Pannacotta with Mango Vichyssoise at Duo Steakhouse. More details here.

For years, my husband and I have had this inside joke. When one of us is hungry, we'll say, "Gimme some o them there groat cakes!" ...not really having the foggiest notion of what a "groat" actually was. (I think we heard that line in a movie aa long time ago.)

I subscribe to Dr. Weil's receipe-a-day newsletter and yesterday, I was amused to discover that the recipe was for ...you guessed it...groat cakes! What an awful-sounding word...GROAT. I think "Kasha" shounds much better...and that "kasha cakes" sound as delightful as they ultimately tasted when I prepared some last night. I served these with some roasted root vegetables that I drizzed some really good balsamic vinegar on and a sliced tomato salad which added some nice color. Here is the simple, yet delicious recipe. This was a hearty, full-flavored fare that still had some subtle, delicate flavors going on. They are slightly sweet, and very filling. I'm sure you could substitute bulgar or just about any whole grain for the kasha (even though kasha isn't technically a grain itself), if you find that hard to come by in your area:

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Fruit in 100% juice gelatin for packed lunches. These are thicker than regular jello, more like jigglers, so they hold up at room temperature for several hours in a packed lunch. Keep a stash of these in your refrigerator to grab and throw into a lunch in the morning when you're short on time. Click here or on the photos for details on common containers with lids, and cautions about fruits in gelatin.

i've been eating lots of salads lately, and with spring on the way (please tell me that spring IS on the way!!!), i know i will be eating more and more...

i hate buying salad dressing from the store because well, most of it doesn't appeal to me and the ones that do are usually really chi-chi and expensive and something about paying a zillion dollars for a bottle of salad dressing that i should know how to make myself drives me crazy.

i usually make my own dressing, (a medley of apple cidar vinegar, dijon mustard, olive oil and s&p), but am getting a bit tired of the same old, same old.

can anyone hit me with your fav. vinegrettes?

it can have any kind of flavour, fresh herbs, dried herbs, any ingredients at all. i am not picky - but NO NO NO cream, milk, dairy, mayonnaise gucky stuff.

please no ranch dressing recipes. don't post your fav ceasar. no creamy poppyseed. none of that stuff!

all i want is some simple to make vinegrettes!

i will use these on salads, steamed veggies, grain salads, stirfrys and sometimes as a marinade for meat depending on what you post...

and if you can include measurements, that would be a bonus because i am impaired when it comes to eyeballing ratios and figuring that out.

thanks in advance for making my life nicer.

xo d

My daughter's class is "Brazil" for a Many Cultures, One World program at her school and I've volunteered to help with the food. The room parents in charge of organizing have kindly tried to help compile some Brazilian recipes for us to use but several of them contain phrases like "These do not hold well and are best consumed while warm, directly from the oven" and while authentic, don't seem ideal for a school-wide potluck-style event.

So, Pornistas, I turn to you. Anyone have good Brazilian recipes that would hold up alright in a potluck situation? It's ok if the recipe is a little fiddly, that doesn't scare me. I'd just like to know that whatever I put time into preparing will actually be edible by the time the families get around to trying it.

My husband accidentally bought a great big hunk of Swiss cheese.  He thought it was a different kind of cheese - one that our family would enjoy more.  None of us actually likes Swiss very much.  We don't hate it... but we don't like it enough to have learned over the years what to do with it.

Any delicious recipes that involve large amounts of Swiss?  I would really appreciate it.

Howdy everyone. In the middle of making a rather large spread, as my partner and I are having an 'open house' tomorrow, where any of our friends who want to come over to say bye to us (we're leaving the city/country) are welcome. I'm making cheesy buns (for lunch time people), earthquake cookies, upside down banana cake (for afternoon tea folks) and butter chicken and spaghetti & meatballs (for those who stay around till evening).

The thing is, I need 2 tablespoons of sour cream (ETA: for the banana cake), have one left, and don't particularly feel like buying another tub of it, since we wont get through it between now and when we leave, and I have a bunch of cream in the fridge anyway.

Is there a secret to turning normal cream (just thickened) into sour cream? Like turning milk into buttermilk, by adding a teaspoon of vinegar to a cup of milk? Or should I be able to substitute it fine, just not have that slight tang to the cake.

Cheers mates!

In my quest to avoid high fructose corn syrup and overly processed flours I have decided to make all my own breads.

Including Hot-dog buns!
( Recipe )

Chocolate brownie mix that I made more cake like per box instructions. I placed five dark chocolate chips in the center of each, and I also flavored them with  a tsp. of rose water. The icing is a basic cream cheese icing that I also added a little rose water to. I thought the rose water would give the cakes a little bit of a flowery taste; to celebrate spring blossoms. (or something like that)

There are two things I don't understand.

1. Why anybody WOULDN'T make stock.
2. Why there are set recipes for stock floating around.

I find stock to be one of the simplest food staples to make at home. Store stock (especially stock powders) are full of salt and low on flavour. And the greatest thing is the best stock is made from stuff you'd otherwise throw out.

Forget these recipes. When you finish any meat that has bones and fat leftover - throw the offcuts into a container (I use an ice-cream container) and keep it in the freezer. If you're preparing onion or peeling carrot or slicing celery or whatever veggie - throw the offcuts and peels into the container too. With lamb and chicken stocks I often find I've cooked some with rosemary sprigs that you can't eat, so they go into the mix too. Fennel offcuts are also great with fish.

Once you have a decent amount of frozen 'garbage' in your container, chuck it all into a large pot, cover it with water and boil it for a few hours.

Then put a colander over a large bowl, stick a teatowel in the colander and strain it. Here's the tedious part now. I have about 4 ice-cube trays. It takes a few days to freeze all the stock (I store it in the fridge in the meantime), but eventually all the stock is frozen into easy-to-use cubes and stored in ice-cream containers in the fridge.

EASY! And sooo tasty. I have a load of fish stock that still needs using and prawn and fish leftovers from Christmas that still need dealing with (deep freezes are great!) I also have the turkey offcuts from Christmas and there is a chicken frame from dinner earlier in the week that is destined to become a base for chicken and sweetcorn soup. And I just made a lovely smelling lamb stock.

P.S. does anyone have any recipes that use a heap of seafood stock?