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I guess it all depends on your palette. I can barely stand coffee period (I suppose that's what I get for being a super taster). The only thing that makes it drinkable for me is watering it down slightly and adding some sugar to cut the bitter acidic flavors. And a little creamer helps, too.

That said, I think people are going way overboard with all these crazy creamer flavors. They take a perfectly innocent drink and turn it into a calorie loaded sugar bomb. I think it'd be much better to go out and eat the dessert rather than adding an artificially flavored version to your coffee.

Yay! I always knew there was a reason I loved peanut skins. I thought it was a shame that most people don't like them. That's like saying you don't like potato skins! Sacrilege!

I tried this recipe yesterday. I had no trouble with the coating. I melted it in the microwave in a glass bowl, because my double boiler is very tiny and tends to be messy with these types of recipes. They coated really well, and the cool part was the chocolate set within a minute since the balls were cold. Awesome!

They weren't as super fantastic as I hoped they would be, but they are really pretty and seemed to impress my hubby's coworkers.

Why are you guys always so uptight about Cakespy's posts? Seriously, just let it go. If you don't like them, just pass them up and go read something else.

As for me, I always enjoy seeing what Cakespy's up to. It's always sure to amuse me, that's for sure.

Also, I've make this recipe every halloween, and it's lovely! Much better than store bought candy corn.

Great job! It's amazing how lax we can get with our healthy lifestyles if we're not paying attention. I know I've been letting myself slip a lot lately, and it shows when I do.

Stay focused and you'll do great!

Red dyed pistachios aren't that old fashioned. I remember eating them as far back as 10 years ago, when I was a teenager. I guess it just depends on where you look.

I tried the microwave ricotta, but the curds came out so small that I didn't even realize they were there until they settled a few minutes later! Think of sugar, only smaller. So I tried this on the stove instead, and it came out really tasty!

I ended up using a gallon of milk because I wanted to see how much ricotta it would make. At the end, I was left with about 3 cups of ricotta, which isn't bad at all. Here in western NY, milk is $1.69 a gallon, and I figure that's cheaper and tastier than store bought ricotta.

Ok, one last comment. I had a breeze draining the ricotta. I used an old trick I learned when making apple jelly; instead of cheese cloth or paper towels, use a cheap, thin dish towel. If you have a towel that's not terry cloth, that's perfect. But if you use terry cloth, drain on the smooth side, not the rough side. I spooned what I could onto a strainer lined with a dish towel, then put a sieve over a big pot and poured the rest of the curds and whey into the sieve. That works beautifully! It didn't get all the small, fine curds, but it got most of it. Then when I was done, I poured the rest of the whey through another dish cloth and got every last curd.

I ran a small test run using paper towels as well as coffee filters, but neither worked very well at all. But the dish cloth worked perfectly. I bet cheese cloth would have worked fairly well, too, but I couldn't find it anywhere in my house! I know it's here somewhere...

There's an old family recipe that I just LOVE. It's called brazil nut bread, or tropical cake. It's similar to a fruit cake, only much better. And it goes a little something like this:

3 cups brazil nut meat (about 1.5 lb with shells, or 1 lb without shells)
2-7.25 oz pkg pitted dates
1 cup drained maraschino cherries, red and green
3/4 cup sifted flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Grease a 9.5x5.5x2.5 loaf pan and line with wax paper. Grease wax paper. In a large bowl, dump nuts , dates and cherries whole (although I would suggest rough chopping the nuts). Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt over fruit. Mix with hands until all ingredients are well coated.

Beat eggs in separate bowl until frothy, then add vanilla. Pour over fruit mixture and mix with hands. Transfer to loaf pan and bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes.

My suggestion is to remove the wax paper as soon as you can, otherwise it's going to stick like crazy. Also, the cake lasts forever and actually tastes better once it's sat for a couple of days in the refrigerator.

Wegman's chocolate ice cream sauce (the chocolate mint is my favorite). It's real life chocolate, thick and creamy and needs to be microwaved before using, instead of the gross chocolate syrup name brands sell.

Actually, since Wegman's is always trying so hard to be an upscale store, most of their store brand foods are really exceptional. And very reasonably priced.

The best part of this article are the comments. It's amazing how different everyone's opinions are about apples, and how strongly they hold onto their apple beliefs!

The interesting thing about apples is that just 100 years ago, you could buy somewhere around 800 types of apples at stores and grocers, whereas today, you really can't find more than 80 types. Most of the heirloom varieties have almost totally disappeared, except for the stray forgotten orchard in someone's back yard. It does make you wonder what kinds of delicious flavors we're missing.

As for what I like, well, I guess it depends on the time of year. Year round, I love nothing more than to eat a lovely Gala. They're usually the cheapest apple in the store, stores easily and is pretty tasty. I love the soft skin. Later in the year, Macs and Cortlands are are top at my list, especially when the local orchard has pick-your-own. Lately I've been eating a lot of Empires, which are really good, sweet and crispy.

I hardly ever make pies, so the only thing I'm looking for in an apple is a pleasant snack.

That's very funny, because everyone I know actually hates eating the crust and would rather the pie be without it. Well, besides me. The crust has always been my favorite part.

On the other hand, maybe they don't like the crust because they're used to buying store bought pie shells instead of making their own. Home made is definitely the best.

As for the pie filling, I really dislike most fruit pies because, indeed, they're too sweet and way too gooey. Coconut is my favorite, pumpkin is lovely, lemon is very nice, and chocolate is good too, but I usually can't eat a fruit pie unless I make it myself.