julie42's Profile

HHRI: To never wash your pans?! Really?! I'm all for adding more oil every day, but the boy NEVER washes his pan! He just leaves the grease in there every day and adds more the next morning! That *can't* be healthy!!!

Alternately, you could try something like Whiskey Stones, which are stones that you freeze and then put in your drinks. Keeps them cool, don't dilute! http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/ba37/?srp=1

How about individual portions of fruit crumble, baked in ramekins? Yes, it takes a little longer to bake, but if you put it in the oven while you're prepping everything else, it'll be ready by the time you want dessert.

There's a good recipe by Alton Brown here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/individual-berry-crisps-recipe/index.html

Baking bread, and also how to do batch cooking more effectively so it doesn't take up my entire Sunday afternoon.

I occasionally do tea swaps, where people bring their unloved teas and trade them out for ones they might like better. (I'm a huge fan of sweet teas, for example, while I really don't like anything with chamomile or mint.)

At the end of the swap, anything that's left over gets tossed, on the theory that if NO ONE wants it, it probably wasn't worth it.

A personal motto: Life is too short for bad tea.

I'm with jmalbert. It's just me and my boyfriend at home, but oh boy do we go through desserts. I've learned not to bake unless I have company coming over, lest the two of us polish off an entire batch of cookies/cake/bars/whatever in two or three days.

I only have two cookie sheets, but I've never really had this problem. I generally let the cookies cool for 3-ish minutes on the sheet, then transfer them to a cooling rack. After another three minutes or so, the pan is room temperature and ready for more cookies, and my second batch is not out of the oven yet. Really, I don't see this as being an issue. After 5-6 minutes, the pan is no longer hot enough to melt butter, not by a long shot.

There are people who have leftover pasta? Even making enough for 4-5 servings, and even though there are only two of us living in the house (me and my boyfriend), I *never* have leftover pasta after a meal! What is this strange and novel concept?!

My problem is that I've very bad with meal planning. I'll be out of the house for 2-5 dinners a week, about half of which are arranged on the same day. So while I have a decently stocked pantry, I don't have a lot of the fresh ingredients (meats, vegetables, cheeses) that can be used as the main part of a dish. And grocery shopping for two chicken breasts and a bell pepper at 5:30 p.m., in the long lines of everyone else doing the same thing, is just too time-consuming.

I'm still confused over the idea of "baking" macaroni and cheese. When I make it, I boil the pasta, add the sauce, and voila! Mac and cheese! Where does baking come into it?