Terrasanct

Beautiful. I'm still waiting for tomatoes here.

This is a pretty long list, but it's my staples master list. I know I get other things, too. Like bottled curry sauces, for times I'm in a real hurry. baby corn baking powder baking soda bamboo shoots barbecue sauce bouillon brown sugar cereals chili chips chocolate chips chocolate syrup chow mein noodles cocoa mix cocoa powder coconut corn meal corn tortillas cornstarch crackers cream of mushroom soup cream of tartar cream of wheat Crisco flour honey horseradish hot sauce Italian herbs jalapeno peppers jam ketchup lemon juice manicotti marshmallows mayonnaise molasses mustard noodles oats olives Parmesan cheese pasta peanut butter pickles pineapple raisins refried beans rice salad dressing salsa salt spices sugar syrup teriyaki sauce tomato sauce tortillas taco shells vanilla vegetables water chestnuts yeast

I reseasoned the one I bought, under the assumption that it could have been sitting for a long time. And it's not that hard to do, so why not? I haven't used cast iron except for Le Creuset for years, but I had found a pecan cake recipe that was supposed to be baked in one, so I thought I'd pick one up. I got two boxes of cookbooks from a yard sale on Friday, and I asked the woman if I could get a price for the whole boxes, instead of having to count them all. She said, fine, and gave me both of them for $3! I was expecting to pay ten or twenty, but I didn't argue.

That sounds like an interesting preserve. Does the vinegar serve the same purpose as lemon juice? As far as the poundcake, yes, please post the recipe. Thanks. I used some more of the fresh peaches last night by serving them with the chocolate gelato. Mmmm....

Racheld, sounds like you find a lot of bargains! My daughter used to work at at thrift shop in Seattle and got all kinds of Fiestaware, Jadeite, and other things for her kitchen. She learned which things were good by working at the store. I don't know anything about those--I'm always looking for books. The garage sales here are really good, though. There are a lot of people here selling antiques who don't know their value. I live in a hundred year old house, and I feel like I really should have more antiques to put in my built-in china cabinet. But if I started bringing home pretty dishes, I'd never stop.

I've only been there once. Thought the pancakes tasted good, felt sick afterwards.

Every time I read this it looks like Panty Staples, and all I can think of is, ow, that sounds painful. So what did you end up buying?

IHOP puts pancake batter in their egg dishes, too. I don't trust anyplace that does that. That's why they won't give you nutrition info. Big portions--when I was 14 I went to visit my aunt and uncle. We ate dinner at a truck stop. I wasn't very hungry, and ordered a taco for dinner. I got three HUGE tacos, beans, and rice, all in very large portions. Blecch. I didn't know about truck stops. I think most places serve portions that are too large. I almost always take most of dinner home with me.

I re-did the failed gelato. Melted it, stirred in unsweetened Valrhona, some cream, cocoa powder, and 4 beaten egg yolks. It turned out much better--rich, creamy, no ice flakes. And I managed to make it sugar-free. I'm sure it will freeze as hard as a rock, but it's very rich. I'm confused as to the actual definition of gelato, though. Whenever I've looked it up online, I've found varying, even opposing ideas of what it is. Can someone enlighten me?

This is great stuff, even if not perfected yet. It's like a lower carb Bisquik. I don't use Bisquik in my kitchen, but I'm glad to have something palatable and convenient. It's made by Tova Industries. It's been out only a year or so. Netrition.com carries it. http://www.tovaindustries.com/carbalose/page1.html -- Information http://www.netrition.com/tova_carbquik_page.html -- To buy it. It's made with something called Carbalose flour, which has 90% fewer net carbs than regular flour. I've read that the flour itself is now available, but I haven't tried it yet. Any recipe that can be made with Bisquik can be made with Carbquik. I've used it for biscuits, waffles and pancakes, cobblers, fruit crisps, and to thicken gravy, among other things. It sometimes has a bit of a taste that's different, but it's not bad. The biscuits don't always rise very well, but the pancakes work out just fine. The Low Carb Friends bulletin board has a ton of good recipes to try with it. Good luck to your dad--I think this could be a big help.

But if I take a sip of it and it's gone bad, that's a different story. Or if I pour myself a cup of coffee and it's cold, do I have to pay for that? I'm not disagreeing with your other points, but I think the answer sometimes has to be "it depends."

I made the duff and we had it for breakfast. Yum! I had to make a few changes because carbs in the morning don't agree with me. Instead of the flour, etc., I used Carbquik. It's a low carb baking mix, the first one that doesn't taste like crap. It's not quite as good as regular flour, but it's a lot lower carb, and worth the trade-off, in my opinion. Subbed Splenda for sugar. I added cinnamon and nutmeg to the duff and served it dribbled with cream. It was really good, and so easy to make. I want to try the plaut, too. I'll make that recipe without substitutions because I don't think it will work otherwise. I'll have to wait for a cooler day, though.

Those both sound excellent! The peach duff looks like an upside-down cobbler. I appreciate the plaut recipe, since I couldn't find anything in a search, thanks. It's going to be almost 100 today, but if I start baking right now...

Oh, yeah. I bought one of those two weeks ago for $3. I'd been looking for one but just couldn't stand to pay too much. Everything turns up eventually if you keep looking. One good thing about Billings, Montana--the garage sales here are fantastic.

That pastry sounds interesting. Do you have a good recipe for it? I made peach gelato the other day, but one of the peaches was bad so it wasn't very peachy. I've got a big bowl of sliced peaches in the kitchen right now. I know I'll have to freeze some, too. Right now we're having peaches with cream and granola. Yum. The peach pie sounds good, too. I bought a peach pie a few weeks ago and it was made with canned peaches, so I've been wanting a good one since then.

I have about ten pounds of peaches. They're ripe and need to be processed tonight. I'll probably freeze most of them, but what would be good and fresh tasting for dessert?

Yeah, I'll third that one. I've never even opened that one up, because I see so many of them. Almost all of the cookbooks I buy now are from yard sales and used book stores. I see some of everything, but there really are a lot of microwave cookbooks, and a lot of skinny hardbound books with 1960's fake-looking food. And spiral bound local cookbooks, of course. As far as other food related finds, last weekend I bought a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for five bucks. No bowl, but since I have two extras, that wasn't a problem. And a copy of Master Cook software for two dollars.

I checked out their website. I'd buy them if they sold them here. Wyoming has them, for some reason, so maybe I'll pick some up next time I go down there.

I didn't put in a garden this year. Now I miss it. Tomatoes aren't quite ready here in Montana. The best way to eat a tomato--in your hand, in the garden. Second best way, with the salt shaker in your other hand. I used to make a great herb-garlic sourdough bread that I sold at a farmers market in Washington. Two slabs of that and a big old slice of beefsteak tomato--heaven.

My mom once told me that milk chocolate is like a mother's love, and dark chocolate is like good sex. My own mother said that. And she likes dark chocolate better, too.

Most of this wasn't eaten while traveling, but I grew up on a farm. So we had beef tongue, which isn't bad, but not very exotic. And sweetbreads and oxtails, of course. And my mom made head cheese once. The worst part was coming home from school and seeing a burlap bag on the front porch....of course I looked to see what was in it. A pig's head. I still tried the head cheese, which I thought was gross. I felt sorry for my mom, having to cook that thing because my dad wanted it. I've also had powdered worms in doughnuts, crickets, escargot (hey, when you're 11 that's pretty daring), antelope, elk, venison, prairie chicken, bull testicles, and a very strange dessert in Egypt that I mentioned in another thread. I'll try most things I'm offered, but I draw the line at fugu and most insects. Especially spiders. And no primates, either, even if they weren't endangered. That's too close to cannibalism.

A year or so ago, I bought several kinds of chocolate and did a blind taste test with my husband and son. They're big Hershey's lovers and liked the Lindt the most. (Not that I never eat Lindt; I'm a big fan of the mint Lindor balls.) We compared Hershey's milk chocolate, Lindt milk, Valrhona, Callebaut, Scharffenberger, and some others that I don't remember now. Most of them were at least palatable, but the Valrhona had a complexity that the others didn't. It was fruity and almost smoky, with a lingering aftertaste. Some of the others tasted waxy in comparison. The dark chocolate was wasted on the men. More for me.

I saw a link to a Mario recipe for fried zucchini leaves on the food network website. The recipe doesn't seem to be there, though.

It was just an experiment--I wanted to see what chocolate milk would turn out like. I added about a quarter cup of cream and some melted Callebaut unsweetened for some extra richness. Not rich enough. So I'm trying to figure out if I want to cook it with eggs like a custard or just add more cream. I think I'll have to heat it up, whichever way I go with it.

I keep veggies in my freezer because I run out of fresh ones too quickly. I suppose that's a convenience food, but I was thinking more of the things that are prepared or partially so. But then, frozen veggies are often more fresh than what you get in the supermarket. Most prepackaged foods are high in sodium and other things that I don't really want. I always wonder when I eat a can of soup--does anyone really like this much salt? I have to drain out most of the broth and replace it with water just to make it somewhat palatable.