ejstivers's Profile

I've never heard of this, but I'm going to give it a try when I go camping next month! I can't eat graham crackers, so usually when it's s'mores time I just eat the marshmallows and Hershey bars plain - this sounds awesome though! Thanks :-)

I know the idea has already been posted, but I was also thinking pulled pork barbecue. It's such a crowd-pleaser! Also, speaking from the perspective of someone who can't eat grains, barbecue is easy for those who need to be careful of their food intake. If you have several different sides as well, people should be able to customize their plates at the buffet line to suit their needs. I love when I see a wedding is having barbecue because I know I'll actually be able to eat! :-)

Best of luck!

@Mike_in_Hawaii: Not all saturated fats are the same! http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/dining/02Appe.html?pagewanted=all

Excerpt:
According to Thomas Brenna, a professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University who has extensively reviewed the literature on coconut oil, a considerable part of its stigma can be traced to one major factor.
“Most of the studies involving coconut oil were done with partially hydrogenated coconut oil, which researchers used because they needed to raise the cholesterol levels of their rabbits in order to collect certain data,” Dr. Brenna said. “Virgin coconut oil, which has not been chemically treated, is a different thing in terms of a health risk perspective. And maybe it isn’t so bad for you after all.”
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There are a lot more articles with more information to be found by quickly searching Google.

- What vegetables can you make into fries (e.g., parsnips, sweet potatoes) and what are some interesting dips to go with them?

- Sweet potatoes: I recently found out there are a lot of different varieties of sweet potatoes. What are the differences and how are they best used?

- All things coconut.

- My father works for a custom blender...it would be interesting to see some posts on the factories/plants where our flours, spice blends, dry mixes, etc. are created. I tend to see a lot of cool posts on vineyards/distilleries or frightening posts about terrible conditions for chicken farms (maybe not at the kitchn, but online in general) , but not a lot about dry blending facilities.

@AAAKID, You sort of scoop it out so you get all the layers, but you don't toss the whole thing. Sort of like if you were trying to get a piece of lasagna out of a pan without cutting it first. Growing up, my mom would make one and then cover and refrigerate it. That gave it time to sort of settle and meld together which made it easier to scoop.

I love seven-layer salad! Truth be told, I'll pass on salad at potlucks unless it's a seven-layer salad.

I thought the same thing about the malted milk balls. I bet they would stick on more firmly if you cut them in half first. That might knock down the simplicity of decorating a bit though! :-)

I try to stay away from white sugar, so I use honey, agave and stevia instead. I do not add artificial sweeteners to anything and avoid Splenda (sucralose) like the plague! I am very, very sensitive to Splenda. If I have just a bit (like 1 stick of gum), I get a headache and slight upset stomach, but if I have too much I get blurred vision, headaches, forgetfulness and joint pain (like eating a snack with Splenda in it several times a day for several days)! I figured that out in college during one of my finals weeks. I had bought mini pretzels and was dipping them in icing (which had Splenda instead of sugar) as a who-cares-because-it's-finals-week snack. I became so ill that I thought something was seriously wrong and my roommate was very concerned (my symptoms for two days: constantly upset stomach, headaches, blurred vision, forgetfulness, joint pain, soreness, etc.). I called my mom to describe what was happening and she told me she'd just read an article about people with Splenda sensitivities and I had mentioned almost all of them! I stopped eating the icing, felt better by that night, and felt completely back to normal by the second day after stopping Splenda. Since then, there have been times at bridal showers, etc. that I'll start feeling my stomach becoming uneasy and realize I'm getting a headache so I'll ask the hostess if anything has Splenda in it. Every time I've suspected it, it's been in something. Now I ask before I eat! :-)

I know a lot of people use Splenda and love it, but I would encourage anyone who suffers from feeling sort of "off" all the time to cut it out for a week or so to see if they feel better.

I don't usually use recipe cards when cooking, but my mom has used them to decorate her kitchen.
She took recipes from both of her grandmothers, a recipe from her mother, and a recipe from her mother-in-law and framed them simply with white backgrounds. The recipes are old, hand-written, and stained from being used. They look beautiful in her kitchen and have always been great conversation starters for people hovering in the kitchen during parties, etc.