blue_dolphin

Lemon-Cheese Pressed Cookies, per Betty Crocker's Cookbook (1969 edition, like @Thanks for the Crepes!) 1 cup butter, softened 3 oz cream cheese 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 t grated lemon peel (I use more) 1 T lemon juice 2.5 c all-purpose flour 1 t baking powder Cream together the butter, cream cheese & sugar - don't over cream! Blend in remaining ingredients. Test dough for consistency before adding all the flour. Chill 1 hour. Fill cookie press and make shapes on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 min at 375 F Makes ~ 5 doz cookies This recipe does contain the contraindicated baking powder. I've seen similar recipes online that omit it and add a bit of salt. I know this is an abomination, but when I was a kid, I used to make these in all sorts of pretty pastel colors and flavors by dropping the sugar to 2/3 cup and adding a 3oz package of Jello along with the sugar. They were very pretty

Yesterday, a friend gave me a few Transylvanian Christmas cookies. So....breakfast:

I've had a number of cookie presses and made a lot of pressed cookies. I used recipes written for pressed cookies and adapted others. I learned it was most important to get the right dough consistency, and in my hands, that varied from press to press. Most helpful to me was the recommendation to add the flour gradually (3-4 additions) and don't add all the flour unless it's really needed. My go-to recipe for pressed cookies is an oldie from a Betty Crocker cookbook for Lemon Cream Cheese Pressed Cookies and my favorite variation includes rosemary. In fact, I've used all the pressed cookie recipes in that book and all work nicely. Since it's not the classic, simple spritz, you've requested, I won't post the recipe unless someone asks.

Having enjoyed all the posts, I feel I should offer to come over and help clean up....and maybe nibble on some of those leftovers??? Too bad I'm so far away....mostly too bad for me!

This is very, very fun - in fact, if I were invited, I'm sure I'd say spectacular! Thank you for sharing!

Oh dear. I can't click "Like this" on the sad freezer incident. I'm glad the duck could be saved....or savored. It looks lovely.

Chuck Taggart (@Sazerac)'s Réveillon cocktail is one of my holiday favorites for sure. And now, I want one!

It was a brilliant emerald green color that looked beautiful on the sandwich - I wish I'd asked my friend for a taste to see what else was in it.

I had lunch yesterday to catch up with a former colleague at a local spot that popped up in a search inspired by recent discussions here on eG about Peruvian roast chicken. Mouthful Eatery isn't a roast chicken joint, but they do use Peruvian flavors and I thought their menu looked interesting. Apologies for the lack of photos as my phone battery was dead as a doornail. It's a casual, order at the counter and wait for your food to be delivered to your table sort of place. The servers and staff in the open kitchen wore black t-shirts with the restaurant name on the front and a Julia Child quote printed on the back: "People who love to eat are always the best people." I ordered the La Sarita sandwich: roasted pork shoulder, sweet potato slices, pickled red onions and aji amarillo aioli on ciabatta bread with pickled red cabbage. My friend got the Albondigo (meatballs of fire) sandwich: turkey meatballs, chipotle-tomato BBQ, melted provolone, kale pesto and crispy onion rings also on ciabatta. We shared a side of shaved brussels sprouts and winter squash in a balsamic glaze. The sandwiches were both very good and very large. We'll go back.

And I laughed at this: "the Instant Pot, a fearsome multipurpose tureen"

I enjoyed a recent meal of pasta with @ElainaA's slow roasted tomato sauce and enjoyed the leftovers this AM. With an egg on it

Indeed! My cousin was denied deli meats and requested subs from Jersey Mike's when non-cooking friends asked what they could bring.

Since you know her tastes well, you are probably the best judge as I think it's very dependent on the individual mom. Unless someone is organizing a Mealtrain for her, I'd say come up with 3 ideas that you know she would love, tell her you'd like to bring 1 or 2 over on X day and ask her if that sounds good or if there's something different that she's craving. My cousin recently had a baby. She loves chicken salads - in her case, that's a salad with sliced chicken breast on top so that's what I gave her. I cooked sous vide chicken breasts, froze some and left a couple ready to eat. I put together labeled ingredients and instructions for 2 salads, rolls and fresh fruit for each drop off. Mixed greens, dried cranberries, slivered almonds, feta and balsamic vinaigrette. Spinach, caramelized apple slices, sweet spicy walnuts, gorgonzola and a honey mustard vinaigrette. Spinach, roasted squash cubes, pear slices, pecans, apple cider vinaigrette. Spicy spinach mix, red bell pepper, red and yellow tomato, pickled red onion with a smoked corn buttermilk dressing. That would NOT be my idea of comfort food, but it's what she wanted. She asked me to bring the same sort of thing about 3 times after the first round and said she appreciated having something that was quick to put together - sometimes just a bowl for herself, sometimes a big bowl to put out if people were over visiting.

Well, glove usage in the food service setting is often regulated at a state or local level so I imagine it would be difficult to provide universal guidance there. I tend to think that very thorough and frequent hand washing trumps the use of gloves, but both can be effective if implemented correctly - meaning gloves changed or hands washed any time a potentially contaminated surface or object is touched. Any used glove that may be contaminated needs to be removed in a way that doesn't spread contamination: pinching a bit of the wrist of the glove as you pull your hand out and turn the glove inside out, then doing the same with the other hand before dropping them into the trash and putting on a fresh pair of gloves. It's pretty difficult to safely remove and re-don a pair of disposable gloves and yet, I see food service staff do it all the time. I see glove-wearing food service staff handling food, then cash, answering phones, then back to food without changing gloves while I, the radioisotope-using, microbiology major with freshly washed hands just watch and cringe!

I signed up, too.

The NYT food section has a piece titled The Year’s Best Baking Cookbooks: Radical Ideas, Classic Treats with reviews of 6 recent baking books and a recipe from each. The Pistachio, Rose and Strawberry Buns from Golden get the video treatment with Melissa Clark's annoying (to me, sorry) voice but I must say the Tahini Shortbread cookies from Soframiz are calling my name!

I have to say that one of the reasons I find this thread so enjoyable is that it's a glimpse into a way of travel, a lifestyle that I am unlikely to ever pursue. I've watched the occasional TV show about what's new in RVs and find them ingenious in their use of space and function but I thus far, I have never googled RVs nor given a thought to actually owning one. My RV experience is limited to a couple of family vacations that had us at each others throats, back when I was a teenager. But I absolutely delight in reading about the on-the-road culinary adventures that I get to sample vicariously in this thread. Drive on! And do report on your adventures if you decide to pursue this!

@Darienne, I know you were seeking input from folks in the food service world and I am not that but I was interested in the question and found some info on the CDC website so I thought I'd share it here in case it's useful for others as well. Norovirus for Food Workers and Preventing Norovirus Outbreaks: Food Service has a key role

I had a very basic, very old rice cooker. I am very happy with IP rice, particularly using the pot-in-pot method for small quantities, so my old rice cooker is out in the garage, awaiting donation.....or placement in a museum ! Others have reported that they adore their rice cookers and don't see the IP taking its place. Different strokes.... One more CSO comment - it's completely timer driven so there is no risk of forgetting to turn it off and leaving the house with a blazing oven. It also requires no pre-heat time so I (or an 11 year old) can slide a frozen pizza in, push a couple of buttons and it will cook, beep when it's done and shut off. Much safer for the forgetful among us....and for our frozen pizzas !

Well, there aren't any decent deals on the CSO at the moment so it you can continue to mull that over for a while. That said, the CSO replaced my toaster on the countertop, with a little shifting here and there to make sure the steam vents wouldn't be under the cupboards while that function is used. Stuff-on-toast is one of my major food groups and I can't imagine the CSO controls posing any sort of barrier to an 11 year old in search of toast. A 90+ year old technophobe might need a bit of coaching to get comfortable with it but the average 11 year old will have it down pat in no time!

Is there much craft brewery activitiy in your area, @quiet1? They often provide small tasters or the option of ordering flights so you can taste multiple offerings. In many areas, there's good, friendly cooperation within that small brewery. community with a larger brew pub that serves food showcasing the beers of a smaller neighboring brewery from time to time.

Good point. I should give some thought about how I want this to work. I was envisioning searching for an ingredient (or maybe two....like dang, wasn't there something that used blueberries and cucumbers????) that looked especially enticing at the market and specifying that the results show only those recipes with my "To Try" bookmark. I was hoping that this might also help me identify recipes that I've wanted to try but was missing buttermilk or mint or something.

Nice! I was pleased with how they well they handled being frozen and thawed. I should make another one or two to keep on hand. Edited to add that today's NYT on-line food section has an article on cheese balls that mentions this recipe and includes one that is rather similar.

Trader Joe's also has a Ugly Christmas Sweater cookie kit. Ten already baked cookies (2 each of 5 shapes) for $5.99, plus 3 colors of icing. Not exactly a deal, but could be a quick fun activity for kids.

Yep, looks like this one: Kuhn Rikon Corn Zipper