Has anyone tried Patgund's recipe for the chocolate dipped Ruffles? He had it up on his blog a few months ago. I bought some chocolate dipped potato chips when I was up North this summer, but the chocolate was too thick and the chips were not salty enough to provide the perfect sweet/salt combination.

The watermelon with feta cheese recipe was wonderful. Chèvre with salt might be even better. The salt is important. My father used to salt cantaloupe, so I learned that from him. It makes a big difference.

Don't use salt from the Napoleonville Salt Dome, however. I've switched to sea salt for everything but making ice cream.

I didn't see the watermelon and feta recipe! I thought I'd invented something new!

I think chèvre would work better than feta. I'll have to try both.

I'm a fan of Rogue River cheeses. Cowgirl Creamery Capriole Farms Wabash Cannonball Goat cheese is probably the best though. You can order online, or find it at Whole Foods. It comes from Indiana. I also like Cowgirl double cream cows milk cheese. Cypress Grove can also be found in Safeway and Schnuck's and other fine grocers.

http://www.cypressgrovechevre.com/cheeses.html

http://www.capriolegoatcheese.com/

http://www.roguecreamery.com/store/

http://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/prodinfo.asp?number=WABC

It's a radio show on WNPR, which is the Connecticut public radio network. All you see on the page is the blurb for the show, which is about a hour long. They discuss their decision to farm goats and make excellent goat cheese. The audio bar ought to be to the left.

Beltane Farms is the producer of the cheese. You don't have to be pagan to eat it, but it is not nationally available. Their Harvest Moon is a Spanish-style hard cheese, but I don't think it is a danger to teeth. They also sell raw milk. It's easiest to buy it at a farmer's market in Westport, Lyme, Bozrah, New Haven, Greenwich, Lebanon, Storrs, Stonington, Coventry, Farmington, or Mystic, although the Artisan Food Store in Southbury sometimes sells it online. Always trying to help local farmers.

Back a few pages someone mentioned making meatballs and boiling them. I hadn't heard of boiling them before! I looked it up, and then used my homemade Italian Pork sausage meatball recipe and they are wonderful made that way. Thanks!

I don't have a written recipe for the Italian pork sausage...it is basically one pound of ground pork, a tablespoon of crushed fennel, a nice pinch of hot pepper flakes. tablespoon of sugar, nice pinch of salt and a tablespoon of vinegar. The are many variations othe inter tubes, and I'm sure they are good, but this was a simple throw-together that is excellent for patties, or for meatballs. For the meatballs I add some bread crumbs and an egg. I would suggest NOT adding any Italian seasonings, the pure taste of these are simply wonderful.

All this cheese talk made me hungry. I found some Drunken Goat Cheese from Spain at the store.
Spanish and Portuguese sailors used to store their cheese in full wine barrels. And this is the delicious end result several hundred years later.

OMG, I think it’s gonna be GOOD, it looks good and sure smells good!

I’ve been playing with bread, (well, bread recipes) and finally developed one that works well. So I decided to experiment further and try to make a herb bread. Leaving out the wheat flour, and only using unbleached bread flour I added two tablespoons of freshly sniped rosemary, ½ tsp of chopped sweet basil and ½ tsp of oregano, plus 2 tblsp of butter. After the first rise I kneaded in about ¾ cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and then divided the dough into 2 loaves and put them in cake pans (on parchment paper), put crisscross cuts on the top and covered the tops with more Parmesan. It’s cooking right now and LOOKIE>>>



Oh I so hope it doesn't taste like shit!

Update to follow....

It will be wonderful -- I didn't see any shit in the ingredients.

I learned the hard way, though, that almond milk doesn't work for ice cream. I tried making some vegan ice cream with it, using a pudding base as a thickener.

Now that tasted like shit.

It is good! Oh Yummmm.... And pretty too!



Okay, if anyone wants to have a go at it here's the recipe

Herb Bread

Mix together
9 ½ cups unbleached bread flour
1 tblsp vital wheat gluten
1 tblsp sea salt

Finley snip (I use sissors) 2 tblsps of thyme, ½ teasp of finely chopped fresh sweet basil and ½ teasp of finely chopped oregano.

In a large bowl add 1 tblsp of sugar to 4 cups warm water, add 3 pkts of yeast, and stir until all is dissolved. Then stir in 2 tblsps of melted butter. (Real butter) and mix in the prepared herbs.

Mix in flour & kneed on floured board for about 10 – 12 minutes. (Flour the board, not the dough)

Put dough in large bowel (I spray the bowl with olive oil Pam so it doesn’t stick), cover with towel and let rise until doubles 45mins to 1hr. But don’t let it over double.

Turn dough onto floured board. Sprinkle on about ¾ cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and knead into dough. Cut the dough in half with serrated knife. (Don’t tear the dough) Shape and press into parchment paper lined round cake pans. Score crisscross squares about 1/4 “ deep on the top of the dough and cover tops with grated Parmesan. (Pat down a bit to make it stick) Let rise about 25 minutes while oven preheats to 400°. Also put a roasting pan in the bottom of the oven as it preheats. When you put the bread in, pour 1 cup of hot water into the roasting pan under the bread for a crispy crust.

Bake about 45 minutes.

Is a MsDaisy original too, also! The loaves are pretty big, so I'll cut them in half to freeze.

Oh gawd, oh gawd! Those loaves looks so wonderful! No yeast? Amazing.

In a large bowl add 1 tblsp of sugar to 4 cups warm water, add 3 pkts of yeast, and stir until all is dissolved. Then stir in 2 tblsps of melted butter. (Real butter) and mix in the prepared herbs.

I didn't see it at first either, but I'm gonna try to make it, so I'd already copied it down.

It's a Passover miracle.

MS Daisy: Those loaves are gorgeous! I can almost smell them coming out of the oven. You've got me inspired to make bread again. How did you get the crust to look so rough and rustic like a great country Italian bread?

I’m not really sure but I think it was a combination of the scoring, the Parmesan cheese I put on top, and the water in the roasting pan underneath. I read somewhere that the steam from the water is what makes the crust nice and crispy, and I always do that when I make regular bread, but the regular loaves don’t look nearly as pretty as these, so I think it might be more from the Parmesan.

Also, I made them in 9” cake pans. Next time I think I’ll try and get some 7” or 8” pans and divide the dough into 3 loaves and see what happens. Of course doing that will alter the cooking time too, so I’ll have to watch that.

I was curious if you had used water in the oven. Julia Child's trick was to lightly sprinkle wter on top of hot oven bricks she had placed in the oven. I am too leery of that process because I have an electric convection oven. Putting a roasting pan filled with water might solve that problem. Thank you for sharing. I am going to enjoy baking bread again.

Actually, Ms. Daisy's trick sounds very similar to Julia's. The recipe speaks not of a roasting pan filled with water, but rather an empty pan that heats up as the oven pre-heats. The water is then added at the same time as the bread, and it is the burst of steam that is said to mimic the effect of a steam injection oven.

My oven is also electric and can be set for convection or standard operation. Is there reason to think that the steam is not a good idea when convection baking is used?

Only that the fans blow the steam back into your face if you forget to open the oven door carefully. I've had my eye lashes and nasal passages scalded twice since I bought this oven.

It's probably possible to turn off the convection mechanism for the few moments that the door is open -- even if it means preheating to a slightly higher temperature to allow for the heat loss while that's happening.

I'll try that. Thanks!

Vegan Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

1 (16-ounce) package silken tofu, drained
2 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 1/4 cups sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon coconut extract
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted

In a blender or food processor, combine the tofu, coconut milk, sugar, salt, vanilla, and coconut extract. Process until smooth.
Add in the toasted coconut and give it another whirl, just until it is combined.
Pour the ice cream into a container and sprinkle with more toasted coconut if you want. Freeze until completely firm.

http://bakedbree.com/vegan-toasted-coconut-ice-cream

Looks tempting! I like coconut so much!

One of my favorite fall desserts:

Pear Cake with Caramel Drizzle


1 Cup Veg oil
1 ¾ Cup Sugar
3 Eggs – beaten
1 Tbsp Vanilla
1 ½ Cup Flour
1 Cup Whole wheat flour
2 Tsp Baking powder
1 Tsp Baking soda
1 Tsp Ground Allspice
3 Cups Pears, peeled chopped
1 cup Nuts, chopped

Combine oil, sugar, eggs in large bowl and beat at med speed until well blended. Stir in vanilla. Combine dry ingred in med bowl and stir well. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with chopped pear, beating at med speed till blended. Stir in nuts.

Pour batter into greased, floured 12 C Bundt pan. Bake at 375° for 55” or till toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10” then remove and cool completely. Spoon Drizzle over it.

Caramel Drizzle

¼ Cup Butter
¼ Cup packed dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp Milk
1 Cup sifted powdered sugar
½ Tsp Vanilla
Pinch salt

Melt butter; add brown sugar and cook till sugar melts, stirring often. Remove from heat and add milk, stirring constantly. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat until smooth.