Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

OK. I just lost my appetite.

I thought cheese soufflé was the most putrid thing my mother put in front of me. Today, I love it!!

Everyone has great advice to follow! I:
1. never go to the market hungry (sometimes I buy a corndog at the deli on my way into the store - oops, should have added that to my "Guilty Food Pleasures" post)
2. use coupons - only use coupons for items that you really use on a regular basis (don't buy items that you normally wouldn't use just because you have a coupon)
3. I will stock up on specials and freeze (whole chickens, etc)
4. purchase local, homegrown produce in large quantities (tomatoes and make big batches of Marinara sauce to freeze; fruits that have a short local season and freeze, etc.)

The Joy of Cooking may not be the most "user friendly" book but it is an excellent "text book type" book for the new cook to teach themselves.

I also agree that an subscription to Cook's Illustrated would be a great tool.

Granted, I have not tried the other comperable brands (Mario Batali, etc) and probably won't bother because I love my LC. I have my set and I have my mother's set from the 50's and 60's and I will wager I'll be passing them down to my daughters and grandaughters. When something lasts as long as these and are as durable, I do not mind spending the money for them.

gpg520, I concur! This time every year my husband and I run out to buy a case or two! We love it!

My Aunt Penny opened the doors to the wonders of cooking, when I was 14. I spent a month with her helping her with her newborn twins and during that time she tutored me in the kitchen and taught me all sorts of recipes; some of which I still use today. The day I went back home she gave me a three-ring binder so that I counld insert recipes that I collected from newspapers, magazines, etc. I was bitten by the culinary bug!

I simply adore barley and it put a smile on my face to see this recipe. I have used this for years. For a period, several years ago, I was putting barley in everything! My father-in-law was staying a spell with us and had to politely ask me if I would make his food without the barley. He was a prisoner in a German POW camp during the end of WWII and turns out that was all he ate for over 18 months. He hasn't been able to eat it since.

Dancing Shoes

My father was the real cook in the house, but mom had a couple of specialties like her lentil soup she made every New Year's Day (along with the black-eyed peas, of course!). But, one that I really remember (because it reminds me of how she would always make the best with what we had), was a time when my dad had been without a job for awhile and money was very tight. She took a couple of can's of spam, whole. She scored it and studded it with cloves, then basted with her brown sugar/mustard/honey sauce and baked it. Just like she would do when we could afford a real ham!! All of us kids loved it! It was like eating mini hams.

Have not read all the comments so I don't know if this has been mentioned. The way I love to use dates for cocktail parties is:

Whole, pitted dates
Whole, blanched almonds
good quality, thick sliced hickory bacon
Your amounts will depend on how many appetizers you want to make. You will need equal amounts of dates and almonds. Each slice of bacon will be sliced into thirds, so figure how many slices of bacon you will need.

- toast whole, blanched almonds on a baking sheet until brown in a 350° oven.
- Stuff each date with toasted almond.
- Wrap each date with a third slice of bacon and secure with toothpick.
- Bake dates on cookie sheet in a 350° oven until bacon is crisped.

These are, surprisingly, just as tasty at room temp as they are hot out of the oven; well not AS good as hot out of the oven, but still tasty!