My daddy loved to cook, whether we were on a camping trip or at home. My momma was always delighted that he did, because she wasn’t what you would call a “domestic goddess.”

Not by a long shot.

She never learned to cook until after she married, and (as much as I loved my momma) I have to say she never mastered the art. Daddy, on the other hand, could have been a chef if he had so desired. The problem was that daddy hated cleaning up dishes. When he cooked, there were lots of messy dishes.

Daddy enjoyed chopping stuff. Maybe it’s a guy thing with the sharp knives, I don’t know. He’d start chopping fruit for a salad. His first bowl would be about the size for salad for a family of six. Then, he’d keep chopping. He kept graduating to bigger bowls until he had to have a bowl the size of a garbage can and could have fed the whole Dallas Cowboys football team.

Daddy also enjoyed deep fat frying, broiling, baking, and boiling. He liked to concoct new dishes.

At some point, my daddy discovered the joys of using aluminum foil instead of pots and pans for his oven experiments. He liked to take a round steak and hammer it thin, then fill it with finely chopped vegetables, roll it like a jelly roll, wrap it in foil and bake it. I liked that dish, but I went delirious when he cooked an onion or a cabbage!

He quartered either vegetable, put salt, pepper, a garlic clove and a strip or two of bacon in it, wrapped it and either baked it or threw it on the grill. Oh, my word! It was delicious! It’s the bacon, of course, that makes it so.

Even though I grew up watching daddy cook with foil, I very rarely used it until recently (when I got sick and tired of washing the broiler pan). Pam Anderson, the author of several cookbooks, had an article in USA Weekend called “It’s A Wrap.” She offers recipes that mix and match ten vegetables, a choice of meats, and three flavor options to create meals in 15 minutes! You simply mix them together and bake at 500 degrees.

For you vegetarians out there, Marcia, I’m thinking you could use a portabello mushroom, another vegetable, and one of the flavorings, and you’d probably love it. We have enjoyed the Italian flavoring on both chicken and pork. I plopped the cooked concoction on top of some pasta and added mozzarella cheese. With some fruit on the side, it made a great meal.

Print off Anderson’s recipes and give it a try. They are designed to serve four people; we halved it and the servings were generous. I’d offer one other flavoring combination: Tex-Mex!

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 4 large green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 (to 3/4) cup of your favorite picanti sauce
• 1 tsp. each, salt and ground black pepper

While that cooks, make some guacamole and you have yourself a meal!

Anybody else have any flavoring ideas? Or, other recipes to cook in foil? Now that I’m “foiled again,” I almost like cooking!