What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[Exhuminator]

For me, I need a really good reason to go out to eat, as I'm full on Scrooge when it comes to paying for cooked food.

I've noticed that you definitely know what you're doing when you cook. And I give you full respect on that.

I myself would cook more elaborate meals if I weren't so lazy about it. I mean, a lot of complex meals require complex ingredients which means you have to go out and buy various special ingredients just for one dish. I can understand that browsing about a farmer's market can be relaxing. But personally, that cuts into my free time, and because I'm concerned with maximizing the free hours myself and fiance have in the evenings for other things like exercise, entertainment, and sexy time... grocery shopping is relegated to a minimum. My main issue is that I see cooking as a chore rather than something that's fun to do.

Myself and fiance do cook 95% of our own meals though, for frugal and health reasons (we're both vegetarians). Also because I can make simple food for us that tastes better than most of the "restaurants" around where we live. I too do most of the cooking because frankly my fiance isn't very good at it, and she always makes a huge mess out of the kitchen (which costs more time to clean up). Lucky for her the dishwasher washes the dishes though.

Anyway, all of that said, I totally believe cooking is an art in and of itself. I admire people's gusto who take the time to do it properly. My brother taught me how to make a black bean burger for instance and it's a great life skill now.

[MrPopo]

When I cook I need to find meals that will reheat well; I live on my own and basically every recipe cooks for two at minimum. Sure, some of the recipes I could probably ratio the ingredients down but a lot of time it's the same amount of work to prepare serves one and serves four, so going for reheatable pays big.

I'm also still in the "follow the recipe to the letter" phase of my cooking life. The most adventurous thing I did was convert a chicken kiev recipe by replacing the herb butter with tuna salad which turned out really good, but the prep on that is miserable when I'm cooking for myself.

I just reminded myself I've got a package of steak tips in my freezer I need to find a use for. Any suggestions?

[Forlorn Drifter]

@ Luke, certain pockets in Texas are highly German, Polish, Czech in heritage such as Shiner, TX where Shiner Bock is brewed. These folks refer to those danish pastries as kolaches.

To the vast majority here, a kolache is a pig in a blanket

A bit confused at your wording, I kind of misunderstood what you mean, seeing as almost every kolache place I've been has both "pig in a blanket" and more pastry oriented styles.

[noiseredux]

I just reminded myself I've got a package of steak tips in my freezer I need to find a use for. Any suggestions?

do you own a wok? The beauty there is you pick some (A) noodles, (B) some meat, (C) some veggies, (D) some sauce/seasoning and put it all in the wok. You can easily make enough for 2+ meals out of it as well. And there's really nothing to know. You can pick any combo you want of noodes/meat/veggies/sauce/seasoning. It's pretty hard to screw up and it's an easy thing to get yourself out of the ol' "follow the recipe" mindset as everything is about seasoning to taste and experimenting with different combos.

Oh and always add an egg. Trust me.

[Exhuminator]

Oh and always add an egg. Trust me.

The other day I was cooking home made hash browns on a skillet and I said hey I'm just going to break an egg over this. It was amazing.

[Luke]

I just reminded myself I've got a package of steak tips in my freezer I need to find a use for. Any suggestions?

Do you know what cut of the beef, or does it just read "steak tips"?

Oh, and we already have a thread for this Couldn't help myself.

[MrPopo]

I just reminded myself I've got a package of steak tips in my freezer I need to find a use for. Any suggestions?

Do you know what cut of the beef, or does it just read "steak tips"?

Oh, and we already have a thread for this Couldn't help myself.

Tenderloin tips.

Oh and always add an egg. Trust me.

Oh yeah, egg makes things more awesome.

do you own a wok? The beauty there is you pick some (A) noodles, (B) some meat, (C) some veggies, (D) some sauce/seasoning and put it all in the wok.

I don't own a wok. And I'd cut out (C) because veggies are awful.

[Jagosaurus]

@ Luke, certain pockets in Texas are highly German, Polish, Czech in heritage such as Shiner, TX where Shiner Bock is brewed. These folks refer to those danish pastries as kolaches.

To the vast majority here, a kolache is a pig in a blanket

A bit confused at your wording, I kind of misunderstood what you mean, seeing as almost every kolache place I've been has both "pig in a blanket" and more pastry oriented styles.

Here, if you walk into Shipley Donuts or most donut chains & order a kolache, you're ordering a pig in a blanket, not a pastery.

[Forlorn Drifter]

That might be the difference. I don't ever buy kolaches at donut places, especially chains. I usually get my kolaches at... well kolache stores. I've bought them at Bucee's before too, although its only been a couple times.

The explanation for the pastries, from what I've been told, is that the pastries count because they are made with kolache dough. Don't have any idea if that is "correct" though.

[Luke]

And I'd cut out (C) because veggies are awful.

Okay. So Kabobs are out of the picture.

You could make an incredible sub/hero with the tips*, braised in red wine and rosemary and topped with a horseradish sauce. Plus the toppings of your choice, but if you quickly saute the tips* in olive oil, add a splash of red wine, stuff it in a bun, wrap it in foil and put it in an oven at 350 for about ten minutes...and then top it with a horseradish sauce...oh boy. Make sure you just barely sear the tips as you do want it to be a bit medium rare.

OR!

Cook some pasta. Then sear the tips*, remove them from the pan and add a TBSP of flour, a TBSP of butter, stir it around, add some red wine and make a thick pan gravy. Top pasta with tips* and sauce.

OR!

Marinate the tips* with an even mix of hoison sauce (please use Koon-Chun), soy, and rice wine vinegar. Cook quickly, serve on rice, and top with cashews and green onions. Simple and delicious.

OR!

If you feel lazy, cook some egg noodles. Top it with cooked tips*, with a sauce of mayo, nutmeg, and brown gravy mix and make a lazy Swedish meat chunks.

*just the tip