claire797

Chocolate Chip Cookies With Pudding Serves 36 as Dessert. This is one of the best chocolate chip cookie recipes I've found. The secret is the instant pudding mix. Stick with vanilla pudding mix or get creative and use butterscotch pudding mix and butterscotch chips. 2-1/4 c flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/8 tsp salt 1 c butter (softened) 3/4 c brown sugar 1/4 c white sugar 3.4 oz package vanilla instant pudding mix 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 12 oz bag Nestle Tollhouse Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips Preheat oven to 375. Mix flour, salt, soda and set aside. Cream together butter, sugars, eggs, pudding mix and vanilla. Beat well. Slowly stir in dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Let cool. Keywords: Easy, Chocolate, American, Snack, Cookie ( RG242 )

Great pics, Awbrig! In our house, we can't bring up the topic of "Chicago" without mentioning Gibsons. Can't wait to get back there.

Good one. I also agree on the margarine ban.

David, Have you made it to Lambert's yet? I've been several times in the past few months and each time the food has been terrific. We finally stayed for dessert this past weekend and I have to report that the Lambert's Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake is out of this world. I am now on a quest to make one of my own. Boy. That was some good cake.

Thanks for the website link. Fun Wine marinated lamb popsicles in a fenugreek sauce????? Huh???? How did I miss the Indian Food/Popsicle trend?

What about 63rd Street Steakhouse near Lincoln Center? We've eaten there twice and the steak has been very good. Nice atmosphere too. Spark's was great. Clubby atmosphere didn't bother me at all. S&W was just okay. Nothing to write home about Palm is good for Prime Rib, but haven't had their steaks. Still haven't tried Peter Luger's and probably won't.

Just wondering what your opinion was on Texas wines. Have you had the opportunity to taste any? I realize a lot of states produce wine, but in the past 5 years it seems wines from The Lone Star State have made leaps and bounds. Also, I'd like to make one recommendation -- Becker Vineyards Viognier. This wine blew me away. I have no affiliation with the vineyard (too bad, huh!) but I am proud to live near a vineyard that can make magic with this grape. I guess this leads me to my second question. Do you think Viognier is an up and comer?

Buttermilk is a great tenderizer for chicken and beef. When I'm roasting a tougher cut of meat like Eye of Round, I like to marinate it in buttermilk for a day before seasoning it and putting it in the oven. Buttermilk marinade is a must for fried chicken too. Whether you intend to oven fry, deep fry or pan fry, throw your chicken in a Ziplock bag full of buttermilk and let it soak for a day. When you're ready to fry,shake off the excess buttermilk, dredge if flour (breadcrumbs, whatever) and cook.

DITTO!!! Way to go, Maggie! Now can you do one about breastfeeding?

Advice from Fire Marshall Bill: Do not butter said 'Tarts before placing them in the toaster. The ensuing grease fire will toast more than your tasty pastry! Maybe you shouldn't drink beer before toasting them either.

LOL. Agreed. Butter does not belong on frosted Pop-Tarts. Unfrosted, perhaps. Not frosted.

Your ex-husband wrote a cookbook? What was it called?

Please do. I need it to still be in business when I get there in July.

The Wine For Idiots book is a good reference, however, a more fun read is Great Wines Made Simple by Andrea Immer. Immer loves Rieslings and Pinot Gris from Alsace -- two types of wine I think you'd really enjoy. Riesling (look for the word "kabinett") is somewhat sweet and is a much more complex wine than, oh, Pink Zin -- which is sweet but boring. Here are my recommendations: Hogue Johannisburg Riesling Columbia Crest Gewurtzraminer (a bit sweet and spicy -- try after you've tried Riesling) Snoqualmie Vineyards Chenin Blanc -- inexpensive white with a not so subtle honey taste. It has a lot going on for a Chenin Blanc. The above are all slightly sweet whites. If you'd like to branch out to fruitier, I suggest La Crema Pinot Noir. It will be much dryer than YOU are used to since you're just getting into wine, but it's smooth and will not leave that tannic glaze on your tongue.

Ah! That explains it. I loved Bombay Grill and it was a step-up from many of the NYC Indian restaurants. If you ever find yourself in Austin, TX -- (The Mothership of all Indian Food.....HA HA HA)-- you should check out Clay Pit. A group of us had dinner there a few months ago and it is on par with what Chirnomula is doing.

Wow. That's great news. We're going to see the in-laws in New Canaan in July so I'll have to put this place on our list. Until now, I thought the best Indian food in CT was at Bombay Grill in Westport. Haven't been there in about 4 years, but I remember Bombay as being "gourmet" Indian.

I just remembered this. Along with my cravings for Log Cabin Pancake Syrup, I had a stong aversion to anything caramel. Go figure.

That woman can write. When I read her essays I think of all the writing that is NOT being done because she is in the kitchen. Then again, if I were to eat at Prune I would probably worry that her writing was taking away from her cooking.

So are we all members of The Good Cook Club? After reading this thread, I think I need to allow them to send me a book at least once a month.

Log Cabin Pancake syrup! I made myself french toast and pancakes just so I could douse them in Log Cabin. When I'd had enough pancakes, I switched to oatmeal and started adding the Log Cabin to that. Prior to my pregnancy, I ate pancakes with syrup only once in a blue moon.

I must have a little over 100. However, knowing that many of you have more makes me want to go out and acquire more. I'm lucky in that I live near a local library and can check out as many cookbooks as I want. I know they think I'm that crazy woman who only checks out piles of cookbooks, but that's their problem.

I thought the coffee was mediocre. As for the free coffee maker, it mysteriously broke down the day I cancelled my membership. That is, it lasted less than a year. I'm still paying for my foray into Gevalia by having to dodge their telemarketers and sift through the junk mail they keep sending. They have a very persistant direct marketing campaign.

One book I use quite often is Good Housekeeping's Book of Baking. Below is a link to info and reviews, but first, I'll tell you why I like it. Every single recipe I've tried from that book has been a success. From the basic chocolate layer cake to the spanakopita (this book includes both sweets and savories) I've been very satisfied with the finished product -- and I certainly can't say that about some of my other baking books. In terms of technique, equipment explanations, and ingredient dictionaries. This book gives you just the info you need which leaves room for more pictures and recipes. Also, you *might* consider Nick Malgieri's How To Bake. A lot of people love this book. Personally, I'd like to recommend this but don't. The book lacks pictures and tends to overcomplicate simple processes. For the more experienced baker, this book is an interesting and informative read. However, I didn't start to really read this book until I already knew a thing or two about baking. I'm also suspicious of some of Nick's recipes. For instance, he includes a chocolate chip cookie recipe that does not contain any vanilla extract (yuck!) and he recommends baking a loaf of sourdough bread at 450 for 45 minutes. The cookies I didn't bother with. The bread, I burnt. If you're interested in mostly cakes, The Cake Bible is good, but it does not contain savory pies, pizzas and casseroles. And Chris Kimball? I love the test kitchen books and like Chris's style of trial and error. Sadly, the end result (after all the dilly-dallying about) has never been that great. I have not read his baking book, but if the recipes are as disappointing as the other Cook's Illustrated recipes I've made, then why bother? Again, I highly recommend the Good Housekeeping book. It's basic but does not cut corners, has brief explanations and diagrams and it's packed with recipes. I own this book and use it like crazy. Another book I recommend is Greg Patent's Baking in America. While I don't own this book, I've made a few recipes from it and like Patent's simple, direct writing style. The Patent book is on my wish list. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846

True. But I still find their content patronizing and banal.

I subscribed to Taste of Home for a year and have saved each issue. Occasionally, when I'm looking for a real "homey" type recipe or something I can throw together with ingredients I have on hand, I'll thumb through and pick something. Every recipe I've tried from TOH has been a success. Why did I cancel my subscription to Taste of Home? Because reading it made me feel like a buffoon. The content is incredibly hokey and the tone is somewhat patronizing. Ick, ick, ick. If I need a really good recipe, I can usually find it on the web. Part of the fun of reading magazines is reading the articles, looking at ads (some) and reading about the recipes. What I especially hate about Taste of Home is how they glorify men in the kitchen. So what!