Hello.

My name is Geraldina Romero and I work at Munroe Regional Medical Center.

I love to bake and I always get asked to bake cakes for friends and relatives. I still need to practice on my decorating skills.

I am always searching for new ideas.

Today, I need to know if anyone can tell me how early can I bake a cake before I decorate it with Fondant.

I have always baked cakes and decorated them the day before it gets served.

Thanks,

Gerry

Hi, my name is Pam, I am married, six children and 5 beautiful granddaughters.

I have been baking for years, for the last 5 years I have been selling this service to others.  I am moosekat and looking for the "tea cake" cookies my grandmother baked.

I also teach a cooking class to middle school students

Thank, Pam

Hi my name is Nikki. I am married for 27 years,2 step children that are as much my "kids" as they possibly could be.  (I hate the term STEP---)  And the most awesome grandson on the face of the earth!!!!
 I have been baking for as long as I can remember, my mom died when I was 10 and I just took over the kitchen.  I learned a lot from my mom and grandma though.  I love sharing ideas and passing on things I have learned in my 50 plus years.

Hi my name is Charlene.  I just got laid off work again and will be back in the kitchen.  I love cooking, baking and all the fancy stuff for celebrations.  I have 2 sons - one has a daugheter and the other has 5 sons!  Love them all to death.  I am looking for recipes to make with them ages 13 to 2 that will be easy to make, fun to decorate, and easy on my diabetes.  Any suggestions?

Hi, I'am not new, but been off for a few days,:-). My names Anna, aka, granna. I love to cook and bake. I have two grown sons that are married and 4 granddaughters, 3 step grandchildren and spouse,5 step greatgrand children and 1 greatgrandson. I've been married (as of this Aug.31st) 40 yrs. and our church has a lot of pot lucks, so I am always looking for cheap meals and new recipes. I will try almost anything, once, hahaha.   gerryromero, i have a freind that bakes and sells cakes and she almost always freezes her cakes ,if she is making one witrh a lot of layers. But, the only one that I tasted that the cakes had been frozen?!? and then iced with fonda, sweated under the iceing and was "slimy". It didn't affect the taste but it sure did the texture! Unless you used a glaze to keep the cake fresh, I'd think you would want to ice it as soon as you could. Dosen't the fonda iceing help keep a  cake fresher? lots of luck and welcome everyone,:-)

 Hi, my name is Renée and I joined up a few months ago, but only recently have found posting a new addiction!

I am a semi newlywed (4 years now), living in England for the last year and a half from California and falling in love with cooking! I don't have children and am experimenting with careers right now, and with limited availability of products I am used to, I am experimenting like crazy and self-teaching myself how to make things from scratch (thanks to BC!). I love to entertain and have a habit of trying new recipes at the last minute...can make for a great conversation!

Hi,my name is sharon. I'm 64 and have 3 grown boys,and 8 grandchildren and one greatgrandchild. I have alot of fun with them. We go fishing and 4 wheeling. I live across from my oldest son's farm. So i have lots of fresh eggs and beef. Love this site and exchanging ideas and recipes. 

hello !

i am chris , married for 12 years nd mom to 2 girls ...antonia is 11 and augusta is 2 . we homeschool and live in indiana with 2 cats and 4 rabbits .

we use baking/cooking a LOT in our school day ....i think i have as much fun as the girls do .

glad to be here and hope to make some new friends ....

Hi!
 My name is Audrey. I absolutely love to cook. I want to be come a chef one day and open my own restuarant. I also love baking desserts! =) My newest found recipe that i adore in the Betty Crocker Cookbook is the poppyseed poundcake! Oh my! It is delicious! Try it sometime! =)
  

Aloha!  My name is James and I've just recently joined.  I am still single (until August) and I just love to bake and cook.  I enjoy following good recipes and learning from them.  I really miss BC's Hamburger Helper Rice Oriental, and was wondering if Betty would sell them again, maybe as a "classic favorites" -type of deal.

Hi my name is Jude. I am a nurse and work with our Vet's in Indiana. Love what I do and to cook. I am looking for a recipe for a beef roast. I am not a roast cook and do not know what kind of roast I even have as it was a gift with out a label. I am pretty much old school with my cooking. Don't use recipes very often. What temp should a peice of beef be in the middle? Any help would be welcomed.  Thanks Jude

hi judecv,

ask 2 cooks and you'll get 2 different recipes. But here is mine. My favorite beef roast is '"chuck roast". It dose have a little more fat then some others, but it is usually moist and flavorful. I fix it two ways, depending on how I want to serve it, as a roast or sandwiches. For a roast: I rinse it then dry it off. I mix flour, salt, pepper, a little garlic & onion powder,. I then rub this on the roast, and brown it on all sides, even the edges. I wrap it in foil, put it in a roasting pan with a little water and bake it at 350 for 30 min. per pound. If I want potatos and carrots and onions around it, I add these the last 1 hour. If your pan is just big enough for the roast and vegs., you don't really need foil as long as you put on a lid. If I want to make sandwiches, I fix it in a crock pot. Cook on low all day. Put the roast into the crock pot and add the following: 1 can each of the following soup, undulated, french onion, beef consumi,. 1 can beef broth and 1 T. beef boullion powder. When it is done, remove from pot let set 10 min. then shred with two forks and put back into broth. This is great for snadwiches and the broth is great to dip your sandwish in. I usually use sub buns for the bread. The roast is also good just as a roast. Lots of luck and let us know what you think.

Hi Jude, since you don't know what kind of roast you have, it might be best to cook it in a crock pot to ensure it gets tender.  Some cuts will be tender just dry-baking in a roasting pan in the oven.  But the less tender roasts need long, slow moist cooking for them to get tender.

Those cuts do great in a crockpot.  I like a boneless chuck roast.  The roast, beef or pork, will be fork tender and will easily shred.  

I pat it dry then rub it all over with a very light coat of olive oil.  This helps the seasonings stick.  I sprinkle with salt, pepper and a little garlic powder, place in crockpot then add a can (or two) of cream of mushrom soup, cover and cook on low for 6-10 hours, depending on the size.  Sometimes I use cream of celery soup or one each of mushroom and celery.  Makes a great gravy. 

Sometimes I rub with pepper, no salt, put the roast in the crockpot and sprinkle dry onion soup mix over roast and add soup.  For a large roast I add 1 pkg and 2 cans of soup.  For a small roast, I add 1/2 pkg and 1 can. 

If you don't like cream soups, this makes a great gravy.  I know it sounds strange, but it is one of our favorites.  Put 1/2 cup water in the bottom of the crockpot, place roast in crock pot and sprinkle with a pkg of dry ranch dressing mix, a pkg of dry Italian dressing mix and a pkg of dry brown gravy mix.  Cover and cook on low 6-10 hours.  The gravy is wonderful!

Sometimes I add potatoes, carrots and onions the last 1-2 hours. The larger the pieces of carrots, the longer it takes to cook them until fork tender.  Cubed potatoes and onions get tender in about an hour.

We love pulled pork (and beef) BBQ.  I season a pork loin, boston butt or boneless chuck, put in crockpot with 1/2 cup water, pour a little BBQ sauce over meat, cover and cook on low for 6-10 hours.  Then I remove roast, discard liquid, shred the meat and add BBQ sauce.  Great for sandwiches.

One nice thing about crock pot cooking is not having to worry about internal temp. LOL  But to answer your question, the internal temp of a beef roast should be 145 to 150 for medium and 155 to 165 for well done.

If you cook a roast just until it reaches a safe eating temp, it can still be very tough.  But long, slow moist cooking causes the fibrous connective tissue in the meat to break down.  That is why it will shred easily with a fork.

Hi Everyone!  My name is Barb, screen name "PHNutritionist" which stands for Public Health Nutritionist.  I am one -- a public health nutritionist, that is.  Yep...  I work for the Federal Government as a Health Communications Specialist here in the Atlanta, Georgia area.  I live with my husband and 14 year old daughter, 3 puppies and 6 cats and a mouse.  I just melt when I see kittens abandoned at a dumpster or puppies looking pitiful and sad in kill-shelters.  So I bring them home, get them healthy, and try to find homes for them.  My husband reminds me that it's the "finding homes for them" part that isn't going well.  So if anyone needs a darling pet, DO let me know (smile). 

Our house is chaos all the time!  But it's a good life.  In the bigger picture of things -- what difference does it make if the new leather sofa has muddy paw prints all over it or the newly installed hardwood floors are scratched beyond recognition.  Sigh....   I keep telling myself that it's not forever.  And one day I'll miss terribly all of this craziness. 

Okay, I know I'm pathetic in the kitchen, even though I was a home ec major in college, with graduate degrees in nutrition.  But I really don't like to cook  Probably because I don't do it very well.  I never feel confident in knowing when things are done and should be taken off the stove or out of the oven.  So, my husband does all of the cooking now.  He enjoys the adventure of it, and I'm fine with that (smile). 

Our biggest problem is trying to find healthy foods that are QUICK and EASY and that don't cost an arm and a leg.  Our budget is TIGHT (any excess money spent on vet bills and school tuition).  I have a convection oven, but have NO idea how to bake in one.  Even my microwave oven is part convection oven -- but I don't know how to use that either.  Maybe this community will help me to learn the skills that would make cooking and baking more fun, with better outcomes.    

Write me anytime.  I care about people and pets and communities.  So HELLO... from Atlanta, Georgia.  

Hi all.......  just joined tonight....I enjoy baking and cooking..... like trying out new recipes...... been married for 26 yrs and have 4 children  they range in age from 36 to 22  and 1 granddaughter........ my 2 boys still live with us and the girls are out on there own......

Hi.  I'm Jocelyn from Pittsburgh.  I feed a husband and 17 year old son, both in the restaurant biz.  I use a recipe as a jumping off point.  I've gotten some great ideas here in the last few weeks.  To address the chocolate cookie dilemma, I recall Alton Brown (Food Network).  He devoted a whole show on how to vary the fats (butter vs margarine vs Crisco) and the leavening agents (baking powder and soda).  If I remember correctly, if you want a fluffy cookie, use margarine.  It contains pockets of water that evaporate during baking - providing fluff.  I believe he also altered the baking powder.  Search his site on Food Network and search for chocolate chip cookies.  I've only seen the show, but I'm guessing the write up is every bit as thorough.

I have a big question.  I've seen something on Betty Crocker where someone asks a cooking question or asks for a recipe and people enter replies.  I posted several replies yesterday and they went through.  Now I don't know how to get back to that site.  I have some questions too.  Thanks in advance for your help.