Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

PWC, SE and The Kitchn

Hot, open faced turkey sandwiches - are these Hot Browns?
Made with the gravy-less turkey the hubster grilled on Sunday and the "gravy out of thin air" recommendations from the fabulous SE'ers.
With leftover roasted fennel from last night.

I make sugared nuts, or as they are known in my family, "crack".

@lilyb:
The Kitchn is a food related blog-forum run by the folks at Apartment Therapy. Click on the hyperlink words "primer on how to do just that" in my post above and it will take you right to that post. (click on The Kitchn above to go to the current page).

Also, if you are too bleary-eyed in the morning to deal with getting the crockpot up and running, I've heard it suggested to put everything together in the crockpot at night before you go to bed and let it cook while you are sleeping. Stash it in the fridge and reheat when you come home. Also good for those of us who are gone for 10-12 hours and overcook stuff in the crockpot, while we are at work.

Freezing casseroles - you don't need a silicone pan. Just line a regular pan with foil, bake your casserole as usual, let cool (or freeze for even easier handling), remove from the original pan, wrap up the foil around the edges and slide into a ziploc bag. When you are ready to reheat, defoil (or not, your preference) and slide back into the original pan to reheat.

Wow! This is the first I've heard of a pumpkin shortage.. will take necessary measures and stock up on Sugar pumpkins - with that easy technique. I've been snarfing up all kinds of pumpkin related goodies - whoopie pies, donuts, muffins, DQ Pumpkin Pie Blizzards - didn't even realize they were endangered.

I am sad to report that we were so tired on Saturday night, all we could do was muster the effort to top them with some fontina cheese and bake them. Sadly, those did not live up to your most excellent ideas. However, I have saved ALL of your ideas for future use, to redeem myself from this unfortunate polenta debacle. I have cornmeal and am not afraid to use it!

I would check around the seals and the drain for undiscovered bits of food and then I'd run the dishwasher empty, except for a cup of bleach. Ew, indeed.

My aunt makes a really good salad with dill:
Romaine lettuce, chopped dill, parmesan shreds & croutons
Dressed with a lemony vinaigrette.

A little bit unusual, but not too weird, and quite refreshing.

Here are my top three (sorry no exact recipes, I usually just wing it):

Lemon-Garlic
Fresh lemon juice, fresh garlic, olive oil and rosemary sprigs.

Ersatz Hawaiian
Pineapple juice (I keep those single serve cans in the pantry just for this), soy sauce, ginger and garlic

Devilled Chicken (this one I actually do right before baking, rather than marinating)
Slather chicken parts with dijon mustard, roll in bread crumbs (panko is excellent, as are seasoned), bake.

Roux, I totally agree with you, but she's determined and only asked me for some suggestions. She did say she had all day Thursday set aside for said task and has some help in the form of her daughters and friends.

Trader Joe's and Sam's are on the radar, alas I am a Costco minion and cannot advise her there.

Excellent suggestions, everyone, as usual.

Big garage-saler here. I love all kinds of old equipment. Like everyone else said, as long as your heebie-jeebie meter isn't going off and you can adequately clean your purchases, you are good to go. I collect mismatched silver for everyday use, along with assorted kitchen tools. If they are in good enough condition (no chipped paint), I run most everything through the diswasher - but I wouldn't do that for your cast iron pan.

Dunno about weight loss, but I've been making my dogs' food for years from this book - basically oatmeal, mackerel, carrots, garlic and "healthy powder" (recipe from the book), which gives the pups some extra nutrients. Excellent reviews from my vet (of my dogs, not specifically the book).

I make a caramelized onion, fontina and fresh thyme pizza that elicits moans when eaten. You could put some greens atop, arugula? Maybe make one other type of flatbread or some grill-roasted, marinated veggies on the side for people to pick at. Or a little antipasto platter?