Recent Comments

From Talk

Have you ever lost your cooking mojo?

I'm going through a spell of that now. It's affecting nearly everything, including those things I can make in my sleep.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Cooking Light The Complete Quick Cook'

I always have soup in the refrigerator, so soup is a quick meal. If not soup, something with eggs. Exactly what depends on what else is on hand and what sounds good.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'The Occasional Vegetarian'

I'm going to say fried rice, though I love soup and probably 95% of the soups I make are vegetarian/vegan.

From Talk

How did you do with 2011's New Year's Food Resolutions?

I also didn't make a food resolution last year, but I already have for 2012.

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Recent Posts

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Recent Favorites

From Serious Eats

Off the Grid: San Francisco's Expanding Mobile Food Market

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Recent Polls

From Serious Eats: New York

IndyGal answered "Alton Brown" to Which Celebrity Chef Would You Most Like To Meet?

From Slice

IndyGal answered "I have never gone near the stuff" to What's your experience with grilled pizza?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal answered "The classic" to What's Your Favorite Hummus Flavor?

From Talk

IndyGal answered "Butter and syrup" to How Do You Top Your Pancakes?

Recent Quizzes

From Serious Eats

IndyGal got 90% correct on How Much Do You Know About Food TV and Its Personalities?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal got 71% correct on How Much Do You Know About Chocolate Chip Cookies?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal got 22% correct on How Much Do You Know About Condiments?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal got 100% correct on How Much Do You Know About Indianapolis Food Culture?

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Recent Comments

From Talk

Have you ever lost your cooking mojo?

I'm going through a spell of that now. It's affecting nearly everything, including those things I can make in my sleep.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Cooking Light The Complete Quick Cook'

I always have soup in the refrigerator, so soup is a quick meal. If not soup, something with eggs. Exactly what depends on what else is on hand and what sounds good.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'The Occasional Vegetarian'

I'm going to say fried rice, though I love soup and probably 95% of the soups I make are vegetarian/vegan.

From Talk

How did you do with 2011's New Year's Food Resolutions?

I also didn't make a food resolution last year, but I already have for 2012.

From Serious Eats

Gift Guide: Kitchen Starter Kit For Recent College Grads

I'd add a silicone spatula. Mine gets more use than my wooden spoons. In addition, my microplane grater gets lots of use.

From Talk

That doesn't go together!

My daughter likes ramen noodles and cottage cheese together.

From Sweets

A Cookie A Day: 'One Sweet Cookie'

I'll be making sugar cookies (not cut out), pignoli, biscotti, fudge and who knows what else.

From Talk

Just wondering, do you feel okay eating alone at a restaurant?

I feel the same about dining alone as I do about cooking for one. It's taking care of myself and hopefully in the best way possible. I enjoy it. Sometimes it's preferable to having dining companions!

From Serious Eats

Staff Picks: Our Favorite Thanksgiving Dishes

I'd also like to see the brown sugar pound cake recipe. Please?

From Talk

Does anyone have a good General Tso's recipe?

Oh, I should add that I could tell by the color of the sauce at my favorite hole-in-the-wall Chinese place that there was some tomato in their sauce. The owners confirmed this. So I add a squirt of ketchup (maybe a tablespoon?) to the sauce. Perfection!

From Talk

Does anyone have a good General Tso's recipe?

I also like the one from Food and Wine. I've tried a lot of recipes for Gen Tso's over the years, and that is the best -- and closest to what I get at my favorite Chinese place -- I've tried. I highly recommend it.

From A Hamburger Today

West Lafayette, IN: Burgers Topped with College-Town Nostalgia at Triple XXX

I went to Purdue. My dh went to Purdue (after me, he was in the Army while I was there). I don't know how this happened, but I've driven by Triple XXX hundreds of times, but I've never been there.

@winternutt -- agreed about the pork tenderloin.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Ruhlman's Twenty'

I'm going to agree with others and say salting.

From Serious Eats

Harvard's New 'Healthy Eating Plate' Provides Alternative to USDA's MyPlate

How in heaven's name did people survive, and thrive, before some agency told us how to eat? Oh, they ate real, whole food! There is no one ideal combination of foods; there are many. What we eat is more important than than the proportions in which we eat it.

From Recipes

Calico Crumb Cake

I learned to cook from my mother's Better Homes & Gardens and Betty Crocker cookbooks. My parents married in 1938 and the cookbooks were from that era. I wish I still had them. Along with the Woman's Home Companion Cookbook, they were the only cookbooks she ever owned.

I'm a better cook than my mom was, but it's not because I have more cookbooks and more of a variety of cookbooks than my mom had. It's because I enjoy cooking more than she did and, even when working full time, had more time to cook than she did.

As I get older I find myself going back to those basics more and more often.

From Slice

The Pioneer Woman's Fig-Prosciutto Pizza with Arugula

Ree Drummond is an ambitious, determined and now successful businesswoman. She's no more knowledgeable, talented or skilled a cook than millions of other home cooks or dozens of bloggers. In fact, it's quite likely she's less knowledgeable, talented and skilled. She appears to have little understanding of or respect for food safety issues. The biggest difference between Ree and other home cooks and bloggers is that she had the resources to hire an agent several years ago.

I don't have a problem with the fact that few, if any, of her recipes are original, though I do wish she'd credit her sources more often. Most bloggers and cookbook authors adapt recipes from other sources. I do have a problem with the fact that there are frequently discrepancies between her step-by-step pictorial descriptions of making a recipe and the printable that accompanies it. The discrepancies often lead to recipe failures. Cooks who aren't experienced think it's their fault the recipe failed.

She's highly over-rated.

From Slice

The Pioneer Woman's Fig-Prosciutto Pizza with Arugula

@MandyEats -- I agree.

I've tried a fig-prosciutto pizza because I generally like a sweet/salty contrast. It's probably one of my least favorite pizzas. I'll have to admit, though, that I'm more of a pizza purist. The simpler and less "gourmet" they are, the better I like them. Good crust, good sauce, good cheese and I'm happy.

From Talk

Anthony Bourdain's Paula Deen Diss

@conky -- I wonder what he'll say about Pioneer Woman, too. She's no better and in some ways worse than Paula Deen.

From Talk

FYI - Pioneer Woman will have a program on Food Network

@annet -- that picture in FN is most definitely airbrushed.

From Talk

FYI - Pioneer Woman will have a program on Food Network

@hungrychristel -- are you confusing Pioneer Woman with Homesick Texan? Pioneer Woman doesn't have a bacon jam recipe.

@crispyduck13 -- yes, many people have this reaction to her and her recipes.

Going to college in a big city and staying there for a few years after does not make one a "city-girl."

Ree is an ambitious and talented businesswoman. She is not a knowledgeable, skilled or talented cook. At the very best, she's an average home cook. There are many other bloggers and home cooks who are far better than she is. Some of her recipes are potentially illness-inducing (reusing marinade that raw meat has marinated in without cooking the marinade).

Some of her recipes are pretty good or not bad. Others are definitely questionable -- and more than a few are absolutely terrible. It's not just that I don't like them; they're recipe failures. She rarely gives credit to other sources for her recipes.

I've seen her on morning TV shows and she's hard to watch. I don't have TV now, so won't be watching her show. Food Network has released an episode guide of her shows. If you read her blog or have her cookbook, there's no reason to watch the show. There is only one new recipe being presented.

From Talk

I need a stuffed jalapeno recipe - tried and true suggestions?

I'll third Pioneer Woman's. Instead of wrapping the jalapeños with bacon, I dice the bacon and brown it, then add to the cream cheese. Sometimes I add cheddar cheese and green onions like the recipe in her cookbook and top with a little of my favorite barbeque sauce. Either one is absolutely delicious!

From Slice

Poll: What's Your Choice of the Chains?

I can't stand Papa John's pizza, but the others are only marginally better. I used to like Little Caesar's, but it's not as good now. Domino's and Pizza Hut are just okay.

There are a few small local places I like, but more and more I prefer my own. It's not quick, but it's pretty good.

From Chicago

Chicago: 5 Milkshakes We Love

@frackie, the almond shake sounds tempting.

With the exception of the strawberry-banana shake, none of the others are tempting me. But then one milkshake a year is usually enough for me and I'm kind of a milkshake purist.

From Talk

My latest food obsession...

Granitas. Especially those made with coffee or liquor -- or both! But I like fruity granitas, too. They're so refreshing during this hot weather.

Also cold soups.

From Talk

Eating at Someone Else's House

I agree with bobbob. I've only been in one home where I would have refused a meal.

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Recent Posts

IndyGal hasn't written a post yet.

Recent Favorites

From Serious Eats

Off the Grid: San Francisco's Expanding Mobile Food Market

See more favorites by IndyGal »

Polls

From Serious Eats: New York

IndyGal answered "Alton Brown" to Which Celebrity Chef Would You Most Like To Meet?

From Slice

IndyGal answered "I have never gone near the stuff" to What's your experience with grilled pizza?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal answered "The classic" to What's Your Favorite Hummus Flavor?

From Talk

IndyGal answered "Butter and syrup" to How Do You Top Your Pancakes?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal answered "I leave a few nibbles to train myself to eat less. " to Do You Clean Your Plate?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal answered "Pop" to What Do You Call Cola Drinks

From Serious Eats

IndyGal answered "Healthful" to Which Food Term Bugs You the Most?

See more polls by IndyGal »

Quizzes

From Serious Eats

IndyGal got 90% correct on How Much Do You Know About Food TV and Its Personalities?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal got 71% correct on How Much Do You Know About Chocolate Chip Cookies?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal got 22% correct on How Much Do You Know About Condiments?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal got 100% correct on How Much Do You Know About Indianapolis Food Culture?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal got 88% correct on How Much Do You Know About New Orleans Food Culture?

From Serious Eats

IndyGal got 100% correct on How Much Do You Know About Vegan Substitutes?

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