Darienne

As far as giving is concerned...yesterday I went to the dentist and the receptionist did not even bother to 'hint'...she came right out and asked about my usual Christmas gift of chocolate-topped toffee which I give out at that time. She did laugh...but I knew she was serious. I always make the Enstrom-copycat toffee for folks who give us help throughout the year: mail ladies, veterinarian & staff, library, computer guys, car garage, friends and neighbors, pharmacist...let's see...doctor & office, guys at the transfer station (aka the Cavan Mall), chiropractor. I'm exhausted already... Forgot...if we end up being elsewhere...hope, hope...I've made toffee for the local Humane Society volunteers. Or the Multicultural organization. I loved being the "Candy Lady" one year.

Oh, mugs. We've been given baskets with two mugs in them. (And scarves for the dogs even.) And if your customers are of a mind, why not a Christmas ornament or two?

Some items occur to me: small jars of specialty jams and jellies. a stuff animal which is appropriate to your theme,candy canes. Oh beeswax candles. I'll think some more.

I'm no expert in the field but the first thing which occurred to me are Hatch chiles and pecans from the Los Cruces area.

My point exactly Jaymes. I've made this one and the amount of sugar works out just fine.

I have a question: recipes from casserole book, Bake Until Bubbly by Clifford A. Wright. All apples are Granny Smith. #1 (which I've made and it's wonderful) - Cranberry-Apple-Walnut Crisp calls for: 2 cups cranberries and 4 cups apples with 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup orange juice with a sugary crisp topping calling for 1 cup of sugar which I personally found too sweet. #2 - Apple Cobbler call for 6 apples with 1 cup sugar with a topping with only 2 T of sugar in the biscuity-type topping. #3 - Apple Pandowdy calls for 6 apples and 1/2 cup sugar with a biscuity-type topping with no sugar. Why such changes in the amount of sugar? The first recipe with 2 cups of cranberries taste just fine with so little sugar...is it simply the topping? and the second recipe...would it not be sickeningly sweet? And the third calls for half the sugar of the second with no sugar in the topping. Would it not taste lacking in sweetness? Granted I can make them all but I am mystified by the unequal amounts of sugar called for. (As noted many times before, my cooking skills are very lately acquired and so I can't just 'know' about these things.) Any comments?

Sounds delicious Lindag. But pray tell me, is there much of anything that does not taste better with a couple of ounces of "booze"?

Enjoyed reading your post, huiray. Thinking about it: how many of us had grandmothers who were great cooks. I never ate at my forbidding Father's Step-Mother's. My Mother's Mother, my Bubbi, was a wonderful woman who loved to cook and her food was delicious. Remember great foods. Oh, for some real pumpernickel in a bowl with cottage cheese and real sour cream sitting on my Poppa's lap eating it. My Mother hated to cook and until about 8 years ago I hated to cook also although I did my best by my kids, unlike my Mother, who simply didn't (IMO). And my DH did more than his share of the cooking for years. DH's Mother was French Canadian and she loved to cook and was a terrific cook, although used sugar with too free a hand I thought...coming from a house of no sugar and less yummy anyway. Ed does not remember any unpleasantness at his table. We both lived in Ottawa during our childhoods (later childhood for me) and adolescence and no one ate out much. There must have been about 5 restaurants in the entire city with a few diners. And no street foods of any kind. This reflects greatly on our age group - 70s. The social scene in Ottawa changed greatly in the 60s and thereafter. Just musing...

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/129528-apple-crisp/?hl=crisp This is a link to Dejah's (Post #17) wonderful topping made with loads of cheddar cheese...and we all know that Canadian cheddar beats all! ...which I used to top an apple (plus all the other bits of fresh cranberries, dried cranberries, chopped pecans, etc) dessert last night for "Dessert as Dinner", a favorite home treat. The topping was fabulous and to think that I had never heard of it before. It will be a new item to be featured to surprise and delight others. Thank you Dejah.

The childhood eating memories are amazing, wonderful, terrifying. My earliest memory (probably about 4 years old?) was of an English woman, taking care of me over a meal, forcing me to eat a partially soft-boiled egg, telling me of the starving children, etc. She was paid back in full and to this day I am very wary of every egg I am served that I don't cook. And I remember the Canadian war coupons, blue heavy cardboard, with a center hole. (If I can remember correctly??) My Mother and Father were vegetarians but the pediatrician refused to care for me unless my Mother fed me meat. Almost every meal was a T-bone or Porterhouse steak for me broiled to shoe leather. Never willingly have I eaten steak. Or sausages burnt to tough casings with gritty bits inside. Yuck. (sorry) Ditto for sausages. My Mother hated cooking and TV dinners became the meal du jour as soon as they were available in Canada. Believe it or not, I was not a fussy or willful child.

Sound quick and good, Elsie. I'd add the black beans and sub shredded pork for the ground beef. I always have a large bag of shredded pork in the freezer. We also have frozen homemade tomato sauce. Might also cut down on the amount of cheese to keep DH happy. Thanks for this one.

I actually had one bag of cranberries in the freezer already waiting for Thanksgiving. We live outside the nearest city and rely on being able to freeze stuff, both raw and cooked, for our meals. However, with the exception of RLB's Cranberry Galette, I had never cooked anything with cranberries except for sauce. Now that this pudding turned out to be such a popular success, I shall certainly keep some cranberries on tap. I'm always looking for dessert recipes that I can't ruin in some way...like burning them, having them fall on me, needing ingredients which cannot be kept on hand easily, or just too complicated and time consuming for those times when I am tired and just don't feel up to the work. (I am one of the oldest eGullet members as far as I know.)

Have to report that I made a dessert casserole from Bake Until Bubbly. Cranberry-Apple-Walnut Crisp. Delicious. Just might give in and buy the book. Am quite impressed with it.

DH bought double cranberries at our Canadian Thanksgiving and I thought: Oh great. What am I going to do with a package of cranberries? Well found this recipe for Cranberry-Apple-Walnut Crisp which called for an amazing 2 cups of cranberries. Hooray! And it was a great success. I thought it was a tad too sweet: DH loved it. Will use it again. From: Clifford A. Wright. Bake Until Bubbly. From my search for a good casserole cookbook. (Sorry, forgot about taking a photo and it was all gone in a trice.)

There is nothing quite like your first successful work with chocolate.

Sounds like fun, Ruth. I do have a pile of Mexican type meatballs in the freezer and this should work very nicely. Thanks. And thanks again for the topic idea.

Jaymes. :biggrin: My Mother hated cooking. And she used cream of whatever soups. Which I grew to hate. Oh well...

Thanks cakewalk. I have never had Cholent. My Bubbi (Mother's side) had a special little oven which sat on top of one side of the stove/oven. My memories are fairly faint now. I can't recall how the stove was heated, whether by coal or wood, but it was not electric.

Santa Fe style flat enchiladas sounds good. Thanks Lisa Shock. Would you tear the tortillas into pieces? I expect you might sub corn chips for the tortillas? What about adding a layer of roasted poblanos or nopales? I've been gifted with a few jars of nopales and haven't used them yet. Just made a huge batch of my take on Puerco Pibil yesterday...we ate it on One-Buns for lunch today...and I'd certainly put them into a casserole dish. Thanks again.

Sounds good Deryn...except for two ingredients. DH, Ed, loathes olives and I don't do sausages (childhood leftover). But you tried, and that's the main thing. Thank you. We do love egg noodles though. Lokshen kugel, the savory one, I remember from childhood also. Thank you for leading me back to that one.

Ruthcooks had this brilliant idea. Most casserole cookbooks have only a few recipes that the cook will ever use...why not get good casserole ideas by posting the topic title used above. Thank you Ruth. So my favorite casserole/one dish meals at present are: Moussaka with Spanakopita (that's two), Lasagna and Mafe, an African dish made mainly from sweet potatoes, tomatoes and chicken. Mafe is one of those dishes which changes from locale to locale. (Mafe should have an e-acute, but I can never remember how to do those diacritical marks.) What is your favorite casserole/one dish meal recipe? Thanks.

Brilliant Ruth. I'll do just that. I'll just figure out my favorite and start from there.

Thanks again all. I'm not sure how to go about finding Cooks Illustrated Specialty Cookbooks. I've been looking over Bake until Bubbly and although I made a vow a couple of years ago not to buy any more cookbooks...and I've pretty much kept it...I just might break down and get it. It is more international than I had thought. Just doesn't use the language of the recipe in the title usually. Thanks again, Smithy.

Bought some today in a local bulk foodstore. Costs twice as much as regular popcorn and has no hulls. Called "White Popcorn". It was passable...but...lacked heft and chew. It was nice not to struggle with the hulls, but I don't think we'll bother again. Just too tame.