresh air. I love the idea but again, terrifying that babies are left unsupervised.  The difference in the cultures is fascinating you don't think twice about it and neither does anyone else.  It obviously isn't a big deal where you are as we don't hear about children being murdered or abducted from your area on a daily basis like we do here in the US.  Again it must be so nice to not have to worry so much about such things.

I want to clarify that my daughter was 5 when she was outside with her brother when he was 1,5 and it was for a very short time. She was outside on her own at 3 for a short time too. At 4 she was outside for a longer period. I would not allow a 3 year old outside alone with a 1,5 year old, that would be too young for me. 

Yes, children often sleep outside but as I live in an apartment with no elevator I didn't do that very much with my kids since I could not hear them scream if they woke up and I am very careful not to let babies scream and not be heard. If I visited people who had a porch I would leave a sleeping baby outside though and I did go on plenty of long walks to make sure they got fresh air and could sleep in the pram.

It is really not that much about safety, it is about people's perception of safety, here as in the US. I do believe the rougher areas in the US are rougher than the worst here but if we look at average and "good" areas the difference would be minimal and it is more that Americans believe that things are unsafe. Stranger abductions are very rare in the US although they might happen slightly more often than here but I would probably not be any scared of it in the US than in Sweden but I respect that you have a different culture that would demand more control over kids than what I as a very free range Swede think is OK. Average to strict Swedish parenting is probably more like free-range in the US. 

I live in an area of town that many consider bad and interestingly enough people are much more relaxed and free range here than in many extremely safe middle class areas. There many kids have to stay in their own yard for a longer time because there is such a thing as your own yard. This is one of the reasons I live here because it makes it possible for a more free upbringing and also for cultural diversity which is also important to me. Here there is no such thing but plenty of play areas that are for everyone so people just let kids play there despite not being fenced in and despite occasional cars and well, nothing much happens. As most people here let their kids play outside they also tend to keep track of other people's kids so while I might not be there someone else is. Not everyone is trustworthy for sure but most are and I am thankful for their help and I do the same for their kids.

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

@elliha, I'm sorry I was trying not to sound like I was criticizing you, because I wasn't, it really is just a cultural difference, and a safety one. I envy the safety and politeness of many European counties, to be part of a community of countrymen instead of an enemy in your own home because you don't think like our neighbors.  There is a reason the Nordic countries are the happiest countries in the world, I wish we could leave our kids outside to nap or play without having to hover over them. 

Sadly in the US you simply can't leave a young child outside unattended, it isn't safe and it is illegal.  We've also had it ingrained in us that we must watch our children at all times, sometimes IMO, to the child's detriment we have parents arrested in the US for allowing 8 and 9 year old play unsupervised in city parks or walk to school by themselves, even just a few blocks is frowned on. It is sad that here in the states we can't even allow our children to play in the front yard (garden)  unless an adult is watching them.  Shit they aren't even safe at school, with their being a good chance someone will come in and start shooting the place up.  

[VelociRapture]

That recipe is an abomination. I’m usually the first to defend Jill’s cooking and I’m normally happy to give people wiggle room in their culinary choices because not everyone is going to enjoy the same things... but seriously. I married a good Italian boy from Brooklyn and I know sauce thanks to him. That is not sauce. 

To fix the recipe (if you wanted to even try) you’d have to cut back on the amount of soup used, use whatever low-salt/sodium free canned goods you could, likely add more veggies and tomato the sauce to make up for the lost liquid, cut WAAAAAAY back on the amount of butter (and opt to use olive oil instead), opt for the fresh chicken over the canned (strictly for sodium concerns), and question every life choice that has brought you to the moment you tried eating this. 

(And just to very briefly defend Jill - she did point out this recipe is for those not counting calories. Baby steps to better blogging. )

[PennySycamore]

I recently learned on either Milk Street (Christopher Kimball's new cooking show on PBS) or America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Country that the liquid and dry measurements are the same.  If pour a cup of water into a dry measure it will measure a cup and conversely, if you put a cup of dry-measured flour (unsifted, scooped and leveled) into a liquid measuring cup, it will come up to the 1 cup mark.  It's just easier to use dry measure cups for things like flour, sugar and cocoa and liquid measure cups for water, milk oil and honey.

Christopher Kimball also says that it doesn't make a difference in your baking if you use salted butter instead of unsalted.  Salted tastes better on bread and potatoes so you can use salted for everything.

 

ETA:  Julia Child has a chart in Mastering the Art of French Cooking and some of her other cookbooks with the equivalent measures of sift after measuring flour and scooped and level flour of various types (All-purpose, pastry, cake, etc.)  I find it very handy and it's another point as to why measuring by weight makes so much sense.

[libgirl2]

12 hours ago, louisa05 said:

A manager at my parents's bank refused to honor my dad's during the last week of his life. Not only did she refuse to honor it, she made a loud scene in the main area of the bank accusing me of attempting to rob my parents while my father was dying. 

Her reasoning for refusal was that I was the second named on the POA after my mother and there was no proof that a) my father was incapacitated or b) my mother could not come to the bank. Except the POA clearly stated that no proof of incapacity or unwillingness to act on the part of anyone named was required for it to be honored. Unfortunately, I did not realize that and did not have a copy with me. The bank had it on file. 

Mind you, all of this was over my attempting to DEPOSIT checks into their account and take out all of $100 in cash out of about 35 times that in the deposit. Because I was going to use the POA to steal that tiny amount from my parents who had around 4500 times that amount of money in that bank. And I was not going to get the $100 from one of the two accounts that actually had my name on them, either. Nope, I was going to use the POA to steal it from the deposit instead. Because I was not only a criminal, but the dumbest one that ever walked in their door. (And the manager knew what the transaction was and how much money my parents had in her bank, too). 

I had my own account in that bank at the time. Once dad was gone and buried and life settled down, I closed that account and told them why. When my mother redid her POA after dad died, their attorney told us that not honoring them on that ground had become a problem and he moved the statement that covers that from the last paragraph to the first hoping to alleviate it. I haven't had to use mom's yet, so I don't know how it is going to work. My and my brother's names are on all of her financial accounts now, though, so the bank should not become an issue again. 

When my father passed, I went into one bank where he had an account with myself and my mom. Any changes to it would need to be ok'd by my mom..... who is in a nursing home with dementia. One day, I feel like just giving them the number to the home and say "have at it" or actually getting a medivan and hiring a nurse to bring her in...... Ugh, the issues of being POA. 

The worst was when we decided to sell my dad's car to Carmax. It was in my mom's name and my dad was terminal at that point. I brought the POA paperwork I had for her, they looked it all over and said great. Handed me a check. 2 1/2 weeks later, I get a call (the day before my dad passed) saying that her paperwork has my dad as POA than me. They wanted to talk to my dad who was in a coma at that point. So he asked if he could speak to my mom..... I should have said yes, the nursing home is about a mile from where you are. 

[cascarones]

I did grow up with cream of soup casserole recipes, but switched over to a master powder recipe (plus it saves cabinet space!). It sort of reminds me of how Michelle used to share her save the difference mixes like laundry detergent, Jill could take that route as well. Homemade cleaners, hacks that people um, don't have to eat.

[mollysmom]

8 hours ago, CarrotCake said:

Also, who cooks with canned soup anyway? You either eat it as a quick soup or you don't eat it at all. 

 

***slowly raises hand*** I do but I was raised fundie so can I use that as an excuse?!? Haha

Anyway, I use canned cream of mushroom soup in my beef stroganoff.  I love it but if someone has a better recipe for it I'm open to suggestions!!! 

[libgirl2]

1 minute ago, mollysmom said:

***slowly raises hand*** I do but I was raised fundie so can I use that as an excuse?!? Haha

Anyway, I use canned cream of mushroom soup in my beef stroganoff.  I love it but if someone has a better recipe for it I'm open to suggestions!!! 

I use cream of chicken (heart healthy) in a casserole dish I make. 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

That recipe is disgusting, who the hell puts cream of chicken and mushroom soup in a spaghetti sauce? The recipe has potential if you remove the creamed soups use your own spaghetti sauce or your favorite jarred sauce, fresh peppers and tomatoes omit the butter replace it with olive oil and add 1/2 & 1/2 or whole milk to give it a cream sauce type taste.  

I use cream of soups in various recipes.  I make chicken and rice with cream of chicken soup.  I put cream of mushroom soup and dried onion soup mix together with a TBS of better than bullion paste a chopped onion and  the celery tops mix it up and pour it over the roast and top with carrots and potatoes in the crock pot and cook for 5 or 6 hours depending on the size of the roast, it makes an amazing gravy for the roast.  I can't think of any other meals I use the creamed soups for but I'm sure I have a few that get used with less frequency than the chicken and rice and pot roast. 

 

[adidas]

That sauce doesn’t look creamy to me, it looks slimy

Some simple swaps could be made to make it healthier and probably yummy too. 

Firstly, as others have pointed out, use 2 teaspoons of butter, not 2 kilograms or whatever it was she said. That amount is for deep frying (and you shouldn’t deep fry using butter). Gross.

Second, can the soup (heh) and make a roux. It’s not hard and it will make the sauce creamy rather than glossy (ick). After that, saute some fresh garlic and onion in some butter then add mushrooms if you like eating them (its a no from me). Add fresh or frozen vegetables, some low sodium stock, fresh or dried herbs and the roux, then let it simmer away. I’d still add canned tomatoes at the end.

Boil up your pasta, add some of the cooking water to the vegetables, reduce the sauce and add some rotisserie chicken. 

Its still quick and easy, and a lot more healthy. 

[Cheetah]

19 hours ago, MaJessatic said:

Shit, we had spaghetti last night. 
I used half a kilo of beef mince, half an onion, Quite A Bit of garlic, a jar of passata, a couple of spoons of tomato paste, and various herbs for the sauce. Took half an hour. Pow, done. Small ate seconds, and there's enough left over for lunches today. 
 

I had to google what passata is...  but yeah, this is more or less how I make it.  I splash some balsamic vinegar in it and the hubs and I eat it over spaghetti squash or zoodles and the kids get real pasta.

[AussieKrissy]

1 hour ago, mollysmom said:

***slowly raises hand*** I do but I was raised fundie so can I use that as an excuse?!? Haha

Anyway, I use canned cream of mushroom soup in my beef stroganoff.  I love it but if someone has a better recipe for it I'm open to suggestions!!! 

raises hand also

I use a can of cream of mushroom soup as my base for curry sausages (i also add lots of veggies). I also use a packet powder mix of french onion soup for the base of my apricot chicken.  It is how I was taught by my 1950's housewife of a Mum and I swear it is yummy. Maybe high in salt, I  do realise that now.

[caitrona]

16 minutes ago, AussieKrissy said:

raises hand also

I use a can of cream of mushroom soup as my base for curry sausages (i also add lots of veggies). I also use a packet powder mix of french onion soup for the base of my apricot chicken.  It is how I was taught by my 1950's housewife of a Mum and I swear it is yummy. Maybe high in salt, I  do realise that now.

I would love if you'd share your recipe for curry sausages! 

[AussieKrissy]

33 minutes ago, caitrona said:

I would love if you'd share your recipe for curry sausages! 

lol it's nothing spectacular and kind of a 'jill" recipe, but here goes

I kind of just chuck everything in, and I make two versions of this dish.

I boil the crap out of thick sausages, I remove all the scum that floats to the top as I do it. I also prick the sausages if I see that there is fat and stuff trying to get out. The skin kind of blisters. It's dam satisfying to do. I am a popholic so it's no surprise I like that part.

On a side note how, after seeing what comes out of a sausage,  I have ever been able to eat them again is an unknown factor. 

Once the sausages are boiled, I burn the crap out of my fingers removing the skins of the sausages. My Mum did this, I don't know why and it's not necessary and it's time consuming. This bit can totally be skipped. I then dice the sausages into thick chunks. I also eat at least two sausages as I do this, as believe it or not hot boiled sausages are the bomb.

I have also had chunky bits of carrot, sweet potato and potato boiling until soft whilst this is happening.

I then get a big pot, chuck my (condensed) mushroom soup tin in. Add a little bit of sugar (again my Mum did it so I do it too) add some water to make a sauce/stew like consistency  maybe some salt and pepper. Add curry powder to taste. Toss in the sausages and the veggies and heat through and dinner is done. you could add peas too if you like.

You can stop here or you can go on for my other version

I slice up red capsicum (bell peppers???) toss them through the above mix and then add some coconut cream or milk to the mix. and simmer. 

It really is a toss together, do everything to your own taste kind of recipe. 

I do find soup mix base recipes are kind of like that

It's yummy on a cold day.

[TheOneAndOnly]

3 hours ago, cascarones said:

It sort of reminds me of how Michelle used to share her save the difference mixes like laundry detergent, Jill could take that route as well. Homemade cleaners, hacks that people um, don't have to eat.

The Duggar laundry soap recipe is likely why they all had such awful acne. Fels Naptha bars smell nice but they are a SOAP, not detergent. This article explains it better than I could - http://butterbeliever.com/homemade-laundry-detergent-soap-diy/

 

[SilverBeach]

3 hours ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

That recipe is disgusting, who the hell puts cream of chicken and mushroom soup in a spaghetti sauce?

Just nasty, I've never heard of such a thing.

[Vivi_music]

1 hour ago, AussieKrissy said:

raises hand also

I use a can of cream of mushroom soup as my base for curry sausages (i also add lots of veggies). I also use a packet powder mix of french onion soup for the base of my apricot chicken.  It is how I was taught by my 1950's housewife of a Mum and I swear it is yummy. Maybe high in salt, I  do realise that now.

*Raises hand as well*

I have a few recipes from my family-lore that use canned creams or powder mix as its base. What we call strogonoff (which I suspect is a very americanize version of the real thing) is a good example. It is a recipe associated with my Mother and family memories with my siblings around the table. I know me and my sister still do the recipe from time to time during the winter as comfort food. Same with the french onion soup which my mother used in her meatloaf recipe to season the glaze.

They are old recipes my grandma passed on to my mom, and then to us. And I am aware they aren't great ''cuisine'' health-wise so they aren't part of my everyday diet. The fact that these meals are related to a lot of good memories is important for me but I wouldn't claim to put that in a recipe blog either.

ALSO I might add that my Mom's spaghetti sauce is a KILLER. Made from real with tomato paste and tomato sauce. No canned cream in there.