Well, the pie turned out great. I sliced the apples very thinly since that's how I like them and got positive comments about that. The pie wasn't beautiful but it tasted delicious. Thanks again for all the ideas. I will probably play around with the all shortening pie crust for the future. I was in a bit of a hurry when I made the pie so I might have mismeasured. BTW we played poker, six of us, and only two had ever played before. We played Texas Hold 'em mostly but then I wanted to shake things up a bit and taught them five card draw and seven card stud. We had a blast! We were very girly about it, any real poker player would've been tearing his/her hair out! But we had lots of laughs and lots of fun and can't wait to do it again!

Our traditional Christmas Breakfast began when the kids were smaller. I tried for a few years to make something special for breakfast--something that could be done and finished by the time we needed to head out to the Grandparent's houses for family celebrations. They didn't care--they wanted to open toys, and then they wanted to play with toys, and they'd snacked on the candy in their stockings when they were mousing around before we woke up, so heck, they weren't even hungry. So one year I made some Chex Mix and put it out for breakfast. It was a hit, and now that they're older teenagers, it's still our traditional Christmas breakfast. The recipe is on any box of Chex. I like to add Cheeze-Its. :-) Cj

Based on current scientific findings, what is currently recommended for a healthy diet might be turned on it's head in the near future. We all ready know that the federal food guide pyramid is a huge joke. Now we are finding out that heart disease may actually be caused by inflammation and not saturated fat. Either way, Mtn, your plan sounds delicious!

What a memory you have mercurygirl! “Break out the sherbet dishes and fill them with custard” Oh, if only, bragu... if I only I had a kitchen! This will be the first year I’ve not made DH’s beloved cheesecake. In the interest of ‘adding’… I see above that I abhorred chocolate pot de crème due to the grainy texture, but since then I’ve acquired a sous vide, and as Islay wisely said, no better (or easier) way to make the perfect pots de crème, even non-grainy chocolate. Here’s my recipe: Sous Vide Chocolate Pots De Crème Ingredients: 4 cups of heavy cream 1, 9.7-ounce bar of Schaeffer bittersweet chocolate (or your favorite brand) 3 t espresso powder, divided 6 T sugar plus 1 t sugar, divided 2 pinches kosher salt 8 egg yolks Directions: Heat the cream in a pan over medium-high heat until the cream around the edges of the pan just starts to bubble. Do not let the cream come to a full boil. Remove from heat. While the cream is heating, coarsely chop the chocolate. While the cream is hot, whisk in the chopped chocolate, espresso powder, sugar, kosher salt. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in egg yolks one or two at a time, whisking completely after each addition. Pour the mixture into a large measuring cup suitable for pouring. Pour 6 ounces of the cream and chocolate mixture into 8, 8-ounce mason jars, leaving about 3/4" of air space in each jar. Do not fill to the top. Screw the lids on using your fingers only until the lids are finger tight. Do not overly tighten as air needs to escape from the jars during the cooking process. Fill a large pot or a 12-quart storage container with room temperature water and secure your sous vide circulator onto the vessel. Place the jars in the pot or container. Turn the sous vide circulator on and set it to 176 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water reaches 176 degrees set the timer for one hour. The water should cover the lidded jars. When the timer goes off, turn off the circulator and remove the mason jars from the circulator with a pair of tongs. Set the jars on a dry kitchen towel and allow to cool for a few minutes and then store in the fridge for at least two hours and up to several days. Top with sweetened crème fraiche, fresh raspberries, shaved chocolate, chopped toasted almonds, or best of all, serve plain : ) I hope others will chime in and add some of their recipes to this!