kayb

My middle daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease when she was 20. She was already living on her own, so it was not a major adjustment for my cooking, but I obviously make adjustments when she visits. Her hardest thing was pizza and pasta. At the time, rice pasta was about the only alternative, and it wasn't particularly tasty. The quinoa pasta available now is hard for me to tell from regular whole-grain wheat pasta. She has a pizza crust she likes from a local pizza place, but I don't know about anything she's tried to cook on her own as far as pizza goes (cooking is NOT my child's strong suit). Fortunately, she loves vegetables and fruit, so there's not a big problem in adjusting diet for her. She's pretty sensitive -- the amount of flour used to thicken a sauce for a dish for six will set her off with one serving -- but not so sensitive that cross-contamination has been an issue. Her husband and children continue to eat a limited number of products with gluten, though they don't eat a carb-heavy diet. The only cross-contamination she worries about is oat-based products that do not specify they're gluten free; apparently many are made in factories that also process wheat, and there's enough contamination to sometimes bother her. Some "fixes" I've found over the past 10 years... Rice Chex crumbs will sub moderately well for bread crumbs in topping or thickening dishes. They will even make a respectable panade for meatballs or a meat loaf. Arrowroot or cornstarch will sub for flour in making a roux or thickening a sauce. Bob's Red Mill Pancake Mix is the best baking mix I've found for quick breads. Also works in streusel toppings. As mentioned before, quinoa pasta. A quiche bakes up just fine without a crust. So do most pies. There's a much better selection of kid-friendly snack foods, etc., than when Cara was diagnosed. Lots of GF snacks out there. Cara's particularly partial to gluten free graham crackers with peanut butter.

We eat well at Fair time. Though honestly, there's nothing out there any better than the roasted corn. Dude shucks it back, twists the shuck into a handle, dips the ear into a gallon can of melted butter and hands it to you. ***swoon*** The barbecued bologna is not to be dissed, either.

Can't blame you for Amazon's foibles. Post away! (Even if I fuss at you for how much you cost me!)

Kill me now. I'm still trying to restrain myself from buying the caramel ones every time I see them. Fortunately, I can no longer eat much candy or sweets at a sitting.

I love challah. One day, I'll get brave enough to try to make it. It makes absolutely, without doubt, the BEST French toast in the world. An egg, a quarter-cup of heavy cream, two inch-thick slices of challah, let it soak up all the egg/cream, fry in butter over medium heat. Maple syrup. Fresh fruit is acceptable, but do not be bringing cinnamon or powdered sugar in contact with MY french toast. Wish I had a loaf. I'd have French toast for dinner tonight.

I highly recommend them. Keep them in the fridge all the time. Add them to salads, put them on sandwiches, use them on a relish tray.

I make the loaves in mini-loaf pans. Freeze them. Then I can grab one loaf at a time, make maybe two dozen crackers, depending on how thickly I slice. It's workable.

Oh, yum! Anxious for more!

For the eggplants...you could always cube them and do tempura, but one of my favorite preps is to peel and cube them, toss in a mixture of miso and honey, and roast. Simple. Good.

My very favorite homemade crackers in the world are the homemade Raincoast Crisps, particularly when the real thing is $5.49 a (small) box. I make several of the loaves and freeze them, then slice and bake as needed/wanted. Recipe here.

Glad to have you! Jump right in!

Oh, you mean Memphis ketchup? I don't like the bottled dressings on a salad; thicker ones are OK as a dip. I have a recipe for a homemade one that's decent, though it's not my first choice. I'll doggoned near always go with a viniagrette of some sort on a salad.

Glad to have you here. No better place to learn to be a chef, I'd think, than NOLA. About my favorite food city. What kind of restaurants in Nicaragua? I know nothing of the food scene there.

I buy it from the local produce market whenever I'm up home. The maker we used to buy from all the time is no longer in business. I found an online source in the same general part of the state;; I know nothing about them, or whether they could ship new sorghum to you quickly enough it would not age too much. Of course, it's still good! You might check these folks out, maybe call and ask. http://store.muddypondsorghum.net/

Nothing, other than the fact it has to do with sorghum molasses. Just one of my mutitude of flights of digression. Oh, look! A squirrel!

Appreciate that. Unfortunately, I'll be trying to outrace the rain that comes with it this weekend. Headed to E. Tennessee for a funeral. Hopefully it'll still be cool into next week. Did you send tacos, too?

The spiced wafers. Gingersnaps. Molasses spice cookies. Whatever they are.

Going to make these soon as the new sorghum comes out of the mills. Likely next month. For those who don't live close to the source, "new sorghum" has a distinctly different taste from sorghum molasses after it ages a few weeks. Very bright and almost citrusy. It was always an occasion when one could get the first "new sorghum" of the year (they'd announce it on the news on the local radio station. Major big deal), and I knew what dinner would be that night. Country bacon, crackling cornbread, canned tomatoes and new sorghum. And there was a very specific way to eat it. One put a couple of tablespoons of butter on one's plate, poured a similar amount of sorghum over it, and mixed the two with the blade of a knife. Then one spread dollops of it on the cornbread, a bite at a time. (I always dipped my bacon in it, too. The tomatoes were a nod to having a vegetable on the table, and served to cut the richness of the other items, as well.

When ya can't wait, ya can't wait.

Please do post your father's recipe for goulash. I enjoy paprikash, and would love to branch out!

I have come to love curries, both the Indian and the Thai variety. The local Thai place does a mango curry you can get with either chicken or shrimp that is to die for. I'm fond of coconut curries on all kinds of seafood. Still pretty much a rookie at making my own, but I do enjoy trying. I insist on cooking jasmine rice with my Thai curries, basmati and naan with my Indian ones.

Get thee behind me, Satan!

@Kim Shook -- I blame you for this. Well, you and the fact I went to the grocery while hungry, someone one Should Not Do. I am, for the evening, the proud owner of a bag of Lemon Oreo Thins. I do not expect them to last the night. Thankfully the package is small.

I could get behind a pork chop sandwich. I love most anything one can do with a pork chop. Could give up beef a lot a lot quicker than I could pork!

It's only a frozen pizza from Aldi's, but I got to use my brand new peel!