Did you ever have a cooking attack?

[Barbara]

Ok, I like cooking- but most of the time I make something quick and nice.

Now here it is raining cats and dogs for more than a week now and we wanted to meet up with friends on Saturday. As we all felt we can't do anything outside I said I would cook. I had come across a magazine and really wanted to do everything myself.
I was standing in my tiny kitchen for 4 hours but I am really proud of the outcome:D

A Turkish-Greek buffet, consisting of:
Hummus
Tsatsiki
Farmer's salad
Big bean salad (sorry for translation problems, something tells me that big white beans have a different name in English) in sesame sauce
Bell peppers stuffed with rice (with raisins, pine nuts, mint and parsley)
Aubergines stuffed with ground beef (with cinnamon and chilis and onions in it) braised in tomato sauce
Prawns in a tomato-pepper sauce with some Parmesan cheese

It looked very good, it was a succes and it gave us enough food for yesterday and today left:D

I'm so proud of myself. Sorry for bragging:D I would have loved to invite all of you;)

P.S. Tigris loved the prawns and Filou the ground beef:)

[Cataholic]

Originally posted by Barbara
Big bean salad (sorry for translation problems, something tells me that big white beans have a different name in English) in sesame sauce


Oh, you are SO right! It is called "Big Gas Attack"...he he he he...


Really, that sounds lovely AND delicious!

[Edwina's Secretary]

Does the fat-free bologna on toasted bagel that I just had for lunch count????:D :D

Sounds fabulous.....and yes.....very occasionally I get one of those cooking attack. I helps to have people who will eat it and enjoy it!

[JenBKR]

Yummy!! Now I'm hungry! Too bad you live so far away, I'd be stopping over for dinner! ;)

[Randi]

Barbara, it sounds delicious!! I've tried most of it. Although it took 4 hours, I know you enjoyed doing it! :D Would have loved being there!

I like cooking - when I have the time, and ingredients! ;)

[king2005]

I love cooking & baking.

I make wicked burgers. I prepare the ground beef, add 1 egg & some bread crumbs. then I take one of those big juicy saussages & toss it into the prosesser & mix it in with the beef. MM MM MM MM Mmmmmmmmmm the saussage keeps the burger super moist & doesn't add too much flavour but enough to make u drool :)

replace the saussage with baccon & its just as good, if not better :)
almost forgot, shred some cheese & add that to to the mix, its gooood :)

[carole]

OOH that sounds yummy, any particular flavour sausage, I am going to give it a try and add a boost to my plainer homemade burgers, sounds delicious........:)

[king2005]

glad to help :)

I like to exp. with foods & that was one of them.

The guys didn't know what I added to the burgers, but the whole family aggreed that I'll be making them again & wanted to know what was in them.

& Rob said I could cook, HA, u should try his cooking, if the smell doesn't kill u first hehehe

[sirrahbed]

yes I get cooking attacks. But, like my exercise attacks - I go rest awhile and they go away:D

Seriously YES I do get those times when I really feel like doing some real cooking and love doing buffet themes. Yours sounds yummy Barbara! No pictures??:rolleyes:

I really love hummus - several folks posted recipes for it awhile back. The stuffed peppers sound yummy, too
:D

[Killearn Kitties]

Sounds yummy Barbara! I love all those things.

Honestly, the next time you feel an attack coming on, just let us know. We can be there! ;)

[slick]

Sounds good Barbara.

So.....are you going to post the recipes?? ;)

[DJFyrewolf36]

Mmmmm yummy! Can I come over for dinner? ;)

I can't cook worth a crud...about the only things I do good is eggs (Omlets, scrambled....you name it, I can do it! I make a really great egg sandwich too) Chicken fried steak (my moms awesome reciple) and anything that says "Instant" on it! My husband is the cook at our house...he can come up with the greatest of ideas even when it seems we don't have jack to cook with!

[furrykidsmother]

Ummm! Everything sounds yummy!!

Yes, I have those attacks occassionally. After Christmas I decided we should have a little get together. I started out just planning on a Lasagna and Salad. Well, hubby's son is vegetarian so it became a meatless Lasagna so I had to make meatballs on the side. Hubby isn't really an Italian meal lover so decided on a cold cut platter and assorted cheeses and some home made chicken wings for him. So by the time I made sauce for the Lasagna and meatballs, rolled the meatballs, rolled the cold cuts and cheeses etc., etc., it had become a major project. It was fun and everything was good, but I got a bit out of control that day!

[Barbara]

Furrykidsmother- that sounds excellent too. I am not a vegetarian but I don't each much meat. All my buffet was only 1half lb of meat (all in the aubergines;) )

How do you make your meatless lasagna? If it comes to lasagna I'm like Garfield:D

Slick: I'll be happy to give you any recipe you want, but to translate all the recipes from German to English and all the grams in lb and all the cups in liters would be as much work as cooking it.

But as I said: come over and be my guest:)

[furrykidsmother]

Barbara, this is my basic recipe. All I do is leave the meat out when I have vegetarians coming to dinner.

Basic Meat Lasagna
This is a very basic, very easy to make meat lasagna.
Prep Time: approx. 50 Minutes. Cook Time: approx. 45

1 ½ pounds ground beef
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp. dried oregano

Sauce:
1 large can (29 oz) tomato sauce
1 ½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tsp. sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 (8 oz) pkg. Mozzarella cheese, shredded
8 ounces provolone cheese, shredded
1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
¼ cup parsley
9 lasagna noodles (kind you don’t need to precook)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese


Directions
1 Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2 In a skillet over medium heat season ground beef with
garlic powder, black pepper and oregano. Brown the meat and drain.
3 In a large sauce pan add tomato sauce, oregano, basil and sugar;
set aside. In a skillet heat olive oil. Saute garlic and onions for about 5 minutes.
Mix sauteed onions and garlic with meat and put into the sauce and simmer for ½ an hour.
4 Combine mozzarella and provolone cheeses in a medium
bowl. In a medium bowl mix ricotta cheese, eggs, milk, and parsley.
5 Layer a 9x13 inch baking pan with just enough sauce to
cover the bottom of the pan. Lay three lasagna noodles in
the pan. Cover with sauce, then with ricotta mixture then
sprinkle with mozzarella/provolone mixture; repeat layering.
Finish with a layer of noodles and remaining sauce. Sprinkle
with parmesan cheese.
6 Bake covered in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 30
minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes.

[Barbara]

Thanks:D That sounds so yummy. I'll check it out, maybe with a little meat ;)

[slick]

OK, this is not fair. Here I am trying to be very good and eating my salad for lunch and I'm getting visions of lasagne! MMMMMMMMMMM, what I wouldn't give for piece of it right now....oozing with cheese....

Barbara, no problem....we use cups and lbs and oz and tsp and tblsp here. I was hoping to get that recipe for the Big Bean Salad with Sesame sauce. :)

[Barbara]

I'll translate this one. (We have grams and liters ;)) Rather tomorrow ;)

[slick]

You know what....can you just post the whole thing in German then I can use this.....http://www.freetranslation.com/ to translate it. I can also use other sites out there that will convert the measurements. Just trying to make things easier for you. :o

[Randi]

LOL! Vickie, I once tried to translate a spanish text into english from one of those sites - both Koxka and I had a good laugh! :D

I know I posted a good link to Convertions in the Recipe thread, it's just a matter of finding it. ;)

[Barbara]

ok, here we go:

about 1lb of big beans (from the can, drained and washed) (I have no idea how much cups that is ;))
2 tomatoes, diced (not too small)and without seeds
2 red onions, peeled, quartered and cut in thin stripes
2 medium hot chilis (seeds put out and sliced in thin stripes)
1 bunch parsley (straight leaves, not curly ones ;)) finely chopped
Salt
black pepper
4-5 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil (best quality)
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 tbsp tahini (tehine, tchina) = sesame cream, every wholefood shop should have that
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut in sixths
about 8 black olives

Put the beans in a deep plate
Combine 1 teaspoon of salt, a little black pepper, vinegar, oil, lemon juice and tahini and mix with the beans.
Put tomatos, onions and chilis on top of it.
Decorate with eggs and olives.

That's it :)

[NoahsMommy]

Sounds lovely, Barbara!!

I do get cooking attacks...and usually end up baking goodies to share with my family and friends.

Lately, because I'm on such a strict diet, I've only been "cooking" for myself. Which, isn't really cooking.

[Randi]

Especially for you Vickie, you should be able to find what you need here. :)

http://www.onlineconversion.com/

[slick]

Thanks Barbara. I've emailed this to work so I can print it out. I'm so tempted to add a bit of crushed garlic but for the first time, I'll stick to the basic ingredients. Might make this on the weekend.

Thanks Randi. :)

[lady_zana]

Usually when I cook, it attacks me....which is why I let the hubby do the cooking now:D

[finn's mom]

wow, that is a big meal! sounds awesome, though. i rarely get the urge to cook big meals, or small ones for that matter. i love to cook, but, i just never can look in the fridge, and, go "Oh, let's have this..." I have to see a recipe, get the ingredients, then cook. My dad cooks at home, and, when I'm on my own...I eat a lot of grilled chicken breasts, raw tuna, and baked salmon. Veggies and fruit abound, but, never anything too fancy. Maybe one day I'll find a good cook book for simple, healthy, one person recipes. :)