TinaMarie's Profile

Casseroles. I make a week's worth on Sunday, put them in the fridge, then I don't have to think about cooking for the rest of the week. Eventually, I get sick of casseroles, and I start thinking about making something more interesting, and suddenly I've found my enthusiasm again.

But I'm in a lull right now, so it's going to be a week of chicken pot pie and beefy cornbread casserole.

I make BLT rolls with them. Butter lettuce, a slice of bacon, and some cherry tomatoes. Roll them up, and you have the perfect light summer meal!

The manager at our local Safeway says there are huge differences in quality between the cheapest and most expensive self-service machine. When he got the choice, they got the really good ones, and they're a joy to use. I almost never use a regular checkout line - once you get the rhythm that the machine wants, I can check out just as fast on my own.

And I'll almost always stop and help the slow person struggling with produce in front of me. 99% of the time, they don't understand that they can just enter the code off the sticker.

The ones at Safeway seem to be okay with my bags, or at least they've never complained. The local Kroger has much less accommodating machines, and after the half-dozenth time I had to ask for help, I've given up and use the regular line there.

I'd always been afraid of "real" buttercreams, but I made one a few weeks ago, and it was not that difficult, and more then worth the trouble!

http://www.bakingaisle.com/2010/09/real-vanilla-bean-buttercream/

I'm also having the "oil leaking from attachment head" issue - if anyone has hints on where to start, I'd appreciate them!

You could do that with ribbon and some sort of flexible glue, too, I bet!

When I moved into my townhome, the washing machine was in the kitchen, and the dryer was in the garage. I said the first thing I was going to do was move the washing machine. Then I talked to a plumber, who told me how much that was going to cost.

After a few months, I got used to it, and it's really turned out to be convenient. I can keep an eye on laundry while I'm in the kitchen, and having the dryer in the garage means it's not dumping hot air into the house.

So what would happen if you skipped the whipped-cream-container step? It probably just adds air - I wonder if you could whisk it in a stand mixer and get the same effect?

On the other hand, Hollandaise sauce is not usually noted for its light-and-fluffy-ness.

I actually put together a really cheap lighting rig for my kitchen - it comes apart for storage, uses 2 CFLs, with PressNSeal wrap as a diffuser.

http://www.bakingaisle.com/2010/04/lighting-food-for-less-than-50/

If you make candy, it's worth every penny. I've owned most of the candy thermometers made, from the $10 ones with an analog dial (not precise enough) to the remote probe ones meant for the oven (not accurate, at all, and their level of accuracy varies day to day. I have 4 of these.) to a really expensive IR thermometer that technically belongs to the boyfriend (that one only works if you point it at a smooth, matte surface, which does not include "boiling pot of syrup").

Then I read an article by the woman who runs BonBonBar about the Thermapen. And I mentally added up all the money I'd spent on thermometers that didn't work, and the total was a lot more then $100.

So I bought one (I found it on Amazon for $80-something, but it was more than a year ago), and I've never regretted it. I use it for everything from yogurt to caramel. I haven't had a temperature-related candy failure since.

Now, if they just made a model that kept the doorbell from ringing when the caramel just needs to darken one more degree....