CaliPoutine

Omg, my parent took us to cafe de paris( or was it crepe de paris) all the time. I remember the spinach salads and dessert crepes Not to hijack this thread, but if you're an American Lawyer living in Canada, its easier to be a chef!!

CaliPoutine: Unless your regular grocery store has an organic selection, it's literally impossible to find any bread product that doesn't either have partially hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup. I attempted to find a single loaf of commercial bread the other week and gave up after 30 minutes of reading labels. Fortunately, Triscuits are still pretty healthy. ← I went to MI yesterday and I did find one bread. Aunt Millie's 100% whole wheat Organic bread. I bought it and I'm sorry to say, it absolutely sucks.

HFCS is NOT the same as regular Karo. Although, Karo does contain some HFCS. HFCS is also known as Modified corn starch. So, when you're reading labels, you'll often see that listed. Sometimes even both are listed. Check out this list of products that contain HFCS. Kinda scary. I dont understand why Thomas's English muffins contain HFCS

I got an email sent to my AOL address( I have another isp too) about the new AOL on demand. You can subscribe( free for 14days) and watch all the shows from 2006 and 2007 ( as they are added). They're also working on adding all the archives from the past seasons. I'm going to subscribe to the free trial and check it out.

Oh, I think I'd get some complaints if I did it that way. They want to be served!! And, I wont have enough buttercream to let ppl judge how much they think is a serving.

I went to Michigan today. I picked up a bag of conversation hearts( the large ones) and some pink and red sprinkles aka jimmies. I'm going to use the butter/powder sugar icing and reach into my own stash of vanilla beans for the flavoring. Hopefully, I can get the volunteers to ice them. I dont have time to pipe the icing on as I would normally do. Thanks for all your ideas.

Ok, back to cake mix. I was watching Martha this morning and she featured a recipe Mrs. Milman's frosting. 24oz choc. chips, 4 cups cream, 1tsp light corn syrup. Supposedly the best choc. frosting Martha ever tasted, blah, blah, blah. But, Mrs. Milman herself was on TV and she said " I only use cake mix". LOLOLOLOL As an aside, Martha continually refered to the cocoa she was using as unsweetened, isnt all cocoa unsweetened? the devils food cake Martha made looked pretty good.

Do you know what ship you'll be on? What the itinirary is? My sis and BIL are currently on the Norwegian Pearl( I think its registered in the Bahamas) and I'm very anxious to hear about the food. The Pearl goes from Miamia to Cozumel to Belize City. Not that exciting.

Home Cooking and More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin. I actually cried when I read she passed away. Such a loss.

A friend's boyfriend is a farmer. He donated a 25lb bag of rutabaga and I planned to include that in my root veg bake last week. I couldnt cut the darn thing and neither could any of the volunteers.

I was perusing thru the grocery ads and noticed that pirogies are on sale. I think I might make those. I was contemplating mashed spuds, but I'll probably do those next time with the roast chicken. I like my pirogies with sour cream and my spouse likes crumbled bacon on top. I'll get a 1lb of bacon and serve it as a garnish( diced). Fresh Veg is so expensive right now because of the weather in Cali.( at least that is what all the signs at the grocery store say). 1 bunch of brocolli was 2.99. celery is 2.69. I refuse to pay that. I'd like to think that the peppers and onions are a veg, but the seniors wont buy that. I think for the dessert, I'll do cupcakes and ice cream( with sprinkles). I wonder if I can get away with not frosting the cupcakes. I refused to use canned frosting and the only frosting I can think of making is a sour cream ganache( I know I can make buttercream, but time contraints....) I was told to allow only 1 cupcake per person. It seems odd to serve ice cream when the weather is below zero( celcius)

Thats is the beautiful shmaltz. I save it for Matza Balls( I put it in a small canning jar and chuck it in the freezer). Its great for frying potatoes too.

Cook's Illustrated Chicken and Dumplings is the best!!

The next meal is on Feb 8th. I've already ordered 3 family packs of sausage( mild italian, English Banger and Honey Garlic). The sausage is on for 1.99lb. Each package has 24 sausages and cost about 11 dollars. I'm not sure how I'm going to cook them yet. Either boil and then bake or just bake. I also plan on doing onions and peppers on top of the stove. I'll also have the volunteers walk around with 2 kinds of mustard. The previous cook told me the seniors love the sausage but she fixed it with bottled bbq sauce. I'm going to make my apple cole-slaw as well. I havent figured out what kind of starch or veg or dessert. I need to do something Valentine themed for dessert. Ideas are welcome.

Susan- How about some beer cheese soup? My ex is from Shakopee and I was told that beer cheese soup is a specialty of MN( topped with a certain brand of popped popcorn). Pam- The last batch of chicken soup I made came out so much better than previous batches. I think the trick was using a Kosher chicken. The flavor and color were much deeper.

I didnt think you were picking on me!! But, for me when I cook for the seniors, it is cheaper and less time consuming. I dont use mixes for myself or when I work at my other job. Case in point, the mix cost 1 dollar. I'm using oil which is 2.97 for 3 liters. Its also not so much the cost, but the time factor. I can throw everything in the KA and walk away. I dont have to cream butter and sugar, etc. When I started this cooking job, I said I would not use bottled dressings, margarine, or preparared sauces. So, I dont feel so bad about using cake mixes. I do however, refuse to use canned frosting.

Yesterday I was watching America's Test Kitchen and they prepared Chicken teryiaki. It looked really good and not that difficult. They made the sauce from scratch( natch) and used chicken thighs. Do you subscribe to the CI website? If not, I can get you the recipe.

Yesterday I caterered a very large wedding( 250 guests). We have so much pork loin leftover. The loins are stuffed with apples and prunes and are fully cooked. My boss asked me what we could do with the leftovers and I suggested Pozole. Now I'm wondering if we can use this pork. Can we?

How about lasagna? Or maybe baked ziti? I'd personally prefer to make my own sauce( and I'm sure you would too), but there are some good jarred sauces on the market( Muir Glen comes to mind). You could probably just get away with making them all vegetarian. We make one at work that has sliced yellow and green squash and portabella mushrooms. Ceasar salad( I'm fond of Giada De Laurentis's recipe) and garlic bread would be a nice accompanyment.

I'll have to disagree with you. I do the majority of my grocery shopping across the border in Michigan. Cheese is just too darn expensive in Ontario. I recently discovered some new flavors from Sargento. They now make sliced aged white cheddar and a really pungent pepper jack. They're already sliced and paper separated. We really enjoy them. I've noticed though that the new "premium" offerings from Sargento are packaged in 7oz, while the regular old swiss or cheddar is 8oz.

I make mine in the cuisinart. First I pulse the flour and salt together. Then I add the cold cubed butter and pulse that a few times, then I add the water and pulse until it comes together. I dump it out onto a piece of saran wrap and form it into a round and chuck it in the fridge. I've even taught my spouse to make it and she hates to cook or bake. Btw, I use Martha Stewarts recipe.

Kate, I have both cake mix doctor books( the choc and the original book). I was very active on that message board for awhile before I discovered Eg. I've seen that recipe you mentioned, but never tried it. As you know, the first dessert I made for the seniors was a doctored up mix( the finger lickin good cake from The Cake Mix doctor). I dont have the time or the budget to bake for them from scratch and I dont feel bad about that. In fact, I bought 4 more cake mixes( duncan hines choc. fudge) yesterday for 1 dollar each. That ice cream cake recipe sounds good for the next meal I cook for them. Btw, has anyone in Canada tried the PC organic cake mixes? They only come in Choc. or Vanilla and they are very good.

Why dont we have an egullet bake-off. Let's test some doctored cake mix recipes. Here is one I use often. I've had so many requests for this. Not one person has ever guessed that it starts with pre-measured ingredients( cake mix) NEVER-ENDING CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE 1 (18.25 oz) Chocolate cake mix ( I use duncan hines choc. fudge or devils food) 1 (3.9 oz.) pkg. dark fudge instant pudding mix 1 1/4 cups buttermilk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 tsp. pure vanilla 1/2 cup chocolate syrup 1-2 Tablespoons instant coffee crystals 4 eggs 1-2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips Preheat oven to 325°F. In large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, syrup, coffee crystals, and eggs. Beat on low speed to blend, then beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes. Gently stir in chocolate chips and pour batter into greased and floured 12-cup capacity Bundt cake pan. ( I make cupcakes instead) Bake for 55 minute to 1 hour (mine was about 58 minutes) or until cake tester comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto cooling rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar for garnish or drizzle with Chocolate Glaze. (I used Chocolate Glaze)

I actually came in under budget because my caterering boss gave me 6 bags of parsnips, beef stock and I donated 6 cans of tomatoes that I bought for 24 cents each for personal use. They were Unico and I've since discovered San Marzano's so I wont use anything else but those. I also donated 3/4 of a bottle of expensive wine. I took home a bit of stew for my furry children though : ) I spent close to 100 for 35 ppl, but part of that money was for staples which dont count towards the 3 buck per person limit.

Yep, or the following week. The dining program runs the second and fourth Thursday of the month. When I ordered the beef( and yes, the meat guy did trim it up) I picked up 10 roasting chickens. They were on sale for the ridiculously low price of 99cents a pound. They're normally 2.70lb. They are currently sitting in the freezer at the agency. So, if nothing else looks good, I could always do those. The next dining program is the closest date to Valentines Day so I'll need to do a Vday themed dessert. I'm thinking a cupcake with red/pink sprinkles. Any other ideas?