About Your Comments
Last week I removed a comment for good reason and I appreciate the support shown by readers. But I think we owe an explanation of our comment policy. Your comments are what make this blog work—If you didn't care enough to comment, the blog would die. Your comments are life giving; they share valued information and guide my research. And they have taught me something: women are different from men, even more than I had appreciated. (After all these years, still learning.) Not too many guys write comments, but when they do it is usually to argue some point. When women write they don't argue, rather they focus on areas of agreement and build consensus.
In the last thousand or so comments, I have only deleted three or four. One was from somebody selling something—this is a noncommercial blog. Two were from guys (including my best friend growing up, now a dentist); they were trying to help but by introducing contention. This isn't about thought control, or group-think; rather it's about survival of our shared cause. If we are united we can make a difference as our force builds; if we aruge with each other, our energy is dissipated and wasted. So we work to build areas of agreement about what matters most to your health, and try to be tolerant. That's our policy.
Second Request: Last week we asked you to share dishes that your men enjoyed, that used a minimum of meat. We didn't get any comments so we repeat the request. Please share your guy favorite recipes. Here is one of mine:
Skip's Scalloped Potatoes (Serves up to 12, adults and kids; use a 9” x 13” dish.)
I promised to share a recipe that used meat for seasoning, so here is my version of scalloped potatoes. This makes a nice Sunday meal when family or guests come and you have time to cook and visit. It’s pretty healthy, not too expensive, and just a little labor intensive (any husband can be trained to make this). I’ve made scalloped potatoes as my contribution to dinner for years; I used to start with a can of mushroom soup until a food writer made fun of cooks relying on canned soups. Cured me. Typically, recipes use either a milk-based sauce or chicken broth; I tried both together and liked the taste.
In retrospect, I see that scalloped potatoes are a good recipe for using any milk, broth, cheese, onions or potatoes going bad. Just toss in the odds and ends. As I’m not the fastest cook, I start 3 hrs. before dinner. I serve the scalloped potatoes with my homemade applesauce (Martha Stewart has it posted here, if you can believe), which I make while the scalloped potatoes are baking. Last time, one daughter brought a spinach salad and another daughter brought a tasty fruit tort made in a spring-form pan. We enjoyed a great meal that was pretty healthy and had leftovers for another night. After dinner we usually take the grandchildren for a walk down to the park or the beach. If we’re lucky we catch the sunset. Maybe we should call this “recipe for a perfect Sunday”.
Ingredients:
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1 cup chicken broth
salt, pepper, and maybe a little rosemary, or crushed chilies, whatever.
6-8 oz of chopped pork (bacon, ham slice, or even a pork chop)
6-8 oz mushrooms, sliced
6 large russet potatoes (I keep an extra potato handy in case it’s needed to finish off the dish.
1 large yellow onion, or 2 if you’re an onion lover.
3 cups of grated cheese (I usually use Tillamook Cheddar, but on this day the refrigerator offered three: sharp cheddar, pepper jack, and Dubliner Irish cheese, and everyone liked the mixture.)
Directions:
1. In a saucepan make a roux by adding flour to heated butter. Stir in the milk and then the chicken broth and simmer a few minutes to thicken. Season with salt, pepper, and whatever. Set aside.
2. In a frying pan sauté the chopped meat and mushrooms in a few tbsp of butter. If the meat is not precooked, like bacon, put it in first. Set aside.
3. Wash and slice the potatoes, keeping them together like a stack of poker chips. Clean and chop the onion.
4. Arrange half the potato slices in a 9” x 13” baking dish. (Pre-spraying makes it easier to clean, they say.) Pour in half of the sauce, all of the mushroom/pork, and the onions. Layer the remaining potato slices on top and add the remaining sauce. (There should be at least ¼” of freeboard so the sauce doesn’t bubble into the oven while cooking, which makes the Beautiful Wife grumpy.)
5. Cook for 75 minutes at 350 degrees F. Add a single piece of foil over the dish midway if you don’t want the top layer of potatoes too crisp.
6. Remove from the oven. (The potatoes should be a little firm to a fork, but not too soft.) Layer the cheese on top and return to oven for 15 minutes more.
7. Let the dish cool 15-20 minutes before serving (potatoes will absorb any excess juice). Serve.