[Italiancook]

I made a pot of Cauliflower Pasta Soup from "The Romagnolis Table."

[Italiancook]

I now know more about buckwheat that I ever knew. Thanks for the link, BakerAunt.

[Italiancook]

A couple of weeks ago, I searched the internet to find out how to substitute olive oil for butter. In the charts I found, they are not equal equivalents. Below is a link to the chart I decided to use as my reference.

http://www.amazingoliveoil.com/

In the fourth paragraph from top, there's a link for the conversion chart. It's light in color and not quickly visible.

I'm uncertain, but I think that the amounts that work for olive oil would also work for other types of liquid oil.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I didn't heed the first warning and stock-up on vanilla. I'm going to heed this one and hope it's not too late. BakerAunt, I want to try Penzey's vanilla, but I have a question. I glean from this site that Penzey's has 2 types of vanilla. Regular strength and double strength. Which do you buy? I wonder if the double strength is worth the money, although I think I read somewhere that people should use half the amount of vanilla the recipe calls for when using the double strength. I'm thinking, though, that what's the fun of having the double strength if you're basically using a regular strength dose of it.

[Italiancook]

I made Beef Stroganoff from "Cook-Ahead Cookery" for tomorrow's dinner. I'll probably serve it over rice instead of noodles. I have a question for those of you who make Beef Stroganoff.

This recipe says to cut sirloin steam into 1/4" strips, which I do. It also says to soften the onions and mushrooms, then add the beef strips and cook only until they're brown on both sides. Then the sauce is added to the beef mixture and served.

The consistent problem I've noticed with this is that the beef is tough to chew even though it's sirloin steak. Tonight, I was thinking that maybe the beef strips really need to cook much longer in order to be tender to the teeth. When you make Beef Stroganoff, how long do you cook the beef, and how do you do it? Thanks!

[Italiancook]

I sorta made pizza for the first time. I used puff pastry for the crust, as I had seen Ree Drummond do on Food Network. I used one sheet of the pastry, cut in half. I made one mushroom pizza, following Ree's instructions for the mushroom topping in her recipe, "Puff Pastry Pizza." Definitely will use this topping again.

I made a sausage pizza with the other half. I used the marinara from Valerie Bertonelli's recipe, "Deep-Dish Sausage Pizza." In that show, she made a Chicago-style deep dish pizza. It may be my imagination, but this marinara tastes a lot like Uno's. I'll definitely use it again.

I also made Asparagus Soup using The Neely's recipe from Food Network. This was a Food Network day.

[Italiancook]

cwcdesign, since you like Ina's Lemon Chicken Breasts, you may like her recipe for Lemon Chicken with Croutons. Link below. This recipe is good for people who like croutons. The first time I made it, I made the croutons on top of the stove, as she suggests. That took more time and effort than I wanted. In my opinion, croutons are best made in the oven, in a more hands-off approach. Sorry, I don't recall the temperature or the time for those type of croutons. But my son loved this chicken and croutons.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-chicken-with-croutons-recipe-1943429

[Italiancook]

oldelady, I think it's exciting that you grow oyster mushrooms! On the rare occasions I see them in the market, I buy them. I put them in a tempura batter and fry them. We love them with Butternut Squash Stew.

[Italiancook]

I've been busy this morning preparing for tomorrow's lunch guest. I have a pot roast cooking as I type. I used the recipe in "Cook-Ahead Cookery." It cooks with veggies and veggie liquid that later are blended with flour to make gravy. Tomorrow, I'll make mashed potatoes.

I also cleaned 2 boxes of strawberries for tomorrow's dessert. I have Sarah Moulton's shortcakes in the freezer to use with the strawberries. Instead of whipped cream, I'm going to use mascarpone.

As soon as the roast is on a different burner cooling, I'll make Roman Broccoli from "Classic Techniques of Italian Cooking." It has to be made the day before.

I made the butternut squash yesterday, and I'll pull Parker Rolls from the freezer for the meal.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I read your post a couple hours ago. Now that I've thought about it, I've decided to go for broke. Before Christmas shopping begins in earnest, I'll go to Michael's and see if they have the Wilton four tips with some bags. I've watched a lot of Martha Stewart and Food Network shows illustrating piping, so I may be able to do it.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, BakerAunt, for solving the mystery.

For myself, I see a problem. I don't own a piping bag and have never piped. I'm just going to ice the cookies and declare they look beautiful without the piped edges. I really don't think I'll have to have the piping. I bought their cookie cutter that goes with their wafer papers, so I know the size will be exact. I also don't own a food-safe craft brush, but will assume Michael's can solve that problem. If not, I'm destined to make-do with a small pastry brush.

BakerAunt, I'm glad you gave us this link. It gives me time to study the directions so I start the project knowing what to do when. I'll let you and the others know in December whether I succeeded at this cookie idea.

[Italiancook]

I checked the Oct. 1 cooking posts and find that cwcdesign posted the link for a blog about cooking butternut squash in the slow-cooker.

I'm here to spread the word that this really does work. After 8 hours, the squash was done. Like all slow cookery, what's wonderful is that I was out and about while it cooked. I let the finished squash cool for 15 minutes, then cut and seeded it. I easily scraped out the flesh & added it to a bowl with some butter. I added grated nutmeg, mashed, decided to add a little salt, and I'm pleased with the finished product. So much easier than peeling and cutting a raw squash. (If I were making this only for myself, I would not have added salt. Since it's for a lunch guest, I decided to add a smidgen of salt.)

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I don't know what to do with it, either, Mike. This will be a learning experience for both of us. The catalog says they come with instructions, but I probably won't be able to access those until I open the package of wafer papers.

[Italiancook]

Your answer is also interesting, Mike.

Here's what I know so far: Sometime during the cooking time, the squash became softer and shrunk to fit the bottom of the crockpot. As it slid down, the stem scratched my cooker. It looks to me like it's a permanent scratch, although I didn't take the lid off to examine closer. I'll report how long this actually took to cook. The article's reported cooking time was 8 hours. I'll test it with a table knife after 8 hours and see where I am.

For anyone else wanting to try this, I don't think it'd work in a round crockpot. Mine is oval, and I think an oval pot would be needed to accommodate the shape of the squash.

Mike, I didn't think about peeling and cubing. I was trying out a (I think) blog post about slow cooking it for 8 hours, then cutting, seeding & mashing. It was an experiment for me, and your post alerted me to the fact that it may need to cook longer, since it started out suspended in the pot. Thanks.

[Italiancook]

When I ordered the edible wafer papers, I asked about shelf life. I wanted to be sure they'd still be good in December if purchased now. I was told to store them in the pantry, flat . . . (with nothing on them, I assume.) Don't store them near the stove or other heat. They will be fine in December, following those guidelines.

I'm hoping to use them in early December. I'll report back on the finished cookies.

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