Kim Shook

Yep. I sometimes place the bags in cheap cardboard boxes (like shirt boxes from $Tree) to protect the more delicate ones. Mark the outside with a Sharpie and it makes them easier to store and FIND!

Hi, tralfaz! Welcome. I, too, lurked for ages before joining. You already know that you will find lots of good friends and help here. Our chocolate folks are amazing - and very generous with advice. Looking forward to your input.

Gorgeous eggs, ma'am!

I love these cookies and have been perfecting them over the last 40-some years (I'm 58). But I admit that they aren't quite THERE yet. I'd like them to be chewier - I take them out when the "shoulders" are just slightly firm and maybe that is too soon. I'd love to know how yours turn out!

You probably don't need to have this advice, but I always use the Reese's PB chips. I've tried other brands in the past and they just didn't have that true PB flavor.

I'm so glad that you like those cookies. I've made them since I was a little girl - the recipe is from one of those series that you used to be able to buy at the grocery store. A new volume every week or so and depending on how much you spent on groceries, you could get the books for about $1. Women's Day, I think. They are our favorite cooky and can stand up to alot of messing with (adding nuts, cinnamon, etc.) and are delectable perfectly plain. @TeakettleSlim & @Porthos – wow! Y'all are my heroes. Incredible lists. Talk about something for everyone. Hope you’ll share pictures when they are done! @cakewalk – I always freeze baked cookies. One the kitchen is a mess from mixing the dough, I’d rather just go ahead and bake them then. And I’ve never had a cooky that didn’t freeze well. I do so many different “goodies” for Christmas (2 different kinds of fudge, Sponge candy, peanut brittle, Turtle candy, lemon chess tarts), that only 3 kinds of cookies will grace the table. One doesn’t really count – I do easy GF cookies from a cake mix for a niece and a friend. They love them, but I think they are gacky. I will be doing my PB cookies and some decorated sugar cookies.

Thank you! Can I just use bread flour? I have a big bag that I want to use.

Yup. Southern convenience store store food can be a hidden treasure. Some of the best fried chicken I've had has been in some wide place in the road with 4 visible houses, 9 Baptist churches and one tiny little store with one gas pump. Oddly enough, the only other place that I've found excellent convenience store food was in England!

Actually, where I've lived in the US (mostly the South), "kielbasa" and "Polish sausage" are interchangable. And delicious! My dad always grills them and slices them into chunks to be eaten with toothpicks for parties.

The recipes that @Isabelle Prescott sent me specify machines - DAK, Hitachi, Welbilt and Zojirushi. The directions are basically the same. I have a Toastmaster - does anyone see any issue with this? Also - all of the recipes call for 1 or 2 teaspoons of "gluten" as an ingredient. I have no idea what this means.

Wow! That is a treasure trove, Andie! I've bookmarked it to look through. Thank you!

Would it be possible to share the recipe forthe Alsatian Apricot Spice Bread recipe with me. I don't have that book and neither does my library!

I am thinking of making loaves of bread for Christmas gifts this year. I'm interested in recipes using bread flour, dried fruits, warm spices (cinnamon, cloves, etc.) - that kind of thing. I'd like it to freeze well. And I want to make 1 pound loaves. If anyone has a recipe to recommend, I'd appreciate it. Thanks so much!!!

The other night I did a salad with bits and pieces from the fridge: Greens with ham, cheese, mushrooms, turkey. I found a bag of King Arthur bread flour in the freezer and made a few loaves of their breadmaker white bread: This was a very good, simple loaf. Nice texture. Saturday was Decorating the tree day. We had our traditional fondue feast. Meat and sauces: Béarnaise, curry, A-1, BBQ, pizza and horseradish. Pickly stuff – including my MIL's divine green tomato pickles: Roasted shrimp, cocktail sauce and steamed potatoes: Veggies, including mushrooms and blanched broccoli. I made a tempura batter for dipping the mushrooms and broccoli into: Decent sourdough from Panera: Dessert was chocolate fondue, of course. Dried fruit, marshmallows, angel food cake and macaroons: Last night’s dinner: I used the leftover sourdough to make a ham and Swiss cheese grilled cheese w/ Dijon and topped it with a fried egg.

Saturday was decorating the tree day. Brunch was Ham & Cheese Croissant Strata. The croissants: With the custard and Gouda: Baked: Serving: Served with fruit salad:

My understanding is that meat-eaters taste really strong - not pleasant. I'm bettin' I'd taste awful.

One of the books that my MIL recently gifted me with was this: It is from Southern Living Magazine and mine is the 3rd printing dated 1975. So not terribly old. But I was surprised to find this in the Wild Game section:

I brought home some turkey breast that my MIL had cooked Wednesday in case the whole turkey wasn't enough. To me, the real reason to roast a turkey is sandwiches – hot and cold. And since I didn’t bring any gravy home from her house, this was dinner tonight: White bread, cranberry sauce, turkey, lettuce and mayo. And Utz potato chips, of course. And some of my favorite pasta salad, Wegman’s capellini w/ mozzarella and tomatoes:

I grew up in the US South and I adore "congealed salads". As long as they don't contain vegetables or meat I love them all. You don't really taste Coke in this, just like you don't really taste Coke in BBQ sauce or ham or anything else that was recommended.

I don't think it is a cultural thing, but a science thing. Stuffing left in a bird that long at room temperature is an invitation to food poisoning.

"sorry, not sorry"?

Ham are awesome cooked in it, too. But I'd better warn you after your Norman Rockwell comment () - you don't get a really browned, crisp skin in the Nesco. It will brown - and the skin isn't flabby, but it won't be exactly like that perfect Rockwell turkey.

Wonderful Thanksgiving meals folks! We went to my MIL’s, so I don’t have any pictures. I made @Ann_T's corn custard (Southerners: think corn pudding), which was fabulous, as always. MIL’s dinner was delicious – turkey, dressing, whipped potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, two different kinds of green beans (she aims to please everyone), her blue ribbon winning yeast rolls, and three pies (apple, pecan and pumpkin). What I am thankful for is that we didn’t end up in the ER. We didn’t find out until after we ate that her stuffed turkey sat on the counter STILL STUFFED for almost 5 hours. I am not a particularly fussy person (I freely double dip, leave my butter out on the counter year around, and eat after everyone I know), but I almost fell off my chair when she was talking about timing and I worked it out.

LOL! This is very similar to the Thanksgiving card I gave Mr. Kim.

This. The heat doesn't go above 65 degrees in my house unless we are entertaining babies or old folks.