Toliver

I'm with Suzanne F...whatever tuna's on sale (as long as it's a name brand, it's okay by me). Diced dill pickle - See this thread Diced celery Diced green onion Miracle Whip (though Mayo will do once in a while) slice of tomato, if in season, if not then none. Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper On whole wheat bread, not toasted.

Is this like one of those garden gnome things, where they travel the world with you and you take pictures of them in front of the Eiffel Tower?

Oooh, yes, care to share? Mmmm...potato salad & bacon.

Is this what you were looking for? Click Here. Edit: Found it through a Google search for "cheese powder"

The sandwich has finally hit the area where I live. I was curious to hear in the local BK radio ads how loudly they were trumpeting the fact that the sandwich was so low in fat grams and low in calories, yet at the end of the spot, the announcer sped through a disclaimer stating that the sandwich was not a low-sodium food. The TV ads for the sandwich have the same disclaimer "not a low-sodium food" in small discrete lettering at the bottom of the screen. "Try our new low fat, low calorie chicken sandwich...except you might explode later on from the salt it contains." Note, however, that NOWHERE in their advertising do they say that their sandwich is healthy for you. They have been very careful in not saying that (probably under advice from their lawyers). It's implied visually in their ads, but they never say it. Plus, they've got RB making that claim for them: "...It's healthier, fresher-tasting and much less processed''. "Healthier" than what? Chugging kosher salt straight from the box? Okay, you win that one, Rick. "Much less processed" than what? Perhaps BK's other sandwiches contain more than 55 ingredients so we'll give you that one, too, Rick. It's like the "Emperor's New Clothes" fable and RB is part of the window dressing. Jinmyo, methinks you were correct from the start.

Haven't tried the Bic Trick, yet. But I did discover long ago that the seat belt buckle of my Chevy Celebrity was just the right size to pop open a bottle of beer. Who said American-made cars aren't well engineered?

And isn't that redundant? It reminds me of a Thanksgiving at a friend's house where the turkey had been eaten completely down to the bones. One of the guests was still hungry and made himself a sandwich with just stuffing in it. "Would you care for some bread on your bread?"

I got to that line and I started giggling like a little schoolgirl. An absolute gem of a story! I look forward to hearing more about the fur-less meals consumed upon your return to "civilization".

Rachel, I agree that a Foodsaver is great for something exactly like this. Having pre-diced veggies ready at hand and being able to have them stay relatively "fresh" would be ideal. It saves time and effort. Personally, though, I don't think I would pre-cook my onions or any veggie before freezing them. I would assume that part of the reason a recipe is asking me to saute onions would be to add depth of flavor to the dish as well as develop a good fond for an eventual sauce. If you skip the act of carmelization, I'd think you would skip some flavor. If I am grilling a hamburger, then your pre-carmelized/pre-cooked onions would be quite appropriate for a topping. I guess it would depend upon how you're going to use them.

Jello became a salad thanks soley to Madison Avenue. They started marketing it as a "Jello salad" and America blindly followed their lead. Being the sponsor for Jack Benny's radio show for 10 years also helped secure its niche in American kitchens. You can visit the Jello Museum online here. Scroll down for the history of the product that built General Foods. You can see some Jello ad images here in the "Gallery of Regrettable Foods". Some Jello trivia: In the MGM classic film "The Wizard of Oz", when Dorothy and her pals reach the Emerald City and are driven around in an open carriage led by a "horse of a different color" (the horse kept changing color during the scene), the different colors were accomplished by using different Jello powders to "colorize" the horse. They had to keep reapplying the Jello powder between takes because the horse kept licking it off.

My parents, both raised on farms where nothing went to waste, love the stuff. I understand why it exists but I will never ever taste the stuff myself. I used to have to sell it when I worked in a Hickory Farms cheese & meat store in a shopping mall during my college days. It used to give me the heebee jeebees to have to slice the stuff for the customers. I'm with you. Someone else can eat my paté, my foie gras, my fish head, etc. No thank you. Next. edited for spellling

The actual derivation of the word "cobbler" when referring to the dessert is vague, at best. As you know, a fruit cobbler is a deep dish fruit pie with no bottom layer of dough or crust. A layer of biscuits or dumplings are placed on top of the fruit filling and then the dessert is baked. Regarding the name, one thought is that fruit "cobblers" were so named because the biscuit/dumpling layer of dough on top resembled rounded cobble stones after baking. Another thought was that since the dough on top is usually not a single sheet of dough but is, instead, pieces of dough (like dumplings) placed incrementally over the layer of fruit, that the name "cobbler" came from the phrase "to cobble", meaning "to piece together" (which is how the shoe-related term "cobbler" came into being). As to why it typifies "Southern cuisine", given the role that the biscuit plays in that genre, using sweet biscuits on top of a dessert seems like a natural progression. It certainly exemplifies the best that Southern cooking has to offer. On a hot July 4th, nothing goes better with your homemade vanilla ice cream than a good peach cobbler.

Followed your advice & let him choose -- everything went fine except for a baffling time in the liquor store when I learned he changed the menu from choucroute garnis to pot roast. Only turned his burner down once while he was out of the room. Said "oh, I have a little butter left over from the tart" when I saw my mom making mashed potatoes with skim milk (ONLY skim milk). His meal was delicious. I've been eating open-faced pot roast sandwiches on sourdough toast -- mmm. My Tarte Tatin was mush. Bad apples (see Tarte Tatin thread). Learned a little humility the hard way... It sounds fabulous! I am glad to hear things went so relatively well, no pun intended. Your mom & the mashed potatoes sounds just like my mom until the year I told her I'd like to lighten her workload in the kitchen and said I would be making the mashed potatoes from then on. She appreciated that and so did my brothers when I began using whole milk, real butter, some sour cream and, occassionally, a touch of horseradish. And I am envious of your leftovers...yummmm. Thanks for letting us know of the outcome! I am glad it worked out and that you still remain sane.

Sorry, felicia... I had good luck with the tomatoes I tasted this summer. The standouts were some Roma's and a couple Brandywines (gifts from my mom's garden) that were just incredible...deep red flesh that was meaty and sweet without too much pulp/"goop".

Can you give more detail as to how you made the gravy, step by step? It may be easier to understand where it went wrong.

Hardly a saint. Just getting wiser as I get older. Believe me, there have been times I wanted to physically carry my mom out of the kitchen and tie her to the Barcolounger because she was always standing exactly where I needed to be in her very small kitchen. But, over time, I've gained patience. I also understand her better. Understanding her helps me to let go so that the things that she does that used to drive me freakin' nuts don't anymore. Hence, "like water off a duck's back." It took me a long time to get to this point but it's a great place to be.

I'd say let go and let your dad have his fun in the kitchen. A good friend of mine has a favorite catch-phrase: "Like water off a duck's back." It's a matter of not letting things that bug you, bug you. Let him cook. Will you be in there with him when he cooks? If so, let it be a bonding experience and a birthday present for him. Let him substitute, short cut and singe anything he wants. It won't matter what the end result tastes like...it's the "getting there" that will be the gift to you and to him.

It's a huge success everywhere in the U.S. Olive Garden is a huge success. People want easy and cheap; food quality is secondary. Bruce Sorry to disagree, but Olive Garden can't be called "cheap". Perhaps "mid-range" would be a more appropriate term. "Cheap", in comparison, would be Denny's, IHOP, etc. Edited to remove a letter.

Yes, we're celebrating my dad's birthday this Sunday. Thinking of framing the meal with apples -- maybe finishing with a Tarte Tatin. But I don't know what to do as a main dish. I just did a pork roast so I'm not in the mood for that. Pot au feu, maybe (more winter than fall, I guess...). Ideas? I just happened to glance over at FoodTV and saw a rerun of "Cooking Live" and apples are the theme for the show! Is that karmic or what? Anyway, the main dish is chicken with apple curry. That's a suggestion... It ain't pork, but it'll do! Edited to add: Here's a list of recipes on FoodTV that feature "apple" in the title. There are a lot of main dishes with apples. Mmmm...smoked pork chops and green apple chutney. 2nd Edit: You could also do a riff off apples by using just cider/juice for a glaze or sauce on your main dish.

I've tried Sara Moulton's Brussels Sprouts with Dijon Mustard just using a large skillet. Very simple yet different. She also has a recipe for Confit of Brussels Sprouts that sounds great and I have yet to try. Come to think of it, there are quite a few recipes with brussel sprouts on the FoodTV website. I'll wade forth into Autumn, but I do so grudgingly. I loves me summer tomatoes. edited to say "Sorry to turn this into a brussel sprout thread!"

I was trying to dissect Martha's recipe, just by looking at it, to figure out why it went so wrong. Her sugar-to-flour ratio is completely off, which is why it's so sweet. Using the original Tollhouse recipe as a yardstick, where the ratio of sugar to flour is 2:3 (1 & 1/2 cups of sugar to 2 & 1/4 cups of flour), Martha's is skewed the wrong way....4 cups of sugar to only 3 & 1/2 cups of flour (which I believe is 2:1.75). Needless to say, I would reduce the sugar. Plus, she is using a lot of brown sugar which is supposed to make the cookies chewier (according to Alton Brown) than if she used a larger amount of white sugar. I think it's her amount of butter that's the culprit. It actually sounds like the dough spread out leaving the chips behind. The "clump" in the middle was probably the original circumference of the cookie dough when you put it in the oven. The main reason why the cookies are thin (and greasy) is because of all that butter. If you have a high fat-to-flour ratio, then you'll get thinnner cookies (again, see Alton Brown...this is also why Irish Lace cookies are so thin). The Tollhouse ratio is about 1:2 and Martha's is about 2:3. And I can't see how she can justify four eggs. From her ingredient ratios, it looks like 3 would be more appropriate. My recommendation is don't try to figure out how to fix this horrible recipe. You did nothing wrong. She's evil I tell ya! Do exactly what you've done and trash the recipe. I'm sorry you wasted such a large amount of good ingredients. Yet another reason to put her behind bars... There are far better cookie recipes out there, especially in the couple of "chocolate chip cookie" threads making the rounds on the board.

You need a wife I wonder if Evanston has a "Rent a Yenta" to help you move in and unpack?

Lots here about liquid smoke Like many things a lot of it is bad for you, but in small doses probably not so bad for you. Thanks for posting that straight-forward link! Liquid smoke is something I rarely use so I guess I won't worry about toxicity anymore when I do use it. And, man, does it make the brisket taste good!

Does anyone use this (Other than Burger King?) As a condiment? Nope, not as a condiment. The last time I used it was to marinate a brisket. I brushed the brisket with the stuff and let it sit in the fridge over night. Then did a slow roast in the oven until it was fall-apart done. I have never heard before this that it was supposed to be a toxic substance. I certainly would like to see more info on this, assuming it's not an urban legend. Why is it still being sold if it's so bad for us? Perhaps we should throw it into its own thread and see what happens.

I think the percentage of fat in the meat influences the final texture of the burger. My dad believed the fat in the meat was the binder. Plus he liked to blend his meat, mixing different fat contents. Too lean and it'll fall to pieces. Too fatty and it'll shrink to the size of a golf ball after cooking. My mom, though, always used egg as a binder. And her "secret" ingredient in the meat mixture was A1 Steak Sauce. Ironically, there's a popular burger joint in the town where I live that makes burgers that taste EXACTLY like my mom's burgers, so I know they use the A1 secret, as well. I'm on to them.