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jillbcooks 10/29/2009 5:26:00 PM
My husband says I have two superpowers—one is a canine-like sense of smell and the other is the ability to take any food and make it as delicious (and caloric) humanly possible. I have to admit that I am not a fan of no-fat and low-fat preparations. I think of someone like Paula Deen who has an unabashed love of butter, and I think I am not exactly that enthusiastic about my particular predilections, but I at least acknowledge them.
So, I love that Halloween is on a Saturday this year because it offers an opportunity to celebrate the day in a way that time will allow us to indulge...
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waffles, Halloween, candy corn, Paula Deen
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jillbcooks 10/28/2009 5:43:00 PM
After uploading photos to Flickr a few weeks ago, I spent some time exploring other Flickr members food-related photo streams. I came across an amazing set of photos of three dimensional Halloween cookies. I’ve seen 3-D cookies before, like Christmas trees built from a variety of different sized stars. The cookies I saw on Flickr were built from two pieces with matched notches that fit together.
You can buy fancy cutters that have the notch, or use very plain cutters (like pumpkins or round ornaments) and use...
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sugar cookie dough, Christmas cookies, three dimensional cookies, Halloween cookies
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jillbcooks 10/22/2009 5:48:00 PM
There are some polemic topics that seem to divide people. Are you a dog or cat person? A vanilla or chocolate ice cream fan? A slow cooker fan or a cook who scoffs at the thought of cooking in one?
Slow cookers are often associated with homey comfort foods rather than gourmet meals. One of my favorite cookbooks is Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook, which offers more innovative recipes than those that give slow cookers a bad rap. While my husband has a fondness for stew meat, a packet of onion soup mix and water that cooks on low all day long, that is not my picture of a good dinner. If you find yourself avoiding the slow cooker (...
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easy dinners, beef roast, slow cooker
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jillbcooks 10/20/2009 6:16:00 PM
I love fun food field trips. Ben and Jerry’s. Utz Potato Chip factory. Eli’s Cheesecake World. Factory tours are terrifically fun, educational and often very inexpensive or even free. This past weekend we happened to be in Wisconsin and stopped into the Bass Lake Cheese Factory in Somerset. The place isn’t too large, but offers a retail store and tasting room and a great view to ...
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cheddar cheese, macaroni and cheese, butter jack cheese, food factory tours
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jillbcooks 10/15/2009 5:09:00 PM
A couple weeks ago I wrote about how I desperately wanted Russian Tea Cake cookies. I made them on a whim and was very happy to eat them. Strolling through Sam’s Club last weekend, I saw large boxes of Betty Crocker cookie mixes in flavors I hadn’t seen before. Among them? Yes, Russian Tea Cakes. I decided to buy the box and give it a try—it cost about $6 for two mixes in the box.
I was impressed by how easy these mixes were ...
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butter, walnuts, cookie kit, Russian Tea Cakes
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jillbcooks 10/13/2009 9:10:00 PM
When it comes to pasta, my husband loves spaghetti. I have to say that it is my least favorite type of noodle. It is messy, hard to eat, and I love chunky sauce, which spaghetti does no favors for. Enter my new favorite pasta shape: orecchiette. It comes from the word for ear in Italian, and is translates literally as “little ears.”
The pasta is round with a concave surface, which catches tasty bits of sauce, meat or vegetables. I like that orecchiette easier to eat as well, since it can b...
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dinner, Italian sausage, orecchiette, pasta
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jillbcooks 10/8/2009 7:02:00 PM
Blustery wind, cold rain and dipping temperatures make me crave comfort foods. Last weekend we had guests over for a casual dinner. When I was thinking about what to make I was seriously wishing I could go to a restaurant that was an old favorite before we moved away from D.C., Hard Times Café. The restaurant harkens back to the Great Depression and the chili parlors that offered up a substantive meal at a fair price. They bring a taste sampler to your table so you can try their different chilis: vegetarian (my favorite, because it has peanuts in it), Cincinnati, Texas (my husband’s fave) and Terlingua Red (also a very...
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chili, cornbread mix, dinner party, casual, Texas chili
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jillbcooks 10/6/2009 6:38:00 PM
I hate when I can’t figure something out and get it to work.
Failure, failure, failure. That is all my efforts to replicate my favorite candy have added up to—zilch, zero, nothing, except a pan of burnt sugar to clean up. And, yet, I continue to try. If you have ever had sponge candy, you know that the potential gain is greater than the pain (and literally the burns from bubbling hot sugar syrup).
If you’ve never heard of sponge candy, it is best described as burned and aerated s...
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chocolate, sponge candy, Western New York, seafoam, honeycomb
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jillbcooks 10/2/2009 5:23:00 PM
I was trying to resist going out to dinner tonight and needed a quick at-home meal idea that would satisfy so I could say no to spending money in restaurants. I am inspired by a blog called Blogging Away Debt to avoid spending money on dining out until my student loans are paid off. The blog is all about this woman's efforts to pay down her debts. She write about the choices she has to make and how life can sometimes get in the way of good intentions. After looking at our household finances last weekend, I have made some decisions about spending and saving and want to stick to them.
I have even gone so far as to...
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Bisquick, pancakes, last minute dinner, home fries, Budget Bites