My daughter (who is 13) has never been a sauce girl - plain noodles, no condiments, scrape the sauce off everything. She came home from school raving about the lasagne served on their cafeteria day - it apparently had cheese and meat and noodles but little to no sauce that she could discern (which means, if there was sauce, it was white). The server then offered a marinara to pour over the lasagne (which of course she refused). So, I'm looking to replicate this recipe - and of course I want to do it today when the school is closed. Any ideas? Recipes? Thanks!

I just read on the Ottawa Citizen website that Anthony Sedlak passed away yesterday - but I can't find it on any other news outlet, nor the Canadian food network site. What a shocker! Is this for real? The guy was 29.....

Hey all - Been a while since I posted as life has been busy! But, I did make time to craft up some Acadian meat pies for the Christmas season (6 of which I transported back to Ontario for the holidays, resulting in an insanely heavy bag which I paid to check - a first!) Anyway, I overbought on the pork side of things when getting pie ingredients - resulting in a couple of packages of pork shoulder steaks languishing in my freezer. Now, I usually make pulled pork and ground pork (for use in such yummies as potsticksers) from pork shoulder - but we already have both in the freezer. Any other SE ideas for using up this meat?

I have signed up to bring an appetizer type nibble to a baby shower being held for a gluten-free expectant mom. I'd like to make something yummy, substantial, easily ported, and little napkin/fork action required as possible. For those of you more accustomed to cooking in the gluten free realm, what do you suggest? I am looking for something that can be served room temp. Thanks!

OK, so I can cook savoury food like no one's business (or so my family and friends tell me). BUT, when it comes to cakes, I am well, mediocre. Thus, I have always resorted to bought cakes when it comes to major events like birthdays and the like.

My daughter is being confirmed on Sunday and we are having a small get together afterwards. I'm determined to make a simple white cake (in the shape of a cross - hey, even I can manage that) with white icing for the dessert. Can anyone point me to a tried and true recipe that comes out moist, flavourful, and on which the icing does not immediately slide off or turn into a rock requiring a Sawsal (sp?) to cut through?

Hey folks - been a while since I've posted - I went from unemployed to two contracts at once..... but things are calming down now so back to the important things - like SE!

I am making dinner on Sunday night for a varied crew including some teenagers. I know that they LOVE appetizers when they go out for dinner and in fact often make their entire meal out of them. So my plan is to make a buffet of appetizers. Leading me to today's question.....

What are your favourite restaurant appetizers? Priviso here - I'm talking regularly available, maybe even chain restaurant type things.

I'm currently contemplating a spinach and artichoke dip (hot), sliders, chicken wings, queso or nachos. But I am totally open to other ideas - I'd like to add some kind of veggie or a lighter type thing to the mix (in an attempt to say this is healthy - bah, who am I kidding!)

What say you? What restaurant appie reins supreme?

I need to take an appetizer to a luncheon party. I have most of the ingredients to make some kind of Tex Mex dip (you know those layered numbers). But I would like to have something I can slice and serve in single portions - rather than a dip.

I was thinking a cornmeal crust, or something done with pre-made tortillas.

Anyone got a recipe up their sleeve for something like this? I can find plenty of dip recipes online but time is of the essence and I am once again turning to my SE buddies!

I have been away from SE for a bit - I am spending some time at with a friend who does not have steady computer access. Anyway, she does not cook much so I have been taking up the duties. Tonight we are having a dinner party and she yanked out a huge hunk o beef and suggested we serve it. Upon butchering the thing properly, I believe I have about a 2.5 pound eye of the round roast, a 1.5 pound piece of flank steak and a round steak (quite small). I have to serve somewhere between 6 and 9 folks this evening - any suggestions as to how to combine or prepare these cuts to serve this number of folks would be appreciated. I was thinking of stuffing the roast and then grilling the flank steak and somehow presenting this.... but I am waffling as to how to make them look like they somewhat belong together..... Can anyone help.....

For the umpteenth time, I turn to my SE friends for advice for my Girl Guide troupe. As is the norm, when we have an event, I am tagged to do any cooking involved. This time, we are having our final get together in 2010 to celebrate 100 years of Guiding in Canada. I am tasked with making a snack representative of South American cuisine. This snack should be reasonably small (ie hand held), not require utensils if possible, and be somewhat kid friendly. Can be sweet or savoury.

Obviously (to me anyway) I was leaning towards empanadas. However, I have left myself a little short on time - I have to have this done by tomorrow afternoon - and the number quoted to me as attending this event could be as high as 100.

So, I'm going to continue investigating other options and potential shortcuts, but in the meantime, anyone got any other bright ideas? Quesadillas crossed my mind but I believe they are more Mexican in origin. Is there an equivalent South American (and yes I know that spans a HUGE range of cuisine, which I am hoping will work in my favour!) type of thing?

Thanks!

My friend is making the type of pickles that you leave in brine in a crock for seven days prior to jarring them. She has left over brine from her latest batch and is wondering if she can freeze the brine and reuse it for her next batch? I have seen webpages that talk about freezing brine to make pickle popsicles (hmmm) but not about reusing it at a later date to make more pickles. Your thoughts?

My MIL is from Louisiana, and despite living in Canada for 40 years, still has her delightful accent - and her tastes for the food of youth (well maybe not the possum - they were pretty darn poor!) She turned 80 last month, and now, my husband (her son) is coming home in 10 days (as mentioned before, he lives in Alberta while I live in Ontario). He has asked me to make a southern meal for his mom to celebrate her milestone birthday. He has suggested crab and shrimp gumbo, and I tossed in the requisite corn bread done in a cast iron pan. But this is not a cuisine I am all that familar with and I want to make it a surprise for my MIL. Can an of my fellow SEers suggest killer gumbo recipes? Should I be serving sides, and if so, what (I was thinking black eyed peas - I know she loves them). A creative app? Dessert (usually my MIL makes her absolutely fabulous angel food cake, but we're not letting her cook at this particular dinner) - any and all help appreciated. Please keep in mind that if you suggest regional ingrdients, a source for ordering them would be appreciated too.

I have a friend who recently told me she is hopping on the wagon - giving up alcohol completely, as she feels it has become a problematic thing for her (and I agree - I'm really happy about her decision). However, she's facing the summer without her usual glass of wine in hand and is looking for ideas for fun summer drinks that she could have handy when the mood strikes. Things beyond the usual soda, water, fruit juice - and I'm wondering if any SEers out there have some cool drink recipies - strawberry lemonade, fruit infused waters, that type of thing....?

Seems like I am always turning to my SE friends for help with cooking for my Girl Guide troupe (and you'll notice it is always on Mondays - when we meet!) This time, I am working on the menus for our camping trip the first weekend in June. The girls have requested mini pizzas (done on English muffins, seems to be the consensus). I've done a fair bit of camp cooking, and I pride myself on not relying on hot dogs and burgers (although they have their place, don't get me wrong) or freeze dried dinners. However, I have never tackled pizza in any form in a camp site.

Suggestions? I will have access to a fire and a campstove. I am trying to think of ways to heat them through, reasonably quickly, without burning them and preferably in groups (ie if I do them one at a time, I'll have hysteria from the kid at the back of the lineup). I am thinking that a skillet covered with a lid or foil would work, but anyone got any better ideas? Or, even a better way to make pizza in a camp site other than with English muffins?

As some of you might remember, last summer I worked in a B and B part time - cooking/cleaning/running my all to ample heinie off. I've been hired back on for this summer - but this time around, my boss is not going to be around much - he's taken a job that is going to keep him away much of the time. So it's my show....

and I'm looking to change up the menu a bit - in the past we've done fresh fruit, breads, fresh baking (usually scones), then a custom hot breakfast with eggs, meat, and occasionally pancakes. On busy weekends, we did baked french toast.

I'd like to add perhaps waffles into the mix, thinking to use our tired fruit to make compotes to put on top. And more breakfast casseroles.

So, what have you loved about a B and B breakfast that I can incorporate into this mix?

Just as a logistics thing - the place holds 14 at most and yes, I will do weekends with 14 on my own. I think I'm tired already (grin)........

Once again I turn to SE for help with my Girl Guide troupe. This coming Monday evening, I am going to have to lead these girls in creating a no-bake treat from "another culture" (in a country like Canada, I'm never quite sure what that means - but you get the idea I'm sure). In the past, this has involved making a dip for tortilla chips with sour cream, salsa and the like. My felllow leaders, while great people, are NOT serious eaters.....

So, what ideas do you guys have? I CAN cook stuff ahead of time and bring it with me - we just don't want to deal with the kids working with the stove on this particular night. A sweet or savoury dish would work just fine.

I don't eat jam or jelly (at least, not on toast - I do use it in savoury applications sometimes) however, I do MAKE jam to give as gifts and share with friends. One of my friends is really looking to cut down on sugar/processed foods in her diet, and is getting into jam making with me. We've made some awesome stuff, but it's all been with the tons of sugar that traditional recipes call for. Is making jam without sugar possible? And if so, is any good? And do SEs have some recipes they could share with me?

I have two chicken breast in my fridge and a goal of getting dins on the table within three hours. There are just two of us - my 10 year old and me - so.... what do I make?

Bizarre question I know but here goes - up here in the Great White North (aka Canada) we have a restaurant chain called Swiss Chalet, famous for very family friendly rotisserie chicken. For six weeks of the year from mid-Nov to end of Dec, they have what they call their Festive Special - the same chicken dinner (meat, fries/baked/mashed, famous sauce, bun) with the addition of stuffing (seriously Stove Top) and cranberry sauce. I have gone out for this meal every year for 17 years in a row with a group of folks I used to work with. But, heavens to Murgatroid, we can't find a date to do it this month and by the time we can, the Festive Special will be gone! (sob) So I suggested we do it as a potluck, using rotisserie chicken from the store, and our own fixings. I've signed up for the stuffing - sooooo, here's my challenge - I want a homemade stuffing recipe that is as close a possible to the taste of traditional Stove Top. Oh I need to do this as dressing, as someone else is responsible for the birds.

Any takers on my challenge?

I'm a guide leader and am tasked with doing an cultural awareness segment with my girls tomorrow. We usually accomplish this by looking at Girl Guides (aka Girl Scouts in the USA) from another country and doing some activities around that. I've decided to do Ukrainian Girl Guides, as they are one of the newer groups to join the World Guiding Association. As a foodie, I plan to focus on food-related stuff - I am going to have the girls make perogies (albeit the frozen store bought kind - I do NOT have the patience to do scratch with this group) and I was thinking of doing donuts as well (you know the traditional Ukrainian/Polish ones - well, I can't manage that, but I can do homemade donuts with sugar and cinnamon). Any other ideas? I thought cabbage rolls, but not sure if that would fly with this age group (9 to 13). What would you do?

I'm hosting a party for my mom next month - it is her eightieth birthday! A small get together - mainly family and a couple of close friends at my house - doing the food buffet style. I want to do a baked chicken dish, with boneless breasts and thighs (the reason I'm doing boneless has to do with weird family members - personally, I like bone-in meat myself, so let's not go there, OK?)

Anyone got a tasty, not too saucy recipe? I'll do the thighs and breasts separately to ensure the white meat isn't dried out... but I could be into something bbq, something garlicy, something a bit creamy - just trying to stay away from something Italian, as I am doing Giada's lasagne rollups as another offering on the buffet table....

Need some cooking ideas for a newly single mom - she is a busy lady, limited time in the evening and in her past life, relied heavily on her husband to do the cooking. She is interested in learning some basic approaches to getting dinner on the table for her and her daughter - that's as far as it goes right now. I've offered the "make ahead on weekends, do the basic protein and veggie with a starch for the kiddo (lady is watching her weight and limits carbs)" tune.....

First up is ideas for left over turkey (as we just celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving) and her first (very successful I might add) attempt at making turkey broth in her newly baptized crockpot. I am pretty proud of her and want to give her lots of incentive to continue on her path of "home cooking for her little family" rather than resorting to the all to easy trap of take out that tired, overworked single parents fall into (and I've been one and I've been there and I'm not blaming...)

Can my Serious Eats friends help with some inspiring, kid-friendly, quick and easy meals to help out?

I can't post since the changes, can't find the reason why.... am so confused....

Sorry if this posts twice - I thought I had posted it once but it didn't appear..... I bought a half case of red peppers this week - I plan on pickling a bunch, making stuffed peppers, red pepper dip. But I'm looking for some new and interesting recipes I could try. When they start getting a little wrinkly, into the freezer they go for cooking over the winter.

Can you save my peppers from an icy fate?

A friend of mine came over a couple of weeks ago and brought some corn with her - too much corn. So, we put it in my garage fridge and I thought she took it home with her the next day. Nope, she forgot it - and I went away to work for a few days and well, now I have this "older" corn. I know it won't work as corn on the cob, but it is not spoiled and I hate to throw it out.

Any ideas what I could do with it? Or it is a lost cause?

As I've mentioned before, I'm working at a B and B this summer. The owner has a huge garden out back in which he has grown.... tomatoes.... and nothing but. I just picked a huge bowl of yellow perons (sp?) and other small tomatoes. I have a bucket load more in the fridge. I'm on my own for three more days - what can I do with these? Seems to me I could make a tomato relish of some sort that we could serve alongside the eggs we prepare? What do you think? Can anyone recommend a recipe if this in fact a good idea?!