cookingofjoy

I just made the pumpkin brioche (from the healthy bread book) into cinnamon rolls for this morning. We've really liked the crescents, but they're not as make-ahead friendly. The rolls worked out really well in a 9x13 pan in the fridge overnight. I used half the batch for that pan, and have another pan in the freezer to try out next weekend. I'm hoping they freeze well, too!

Wisconsin, McIntosh is my favorite, and Cortlands for baking. The kids like Jonathons and Empire. Darienne, our house turns 100 next year - no apple trees, but more than two dozen rhubarb plants

RWood, the strawberry cream cake is gorgeous - so clean! Shelby, those cupcakes look delicious! Great swirls! Happy Birthday, EatNopales! Your cake looks fantastic! I love individual cakes.

Does that include the internet and food sites like Egullet? That online time's an additional two hrs, so it wouldn't count (ha). Though replying seriously, it would depend on the user's purpose in either media, I think. If the viewer/participant is looking for information or instruction versus entertainment. I appreciated kayb's post and the Guthman quote about how cooking is one of the few things we don't have to do (in my mind "we" was parents/guardians/caregivers). Both seemed to describe (to me, more realistically) the challenges in making changes or consistently providing meals, which are more difficult than just cutting out a sitcom each night. Which I guess was your read of the quote, weinoo, so I guess I do see the similarity. And this was how I was beginning to feel after the second page.

LindaK - did it work well? My reply's late, but I worked at baskin robbins as a kid, and we'd make the ice cream layer by just using a wire to cut off a round of a 5 gallon tub. That round was the whole ice cream cake for the fudge rounds, or it was paired with a same size actual cake, or it was cut to size for the loaf size cake. It was really quick and clean, and no issues of icy ice cream.

Did you see the pics of candied chiles on David Lebovitz's blog a while back? They were gorgeous! I'll have to see if I can find it again. I've been waiting til they finally show up at the farmers market to try this summer. Edit: here it is! http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/04/le-bonbon-au-palais/ I love the picture of the marshmallows in this post, too.

I agree on the non-vanilla bean vanilla. For the root beer, I love Baumeister, and it's great for floats.

So I finally tried the fruit swirl idea, though with strawberry jam instead of blackberry and a lemon marshmallow. I really liked them - kind of strawberry lemonade-ish. The texture was good, there wasn't any kind of weeping. I didn't use a lot of jam. I didn't measure, but probably around 3TB for an 8x8 pan. I tried to keep the swirl in the marshmallow to avoid have to coat a lot of jam with powdered sugar/potato starch. So...I'm wondering how safe something like this is? What are the dangers of unrefrigerated jam? Here's a pic!

I've never seen these, but if wateriness is the negative, maybe they'd work well for something like Gerson's Avocado Ice Pops where you add water anyway (and just adjust the water).

This doesn't use quite as much mint as the chutney, but it's my favorite fruit salad. I swap out the cherries for strawberries since I'm not super keen on pitting.

Chives are amazing - easy to grow and hardy. I've used the blossoms in salads - though I didn't steep them first. I waited til they bloomed fully and pulled them apart into the individual flowers for easier eating. I don't make much pretty food, but this goat cheese salad with the chive blossoms was pretty

It may be too late, but with ganache, what about making it a chalkboard/blackboard? Then it wouldn't require much trimming. And just white icing for the text and a couple of somethings (fondant or white choc covered something) for chalk on the bottom?

This is mainly how we use ours, too. I hate cleaning the catch basket after washing dishes. It's also nice for the forgotten leftovers And I'll second or third using citrus to freshen it.

Thank you! I appreciate your confidence I'll have to look for those titles. In looking online the examples for ones that could be confused really did look pretty different. The steps in identification are really interesting, especially the spore print. Thanks, again! Time to go browse some recipes!

Yesterday, I noticed this mushroom in the front yard. There are three in a little group. I've not picked one to split it yet to see if it's hollow. I've been trying to read on how to identify, but beyond the hollowness, I've not seen other tips. I've done other foraging, but never mushrooms, so I'm pretty hesitant. Is there a process one usually goes through to confirm what a mushroom is?

Nice video! I liked the comment about turning 3 times I've never made tortillas, but the thinness makes sense. When we've made lefse, it has to be very thin, almost translucent/kind of windowpaning-like, to puff. Otherwise it's too thick, and we call it a potato cake instead And we only turn it once (though I don't know any hard and fast rules on that!) and it puffs after the flip. Like LindaK mentioned, more flips just makes it tough. I'm going to have to try tortillas here soon!

I live just north of Milwaukee, and our city's market runs end of June-Oct. It's a tiny market starting with about 6 stalls, and peaking around Aug with 14 stalls. Things I remember purchasing last year eggs $2.75 market 40 miles, $2.99 grocery store 100 miles red bell pepper $.75each market (maybe $1.50-2/lb?), $4.95 pound grocery green leaf lettuce $1.50/3heads market, $1.50-1.85 pound grocery sweet corn $6/dozen market, $3-4/dozen grocery apples $13/half bushel market ($1.85/3lb?), $2.00/3lbs grocery 10mi Things I've purchased at the market but do not purchase in grocery stores raspberries $5-6/pint market broiler $3/lb stewing hen $1.75/lb edit - not organic either, most advertise as IPM

Those are good lollipops.

I think it's a little funny that Wisconsin has such a disproportionate representation in this thread (I'm from WI, too, so no judgment, it really does seem to be a part of the culture of the state.)

In our local grocery, the refrigerated stuff is in a back corner, and the only way out (without going backwards in the single cart width aisle) is through the liquor section. The alcohol is out in this middle island of shelving, while the soda is safely tucked away on a regular aisle shelf. On a quick trip with the kids(3 and 3mo), the soda aisle was blocked, so we were navigating around the liquor island, and the 3yo wanted to touch the bottles after trying to run ahead, so I picked her up to whisper/reprimand, and I heard behind me the clinking of bottles knocked by her feet. It felt like an actual miracle that none of the bottles fell So I usually try avoid bringing the kids. I do remember going on trips with my dad, though I think I was probably 7 or older, since I can remember it.

dcharch - you reminded me of another! Except it was winter, so the can in the cupholder froze.

This is another kid one - fruit snacks are the worst we've seen. They end up melting and gluing to everything.

I don't have any recommendations, though I guess I'd be more nervous about the caramel since it's dairy and it's a ripple, not incorporated throughout. Have you done puree ripples? I've been wanting to try a lemon marshmallow with a blackberry ripple. I initially was thinking more like seedless jam, though that seems too sweet and heavy. Kind of related, would anyone have recommendations for finding the safety of a cake/frosting/confection? I've found basic information on individual ingredients, but otherwise it seems like I just find a lot of opinions.

I just did maple syrup candy with the kids last week! The Joy of Cooking said to bring syrup to 230-233 for sugar, so I figured that would be close (since Grandma pours it in the snow before she pours it for the sugar). I took it off the heat and whisked it til it looked like it was just starting to thicken, and then I poured it - no pretty designs, though The kids did pack the snow, and I think you're right that packing keeps it a little easier. I was amazed that the snow didn't seem to melt. The candy turned out very sticky, and anything that wasn't taken out immediately started melting into the snow. But it was still tasty! The little left in the pan did turn to sugar, and that was very good! I'd like to make just the sugar in the saucers like at the dance. I've found wintergreen in northern Wisconsin, and it does look like the wikipedia picture, except that what I've found is lower to the ground, more like this. I don't think I've ever tried the berries though, just the leaves.

I had my first failed batch of marshmallows today, and I'm wondering might have been my mistake. I tried a cranberry version that ended up more like taffy in texture than marshmallow, and rubbery. I think the rubbery-ness is because I overbeat it since they never started getting fluffy like they normally do. I've liked this lemon marshmallow recipe, so I tried using it as a base for cranberry. For this half batch, I boiled 1/4c cranberries and 1/2c water til it was reduced to about a 1/4c, then strained it to make a cranberry puree, which ended up being 3TB puree. I added 1TB fresh lemon juice, subbed this puree/lemon juice for the lemon juice in the gelatin bloom, and then followed the rest of the recipe like normal. I've made half batches before that have been fine, so I don't think that's an issue. Last week I made a half batch of clementine/honey based on this recipe that were the lightest I've made. I did get distracted and let the syrup get to 258 instead of 250. It was the last packet of gelatin in my 32 pack, and all other batches have been fine.