If Indiana is right in the heart of the Midwest, then I must be living on the west coast. Better start learning the language. "Gag me with a spoon"? And why go crazy because someone uses more salt that you want? Don't you think you could, let's see. hmmm, maybe use less?? Recipes are guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Recipes will often vary, even when followed to the letter depending on a number of variables. I seldom follow a recipe to the letter since I might not happen to have the free range grapes, cage free milk or organic Vanilla Wafers that Marco Pierre White's recipe might call for. I often will add spice I like and tone down or eliminate what I don't like. Amish/Mennonite, etc cooking has a lot of crossover with what some people term "Midwest" cooking. If you consider Indiana "midwest" then I exempt this from consideration. However the midwest of the United States are generally or at least were, big farming areas and Amish/Mennonite, etc were also big farmers. Meat, potatoes, bread, coffee, milk, dessert was your typical farm fare. The midwest didn't use much in the way of rice however certain areas, including the upper midwest would have wild rice available and that could be included in the later menus. Native Americans of course used wild rice much more heavily than many others until others found out how great it is. Actually you'll find a lot of crossover in German, even Russian and certain other ethnic types of foods when they're living in a colder climate and doing a lot of hard work, but then again considering the number of Scandinavians. Germans, etc who populated the area, it shouldn't be a surprise. But the food changed to adapt to what's around. You won't go to Norway, Sweden, Germany, Russia, etc and find the same things. Just as "cajun" or "creole" won't be found in France, and probably not much in the French areas of Canada. As Annie said, hearty meals were needed for the heavy workload on a typical farm. You'd rise early and work late and burn a lot of calories. Actually what many people term "comfort foods" is quite common among both the A/M/etc and midwest farmers. You won't find finger sandwiches, consumme or sushi on these menus. You will find hearty soup, stew, roast, meatloaf, pasta and much much more. You'll also find a lot of pies, cakes, cookies and rolls. You'll find great breads, rolls, etc. Around here, mac & cheese is essentially baby food. A blue box and a package of Corn King hotdogs fed many a toddler by a new mother. Never could stomach mac & cheese. No meat, why bother. Watching Cookin' Cheap is different. Two gay guys doing their "cooking" and then dressing in drag to show a gadget of some sort. A pickle slicer, nut cracker or whatever. The "Cook Sisters". Initially it was to show people you could cook cheap. They'd figure out the cost of something and figure per portion. Although if they had a leftover from something before, they didn't include it in the price and would come out with 58¢ per person "meals". One thought he knew how to cook and the other admitted he knew nothing but would try anything. They both fancied themselves far better standup comedians that I would. Watch it sometime, it's, well, different. I wouldn't say it's funny very often, but entertaining usually. Actually hotdish for the food, (and go ahead and debate "food" if you're a Miracle Whip snob) and "hot dish" describes the ladies cooking or the temperature of the plate. Scalloped potatoes and ham is a type of hotdish. Marilyn's Party Potatoes, sometimes called "funeral potatoes" is a hotdish, etc. People stick out their tongues and stick their noses in the air over foods. Yes, some will be a can of cream soup with a can of something and a package of onion soup mix. But then again, people buy "blue box", TV dinners and produce from Walmart for cryin out loud! LOL Contrary to what a couple of you believe, not one of the terms hotdishes, A/M/etc or midwest cooking mean all from a can or a pouch. It can and often is made from scratch. The shortcuts are more publicized since it's a timesaver and many people who hit the net want to save time. I would defy most anyone to have tasted and claim they didn't like the scalloped potatoes and ham that was served at my aunt's funeral, or for that matter the roast beef and mashed potatoes served at my cousin's funeral or any of my mother's holiday meals, all made from scratch. I'll take that any day over foo-foo food! Or for that matter the Tex-Mex you get at Taco Bell, or the seafood from Long John Silver, or should I continue... Back to topic, a couple other shows I enjoyed watching included the Galloping drunk, er, Gourmet though never really learned much from his shows. When Andrew Zimmern was a local cook he was interesting to see on the local channels before he decided to concentrate on bugs and exotic roadkill.

Dcarch and Pilllog, Thank you for your responses. I agree with the interactive and sensory comments. I am hoping that having an IPad or a laptop on a router so it can be positioned anywhere will open a whole new world of "hands on" instruction. I found that when I watched the freeby knife skills course, I only retained the techniques the second time through when I stood at the counter, knives and chopping block at hand, and actually practiced the motions described. Lots of use of the pause button while I played with angles and motions. The first time I just watched and the information didn't "stick." The second time I actually learned some new skills--maybe!! (I know I rejected some!) I think the same will be true of the cooking courses. I may well take the Mother Sauces course, partly because I really like James Peterson. If I do, I like the idea of actually making what he is demonstrating. Easy to do with modern technology--pause and rewind and fast forward. FWIW, the Craftsy (what a dreadful name!) offers permanent access to all materials--no time limits for how long you can return to review. I like that idea. Pilllog-- I have not searched Youtube for demos. Sort of at a loss with how to use Youtube. I have mainly accessed only when it was linked to whatever I was reading. Maybe I should check that out more often. CathyChex-- I didn't know Craftsy offered special prices. Nice to know! I really like that there is no time limit on access to their lessons. Glad to hear you found Mother Sauces useful. That is the one I am considering. Can you comment on it? I noticed that it had won an award--not sure how significant an award, though. I agree the free KnifeSkills was good. A really clever way for Craftsy to entice people into their programs by offering such a good freeby. Have you tried to "cook along" with any of the classes? I am really intrigued by the possibility that with modern technology we might have a virtual chef to cook alongside us in our kitchen, just rewinding him/her if we get confused and fast forwarding when we don't need him/her :-) Truly, this seems to open a whole new vista of possibilities. It all will depend, of course, upon the content of the "class" and the ability of the instructor. I will welcome James Peterson into my kitchen! We shall see. I would love to hear if anyone has tried cooking along with any of these "classes." Or has any other input or suggestions into online demonstrations and instruction. This post was edited by Bellsmom on Thu, May 8, 14 at 11:43

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I can highly recommend the CIA courses. I've done 3 of them at the NY campus - even though it's a 2.5 hour drive at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday! I've done both 3 session and one-day courses. You'll learn a tremendous amount, have fabulous food and hang out with other foodies. They treat you almost as though you're a regular student so it's hard work but really fun. I came home each time telling my husband about the great food I made and enjoyed but was way too tired & too full to make anything for dinner. So in the long run he benefited but not so much on class nights!