ChocoMom

Just received another email from Chef's. The last day to place orders is January 18. I clicked on the "shop now" prompt, to see if they had any real 90% off deals. Maybe they're there, and I can't find them. Pricing for random dinnerware and stoneware isn't bad, though. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see how much those Antifatigue mats were. I'm on my feet so much in the chocolate workshop, it seems like it would be a nice addition. ... I had to read it three times, after I regained consciousness. $671.96?????!!! What the H are they made out of?????!!!! Its a little 3 ft section, for Pete's sake! Are there tiny little feet massagers built inside there or something ?

This is what hubby gave me for Christmas..... I've tried out every attachment so far! Up until now, I had been using my (late) Mom's 1963 Sunbeam stand mixer. This is quite a bit more powerful to say the least! =)

The bag balm is fantastic for healing the hands (and feet). I learned about it in college from a friend who was raised on a farm. They'd not only use it on the milking cows, but on their own hands and feet- to cure cracked dry skin. Since I was little, I was a lover of going barefoot whenever possible, and the feetsies paid for it. Her solution was to slather a bunch of bag balm all over the feet at night, and cover with an old pair (loose) cotton socks. Next morning, my feet were like silk. Ah! Joy! Years later, when I became a domestic goddess and my hands were suffering badly, I did the same thing, and put the socks over my hands at night. Next morning, it was like a miracle! I want to try those Mr. Clean gloves though....they sound wonderful!

YIKES! I'm ordering seeds for Enfurter cauliflower this week. If I can get it to grow again this year, we'll be in good shape. =)

Yeah, I seem to remember my Mom cooking something like that...but I don't recall the name of it. It was foolproof, though! Since we raise grass fed beef cattle, I request from our butcher certain cuts that I know customers want. And, the closest one I can think of that you're describing, with a truly round bone in, is the Chuck Arm Roast. Another one, might be a Standing Rump roast,(though I do not believe that bone is entirely round). It only differs from a standard Rump roast, in that it still contains the bone. While the 7 Bone roast (or Center Cut Pot Roast) isn't a round bone...it's shaped like a "7", it is a pretty tasty cut, so that might be one you could ask your butcher for. Personally, I prefer to stay away from the Eye Rounds, and Top round roasts since those come from muscle areas, and as such, they tend to be tougher. (I suppose they can be SV'd into a more tender offering.) Since our herd is a free range, grass fed bunch, we don't need anymore toughness than we already have. We try not to let them grow over 18 months, and have pretty decent results--but still, those muscle cuts take a lot of effort to tenderize. Back to the roasts, the other factor that comes into play, the terminology that different butchers use. One roast can have anywhere from 2 to 5 different names...it depends on who you talk to. (A Top Blade Roast, has 7 different names!) I printed off some diagrams/guides and took it to my butcher. She said, 'oh...well, we call this cut such and such, and this cut is something else'. So, if you can do a little google search, and find some pics of the cuts you're looking for, a local butcher could probably help you out. Not sure if that is of any help, but it might explain a little about why its so hard to find what we're looking for. =)

I agree, Rob. it isn't all that great, is it? I did find a couple items that were 80% off, though. A pressure cooker, and a random fry pan, or something. While perusing the site, I did find some of the more mundane items at a decent price. So, I put together a housewarming gift for a relative....- including 3 mixing bowls, a batter bowl (with a handle & spout), a deep-dish pie dish, and a large utensil crock thingy- for about $50. Free Fed-Ex shipping.=) I believe all the items were stonewear. Looked pretty nice, too. No way could I have done that with KAF. That new KitchenAid beast found a prominent place on my kitchen counter last night. Dh ordered it in Merlot....looks just stunning. Only on this forum do I feel perfectly comfortable singing praises about kitchen appliances. I just love it here.

If you are referring to melted/tempered chocolate that you'd use to flock a cake or whatever, yes. Not a "gun" model, though. I used a Wagner paint sprayer, thinned the chocolate with liquid coconut oil, and it worked great.

Well, right now they are advertising up to 90% off...but selections are dwindling quickly. Check back frequently. On another note, Chef's free shipping took quite a long time. But, I am thrilled to report that my Christmas gift....the KitchenAid pro series beast of a mixer---finally arrived today. It is a thing of beauty. =) Totally worth waiting for!

This. I've inherited hundreds of cookbooks, and many of my mother's and grandmothers' handwritten recipes. To preserve them, I've put them in a scrapbook, which I use from time to time. (Amongst those, I have recipes written on newspaper coupons and the back side of a flour bag. My Grandmas were classic.) And, I've nearly ruined the screens on enough electronic devices while trying to cook. The only things I really miss about it, and liked, was that I could enlarge the font on the computer, and do calculations for increasing the recipes...but I don't have much in the way of counter space in my home-kitchen to set an IPad or any other computer while cooking. Plus, with a hardcopy cookbook, I can set it on a bar stool next to my cooking station, and if I knock it over, no big deal. With an IPad, that doesn't go over so well. My favorite recipes are mostly handwritten out, and taped to the inside of various cupboard doors.

I've found that those green plastic bags which are marketed to keep salad/veggies fresh longer, actually work pretty well with cauliflower. $8/head is pretty steep---so the bags might be worth trying. I have cauliflower on my "to grow" list for next spring. I grate cauliflower and use it in place of rice sometimes, or make a veggie cassarole out of it. Steamed, then mashed up with butter, cheese and bacon pieces...its a great lo-carb sub for mashed potatoes. =)

That roast looks superb, Jmahl! Glad you're back! =)

NYE...the beef arrived around 3pm, and I had to put together a few orders for our customers. Just in the nick of time, I thawed 5# of ground beef; and we did in fact do the sloppy joes.... they were a hit! Potato salad, chips, the pinecone cheese"ball" too. Dessert kind of evolved as I was dodging grandkids, kids and guests roaming through the kitchen. Not what I had planned, but the personal sized raspberry cheesecakes were fab! I made a shortbread crust and patted it into a muffin tin; filled with my cream cheese filling; baked; then topped with a dollop of raspberry filling, garnished with a mint leaf and fresh raspberries and blueberries. I noticed a gingerbread cake mix in the pantry, so I baked it in a bundt pan. Made a hard sauce (butter, brandy, conf. sugar, etc...) and soaked the cake. (Well, no, more like I drowned the cake.) And then made some fresh whipped cream to top it off. We tried to hide the wine from FIL.since.the grand kids were here and we hoped to protect their tender ears...but he found it anyway. Oy! What a night! NYD breakfast was a "made-ahead" baked French toast recipe. So I did two pans of it. Broke out the maple syrup, peaches that I canned this summer, fresh blueberries, turkey bacon, and lots of coffee. Just some fun for the kids, we roasted hot dogs in the big fireplace this afternoon/evening. I am so anxious to dig into all that wonderful beef! We've been out of the ground meat, steaks and roasts for quite a while...so this is a long-awaited treat. It truly is a happy new year now! =)

Happy Anniversary, Shelby! Not sure on the menu for New Year's Eve. Got a kid/family/grandkids coming, and need kid-friendly easy stuff. I have 500-600 pounds of grassfed beef coming back from the butcher Thursday, so I was thinking of sloppy joe. Maybe cheesecake and cookies for desserts. For breakfast, still contemplating some baked french toast cassarole recipes that I can make ahead of time, refrigerate, then pop in the oven in the morning. Got some fresh maple syrup coming- I am bartering chocolates for syrup tomorrow. =+)

Patrick....stunning! I'd "like" your post twice, if I could. =) Curls.....I am jealous.... I've been anxiously waiting for my new Kitchen Aide 7qt. to arrive, so I can make cookies too! (DH bought me the mixer for Christmas.) Those PB ones look scrumptious! Merry Baking! =)

Thank you, Shelby! Here is the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/240702/pine-cone-cheese-ball/?internalSource=staff%20pick&referringId=76&referringContentType=recipe%20hub I tweaked it a little. Added some bleu cheese crumbles and a few pine nuts to the mixture. The addition of the Cayenne pepper is wonderful! The cake was fun. I added lots of dark chocolate scraps (from the workshop) right into the cake batter. The frosting was KAF's vanilla buttercream mix, with a few drops of peppermint oil. Decadent on the inside; goofy & playful on the outside. My father-in-law....is a hoot. He's a 100% Finlander. Worked in steel plants for 50 years +. He's probably as colorful (and lovable) as they come!

OKay...so, I have the appetizer, and the dessert. Pinecone Cheese"ball", and this particular dessert was a devil's food cake with a dark chocolate mint ganache filling, frosted with Peppermint buttercream. Decorations were a bunch of winterwonderland goodies for my niece, nephews, and youngest daughter. Let me just say, Sixlets make awesome ornaments and creature's noses. The missing pics include the extra- long dinnertable with the homegrown brined turkey, garlic mashies, gravy, green bean cassarole, homegrown carrots in brown sugar/cinnamon; Roasted Blue Hubbard squash cubed with olive oil and herbs; homemade applesauce & cranberry sauce, fresh baked rolls, green salad, raspberry streudel, pumpkin pie, and a large bottle of wine my FIL downed almost single-handedly. He already came without a filter; the wine just made the evening's conversation far more colorful than usual.

DH bought me a Kitchen Aide 7qt Chef's Exclusive for $549- for my Christmas gift. On Amazon, he said the same model was over $1,000. He wants to go back now and look for more attachments. He thinks "meat grinder", and I think "de buyer Confectionery Coating attachment". Maybe I can score another toy if the price is right!

I had to set one up for a business partner a while ago. I wasn't about to use veggie oil, so I opted for the liquid coconut oil. Worked beautifully. I can't remember what chocolate we used exactly---might have used some Guittard chips that were supplied by the business partner. (I know it wasn't what came with the machine.) I like the idea of the hazelnut oil. =) Mmmmmmm. What you offer for dipping might depend on your guests. These are some things I've used and also some I've just observed being used for dipping: Strawberries, Frozen banana sections (2-3 inch long), Marshmellows, Candied orange peels, graham cracker, Nutter butter cookies, Milano cookies, Pretzel rods, candied pineapple sections, tart apple wedges (like Grannie Smith), Most berries are too small, but if you offer a kabob skewer, guests can make an assortment of fruit kabobs/marshmellows to dip, so small berries- like raspberries would work also. HTH.

Curls, Absolutely LOVELY work! Love the packaging, too. I suspect you will have some overjoyed recipients on your Christmas list!

Oh, that's alright, Kay! Remember: Chocolate...it isn't just for breakfast anymore. When I was in college, I used to start each day with a can or two of Coke classic and a couple Hershey bars. Had a bowl of Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream for lunch with another Coke. Dinner....Chicken and Rice soup, or Chicken Noodle Soup.

I'll just throw this out there- if anyone wants to give it a whirl. I have a couple dear friends who are on very strict, sugar-free diets. Neither can have refined sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc. And, all the sugar alcohols seem annoy them something awful. Since I had used coconut sugar before for other applications and knew it was fairly healthy, I decided to see if that was something they'd be allowed to have. Turns out, it doesn't cause fluctuation in blood sugar like refined sugar, and their doctors said they are allowed to have it in small amounts. So, to make a treat for them, I lightly roasted some almonds and let them cool. Tempered some Guittard Oban Wafers (no sugar), and panned (by hand) the almonds. While drying, I tossed the coated almonds in a mixture of cocoa powder, spices, and coconut sugar. The coconut sugar is a bit coarse, so I zizzed it to create more of a powder and then sifted the mix together. Turns out, it is a fabulous little treat that falls within their dietary restrictions. Just a thought....

Bob, This is an easy recipe, and relatively healthy given that it has very little sweetener added- just a bit of maple syrup. http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Agar-Agar-Raspberry-Snack-894248 HTH

Baron....there are no words. Maybe, AMAZING24 ...but that still doesn't quite cut it.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was fun, as usual. My sister in law hosted it this year. And, its always fun with Grandpa there, esp.since he doesn't come with a filter. As for food, I was assigned the pies, and the green bean cassarole. The pies included apple (with apples from our farm plus some boiled cider), 2 pumpkin pies made with my dear New England Sugar Pie pumpkin, and a pecan pie- which I could probably have finished off myself. (Its always an exercise in self-restraint, ya know?!) There was also stuffing, mashies, sweet potatoe cassarole, gravy, salad, and stuffed mushrooms. Oh,...cranberry-cream cheese tartlets, too. darling little things! My sister in law emailed me Thursday morning, and asked me to come over and spatchcock the turkey. It sounded amusing to her, so she had to see what it was all about. Given that I raise turkeys and butcher them every year, its not a big deal to handle that stuff. But to my sister in law...no WAY would she touch that. She, along with her daughter, were entirely grossed out by the whole process, squealing and "eeewwwww"ing the whole time. To which I replied..."This ain't nothing. ....you should come over and watch me butcher a live one sometime." And, by dinner time, no one seemed to care about the episode that morning....and everyone said that the bird was the best she'd ever cooked!

Well, it is craft show time again...and like many of you...I'm in full production right now. If I can find one of my kids with a charged up I-pod, I-phone or I-whatever, we will get some pics on here. But first, I have got to bow down and profusely thank Kriz (Hoofschocolates) for posting his uber-cool method with the swirly colors. I just did it with blue, green and white...and WOW!!! Bailey's Irish Creme truffles never looked so cool! Going back to play in the workshop! hopefully, we will have some pics later.....