Recipes

[Ms X]

I saw a demonstration of the dump cakes and dump meals on HSN recently. They looked like they were made of gross ingredients. I'm not much of a cook, but I do like good food. I like the concept, but it seems to me that a talented cook could make a few adjustments and turn these junky dump meals into delicious, fresher ones. They seemed like they could use a few better ingredients. Great cooks are born and not made. I am lacking in that talent but like to eat good meals.

[Tigriss]

If you have a Kindle. I've got some free Kindle books on dump cakes. I'll try and find their titles.

[Tigriss]

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_5?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=dump%20cak...

There are many!

[Poodlepet2]

MrsX, if great cooks were born and not made, we would not have the need for culinary schools, would we???? You do have an inner chef inside of you- or you would have no appreciation of good food. Consider taking a couple of cooking classes on Craftsy. They are inexpensive-they frequently run sales, and once you buy a class, it's yours forever to watch any time you want...and you can ask questions, and the instructors do answer questions. I hope you are inspired to awaken your inner chef! Poodlepet

[Ms X]

On 10/23/2014 Poodlepet said: MrsX, if great cooks were born and not made, we would not have the need for culinary schools, would we???? You do have an inner chef inside of you- or you would have no appreciation of good food. Consider taking a couple of cooking classes on Craftsy. They are inexpensive-they frequently run sales, and once you buy a class, it's yours forever to watch any time you want...and you can ask questions, and the instructors do answer questions. I hope you are inspired to awaken your inner chef! Poodlepet

Thank you, Poodlepet! I do believe there is an innate talent that good/great cooks were born with.

[Poodlepet2]

Perhaps you Re right MrsX: some people just have "the knack" for some things and are talented, but I really do.believe anybody can become a really good cook. If you have. the ability to distinguish quality ingredients, you are on your way and you need to give yourself some credit. Some of the best meals I have ever had were simply prepared, but made from the freshest ingredients. Great food does not need fancy sauces and techniques when high quality ingredients are used. I hope you will give yourself a chance-you are never too old, and cooking can be fun. Poodlepet

[chickenbutt]

I would totally agree with Poodle that great cooks are made, and not born. They are made out of a sense of need, or a sense of desire. Cooking is really very easy. I know that's easy for me to say, having cooked for almost my entire life. I was a cook born out of necessity and had no choice., from the time I was a small child. But I really mean it - it's NOT difficult or complicated.

One just has to want to put forward the effort and anybody can make wonderful (not dump) food.

[Beebee2]

On 10/23/2014 Poodlepet said: Perhaps you Re right MrsX: some people just have "the knack" for some things and are talented, but I really do.believe anybody can become a really good cook. If you have. the ability to distinguish quality ingredients, you are on your way and you need to give yourself some credit. Some of the best meals I have ever had were simply prepared, but made from the freshest ingredients. Great food does not need fancy sauces and techniques when high quality ingredients are used. I hope you will give yourself a chance-you are never too old, and cooking can be fun. Poodlepet

In the art world we learn that anyone can be taught to draw; I know because, having no natural talent, I learned the basics. But the Rembrandts, Da Vinci's, et al are born, imo.

But, I agree with you, Poddlepet, that anyone can be taught to be an excellent cook. I had no natural propensity for cooking, but one recipe at a time, I learned to be a cook that my family considers to be a very good one. They say more, but I'm aware of my limits. I have trained myself through the experience and info of others casually as well as in class settings, to do what I do. I don't have a chef's toque (and didn't want one because I'm not interested in all of the business skills, for example, required to become a chef), but I'm no longer a novice. Like most worthwhile things it has been accomplished by one step at a time, one day at a time. It's whether or not a person actually wants to be a good cook that makes the difference. And by 'want' I mean willing to make the effort. The same is true in art, music, sports, philosophy, theology, whatever. If we want to do it well, we have to make the effort.

[FunkyHulaGirl]

I admit the name "dump cakes" is unappealing, especially in light of what else "dump" has come to mean in the last few years but there's nothing to stop you from giving your creation a fancy name when someone asks you what it's called. Like the Black Forest Dump Cake could be called "Black Forest Fantasy" or "A Quick Black Forest Walk" or something.

I think really good cooks are a combination of being born and made - it's like with any talent; one doesn't become a concert pianist overnight - it takes years of practice to develop the talent, but if you don't have it to begin with, forget about it - all the practice in the world won't help you.

I've been collecting cookbooks and baking for many years; I used to work with a woman who did the same. More than once - especially around the holidays - we coincidentally made the same things, even using the same recipes (we used to talk about what cookbooks we liked and often bought the same ones on each other's recommendation), but mine would disappear quickly whereas she often had leftovers. As someone said to me recently, "Some people just have that special ingredient they put into everything they make - it's called love."

[Puzzle Piece]

Actually gals, I like to believe I'm some kind of chemist or scientist when I put my concoctions together. It's interesting to see the results of the 'experiment'.