lesfen

The first few weeks are always great, aren't they? Zucchini pancakes/fritters and fried zucchini are favorites around here. When the honeymoon phase has passed, I shred it almost as soon as it comes in the door, bag it, and throw it in the freezer. Then I sneak it into almost everything... pasta sauce, meatloaf, meatballs, soups, etc. It's nice to have a bag around for muffins and bread at a later date too... you know, when it's cool and you can actually use your oven!

My homemade stock/broth is tasteless and terrible and I will purchase stock in a carton while the bland liquid that I made sits in my freezer. Sometimes I use it if I'm making a big batch of soup, but even then I supplement with the stuff in the box.

Yes! We used to receive Enstrom's as an office gift from a sales rep. When she retired, we were sad and missed her... but we really missed that Christmas treat. 1. Little Debbie's Nutty Buddy. I hate to admit that I lose all control when eating these and end up with a wafer bib. 2. M&M's... regular or peanut, I can't choose. 3. Mother's Flaky Flix. My friends on the west coast tell me that these are no longer available, and that makes me really sad.

I adore french toast, but it has to be made with good thick bread. I also like pancakes, but I really prefer pancakes that aren't just... well... pancakes. I like my pancakes to have a little texture to them, so I tend to go for cornmeal pancakes. (Funny... in my family we call pancakes "sonsabitches" because my grandmother would stand at the stove making them muttering "son of a bitch!" the whole time.) But waffles... oh waffles... I love you. All of you. If only I had a brunch buffet style waffle maker in my house... and by that I mean the machine and they guy making the batter. I'm hopeless at making them, but I love to eat them.

Must... have... tattie scones... (gasp)!

Forgive me, but what's the problem with microwaving a meatball? I've been making meatballs in the microwave for 12 years and have had nothing but raves about the texture. 6 at a time in a glass pie plate... 3 minutes... flip... 2-3 minutes more... into the warm sauce waiting on the stove. (I also safeguard against dryness by using bread soaked in milk and a box of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry, in my mixture.)

Vanity Cakes from On The Banks Of Plum Creek, from the Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I used to beg my mother to make them, chasing her through the kitchen while waving the book at her.

Swoooon!!

Same boat here. I lost my job last week and now have to figure out how to feed four people, three meals a day... which I've never had to do before. That seems odd to say. My two-year-old and five-year-old ate breakfast and lunch at grandma's house, I ate frozen lunches or leftovers, and my husband usually picked up something for lunch. So, now I'm down an income and up two meals a day. Yeeeesh. It's probably going to me a few weeks to get into the swing and see how everything flows but I think we can do it. Husband and I made a pot of chili last night so whatever we don't eat tonight will be frozen and tomorrow I'll be making a big batch of pancakes to freeze. Actually, the hardest part of this whole ordeal so far has been convincing the kids that not all food comes in nugget form.

I gotta say... thank goodness for the bite-sized versions of candy bars out there. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I can't handle a whole candy bar anymore. My 5-year-old got a full sized 3 Musketeers bar in her Halloween basket and let's be honest, I'm not going to let her eat a whole candy bar... so mommy did it. I thought I was going to die. That is way too much candy for me. I can't imagine trying to choke down a whole mint version. I will agree that the mint version needs more chocolate. For me, the Take 5 is king. My husband and I will share one and it's just the right amount of candy and a great mix of sweet and salty.

Agreed. My husband and I ate there once. ONCE. We affectionately refer to it as "The Ass Steak Incident". That was the single worst piece of food that ever passed through these lips. We couldn't decide whether it was meat that went bad or if it was just awful. When we mentioned it to the waitress she blamed it on the marinade but took them off the bill anyway. We had Guinness for dinner that night.

My roasting rack. Blah. It doesn't fit into the sink well and it's just a pain in the ass.

Woof... talk about your culinary wasteland. Quaker Steak is probably your best bet, altho' I wouldn't hesitate to tell you to go about 15 minutes off the map to Austintown, OH (just a hair West of Youngstown) and pick up a Wedgewood pizza (Google it) for the road. Go for the Original Everything and take it with you. Mmmm... delicious strips of salami. (Cue Homer drool.) It's great hot but even better at room (or car) temp., but I don't think that pizza would make it to the border. Edited to correct my directions.

That bread is gorgeous. As so often happens when I'm eGulleting, I'm seething with bread envy. I have to add my 2-cents for the nom d'pooch... Dudley.

You had to be born in Akron to enjoy Sauerkraut Balls. Stinky little hush puppies. They're addictive but that first taste is always a little odd.

Pretty. Looks like it should be a valentine.

Oooooo... That monkfish looks friggin' AMAZING!!

Mother-In-Law... hands down. Now she doesn't claim to be a great cook but she does cling to a few 'signature dishes'. One being what she calls rice pilaf. It's really not all that bad but it's nothing more than rice (Minute), beef broth, Lipton's Onion Soup Mix, and jarred mushrooms. It's the only thing that the family trusts her to bring to the family functions. The other is her meatloaf. Oh gawd, the meatloaf... loaf being the key word here. Ground chuck, bread crumbs, an egg, and more Lipton's Onion Soup Mix. That's it. No really, that's it. Molded into a ball and baked within an inch of it's sad little life. I actually had the urge to dump my water on it just to get it down. I still love her tho'. She actually threw me a curve ball a few weeks ago. I went to pick up the girls and she had supper waiting for me. Fried chicken legs. I eyed them suspiciously because I didn't see a stitch of breading of any kind on them. Then I bit into one and was really surprised. It had the thinnest, most delicate crust I'd ever had on a piece of chicken. It kind of crackled under my teeth like a Rice Crispy. It was well seasoned, juicy, and completely cooked. No jiggly pink bits to be found. I was so impressed that I didn't even want to know how she did it. I just enjoyed it and tried to erase the memory of too many bone dry crumbly meatloaves from my head.

My beef isn't exclusive to the grocery store, but I notice it there the most... it's the person standing TOO CLOSE to me in the check out line. Way too close. When I'm behind someone in a line, I treat it like cars on the freeway... two car lentghs on the freeway, two people widths in line. (Well, maybe not two, but at least one and a half.) Why? Because I respect your personal space. There is nothing that will set me on edge like being repeatedly nudged by someone's purse, or merchandise, or body. STEP BACK! There is absolutely no reason for you to be right on top of me! Ugh! It gives me the willies just thinking about it. My space ( ). Your space ( ). This makes me sound like a crazy person, I realize, but jeez... take a step back.

LOL!!! I was talking to a customer from Skyway Electric while I was typing! That's what I get for screwing around at work.

Ruhlman is far from being one of the "real people" he claims to identify with having grown up affluent and attending only private schools - he wrote a book about it. ← I'd be pissy if someone took me to Skyline, and I'm about as 'real' as you can get! I can't believe anyone eats that slop by choice. Gaaaa. Don't blame Cleveland for Skyline... that's Cinci's fault. By the end of the HK episode I was absolutely famished. Everything looked fabulous and I want to go there... tomorrow. Edited to correct my work related flub on Skyline Chili.

The one with the story... with the blended oatmeal and the Hershey bar. No espresso powder.

I'm a little embarrassed that I'm NOT embarrassed about my Campbell's and RR cookbooks. The only one that I'm truely embarrassed about is "InterCourses:an aphrodisiac cookbook". My well meaning husband bought it for me for Valentine's Day, long ago. I've never actually tried anything from it, but when my mom comes over and looks at my cookbooks, it sticks out like a sore thumb and I just want to die.

I hate my George Foreman grill and I can't even give the damn thing away. We call it the GF Hot Dog Maker because that's the only thing that we use it for. I have a set of Wolfgang Puck stainless pans that my mom got me for Christmas about 7 years ago and I have no complaints about them. They clean up beautifully and seem to heat very evenly. The omlette pan didn't make it, but that's my husbands fault, not Wolfy's.

Oddly enough, my most requested recipe is for those damned "$250 Neiman Marcus Cookies". You know, the recipe that you received in your email inbox ten years ago with some BS story about mistakenly paying $250 for the recipe? I make them every year in the fall, bring them to work, and wait for the requests to roll in. I don't know if I can post the recipe here but a Google search will turn up what you need right away.