Here is my recipe for this week.

Already having issues with this as our local Wegmans doesn't sell Yukon Gold Potatoes or garlic herb goat cheese so I got Butter potatoes and plain goat cheese.

Debrak, I would never tell someone not to reinvent a recipe or play with it or make substitutions, but I always try to have the exact ingredients when I make a new recipe, and if I don't, I don't discard the recipe unless I'm sure that the changed ingredient wouldn't have made a difference (I doubt adding your own herbs would change the flavor much). From what I understand, Yukon Golds are "butter potatoes" but that there are half a dozen other varieties. I don't know if they have a very different flavor. The texture and color should be similar, though. That is, it sounds like a good substitution. .

I was going to make a jicama slaw recipe I found online before my back went bad. If the ingredients haven't gone bad, that'll be my first.

That sounds wicked! Butter potatoes are very similar to Yukon gold. Goat cheese with garlic seems like overkill since the recipe calls for 5 cloves. I think your choice of plain goat cheese is wise.

Read about a recipe on another forum here. Tried it tonight. It was just meh. I'm sure playing around with seasonings would help, but I doubt I will. I did sub sweet dumpling for acorn squash, but that's because I don't care for acorn squash.

Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash

This will be my recipe for the week:

Panera Bread Copycat Recipe Autumn Squash Soup

1 Butternut Squash
1 small Onion
2 tbsp Olive Oil
15 oz Pumpkin Puree
2 cup Vegetable Broth
1 1/2 cup Apple Cider
1 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
2 tbsp Honey
1/4 tsp Curry Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
Pumpkin Seeds (for garnish)

Preheat oven to 450.
Peel and seed squash and cut into chunks.
Peel and quarter onion
Toss squash and onion in olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Allow to cool at least 10 minutes.
Puree in blender or food processor.
In a large sauce pan, combine squash puree, pumpkin puree, vegetable broth, apple cider and cream.
Bring to a low boil over medium heat.
Add honey and spices and simmer for 10 minutes.
Garnish with pumpkin seeds.

Bud is getting his tonsils out tomorrow and he will be hungry for something besides popsicles in a couple of days, and he loves the autumn squash soup at Panera, so I'll make him some. He says it's all his, he doesn't have to share with his Mom, as she loves the stuff too, LOL.

Annie

I'll have a serving of each please!

Mine was Acorn Squash with Sausage Stuffing. Husband ate it, but it's not going into the "regular rotation" pile.

I ran across these two simple recipes this morning and made them to send to our granddaughter at college, along with her fall favorite - dehydrated apples. Our family loves pepitas. ;-)

COCOA ROASTED PEPITAS

PUMPKIN SPICE ROASTED PEPITAS

http://www.deliciousasitlooks.com/2012/11/two-recipes-for-roasted-pepitas-pumpkin.html

For the 3rd new recipe, keeping with the pepita theme (I recently sprouted and dehydrated 2# of them - YUM!), I made PUMPKIN BREAKFAST COOKIES to have a portable breakfast/snack traveling later this week.

http://leelalicious.com/pumpkin-breakfast-cookies/

-Grainlady

I have Soba Noodles on my list of recipes to try; here are the ingredients:

Nihiachi Soba (serves 10)

200 g wheat flour
800 g buckwheat flour
Water (amount depends on humidity

I already have the buckwheat flour (stored in the freezer), but I think I will cut the recipe in half, as I do not need to serve 10 people.

Here's a link to the video I posted before - I haven't gotten around to making them yet, and so this should be incentive to finally get them made. I may cheat and use my pasta roller for rolling out some of the dough - I will have to see how it goes.

The next thing on my list is Spätzle, and I have a contraption to make it but have not gotten around to that either!

I always wanted to try this simple recipe from the Southern Heritage Cookie Jar Cookbook to use up apricot or other fruit preserves languishing in the refrigerator. Thanks Debrak, for nudging me to try make it sometime this week.

APRICOT JEWELS

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. Baking powder

1/8 tsp. Salt

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 (3 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup flaked coconut

1/2 cup apricot preserves

Sift dry ingredients together in large mixing bowl. Cut in butter and cream cheese with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in coconut and preserves.

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto untreated cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets and cool on wire racks. Yield: about 4 dozen

I'm going to make my potatoes on Friday. I just noticed it calls for some contraption (food mill) I don't have so can I just mash them?

Lars, I love Spatzle and make it from scratch! One of few things I make from scratch. I would love for you to make it and hear about your experience so we can compare notes. I'm sure my results can be improved.

annie, I will have to share your recipe with a friend of mine who loves Paneras squash soup.

I don't have a food mill either, Debra. I'd mash 'em.

I'm in. I have *almost* made this recipe 5 or 6 times. It's my turn to cook supper tomorrow so this will be it. I think I even have all the ingredients - although I may be a little light on the mushrooms.

Parmesan Polenta with Eggs and Roasted Mushrooms

Debrak, do you have a ricer? That would do the same thing for potatoes. But, yes, you can just mash them. You'll just get a better texture with a mill or ricer.

No ricer, : ( I have a KA stand mixer, can I do something with that?

Do you have an FP with a fine grater? That would be messy, but essentially the same as a food mill. But you can just do what you do when you make mashed potatoes. The food mill just makes it easier to make it smooth.

So, this challenge pushed me to make my recipe to rescue the veg, but I was feeling a bit woozy and didn't want to either make or eat a proper slaw. Speaking of not following the recipe! I also used oversized Italian parsley (pungent) instead of the cilantro (which my family won't eat). Instead, I just made a salad with the veg in varied sizes that had some tooth. Jicama and cabbage big, carrots and peppers medium, and the rest smallish. I think this would make up fine for a slaw in the food processor,
though maybe the cabbage would be better sliced by hand to keep its
crunch, even though it calls for julienne rather than grated.

I also cut the salt a bit because they always use way too much. It was still a little salty. As is usually the case, the recipe makes about twice the amount of dressing one would need for heavily dressed. Lightly dressed took even less, but with smaller pieces it would probably need more than I used. In its mixing bowl, the dressing didn't taste like much, but on the salad it definitely had some kick.

Anyway, I'm happy with the outcome. I was feeling uninspired by some jicama, and found it by Googling, then acquired things like a red onion and the napa cabbage to go in it. It's pretty rare for me to use a recipe and measurements for a salad. :)

I forgot to take a picture. This is the leftover portion that didn't fit in the bowl. :)

OK< can I change my mind halfway through? Bud's surgery has been rescheduled. (sigh) elery's sons and their children are coming for the weekend. I think I'm going to make an apple cobbler, which I've never done before, only apple crisp and apple pie. I've also got a new recipe for apple muffins, because we picked some more apples today. The trees are still loaded with apples and we're going to press cider this weekend, and this is what the garage looks like.....

Oh, I like this thread, Debrak; particularly, the flexibility. Annie, if you throw down a mattress, I'd be very, very, very, very happy in your garage. I'll take some cobbler too. I hope that the surgery goes well, and things are as they are supposed to be. Is that a tackle box too:)? Well, plllog, see, I knew your family were smart cookies: "cilantro -- which my family won't eat":) Yep, I'm a "soaper.":) Your post makes me feel like actually making a dressing -- it is always so much better and yet I just can't make myself most times. Bookmarking the pepitas -- what a great package from home, Grainlady! Angelaid, I'm laughing. My husband will eat stuff that I. just. won't. I'm so grateful for that. Cindymac -- that really looks delicious and, well, I love that plate too! Will be interested to see/hear other reviews!

If you're in a hurry, skip the next paragraph.

So, I texted Alex this link (http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/how-to-make-quick-pressure-cooker-black-beans.html) serious eats because I thought J. Kenji's discovery of which side the gas tank was on was, well, pretty earth-shattering. Instead of commenting on this gas tank revelation, Alex obviously didn't click on the link and just texted back, out-of-hand "Black beans? Gross." So, I had some time, wanted to try the Instant Pot, and wanted to show Alex he didn't know what he was talking about; hence, the parsley.

Pressure Cooker Black Beans linked above -- Start to finish, took me about an hour in the Instant Pot. Fifteen minutes for pressure cooker to come to pressure, 40 minutes, then I let sit 15 minutes (I definitely wanted softer beans -- husband two root canals) before a quick release. There was some "blow out", but they were tipped more creamy than grainy, if that makes sense. I'm still learning pressure cooking, and may have used incorrect terms -- so bear with me.

I followed recipe with two minor changes. I used 7 oz. of Andouille instead of chorizo and used 5 garlic cloves (mine were huge) I'd give this a B+. Little prep, almost zero hands-on, little clean-up, makes a ton, fairly inexpensive. Tastes good, but a bit bland. When I get a bite of Andouille with the beans it's outstanding. Maybe the chorizo would have been spicier? Anyways, next time, and there will be one, I may add some jalapenos, chipotles, spices? something. Good foundation recipe. I will say the orange was a complete leap of faith for me, and you just get a bare hint of it -- very nice, actually.

Oh, and btw, the parsley and square plate weren't enough to tempt Alex - still not a black bean fan:)

Ready to pressure cook.

No soak - pressure cooked.

Cathy in SWPA

LOL! Cathy too funny! I didn't know about the little arrow--is that all cars? But I've always known where my gas tank was, even on rentals. :) BTW, if you have 20 minutes more, you can use the oven instead of a pressure cooker. :)

If the beans were bland, they might have needed more saltl You can dissolve the salt in some water and stir it in. In my experience, however, beans don't pick up a lot of flavor from the stuff cooked with them. Rather the other ingredients pick up flavor from the beans. You can moosh up a couple table spoons of beans, saute them with more sausage, peppers, whatever, then stir them into your bean pot. Let them set, simmering or not, and it should result in more flavor. Andouille usually packs a good wallop, in my experience more than chorizo, though that varies by maker, so you may just need more to get some in every bite. :)

BTW, I'm one of the few people I know who can tolerate cilantro while not particularly liking it. It tastes "Mexican" and somewhere between "chemical" and "sharp" to me, rather than soapy, but it's not something I'd choose to eat a lot of. Of course, cumin tastes like sand to me, so I don't like it when it's dominant, but enchilada sauce would be all wrong without it. :)

Well we decided that we like the recipe I tried tonight. (Polenta recipe) A good, quick dish. Those are always appreciated. I did over roast the mushrooms a bit so that they had a hint of crispiness. I think that worked out well in contrast to the polenta and egg. I'll make it again.

Thank, debra, for the kick in the butt to try a recipe that has been lingering in my bookmarks for a few years!

@plllog -- I'm laughing too about the gas tank. Of course, I went down and looked, (although this has never been quite the test as it is for J. Kenji.) Nope, mine doesn't, but my car is 10 + years old (just getting "broken in" as my Dad would say).

- Yep, maybe it was salt. But I think I was unfairly/somewhat unknowingly comparing them to the flavor profile of one of our favorites Homesick Texan Peppery Pinto Beans. Recipe nowhere near it, but what I think I was craving. I think I will do what you advise and add some more sausage and peppers -- that's always a good thing.

- I may consider the oven on one of our cold winter days. I'm trying to reduce of energy/electric and am hoping that the pressure cooker can help in that effort.

- I don't get repelled by too much, but one little leaf of cilantro just makes me shake my head/trepidation begins to well. I can't even cut it. It makes me more empathetic to someone in my family whom I may have labeled annoyingly persnickety:) Coriander does this too. Cumin sand? HA! Very interesting. But yes, wow, a great enchilada sauce is something to be admired! I actually made these pressure cooker chicken enchiladas -- highly recommend serious eats - pc chix enchiladas. Of course, no coriander or cilantro.

- Lastly, hoping that weather, health and steak issues are better!!!!!!!!

@rosesstink -- Even though I have it in my cupboard, I have yet to enter the polenta world. Your post may be what pushes me over the edge. That looks like a delicious recipe, plus I'm intrigued with fried polenta:)

@Annie -- no need for a bed, Annie. A tent will be just fine. And I mean just a sheet over a clothesline. My word, I would literally get nothing accomplished with that view. And I mean that. Nor would the three VERY VERY VERY VERY avid family fishermen. Simply stunning. BTW, will smaller hands be helping with the sugar cookies:)? Also, in that same "testing" vein, I thought I would try a Hershey Bar with my coffee this a.m. Happy to report -- very good. Most importantly, I hope the surgery goes well.

This last part isn't really a recipe test, but more a process. Hungry, skinny college student needs quick breakfast; like, 1 minute prep:) Took up 8 frozen homemade breakfast sandwiches (homemade sourdough biscuits, scrambled eggs, sausage, cheese, all cooled, assembled, wrapped and frozen) as a trial (not sure if biscuit soggy, egg spongy, microwave time, etc.) Got this pic texted. Guess this means they're okay:)

Cathy in SWPA

Rosesstink I love polenta, I make stuff like that often. I accidentally bought two bags of polenta so I try to put it in my rotation often. My usual way to make it is with greens and beans as a topping, usually with a tomato based sauce, seasoned either italian or something from south of the border. Top with melted cheese of some sort, (my go-tos are feta and sharp cheddar or parmesean) and I'm good to go. Haven't done it in a while, I am trying to de-clutter my kitchen and the rest of the house, so not much cooking going on in there.

Thanks for the good wishes, Cathy! Things are looking up. I think I may have to put those Homesick beans on my list of things to try! Much admiration for the frozen breakfast sandwiches. I wouldn't have had the courage, but, of course, hungry skinny college student needs feeding up like that. :)

I love fried polenta cakes that are compressed and all brown on the outside and fluffy on the inside. And I do not eat them unless they just arrive on my plate. High class junk food, but oh, so good! :)

My mom used to make fried cornmeal mush. Essentially the same as fried polenta? We loved it with maple syrup.

That's how my mom made it too. Fried and served with maple syrup.

Here is the Goat cheese mashed potatoes. I used 5 lbs instead of 3lbs of potatoes, 7 tablespoons of unsalted butter (due to more potatoes) instead of 4, 4 oz of goat cheese instead of 8 oz. (purchase mistake), forgot the milk, 2 cups of sour cream instead of 1 1/2 (due to more potatoes).

The results are that it is good but way too salty & peppery. I know I really messed with the ingredients but was surprized that the salt and pepper were the issue. I put in exactly what the recipe called from. Not extra for the extra potatoes. Any thoughts on this? We liked it but it has a little too much bite to it.

I thought it was S&P to taste. Just reread the recipe and see where it says 4 teaspoons of salt. Yikes! No wonder you thought it was too salty. I tend to go by taste with salt and pepper. Some recipes call for way too much. Love Ina Garten's recipes, but there's nothing light-handed about her use of salt.

A lot of recipes call for way too much salt, especially for those who mostly eat scratch made at home and aren't heavily into salt (overuse dulls your ability to perceive it). I hadn't read the instructions before. I can't remember putting four teaspoons of salt into one casserole (size you made). I might have used one and a half, and then skimped on it, and one tsp. of pepper (less if very finely ground from my mill). Essentially, that reads to me like doubled seasoning, even for a recipe.

If you have overs, you can fix them by extending. Mix in some squash or sweet potato, for instance, or add enough milk (or almond milk) to turn it into a soup.

4 tsps of salt? Yeah, that's too much. I weaned myself off of salt years ago though so I'm pretty sensitive to it now. When a recipe calls for a tsp I do a little shake into the dish (are ten grains enough? lol) otherwise it will taste too salty to me.

I forgot about the cheese! I was thinking that I cook like Rosesstink described, but that I do use a little more salt for naturally bland scratch ingredients like potatoes and beef...and then remembered all that goat cheese and parmesan, which are both salt fests. With parm and chevre, even a half portion, I would only add salt if the mix tasted extremely bland. No wonder you were put off by it!

Thanks for all the comments about the salt! I've never used goat cheese before so didn't think about it being very salty. I'm pretty sure this recipe was ripped out of a cooking magazine. Don't they actually make the recipes they print?

Please continue to post your recipes and results! Next tuesday I will pull another out of my "had this recipe for years but never made it" binder and start another thread.

@debrak_2008. Well, that looks absolutely delicious! I'd do like others advised and try to use them as an addition to something else -- more in the role of seasoning. I've had so many mishaps in the kitchen; between authors not testing and my wackadoo cooking skills, at timesit can be a veritable crapshoot. BTW, if you ask my mom, I undersalt everything:)

@all Somebody needs to make fried polenta/fried cornmeal mush:)

@plllog. I'm assuming that eating three breakfast sandwiches at once is a "like." So glad that things are settling down a bit. I'm trying to fit in cooking/baking here and there. Glad I could participate this weekend.

Taking a bit of liberty, but used a new technique for old recipe. And because we were talking about Peppery Pinto Beans, plllog, and I had left over andouille, I threw that recipe in the pressure cooker again. I only used one jalapeno (I grew wicked hot jalapenos this summer) as it will be shared with the elderly and since I loaned my smoked paprika to that one hungry college kid, I threw in a chipotle with some adobo sauce. One hour later, start to finish, I found what I was unconsciously looking for. Rice or maybe fried polenta too would be good too:)

Enjoyed reading everyone's posts.

Cathy in SWPA

This will be my last post today, I promise:)

@debrak -- We were at the library this afternoon, I was reading Ina Garten's "Make It Ahead" cookbook and stumbled on a recipe that I thought was very similar to yours. I actually took a picture of it to compare and then found it on line here Make Ahead Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes -- Ina Garten

Cathy in SWPA

cathyinpa, That is the recipe! The photo is the same as the one on my recipe page I ripped out of the magazine. I didn't post the photo here. I'm pretty sure the magazine was Food Network. A family member passes her copies to me sometimes. There is a note on the page that says you can make it ahead up to three days and leave in fridge until ready to bake. I'm really surprised Ina made it so salty.

OMG, that's hilarious! Debrak, that's SO Ina! All of her recipes have a lot of salt. Love her, but not all the salt she uses!

This is where natural cooking skill comes in. I would not have picked up on the high amount of salt. I told a friend who cooks a lot about this recipe and she immediately said, that is a lot of salt!

This is really funny!

@Debrak. What are the chances? I had a ton of books (all slow-cooker ones, btw) and on a whim, I grabbed Ina's "Make it Ahead" to peruse while I waited for my husband. When he said, "Are you ready?" I was looking at this recipe, thinking "Hmm, why does this look familiar?" And then I saw the salt and thought of you! So I took a picture to compare to yours when we got home. HA!

As an aside: I, not being as savvy as Cindy, would have thought well it's Ina, she knows best and went with the four teaspoons. Really. I think I'll always look at the salt in her recipes from now on:) Made me smile today!

Cathy in SWPA

Too funny!

Actually I think professionals are the worst salters ever. They taste and taste and taste and wear out their ability to sense saltiness (more likely in the brain accepting it as "normal" rather than actually wearing out the tastebuds).

Cathy, I was thinking of you this evening. I'm not committing to a beans recipe yet, but I did pick up a package of chicken andouille. Of course, it makes up differently. More for dressing with at the end than cooking down into the sauce, but it should be good....

So, I have to take dinner tomorrow and was doing the first cook on the brisket, but I didn't want to rearrange the meat drawer. It's just a third of a brisket really--the middle, so I did it in a 2/3 sheet pan instead of a roaster, so I could put it on a shelf. But I still would have had to rearrange. Instead, I decided there wasn't really that much in my prep drawer (fridge) -- just basic things like celery, scallions, avocados and grated cheese, and there was room in the veg drawer and deli drawer in the big fridge. That left me staring at the remains of the jicama and napa cabbage, however, so I decided to use up the dressing from the slaw by making another batch using the Cuisinart grater disk. If I were disinterested in making perfect juliennes the other day, I didn't even want to get out a knife today! (But I had to cut the veg to fit in the feeder tube.)

I used the same vegetables, but didn't measure amounts. I think the proportions were similar. Maybe less onion and pepper. As expected, grating made them weep. I mixed them well but will add the dressing tomorrow after I've drained any remaining water. It looks appetizing. Maybe could use a little more color because of the less red onion and pepper, but it's not firecracker slaw, and should be fine. And the vegetables that went in it sure take up a lot less room in the bowl! It fit just exactly in the first covered serve bowl I took out! A good sign for sure. The whole time, my head was buzzing (earworm) with Jolene trading off with some commercial jingle. Jolene won in the end, but I don't know the words, so I think the other popped in when it got to the end of the refrain. :)

My next recipe -- one I've been contemplating for months -- is red velvet cake. Not the dye company kind with a whole bottle of red food coloring and no flavor, but the original kind with non-alkalized red cocoa. I've read that the name "red velvet" is actually from making a velvet cake with brown sugar, which they say used to be called "red sugar", but I've also read a number of historical accounts talking about the red color of the red velvet cake. I've just found abloggist who went through a number of iterations to come up with a recipe, so I thought I'd start with that. (He also talks about the "red sugar" and the chocolate flavor being called "mahogany".) I definitely want that velvet cake texture, and the red color from the cocoa but I also hope the cocoa gives it a distinctive flavor. I usually use fresh Valrhona for chocolate cakes -- very intense. I haven't opened the red cocoa yet, but I imagine that it's more like regular cocoa powder, and subtler in flavor.

I'm thinking it should be a layer cake, however. And that should probably have traditional boiled icing. Anyone have a good icing recipe to share?

plllog, I'd use 'White Mountain' frosting on that cake. Recipe here.

@plllog -- A home with andouille is ALWAYS good; the potential for great things is just waiting right in your fridge:)

Red velvet cake is soooooo uncharted waters for me -- never had it, never made it. I will be very interested to read about your process/results. The recipe certainly seems doable. Will you be going armadillo:)? I have to tell you that I absolutely laughed out loud (truly) when I read slogan "the cake of a wife time." How times have changed!

I think Ben is a character and was very intrigued with his converting a refrigerator for curing meat or aging cheese. Ah, the beauty of the internet!

Have to get back to work -- will be watching these threads!

Cathy in SWPA

Thanks, PM! Trust Betty Crocker. :) So, I was wondering why corn syrup (the last time I made boiled icing was long before I cared!). I found the answer at David Lebovitz. It's an invert sugar. A couple of years ago, I made invert sugar from granulated for something, from a recipe in a book, but don't remember much about it. Probably macarons or ice cream. Lebovitz links a recipe for it that's posted onThe Kitchn. Anyway, the point of invert sugar is that it prevents the melted sugar from crystallizing, which he says cream of tartar can also do, and which is an ingredient in the recipe on The Kitchn. Also, that it helps with gloss on fudge, so might be a reason for it in the frosting. Very interesting. (I think I have some Karo syrup, which is much easier...)

Cathy, I was getting into cheesemaking a year or two ago--we get excellent organic milk that hasn't been killed by radiation or ultrapasteurization, so it's possible without owning the milkee--but have nowhere to make a cave. They have those cheap little "beverage" refrigerators, however, that just set to 50° F, so are the wrong temperature for wine, beer and soda, but are close enough a compromise that people buy 'em. It's the perfect temperature for a cheese cave, however. Then I get tempted by the portable coolers that do freezing up to 60°, your choice. Then I think that we really don't need to be eating more cheese, and that the local stores have great cheeses from all around the world and there are stand alone cheesemongers and ethnic stores for everything else, and we can afford it if we really want to eat more or different cheese, and why do I want one more thing to plug in when as it is we use more power than we generate. And the cheese I want most, but can't even find a good recipe for, is fresh hoop cheese. One can have aged hoop cheese sent, but I need fresh. And no one makes it because it's something that doesn't scale up and can't be automated, even though it used to be the most basic and available of cheeses. Sigh. But, yes, Ben is a crackup, and I like the way he thinks. And, having stumbled across his efforts, why should I do all that research and trial myself?

I made the Soba noodles today

I put the full description of my method in the Soba Noodle thread so that it would not take up too much space here.

Next time I will make Spaetzle, which I think will be less effort and which I also think I will like better. I made the Soba noodles because I had all of the ingredients and wanted to see if I would like them better than the ones I've had before. They really weren't any better than what I've had in restaurants, and they were a bit labor intensive but easier than I expected. Next time I will make a smaller batch and roll them through the pasta machine. A smaller amount of dough will be easier to knead.

Thanks for motivating me to make this!

That looks yummy, Lars!

Spaetzle is easy and fun. I find that it needs quite a bit of seasoning--it's really more of a dumpling than a noodle/pasta.

@plllog -- I'm laughing -- "Then I think that we really don't need to be eating more cheese ..." I love reading your thought process.

Lars, extremely impressive -- a complicated recipe that turned out very well. Great start to your recipe challenge. Looking forward to your next one:)

Cathy in SWPA

plllog, that's been one of our family-favorite frosting recipes since I was a kid. You can definitely trust it! If you can find a Betty Crocker cookbook, it lists about a dozen flavor variations.

Lars those noodles look awesome!

plllog, if you are a spaetzle maker too I would love to see and hear about how you do it. I know mine could be better.

Cathy, I'm glad to make you laugh! Sometimes I need to go stream of consciousness to figure out what I'm trying to say and don't always bother go back and make a proper paragraph. :) BTW, making cheese is fun!

PM, I didn't think to look in it before your suggestion, but I have a Betty Crocker binder style basic cookbook. It was a present when I was ... single digits? I'm thinking 7-8. My first cookbook of my own. :) I have a later edition of Joy, too, but don't always remember to open them. :) I'll definitely take a look for the frosting. 'Course, I knew why the recipe sounded familiar when I saw the name on it. :)

Debrak, I'm not really a spaetzle maker--just someone who has made spaetzle. So then I thought it would be a great alternative to matzah balls for Seder since it's so quick to make and I found a good recipe as soon as I had the thought, so I did a few rounds of matzah spaetzle, too. I have to say that one of the most useful gadgets I've bought is the spaetzle screen thing. I've tried various traditional methods, including the colander with spoon, and piping, and they don't make the right size easily, and take too much effort for dozens of people. For $14, and not much space in the pot drawer, spaetzle using the thing becomes dead easy, bing, bang, boom.

How I do it: Thick sticky batter. Big cooking spoon. Pot of boiling water. Pan or colander lined with paper towels. Skimmer spoon (big flat round like a wok spider and a cooking spoon had an ugly offspring--you could use a strainer or slotted spoon, but don't use a wire spider! I know a guy who...made a big mess). Put the spaetzle thing on top of the boiling pot. Use the spoon to put a blop of batter on the spaeztle thing. Use the scraper that comes with to pull the blop across like pulling sodium alginate thickened dye across a slik screen. Continue until blop is gone. Move the spaezle screen and use the skimmer to fish out the spaetzle (don't overcrowd). Transfer to paper to dry--make sure your paper towels don't shed! You could use a large flat mesh sieve and no paper if you have one. Too big holes and they try to squirt through while they're tender. Repeat until batter is finished, shifting drained spaetzle as they're finished to a container as you go. Reserve for soup, or put them in the oven to dry out a bit and pan fry them. If you're not going to use them right away (same day), it's better to oven dry them a bit anyway, or they'll revert to blob form.

JC