Shel_B

I've not said anything because I like my fruit plain, either a single fruit or a combination. However, when you mentioned dressings, I got to thinking about a fruit salad we had at a friend's place some months ago. I don't recall the assortment of fruits she included, but she made a very simple dressing that we all enjoyed: Cathy's Honey Yogurt Sauce 2 cups yogurt 2 Tbs honey ½ tsp vanilla extract OR seeds from 1 vanilla pod cinnamon to taste Stir together, adjust seasoning This seems to go nicely with a variety of fruits.

There are over 100 species of native North American earthworms in unglaciated areas such as the southeastern U.S. and the Pacific Northwest. The number of non-native species is relatively small, although they are doing damage in former glaciated areas where, for thousands of years, plant life evolved without earthworms.

You seem to be a pretty handy fellow, and apparently have a supply of tools and the space to make some of the projects you've shown us. Good for you!

I took delivery of the Farberware ladle today, just in time for making a big batch of curried lentil and kale soup. I-2-3 Bada Bing! The pot was scooped out and the storage containers filled. The size and shape are just about ideal for some of the soups (and, I suppose, stews) that I frequently make. I can see where it may be a bit big or unwieldy for some drawers or situations, but it is a good fit here. Thanks! Interesting - the price on Amazon now is almost twice what I paid for mine just a few days ago, and more expensive that a several other sites.

I thought I'd bump this up and see if I can get an answer to the question: Finally, since CI suggests that full-fat milk may inhibit rising, how might a non-fat milk work? Would it be an OK choice for popovers, or is some milk fat necessary to make the recipe(s) work? Since there's fat in the butter or shortening, it would seem that non-fat milk could work. Could the lack of milk fat in non-fat milk be somehow compensated by using a butter with a higher butterfat percentage?

We sometimes use yogurt containers to store items in the freezer. What can be used to label the containers that is easily removable? I was thinking of freezer tape - would that work? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

That would be a Thermomix! Quite an interesting machine, but way out of my league. I'm jes' a po' ol' country boy from NYC. Thanks for making me aware of it, though. Do you use one?

A couple of nights ago I made the lemon curd recipe posted above, although I modified the technique somewhat. For the first time I used a thermometer to measure the temperature of the curd, and the results were quite good, in part, perhaps, because of monitoring the temp and cooking the curd to 170-degrees. I also stirred constantly for the first time ... I wonder if there's a way to stir the curd mechanically, perhaps some gadget that's available or which could be adapted.

Thanks for all the useful responses. A few suggestions look like they warrant further investigation, although at the moment I'm inclined towards this one: http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt600c.html. They all look to be a lot better than the slow-as-sludge Taylor that I have. Fortunately, the Taylor was free.

Organic all the way. Rub cleaned and dried skin with oil, add a satisfactory amount of salt, puncture with a fork, and then 400 - 425 degrees for 50- to 60-minutes until done (in the Breville or the regular oven - these days I prefer the Breville). Gets the skin nice and crispy-crunchy. When done I usually add some pepper, maybe a bit of EVOO or just a few heavy squirts of fresh lemon juice, maybe a hit of lemon zest. I want to taste the potato, not cheese, cream, bacon, and a passel of vegetables. Sometimes, especially for Toots, I'll make an "Idaho Sunrise." She loves potatoes and eggs, and the Sunrise makes a nice brunch dish.

They were the de facto egg noodle standard when I was growing up in NYC ... I still miss them when I make my favorite noodles and cheese dish.

I'm reminded of a label on a box of sleeping pills: "CAUTION: May cause drowsiness."

Hi ... I'd like a recommendation for a simple, inexpensive, instant read thermometer. I want to stick it in meat and use it to measure the temp of my lemon curd. At this point I see no further use for it, but I don't know what else I may use it for down the road. I have an inexpensive thermometer, but it took forever to reach the 170-degrees I was looking for while making my lemon curd this evening. Thanks!

National Geographic deposited this article in my mailbox today: http://digitalnomad.nationalgeographic.com/2012/06/26/how-to-eat-chocolate/?utm_source=NatGeocom&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=multi_20140203&utm_campaign=MultiProduct

Since this is a thread about potatoes, and it was mentioned earlier "that if you were to buy only one type of veg that's organic it should be celery," I thought I'd add a copy of a letter I received from a potato grower on PEI, the "Idaho" of Canada. We were corresponding about how insipid I found some commercial potatoes to be. As a result of this letter, some research, and growing my own potatoes, I'll never buy a commercial potato again, and especially so with russets. ===================================================================== Hi Shel, I know a little about how potatoes are grown, commercial and organic. I don't know specifically about Idaho, but similarly in Canada there is a potato region on Prince Edward Island, where like Idaho they are known as the potato capital, and potatoes have been grown there for many years. Much of the soil has become depleted and in poor condition over many years of growing potatoes, which are heavy feeders. To just supply chemical fertilizers and then spray pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, when you look at that soil, it just looks dead. Try to find an earthworm, not bloody likely. Soil erosion due to cultivation methods is also an issue, as is growing a "monoculture" where potatoes only are grown again and again and for miles. Now I never blame the farmer, in PEI, many of them are indentured in my opinion, working under contract for giant food corporations to produce terribly cheap potatoes for the frozen french fry manufacturers. So the market economy at work wants to do things to have the cheapest cost, the most profit, the public generally doesn't notice the poor quality, especially when you add the grease and salt. Now I'm not pinko or anything, but it's interesting in contrast when you go to Cuba. The whole island has been converted to organic. So to farm large quantities of potatoes industrially.... you want all the plants to die off at the same time. (When you want to harvest potatoes for storage, the skins only firm up a couple weeks after the tops die off, so that's when you want to harvest them to have a good tough skin to store well). Old school small scale organic growing would have waited for the plant tops to die, dug that up accordingly. Enter Monsanto... why not spray all your potato green tops with Round-Up, then they can all be killed at the same time, you can know the date, and go from there as to when you want to harvest. Potatoes were #3 on a list of the worst contaminated crops in terms of chemicals. They regularly are in those "dirty dozen" lists, of the most contaminated vegetables. Roundup BTW kills by being absorbed through the leaves then going down the to roots in my understanding, to kill the roots to kill the plant. Extra bonus: inhibits sprouting, if potatoes are fully dead they won't sprout at all. Anyhow, I'm fortunate that my husband grows amazing potatoes in his organic garden. He's got varieties that he's collected from various places, some red on the inside, blue, purple, yellow, black truffle, long skinny buttery fingerlings, etc... They grow very easily, although he does add some "amendments", things like compost, a little kelp and organic minerals. He puts a little pine needle with them (or pine shavings) to prevent scab, a fungus that can be warded off by acidifying the soil a little instead of needing a fungicide. The taste is night and day. The organisms we're talking about are part of a healthy soil, the organisms contribute to breaking down things to make nutrients available. A plant with good organic nutrition (rather than just chemical N-P-K fertilizer) is better able to resists pests, disease, and produces tastier food IMO.

The lemon might add some flavor, too ... I'll try it when making my next batch of croquettes later in the week.

OK ... thanks! I discovered a technique that I'll try soon, and that's using a splatter shield with a towel (paper or otherwise) over the shield. It seems the towel will absorb the airborne particles generated by frying which carry the odors. Might be worth a try ...

Previous discussions on the subject can be found here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/90003-using-chicken-feet-for-stock-making/?hl=%2Bchicken+%2Bfeet and here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/137066-stock-or-broth-with-only-chicken-feet/?hl=%2Bchicken+%2Bfeet

I like to cook fish, but I, and especially Toots, don't care for the fish smell that results from certain cooking methods, especially frying. How do you cook fish, especially fried fish, so that the smell is minimized or non existent. I don't have the problem when poaching salmon, but what other techniques or tricks are there? Thanks!

Although started by a German immigrant, Mueller's is a 100% American product, founded in Newark, NJ in the late 1860's. It was a one man operation for a number of years, with Mueller making egg noodles. Around 1890 Mueller opened his first factory, also in NJ. By 1894, macaroni and spaghetti pastas were added to his product line. It's as American as any other product.

The portion measuring circle on the box is a clever idea. It may be helpful for some people.

Perhaps I'll try flouring and egging them. I use a somewhat similar recipe of my own creation, and press the mixture into 1/2-cup measuring cups, invert cups onto a plate while heating the oil in the skillet. When the oil's hot enough, I press the mixture into patties and add them to the skillet. They hold together well through all the handling. FWIW, I use no mayo, no ground up bread. Maybe if I was doing the flour/egg thing, the extra handling would require more care or refrigeration.

I'm essentially in accord with andiesenji and judiu. Toots and I each buy TJ's bread on occasion, as well as getting free artisan bread at our local senior centers. None of these breads have preservatives, so we treat them accordingly. Toots cuts hers and freezes the pieces, sometimes she refrigerates the bread, and in all cases she puts them in the toaster before using, in part because she much prefers toast, but also for the reasons andiesenji and judiu noted. Depending on the bread I buy at TJ's, I'll pre-slice it and freeze the slices, using as needed, and generally running them through the toaster oven before eating. I like warm bread. Other times I'll freeze the entire loaf, such as with the small loaves like the Petit Pain Pauline or the Mini Sourdough Boule, and the take 'em out of the freezer before dinner and put the entire loaf in the oven to warm, and we end up with lovely, hot, artisanal bread for dinner, just like you get served in a bread basket at a nice restaurant. Mmmm... If not freezing the bread, I'll generally refrigerate it, sliced or not, and use as needed with a quick warming in the toaster oven. Considering how often I'm at home, even preservative-loaded breads would go bad at my place.

Since reading this thread about a year ago, I've been making salmon croquettes on a somewhat regular basis. Until recently I used canned salmon, and was satisfied with the results. That's what I grew up with, and it seems that most people use, and most recipes call for, canned salmon. However, the last two batches were made with fresh salmon (frozen fillets, actually), and the resultant croquettes were very, very good. I'm still working on perfecting the recipe using the fresh fish, and with that in mind, I was wondering who uses fresh salmon when making croquettes. If you do, what's your technique? Do you cook the salmon first and then mix all the ingredients together before frying the patties, or do you use the raw salmon mixed with the additional ingredients and fry them that way? I've tried both ways and seem to prefer using the uncooked salmon when making the patties. How have you modified your recipe when moving from canned salmon to fresh? Thanks ...

Done! I got the scale you mentioned and now I'll see how clever I was to get the lower capacity unit. I like the somewhat smaller size compared to the 11-lb scale - it'll be easier to store, and the price with the ubiquitous coupon and Gov. Brown's cut was easy on the wallet. If it doesn't work for me, I'll switch to the 11-pounder. Gotta love BBB. Thanks again for the pointer.