KitchenQueen

Alessia, That sounds wonderful.Alas, I don't have enough custard cups, nor do we have a broiler at work. And I can't stand there forever with my little torch, as many eat at different times. But you can be your booty I'll be trying this for myself.Thanks !

St.Patrick's day potluck Tuesday. Anyone have a recipe that will freeze or refrigerate well if I make it today? I'm thinking some sort of bars for ease of serving. But anything goes. I'm going with Bailey's as I have no creme de menthe in the house. (And I have a limited imagination and don't want to make a special trip to the grocer in this sloppy weather) Nuts,chocolate,cream, staples, I have .

As one who's trying to join in this experiment, I have a question. Is there a list anywhere of things that can be frozen that you wouldn't normally think freezeable? Especially dairy products in my case. I have a Foodsaver. For example, I didn't know you could freeze fresh ginger till someone told me. How much I've thrown out in my lifetime. That would be a big help.

I've never seen Callebaut priced that low for the 11lb blocks. Where are you getting it? And not a Trader Joe's for a million miles from south Texas, is there? One big prob is that no one will ship chocolate here for most of the year. Too hot. Chocolate soup in the mailbox. They won't even do overnight Fedex.

I've added nuts, chips, everything but pebbles to the batters and doughs and the beaterblade handles it fine. Trust it, and give it a try. I just realized I have not used by regular KA blade once since I bought that beaterblade.

It hasn't hit me yet (thank God) , but it has for some foodie friends. Not saying it won't be me next month. Job layoffs and and serious budget tightening. A particular friend simply cannot afford the top brands she's used in abundance for years. If you love to bake and chocolate is your thing, is there a brand that costs less than the top ones we know well? Or is it simply 'you get what you pay for' ? Or do you use inferior stuff or stop baking till your finances improve? Are there sites where one can order online for less ? I'd just gift her with some (while I can afford it) but that's too transparent. Any ideas?

Get one. But do NOT put in only dry ingredients and choose anything other than the lowest speed. Your flour will be in another zipcode. This thing CLEANS those bowl edges. Damn, I love this thing. It does everything they advertise, but better.

e-bay. search "salad tongs" silver, and check the "include title and description" box. ←

Since this thread is open, I'm searching for a gift that doesn't seem to exist. It's the only thing a very close friend wants or needs. Salad serving tongs. One piece, large and silver. She entertains constantly. I've searched everywhere. She's mentioned that it's been years since she's seen them, and has searched everywhere. She's not aware that for months I've also searched in vain. Any ideas? New or even vintage, if it's in decent shape and purty. I'm so frustrated , I might even consider stainless. Or maybe not.

One pound cake, one banana bread, one batch of heavy-on-the -nuts brownies, buttercream, and a batch of heavy batter carrot-apple-nut muffins. I'm wondering if I'll ever use the regular beater again. It's faster to start with. Absolutely no scraping down the bowl needed. Everything incorporated beautifully. Shortcomings ? Um, none that I've found yet. I did have to make a teeny little one time bowl height adjustment. That only took seconds. And I was concerned that it's all plastic, no coated metal like the other blade. But it seems really sturdy . Considering the way it performs , my only gripe is that I don't have a stake in the company.

I have the beater blade and it's wonderful. The others may be comparable, but they can't be any better. I used it all day yesterday. Beaterblade.com for the info, and I bought it on Amazon for the free shipping.

CaliPoutine, They still do make Dawn Power Dissolver. I stocked up with 5 bottles at WalMart (Houston) just a few weeks ago.

I just bought one. See beaterblade.com. I got mine on Amazon. 29.95 is the top price, varies according to your mixer size/brand, lowest is 24.95. I notice they are recently making them available for other mixers too. According to some reviews on several sites, owners love them. I haven't even tried mine yet.

I agree. I emptied my pantry and refrigerator of all Chinese made products , maybe a year ago? There will never be another in my home. Just yesterday I had someone I speak with frequently through work but have never met, tell me how she lost her beloved pet due to the tainted pet food. You say Chinese, and she goes thermonuclear. And yesterday on the net, I read about the new allowable levels of melamine in milk that China will now allow. MELAMINE IN MILK? AND THEY WILL ALLOW IT AT CERTAIN LEVELS? My God ! If it's Chinese, keep it away from me. Forever.

The wire rack I have, but mine is not quite tall enough, I've tried it. But your last 2 suggestions I'm not familiar with. Whazza pastry tip cleaning stand?

They will be covered with sesame seeds. The towels aren't too heavy? And I have no towels large enough to cover the entire pan and edges too. The edges would form a nasty little crust, wouldn't they? Just asking. But I will get myself out and get some larger and lighter ones for future use. Damn that switch I made to almost all microfibre. I have a few casserole towels, but they weigh a ton.

I'm working on Pane Sicilano-3 loaves each on half sheet pans. This has to be refrigerated overnight, then I get to peel the stuck plastic wrap off the loaves again tomorrow. Peel too hard, watch it deflate. No room on the pans to put a taller glass or cup in the middle to raise the wrap a bit. A bit of Pam on the loaves doesn't really help much. I've been through this many times before. This is for a potluck tomorrow. I'll be up an an ungodly hour to let these come to room temp and bake them. And I have to be AT WORK at 7am. Any guesses on my mood at that hour? Even pure Kona can't cure that zombieism. Any fixes I never heard of?

I broke my favorite little rectangular Corningware baking pan. It was a little fella, 7 X 5 1/2 X 2, sez it's bottom. Held about a quart. I'm no big Corningware fan, but this was the perfect size for me , I liked rectangular, and I used it constantly. Does anyone know who makes one this size? I've wiped out the internet and can't find one. The Corning site shows nothing in this size anymore.

I've been looking at these for a long time. I decided I wanted to get the Pro-200 model on special at $219.00 including trellis goodies, Master gardener kit, herb seeds, other perks included. I had read how the original is very prone to leaking and pump problems. Why not go whole hog? I started to order it online one Saturday a few weeks ago, but the special was not listed online, and the catalog offering it was on my desk at work. So I Googled Aerogarden Pro-200. Then I freaked. I found numerous sites where owners said the bulbs had stated smoking like crazy and they had to yank the cord to stop a possible fire. The posters said Aerogarden admitted there was a problem with the bulbs in the 200 model and they were working to correct it. And if I buy something that has to be on 24/7 while I'm at work, and my house burns down? "Working to correct the problem" doesn't quite cut it. I REALLY wanted one, but now I'm terrified to buy it. Freh herbs sounded so good. Anyone else have any info? For now, I'm not touching one no matter how good it sounds.

Just about every tomato we get in Texas is from Mexico. I haven't bought a fresh tomato since this outbreak hit the news. We have a lot more cases than any other state. I haven't been shopping this week, but a friend told me today she was in Kroger yesterday and tomatoes were $5.99 a pound. She said she almost fell over. Last week at HEB the tomato bins were full and many were going bad. The bad ones apparently weren't even being removed by the produce dept. employees. It's clear people aren't buying them. At least not here. The FDA needs to get moving.

Yeah, but you're in Washington. Appletown. Lucky you. Apples in Houston generally have the consistency of cornmeal. They also are no more juicy than cornmeal but the taste is more like sheetrock.

I stumbled across a reference to Jazz apples today on a local Houston blog. Then found a few more. People are swearing it's the best apple they've ever put in their mouth. I mean absolutely going nuts about them. Have you tried them? How are they? Can they really be this good? I haven't found a decent apple since Moses was a kid. Must find some...

Although I agree with the posts regarding the basics needed for Thai food, and the lesser costs later, there's another consideration. Most of the American families looking to cut costs are not cooking Thai food. Especially the lower income. They're looking for more "American" comfort food classics. Lots of casseroles and pot roasts and chicken dishes. I have not yet had to cut my grocery shopping, but I do dine out a lot less than before. I'm single, no family to feed. I enjoy cooking and there's no gratuity or gas for the car involved. A decent gratuity can add up, and one should not eat out if they can't afford it. Gratuity for a meal for 4 or 5 persons? A no brainer. But I'm feeling the pinch. I'm cooking more. There are other places my income is needed. Gas, electric bill skyrocketing,etc. If I had a family to feed, I would be worried . This came up in conversation recently at work. Without any exception I heard, everyone is cooking at home more, and eating out less. Now if we could just get carved-in-stone country of origin certification, I could stop paying $3.00 a pound for damned tomatoes. I'm furious at the dangerous fruits and veggies in our markets. If a top ranking FDA official ever shows up at my door, he's in for serious medical problems, broken bones immediately come to mind.

Thanks for all the great recommendations. It was appreciated. I've decided to top off the vanilla beans and the Penzey's certificate with one from igourmet. They have such a great variety, I couldn't go wrong. And they sell the balsamic. My vanilla beans (2 honking pounds, 2 gifts and some for moi) arrived today. To say I'm impressed with the quality is putting it mildly. This house smells like heaven, even through the vacuum packaging. I'm surprised the postman didn't drool on the package. Thanks again !

Okay two more fantastic ideas.. Balsamico Tradizionale ..Never heard of it, don't know where to find it. A definite possibility. Is it that great? May I leave the price tag on to show how well informed I am? Nevermind.. He'd take one look and know anyway. This is precisely the kind of idea I'm looking for. I want something special. And then the Rancho Gordo site. He is a genious at Southwestern and Tex-Mex. He'd LOVE those beans. Although I think if I bought him $150.00 worth of beans, he might ..nevermind. It's tacky. And if he invited me to dinner. Gawd, a Monty Python skit. From the 14th floor of his condo? In my brain I just heard the song from 'Peter Pan'. I can fly!!! Hell, anyone who eats this many beans can fly. Sorry. I'm getting goofy. But it was a really funny scenario in my warped little brain. I'm still giggling. And the thought of the stuffed-shirt concierge in his lobby, hee-hee. I will definitely check out their site a bit more to see if it offers lots of shopping options. And it benefits an EG'er somehow? A major plus. All these ideas are endearing me to this group more than I could ever express. Thank you very much.