baroness

Cranberry Walnut Quinoa Salad • 1 cup quinoa, well rinsed • 1 cup dried cranberries • 1 cup green beans, lightly steamed • 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped • 1/4 cup scallions, sliced • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar -- white preferred • 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil or walnut oil • 4 cloves garlic, julienned • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 - Combine quinoa with 2 cups water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and continue cooking until all water is absorbed -- about 15 minutes (or prepare in rice cooker). 2 - In a medium bowl, combine cooked quinoa, dried cranberries, green beans, walnuts*, and scallions until well mixed. In a small bowl, whisk the balsamic vinegar, oil, and garlic until well blended. Pour over the quinoa mixture. Toss until well blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving. Makes about 5 1/2 cups. * I prefer to add nuts when serving, and serving at room temperature rather than chilled. I also toss the dressing with the hot quinoa before adding the berries, etc.

In this case, Pam did specify "I'd love a non-chain, non-burger choice. Please."

I've had no experience with H&D peaches. In terms of their other fruit: The pears are great. The "Maverick" pears, which are irregularly shaped, are a relative bargain by H&D standards. I specifically called to find out what variety of apples would be in a gift, and got the dreaded red delicious (haa! ) instead of what I was promised, but they DID refund the price....so IF the peaches were not satisfactory, they would most likely adjust your account on request.

Simpler is fine, providing the ingredients are high quality. This trend of throwing in everything but the proverbial kitchen sink isn't limited to sandwiches. I notice more and more recipes for sweets - particularly biscotti, cheesecake, and chocolate chip cookies - that include 3 or more assertive "Diva" flavors in one item. Sometimes less is, indeed, more!

Baking: bakerscatalogue.com Kitchen: chefscatalog.com, amazon.com, williams-sonoma.com Of course, noone has everything.....

For that texture, an old-fashioned seafoam or sponge candy would work (the recipes that add baking soda at the end of cooking)...flavorwise, these tend to be slightly molasses-y.

Here is a minimally sweet rice cake recipe, from the Koda Farms (Kokuho Rose rice growers) website: Italian Rice Cake 4 cups whole milk 1/2 cup sugar grated zest of 1 large lemon 1 cup Kokuho Rose uncooked rice 3 tbs fine bread crumbs 3 large Italian almond cookies (ie. Amaretti di Saronno type) 1/2 cup blanched almonds 3 large eggs 2 tbs cognac or armagnac 2 large egg whites at room temperature 2 1/2 tbs sugar powdered sugar Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in center In a heavy saucepan, combine milk with the lemon zest and 1/2 cup sugar. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil. Add uncooked rice, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer uncovered. Stir constantly until rice is tender and liquids are absorbed. This will take approximately 35-45 minutes. At this point, the mixture should be fairly thick in consistency. Transfer to a large bowl and cool to room temperature. Generously butter a 9 inch round cake pan, preferably a springform with drop-out bottom. Sprinkle with the fine crumbs, making sure all surfaces are covered uniformly. Invert pan and gently tap bottom to dispose of excess crumbs. In the bowl of a food processor, place almond cookies and blanched almonds. Pulse, but be careful not to turn the mixture into a paste. Add contents of bowl to rice mixture. In a large bowl, beat the 3 large eggs until thick and pale yellow. Add the cognac or armagnac, and mix until well incorporated. Add contents of bowl to rice mixture. In a pristine medium bowl, beat the egg whites with 2 1/2 tbs sugar until stiff. For best results, start mixer on medium low and gradually increase to medium high. Gently fold whites into rice mixture. Transfer the prepared mixture into the cake pan. Shake pan gently to distribute evenly, then lightly tap pan on counter top to discourage large air pockets. Bake on middle rack approximately 30-35 minutes and cake top is golden brown. Cake is done when pricked with a cake tester and tester comes clean. Remove from oven and cool on a rack to room temperature. Sift powdered sugar over cake top before serving.

Sweet Maria's (Maria Bruscino Sanchez) Cookie Jar and Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray -- everything I've tried has been wonderful! Some of the Better Homes & Gardens and Williams-Sonoma books on cookies are very good as well, but my heart is with Maria...

My Mom made these, too! She chilled the leftover potatoes well, added a beaten egg, made the patties (aka 'tato flatties) about 1/2-3/4" thick and fried them slowly in butter.

Nope, you're not the only one. I also detest hard-boiled eggs, well, the whites, anyway. Mayonnaise doesn't cross the threshold of my house, much less my mouth. ← I'm with you two - absolutely NO egg salad, hard-boiled eggs, and mayo. That leaves more for those who do like them.

Those of us with milk allergies (quite common) would't appreciate this... unless there was a clear warning label.

King Arthur Flour, aka bakerscatalogue.com, sells Instant Clear Jel®.

My library managed to 'give' me this at the same time as Gordon's autobiography - "Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection". His book is a much better read, IMO, than Simpson's. And his cookbooks aren't bad, either...

Kitchen Aid sells parts and accessories direct; check their website or give them a call. I've purchased extra mixer bowls (pristine "factory reconditioned") for about 1/3 the price of new bowls retail.

Even though I am allergic to melons, I keep several melon ballers on hand to: shape rum balls and truffles portion dough for party-size cookies scoop out mangoes, avocados, tomatoes

This is a very valid point - manufacturers can be great at ranges, or washers, and lousy at refrigerators and dishwashers. Having done a lot of appliance shopping in the last few years - and being very happy with my older Whirlpool dw, refrigerator, and new laundry machines, I was disposed to buy a Whirlpool range. BUT, after a lot of research and shopping, I bought a Bosch range and am very happy! I realize rebates can be tempting, and everything 'matches', brandwise. But I wouldn't do it. (pssssst! look at the repair history - and the Consumer Reports recent ratings for Frigidaire refrigerators. You can get online access to CR for a very reasonable price; I've saved my subscription $ many times over.) BTW, there are TWO Electrolux companies that both make vacuums; I don't know which one makes refrigerators. Happy decision making....

I've borrowed this title from the library and must agree - the recipes ARE very good (as are the Cornwell mysteries)!

Fresh Strawberry Pie 1 pre-baked 9" pie shell 3 c or more perfect fresh strawberries 1 c sugar 1 c water 3 Tbsp cornstarch 1 c crushed fresh strawberries 1 tsp fresh lemon juice whipped cream Wash and hull berries and arrange in pie shell, stem side down. For glaze, combine sugar, water, and cornstarch in medium-size pan and cook until mixture is clear. Add crushed berries; bring to a boil and cook until thickened. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and a little red food color, if desired. Cool glaze completely, then spoon over the berries in pie shell. Chill 2-3 hours and serve with whipped cream. Enjoy!

In the size you want (21-25 cubic feet), a side by side will be highly annoying, due to the narrowness of BOTH the freezer and refrigerator. Take a stroll through Lowe's or the like and take a look at the lack of useable space. BTW, most KitchenAide is made by Whirlpool, so you may save some money by looking at the Whirlpool models. I would avoid GE at ALL costs. I would also suggest that you consult Consumer Reports and perhaps http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/appl/ - though, of course, the latter is less 'scientific'/impartial.

This recipe for "Brownie 'Smores" arrived in a magazine today. The high chocolate to marshmallow ratio sounds tempting... Oven 350. Grease bottom of 9 x 13 pan and line it with graham crackers. Melt 3/4 c butter with 4 oz. unswtnd chocolate. Remove from heat and stir in 1 c each sugar and brown sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, then 3 eggs, 1 c flour, then 1 1/2 c chocolate chips. Gently spread into pan atop crackers and bake 35-40 min or until top is just set/pick emerges with moist crumbs. Heat broiler. Evenly space 35 regular-size marshmallows on top of brownies. Broil 30 sec to 2 min, until marshmallows puff and turn golden. Cut into 35 pieces while warm. I'd love to hear how these taste (as adapted from "Cooking Pleasures", June/July issue)

Unbroken yolks can be refrigerated for several days if you cover them with a little water.

Herbs, dried fruit, chilies, chicken, fish, pizza. . .

Mary Anne Esposito of "Ciao Italia" makes her Pizzelle Colorate with multicolored coarse sugar sprinkles -- see her site: www.ciaoitalia.com. She also has a Pizzelle Bicolori recipe that sounds worth investigating.

I would leave the baking powder alone (pedie's recipe is very close to mine, posted above). If the pizzelle cracks when you roll it, it is either: too thick (if your iron doesn't have handle clamps, try manually pressing down on the top plate as soon as you close it--wear an oven mitt or the like) OR too cold (you must work quickly, with the cookie hot off the iron) OR both. My pizzelles will drape themselves into tuiles if I don't make sure they're flat on the racks--cute, but hard to store.

As promised, here is my favorite pizzelle recipe: 3 large eggs, slightly beaten 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup butter*, melted and cooled 1 Tbsp. anise seeds (bruised with a mortar and pestle, NOT ground) 1 Tbsp. anise extract OR a generous 1/4 tsp. anise oil 1 3/4 cups unbleached flour 2 tsp. baking powder Beat eggs and sugar together until light yellow; add butter and anise items. Sift flour and baking powder together; add to egg mixture and blend well. Drop by the Tablespoonful onto hot iron and bake about 30 seconds. Cool on rack and store airtight. Makes about 30 5-inch cookies, or 50-60 minis. *Use 'supermarket' butter, such as Land O'Lakes, not higher fat varieties. I like salted for these cookies. TIPS: Be sure to oil the iron lightly before heating it. This dough is very sticky; it's easier to manage if you chill/rest it for an hour or so before using. When I make minis, I use a large pastry bag to pipe the dough onto the iron rather than dropping it with spoons. The anise flavor will intensify over the first few days, so don't over-flavor them unless you plan to eat them all right away! The irons (brands such as CucinaPro and the VillaWare Prima) which have handles that clip closed are very good, as they make the wafers extra thin -- and the irons stand up on their hinge sides for compact storage. Shape the cookies while they are hot, or cool them flat on wire racks. Edges can be trimmed with scissors to perfect the shape if you wish.