Beauty Before Taste? Not at My Table

You can’t eat pictures, although I do remember seeing a movie called “King of the Hill,” where a boy is so hungry that he cuts pictures of food from magazines, puts them on a plate and then gobbles them up.

What I’m talking about is real food on my table.  I’m happy to admire a beautifully roasted chicken, but given the choice of how it looks versus how it tastes, I’ll take taste any day.  I came to this point of view when boxed cake mixes started using chocolate “flavoring” instead of real chocolate.  They looked great but tasted like cardboard.

Question for Mom

(L-R) Yams, White Potatoes, Red Potatoes, Russet Potatoes

With 4^th of July coming up, can you tell me what’s the best kind of potato to use for potato salad? – Jim K.

Any potato will work.  But if you like your cut-up potatoes to hold their shape, choose red, white or Yukon Gold potatoes.  New potatoes, which average 1 inch in diameter, are also a good choice, if you can find them. Russets tend to fall apart in potato salad. 

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 56

When buying eggs, open the carton and gently move each egg to make sure it’s not cracked, broken or stuck to the carton.

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Era-Themed Dinners

1950s-Style Shrimp Cocktails

The most fun I’ve had in the kitchen recently came as a result of menu boredom.  “Not the same old dishes yet again,” I thought to myself as the family sat down for our regular Sunday dinner.

“We need something new, something exciting,” I said.  “How about a meal may parents ate in the 1950s?”  The Fifties weren’t noted for fine dining experiences.  For most Americans it was a meat and potatoes era, and salad meant a chunk of iceberg lettuce covered in Russian dressing. 

Mom Cooking Tip 60

Make sure freshly baked cookies are at room temperature before storing them in a closed container.  Otherwise, they will get too soft.  

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 55

Oven-Roasted Tilapia Kebabs

To feed more people with a set amount of meat or fish, turn it into kebabs. Add to the skewers such vegetables as whole mushrooms, onion chunks, zucchini slices, bell pepper pieces or 1-inch slices of uncooked corn on the cob. Dab with oil and then grill, oven-roast or pan-fry.

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Question for Mom

Do red, orange and yellow bell peppers taste any different? - Mary B.

When you eat them raw, red bell peppers are the sweetest.  But if you cook them, there is not much difference in taste, especially if they’re seasoned. In case you’re wondering, red bell peppers have the most vitamin C.  I avoid using green bell peppers because I find them hard to digest.

Brightly colored cooked bell peppers in their own juice remind me of sunny summer vacation days in France.