I just found this yogurt bread recipe on one of my favorite food blogs.

It's the closest I can find to a cherished childhood recipe lost in a move; but I would like to tweak it so it's a little less dense. I never cook exactly to a recipe, but I don't usually fool around with baking - can I safely add more baking powder? Or is there a better option? I split it into two loaves (and baked at 160C with fan for 45 min) because one loaf was for a friend. She loved it, but I want the bread I remember from my childhood!

I REALLY don't want to start a whole cultural/dietary/religious debate; but I need a recipe for parve chocolate cupcakes WITHOUT margerine or any other hydrogenated foodstuff substitutes.

We're having a BBQ on Friday, and one of the families that is coming keeps kosher to the extent that the whole party must be kosher or they won't be able to eat anything; which I respect very much.

A friend has offered to bring something (actually several things, bless her) and one of them is chocolate cupcakes. She does not cook with margarine, Cool Whip, etc.; which I also respect very much.

Maybe someone has a recipe using part applesauce and part oil or something? I am "The Boss' Wife" so this isn't the time for experimentation - I need a tried and true recipe :-)

OK, the store had the cutest little round zuchinnis, so I got a couple (we never seem to eat leftovers so I'm trying to cook just for two..)

Planning to scoop out the seeds and (over)stuff them with ground chicken, breadcrumbs and parmasean, held together with a bit of egg and some shredded mozarella on top. Thought I'd serve them with spaghetti and dump red sauce over the whole lot.

What do you think? Any time/temperature suggestions for just two of them? (I'm in celcius, but I can convert...)

Asked a friend coming through duty free to pick us up a bottle of Veuve Clicquot since it's so expensive here. What he brought back was $35 more that we were expecting, and is called Veuve Clicquot Cuvee Edouard Werle. From reading The Widow Clicquot (an excellent book!) I know that ol' Eddie was the widow's business partner and successor, but what does that mean for my bottle of champagne?

Thought I remembered a thread before I went on vacation about boil-over being the only reason to add oil to pasta water; which set me wondering if that is the solution to my microwave rice cooker. I absolutely love it (particularly when I have an intestinal bug, like right now - who gets sick AFTER vacation?) but it makes an unholy mess out of my microwave cooking even 1 cup of rice. It boils over out of the steam vents on top - can I add a touch of olive oil (or butter) to the water, rice and salt before I close the lid? I'll be eating the rice with butter anyway...

As I was making red mashed potatoes with the skins on at Thanksgiving, a 7-year-old guest asked me why there were skins in. I replied that it was added fiber and vitamins, and also looked pretty. She countered with "No they're not - that's what lazy adults say so they don't have to peel them!"

Am I wrong? Are there really no added benefits to leaving the peels on like there are with other fruits/vegetables?

OK, so feeling silly this AM...

DH and i have always referred to Giada diLaurentiis as "Cooking with Cleavage", and Mario Battali would have to be something involving shorts and Crocs (I can't stop thinking there's GOTTA be leg hair in his food occasionally!), Paula Deen's would probably be unpublishable on a family site....

Everyone chip in their own ideas!

While on vacation in Budapest, I loved the Crepes Hortobagy (crepes with chicken in a sour cream/paprika sauce) so much I had it at least once a day. Now I'm back home wanting to make it for myself but not finding much online. Can anyone share their Hungarian grandma's (or grandpa's!) recipe?

Grabbed some to tide me over while hubby is out of town. When I had my Hebrew teacher translate the package; I discovered they're supposed to be deep fried for 3 min at 180 degrees Celcius.

My deep-fryer (never-used wedding gift) is in storage in Seattle with the rest of my 110 appliances. My first instinct is to bake them at said 180 for 15-20 min, basting several times with cooking spray. Anyone ever tried this with "supposed to be fried" food? Did you thaw first?

My other thought was about an inch of oil in a pan and just keep turning them, like lumpia (which is usually still frozen, right?)

I've finally decided I'm going to have to make my own Dim Sum if I want it here (Israel - not a huge market for it!)

Steamed BBQ pork buns and shu mai are what I'm craving, I found recipies for both. The buns only call for All-Purpose flour, but the wrappers for the shu mai call for 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 All-Purpose. I haven't seen any bread flour here yet - what would happen if I used all All-Purpose?

I have to drive 30 minutes to get the shrimp and pork, and it's really expensive here; so I don't want to just blindly experiment :-)

As a result of my thread yesterday regarding an excess of orange juice, I am now the proud owner of one kilo of brisket, which I am planning to marinate all day tomorrow in a mixture of aforesaid OJ, smooth mango chutney and Worcestershire. Thanks everyone for helping me brainstorm!!!

I just looked in my copy of "Timing is Everything" by Jack Piccolo (love it!) and he recommends 5-8 hours medium-low heat on the grill. Can I butterfly the brisket and reduce the time? I have a built-in propane BBQ that came with the house, and I don't think the tanks over here hold 5-8 hours worth.

It's 85 degrees farenheit here by 7am, and I'm afraid to look after that, so please don't suggest I use the oven instead :-)

We get fresh squeezed OJ delivered every Wednesday. After being on vacation for a week, I still have a full 1/2 gallon, and we get more this afternoon. Because they deliver it right after they squeeze it, by now it's about the quality you would get in a grocery store. I KNOW hubby will want to drink the fresh bottle instead; which leaves me looking for recipes that invole a whole lotta OJ.

Any ideas other than sangria? I'm playing with somehow braising chicken in it...

OK, so my language brain is not connected to my cooking brain. After trying to read the Hebrew labels in the supermarket, I was so happy to find a label in English that I bought sardines instead of anchovies. I know, duh!

I've never had sardines; my dad used to eat them on toast, but that doesn't sound appealing to me. Should I give up and throw them away or does anyone have a creative recipe? I'm heading back to the store of anchovies (or at least what I think are anchovies!) later today, we have a guest coming and I want to make a ceasar salad...

OK, so someone's probably already thought of this; but for me it was a brainstorm!

I LOVE those breakfast scrable things with the potato and egs and meat and cheese; but I hate all the grease you get included in the type of restaurant that serves them. We typically eat pretty low carb at the house, so I never have leftover cooked potatoes to make my own with.

DH is out of town and I've stayed up late a few night in a row, so when I woke up this morning it was clear that a bowl of whole-grain flakes wasn't going to cut it. I had one raw potato and one onion left over from cooking for guests a couple weeks ago, so I diced the potato and threw it in the microwave for 4 minutes, stirring and seasoning halfway through. Eureka!

I love middle eastern style kebabs (the ones made of ground meat NOT on a stick) but the ones I can buy premade in the store have something in them I'm allergic to. I had really good ones at a Druze restaurant 2 weeks ago that had bulgar wheat or something in them that lightened the texture and made them hang onto the sauces really well too.

Does anyone have a recipe? No pork, but I can get my hands on ground beef, and I'm looking for somewhere to find ground lamb.

Hubby just brought home whole fish (head yes, guts no) about the size of a trout for me to cook in my new bamboo steamer. It came without a sheet of cooking times and I can't find anything online. I don't want to keep opening the lid to check the fish and letting all the steam out; can someone give me a minimum estimate?

I'm looking for a breafast bread recipe that I can mix stuff into without having to tweak too much - my mom had a recipe (lost in a move) growing up that used lemon yogurt and was really moist but better for you than poundcake.

Entertaining once per weekend lately, and since I can't vary the main course much (small kitchen, hot weather, cultural diet restrictions) I'm doing a lot of BBQ roasted chicken and trying to vary side dishes. Found a recipe for minted pea soup.

wondering if I can substitute half yams/sweet potatoes in an oven fries recipe that calls for 20 mins at 450 degrees F?

Sick of pita and hummus, my current obsession, right now. This is Israel, so no pork or shellfish - there go bacon-wrapped scallops or skewered grilled prawns. The sig. other of Friday's dinner guest can't eat cheese (checking on other milk products...) Menu currently consists of Israeli salad, Ina Garten's New Potato Salad with dill and wholegrain mustard, my grilled chicken leg quarters (hubby swears I killed the Colonel for the recipe!) and a cake brought by the guest for dessert.