Darienne

I just eyeball it pretty much. And I often put chopped walnuts in the 'glop' which makes getting a level playing surface even more difficult. I've never found that it mattered much in the end.

Sorry Heidi...I just loathe Nutella...and went off the deep end...and love Gianduja. I wish I knew what Nutella tasted like about 30 years ago. It might have been wonderful. I really do know where you are coming from and you have always been way ahead of me in the culinary. ❤️

Please, don't use Nutella. Use Gianduja somehow. From Wikipedia: Gianduia is denser than Nutella, with a more delicate taste, and the main difference is that we use up to 55 per cent of premium local hazelnuts, sugar and cocoa. No other ingredients, no palm oil, no preservers.” ... Gianduia remains a niche artisan product.

I really enjoyed that trip, Shai. I would have loved to visit Greece. My first undergrad degree...believe it or not...was in Ancient Greek. The language of Homer might not have been too useful in the marketplace... Thanks again.

My favorite vegetable. Ed eats them under slight duress.

Is this Greek Halva?

In hopes of sleeping better, etc, etc, I have currently given up gluten, dairy and now sugar. The gluten and dairy pose no problems...the sugar does. I am not happy using mannitol or erythritol or any of those artificial sweeteners...they give me severe digestive problems. But I can tolerate stevia very nicely. The only problem is that there doesn't seem to be much sweetened with this ingredient. I do have a carob/coconut oil/peanut butter/stevia candy of sorts. I don't really like it all that much, but it does work. That's about it. Has anyone any recipes for desserts using stevia? Thanks.

Where is the recipe, please.

Now that's a groaner for sure!

If I might go out on a bit of a tangent from bulgur. Made a quinoa salad and didn't like it much...but then as I said I don't like quinoa much. ...But that was before trying red quinoa...which I love. And am now using cooked red quinoa to make a Tabbouleh salad. Great taste and texture. Love it.

Don't know how I completely missed this wonderful thread...but have just spent half a morning reading it instead of working. Wonderful trip, great text, beautiful photos. Well done, Shai.

My goodness, JoNorvelle, I do think you need a restful vacation somewhere quiet with no sharp or pointed instruments and someone to make your Mai Tais and preferably wait upon you hand and foot and be responsible for turning on and off electrical appliances.

We've been buying Delissio frozen pizzas for a few years now. A couple in the freezer for emergencies, so to speak. Today Ed baked a Delissio Deluxe (much doctored, of course) and we both agreed that it seemed quite a bit smaller than we were accustomed to. We normally get two meals out of one pizza...but this time it was really not feasible. A first. It wouldn't be the first time a product was cheapened in some way. Has anyone else noticed that this brand of pizza has recently downsized its product?

What does work fine for us is potato soup, made both à la Martha Stewart with a lot of cream and also with no cream at all.

It was actually a semifreddo which started my love affair with cooking after decades of loathing to have to do it. A Chocolate-covered Banana Mousse Freeze. A recipe out of the local newspaper which called for a chocolate ganache. What's a ganache asked I? Never heard that word before. And so it began. My newly found love affair with dark chocolate. And also my endless changing of recipes by adding in this case raspberries and Chambord. And soon after I found and joined eGullet. I might just have to make one soon.

Our potato salad could be more boring (to others) although I don't know how. We like it this way and that's all that matters. Red potatoes, red onions, parsley, salt and pepper and mayonnaise. That's it. (I loathe hard boiled eggs so never ever add them. Ed would no doubt like them.) End of story.

I'm on a no dairy, no gluten, no sesame regime for 8 weeks. So I am starting from scratch in the baking department. I just happened upon this recipe a few weeks ago on a Jamie Geller Jewlish video featuring this 'magic' Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks recipe by Melanie Strauss, made with, alas, tahini. Here's the actual recipe. I made them twice with tahini...before the verdict was in...and since then with both sunflower butter and almond butter. (Ed likes them all, of course.) They're amazing to make...so simple and yet so yummy.

Looks delicious. I'm just about to make my Hamburger and Cabbage Casserole....

Ground Beef and Onions in White Sauce over a Baked Potato or Noodles posted by Rotuts (couldn't get the quote thingy to work) I think that sounds as if it has real possibilities for us... And I assume that lemniscate was referring to this recipe when he spoke of tarting it up. That I would do also.

Ed has been using this Italian meat/tomato sauce since we've been married (61 years now). I have no idea where he got it. I'm typing off an old index card which is hardly legible after decades of use and stains. He's not here right now so I can't ask him any questions about how closely he follows the recipe now. 1 lb ground beef 2 cans tomato paste 1. no 2 1/2 can stewed tomatoes 1 tsp sugar (not used) 1/8 tsp pepper (would use more now) 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 1 cup chopped onion 1 finely chopped clove of garlic 1/4 cup celery 1 1/4 tbsp salt 1/4 tsp oregano, chopped parsley 1. Gently fry meat, onion, garlic, celery, in shortening (uses some kind of oil now), stirring about 5 minutes. 2. Add other ingredients and simmer indefinitely. This is his basic tomato sauce and for spaghetti, he'd add more oregano and basil. The sauce is also modified for Mexican, Greek and other nation's dishes. Sorry, we are not very sophisticated in our culinary skills.

I'll try this one, although with Mr. Ed's tomato sauce, modified for Italian. Thanks.

Picadillo and Picadillo de la costa, both from Elizabeth Ortiz, The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking, 1965. One calls for beef and the other for pork and veal, but I put them both together with beef (and ground pork if I have it on hand) and call it Picadillo de la cabaña because we live in Cavan. Yes, it's silly, but I don't care. Ground beef and Cabbage Casserole from food.com. https://www.food.com/recipe/ground-beef-and-cabbage-casserole-391323 Bobotie from Epicurious. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/bobotie-231245 Originally from Rainbow Cuisine: A Culinary Journey Through South Africa by Lannice Snyman 1998. Bits taken from help from my South African cooking mentor, JohnT, then living in Cape Town, South Africa. Don't know where he is now. Covid 19 put an enormous dent in his plans. There's always that old standby Impossible Pie. Consists of meat, vegetables, eggs, cheese and biscuit layer in probably a hundred different varieties. I have a Chile Relleños Casserole which I got from Jaymes, (https://forums.egullet.org/topic/21203-rellenos/?tab=comments#comment-282635, May 18, 2003) who is not around eG much anymore but who was such a help to me when I was starting to learn Mexican/ Tex/Mex/ California/Mex/ etc cooking. It doesn't call for meat...but I add ground beef anyway. I also use Poblanos which are the only chile you can get where I live. And my own topping of biscuit. In fact, because Ed likes beef and is only a half-hearted "lessmeatarian" (a term from Mark Bittman), and doesn't like lamb, I often add ground beef (and or ground pork) to any number of recipes which don't call for meat at all. That's enough I think. Of course I make enough always to freeze at least two meals if not more.

I was just about to reply when I saw the dictum: no casseroles. That's mostly where I end up. And I have some goodies.

Welcome to the forum. While I am not actually an ice cream lover, my husband is and I make ice cream for him constantly.

I don't do shellfish and I like gravlax and ceviche. I didn't find the pickled herring too 'fishy'...but then what does too 'fishy' mean? Perhaps you should try another brand before you make up your mind. Certainly a lot of folks hate pickled herring. I hadn't had it since childhood and the reason I picked some up a couple of months ago, is that a dear friend was doing one of those ubiquitous and mindless online quizzes...you get x number of points for every dish you will eat...or won't eat...and that's when I learned that she hated pickled herring. So off we went to buy some. I have promised not to serve it to her next visit.