I decided to just do the Mississippi Mud Pie for Pi Day... one for my family and one for my husband's family. My family got their pie earlier in the day, but I delivered a piece to my father-in-law at 9:26pm, right on time.

Yum!

Ahhh, that's great, fk! The pie looks delicious!

Meadow and I made an apple pie last night (and it was actually baking over 9:26, I believe ) that we took to the church lunch today. We used a store-bought crust and Meadow made streusel topping for it, but I made the filling. It was a larger pie pan than we normally used, so I had to keep slicing more apples to put in it---I think I ended up with five or six in it. I then had the oven up too high and the crust was all brown after 20 minutes but the apples were still pretty crisp. So I turned it down, covered it with tin foil, and stuck it back for about 15 minutes. The apples were still a little more crisp than usual, but I think it turned out pretty well in the end.

It is amazing how many apples you have to put into a pie because they shrink so much when cooking. I know when I make apple pie, they're like two times higher than the top of the pie pan. I'm trying to stuff them in there and keep them from falling out the sides. But when it comes out of the oven, it's only a little mounded. And streusel topping rocks. I love it, it's what I use for my apple pie too.

Are there any omelet fans here? My husband has started making them in the mornings as a fast but hearty breakfast option. Our super simple, but very tasty omelet is eggs with salt and pepper, havarti cheese, and medium salsa from Chipotle. (When we get burritos from Chipotle, we ask for medium salsa on the side and then use it on other stuff cause we love it. ) Yum, yum.

That Mississippi Mud Pie looks way too scrumptiously rich, fantasia!

Glad your apple pie was okay in the end, Valia. I find too, fk, that I have to put more apples in a pie than I think, 'cause of shrinkage. I do love the looks of a pie mounded high (after baking, lol), but this is rather a challenge as you're packing them pre-baking, to be sure. ♥ streusel!

I do enjoy a good omelet. My dad makes a delicious 3-cheese omelet, and ... yum! I forget what the 3rd cheese is: cheddar, mozzarella and ??. Ah, maybe it is havarti.

It's quite odd that I am not a fan of salsa, 'though I adore tomatoes. I don't know what it is about the stuff.

Shortly I am heading into the kitchen to make applesauce-raisin muffins—one of my family's favourites. And I'm baking lots (5-6 dozen) to give some away, as well.

There are salsas and there are salsas. Have you ever had a fruit salsa Jo? It's usually comprised of fruit and spices and herbs? I usually see them served on chicken or fish. SOOO tasty.
But I think the reason I like salsas so well is because I tend to make them from scratch and often with ingredients out of my own garden. There's no comparison.
Do you like spicy food? That's usually the biggest turnoff to salsa I know of.

Mmm...your muffins sound awesome. I was going to make another round of wheat bran muffins with raisins. I really like them, but we were out of wheat bran. We substituted oat bran, but I don't like them quite as well. Plus the oat bran gets stuck in my teeth.

A fruit salsa? Wow, no, I haven't. Never even heard of that before. I think I'd love that type of salsa.

I can't handle excessive spiciness, but I do like a bit.

Mmm, wheat bran muffins. I make something that I think would be similar—wheat germ muffins, which includes both germ and bran. When I was young, I'd call them "breathy muffins" because they are so light and airy ... and delectable! Speaking of which, I must bake 'em up again soon.

I think I've decided that I am DONE with green smoothies. I keep trying them in the hopes I'll find a combination that tastes good that my son will drink, but every time I try it, I think it's disgusting, so like he's gonna drink it. (This rant was made possible by Starbucks new Sweet Greens smoothie. )
Of course the irony is, I have a bunch of ingredients ready to go for my own green smoothie where broccoli is the mystery veg. I may go ahead and make it and just cut back on the broccoli and avocados. It also has pineapple and kiwis. I forget what else...
I made a carrot cake smoothie the other day. That wasn't too bad. Evan had a few swallows of it at least.
Anybody drink "healthy" smoothies? Got any recipes you care to share?

I used to make one with frozen blueberries or strawberries, some Greek yogurt, a bit of milk, a banana, and a bit of citrus juice. It was quite good, but I never worked out the precise proportions of everything. I'll have to work them out the next time I have some frozen fruit. The Greek yogurt makes it nice and filling.

Yeah, fruit smoothies are very good. I do make those on occasion, especially when I have overripe bananas I don't want to go to waste.

A couple days ago my husband decided he wanted to make green chile pork, so I found a recipe for Pork Guisado online and we gave it a shot yesterday. My kitchen smelled amazing. I had onions, garlic, tomatillos, cilantro, and jalapenos cut up waiting to go in the stew... yum!
I also attempted to mimic the rice you get from Chipotle, and that turned out ok (it was really good with the pork, just alright by itself).
A few years ago I grew some tomatillos but didn't know what to do with them. Now that I have a recipe I like, I might give them another try.

I've at last made friends with our gas stove oven and have discovered a true joy in baking (I've made cakes and cookies off and on before, but now I've taken upon myself to try and master the art ) Right now my obsession is cakes and I started going through the Joy of Cooking. One thing I really like about it is they give a detailed descriptions about everything, which is really helpful to a newbie like me. The only thing is in the cakes they do tend to add a LOT of sugar and more often than not I cut down a bit on it because I think it comes out a little too sweet.

I've made an assortment of different kinds of cakes but the one thing I want to make, ginger bread, I haven't been able to so far because every recipe calls for molasses and you try finding it here (actually, save yourself the trouble, because you won't!) so yeah, for now I've been making spice cakes and chocolate cakes and now I think I'm ready to move on to angel cakes and sponge cakes I'm also looking to get into to pies and pastries (like buns and rolls

(and boy is my family getting spoiled rotten, they literally get a different cake every day )

The only thing is in the cakes they do tend to add a LOT of sugar and more often than not I cut down a bit on it because I think it comes out a little too sweet.

I can tell you're not American. Actually, while I don't have any trouble with the sweetness of cakes, I do find most frostings/icings are too much for me, so I either spread it thin or cut back on the sugar.

I've made an assortment of different kinds of cakes but the one thing I want to make, ginger bread, I haven't been able to so far because every recipe calls for molasses and you try finding it here (actually, save yourself the trouble, because you won't!)

Awww... that's too bad. Gingerbread is a favorite of mine. I wonder if you could be sent some...? I don't know what the rules are for shipping food to other countries.
For the record, the flavor will not be the same, but molasses can be substituted with honey.

I can tell you're not American.

I'm so obvious, aren't I

For the record, the flavor will not be the same, but molasses can be substituted with honey.

hmmm, I should try that a lot of the recipes call for cake flour, which is simply unheard of here, but it does says that 'though it will not taste the same, you could use sifted, all-purpoe flour, just take two tablespoons out of every cup.' So yeah, I guess many of my cakes don't 'taste right' but what can I do, lol so I suppose it won't be a crime if my gingerbread doesn't have the usual flavor either

I wanted to bake this cake called the Burnt-Sugar cake, but I to do that I need to caramelize sugar and in the book it says to use a 'nonferrous pan'. Does anyone know what that is exactly?

I wanted to bake this cake called the Burnt-Sugar cake, but I to do that I need to caramelize sugar and in the book it says to use a 'nonferrous pan'. Does anyone know what that is exactly?

I had to look it up, but I learned something new. A ferrous pan contains iron, so all of your cast iron or steel pots/pans would be in that category. Sooo... all I can think of after that would be a ceramic pan (glass would be a terrible idea). Unless they count non-stick pans?

ETA: Well, I looked up instructions on caramelizing sugar and almost all were doing it in stainless steel pans, so I think you'd be ok using whatever you've got. Maybe not cast iron though. I think that would stick horribly.

wild rose, I never use cake flour even when a recipe calls for it and no one has ever complained or said anything about the texture or flavor of my baked goods.

I tried a new recipe this past weekend, the first in a while. Breakfast on Sunday was Unbelievable Blueberry French Toast Casserole. It was delicious and so easy to make, a hit with the whole family. I used frozen mixed berries and added cream cheese, but other than that I followed the recipe. I am planning to make the recipe again soon, but with pumpkin in place of the berries.

SnowAngel

Hello, fellow foodies! That French toast casserole looks amazing! Maybe I'll treat myself to it after I'm finished with my diet in a month or so.

Speaking of which, I highly recommend getting a food scale if you're trying to lose weight. I got one at the beginning of this year, and it has made such a huge difference in knowing exactly how many calories I was eating. Turned out that what I thought was a tablespoon of Nutella was about 50% more than what the manufacturer considered a tablespoon! Things like that can really add up and thwart your weight loss plan.

Wrose, I actually ordered some molasses online today from a site called iHerb. I know that they ship to Russia, but I don't know what the cost is like or how long it takes. I hope you manage to find some somewhere! I have a tablespoon of the blackstrap variety nearly every day because it's so rich in healthy minerals; I'd say it's the most nutrient-dense sweetener out there.