Daisy11's Profile

Lisa - The paleo diet calls for eating lean meats and fish, so it would absolutely be possible to avoid red meat while following a paleo diet.

Not cooking related, but as a kid our turkey baster was my go-to pretend microphone :)

To answer the original question - yes local cheese or homemade jam are absolutely appropriate gifts for your host. I also fall in the camp of avoiding bringing something to be served with the dinner (unless you've cleared it with the host ahead of time). Trust your gut and keep it simple!

FYI - the CraigsList posting for the MidCentury teak table and chairs has a typo in the heading. The asking price is $795, not $75.

Last year I made a kit for curried lentil soup (found the recipe on the internet). All the non-perishable ingredients were layered in a mason jar. I attached a label with the cooking instructions.

Am actually looking for an edible gift idea for this year so would love to see other's responses. I tend to go for savory items as the rest of my family tend to give sweets.

Another tip is to oil the meat, not the pan. That will help to avoid putting too much oil in the pan.

I have the Cuisinart Flavor Duo and love it. Fortunately, I also have enough available space to store the bowls in my freezer. This makes it easier to indulge spontaneous ice cream making urges!

I recently took a week off from work and stayed in town. I did check work email from home, but had set a rule for myself that I could only read emails. No replying allowed. That way I was prepared for my return to work, but didn't feel like I worked during my vacation.

I also used the time off to use some restaurant gift certificates I had stocked. I generally buy them from restaurant.com so they typically aren't valid on weekends. It was a nice treat to take myself out to dinner on a Wednesday - something I wouldn't do on a normal work week. I also took advantage of the great weather that week and dined al fresco each day, hung out with my brother who is a stay-at-home dad and just hung out in my yard reading.

You could also freeze some of it to use later.

How about an Indian dish - lots of vegetarian options.