[Mike Nolan]

Sort of both. Around here a made-rite (without caps) is a seasoned loose ground beef sandwich, Made-Rite (with caps) is a small fast food restaurant chain featuring that type of sandwich, which they call a burger, though I don't think of them as burgers. I've seen them called tasty or tastee sandwiches, too.

One recipe for them is interesting for those on a low fat diet. You brown the ground beef, rinse it in boiling water, and then add spices. The boiling water removes most of the melted fat, so what's left is fairly low fat.

Nebraska is also home of the Runza, which has ground beef, cabbage and onions baked inside bread, often with other flavorings. Pirogis are similar sandwiches common out east.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[Mike Nolan]

If it's loose but not sloppy, it sounds like what they call a Made-Rite. There's a Made-Rite at the Amana colonies exit on I-80 in Iowa. There used to be a place in Lincoln that made these (and the best onion chips in town), but it closed a few years ago after something like 5 decades, and is still sorely missed by many of us.

[Mike Nolan]

I've seen a pigeon hole cabinet used to store both rolling pins and rolls of waxed paper, plastic wrap, plastic bags, etc. (I've got the rolls and bags in a drawer, but the drawer is full and I've actually had to move some of the less frequently used ones to another drawer.)

Sometimes office supply stores have inexpensive cardboard ones for sorting mail that are 3x3 or 4x4.

Here's the Ikea wine rack I got, it sits at the back of the counter behind my flour bins, so it takes up very little space. I didn't bother fastening it to the wall, since it has flour bins in front of it.
Ikea wine rack

[Mike Nolan]

I'm glad the nearest Ikea is in Kansas City, that's a DANGEROUS store for me, even if I skip the assemble-it-yourself furniture areas. I bought a wine rack from them that I use to store rolling pins, and I love their cookware.

[Mike Nolan]

The best meat counter I've seen in many years is at McGinnis Sisters in Monroeville PA. (There are 2 or 3 other McGinnis Sisters locations in the Pittsburgh area, too.) However, I think the meat and especially the poultry shop at the North Market in Columbus Ohio may be even better. I haven't actually ordered meat or poultry at the North Market, so I'm just going by how it looks, but when we were there last December they had at least 3 different kinds of whole duck in the case, plus duck breasts, duck thighs, duck leg confit and rendered duck fat. It's probably a good thing Columbus Ohio isn't close, I could spend a fortune there!

I have not been impressed with the meat counter at our Whole Foods, and most of the other supermarkets in town don't cut their meat on premises, but we have a new Fareway Meat Market that I've been quite impressed with. Fareway is a chain based in Des Moines, most of their stores are full-service grocery stores in small towns but they have a meat, cheese and wine/liquor store in Omaha and just opened one in Lincoln. They had veal foreshanks in stock and at least 2 kinds of veal in the display case. They can order veal hindshanks if I want them.

I haven't bought steaks from them yet, but I have bought several types of roasts, (frozen) duck breasts, and pork chops, as well as the veal shanks and some beef shanks, both of which are in the freezer for the next time I make stocks.

I like most steaks about 1 1/2 inches thick, and I'm sure they can cut them to that thickness. When I was in there this week, I asked and they can order chicken backs, as long as I'll take a 40 pound case of them (about $27.) But that'd make a lot of chicken stock, as I'd split it up into 3 or more smaller packages and freeze what I can't use right away.

BTW, for those who haven't read the article I posted the link to, the reasons steaks are getting thinner is because the individual muscles are getting larger. So in order keep the weight the same (for restaurant service, for example), they have to be cut thinner. Some cuts, like ribeye, can be separated into separate muscle groups, ie, a ribeye cap and a ribeye loin.

[Mike Nolan]

I've added asiago cheese to the Austrian Malt Bread recipe and then baked it in the canape bread tubes that Pampered Chef (and others) sell, it was very good. (It takes about 12 ounces of dough to fill one of those tubes.)

[Mike Nolan]

Interesting article. I hope some American pizza places take note that a true Margarita (sometimes spelled Margherita) pizza as described by the AVPN code contains just these ingredients:

Dough: Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast

Topping: Tomatoes, Olive Oil, Mozzarella Cheese, Hard Cheese, Salt (if needed), Basil

That means NO garlic!

[Mike Nolan]

Cute, but I wish cookie decorating suggestions gave an estimate for how long it takes to do all that decorating.

[Mike Nolan]

I made pizza last night, it was not my most successful effort. I couldn't find the thin crust recipe I've been using and the one I tried was a disappointment.

[Mike Nolan]

You're in the North now, you won't find mustard greens or collards much, and especially not this time of year.

Chard and kale seem to be easier to find, maybe they were just out.

[Mike Nolan]

Our gut feeling is that the sweet potatoes would take longer to cook than white potatoes, mostly because sweet potatoes are usually cooked until they're really soft.

I made baked pork chops tonight with apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and a butter/brown sugar sauce, good, but maybe a bit too sweet for my taste. Pork chops are on sale through tomorrow, I may go get some more. My wife suggested an orange juice and cranberry/craisin combination.

The new generation of countertop cookers aren't really crock pot slow cookers any more, I saw an ad for one that claimed it made some meals in 30 minutes.

[Mike Nolan]

Have you ever had a blitz? Same ingredients, different toppings.

[Mike Nolan]

You can make a pretty good gluten-free crepe with cornstarch instead of wheat flour, but it sounds like the texture of these was unpalatable.

[Mike Nolan]

Yeah, pizza about once every two weeks is about as frequently as I want it, whether I make it or we order in. (Recently we've been ordering in a thin crust pizza with artichokes, cream cheese and tomato chunks.)

Mostly its a matter of limiting high carbs meals.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a small batch of cinnamon rolls today (4 rolls in a 7x7 pan)

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