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Janie
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I want this thread to be successful and hopefully it wasn't sexist of me to put it in the NWW section but...

 

It's that time of year again when I am all about baking and cooking. Is anyone else? I always tend to stay indoors more in the fall and cook and cook and cook and read recipes and talk about cooking.

 

So my hope is that we can talk about recipes tried and give feedback and suggestions on meal ideas, etc.

 

I for one need help in this department especially since I love food so much. I am still learning everything from scratch as my parents never, ever made anything. Needless to say, I have many failures in the kitchen!

 

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My first request:

 

Currant Scones.

 

Years ago there was this tiny Scandinavian cafe in Pike's Place Market and they made the best currant scones with sugar on top. I've never been able to replicate these scones and would give my left arm to have the recipe. Does anyone have a good one?

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My second request:

 

Crockpot issues.

 

Firstly, I love the crockpot. Slap a bunch of stuff in there and let her cook all afternoon. The house always smells sooooo good. Anway, back to my issue: The meat is always overdone and the potatoes are always falling apart. WTF?

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I don't know what happened in my case. I was able to cook until I got married and since then - it's been hit or miss!

 

 

 

 

 

Don't forget to draw a Janie with a chef hat! smile.gif

 

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QUOTE (librarian @ Oct 14 2008, 01:32 PM)
I don't know what happened in my case. I was able to cook until I got married and since then - it's been hit or miss!

One thing I've found is that I can make something well the first time but then can never make it the same way again.

 

I really like cooking from scratch and from the hip. I have quite a few cookbooks (well over 30) and usually consult them for ideas.

 

I always have this vision of how I want the food to turn out and it rarely turns out that way!

Edited by Janie
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I love to cook!

 

We have a cooking thread that I managed to find - and I think there's another one but I don't have time to look right now.

 

http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?show...ndpost&p=253551

 

Enjoy!

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I think we've tried before to drag it back and it didn't take well. I was kind of hoping to start anew...

 

Otherwise, just delete this thread so that there's no confusion. Or combine this one into that one.

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No, no...

 

If you want to start anew, please do so. I was just trying to help.

 

Carry on.

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I made this awesome two-layer carrot cake one time and it was all from scratch. People told me it was the best carrot cake they ever had. It was a food network recipie:

 

Ingredients

Cake:

1 1/2 cups grated fresh carrots (about 2 large)

1 cup walnut pieces

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh pineapple (see Cooks Note)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

2 (4-ounce) jars pureed carrot baby food

Icing:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese (1 pound), at room temperature

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple

For the cake:

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) square cake pans, line them with buttered parchment paper, and dust with flour.

 

Toss the carrots, walnuts and 1/2 cup pineapple with 1/2 cup of the flour in a small bowl and set aside.

 

Whisk the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.

 

In another large bowl beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until thick and light, about 5 minutes. While continuing to beat the eggs slowly, gradually add the oil, and then the pureed carrot.

 

Scatter the dry ingredients over the wet and then gently fold them together to make a loose batter. Gently fold the nuts, carrots, and pineapple into the batter. Pour into the prepared pans. Bake the cakes until firm to the touch and a cake tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on a rack for 25 minutes. Turn cakes out of pans and cool completely on the rack.

 

For the icing:

Beat cream cheese in a large bowl, with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Gradually beat in the butter until smooth. Sift the sugar over the cream cheese, and beat until smooth. Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy. Refrigerate to set slightly for about 20 minutes.

 

To assemble the cake, place a cake layer on a cake stand, plate, or cake board. Spread about half of the icing over top, but leave the sides bare. Sprinkle icing with about half of the pineapple. Top with a second cake layer, and repeat with remaining icing and pineapple. Serve.

 

Cook's Note: You will need about 1/2 a fresh medium pineapple, trimmed, cored, and finely chopped for the whole cake and frosting.

 

LINK: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-ne...cipe/index.html

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QUOTE (Janie @ Oct 14 2008, 04:25 PM)
My second request:

Crockpot issues.

Firstly, I love the crockpot. Slap a bunch of stuff in there and let her cook all afternoon. The house always smells sooooo good. Anway, back to my issue: The meat is always overdone and the potatoes are always falling apart. WTF?

Are you cooking on Med or High all day? If it's all day Med is usually sufficient.

 

There are some good Crockpot cookbooks out there, also the grocery store has some packaged spices for different kinds of meals. You just add the meat, veggies whatever it calls for.

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QUOTE (Digital Man @ Oct 14 2008, 07:42 PM)
QUOTE (Janie @ Oct 14 2008, 04:25 PM)
My second request:

Crockpot issues.

Firstly, I love the crockpot. Slap a bunch of stuff in there and let her cook all afternoon. The house always smells sooooo good. Anway, back to my issue: The meat is always overdone and the potatoes are always falling apart. WTF?

Are you cooking on Med or High all day? If it's all day Med is usually sufficient.

 

There are some good Crockpot cookbooks out there, also the grocery store has some packaged spices for different kinds of meals. You just add the meat, veggies whatever it calls for.

That would be my thought too. My girlfriend sets hers up to go in the morning before work, but knows the meat might be over done by the time she gets the kids and gets home for the day so she sets it up on a timer to go off prior to her return - it stays warm but doesn't cook things as much.

 

I think most crockpot cookpots give you cook times, but I'm not sure. unsure.gif

Edited by owlswing
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QUOTE (owlswing @ Oct 14 2008, 05:47 PM)
QUOTE (Digital Man @ Oct 14 2008, 07:42 PM)
QUOTE (Janie @ Oct 14 2008, 04:25 PM)
My second request:

Crockpot issues.

Firstly, I love the crockpot. Slap a bunch of stuff in there and let her cook all afternoon. The house always smells sooooo good. Anway, back to my issue: The meat is always overdone and the potatoes are always falling apart. WTF?

Are you cooking on Med or High all day? If it's all day Med is usually sufficient.

 

There are some good Crockpot cookbooks out there, also the grocery store has some packaged spices for different kinds of meals. You just add the meat, veggies whatever it calls for.

That would be my thought too. My girlfriend sets hers up to go in the morning before work, but knows the meat might be over done by the time she gets the kids and gets home for the day so she sets it up on a timer to go off prior to her return - it stays warm but doesn't cook things as much.

 

I think most crockpot cookpots give you cook times, but I'm not sure. unsure.gif

All crock pot recipes give time approximations. I have a handful of slow cooker cookbooks. I usually slow cook things for the shortest amount of time listed and keep the cooker on warm if we aren't going to eat right away. I went through some of my cookbooks (I thought I had about 30 cookbooks but I have almost 60 - yikes!) and found the answer to my potato dilemma. In Cover & Bake from Cook's Illustrated (the best cookbooks IMO) they said to use small potatoes, leave them whole and place them on the sides of the cooker to keep from turning into mush. So I'll try that next time. I'm trying to perfect my Coconut Chicken Curry recipe.

 

I think one issue with the meat is to find red meat that has a ton of marbling in it to help keep it moist?? I don't know what to do about dry white meat.

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I think one day a week I'm going to attempt a Julia Child recipe. I have Mastering the Art of French Cooking and figure I can attempt some of these things. Maybe.

 

I think it would be funny to host a swank dinner party serving something like Roast Duck with Apple Stuffing and then for dessert... Jell-O pudding cups. Just to see what people would do.

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QUOTE (Janie @ Oct 15 2008, 07:57 AM)
I think one day a week I'm going to attempt a Julia Child recipe. I have Mastering the Art of French Cooking and figure I can attempt some of these things. Maybe.

I think it would be funny to host a swank dinner party serving something like Roast Duck with Apple Stuffing and then for dessert... Jell-O pudding cups. Just to see what people would do.

Isaac Mizrahi, the designer, said one of the best hostess gifts was to bring fudgy pops! They can be popped into the freezer and are fun to eat. Much better than flowers which the host/hostess has to stop what they are doing to arrange. yes.gif

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I used to cook all the time - made my own sauces and stuff. Then I got married. My husband and I are on different time schedules; sometimes he doesn't get home till nearly 10, and since I work out in the afternoon, I'd pass out from hunger if I had to wait that late to eat.

 

Tip for ya - Penzey's Spices, if you don't know already. They have some of the best stuff, everything you can think of, and the value is excellent. Very high quality so you don't have to use as much. They do have a website. And the packaging is just awesome.

 

Janie, I want your chicken curry recipe! I love Indian food; if I lived in England it'd be takeaway curries every night.

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QUOTE (telegraphcreeklocal @ Oct 15 2008, 07:48 PM)
2 Salmon fillets, 6oz. spinach leaves, pesto, puff pastry, divide and bake 375. 2.gif 1022.gif

This sounds interesting! How long do you usually bake it for? This would make for a great appetizer if you cut the salmon into bite-sized chunks.

 

Which reminds me, I have the best recipe for a soy-glazed salmon over linguini recipe. I haven't made that in forever. I'll have to dig it up.

 

I love pan-frying salmon and then making a soy sauce to pour over. It always tastes so good.

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telegraphcreeklocal got me craving seafood for dinner so tonight I'm making cod (with a simple butter, white wine, lemon juice "glaze/sauce"), crab cakes with homemade cocktail sauce served over wild greens with oil/vinegar dressing and some crusty bread.

 

Man I'm hungry nowwwww. I'm so glad dinner is like 7 hours away.

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QUOTE (Janie @ Oct 14 2008, 03:22 PM)
I want this thread to be successful and hopefully it wasn't sexist of me to put it in the NWW section but...

It's that time of year again when I am all about baking and cooking. Is anyone else? I always tend to stay indoors more in the fall and cook and cook and cook and read recipes and talk about cooking.

So my hope is that we can talk about recipes tried and give feedback and suggestions on meal ideas, etc.

I for one need help in this department especially since I love food so much. I am still learning everything from scratch as my parents never, ever made anything. Needless to say, I have many failures in the kitchen!

Janie... this is too funny. Your note is hilarious!!! rofl3.gif it's funny because my hubby thinks if he washes the dishes for me .. he is entitled to get some extra sex. Well he doesn't call it sex, he says making love. On Thursdays I cook for the homeless, roughly between 50 and 75 people. So after cooking all day, then going to feed, I do not feel like doing dishes. I know when cooking your suppose to clean as you go.. but..ummm sometimes that does not happen.

 

Any recipes to cook for a larger amount of people??

 

 

thanks

jillian

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