cook's profile


Pooter61
 
Living In: Canton, Michigan, USA
Member Since: Aug. 2007
Cooking Level: Expert
Cooking Interests: Baking, Slow Cooking, Mexican, Italian, Southern, Dessert, Quick & Easy
Hobbies: Gardening, Reading Books, Wine Tasting
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About this Cook
I'm married and have a 21 year old son who is away at college. I no longer work outside the home as I have a disability that hinders my getting around. I love to decorate my home. I make wreaths, floral arrangements, sew curtains and do many other crafts. I also like to plan our garden. I draw everything out to scale then research the plants that we like. My husband is wonderful enough to do most all the work himself. I make all the potted plants for our yard. I love to bake but my hips show it! LOL
My favorite things to cook
My favorite things to cook would be anything Mexican. Enchalidas, tacos, burritos, refried beans. All with a lot of cheese. That's my favorite food! I also like to cook homemade spaghetti sauce. When I was first married my husband used to tell me that his spaghetti sauce was better than mine. It was an ongoing competition. Now he admits that no one, not even he can make sauce as good as mine. LOL I also like to make lasagna. That is a family favorite.
My favorite family cooking traditions
Lasagna, meatballs with beefy mushroom sauce, beef stroganoff, swiss chicken, frittatas and breakfast for dinner!
My cooking triumphs
A sit down Christmas dinner for 30 people. Complete with ham, kielbasa and sour kraut, pierogi, potato casserole, yams, green bean casserole and salad. For dessert I made 8 trays of cookies, bar cookies, brownies, fudge and mini cheesecakes. I planned that meal for 2 months!
My cooking tragedies
I had my in-laws and my parents over for Mothers Day brunch. I followed the directions to the "T" for a crock pot western omlette bake. It came out so dry we had to choke it down with milk! I was mortified. Especially in front of my Mother in-law who is a typical little Polish lady who cooks like a professional!! Next time I will make sure to do a test run on any new dish I want to serve to guests!
Recipe Reviews 27 reviews
Chewy Granola Bars
I won't rate something unless I follow the original recipe first. Then if need be I will tweek it until I like it. The first time I made these I knew they'd be too dry. There isn't enough moisture in the ingredients to hold it all together. It was tasty though. We ended up eating it with a spoon over yogurt. The second time I made it I used 4 cups quick oats, 1 cup flour, an entire cup of melted butter and 10 ounces of honey. Finding that it was still a bit dry I used 1/2 c of water. I used the same amount of vanilla, brown sugar and baking soda. Then I used 4 ounces of pecans that I processed in the food processor along with about 4 ounces cinnamon and 1 1/2 Cup of raisins. Baked at 18 minutes, took them out, cut them and left them in the pan to cool. I felt I had to chagne this recipe too much from it's original form to give it any more than 2 stars. Sorry, I just hate rating something so low.

0 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Feb. 12, 2012
Easy Granola Bars
This recipe is so versatile. I used 3 Cups quick oats to 3 1/2 Cs of chopped pecans, dried cherries and one entire large 8 ounce bar Lindt 90% cocao. The 90% cocao kept the sweetness of it down while the cherries added just enough. I baked them for 27 minutes, took them out, cut them into bars and let them cool completely. They were perfect!! For second batch I used 14 ounces of Karo syrup instead of the sweetened condensed milk. Then I added 2 cups raisins, 1 cups finely chopped becans and about 1/4 cinnaman and a tsp. of salt. I baked it the same way, cut them into bars and then let the cool. Again, very awesome. Oh, one more tip. I lined my 9x13 pans with parchment paper first. The bars came out like a dream both times. Thanks for sharing this great recipe. I can't wait to try another combination. I'm thinking peanut butter and chocolate chips with salted peanuts. Mmmmmm

1 user found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Feb. 8, 2012
Jalapeno Popper Spread
This is so easy to make. We love parmesan cheese so I added much more than was called for. Then I put more on top. I also added more jalapeno to it....twice as much!! Just a tad more mayonnaise made it creamier because of the extra ingredients I added. I popped it in the micro when we got to the party and it was gone in about 10 minutes flat. Great recipe!! Thanks Denise!

1 user found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Dec. 24, 2011
 
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