RSincere

That's cool--I did the buy one get one free thing on thegoodcook.com and those were two books I got! Edit: Whoops, I didn't get the New Way to Cook. That's at my library and I was going to check it out. I got the I Love to Cook Book. Hope it's good.

I hope you report them to the eBay fraud department. I believe eBay has some kind of guarantee if that happens to you. I might be wrong, though.

That site on egg safety is interesting. I get my eggs from a local farmer. Here is a tip from that site; I want to make mayonnaise in the next couple days--does anyone do this: "Cooking Egg Yolks for Use in Recipes – Because egg yolks are a fine growth medium for bacteria, cook them for use in mayonnaise, Hollandaise sauce, Caesar salad dressing, chilled souffles, chiffons, mousses and other recipes calling for raw egg yolks. The following method can be used with any number of yolks. "In a heavy saucepan, stir together the egg yolks and liquid from the recipe (at least 2 tablespoons liquid per yolk). Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, until the yolk mixture coats a metal spoon with a thin film, bubbles at the edges or reaches 160° F. Immediately place the saucepan in ice water and stir until the yolk mixture is cool. Proceed with the recipe." Finally, I've done Google searches and also searched eGullet, but I must not be searching well because I can't find anything that says how long homemade mayo lasts in the fridge. Can someone tell me? Sorry to go a little off-topic!

They were dry and thin. The rice noodles themselves were okay, but the proportions of the recipe were off to me. It called for 12 oz. rice noodles. I thought he meant 12 oz. dry, that's what I used, but it was WAY too much. After they were soaked, I was supposed to fry them in a pan. I used a 12-in. skilled and they were just too unwieldly. I ended up scooping about 1/3 of them out and using the rest. Even then, there still was a huge proportion of rice noodles to the few vegetables. Maybe it was supposed to be that way, but it would have been nice to have a little more of the vegs to add sweetness (peas and fried onions) to counteract all the curry powder, and some more crunch. Finally, even though I fried the curry powder in the oil with the vegetables like the recipe said, the finished dish was kind of grainy and had an unpleasant texture of graininess over the rice noodles. The Cincinnati chili from the FoodTV site (Sara Moulton) was pretty good. On the show, Sara didn't drain the three lbs of ground chuck, and the recipe didn't say to drain it after frying it either. So I didn't, and added the 3 cups water and 16 oz. tomato sauce. It was supposed to evaporate down in 2 hours but it really didn't evaporate enough, and there was SO much grease. I ended up using a large shallow spoon to scoop out some of the grease and got almost 2 cups of hamburger grease out of the dish. Next time I'll drain the hamburger before adding the water. Otherwise it was pretty tasty but seemed to be missing something, it needed some kind of depth of flavor. I also regretted not salting the meat when I put it in the pan, because no matter how much I salted the finished chili, it didn't seem to penetrate the meat and the meat itself was bland.

I probably first heard of them 6 months ago, when I started watching Food Network. It was a standing joke at my place for a while that Rachael Ray was incapable of cooking an entire meal without chipotle in adobo. I haven't tried them yet; the hottest chile I have used in my cooking would be the canned mild green chiles. But I do plan on trying both chopped jalapeno and chipotle. I'm afraid they might be too hot, but it won't hurt to try.

I only started making my own salad dressing last month. I have a bottle of Kraft Ranch (otherwise known as White Trash Ketchup) and Kraft Peppercorn Ranch. I had Kraft Cheese Ranch as well but it tastes really gross and I threw it out. I usually had a bottle of Kraft Italian in my shelf because I used to use it to marinate flank steak but I haven't done that in a long time. I also have Wishbone Red Wine Vinaigrette that I used in a disgusting recipe for peanut sauce (don't ask) and now I have half a bottle left, I don't know what to do with it--it's mostly corn syrup. Also, Hellman's Mayonnaise and Miracle Whip (husband/son prefer it to mayonnaise for sandwiches, although I won't use it in cooking).

That's so funny. Last night I couldn't sleep and I was pondering the fact that I couldn't think of any enemies, because I thought it would be deliciously evil to soak a bunch of cotton balls in fish sauce and sneak them into someone's drawers, under their rugs, in their couch cushions... Not that I'd ever do that. I will work up the courage to try it, what you say makes sense. But I think the right time to try it is not when I'm already fighting to keep food down. Based on another thread, I looked for "Baby" fish sauce and another brand that was recommended (can't think of the name) but couldn't find it so I bought "A Taste of Thai." Maybe that's a bad brand. Tonight I'm making Cincinnati Chili (two way) using Sara Moulton's recipe from her show yesterday. It looked really good and the only ingredient I don't have is mace!

Philadelphia makes it. I find it at Super Walmart here in Wisconsin, Woodman's, and Pick 'n' Save. I forgot another one. Microwave a potato with some broccoli, topped with (a lot of) cheddar cheese and Lawry's seasoned salt.

Oh, yes. My mom always gave us saltines and 7-up when we were sick. To this day, it's what I eat when nauseous. They help! We always got the ones that said "Premium" on the side of the tin, I think that's the name of the brand. Fat-free saltines are hideous. So are salt-free. My dad always used a humongous handful of crushed saltines in his soup (usually we had Campbell's tomato, or homemade chili). I always thought that it was a very sophisticated, grown-up thing to do, and only kids ate their soup plain. Dad would be mad if we were out of saltines, if my mom was serving soup. I also remember the four-pane version. It must have been in the '70s because I was born in late '73. When I found out our neighbor kids ate butter on saltines as snacks, I thought it was very exotic. My mom used icky "oleo" so whenever my friend Rhoda would share her buttered saltines, I was very happy. In first grade, when we made butter by taking turns shaking cream in a jar, everyone got a little taste of the fresh butter on a saltine.

I have a lot of dinners like this because I am alone at night, and don't often feel like cooking for just me. You probably won't want to do what I do, but I have bagels with cheesecake flavor cream cheese, or Ritz crackers with cheese spread, or chips and salsa, or fruit and yogurt. Save all the calories for ice cream or a bomb pop later!

Not that fancy, but my lunch was great. I'm eating some really good food ever since I decided to REALLY learn to cook (none of this five-can casserole crap anymore). And interestingly enough, even though I'm using butter, olive oil, and cream in my cooking, I'm losing weight without trying. Contrast this to the EIGHT months I spent low-carbing (25 carbs or less/day, and I was obsessive about it) in which I lost only TWO pounds total. To be fair to Dr. Atkins, I have med issues and pituitary issues. I don't know why I'm losing the weight now, but I'll take it! Anyway, Lunch! Sauteed 4 oz. pollock per person in butter with garlic, lemon pepper, salt. Lemon squeezed over at the end. Sauteed 1/2 lb mushrooms and a large shallot, added vegetable broth, and made rice. I added a small handful of Parmesan cheese to the rice at the end just because I wanted to use it up. The whole meal for both of us cost less than $5 total. I don't know why pollock is so cheap but I got a pound of filets IQF for $1.79. Yesterday I made a rice noodle dish out of "How to Cook Everything." I'm sorry to say I hated it. It had rice noodles, peas, onions, curry powder, soy sauce. But I was also very nauseous because of meds, so that could be why I didn't like it. I also couldn't bring myself to use the fish sauce called for in the recipe because I smelled it in the bottle before adding it and seriously gagged. Does it taste like it smells?! Sorry if that's a stupid question.

No doubt! I can never find anything I want to eat at the restaurant itself, but I love the salt water taffy.

ROAD TRIP! I have to have a 32 oz. diet Coke. Has to be diet Coke and unless there is no other option, it has to be a fountain drink. Either way, it must be in a cup with a lid and a straw and ice coming approx. 1/3 of the way up the cup. I much prefer the fast food diet Coke in this order: McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Hardee's (they use way too much ice). I find that most gas station fountain drinks are too flat, or they use Pepsi, or the cups are styrofoam so it doesn't taste as good, or you have to stand around and wait for the worker to refill the syrup/CO2. If there is no other option, I will take a 32 oz. cup with a lid and straw and ice and buy a couple of 20-oz. sodas. I always point out to the counter person that I took the cup/ice, and explain to them that it's because their machine isn't working properly. I've never been charged for the cup. I take my diet Coke verrrrry seriously. I've had this fountain drink fixation for at least 12 years. Snacks: cheese/cracker packs, Combos, Skor, Tootsie Rolls, Smarties, Cheetos, M&Ms, Almond Joy, but not all at once. Here in WI you can get little packs of cheese curds at the gas stations, but they often put them up on the counter for an impulse buy and you never know how long they were sitting out.

My son eats Spaghetti-os several times a week and they make me gag. My husband eats them at room temperature right out of the can. Thought of another one. My mom would buy Swanson's Chicken a'la King in a can, but it was cheaper to buy cream of mushroom soup, so she'd mix the two in order to save money, and served it over toast. Usually she added leftover chicken. I love that "recipe" but haven't had it in a long time. I'll pretty much eat anything if it's on a "shingle." I love anything a'la King and fake rarebit. Creamed anything on toast! Yum!

43. I'd probably have more, but I take a lot of cookbooks out of the library, copy any interesting recipes onto index cards, and return the books, because for many books there are only a couple I know I'll try. And I have given away/lost/lent out and never got back/sold on eBay at LEAST 100 more.

Wow, I was just talking to my neighbor about that the other day, how my mom always made those disgusting Chef Boyardee pizzas that smelled like vomit! Then my neighbor says, "Oh, I love those, I make those all the time!"

For the really corny: If at first you don't fricassee, fry, fry a hen.

That's the technique I finally settled on after overdoing them the first two times out. When in doubt undercook. Even two minutes on the first side and a minute on the second side is way too much. I do press mine gently with a large spatula when it hits the hot pan to increase the searing effect a bit but that's probably overkill. Wish I had read this. Boy, oh, boy. I had a cookbook that said medium rare is 3-1/2 min. per side. So I did 3 min per side thinking that would be rare. The inside was pink, but cooked, and I had over salted, so my lovely tuna steaks tasted just like salty canned tuna. You weren't kidding! I could have saved a lot of money just eating it out of the can! I have two more tuna steaks to try out (hopefully not DRY out). Next time, I'll do 45 sec. per side.

Oh, yeah, taco night! Big deal in my house growing up. I do believe I have a taco kit somewhere in my pantry. This is so silly. Right now, I'm baking a simple 8x8 vanilla cake that I made from scratch, half a pound of butter and all. My son asked me to frost it. I have some canned frosting in my pantry because I had a bunch of coupons for it quite a while ago and I bought it in case I'd need it. I used to love the stuff as a kid! My mom would frost the cake or cookies, and we'd frost graham crackers with the leftovers. But I opened the can, and smelled that chocolate chemical smell, and I can't do it. I just CAN'T put that stuff on my cake. The unopened cans I'm donating to a food shelter along with some of the other things I purged out of my pantry--Stove Top, etc. But I can't put that crap on my beautiful cake!

Browned country-style ribs in a pan, then simmered in my last hold-out jar of Barilla spaghetti sauce for an hour. I made rice to go with it. It was good at first, but the pork flavor was just kind of off-putting after a while. Kind of nasty. I don't know why. Maybe I just took too big of a piece!

Mashed potatoes made from the flakes. It's what I grew up on . When my mom would make them from scratch on special occasions, they'd turn out gluey and lumpy and none of us would eat it. Including my dad, who to this day won't eat any other bread but the Bread of Wonder. So my mom grumblingly started providing the potato-flake mashed potatoes on all holidays as well. Even now that her "kids" range in age from 21 to 37. We grew up in Minnesota, lived on a Lutheran college campus (Dad was a prof) and lived a very Garrison Keillor existence, complete with hot dishes and funeral casserole. I hated a lot of it but definitely developed a taste for things such as tater tot hot dish...and Frankwiches! From a 1970s Better Homes and Gardens Meat Stretcher cookbook, which I still have--you slice up a package of hot dogs, mix it in a big bowl with a can of Campbell's tomato soup, throw in some pickle relish, minced onion, mustard, and American cheese or Velveeta, mix it all up, put about 1/3 cup on each toasted hamburger bun, wrap in foil, and bake 20 minutes. Nasty, but the ultimate in comfort food for me. And it really stretches a pack of hot dogs.

Thank you, Susan! That looks fabulous--gotta love a salad where the calories are listed as 722 and the fat 60 gm for one serving! I'm still going to try it. I'm trying to decide if I should chicken out on the endive and go with romaine, which I know I like. I've never developed a taste for the really bitter stuff, although a little bit is okay mixed in with mild. I don't think I've ever had an endive salad.

Hmmmmm. The only "hash" I have ever eaten involved Ritz crackers and evaporated milk.

Next time that happens, try a little acid--citrus juice, or vinegar. Maybe it just needs the "brightness." Thank you, I will try that! Now, what if it's too "sharp," or vinegary, or sour? I'm torn between adding cream/butter, or sugar. Part of the problem is I don't know what these classic pan sauces are supposed to taste like. The first time I made beurre blanc, when I tasted it it was so vinegary I could feel it on the back of my throat--but when it was on the food, it wasn't a problem at all.

Seared chicken breast (from the instructions in "How to Cook Without a Book," ironically enough). I seasoned it with Penzey's Ozark Seasoning, but I got a little excited and overseasoned, so it tasted a lot like Banquet's take on extra spicy Southern chicken, only without the grease. Don't ask me how I know what Banquet chicken tastes like! On the side, I made pasta with a mushroom/lemon/cream sauce, with lemon basil from my patio. The recipe was from Donna Hay's "Off the Shelf," but instead of a fresh red chili I used about 1/2 tsp red chili flakes. I got that book from our library and copied the recipes I wanted to try onto index cards; that's the first one I tried. I thought it was very good, very peppery, but I must have timed it wrong because the cream sauce wasn't thick enough to stick to the spaghetti.