I like this recipe from the New York Times cookbook. I've been making it for over 20 years. There are other versions out there, but this always comes out fit for company. The almonds add a nice crunch to the dish and the tobasco fades into the background so I never omit either. I usually break the spaghetti in half before cooking it for this recipe. Chicken Tetrazzini from the New York Times Ingredients: 5 lbs stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces 1 onion, studded with 2 cloves 2 stalks celery & leaves salt 1/2 bay leaf 1 carrot 3 cups water 4 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup flour 1/2 lb mushroom, sliced 1 egg yolk, slightly beaten 1 tablespoon dry sherry 3 tablespoons light cream 1 (8 ounce) package spaghetti noodles 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese 1 teaspoon butter toasted almond (optional) Tabasco sauce (optional) Directions: 1. In a heavy kettle place the chicken, onion, celery, one TBS salt, bay leaf, carrot and 3 cups water. 2. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the chicken is tender, 3-4 hours. Remove the chicken from the broth and let cool. Remove the meat from the bones in shredded slim pieces about 2 inches long, discarding skin and bones. Skim the fat from the top of the broth and place 4 TBS of the fat (or an equivalent amount of butter)in a 2 quart saucepan. Add the flour and salt to taste, stirring with a wire whisk until blended. Meanwhile, bring 2 cups of the strained chicken broth to a boil and add all at once to the fat-flour mixture, stirring vigorously with the whisk until the sauce is thickened and smooth. If desired, season with tabasco. In a skillet, heat 3 TBS of the remaining fat or butter and add the mushrooms; cook until browned. Temper the egg yolk lightly beaten with a little of the sauce and stir it back in adding the sherry, cream, chicken and mushrooms. Cook, stirring until heated through. DO NOT LET BOIL. 12. Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Place alternate layers of drained spaghetti noodles and sauce in a buttered casserole, sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese and dot with butter. Brown quickly in a preheated broiler and serve with toasted almonds, if desired. (You can make this ahead 1-2 days and refrigerate, covered -- then reheat 45 minutes at 325 degrees just before serving - and it's even better, as the flavors have had a chance to blend nicely.) ---------------------------------------------------------- I also recently copied and pasted another recipe for Chicken Tetrazzini that I found on a food blog that puts the cooked chicken and almonds on top of the pasta that sounds a bit more elegant. Next time I make Chicken Tetrazzini, I'm going to try it this way. seagrass Here is a link that might be useful: Niemen Marcus Chicken Tetrazzini

You've been won over to the wonder of electric roasters. Now you see why I threw away my slow cookers! I've made yeast breads, sweet breads, biscuits, rolls, meatloaves, burgers, pot roasts, baked potatoes, soups, stews, chilis, casseroles and much much more in my 4 qt and 6 qt Nescos. I use it to cook up ground meat (sometimes adding onion) to freeze. This saves mess when I need ground meat for a casserole, soup, chili, etc. I recently did about 18 pounds (in 3 batches) using my 6 quart unit. It's so nice, you don't have to constantly attend it like a frypan or stock pot. A few stirs and it's cooked up, drain it, bag it, freeze it and one ease pot to clean. I don't know of anything you can't bake in an electric roaster that you can bake in a conventional oven. And you can do a number of things in an electric roaster that you cannot do in a conventional oven. Because mine are smaller ones I've never tried a pie in there before although it would probably work fine. In the big one you have, pies would work well too, as would cakes, even cookies and bars. BTW, that cauliflower looks GREAT! I believe the Oster is similar to the Nesco in that the heating element is not in the bottom like a slow cooker, rather in the sides. You still will want to use the rack for a lot of things, not for fear of burning the bottom but for better air circulation. As for your romertopf , don't take this as gospel, but I'm guessing that as long as you don't have it ice cold you should be fine. If you're concerned, you could bring up the temperature of the roaster more slowly to condition and heat it. But I'm not sure you really need it. The electric roaster will probably do pretty much the same thing. I don't know what size you have so that could make a difference and you might want to have the romertopf in there while cooking something else along side of it, I don't know what you want to do so I can only speculate. Enjoy that roaster oven. I know you will love it more every time you use it. There's slight differences in using a roaster oven and you'll learn as you go. For one thing there's more moisture in a roaster oven than a conventional oven. This can impact things like browning birds and the like, but that's easy to work around, at least for me. One tip, you can do multi-level cooking if you have the rack like the one that comes with the Nescos. If you don't have one like it (the 2 tiered rack) you can still make your own or rig something. Using my mothers roaster I used Corningware covered dishes and the big glass raised knob worked fine to set another one on and it cooked fine. You need space between them for air circulation. So many times when I see these large roasters for $15-$25 I've thought about getting one, but just can't justify it. I don't cook for large groups anymore but it's such a bargain. Then I can't help but laugh seeing people buying slow cookers for $100 or more! They just don't know what they're missing! Happy cooking.

I found the Eggnog Snickerdoodles on the cooking forum years ago. I made them last night and they were very good! I couldn't find Brandy extract so I just used cognac instead. I also added a little bit of cinnamon. Eggnog Snickerdoodles 2 3/4c flour 1 1/2c sugar 1 c butter, softened 2 eggs 2 tsp cream of tartar 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp brandy extract 1/2 tsp rum extract 1/8 tsp nutmeg Sugar mix: 1/4c sugar 1tsp nutmeg Mix butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Add flour, cream of tartar brandy and rum extract, salt, soda and nutmeg. Mix well. Chill. Shape into 1 tsp sized balls. Roll in sugar mix. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350° or until cookies are lightly browned. Yields 2 dozen. Recipe easily doubles with no problem.

@girlnamedgalez8a - Hugs for you, my condolences. My MIL is in a similiar situation, my FIL passed in July. We invited her to join for NYE but she decided she was not up to it, she prefers to stay home. We will be calling her and my DD and SIL are going to stop by for a short visit on their way out, but for the most part she us on her own. Out traditional NYE is dinner out with friends, then we go home to watch movies until midnight, watch fireworks and off to bed. Some years I will do a NY day party. This year we are trying something different, we are going to our desert house and joining friends for a dinner dance at the club house. The dance ends at New York NYE time, then we move on to a friend’s CA NYE party. She is just a few houses away an easy walk home when done.