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.

Oh, so you saw the episide too Linda! I love her cooking, I often take notes and make something she did on the show. After it was over I realized that this would be a good meal to make while my folks are here. I wrote down the list of ingredients for the chicken, I'm going to try it in my crockpot. No way would my dad eat that salsa verde with those peppers and all the onions, but I have another recipe from my "La Cucina Ebraica" cookbook that calls for primarily parsley and a couple of anchovies. I think I could also sub pesto. Anyway, I didn't get the ingredients for the passatelli, or even the name! You are so lucky to have that cookbook! Being vegetarian I can't justify buying it, but I often make something I see her do on the show, or something inspired by it. There are a lot of good recipes on her Web site, but not for the passatelli. I'll give you a shout out if I need more help when the time comes. I wonder if you can store these noodles in the fridge? I get home late from work and usually don't have much time to cook. Cooking gets done here mostly on weekends. Here is a link that might be useful: LidiasItaly.com - recipes

The show that runs on our PBS is from her latest cookbook; Commensense Cooking. It airs Sundays at 2pm. Lars, we also watch the woman you mentioned. At first we didn't care for her, but she's actually quite funny. As mentioned, Lidia's recipes can be detail oriented; as can Fine Cooking. (wear oven mitts when pulling the pan out of the oven), but her recipes are good.

Holy cats...lots of discussion here! I appreciate everyone’s thoughts and sharing. It’s been super tough being nearly 1000 miles away from the build. I do ask for pictures ALLTHE TIME and updates/progress. One, I don’t believe the GC would do anything out of spite, they’ve been really good. They’re so busy I think they took too many projects,and that’s where he doesn’t check up,on things as often as he should and then the subs just do their thing. I do need to be more forceful but I also don’t want to be rude. UPDATE...the floor is being ripped out and retired. Hubby agreed to pay 1/3 of the cost as we were 1 of three involved in the snafu. I thought that was too generous but he’s nice like that. I told the GC that we MUST communicate more,and question EVERYTHING. He agreed that would be good. The on site communication was impossible until we had satellite installed. No cell signal at the house and with the GC rarely around, communication wasn’t happening during the day with his subs. Hopefully now things will be better! Thanks all for the lively discussion.