JaimePMac's Profile

Cuisinart's Griddler also has waffle plates and can be used as a regular flat griddle.

"Brownies" made out of dry kitchen sponges cut to size and coated with chocolate. A sprinkling of powdered sugar seals the deal :)

Parchment paper.

That is all.

My #1 pet peeve is unnecessarily using extra bowls, pots, etc. Do I really need to put a strained soup in a different, smaller saucepan than the stock pot I started out with? Really? Or when baking, do I really need to measure something into one bowl only to add it to another bowl? I'm lazy, and washing dishes is not one of my favorite pastimes.

I second Ingdesign's suggestion: Bon Ami for everything!

It's not as fancy as the stainless steel options the other posters have suggested, but this Aladdin mug meets all of your requirements: microwavable, dishwasher safe, fits in the cup holder and it's even made of recycled plastic (and can be recycled when you're done with it). I have had one for a couple of years now and LOVE it.

http://www.amazon.com/Aladdin-Recycled-Recyclable-16-Ounce-Green/dp/B0014HFVNE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291156394&sr=8-1

I made a couple of wonderful mustards this summer with leftover fruit and the abundant sage that was taking over my garden. Both recipes were from the Ball book of preserving and were super easy - apricot sage mustard and lemon sage mustard. The apricot mustard makes a great glaze for pork.

I whole heartedly second jayzeeberry's suggestion of clam fritters. I grew up near the Washington coast and razor clam digging was a huge family outing every season. My grandma would mix the ground clam meat with a little fresh sweet corn, cooked and finely crumbled bacon, some finely chopped white or green onions, egg, fine cornmeal or cornflour and a drizzle of buttermilk and fry them in the bacon grease in her giant cast iron skillet. We didn't mind burning our fingers to sneak them out of the pan when she wasn't looking (or, more likely when she let us think she wasn't looking).

David Lebovitz's Guiness-Milk Chocolate ice cream is mind blowing - and I'm not even a guiness - or milk chocolate - fan! The combo of the two flavors creates a richness I normally miss from milk chocolate ice creams and mellows the bitterness I often find overpowering in Guiness. Truly a case of two ingredients coming together and creating something better than the sum of the parts. MAKE IT NOW!!!

I almost always use low-sugar pectin in my jams, jellies and preserves. There are a couple of different options such as the Sure-Jell's "Low Sugar" pectin, or Pomona's Universal Pectin which uses a calcium water solution (included in the box) to create the set rather than the sugar/acid reaction needed for other commercial pectins. This allows you to reduce the sugar significantly, or even use honey instead of granulated sugar. Using these products give me peace of mind that my jams will be an appetizing consistency and actually taste like fruit, not sugar.