I Need my friends and input

[DDD]

Janet, why don't you tell us what you all usually buy or have in the kitchen? How do you like to cook?
Also tell us what you guys hate, lol. Maybe we can make suggestions that are easy and healthy. I cook on the cheap 90% of the time and I also concentrate on easy. I'd love to help. Hugs. DDD

 

[DammitJanet]

Ok...we have a ton of deer meat cut into cubes for stew. Cut into small steaks for pounding out for swiss steak or frying. We also do cubes of the loin with veggies on the grill shishkabob style. We are going to grind some up for burger as soon as we can buy a large amount of this piece of beef that is the piece that is used in corned beef but we want it not corned. Cant remember the cut right now...lol.

We eat chicken. rarely whole. Mostly chicken breasts or thighs. Oh, we eat fish. Tony catches a ton of both fresh water and ocean fish every year. We rarely have to buy fish. The only thing would be salmon or shellfish like shrimp which we do buy. We love shrimp and I like salmon...him not so much.

He likes spaghetti...I hate it. We ate it probably 2 or 3 times a week when the kids were growing up and I have just grown to loathe the stuff. He could still eat it constantly.

He loves hot stuff...I cant stand it.

We both love mushrooms, onions, sweet potatoes, all squash except spaghetti squash. we like most veggies except I guess the exotic ones that we havent tried yet. We all love avocado.

 

[DDD]

Are you thinking of brisket?

I've got to say I am GREEN with envy that you have fish available all the time...absolutely GREEN!

Since I'm at work and absolutely have to do paperwork (sick of it!) this will be short. I was emphasizing easy earlier. Perfect example is sweet potatoes baked in the skin in the oven or microwave. Do you eat them that way too? It's absolutely a family favorite, quick, easy and no clean up.

Fresh fish baked, broiled or grilled is a big winner for healthy eating. We were able to deep six frying fish a few years ago and it is easier cooked these other ways. I am addicted to using heavy duty aluminum foil (double folded with the edges turned up so it's like a pan) for fish and meat plus alot of vegetables. Having no pans to clean up makes life alot easier.

Oops got to go...yeah, customer! DDD

 

[InsaneCdn]

Janet, do you ever have a "better" day when you can put in an hour or so of "work"... not on your feet, but in the kitchen?

If so... I did this when the kids were small and both time and money were tight:

Take a good, big electric frying pan. Now, you're going to make this thing WORK, but you'll only clean it once.

Whip up a pan-ful of hamburger patties, and get them cooking... you want them to be "almost" cooked, but not quite... at which point you take them out and put into something to cool then into fridge. (more processing later)

While those are cooking, do up a pan's worth of meatballs... same cooking rules, same process, different container when you're done.

When those come out, fill the pan about half full of crumbled ground, add spices *, and cook that up - still moist, just barely cooked... into container #3.

* spices... in our house, 1 likes mild, 2 like medium, and 1 likes screamo-hot... so, we cook medium, and spice up from there... medium = black pepper, a wee bit of salt, garlic powder, meat tenderizer (yes, with ground. trust me.), and a couple pinches of cayenne. husband adds cayenne and/or hot pepper flakes at the table.

NOW... add some water and such to the pan, and cook up the drippings.

Ok. Leave THAT pan for Billie to clean <ya right!>

For each container... divide into meal-sized portions. Freeze all but ONE - you'll use one of each in the next 3-4 days. Add some of the cooked-up drippings to the meatball and plain-ground portions before you freeze.

Here's what you do with them...

Hamburger patties... into micro, with cream of whatever on top, heat to boiling, serve with any kind of starch. (bun, rice, potato, pasta, whatever)
Meatballs... ditto.
Plain ground...
- shepherds pie
- tacos - have some spicy salsa available to Tony can spice up his, yours won't be hot
- sloppy joes
- plain, over rice, with veggies on top

One frypan and one dirty counter should give you 10-15 meals - and only one major clean, not 10-15!

 

[DammitJanet]

Brisket is it! Yes. Thats what we need to add the fat back into deer meat for ground meat. You have to have fat for it to hold together. Deer has almost no fat and finding straight beef fat is almost impossible because there arent any butcher shops around anymore.

I do like baked or broiled fish but frying is what happens the most here. Tony just got a new deep fryer for his birthday in September. I do love the sweet potatoes tho...normally baked out on the grill though.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Janet - ground deer... the other option is to add the cheapest PORK you can get (it has more fat...). At least, that's what my uncles do (big-time hunters).

 

[DammitJanet]

IC...I can do that if I can get a chair into the kitchen. I have been attempting to get a stool for ages. Damned if I know why tony wont just buy me one instead of arguing about it with me.

 

[InsaneCdn]

What would happen if you were to document for Tony all the kinds of meals you can do for him and the recipes your friends are sending you to try... IF YOU ONLY COULD SIT DOWN IN THE KITCHEN?

 

[Signorina]

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

---

​

1 pound cubed beef stew meat (use the venison) 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed golden mushroom soup 1/2 cup chopped onion Carrots, celery, mushrooms potatoes " whatever is handy –cut in a large dice

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1/4 cup water

Directions
1 In a slow cooker, lay vegetables on the bottom sprinkled with a bit of salt & pepper, lay meat atop veggies and sprinkle with pepper.

2. Combine soup Worcestershire sauce and water and pour over meat/veg

3 Cook on Low setting for 8 hours, or on High setting for about 5 hours.

If you don't add potatoes " serve over rice or noodles.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
adapted from AllRecipes
Yields: 8 servings


"Easy, creamy chicken with delicate dumplings made from refrigerator biscuits, slow cooked to comfort food perfection."


INGREDIENTS:
4 uncooked chicken thighs or breasts, bone in or out (if you have wings or a drumstick-those are ok too)
2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans
condensed cream of chicken soup
1 onion, finely diced
celery. mushrooms, carrots, whatever is handy
1 pkg refrigerated biscuit dough,(the cheaper the better - not Grands) torn into pieces


DIRECTIONS:
1. Place the chicken, butter, soup, and onion and vegetables in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover.
2. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 1-1/2 hours before serving, remove chicken, shred (and discard bones and skin if there), and put back in the crock pot. Top with the torn biscuit dough. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center. I add some frozen peas to my bowl before ladeling it out. But I am the only one who likes peas. You could throw in some green beans too.

 

[DDD]

Maybe Tony is worried about the stability of the stool. Over the years we have bought a few at the chain lumber supply companies and they were NOT well made and stable. Do be cautious if you get one. DDD

 

[GoingNorth]

I got my late husband a wheeled barstool that he could scoot around the kitchen. I found it in a Dumpster actually, so have no idea who made.

Now, Janet, you are a larger woman with mobility issues that affect both your upper and lower torso.

The stool we had had a foot bar on it but no arms or back.

husband had good upper body strength and was a small man. I don't think he ever weighed more than 150 lbs. He used to pull and scooch the scooter around with his one "better" leg and it worked fine for him

For you, I think the "pub style" barstool with the wide seat and arms would be a lot more comfortable and safer for you to use.

I can tell you that it gave husband a lot of his life back. He'd been a chef before he became ill and it was depressing as hell for him not being able to get in the kitchen and work his magic.

The two things that went the furthest for him keeping active and out and around were the used mobility scooter I got for him and an old barstool I pulled out of someone's trash

 

[HaoZi]

Maybe Tony is worried about the stability of the stool. Over the years we have bought a few at the chain lumber supply companies and they were NOT well made and stable. Do be cautious if you get one. DDD

Perhaps another instance of where Tony could put his skills to use and build something safe and stable.

 

[DammitJanet]

I am looking for the pub type...preferable with the wheels. I have seen the smaller cheap ones on three wheels that look like a bike seat and everyone who gets one who is larger than about 125 says they throw them like a horse. I want a pub style that is really sturdy. Guys...Tony is a commercial construction worker and he works with metal studs and drywall. Not exactly the type of carpentry for building furniture. He could possibly build a box but he doesnt have a lathe to turn the legs.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Janet - he works with metal studs? and plywood and such?

Then yes, he CAN build you one. No it won't be the prettiest thing on the block, but if it works well, then it makes the case for an upgrade later.

No graphics pad on this forum - drat.
What you need is a flattened pyramid - taller than wide, four sides.
High enough that you are at the right height for the counter.
"legs" are metal studs, equal length, with properly attached crossbars at the top, and about 1/3 of the way up... ideally, this lower cross-bar set would be at the level you want your feet... (see two steps down)
Cover in plywood.
Cut an oval (or rectangular) hole at foot-height for you to rest your feet on.
Add a chair seat/back combo, from some old thing that has a broken leg or something (we did this part... used good tops from broken-leg bar stools, onto good bottoms with bad seats...)
And put commercial-grade castors under it - lots of ideas on that front.
Give it a good coat of paint so it doesn't absorb too much food grease...

Voila! a prototype!

'Cause right now - ANYTHING workable would be better than status quo.

 

[HaoZi]

*pokes at invisible "Like" button in Inc's post*

Metal and plywood is what I was thinking but you took it a few steps better.

 

[DDD]

Seems like I recall you saying that your kitchen was small. Would there be room for a big stool? We have some heavy duty padded ones for the counter and they are a bit heavy to move. on the other hand, the rolling types can be a bit dangerous too if people aren't really careful getting on and off. Not to be a naysayer but just thinking about your space and safety. Hugs. DDD

 

[susiestar]

Janet are you able to go into town to look for a stool? You may hae to do that or buy one off the internet to solve the issue. My other thought is to see if your doctor would rx some type of stool for you to use as durable medical equipment. There are a lot of ways to work the red tape, but maybe the doctor could help you find the right stool for you and then get disability to cover it. Be sure to check out medical equipment suppliers for the stool.