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Adam: Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless has a ton of slow-cooker recipes. It's particularly good, because the slow-cooker is just a key tool, rather than the gimmick which requires that recipes be adapted. Otherwise, in any recipe that is brown + braise/simmer can be adapted to the slow-cooker. Just brown on the stove first, and braise/simmer all day in your slow-cooker.

I liked Pepsi Throwback. I like it better than Coke, even. (Have you seen that the label on Mexican Coke now lists sugar OR high-fructose corn syrup?)

We just had the same issue, and used ours to make a big batch of Beet Risotto. It's from the latest Food & Wine.

Link here: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/beet-risotto

At my high school in an L.A. suburb, once in a while (once a month?) some administrator would fire up a kettle grill outside the cafeteria and honest-to-goodness grilled cheeseburgers would be on offer. Those were good days.

The rest of the time, meh.

Our secret is simplicity. Make this:

http://ayearinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

Buy a box of the instant couscous with pine nuts and serve it on the side. Get some greens, slice a tomato into it, and buy good quality bottled dressing (get it from the refrigerated section). If you want to make your own dressing, remember: three parts oil to one part acid (that can be lemon juice or vinegar), and whisk the hell out of it.

Good luck!

I'll second the vote for Frontera, with just a couple of things to add: eating at the bar is also fun (and you probably won't have to wait for long), and they also have a great Saturday brunch from 10:30-2:30. I don't think you can make reservations at Frontera, but you can make a reservation at Bayless' adjacent white-tablecloth restaurant, Topolobampo.

I won't be buying her line of pet food (for those who are looking, California Natural is a great food for dogs, no fillers) but what a cute pup! And I am happy to see a high-profile pit bull owner plastered all over the media. When given a loving home, pitties make wonderful family dogs.

Oy. I'm 7 months along and eat peanut butter (or cashew butter, or almond butter) nearly every day. I also eat nuts in my trail mix, which I carry with me so I can avoid eating junk food every time I'm out and about. I'll lay off now, I guess, but good grief. No wine, sushi, luncheon meats, raw milk cheeses and now this?

Hi - we recently made cashew butter cookies. We used our favorite peanut butter cookie recipe from Baking Illustrated and subbed in cashew butter (we skipped the freshly ground nuts because we didn't have any). Before baking them, we also added a sprinkling of sugar and coarse sea salt on top. They baked up just like PB cookies but the cashew flavor was a nice little surprise. They were gobbled up quickly by our friends, a few of whom even asked for the recipe. Oh, and we got the cashew butter from Trader Joe's. Have fun!

What a great project! We are slowly making more and more items from scratch, and it's usually such an improvement on store-bought that after each project, we're no longer able to convince ourselves that the short-cut is okay...

In addition to the great suggestions above, we make our own vanilla extract. It makes a world of difference in baked goods. Method here:

http://ayearinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2008/04/homemade-vanilla.html

I noticed the Sonoran dogs are not accompanied with an address... for those who'd like to try one, El Guero Canelo (www.elguerocanelo.com) is known for its hot dogs.

We factored our average at about 20 meals per month. I wasn't too surprised, but it will be interesting to see if we can bring this number down. I work from home and am often itching to get out of the house in the afternoon and evening. Routinely, that means eating out--sometimes we plan for the meal, other times we get caught out too hungry (it feels cruel forcing my pregnant wife to wait until we get home).