Well now I'm even more stumped because that's the exact same recipe I used. I must have messed up somewhere. I didn't think it was that time consuming though, I put it together pretty quickly. And as far as cooking time goes, as long as I'm paying attention and get started on time, I'd rather cook earlier in the day and leave it in the oven or crock pot or whatever and just have it ready later.

Also, my mom doesn't deep fry her Chicken Fried Steaks. Just fries them in a skillet. We do have a deep fryer though, it makes excellent donuts.

Just wanted to drop by quickly and let you all know that I made fk's Italian Peasant Soup for dinner last night. And I even mostly followed the recipe (used a little less garlic, substituted ground sausage, and just kind of eyeballed the meat amount). I thought it was really quite good, even with the tomatoes. Unfortunately, I made the "mistake" of putting in some venison Italian sausage that we're not fond of (I figured the taste would be covered some by everything else in the soup): Winter turned up her nose, and Meadow said it was fine but has been rather noncommittal and dubious about leftovers. On the plus side, I have leftovers for several meals and three containers in the freezer and pretty much no competition for it. I'll likely try the soup again, with a different sausage, and see if they like it any better.
So thanks for the recipe, fk!

I made the "mistake" of putting in some venison Italian sausage that we're not fond of

Now, that would probably make it disappear faster in our family, but we're a bit more fond of venison. My dad also makes a wild turkey sausage that is heavenly. We prefer to use it whenever we can. In fact, I need to pick some up when we're over there for Thanksgiving.

Oh no, we love venison too, stwin. It is the Italian seasoning that's weird**. (Our favourite venison dish is tacos, though. Delicious!)

**It's a little sweet or something, I think. I don't think it's that bad, but I'm stumped on how to use it up since the girls won't eat it. They're suggesting making chili and taking it to fellowship lunch on Sunday, but I'm not sure if the seasonings would clash. Any thoughts?

Venison is an acquired taste, unfortunately one I've never been able to fully acclimate to. There's always that gaminess in the meat that one has to bury under a lot of seasoning to mitigate (each hunter I know swears by a different herb or spice to do this), but I can always detect it and it's always been kind of off-putting to me. Still I think if I had enough of it I might develop a taste for it. If you can turn it into a burger then right off that's a bonus .

My dad usually mixes his venison (if it's ground) with ground beef that has a higher fat content in order to combat the gaminess. That being said, I don't think I've ever really noticed what people call gaminess in venison. Other meats, sure, but venison is just normal for me.

...I had no idea anyone considered venison gamey. o_O I guess maybe I've just grown up with it and so it's normal to me? (But none of our guests have ever complained, but maybe they were being polite? Or the taco seasoning just hid it really well. )

Wanted to let you all know that I actually made another batch of the Italian Peasant Soup in the crockpot and took that to fellowship lunch on Sunday. I added extra broth and a little water (and sauteed the onions and garlic beforehand), but I think it worked out pretty well overall. A couple of people told me they liked it, and there was even some leftover so there are a few more containers for me in the freezer now.

Had to drop by this thread to share this cookie recipe. They're so PRETTY! I may just have to try making them this weekend to see if they're as good as they look.
http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/0 ... l-cookies/

Hmm, I thought I had seen a cheese soufflé post of yours awhile back, fantasia, but now I can't find it. Anyway, you mentioned that while it was a good dish, one could get a bit tired of the taste. I remember my mom making awesome cheese soufflés and I always felt that way as you. For the first plate, it's quite yummy, then it almost becomes kind of nauseating. I have mom's recipe, but have not yet tried making it, myself. It's been years since we've had this dish, so I am curious to know if I will still have a similar reaction.

Just finished baking a lemon bundt cake. I was saying elsewhere that bundt pans make the prettiest cakes. This is for a Christmas potluck in our village tomorrow. I'm also going to bring deviled eggs, which always go over well.

I've never had a chance to give one [a food truck] any business, but I've always wanted to! I hear that they're a way for chefs to start their own mobile restaurant and try their culinary wings while avoiding the expense that comes with opening a brick and mortar establishment. Some of them are really talented, too. If you ever try one, let us know what you think!

I have tried a few food trucks.

I tried food from a Belgian waffle food truck (sorry for the quality, its a phone pic):

which was really good. The waffle was much more like something you'd find at a county fair as it was light and crispy.

I've also tried food from a barbeque food truck - they had some basil fries (french fries seasoned with basil and salt) which were pretty delicious- and an Italian food truck. They had wood-baked pizza which was tasty.

Just finished baking a lemon bundt cake.

That sounds amazing.

fantasia, the cookie recipe looks yummy...

My sister-in-law's baby shower is at the beginning of April and I'm trying to find some good cupcake recipes to celebrate. They don't know if they're having a boy or girl so I'm trying to be gender neutral (the color themes are yellow, green, and orange). My first test cupcake was this Lemon Blueberry cupcake from food network....
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/lemo ... ecipe.html
It is AWESOME... and I'm not a fan of lemon cake. Mine didn't look like the one pictured though. As I didn't add any food coloring anywhere, it was just a yellow cake with light yellow frosting. I also halved the frosting recipe and I didn't add zest to the frosting so I only needed one lemon instead of two. Yeah, really good stuff.
I think I'm going to try this strawberry cupcake recipe sometime this week....
http://www.cookingclassy.com/2014/06/st ... -frosting/

On a separate note, next week is Pi Day, and it's become kind of a fun tradition in my household to have Pi(e) Day. So I'm trying to decide what pies to make. I'm thinking at least my grandma's Mississippi Mud Pie. I think I've mentioned before that traditionally it's a chocolate and vanilla pudding pie, but we do chocolate and peanut butter. It's kind of awesome. And if I can be really ambitious, I'd like to do some kind of fruit pie as well. We'll see. Anyone else planning on making pies next week?

I miss mums/my sister's cakes and biscuits. If i could shift my vanilla coke habit I would be a healthy eater, but it is just so hard. I have lasted two weeks at most on previous attempts. I really must do this, does anyone have any tips? I have managed to cut out eating too many lollies ages ago and that wan't as hard as this is.

No pies for me this week, fantasia. I used to create homemade pies galore, but not so much anymore. Do you think you'll get a fruit pie in as well as the Mississippi Mud Pie?

Those cupcakes look exceedingly yummy. Have you made a decision which kind you're going for? Or, will you take a variety to the shower?

Ahh, IlF, the age-old hard question. One key thing: don't have it in the house. If it (in my case, chocolate) is there, I will eat it. So, the first step is not walking down that aisle of the grocery store to keep temptation at bay. It's really tough, how well I know. It takes a ton of self-control! But it can be done.

And then substitute for something else you enjoy, but is healthier. For example, I will cut up an apple I love *coughhoneycrispcough* and drink copious amounts of water to try and stave off that craving. And I've got to the point where I now can have a few of my favourites (Mini Eggs) again without overdosing. Good success to you!

Try eating a chocolate bar during an Australian summer and you will be put off it until winter comes.

I have told myself as soon as I finish the bottle in the sink that is it, I can't buy anymore but at uni they have the vending machines around everywhere, since it is summer too it is hard to opt for a coffee/mocha instead, and iced coffee/mocha on campus is much too expensive and so much milk/cream in the morning doesn't agree with me. In the old days I could have just not bought any cash but these days you can pay with card. If I could just cut it down to a once a week think rather than once a day, I would be happy.

Try eating a chocolate bar during an Australian summer and you will be put off it until winter comes.

Umm.... that's how I like chocolate the best, in its liquid form. It's just a bit messy. My dad always protected his chocolate stash when we were growing up by putting it in the freezer. I hate frozen chocolate, and he likes it like that sooo... kudos to him.

@Jo, the strawberry cupcakes came out really well, but they were a bit labor intensive and I didn't like them quite as much as the lemon ones. So I will probably just do lemon cupcakes for simplicity.

I haven't decided on pies yet. Both of my kiddos are sick yet again so I am in survive-till-the-weekend mode.