daniellewiley

Looks terrific! What kind of sugar did you use, and where did you find it?? And thank you Susanne for the wonderful guide - that must have taken you forever!!

I've used these very successfully too! They are great filled with a cream cheese/spinach/artichoke mixture.

Our phone book, an Easter basket, a small wooden egg "crate" and various bags of chips.

We ALWAYS get a box of this for my (soon to be ex) husband's grandmother at Christmastime. The woman is almost 91. She always has hard candy or salt water taffy in her house, she has never been to the dentist, and yet somehow, she still has all of her teeth. Now, mind you, they look horrid, but they are all there. So, anyway, we contribute to the decay with her beloved ribbon candy every year. She also likes those tins of multi-colored candies. Let me find a link: kind of like this

I love having leftover pork tenderloin or chicken for tons of stuff, but best of all is for a taco for lunch or enchiladas. I made quesidillas the other night with leftover smoked brisket. Heaven on a tortilla. ← Yep, I'm definitely planning on going Mexican with the next chunk of leftover pork. Dylan is ALWAYS happy with Mexican food, and, as you can imagine, if the four-year-old ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

I often send leftovers to school with Dylan. I deal with the "heating up" problem by putting them in a high quality thermos that I've warmed with hot water. It works wonderfully. She goes to school with hot lunch everyday, preferring that to a sandwich. The other night, I made a giant pork tenderloin with the intention of having lots of leftovers for future meals. The next night I made a stir fry with it. I also have five 1/2 pound portions in the freezer for future meals.

It was Dylan's night to pick dinner, so we had... Beanies & Weenies!! She cut up some Best's Kosher hot dogs with a grapefruit knife and dumped them into a pot of Bush's vegetarian baked beans. We served these with romaine hearts tossed with homemade lemon dressing and leftover cucumber/red pepper/feta salad from last night.

Hi Wendy! The black and white cookie should definitely be cake-like, but stale is not ever good. Ideally, it will have a lemony flavor. I think your best bet is to find a great recipe (I know the NYT published one a few years ago) and make them for yourself. It will be really hard to find a good, fresh version outside of the NY area, and since you are a fabulous baker anyway, you might as well try them on your own!

I went out to dinner with someone from Tasmania recently, and he was laughing about the Outback. Apparently, he was visiting some clients in another city in the US, and they somehow determined that the Outback would be the most appropriate place to bring the Australian. His reaction? A combination of horror and amusement.

Dylan, my four-year-old, made the salad last night! She cut up a cucumber, red pepper and a chunk of feta with a grapefruit knife (serrated, but not too sharp, no point), and then helped me toss it with leftover, homemade Greek dressing from the other night (lemon, dill, garlic, salt, dijon, EVOO).

Wow, that looks outrageous. I'm at my desk at work, mildly hungover and now craving onion soup. Is it your own recipe?

might this be the Bourdain recipe that we all adore?? Why the hell not? Everybody else is doing it. Yep, that's Bourdain! ← Ohhhhh, that recipe is just divine. I think I need to make some SOON! It was a huge hit last year. Any ideas on how to pitch it to the four-year-old? She only eats mushrooms when she doesn't know they are there. I'm thinking I need to call it by it's French name, perhaps??

I was wondering the same thing - it's gorgeous!!

Are you all using the same Carbonara recipe? Cooking every night just for myself and my daughter, I'd love to join the Carbonara crew. She will eat any type of creamy pasta, and I'm trying to wean her off of the Annie's microwaved variety!!!

I think yours looks better!!! I'm giving my daughter's teachers various homemade loaves for Christmas - I think I'll try to find some pearl sugar and give this one a try!!!

We needed a quick dinner tonight, as it was ballet/tap class for my daughter until 5:30. This morning, I threw some chicken thighs and legs into the crock pot and doused them with a couple of cups of my homemade BBQ sauce. I meant to cook them on low after an initial shot on high, but forgot to turn them down. It actually worked out quite well, yielding some yummy and vinegary pulled chicken that fell off the bone. We accompanied them with cheesy rice and a bowl of cucumbers tossed with Brianna's blush wine vinaigrette and cracked black pepper. Not bad for zero effort, and the (almost) four-year-old ate every component.

I can't wait to see the final short ribs - they look awesome! Regarding Mickey, you might want to try this: Covered Mouse Trap It is a snap trap, but the mouse has to walk into the little house first, which would protect your sweet little ferrets. Plus, it's not a gross clean-up.

Well, the composed bowl looked lovely, and can be found in the Chili Cook-Off Thread. However, I then mixed it all up, which yielded this mess (I'm especially fond of the greasy fingerprints on the spoon - it's a nice touch): It was tasty. Not pretty, but very, very tasty.

I was home all day today, and the baby cooperated, so I was able to make my first ever cook-off recipe. The other day, I bought a chuck roast in preparation for the chili. This morning, I placed it in the freezer for about 40 minutes and then cut it into 1/2 inch pieces: You can also see some fresh tomatoes (peeled, seeded and chopped) on the cutting board. The chopped up chuck was a change for me, as I am usually a ground beef kind of gal (at least for my chili). Once chopped, I put the chuck into my beloved Le Creuset dutch oven with a splash of EVOO: I browned the beef for a bit and added some minced onion (of the dehydrated variety - didn't want to wake the baby for a trip to the grocery store), two chopped green peppers, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and ground ancho. I then tossed in the tomatoes, added about four cups of water and let the whole thing simmer for a few hours. I later added a can of organic tomato sauce, more water, a can of black beans and bag of frozen corn. We ate the chili garnished with crushed tortilla chips, avocado, shredded cheese and Greek-style yogurt: It was awesome. I froze the leftovers in small ziplocs to reheat for my daughter's lunch. She loves bringing chili in a thermos. I pack her a small tupperware of sour cream or yogurt and another small tupperware with shredded cheese.

chicken salad made with curry powder and pineapple. And about 5 mallomars.

It's happening here in the midwest, too. Here is a link to the restaurant we went to for my birthday last weekend: Zingermans' Roadhouse My dad came in from NY to celebrate with me, and I actually sent him the menu via snail mail two weeks ahead of time. He went through and highlighted items of interest!!! Yes, he is a bit OCD, but still.... Oh, and this online menu doesn't include the multi-page cheese list, or the specials list, which usually has about five apps and seven mains.

how about make your own quesadillas or fajitas? do you have tortillas? everyone could just pick a filling (beef or chix) and make up their own dinner. Or, if you have lettuce, it could be make your own salad.

Our local Polish joint makes Duck Blood Soup (Czarnina) every Tuesday. I've never tried it, but my father-in-law loves it.

It sounds like you want to be your own personal chef. You'll cook all your food for the week over one to two days and store it in containers for people to eat at will, correct? I'd think Abra or some of the other personal chefs on eG might have some good suggestions for you. I don't, though this system would work for me as well! I'm eager to see the suggestions that are thrown out here.

Oh, I loved Chicken Soup with Rice as a kid! I had forgotten about it! Wasn't there a song based on this book? (Yep - just Googled it. Carole King wrote the music.) I'll need to get a copy of the book for Dylie.