Life's too short to....

[nkf]

Which things put you off a recipe? On the too much faff basis.
Mine would be:
toasting pine nuts
re-hydrating dried mushrooms.

skinning tomoatoes - although I do, sometimes, it's easier to open a tin

make pasta from scratch when there is no difference in taste (IMO) from shop bought stuff.

Have to agree with twoluvlykids...been skinning tomatoes for yonks thinking they where better!!!!...then opened a tin of Napolina's..and thought why the ***..do I bother these are fab!!!

Nkf, those take minutes!

I'm with you on the pasta making though. wtf?
Poss. also bread making. (Suspect also would trough it all down in one go and cultivate huge arse)

Soak and cook chickpeas - I just buy tins.

Skin tomatoes - and also they look like bodyparts once skinned and make me feel ill.

Make your own pasta - can't see the point tbh.

I would also add - read a Delia Smith recipe: her writing is about as exciting as a dry cream cracker.

i always toast pine nuts

but draw the line at peeling butternut squash

Noooooooooooo...please moondog..breadmaking is the "Dogs Bollocks"...I promise you, no time at all and easier than going to the shops ...mind you I cant even eat my wares!!!..got Coeliac disease..but hubby swears by it!!!

Toasting pine nuts takes nano seconds...no problems but dem blinking tomatoes are in "Janeite" words..like body parts...and they are!!!!, jsut never thought of it like that..

oh no, please DO the butternut squash......tis luvvly roasted with sweet potatoes, garlic and olive oil and served with roast lamb.

Soak lentils. If I ever see this in a recipe I switch right off.

Soak lentils. If I ever see this in a recipe I switch right off.

nothing is too much for me. i'll do anything so long as it tastes good. skimming peeling. hell i even topped and tailed a bag of beansprouts on thursday.

waitrose tinnned cherry toms are far nicer than my nasty hard greengrocer ones though.

Make puff pastry from scratch

Soak/boil beans for days then them still being hard rather than using nice soft ones from a tin

Assemble a dish in one of those cheffy round mould things so the sausages/mash/cabbage etc are piled on top of eachother in the centre of a huge white plate a la Gary Rhodes

Almost anything that involves soaking pulses overnight or standing something for several hours. I write a weekly menu and then decide each night what we're going to have from it; I don't like having to plan ahead the night before.

Don't usually bother with skinning tomatoes.

Do you really ever have to soak lentils? and do you have to top and tail beansprouts? I have never done either. Am I being lazy?

peel mushrooms

I don't mind the time that toasting pine nuts takes (seconds only) but I hate the smell.

sorry janeite but tinned chickpeas are not nice. presoaked i can happily eat as my whole meal.

lentils do not need to be pre-soaked so any recipe giving that is sus.

Lifes too short to faff on making sauces by making a 'roux' first then gradually adding milk. Just chuck everything in together and whisk while heating.

Make elaborate themed birthday cakes for my children.

Whats the point in being up until 2am crying over Royal icing when you can pop to Asda and bob's your uncle?

Also, I avoid anything which involves wrapping sheets of filo pastry in clean damp tea towels...

Fishie - I have never seen any recipes asking you to soak lentils either.

beansprout trimming is bloody hellish and i must be demented but it does taste far better, less muddy.

oh and anything that requires straining through a muslin cloth

pushing tomatoes through a sieve..... thats why they make passata

But home made bread and pasta taste so much better. I would be lynched if I stopped.