One other thing to consider is having family members "proof" their recipes. A well-meaning family member put together our family cookbook, and the thing is so riddled with errors (ingredients, measurements, directions, attributions) that it's almost not usable. She worked so hard on it... but...
Bread and cheese. Lentils and onions with rice.
I realized while watching last night that I would not watch a show with any of these people. In fact, I've switched to rooting against people like Debbie, who seems to have been set up to win since the beginning. The times that she's failed have been because the other contestants put her into a position of authority or because she's stuck her foot in her mouth.
Anyone catch Debbie explaining an excess of garlic powder (yuck) was a "Korean" thing?
Subway does sound like a good breakfast option - but, in terms of fast food, Subway will always seem like fast food to me. Reason: in college, I frequently at a sketchy Subway in a very sketchy gas station in a transitional Chicago neighborhood. Anything that franchises into gas stations is definitely fast food.
@itsmdorsey -- HOA stands for "home owners' association." They're a neighbor-run or company-run group that enforces rules in a neighborhood to ensure consistency and cleanliness and - so the theory goes - retain home values. Some HOAs regulate things like landscaping and communal garden areas, and others provide for pools and tennis courts, etc. When people buy in HOA-overseen areas, they sign a contract that states they will uphold those rules - and pay dues so others can enforce those rules - so a court case probably isn't going to do much. In Texas, an HOA can foreclose on your house for non-payment of dues and fines - like the ones you would get for planting veggies in your front lawn. Don't like the rules? Don't buy in those neighborhoods.
So that's why I don't live there and can enjoy dandelions, natural grasses, and a pesticide-free lawn.
In the summer!
Pizza gift card: http://www.loumalnatis.com/Gift%20and%20Loyalty.aspx
Here's a recipe: http://www.angelfire.com/ak/sellassie/food/injera.html
When I was motivated to make it, I wasn't able to find teff (aside from ordering on ebay) - but it looks like you can buy it on amazon now. The other "trick" is having a big enough pan.
Cream cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches!
My grandfather also made an amazing spinach dish - spinach with an egg on top and loads of vinegar.
If people can pay for Brita filters in their homes, then what's the big deal of paying for filtered water when you eat out?
We bought a Bosch range from the Sears Outlet store last year for around $600 (and a Bosch built-in dishwasher for less than $300).
They even have their inventory online now:
http://www.searsoutlet.com/d/index.jsp
What I did is stalk my local store's selections until they marked down their "hot deal" - which is how I saved so much on the dishwasher.
We've done Best Buy before - and that's great if you need delivery and want in-box, no scratch/dent/etc. However, I'd rather go through a little extra effort for higher quality like I've gotten at Sears.
Rather than squeezing to tell ripeness, try testing the give/flexibility of the stem. No movement = not ripe. Very flexible = ripe.
I think you hit all the musts. If I were there this weekend, I'd do:
lunch: Mr. G's for the hot dog - with everything (747 N Clark St.)
dinner: Lou's - sausage/mushroom as you mentioned - plus the dessert pizza
breakfast: Anne Sather's! a benedict and cinnamon rolls
lunch: Gyros - with everything
dinner: Rose Angelis for Italian
breakfast: Anne Sathers again? or a Greek diner
The Dallas area has always been quite the boon for Vietnamese food. My parents were big on going to places in Arlington (southwestish of Carrollton) back in the 1980s - although the food seemed more Americanized/Chinese-influenced (or could that have just been what I ordered?).
I've heard of microwaving it for a few seconds - or putting it in a paper bag for a few days.
This is simple - but *finally* getting a grilled pizza cooked throughout without too many char marks. So good.
Someone at SeriousEats tried this last year:
http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2008/02/overnight-macaroni-and-cheese-have-you-tried.html
Scroll down for the recipe in the comments.
Ew. I love carbs, but those look like poorly conceived dessert pizzas.
Wow - way to spark discussion.
I've left crap tips before - for crap service. I live in a suburb where good service is the *exception* - and the last time we went out (where we live, not in the city), our waiter was completely/obviously stoned (at lunch). He would occasionally stop, stand by our table and kind of sway as he stared out the window. This is the second time this has happened to us this year. So odd. But in my opinion, a crap tip should still fix that person right at a living wage.
I love the idea someone mentioned about going more European. I'd be thrilled if our restaurants included the staff's wages in their mark ups on the food - and more thrilled if our government got with it and upped a waiter's wages to minimum wage. I'd still be happy to leave extra for exceptional service, and I think that I'd eat out - as opposed to carry out - more than I do now.
If I were to be a poor 18th C. farmer, then I would want to be in Italy.
This, some cheese on occasion, and a steady supply of red wine = perfection.
Down with beets. Long live the heirloom tomato!
(Seriously, if you had to devote a patch of your garden to something, would you pick a beet over a pepper or a berry?)
Funny - my family is Irish, but we've never once eaten corned beef for any type of family get-together. Anyone else?
Isn't there some sort of marketing thing going on right now where "Jack" is missing? (Coma or something?)
Since the whole brand isn't being changed over, this reeks of publicity stunt. Get people worked up (similar to the orange juice packaging) about a "sissy"-ish change and bring back Jack along with a return to classic foods or prices or something.
If they were really changing anything, then they'd change everything.
For fun, ask the cheese guy for his favorite cheese. Buy whatever produce is highlighted - since that's usually what's most seasonal.
They sometimes have a loaf of bread with prosciutto and black pepper. Yum.
In the take away section - the leek soup is my favorite, and the tuscan olives are fantastic. The homemade guacamole is really good, too.
Here's info on the supposed winner, which the network appears to have leaked. You can find the winner's show title on the foodnetwork website if you viewed a cached page.
http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2008/07/24/next-food-network-star-reveals-winner-on-website-before-final-episode/#comments
I know it could be a ruse, but the winner is not at all surprising.
I'm about to start my basic white bread recipe in my bread machine but want to add something (besides garlic or cheddar) to change up the flavor. Any suggestions?
I first made Mark Bittman's chickpea soup with toasted breadcrumbs because it sounded fast and easy, but it earned its spot on my list of favorite recipes because it tastes so good. If you've cooked your chickpeas carefully and stored them in their broth, not much can go wrong with this soup. It's very receptive to experimentation with spices, herbs, and greens. The escarole, my addition, brought some nice flavor and texture to the dish. More
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger] If you've ever wondered how to make vegetables taste as good as they possibly can, please pick up Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love. It's a massive book, and luckily has nothing to with healthy living. It's basically a... More
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger] Though I was excited to find a curry recipe that only required ten ingredients a couple weeks ago, this one—also in 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer—happens to get by with only eight. Of course, garam masla isn't... More
These no-bake bars, which generally resemble bricks in both size and weight, were comprised of a dense, crunchy-chewy mixture of corn syrup, sugar, peanut butter, and Special K cereal, all topped with about a half-inch of fudgy chocolate topping. More
[Flickr: Robyn Lee] I consider Spaghetti alla Carbonara one of my culinary secret weapons. No matter how sad the state of my refrigerator, chances are that I have all of the ingredients on hand to produce a steaming and satisfying... More
Few foods conjure up fond memories of summers past like grilled corn on the cob. Sweet, perfect, and only available for a few summer months, from barbecues to clam bakes, no outdoor cooking event is complete without a few ears... More
What I love about this pasta is how much green there is on the plate—an almost equal amount of broccoli and starch. I eat so much pasta and I'm terribly fond of recipes that use a minimal number of ingredients,... More
"It tastes a bit like clam chowder on pasta," came the observation after I'd served this to my fiancée. When that comment was met with silence—the silence of a cook's slightly bruised ego—her follow-up went, "But I mean that as... More
The classic Thai dish of ground chicken and basil, with chili, fish sauce, and a touch of sugar is quick and simple to prepare. More
The glories of roast beef hash don't make a lot of sense until you've got a hunk of cooked roast beef ready to go in the fridge. This is a leftover meal, and yet it manages to change the ingredients... More
Photograph from kevinmarsh on Flickr Today's Cook the Book recipe comes to us from Heidi Friedlander, contributor to Scharffen Berger's The Essence of Chocolate, and pastry chef at Cleveland's popular Moxie. Baked in mugs or cups and dolloped with whipped... More
In the middle of summer nobody is looking for something to stick to their ribs, but on a snowy evening nothing sounds better. That's one of the nice things about winter, at least when it comes to cooking—the suitableness of... More
As @MaresyDotes noted on the super bowl food thread, the jalapeno popper dip does seem to be the dip of the year! I'm sure most of us used the recipe from Allrecipes as the base. I discovered my canned jalapenos... More
I received a copy of Chez Panisse Vegetables for Christmas and I can already feel it: this will be a book I'll return to again and again. There's something honest about a vegetables-focused cookbook with sections divided into: carrots, artichokes,... More
Photograph by Alan Richardson Here's my go-to cheesecake recipe, a classic that can be varied in almost limitless ways. (I've got 11 variations in my book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, and the only reason I stopped there was... More
I had the picky husband, but I've slowly incorporated ingredients into foods he likes. Now he eats almost anything (not lettuce - yet - but he's eaten more lettuce this year than the first of his 30 years).
You could put anything (shrimp and asparagus) on pizza, right? He can pick it off if after a few bites he doesn't like it.
A relative's husband is picky, and she's indulged him. He threw a fit last time we ate all together because he didn't like beans. I would have no tolerance for that behavior.