dianalane

spoonfuls of dulche de leche leftover choclolate or pecan frosting (homemade of course) over saltines or to dip preztel in quickly made s'more over gas burner maple syrup on something; cottage cheese, corn bread or find something quick

Oh my this pie looks sooo fantastic. I gotta make this pie......

Do any egullet members enter their jams and jellies, baked goods, etc in the State Fair? I usually enter the baked goods competitions. It's so much fun to bake your heart out and then see what the judges say. Most have very good constructive criticism.

I grow up eating sheep head., sold as lamb head. As a kid I used to call it "alligator head". That's what it looked like to me. You need to get them cut in half lengthwise or it's hard to get the inside stuff out. The brains, tongue, cheek are delicious and my favorite parts. Mom used to roast them with salt and garlic, them shred the meat. We ate them with corn torilla as little tacos. She used to get them at a butcher on 16th street in Sac. I think possibly a hispanic butcher- they were always frozen and pre cut.

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I have always had sucess with Great Cookies by Walter. I have made the Oatmeal Raisin, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal (with different addons of my on choosing such as dried cranberries, another with unsalted peanuts and chopped up mini reese's peanut butter cups), Peanut Butter balls, Peanut Jumbles, and my favorite: Walnut Orange Merinque Mounds Another good book is Got Milk Cookie Book By Cullen. I have enjoyed the many variation of Chocolate chip cookies. Probably written for the begininng baker but I found the book useful. Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies is out of print but a definite favorite. Using her recipe I finally made a White Chocolate Macadamia nut cookie I liked. My version was always greasy. tThe recipe in the book used pulverized oatmeal which took care of the greasiness problem. I also liked the Espresso swirl brownies, Robert's Chocolate chip cookies and New Classic Brownies using a technique called Steve's ritual. I made Oatmeal cookies out of the book and was in a hurry. So I accidently combined the Oatmeal cookie recipe and the Cashew Cookie recipe on the previous page. I made the best Oatmeal cookie I ever made. The cookies were crisp and caramelly with a yummy saltiness. They were ugly though. I took them to work and people fought over them! One coworker told me the next day she dreamed about them. I tried many times but could never duplicate them again....

Finally someone else smells it too. Beet sugar smells earthy to me like dirt. Not everyone can smell it. I have asked friends to smell the beet sugar and they smell nothing. I thought it was my imagination.

I too have searched for a chewy, not hard after a few hours Oatmeal cookies. I finally found the Oatmeal Cookie recipe in the Martha Stewart Baking Book published last year (can't remember the exact title). What makes this cookie different is that it contains a small amount (I think 1/4 cup) of maple syrup. The maple syrup really makes a difference in the chew factor. I have also used corn syrup and one time Lyle's syrup and they turned out great. They do however contain coconut and raisins. But you could leave them out and throw in a little extra oatmeal.

That is too funny! They can't cook but they can write can't they?? Guppies have the right idea. ← My oldest daughter (20) is already on her own. She always hung out in the kitchen when I cooked or baked but never wanted to help. I found out recently that she is an excellent cook! She doesn't want any of my recipes; she wants to find her own way. The exchange went like this: Mom(tasting food): Ohmigod Britt, you can cook! Britt: Yes, Mom, I can. Mom: Why didn't you tell me, I would have... Britt(interrupting): Yeah mom, you would have made me cook all the time! (and starts singing " Cinderelly, Cinderelly Night and day it's Cinderelly Make the fire, fix the breakfast Wash the dishes, do the mopping....") So I have no worries about the guppies; they will pick it by OSMOSIS!

Who does the cooking in your home? I do 99% with hubbie bbqing occasionally. Do you eat foods from take-out or restaurants or buy ready-made foods often? I worry about what the kids eat so fast food only twice a month as a treat(!). We love asian food so we go out once a week to various Chinese or Pho restaurants. Do you cook absolutely "from-scratch" using unprocessed ingredients often? Like Live It Up I don't cook absolutely from scratch and I don't buy convience foods often. So I don't make butter, ketchup or mayo but I make my own salad dressings, occasionally make bread. I use canned diced tomatoes in sauces but don't use cream of soups. Are you single, married or living with other(s)? Married Do you have children? Three teenagers still living at home who have no interest in cooking but urge me to make sure " to write down all your recipes before you die." What sort of work do you do? Civil servant who supervises a small technical staff. Do you feel you have enough time to cook the sorts of foods you like to eat? I make time to try new recipes (teenagers are fickle). I cook a few main dishes on Sundays to fall back on if I'm rushed during the week. Otherwise, I cook 6 nights a week. Lately I have been on a soup/ stew kick. And I make time on the weekends for my hobby/ reason to live: baking. As a question for "extra credit" , is the form of your daily cooking/eating/dining different than it was in your family when you were growing up, and if so, how is it different? My mom didn't enjoy cooking like I do, so we ate Hamburger Helper, Manwiche, Kraft MacnCheese, etc. But when I visited my Grandmother, I was in heaven. She enjoyed cooking and enjoyed teaching me. Grandma was Mexican-American who had worked as a domestic in Jewish households in her teens. So along with my favorite beans and torillas, she made mazto ball soup with a bit of chile in the chicken broth and other Jewish cuisine with her little twists. I hated my mom's cooking: I vowed as a child to only eat real butter and cook all the foods I saw in the Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines in the library. I was always interested in trying unfamiliar food. When I was a young stay at home bride (20 plus years ago) and cooked non stop to make up for lost time, my mom visited everyday to eat.

About 6 months ago, I tried a new recipe for oatmeal cookies. The cookies weren't pretty; they came out flat and crisp. I usually do not like crispy cookies and the family didn't want to try them so without tasting them I took them to work for the staff. The staff loves to try my "experiments". Well, everyone went wild for them. I tasted one: they were delicately crisp and brown and tasted of caramel. So good! The next day, a staff member told me she dreamt about my cookies last night and would I bake another batch. Would you know, I made a mistake in one of the measurements when I baked the first batch. The second batch baked up like normal chewy oatmeal cookies and were okay. I tried different combinations of increasing one ingredient at a time but was never able to duplicate those wonderful cookies....

When I an feeling angry or stressed, I bake. I always bake the tried and true recipes when I am in this state; I would get more stressed if the recipe didn't turn out. There is something about the ritual of put on the apron, tying one's hair up, getting out grandma's bowl and lining up the ingredients that's soothing and meditative. When I bake I get completely lost in the process; hours could pass and it feels like minutes to me.

I am a member of the Lane family (married into) and I do not enjoy Lane Cake. I object to the raisins and candied cherries. The holiday cake in the John Lane family is Italian Cream Cake or Hummingbird Cake. The John Lanes' are transplanted Southerners K8's suggestion of a boozy Lane cake can only be an improvement.

At the California State Fair in Sacramento there is a Krispy Creme Chicken Sandwich with swiss cheese. The Krispy Creme part has no hole but it's Krispy Creme batter. Haven't been to the fair yet, so I haven't seen it with my own eyes. I heard about it on the local news

White bread, mayo and potato chip sandwich. I grew up eating these... and every once in a while I indulge. Strawberry jello and cool whip then homemade blue cheese dressings on top.