Terrasanct

I've probably got about a hundred more since last time I posted. Most of them aren't anything too exciting, but I got one that I found interesting. I guess it's not really a cookbook since it's photos of food, but it's very nice. Here's a photo of the front of the book, which I was only able to find on a German website: http://www.martinaberg.com/cgi-local/shop/...962522379273616 I wish you could see inside this--the photography is beautiful. [Moderator note: This topic continues in Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? (Part 4)]

I used to have a friend who worked at a muffin bakery. We made the best bread pudding from the leftovers. Not something you'd eat every day, but it really was good!

I have a number of food sensitivities, not allergies, though. There is something in French onion soup that makes my throat close up. I don't have any problem with cheese, bread, or onions, so it can be a puzzler. I think there may be small amounts of something in the broth that can affect me. On the other hand, I feel responsible for my own strange reaction. If something is going to bother me--or kill me--I think I should be keeping an eye out for it. It's a different story if you carefully question the waiter about ingredients and they don't inform you of something potentially dangerous, like nuts. I don't think you can assume someone is lying when they say they are allergic to soup. I know it sounds a bit far-fetched, but it's really impossible to know how it affects them. Odds are it's not a real allergy, since those are relatively rare, but it can still be a problem.

You could send me some if you have too many I miss the Washington blackberries--I've been wanting to make a trip up there and pick buckets of them. I like to make jelly, but also just freeze a lot of them whole for use later in the year. That always feels like a luxury. My favorite thing to make with them is just a simple blackberry cobbler. Or a syrup for ice cream.

Meatballs and chicken wings are both things that would be good and can be kept warm easily. Not expensive, either.

Someone mentioned chicken salad--that would be good in cream puffs, too. They're small enough to be fun, and definitely "cool" enough. My kids got homemade bread in their sandwiches, which was just fine when they were in school. I was embarassed by it when I was a kid. Well, having egg salad sandwiches was pretty bad, too. I loved them at home, but when you're in grade school, anything that smells like farts will make you the butt of a joke very quickly. One thing my best friend always got that I always traded for was cream cheese and pineapple sandwiches. Sounds strange but it was really good. I think any kind of small fruit or veggies are fun for little kids--snap peas, baby carrots, blueberries in a small container. Even better if they can do something fun, like assemble their own little snacks (probably why lunchables are so popular.)

Buying an electric marshmallow toaster takes all the art out of marshmallow toasting and turns it into a science! No thanks. The best part is catching the marshmallows on fire and blowing them out, pulling off the carbonized crust, and catching the marshmallow guts on fire again. I'm one of those types. I just won't be civilized.

You've probably already used the cream cheese, but here's something easy that I've made. Combine cut up chicken (can be from a rotisserie chicken), cooked broccoli, and cream cheese. Warm up. It can be varied with onions or spices, but the basic recipe is quick and tastes good. You could serve it with any kind of pasta or side dish if you wanted to.

I think our tuna patties were made with tuna, egg, maybe some flour, and chunks of cheese. Maybe some chopped onions or onion powder. When I made them recently, I also added dried dill. They stuck together pretty well when I fried them, and tasted good with tartar sauce. My finicky husband even liked them. Most parents become expert in throwing together something cheap that will feed the whole family. In my family cookbook, my Uncle John describes his "feed the family" meal. It will probably sound familiar to most of you.

What is Johnny Marzetti? Oh, yeah, the tuna patties. I made those for dinner the other night after not eating them for thirty years, and hey, they weren't bad!

If you can afford it and want it, do it. Of course you can cook just fine on ordinary stoves, using ordinary cookware, but there's no reason not to get it, is there? How much is this behemoth, anyway?

I don't eat too many of these things anymore, but when I was growing up/when my kids were little: ketchup and mustard sandwiches on white bread tuna casserole with cream of mushroom soup biscuits and gravy--when we were really broke, the gravy was made with powdered milk and dried onions (surprisingly good) fried bologna--it turns into little caps if you fry it long enough pizza made on white bread--sometimes with ketchup and velveeta. I think this one should win a prize. My mom used to make something she called "Montana Dinner" that had macaroni, canned tomatoes or sauce, hamburger, canned green beans, and maybe cheese on top. Cheap and filling. Sometimes without the hamburger. My favorite used to be ramen with salsa or mac and cheese with salsa. Even better, saute some onions first and have with the ramen.

I think lard is another thing that got a bad rap. When we stopped eating unhealthy lard and started eating pure, white shortening was when the trouble really started. I don't use lard very often, but I never use shortening at all. A few years ago, I made my own lard (the stuff you get at the store is hyrdrogenated) and did a side by side bakeoff of pie crust. The lard made the flakiest crust, no comparison. The very best pie crust was one made with a combination of lard for texture and butter for flavor.

My teenage daughter told me I was like vanilla once. But I chose to take it as a compliment; I know more about vanilla than she does.

I think the most irritating "food" commercial of all time is the Quaker Rice Cakes one. The one with the annoying woman talking about fads, and how rice cakes aren't fads. Unfortunately, they aren't food, either. I think it must have started when the glycemic index came out and rice cakes were right up at the top, higher than sugar, I think. Quaker was scrambling to make sure that everyone knows that low carb diets are fads...but rice cakes are a wholesome part of your diet. Whatever. I'd rather have real food.

Apparently it's a common problem. Here's something I found:

I'd never go to a place like that. Even though I do watch tv during dinner sometimes--not when I've made a spectacular meal. And I didn't allow it very often when my kids were at home, either. But the dining room is the center of our house and our social life here at home. We don't ever watch tv in the living room. My husband would rather not have one at all, but I like having the tv on when there's something really boring to be done...and since he doesn't have to do the housework, it's my choice.

BLTs with basil, on ciabatta. With quickly blanched snap peas and sliced cukes with vinegar and dill. Everything except for the bacon brought home from the farmers market and prepared right away. I'm beginning to think the market here isn't so bad after all.

I have the same issues with unsweetened chocolate sometimes--splenda can make it bitter. You have to use a combination of sweeteners. I use a dash of Stevia Plus when that's the case. I haven't done a lot of cooking with splenda and flour, since I don't use flour most of the time. The nut flours are often a great substitute. Most people on low carb diets use almond meal/flour, which is readily available. I think Bob's Red Mill makes it. Also good is is hazelnut flour. I've made a lot of things with nut flours--you can make pretty passable cakes with them, and tarts. Erithrytol and polydextrose can both be purchased at Netrition.com. I like them because no matter how much you order, the shipping is $4.99. There is a pecan cake that's made with erithrytol and polydextrose that turns out really well. Let us know how your shortbread turns out.

Best thing I had today: green beans from the farmers market, cooked with bacon, onions, and shrimp. Finished with cream. Yum. I also roasted some purple cauliflower.

My son wasn't into cleaning, leaving the house, getting up from his computer, or much else. He was a decent cook, but I'd have to get him into the kitchen first. I think we're both happier. He's a good kid. I doubt he begrudges my cookbook habit.

It worked for me. I'm turning his room into a library. I added about 40 more this weekend.

Yeah, it's called a cucumber.

I'm to the west of the midwest, I guess, but there are hardly any varieties of tomatoes available here, either at supermarket or farmers market. Just the very basic ones, rarely an heirloom. In the past ten years, the variety at the store has increased, but we're no Seattle. Besides, with the advent of the WalMart food center, no one is carrying as many varieties of anything if they want to compete. I'm not sure that I'd call the midwest a desert, though...

I'm glad that this thread was brought to the top. I'm disabled, and I look forward to reading the whole thread.