denise_jer

Our hood filters can go in the dishwasher. They look like new after one cycle! Thank goodness, because they have pretty sharp edges. The rest of the hood we just clean with Simply Green. That stuff is amazing on grease!

Occasionally, I'll mix it up with some sesame oil, five spice powder, minced green onion and salt & pepper. It makes a pretty tasty turkey burger. But I have to agree, I do like chicken burgers better. Heinz 57 Sauce is also pretty good in either turkey or chicken burgers!

My mother was pretty good considering she was selftaught as a cook. She made (still does, I guess) great scrambled eggs. But whenever she made a pot roast (pretty deadly in itself), we had leftovers which were usually the roast meat cut up to make a flavorless unchewable stew. I can't guess how many times we did the mouth to napkin to toilet routine on that one.

Could you make a super rich chocolate cake and call it the Miami Vice Cake? You could even do some day-glo icing, maybe...

I totally agree with you; if I cannot think of anything for dinner, I would not turn to a boxed meal. Sometimes I come home from work, and if what Rachel Ray is making on 30 Minute Meals looks good, I jot down the ingredients and run back out to the store! I find her irritating, but I do like many of her recipes. I am not condoning using Semi-Homemade as an alternative to buckling down and learning how to cook. Even if it's just learning how not to over-cook pasta! I was just wondering about it as an alternative to dialing out for junky food delivery/carryout... **And I don't want to give the impression that I think all delivery is junk food. I used to live in Chicago where I could get any kind of meal delivered, and on occasion, I did! But now I live in St. Paul, where I can't even find a Chinese restaurant that delivers! Only pizza delivers, and the good ones don't even deliver to our area. I miss my stack of delivery menus like you wouldn't believe!

Yes, it would definitely be better if they learned to cook in general, even just learn a few basics. But even that takes time. If in the meantime, they make something edible but not as healthy, instead of trying to make it from scratch, failing, and turning to Mama Celeste. What seems simple for some isn't always simple for others. At least not at first. Especially if they just don't have any experience in the kitchen beyond pushing buttons on the microwave.

Is this a promotion all over the country, or just here in the Twin Cities? On my way to work in the morning this week, they have a McDonald's ad, and whatever the current temperature is at that time, you can a second Big Mac for that price. So on Tuesday, it was -2, so if you buy one Big Mac, you can the second one for 0 cents (and yes, they actually said 0 cents instead of free!). Today, you can get the second one for 16 cents...

It wasn't so much that this was a horrible dish, but my mother would make this the night before, so we latch-key kids could pop it in the oven when we got home and it would be ready when she got home: Tuna Noodle Casserole. And of course, there would be leftovers for days! It was a biweekly occurrence. I still can't stomach the thought of it. My sister and I dubbed it "Latch-Key Cuisine"! Edited for spelling...

Okay, I am by no means defending Sandra Lee and her "Semi-Homemade Cooking". I totally agree that the end product looks noxious. But, I am wondering about her impact on people who just don't know how to cook and as a result, eat a lot of frozen prepared foods, Dominos, Taco Bell and the like. Is her book maybe a better alternative for these people? Maybe even enough to get them to start thinking about learning how to feed themselves instead of letting Corporate America determine what goes into their mouth and bodies?

When I read the description of the sandwich, I thought, "how interesting to put cold ham and hot ham in the same sandwich!" I guess I would have been duped as well. I think "Buffalo-style Ham" would have been a better description! edited to add: Or "cappicola-style ham"?

Yep. But if they didn't work so well, I probably wouldn't bother. I buy multiple boxes when they are on sale. Maybe if enough of us complain!

I have to agree! Once we started buying fabulous, locally produced bacon, it's been hard to look at Oscar Meyer in the same way. Also, Hamburgers after reading the Drive-In Cooking eGCI class. That's the only way we make them now!

Not quite the last person! I love these too! Put a little hot sauce on the inside, mmmmm! I have a hard time resisting Culver's Butter Burger Deluxe. It's become my favorite stop when I'm driving to Chicago from St. Paul.

I don't know if it helps, but I found these two sites: Oxtail soups, Question #15 and Specified Risk Material (SRM) from October 2003 . I hope oxtails are okay! I had two bowls of oxtail stew when I was home for the holiday last week. I'll let you know if I'm not feeling so good in the near future!

I don't think New Yorkers are any more or less likely to be ill-mannered than people anywhere else. The ill-mannered people I observe are my fellow Canadians, and Canadians are stereotypically (and wrongly) considered to be unusually polite. New York was number 3 on the Best-Mannered Citieslist this year, so they can't be that bad!

LOL! That happened to John Braise (aka Jeremy) and his dad! We missed his father for Father's Day, but had gotten him grill tools with Craftsman screwdriver handles. So we left it in the car to give to him later when we met him for dinner the next month for Jer's birthday. His dad gave him his present while we were waiting for appetizers, and the look on his face when he felt the package was priceless. And also tipped me off right away - a nice set of grill tools with Craftsman handles! Very funny! Gave: First edition The Art of French Cooking electronic thermometor Fannie Mae Mint Meltaways Nonnies Traditional pound cake a giant mortar and pestle Received A big crock pot Fannie Mae Mint Meltaways (yes, the same ones I gave!) The Apprentice some christmas-y placemats and napkins lots of wine I almost forgot my Martha Stewart Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook!!

How about an Outdoor wood burning oven? Mmmm. Charred goodness...

My trainer agrees with you 100%. Plus, she can tell if I haven't had enough water, because I can't recover from excercises as well. If I'm not hydrated enough, I have to take breaks in between exercises, rather than moving on to the next one. Also, we also have A New Way to Cook. We've liked everything we've made out there so far. A lot of it is common sense moderation.

I was stopped by airport security with a round of Chihuahua cheese. They asked me three times what it was, asked me about the electronics in my bag (i.e. my walkman!) and rubbed some cloth on it to check for explosive residue. I would definitely suggest taking it out and putting it in plastic wrap so you can go, "Look, it's just cheese!"

I know John Braise doesn't want to hear this, but it will take me an eternity to erase the memory of the turkey gravy his father served last week. It looked good in the gravy boat, but tasted like a spoonful of sugar! Apparently, he used the juices from the turkey from when he smoked it (and please, don't ask me what juices those are!), and reduced them with some apple cider. And I believe there was some soy sauce in there for "color". Talk about mashed potato abuse! Thankfully, I didn't put on my meat!

You'll be happy to know that our Viking range has been in constant use since we bought it! In fact, we redid our kitchen so that it would be showcased better - it didn't fit in well with the 70's marigold decor. Actually, we wanted to do the kitchen anyway...

How about Turkey Mole? That's what we did with most of our turkey this year, and it was great! We used one of the mole recipes from Rick Bayless - it makes a lot, so we just freeze it for easy mole enchiladas, tacos, tamales, etc. We have Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen, but there are also some wonderful mole recipes in Mexico - One Plate at a Time. There are also a couple of good recipes on Food Network's website

Now I'm going to have to add Hot Doug's to my list of stops when I come home to Chicago tomorrow for the holiday! I may have to even bump off Weiner's Circle from the list! I always stop there anyway; it will be nice to try something new. Ah, can't wait to sit in traffic!

It sounds sick, but I love them. I also love my Dyson vacuum, though, so I could be just nuts. But I did call them. They do not make refills for the Swiffer Dusters at this time, but thanked me for my interest. Uh-huh...

Exactly! If I loved it, I'd be disappointed I couldn't have the recipe. But I certainly would want them to make for me again! And hopefully, my friends feel the same way!