[Italiancook]

Cass, I always appreciate cooking tips. Thank you. I have cream cheese in the fridge, usually. I'll try your ratio next time. In fact, I'll try your recipe for mashed potatoes next time. I'll let you know how it turns out. But it may be a while before I make mashed again. I'm going to have quite a supply of potato patties in my freezer to use up first.

I agree with you, Mike, on buttermilk mashed potatoes.

Don't know why I was so worried about artery health yesterday when making mashed potatoes. I knew then that I was going to make Ben & Jerry Dreamsicle Ice Cream today. The recipe is on this site. The ice cream is delicious! The bonus is that you don't have to cook a custard. Just toss everything in a container and whisk & pour in machine.

For me, the ice cream has too much cream. It uses both cream & half 'n half. Next time, I'm going to use only half 'n half. The next time will be in a day or so. The recipe uses orange juice concentrate. Only a third of a cup, which means there's enough to make the ice cream 2 or 3 times. I'm making it for the freezer, so that's a good thing.

I've had an ice cream maker for most of this century, but only used it twice. I couldn't find a good way to pour the custard into the small opening at the top without making a mess. Yesterday, I discovered that Pyrex makes an 8-cup measuring pitcher that has a top with pouring holes that can be placed over the spout. This worked out perfectly. No pouring mess.

[Italiancook]

This morning, I made Chop Suey for the freezer, although I kept 2 lunches worth out for the refrigerator. This evening, I made Oven-Fried Chicken & mashed potatoes. I made a lot of mashed, but I thought of artery health when it was time to add the salt and butter. This skimping ruined the mashed potatoes. I'm going to reprocess them tomorrow by adding salt and turning them into potato patties. Live and learn. If anyone wants the Oven-Fried Chicken recipe, I'm going to post it in the recipe section.

[Italiancook]

Len, your bread looks great and scrumptious. Congratulations!

[Italiancook]

Aaron, my granddaughter learns a lot of baking methods by watching YouTube. She's found quite a lot of advanced material there. They might have a video of what you want to learn.

[Italiancook]

I made a peach cobbler. Once, I saw a Food Network star -- don't recall which one -- make a peach cobbler using canned peaches. So I put 3 cans of sliced peaches in a square dish & made my usual cobbler topping. Turned out fine, but I prefer it with fresh peaches. I guess I'll try it sometime with frozen peaches.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for the tip about critters not eating cherry tomatoes, Bronx. I didn't know that. I'll make sure my husband buys a couple of those plants to test out our critters.

[Italiancook]

Today, the Cuisinart recall rep at the phone line told me the ship date for my new blade is June.

[Italiancook]

I have Florentine Potato Soup in the slow cooker. Nothing exciting here on the cooking front.

[Italiancook]

I understand your frustration, BakerAunt. And to have the mistake be in a double batch -- ow!

[Italiancook]

Bronx, please let us know at the end of the season if you were successful keeping critters away with dwarf plants & cages. It's impossible for me to have homegrown tomatoes. The deer, raccoons & squirrels have first dibs. Last year, my husband bought cages and set them up. We still had no tomatoes. So if you build a cage that keeps the critters out, or if the dwarf plants have some anti-repellent property, I'd like to know.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I decided timing the food in a convection oven was too much trouble. I couldn't predict when the food would be done, and I didn't want to stand by the oven testing the food. I only use the regular oven feature.

[Italiancook]

I made a pot of Hamburger-Vegetable Soup from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.

[Italiancook]

RiversideLen, your sandwich buns look great!

[Italiancook]

Mike, before you buy induction, you may want to check the manufacturer's website for the model you want, and read online reviews about induction stovetops. You may recall that many weeks ago, I posted that I was considering induction. After reading your response, I picked out a specific model. My husband checked the manufacturer's website and discovered it was discontinued. I didn't want to buy something for which there might not be parts far down the road.

My husband also checked online reviews of induction in general. He said some people were reporting that using their induction appliance caused their circuit breakers to trip. I don't know how many reports of this he read, but Googling might bring you to these. Of course, manufacturers make improvements based on consumer experience, so by the time you want induction, this may not be an issue.

My husband also said his research indicated that the strength of the induction varied between burners.

[Italiancook]

I made saffron rice today using a variation of the recipe I found online but couldn't find now when I looked. It was for stovetop rice, and I used a rice cooker. Below is my recipe and results:

I used a scant 2 cups of basmati, and approximately 1/3 cup minced onion. I put a small pinch of saffron on a flat plate and crushed it into a powder with the back of a spoon. The recipe said to use a mortar and pestle, but I don't own one. I used chicken stock and added a larger pinch of saffron (whole) into the stock.

The finished product was the yellow I wanted, but it tasted like plain rice. In retrospect, I realize I was too stingy with the saffron pinches. Next time, I'll use more powdered and whole saffron. I realize I may never be able to replicate the taste of the packaged product I remember from a decade ago. They may have used something else in their mix. But I think that an adequate amount of saffron should add something to the flavor. Am I wrong?

[Author]

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