Over the past few years McDonald’s has faced some pretty tough criticism about the quality of their food. In fact, the movie ‘Super Size Me’ single-handedly changed how many of us view the fast food giant – or more accurately, the fast food industry as a whole. Now, in what has to be an attempt at clearing their name from some of the negative publicity, McDonald’s has hired six “Quality Correspondent” mothers to visit the supplier facilities, restaurants, kitchens, and attend development meetings – then blog about their experiences.

Really though, it seems pretty transparent. Can you honestly imagine any other outcome from this than the mothers going to visit the various facilities, seeing everyone on their best behavior with everything running smoothly, then undoubtedly rave about how wonderful McDonald’s really is? I’d say ask any 15-year old who has ever worked there if you really want to know what goes on.

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One of the things we heard growing up, was our parents telling us ‘don’t play with your food’. Whoever said that you shouldn’t? Well I’m here to say, there’s nothing wrong with playing with food.

To me, what makes a great cook, is those that do indeed play with their food. Being creative and willing to try new things out is one of your biggest assets in the kitchen. Play with those seasonings. Play with different cuts of meat, different cooking styles, just have fun with what you’re preparing for your next meal.

I know I post alot of recipes in my blog. But the fact is, those recipes are not set in stone. If you find you don’t have one of the ingredients, SUBSTITUTE. If you don’t like certain ingredients (or have an allergy to something), by all means substitute one ingredient for another. Also, try different meats with a particular marinade or dressing. You’d be surprised how the flavors change with little changes.

The idea is to have fun. To change boring into something new. Take simple tuna salad…Find it’s getting a bit boring having on a salad or sandwhich? Try instead, coring a tomatoe, making a small ‘bowl’ in it, then filling it with the tuna salad. But you’re not done there. Top it with a bit of shredded cheese then throw in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

Finding grilled cheese sandwhiches a bit dull recently? Why not try different bread types, different cheeses, or add fruit to it before grilling. One of my favorite grilled cheese sandwhiches is using sliced pears or apples on cinnamon bread with blue cheese crumbles and provalone together.

Found meatloaf to be a bit boring recently? Here’s something that will perk it up and make it a family favorite. Instead of pouring tomatoe sauce on top of it before baking? Try pressing brown sugar over the top instead. As the meatloaf bakes, the juices mix with the brownsugar and you get a nice sweet crust.

Fruit perserves and butters make the simplest, easiest meat and veggie glazes or marinades. Just toss/coat your meat or veggies with your favorite jelly or perserves. Depending on the spices you choose to use, you can get a sweet/hot taste to a sweet spicy tang.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Play with that food! 

I’m sure that some people are wondering why ever I’d put up a meal journal when the hottest craze these days is dieting and special diet meals. I’d wonder myself, although I also realize that of all the things that determine what society is, it’s that society’s foods and cooking styles.

Unfortunately, in a time where most everyone is watching their weight, counting calories, avoiding fats, sodium, sugars, etceteras… Where people are suing McDonalds because of ‘they made me fat‘ campaigns… My opinions & recipes may come across as strange and AB-normal.

I started doing this as a result of my “What’s For Supper” thread at Defending the Truth. Friends and readers were enjoying the banter of discussing what others were having for supper. Whether it be going out to dinner, cooking at home, or grabbing something at the local deli… Just sharing that hominess of enjoying the delights of a good meal. Theses entries being intended to take it a step futher, by including not just the menu plans I do, but the recipes behind those efforts.

I do love to cook. My hubby says it was one of the many talents and reasons he fell in love with me to begin with. He said he got the modern woman who not only he could talk with on an intellectual level, but who had looks and a personality, who cleaned, who was artsy, and who could also cook.

But I’ve seen a trend lately that has slowly started popping up in regards to the menus and recipes. At first, it was just internet trolls trying to stir up trouble and bad feelings amongst the participants… Calling people ‘fatty’, ’slob’, ‘trailer trash’, ‘rednecks’ to those participating in the threads. Doing their best to try and make the participants feel bad for not cooking, for cooking, for whatever reason trolls have for their type of posts. And on the whole, their comments being ignored simply because readers knowing the wasteful products of those posts.

Now though, there are genuine posters starting to criticize the meals and recipes. Telling others what they should/shouldn’t be eating. Making readers feel as if they are being told that they are ignorant about their own dietary needs and risks.
I personally don’t think that way about my own readers. I realize that some people who read my menu plans may not be able to prepare those meals as I do. I realize that there are those that have special dietary needs, and as such I trust in them to adjust the recipes they see me post, to adjust them to their own special dietary plans.

Unfortunately for those whom my recipes do not meet their dietary needs, I can not complete alternate menus. For them, the effort of maintaining those special diets means that the reader, will have to adjust my meal plans/recipes for your own special needs. And it’s not as hard as some would think. My recipes show the very basics of those choosen meals. They’re not set in stone, so changes can be made depending on the reader’s preferences and tastes.

The lovely thing about our grocery markets now, is the wide vareity of substitutions sold. If your diet demands you have a low sodium intake, then you have the options to omit the salt called for in a recipe and substitute it with another flavoring. You also have the choice to use low sodium/sodium free products versus the original sodium loaded ingredient.
If calories are an issue, then use dietary sugars or sweetners in place of the sugar content many of my recipes use. Honey is a great substitute by the way for many instances of sweetening.

If you’re watching your fat/oil content, again it’s an easy fix. Most oils, butters, and mayonaises now have low fat/fat free options available. By all means, use those substitutes in the recipes. The healthiest cooking oils are canola and extra virgin olive oils… So if you see a recipe that needs oil for frying? Use those instead. For baking oils, try macadamia or seasame oils. Soybean oil is a great substitute for recipes in salad dressings, mayonaise, and butter substitutions.

Nothing personal here, but I cannot possibly ensure my readers prepare their meals according to their dietary needs. If you personally don’t feel that my menu plans are a healthy choice for you, you need not make those meals, or you can feel free to alter them as needed. The reader has the choice to either ignore the recipe or adjust the recipe to thier own dietary needs.

-Alicorn

Welcome everyone! I’m Bibble. I have a personal interest in the restaurant industry, cooking, wine tasting, etc. I am always learning and I enjoy the knowledge that I come across in the world of food and wine. Within my future posts, I will be including some of my favorite recipes, wine knowledge, wine tasting and pairings, cocktail and beer choices, as well as food tasting and my personal experiences dining in restaurants. I am very particular with customer service and etiquette while I am dining out. However, I also enjoy having a good time snacking away and drinking a Yuengling draft or a Captain and Ginger Ale.

So, grab a glass of your favorite wine, beer or liqueur and enjoy what you are about to dig into.

Happy Reading and Cheers!

-Bibble

Supper went well lastnight. I sent my mother a huge salad over (she’s a salad fan like me)with her supper, figuring that she could eat on it a couple of days. She called an hour later to inform me that she’d not only ate the whole dinner, but the huge salad as well.

She said she kept telling herself that she’d just take ‘one more bite’ and by the time she realized it, everything was cleaned off her plates. Including the huge bowl of fruit/whipped cream and huge slice of bundt cake.

Needless to say she called us twice more that evening, to tell us how stuffed and miserable she was (from overeating), but that ‘it was sooooo good‘.

Hubby also ate till he couldn’t eat anymore. That doesn’t even include he took a platefull to work with him for his lunch on the boat. Of couse, I’ve still got a full plate myself. Basically the whole hen minus the legs and a bit of stuffing? Plus I didn’t even eat dessert, since the little I did eat of dinner stuffed me.

Today is just going to be relaxing. Enjoy some coffee, chit chat, and perhaps play Ages of Empires a bit. Oh, and work on my Pogo badges as well…Maybe.

Did go outside and play in the garden a bit. Finally have some baby bell peppers showing. Of couse some more tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers, and zucchini have popped up. If they come in at once, I should get a couple of canned hot packed tomatoes out of it right off.

Hubby and I are planning on going strawberry picking his next days off. Then I’ll be doing a bit of perserving next weekend hopefully. Yep, I love canning as well. It’s a simple pleasure my grandmother passed along to me.

The title pretty much sums up my day so far. I’ve been taking my time prepping things for our evening meal, while taking the time to smell the roses so to speak. Woke up this morning, to a beautiful early summer day. Skies are blue, temperature is just right, you can smell the honeysuckle blooming around the edges of the property, birds are singing, the new kittens and mommy are playing, the gardens are blooming… And it’s just so wonderful. The only thing missing is hubby, as work called him in late last night, so he has to work on such a gorgeous day. And if they hadn’t, today would have been a beautifully romantic day.Well, hopefully we can make it a romantic night once he gets off work eh?

My mother has been over twice this morning already. We enjoyed a cup of coffee together out on the porch, she gave her approval of the supper plans (we feed her as well), and just enjoyed strolling the yard checking out the blossoms on the mulberry bushes and checking the progress of the garden. Along with making plans of what we’ll can from the garden depending on how much it produces. She’s also ‘volunteered’ herself to be the sampler…Just in case I need to know if I need anything extra as in spices and flavorings. She’s already tried to talk me out of a piece of the lemon bundt cake to sample with her morning coffee.