Hi Katie.

Your statement about the kids not getting hurt in the kitchen brought a story to mind that I would like to share with you. 

I had saved and saved to get a very expensive set of professional kitchen knives.  I was so proud of these and so sure of my skills.  I was running late and trying to get supper stared with my daughter one night that I forgot my own rules as I was showing her how to chop with the verrrrry sharp huge butcher knife. I cut myself and had to go get stitches.  Lesson learned well for both of us.  Every time she uses that same knife she has to bring it up to me about my "Lesson"

gotta love em

god bless you and your family

kris

Hi!  My name is Bj and I have two grown daughters and a 17 yr old son.  I also have 7 grands.

(1) What brought you to the Pillsbury Community? An email was forward to me.

(2) Who taught you how to cook?  Who do you cook for now?My mom of course, and my grandmother.

(3) Biggest time saver in the kitchen for you?Definitely the dish washer.

(4) Name some top ingredients that are the most often bought (and most often used) in your refrigerator and cupboard. The staples of course (flour, sugar, and so on)  We keep cresent rolls on hand for various recipes..........my son is addicted to veggie pizza!

(5) Anything else you want to share!I love to make quilts and bake.

Sincerely, CateC and ErinD

Hi BJ! Thank you so much for taking the time to introduce yourself!

7 GrandChildren? Wow! I bet you have pretty big family gatherings! 

So I would love to hear about your son's favorite veggie pizza. I started a pizza thread here: http://www.Pillsbury.com/CommunityForums/forums.aspx/27/615

Sincerely, Cate

CateC_Pillsbury_MOD:

Hello Everyone:

I am a single women living by myself work as a nanny for my neice and nephew. Live on a working farm so dont have alot of time to prepare meals or stand in the kitchen that is why I LOVE my slow cooker!  

(1) What brought you to the Pillsbury Community?  A newstand magazine from back in the fall Featuring Recipes from Nascar Wives

(2) Who taught you how to cook?  Who do you cook for now?  My mom and dad but with 6 of us we were encouraged to stay out of the kitchen. More self taught now I guess

(3) Biggest time saver in the kitchen for you? My slow cooker! prepar the night before and put it on in the morning

(4) Name some top ingredients that are the most often bought (and most often used) in your refrigerator and cupboard. Vegetables

(5) Anything else you want to share!

 

Sincerely, CateC and ErinD

 

Hello Cate & Erin,

Giving the Welcome to the Community Blog a try :-)

1.  I love checking out recipes on various websites, and thought I'd give the Pillsbury site a try.

2.  My Dad & Grandmother who were born in Croatia, for the most part.  I'd also have to give some of the credit to The Food Network & "trial & error".

3.  I'd have to say my Grandma's hand me down Revere Wear Dutch Oven, for one pot cooking!

4. I couldn't live without Olive Oil & Hummus, or fresh herbs.

5. I love to read cookbooks, cooking mags & never seem to get tired of watching The Food Network.

Hi kgilman58:

So glad you introduced yourself! 

Heheh, My hubby and and I love Hummus also, and always have it in the house. Sometimes I joke he drinks it like water. Hehehe. I'm thinking about making this soon: http://www.pillsbury.com/Recipes/ShowRecipe.aspx?rid=29359

When you have time- would love to know what you would pack on a summer picnic! :) http://www.Pillsbury.com/CommunityForums/forums.aspx/27/737

Sincerely, CC

1) What brought you to the Pillsbury Community? I was invited

(2) Who taught you how to cook?  Who do you cook for now? I taught myself since I was 13.  I read alot of cookbooks. I hate to do the same thing over and over and I am ALWAYS looking for something new.  I now cook for myself and all 4 of my kiddos. And of course the hubs when he is home.

(3) Biggest time saver in the kitchen for you? My KitchenAid mix...LOVE IT!

(4) Name some top ingredients that are the most often bought (and most often used) in your refrigerator and cupboard.  Sour cream, garlic, onion, herbs, different breads

(5) Anything else you want to share! Just that I am here, and REALLY looking

What brought me to the Pillsbury Community is I'm always looking for new ideas as I have a wide variety of palates to please!

I taught myself to cook through trial and error and oh boy were there ever the errors in the beginning! As for who I cook for now it's pretty much anybody and everybody that ask's.

Things I can prepare the night before so it's not such a big rush the next day when I'm cooking for a large group.

I always keep the basics on hand because I like to cook from scratch most of the time but I do keep condensed canned soups on hand as well as dry soups because you can always come up with a "quick" dinner idea when you have those in the cupboard.

As far as sharing anything else...I'm really glad that I found this community and web site because my computer skills are sorely lacking!

hey everyone, i am new here, first time posting on this. i am a 63 year old grandma i still work full time although i will be getting laid off in dec of this year. enjoy working but i feel it is time to hang up the gloves and hand them over to the younger generation. i enjoy cooking when i am not tired or rushed, love to try new recipes. i have 6 granddaughters all are grown or think they are. the youngest is 16 and the oldest is 22. been married most of my adult life although there was about 3 years between a divorce and a new husband and new marriage. i learned most of my cooking from my first mother-in-law. my mom stayed at home and she had dinner done everyday when i got home from school so there was not much of a chance for me to learn how to cook so my mother-in-law took me under her wing and  finished rasing me as she said in a joking loving manner. a very dear woman. i have enjoyed my time with my family, my oldest son is in heating and air conditioning and my middle son is in the air force and has been in iraq on 3 different tours and came back safely ( THANK GOD ) i have a daughter that is our youngest and she livers about 2 1/2 hour away from us and she is a registered nurse and works in a rehab clinic and loves being a nurse and is presently working on her bachlors in nursing. 3 great kids and am very proud of all three of them and their families. my family is my life

what brought me to this site was i check the recipes out here often and found the posting site so i thought i would check it out and found you guys here and liked what i saw. i live in North Carolina and have all my life, enjoying going to the beach and seeing the sights there.

i cook for my husband as we are empy nesters or he has retired and mostly cooks for me since i am still working but on weekends i take the kitchen over and give him a break from being mr. mom

my favorite timesaver in the kitchen is the dishwasher

(1) What brought you to the Pillsbury Community?

I get emails from Pillsbury and found it while coming to the site to check out recipies.

(2) Who taught you how to cook?  Who do you cook for now?

I basically taught myself how to cook back when I was a young newlywed. Oh some of the most awful things imaginable were made in my kitchen back then!

I cook for my hubby, myself and usually 2 (sometimes 3) teenage girls

(3) Biggest time saver in the kitchen for you?

I would have to say the biggest timesaver in the kitchen is my freezer. I will cook and freeze just about anything, rice, mashed potatoes, muffins, whole meals, cooked ground meats, spaghetti sauce, chili,  leftover veggies... It works great when the teens or hubby need to make dinner and they can find most of the stuff they need already prepared and just needing to be thawed.

(4) Name some top ingredients that are the most often bought (and most often used) in your refrigerator and cupboard. 

Lately its been flour, beans, cornmeal, potatoes, chicken leg quarters and ground beef.

(5) Anything else you want to share!

I'm a stay at home mom and wife. I love to be in my kitchen cooking and baking, it is my favorite room in the whole house!

(1) What brought you to the Pillsbury Community?

I was just browsing around the Pillsbury site and stumbled across this section.  I had no idea this was even here!!

(2) Who taught you how to cook?  Who do you cook for now?

My mother taught me how to cook, but more specifically, taught me how to bake!  that's my passion!  I cook and bake for my hubby and relatives when they come over.

(3) Biggest time saver in the kitchen for you?

My Crock pot................ and my hubby!  (He's the griller while I prepare the salads)

(4) Name some top ingredients that are the most often bought (and most often used) in your refrigerator and cupboard

I always have a jar of Pampered Chef's Rosemary blend.  We love this and use it a lot.  On chicken, in my tossed salad and I make my own croutons with it.  We always have a variety of cheeses in the fridge.  And I always have a box of graham crackers,.  You can do so much with them!!

(5) Anything else you want to share!

I entered a new recipe in the Pillsbury Bake-off this year.  I'm crossing my fingers that I get picked to be one of the 100 contestants because it is a YUMMY recipe!!

And I am so glad I found this place!  Besides decorative painting, I LOVE to bake and try new recipes and to improvise old ones.

What brought me here to the Pillsbury Community? My computer. Other than that, looking for more vegetarian friendly recipes. So far I have not found any but I have found a couple which can be made vegan.

My parents arranged for me to be instructed in the art of cooking by a Cordon Bleu trained chef. The first thing she taught me to cook was croissants that didn't come from a tube. When I don't have time to prepare crossiants, I will use a tube of crescent rolls but they aren't the same thing.Currently I cook for my husband of 42 plus years, myself, visiting kids and grandkids. I make many casseroles and other instant foods to have on hand in the freezer to give to families in need. I've been cooking for over 50 years.

Best time saver in the kitchen? Crazy. There are people who don't want to be in the kitchen? Poor dears. I suppose my time saver would be my food processor.At one time we had 7 kids living here, so the food processor did get a good workout daily. Other than that, my favorite kitchen tools are my immersion blender and a really good Chef's knife.

Top ingredients in my kitchen: FRESH fruits and vegetables. Dry beans, potatoes, carrots, celery, sweet baby red, yellow and orange peppers, onions, fresh herbs (home grown), bread flour, yeast, powdered milk, powdered buttermilk, eggs from pet chickens, milk from cows with names, cheese from Cabot farm Cooperative in Vermont (this is the best cheddar in the world), honey from local bees, home-canned fruits and veggies from our garden, unsalted butter, olive oil, cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, yeast (2 pounds lasts a year here), sweet and aromatic spices, bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, peanut butter, cocoanut, dried and candied fruits and different sugars. My kitchen runs on equal parts of freshly ground coffee, freshly brewed pots of tea and diet soda.

I probably don't belong here as I use very little in the way of what here in the south we'd call "store bought" foods, but like having things like canned pumpkin on hand, along with some cans of already cooked black, pinto, kidney and other beans for hummus, refried beans or casseroles. My husband and I are lacto-ovo vegetarians and have been so for the past almost 25 years. All the eggs and milk come from local organic farmers's pets.

I can produce a meal in under 10 minutes and candy in 15 to 20 monutes. It just takes practice, knowing procedures, and organization.

It wasn't on the lilst of things but may I suggest an addendum to the list? One thing I'd love for the kitchen that isn't already there - AIR CONDITIONING and heat for the winter! We live in the South and it has already been in the upper 90's and my kitchen is very, very hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.

Hope there aren't too many typo's. I'm close to legally blind and didn't think anyone would appreciate me writing this in 72 size font.

(1) What brought you to the Pillsbury Community?

(2) Who taught you how to cook?  Who do you cook for now?

(3) Biggest time saver in the kitchen for you?

(4) Name some top ingredients that are the most often bought (and most often used) in your refrigerator and cupboard. 

(5) Anything else you want to share!

(1) What brought you to the Pillsbury Community? I belong to several product newsletters and I'm sure I found a link on one of those or I got the link from a brainstorm I had to look up Pillsbury. Not sure how I got onto this site but I love receiving recipes online that I ca print out and add to my files.

(2) Who taught you how to cook?  Who do you cook for now? My mom was my big mentor as far as cooking goes. I guess her mom taught her. I cook for my husband and I. We have a 26 year old son who cooks for himself. Here's a good hint: One summer in his college years, he decided he had worked enough that year and wasn't going to look for  summer job and so my husband and I said fine but inorder to pay for your room here, you must shop for and cook two or three meals each week. So, each Sunday I would sit down with him and go over what hewanted to cook. I'd write the recipes down on index cards. We'd make up a grocery store list and when we went to the store, I'd give him hints about selecting the food items and what to look for. I'd pay but he would pick out the food and carry it. Once home, I'd help him/teach him how to cook the meal and read recipes. When we were done, I'd put the recipe card in a photo album that I had purchased from a drug store or photo shop and when he went away to college he had his favorite foods that he knew how to cook recipes all in this one place. He's a bachelor now but still cooks from those recipes. It was a good way to teach a guy how to cook and keep cooking. Along the way, he's taught me a thing or two and for Mother's Day he had my husband and I over for dinner at his home. We had deliscious salmon filets, green beans and mushrooms with rice. He'll make someone a good husband someday. He also, rarely eats fast food. My husband and I also have a weekly Sunday family dinner wih my 81 year old dad and my son included and if my son comes early, he often steps in and helps in the kitchen.

(3) Biggest time saver in the kitchen for you? I love my Pampered Chef mini chopper for nuts, onions and small things that need to be chopped. There are many versions of this item but I just happened to get it from a Pampered Chef party. I've seen it on TV by many companies. It can go right in the dishwasher afterwards, too.

(4) Name some top ingredients that are the most often bought (and most often used) in your refrigerator and cupboard.  real butter, skim milk, any kind of cheese, whole wheat bread and chicken filets.

(5) Anything else you want to share! I think that is enough about me. I'm looking forward to scouting out the cooking for two blog. I find that hard because my husband tries to adher to vegetarian  meals and I am skinny and need the protein so I am not only cooking for two but two different eating styles too.

Hello Everyone!

What brought me to the Pillsbury Community? I love cookbooks! One of my all time favorites (I found it at a yardsale) Doubleday's "The Pillsbury Cookbook The All-Purpose Companion for Today's Cook." Copyright 1989. I can't resist a good cookbook and this has been a family favorite for years!

I am pretty much a self taught cook although certainly my mother, aunt and grandmother were influences. I treasure family recipes! They are a culinary history. I am currently hand writing a cookbook of family recipes for each of my three daughter's. A real labor of love.

The biggest time saver in my kitchen would have to be my bread machine. I absolutely love experimenting with new recipes! I love making homemade pizza and pizza dough! I also love my convection oven. Having an extra oven has proven very helpful. My convection oven bakes, broils, toasts and is a rotisserie too. It's energy saving too. Saves me from having to use the big oven for small baking or broiling needs.

We are all stretching the food dollar these days. One of my favorite staples is Basmati rice. If you haven't tried it...do! It isn't sticky or starchy and has a wonderful aroma and taste. Plain or doctored, it's yummy. Plain, it tastes and smells like buttered popcorn! I have never been a big fan of rice. It's bland and gummy. Not Basmati.

I love Mexican and am learning to create at home what I thought I could only experience at a restaurant. I have found an enchilada sauce recipe that rivals the restaurants! I'll share upon request. Easy easy!