tejon

Those look perfect. Into my recipe box that goes. Now I'm off to yoga to work off all the extra calories I will be consuming in the form of wee round puffs in the next few weeks.

I had beignets with ginger and cardamom scented honey as a dipping sauce. Whipped Ibarra chocolate to drink and dunk along side. Shouldn't need anything more for the rest of the day Obligatory food porn shot of the airy interior:

You could add stock and make up a creamy soup, adding additional flavoring if needed.

This kind of information is what I love most and really look for in a recipe. I am far more likely to buy a cookbook (or try a recipe) with anecdotes or praise for each of the dishes.

I am always drawn to recipes that have something more: notes at the end, variations, commentary at the start about the dish and how wonderful it is or how it was conceived. My very non-scientific reason for this preference is the feeling that someone cared about this particular recipe enough to add something more. Additional bits also spark interest when there is no picture or other identifying information. But at the core, recipes with a little something extra are like orphans with accompanying notes to take good care of them - I feel like I have been entrusted with something a little extra special, even if that is all in my own mind.

My dad had all kinds of odd names for me and my sister while we were growing up. We were "tomato" and "potato" for some odd reason unknown to anyone but him. Our dog's name was peanuts. The man loves his food.

I'll second the praise for Andie's candied ginger! Her glacéed fruits are just as delicious and just as perfectly made.

The very favorite of my ex boyfriend, post bone marrow transplant, was a super rich version of flan. Easy to eat, not too sweet, cool (so it didn't feed nausea), and comfortable, familiar flavors.

Would this be foods that look bad, or foods that taste horrible?

Why, thank you! Not the nicest presentation, but oh my, was it ever good. Sorry for the blurry picture....all that drooling made the camera shake a wee bit.

I made my first gumbo last night. There aren't words. I used Mayhaw Man's recipe, carefully getting the roux to a deep chocolate before adding the trinity and then the chicken and sausage. It was hard to keep from tasting as it simmered, emitting the most wondrous smell all throughout the house. I will definitely be making this many, many times again.

I'm making my first gumbo tomorrow night, in part as a tribute to New Orleans before the hurricane hit.

I buy B&M Baked Beans all the time at the local Ralph's here out by Los Angeles. I know stock varies with what people tend to buy in a given area. Perhaps a grocery store that isn't quite as close might carry it out there?

Now that would be my kind of party.

I use puff pastry dough for my samosas when I'm making large amounts for parties. I roll it relatively thin, add filling, then bake until golden. The rolled out dough doesn't really puff but retains a crisp, slightly flaky texture that is very similar to fried samosa dough. I've had even ex-pats ask for the recipe, so the end result comes out very well

Glad to hear the recipes went well! You're right - the pizza dough definitely isn't the same, but it is very good in its own right.

Ah - didn't have a copy of the cookbook handy so I didn't know she called for gelatin. It's difficult to recreate the properties of gluten in a dough so there are many unusual additives (for bread dough, anyway) to make up for this. She uses xanthan gum in many of the other recipes and that seems to help with the mouthfeel of the finished product. Do be aware that baking without gluten is a bit different. It will pay off to really read the directions even if you've made pizza dough thousands of times, since a dough free of gluten will react very differently throughout the cooking process.

There is a really good gluten free pizza dough recipe in "The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread". Probably not a purchase you'd want to make just for one recipe, but you may find a copy of the cookbook at your local library. I have a friend with celiac and we all fought over his pizza when he made it.

When I was married the staff that cut our cake offered to set the top layer aside so we could freeze it. They were quite surprised when I answered "no", and set it to the side anyway. Turned out to be plenty of cake for everyone so the top layer was left over. We took it home...and brought it in to work two days later to share with everyone there (we worked for the same company at the time). I have the recipe for the cake and frosting (sour cream/poppyseed cake with cream cheese frosting from the Greyston Bakery Cookbook) and make up a new batch each year for our anniversary. Not a pretty as the original, but it tastes wonderful and reminds both of us of our wedding day. I never quite understood the reasoning behind saving the cake, aside from having a memento of some kind. I would love to see photos of the preserved cake as it ages, though. Science in all its forms is fascinating.

I'm not any kind of expert on Southern potato salad, but I'll add in my vote for no eggs. If I wanted egg salad, I'd make that instead.

Wanted to add that chana dal has a significantly different glycemic profile than other lentils and beans - it's more similar to soy beans and garbanzo beans. So keep that in mind.

My grandmother, hands down. She isn't able to cook any longer, but I have been blessed with her recipe box, which is one of my most cherished possessions.

I would also highly reccomend cookbook/recipe software to make keeping track of carbs/protein/fat simpler. I usually recommend Lving Cookbook, but MasterCook tallies up nutritional information much more easily. Nice to be able to enter in what you just put into a salad, or the ingredients of a sandwich, and get nutrition data for that spur of the moment recipe. Also very handy for figuring out counts for recipes in cookbooks or online that don't give nutritional information.

In a really extravagent month, one which we planned for ahead of time, we spend $100 on dining out (including fast food). Love for that to be higher, but with a very limited budget and two small boys who aren't yet ready for much beyond McD's, there we are. Thankfully I love to cook and end up making the majority of all our meals and am able to dine vicariously through others here at eGullet.

Our pattern is similar: main, fruit/veggie, snack (usually a carb of some sort: home made cookies, crackers, etc.) with water as the drink Some favorites for my 6 year old: sandwiches - almond butter and jelly, ham, turkey, cheese on whole wheat bread tortilla roll ups - almost anything can go here: meats, cheese, lettuce and other crunchy vegetables, condiments, the sky is pretty much the limit leftover pizza (I make it up every couple of weeks and plan on extras) bean threads with chicken and soy sauce hummus and pita to dip falafel with tahini and pita nuts of all kinds dried fruits and fruit leather fruits of all kinds (berries are a particular favorite) carrots, celery, sliced cucumber, broccoli No chips, candy (I'm amazed at how many kids get candy in their lunches!), Lunchables, soda, or junk food in my son's lunch, ever. I refuse to send him to school with something that isn't healthy. Thankfully there are a ton of choices that are both healthy and delicious, so we're both happy.