MonW's Profile

I discovered Chinese Five Spice with this recipe: Spiced Brisket with Shallots and Tangerines. I've since tried it in eggs, veggies, and other meats with great success. For the meats, it is an excellent spice rub on its own.

Slow cooker- cook the meat, etc., then add those to a bag of salad greens and your favorite dressing- brisket salad, chicken salad, etc.

There are spring soups out there you could try in the slow cooker, not to mention baking bread, potatoes, whole chickens. (Check Pinterest for "slow cooker" and "crock pot". You won't believe the range of recipes.)

Fruit season is picking up, so cold fruit soups can be new and exotic for you.

Indoor grill: cooked meats and veggies for salads? Depending on the model, you can have a griddle, and so on too.

Microwaves: they can steam items beautifully, not just reheat.

Water boiler/kettle: heat water for udon soups. raw veg, gently cooked noodles in broth. Could use powdered bouillon.

toaster ovens can broil meats, sandwiches.

Electric skillets can do many things.

In the summer extreme heat here, we do the outdoor grill or crockpot options to keep from heating the kitchen only to pay $$ to cool it down.

Carrie, watch for for sales in two different stores for the same purpose. Craft stores- bead areas have a bunch of well-sealing craft/bead organizers to store small or tiny parts.
Sporting good areas in big box stores etc. for the tackle boxes.
Organization stores will also sell the divided boxes in various sized boxes with variable or fixed slots.

We sort here. Husband, but no kids.
Undies are a hot wash load, hankies are the hot wash + bleach load, towels are a warm load.
Everything else is cold wash in their own loads- blues, browns, reds, other non-run clothes, socks (wool needs cold or they shrink badly).

No hand wash clothing (excludes lingerie) and absolutely no lay flat dry clothing. Check the care tags in the store during try-on or before purchase.

We have 5 laundry bags- 4 in laundry room + the undies bag out of sight in the master bath. The laundry room bags are color-coded: white= bleach, red= "special care" like delicate or no heat/air dry, etc, yellow= khaki/socks, and gray= darks.
Towels and bedding are done as needed.

Frequency? Weekly. Little bits are easy enough to get done in one day; otherwise, it's a multi-day marathon if we miss a week.

Growing up, my parents made a kidney/ jelly bean shaped mosaic tile table. No sharp edges, sleek round legs and a surface that handled play dough and many other messes on textured surface. After marriage, I married into a beat-up, second-hand 80s square coffee table from wood veneer. Feet, shoes, junk, drink rings and food stains were already present as damage. We purchased a new square with smoothed bevels and rounded corners wood table. Feet are not allowed, coasters are mandatory. The finish has some divots, etc, so it should wear well. This one also has drawers to hide the true clutter. All the side/end tables have doors and drawers to hide more clutter. The coffee table survived the Lego building effort recently by a guest.

I was expecting to adore The Old Reader. It is apparently still pulling all my feeds into itself, or had a massive malfunction and skipped half of them. Sudden growing pains.
The other one I chose to sample is Feedly. I am very impressed with Feedly. Fewer obvious growing pains and all my feeds came over at the same time.

I have the blue with white diamonds cover- 1943. Happened to be Dad's Aunt's (the one I liked rather than one of the others) cookbook. I have begun trying the marinade and salad dressings for grilling items. The variations on tartar sauce are our favorite. I should try the Aunt's favorite pea soup recipe in there next week.

I was never into MS's empire.
I tried Rachel Ray's magazine for part of a year, but her magazine never met my family's needs- sodium, fat were way too high for us.
I am not in the Food Network magazine demographic. I tried browsing it several times and I wasn't intrigued.
Real Simple is one of my favorites. "10 ideas for X" takes a common ingredient, usually in season, and creates 10 different desserts, entree's or sides from that ingredient across a two-page spread. They have another section that uses only 3 ingredients total to make an appetizer, snack, etc.. They do a quarterly/seasonal soft-bound book which might work for others.
I browse the Whole Foods website for intriguing new recipes. The website includes comments from others on prep and cooking, which are quite helpful.
Some times, I'll pick up Clean Eating. I found an amazing brisket recipe in the Nov/Dec issue.
I had subscribed to Healthy Cooking, Simple and Delicious, but those have reverted back to Taste of Home. It does have kid-appealing recipes and they have focused on meal costs.
Challenge: Cooks Illustrated has some budget techniques and well as the more challenging recipes.
Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, and Woman's Day sometimes catch my eye.

Spouse and I both noticed the 180 change I did several years ago with cooking magazines. I want something that challenges me with new flavors, is healthier for us than "open and dump" processed foods, and is adjustable to our flavor preferences. The recipes should appeal to us and have a high success rate. I am more likely to get my recipes from the web than a magazine. I have noticed more publishers are actually placing the nutritional info on the same page as the recipe, instead of buried in a tiny print index in the back.

As someone who had carob chip cookies because the chocolate version made me break out in a rash with a taste of the forbidden, carob helped. The sibling never noticed the switch and never commented unless told about the carob chips.
Yes, it doesn't taste the same. I do think if you added a bit of fat, and other flavors, you could like or love it.
Carob molasses or carob cinnamon? Or, add a fruit into the mix. Caramel is another good idea.
Give away your stash of chocolate to friends/or whomever. Cold turkey is painful, but so is that throat of yours.
Thankfully, I outgrew that sensitivity, but I have a few others I was slow to catch and they've progressed to beyond "mild and uncomfortable", which is the risk. Eventually, the craving will fade for you.
Strawberries are beautiful until they near my lips and I remember the digestive malfunctions they cause me.
Holidays are a tough time to avoid chocolate. Try European marzipan or American/Canadian maple candy.
(Why must every Valentine dessert be focused on strawberries and chocolate, the cocktail be trendy grapefruit, and the meal itself be filled with seafood in every course?)

@jlwmid I keep most recipes online in pinterest or Mastercook. Printed off for new recipe trial day. If it's a success, it goes into the TNT binder and into Mastercook , if it's not already there. Otherwise, it is deleted from the computer holding spot to prevent another failed meal.

@Katy did. Recipe blogs come and go, go down, etc. Hard drives also fail. I want the visual hardcopy to remind me. I like keeping magazine clippings in a binder.

@MCross Dad mentioned recently that new binders were hard to get during WWII. They would take the metal hardware from an old one, pay x mount to someone in wood shop to attach the hardware to a set of 3 hinged boards to create a sturdy new binder. He said they were really heavy, but they survived the entire war and a bit after. I remember in college when it dawned on me I didn't need a binder for every class, just a binder for 2 days of the week. Less wear on book bag, me, and the binders. I do remember every single teacher from grade 7 and up specifying folder or binder, number of dividers, labels on dividers, colors of folder/binder/dividers, and so on. That gets stupidly pricey very fast and you could only use each folder/binder for that specific class and section.