Hello!
So I have some chicken sausages from Trader Joes flavored with garlic, spinach and fontina. I am wondering how I should prepare them for dinner tomorrow. I dont have much and due to the blizzard in MA tomorrow I am not going to the store. What I do have is one plum tomato, shallot, some pasta, salad greens, a little fresh broccoli... I dont know, I cant come up with anything beyond cooking them as is and serviing with a salad.

Let me know if you have any suggestions, I probably have more things I just cant think of right now, so I am open to help!

I would like to keep it on the healthy side as well if possible.
thanks!

Every year my Dad boils up an amazing gammon glazed in molasses and we have this together with turkey for Christmas dinner. I usually bring along a homemade cranberry sauce that I make up with mulled wine flavours and tangerine peel.

However this year there is to be no turkey after my Mum decided that she can't stand the stuff.
So my question is, what additional flavours or style would you suggest for a cranberry sauce that is to go only with the ham. There has to be cranberry sauce as my Dad has requested it and he loves it. I usually make one containing gelatin, but either style will do.

Ideas please? Only caveat is no nuts.

Thanks :)

I'm making cornbread following this recipe:
1-1/4 cup Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix
1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar or honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten (for fluffier muffins use two eggs)
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter

buuut only have PRECOOKED cornmeal and "golden corn flour - masa harina." Can I use either?

Thanks!

I'm fixing a turkey this Christmas, but wanted to make it differently than I have in the past (throw it in the oven let it cook).

Below is what I'm considering:

Make a parsley/butter mixture and put between the skin & breast, season the outside w/ salt & pepper

In the cavity put in the following:

Lemon, Orange,Fresh Sage, Salt & Pepper.

In the roasting pan:

Roughly chopped carrots,celery,onions, and chicken broth to baste the turkey.


Does this sound good to you? Would you add any other herbs,spices to this?

TIA!

I have a recipe for a cake that calls for a 12" springform pan, but I have a 9" pan. Something tells me it's not as simple as merely reducing the recipe by 25% (tho if it is, please say so!). How do I calculate the reduction in volume according to the reduction in diameter?

This past year I started a food blog and my parents think it's the coolest thing ever since they're biased like that :P My dad recently suggested that I should add a section for cookbook reviews.

And this got me thinking.

How many recipes does one need to try from a cookbook before they're competent enough to actually offer an opinion on the book as a whole?
How many recipes do you try from a book before recommending it to friends or buying it for other people?
Or do you feel that just reading through a cookbook gives a person enough insight?
Or does it vary by cookbook?

In short, when is an opinion informed when it comes to judging cookbooks?

Candy Cane Cookies
Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Soft Sugar Cookies
Rolled Sugar Cookies

Okay, so I'm making cookies for christmas this year and I need them on Friday. *points up* Those are the recipes I plan on making and I was wondering how much in advance I can make them and still have them be good. I was also wondering what type of frosting/icing you recommend for the cut out sugar cookies? They will be stacked gently and transported in a car for about two hours. My aunt usually uses a buttercream, and that's what my sister wants but it doesn't travel well I was told.

I know a lot of us will already be deep into the Christmas Cooking Marathon but for anyone who's still looking for things to make as gifts or are just after some inspiration I've just posted a bunch of things I'm giving this year over at AnnaintheKitchen.  Mostly staying in the chocolate and preserve area at the minute and everything's quick and easy.  There's more to come over the next week.  Eek, better get back in the kitchen!
 

I've got a last minute party invite to a "hillbilly holiday" tonight. So basically it's a white trash themed potluck. I know there will be plenty of pigs in a blanket, S**t on a shingle, and velveeta dishes. Can you think of anything quick (like run to the store and throw three things together) that may be a little different but taste pretty good? I've looked around the internet and found one idea that said mix cream cheese with chopped dill pickles and some sort of canned meat product - actually doesn't sound too bad! Any quick ideas that don't include lil smokies or velveeta would be appreciated.

I would like to make little containers of sugar cookies and mini-loaves of cranberry bread for my in-laws for Christmas. If I bake today or tomorrow (Saturday or Sunday), will sugar cookies and cranberry bread still be good and fresh by Thursday or Friday when I see them?

I tried googling this, but all I came up with is that I can freeze the cranberry bread, which I know, but I'm wondering how long it will last at room temp or in the fridge, and how long the cookies will last without going stale, especially as I'd like to package them up this weekend while I have time, if that's possible.

Thanks!

I've just started a sort of "30 day" thing in my own journal. I'm going to be posting a recipe every day from my mother/grandmother's recipe box. I'm starting backwards, with desserts first.


( Texas Yum Yum Pie )

Hey All,
I have about 10 cans of garbanzo beans I need to get rid of. Throw your best recipes at me!
Thanks!

I've tried making apple pie three times now and I keep messing up on the recipe and the filling comes out rather liquidy. When the pie is cold, the filling congeals, but clearly hot apple pie is what I'm going for.

For the filling, I'm using Granny Smith apples (usually two or three). I leave the peels on and slice each apple into at 12-16 pieces. For the filling, I heat a stick of butter over medium heat until it melts, then add one cup of white sugar, 3/4ths a cup of brown sugar, 3 tablespoons of flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. When it starts bubbling, I let it heat up a bit more, then pour it over the apples in the crust. I bake it at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes, then 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. I let it cool for a couple minutes, then when we slice into it, the pie falls over everywhere. Tastes fabulous, but falls apart.

Anyway, I don't know what I'm doing wrong or what I can do to adjust this. Should I slice the apples finer? Add more flour? Less butter or sugar? Not heat it over the oven? (The first time making the pie I heated the ingredients in the microwave and the filling didn't fall apart as much.)

Any bakers out there... I'd greatly appreciate the help! Thanks!

I always make my chili using a package of seasonings, but I never find it to be flavourful enough. Could you tell me what spices you commonly use when making chili, especially to make it more spicy?

Thanks!

This is my version of Dad's Lebkuchen. My recipe changes every time I make it. I just buy whatever is available in dried fruit and nuts. I go through my spice cabinet and add anything that seems like it might work. Black pepper was a bit of surprise but it is a traditional German cookie spice. Fenugreek and Coriander didn't work out as well as I had hoped, they gave the cookies a curry flavor.
there are no eggs or oils in this recipe so the cookies keep a long time. I recommend keeping a bag of them in your car in case you get stuck in a snowdrift.

Swabian Lebkuchen
2 1/2 lbs Whole Wheat Flour
1 lb Sugar
1 lb chopped walnuts
3oz dried Cranberries
1.5oz dried Blueberries
2oz dried Strawberries
3oz dried Apricots
3oz dried Cherries
2 tablespoons Baking Powder
1 tsp ground Allspice
1 tsp ground Cardamom
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground Clove
1 tsp ground Ginger
1/4 tsp ground Nutmeg
1 tsp ground Black Pepper
2 lbs Honey


Instructions
Chop up the dried fruit and nuts.
Mix it with the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add spices.
Make a big hole in the middle of the dry ingredients.
Bring the honey to a boil. Pour the boiling honey into the dry ingredients. CAREFULLY mix the honey in with a heavy wooden spoon. Boiling honey will cause burns if you touch it!
Line two cookie trays with parchment paper. When it is cool enough to handle, pound the dough into the trays.
Bake at 300°F on the top rack for 30 min or until golden brown.
Cut into small bars immediately 1"x2", while they are still hot.

As a bonus, work gave me a $500 Visa gift card. It was completely out of the blue, as we didn't get any sort of bonus last year, and a bonus isn't part of any company policy, or anything like that.

So, I have $500 burning a hole in my pocket, and I'm looking sidelong at my kitchen.

So, what would you get?

Here's some of what I already have:

Good condition, does not need replacing:
More Corningware cassarolle dishes than I could ever use (I was given a set and inherited most of two other sets)
KitchenAid Proffessional Mixer
A Lodge cast iron skillet and a dutch oven
More knives than I could ever use (see inheritance mentioned above)
Nice roasting pan with lid, good for 22lb bird.
Microwave Small chest freezer (about the size of a washing machine).

So-So, Still Functional (kinda), debating upgrading:
A crock pot older than I am.
A rice cooker... works but bottom rice is sticking and toasting/browning
Dinner set. It does not match. At all. Some is from Ikea, some from Walmart, some from Salvation Army.
Blender(s)
One sauce pan in great condition, but several so-so ones
One nice frying pan, albeit of the non-stick variety. However, I do have the Lodge one mentioned above.

Thinking of Getting:
Food Processor, mostly for cutting together pie crusts and pastries
Le Crueset enameled dish
Caphlon (or similar) frying pan/skillet

So, what do you guys think? If you had $500 and free rein to spend it on kitchen stuff, what would you get?

Edit: What the heck is up with my formatting today? This is the second time it's gone stupid on me. Fix't

Whenever I make french toast, it ends up very soggy and inedible. French toast has to be one of the easiest things to cook, so I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

I lightly coat the frypan with butter, mix together eggs and milk, dip the bread slices in the egg mixture and coat well, then fry in the pan. It always ends up soggy.

Is there something I'm missing? I've adjusted the temperature of the frypan, from medium to high, it doesn't seem to change anything. How do I get that yummy crunchy texture?

Hi, I scored a 2 bone prime rib roast - just under 4 pounds. Thing is, the ribs themselves are small and don't provide a proper roasting rack - leaving the eye of the roast in contact with the roasting pan. Normally I cook these in my Ronco so a rack is never an issue.

Should I place this small roast on a rack in the pan or leave it be???

Thank you all in advance and Happy Holidays! (all of them!)

I'm looking for suggestions/recipes for sweet goodies that I can make with my nieces, other than just decorating sugar cookies.

Recipes similar to this one: http://bunsinmyoven.com/2009/12/16/buttons/

It needs to be simple since they're only 4 and 5.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

The post below reminded me that I've been meaning to ask this for a while:

For various health reasons, I'm supposed to avoid alcohol, particularly wine -- and especially red wine. I do very occasionally drink beer, and liquor once in a blue moon, but I won't touch wine (red or white) anymore, not even for cooking. I usually wind up substituting either chicken or beef broth when cooking, but I can't help but feel like I'm losing flavor when I do this.

Because the issues aren't just alcohol-related, I can't use wine vinegars or non-alcoholic wine. On the other hand, because the issues aren't just alcohol-related, I have no problem using something else that tastes like wine. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get a little more flavor without going for the bottle?