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I'd say give biscuits and gravy a shot, Shadowlander. I have a feeling they're harder to mess up than you'd think. I made them earlier this year on a whim (my mom was rather skeptical of the whole deal) and I've made them at least half a dozen times since upon popular demand (I think my family, mother in particular, like them better now than I ever did). I'm not positive what you have in mind, but there's a fairly simple recipe online that I use, if you'd like it. And, hey---if it fails, I'd be very interested in finding out how you messed it up.

And now that the semester is drawing to an end, I am getting close to actually (possibly...pesky intersession!) having time to do some of the baking I've been putting off due to busyness. I can get started on pizzelles soon since it's December! And then I'm planning on getting together with a friend when she gets back from college for break to make bagels!

I had to do some decorating of ice cream cakes at my old job. I found it kinda hard at first but later it wasn't too bad.
I'm not much of a cook (well ok I never cook )

I'm a little behind post my creations.
Here is a gingerbread nativity. I did most of the work but my sister helped with frosting and positioning.
I made these cupcakes for my mom's birthday (Oct. 16).

Cute cupcakes Pattertwigs Pal

I made some red velvet cupcakes today, just out of the oven -



and after being topped with butter roux icing -



This was my first time making both red velvets and butter roux, luckily they both came out fine The buttermilk (well, I used milk with a spoon of white wine vinegar instead, it works the same) and dash of vegetable oil in the recipe really makes all the difference, my cupcakes often annoy me by coming out a bit dry but these are moist and most definitely 'velvety'

The butter roux is a bit annoying as it doesn't hold up well in room temperature, so piping it got a bit messy, but it's fine once the you leave it in the fridge a while and is a really yummy icing

^^those cupcakes look delicious, I don't think I've ever made cupcakes before , but I made blueberry muffins just the other day

Pattertwig's Pal wrote:I'm a little behind post my creations.
Here is a gingerbread nativity. I did most of the work but my sister helped with frosting and positioning.

I have to ask...did you eat the nativity when Christmas season was over? Just curious!

Red velvet cake is scrumdiliumptious stuff. Butter roux...is that anything like cream cheese icing? I have to admit your cupcakes look rather good!

My wife is the world's pickiest eater and I found a dish I can make that she absolutely loves. It is very much "comfort food" in the traditional sense and I got the recipe from my mom, who made it for all of us for years beyond count. We don't even have a name for it...my mom entitles every ad hoc dish she comes up with that doesn't have a formal name "slumgullion". Give it your own official moniker if you see fit.

1 x large onion (I use white, but you can use any type)
10-15 small Russet potatoes (the groc. store usually sells these in a perfect size bag)
1 x smoked sausage or Kielbasa Polish sausage (The horseshoe shaped sausages you find in the hot dog section of the grocery store, not the seasonal things from Hillshire Farms you get around Christmas)
1 x bag of shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
1/3rd cup of vegetable oil
salt, pepper, garlic

Ok, the key here is to have a working electric frying pan, one of those big suckers that you can plug into the wall and has a 15" diameter (I'm not sure of the metric equivalent). Preheat the frying pan to around 325 degrees and put in the oil. Dice up your onion, finish wiping the tears from your eyes, and dump the onions into the skillet to let them brown, and it'll take a little while, which sets up nicely for the next part.

I hate peeling potatoes, don't you? But it's a necessary evil for the next part. Peel about 10-15 small/medium Russets (you'll have to guesstimate how much your skillet will be able to hold..it may be more or less than what I list based on that). Once they're peeled go ahead and cut them into bitesize portions and put them in the skillet with the onions, which by now should be nice and brown. Next up is the easy part. Take your Kielbasa (smoked sausage is a suitable substitute) and cut it into semi-thin slices so you have a bunch of discs. Sometimes I halve those so there's more meat in every bite, but it's up to you. Toss those in with the onions and potatoes. Now sprinkle the whole mess liberally with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (sometimes I put in minced garlic in with the browning onions, but that's totally optional) to your specific taste. Stir every 5-10 minutes. Let it cook for anywhere between 30-45 minutes. The potatoes are the key here as they're going to take the longest to cook all the way through, so you'll have to monitor by eye to see when the whole batch is done.

Now, when it is done comes my favorite part. This is thoroughly optional, but I love putting cheddar cheese over the whole thing. Lots of cheese. Because cheese makes everything better . After you've turned off the skillet just dump the cheese liberally (as much as you want or desire) over the whole concoction and cover for perhaps 5-10 minutes. And then it's done! Voila! It feeds 4. Actually it'd feed 8 of my wife or 3 of me, so really the quantity is rather subject to the variables of your particular family group size/appetite, yes?

This has your 4 major food groups involved...it's got some Potato Group, some Meat Group, some Cheese Group, and the Spices Group. I just dump some hot sauce over it (the 5th Food Group) in my bowl and I'm thoroughly satisfied.

I'm tinkering with the idea of frying up a few strips of bacon and dicing them and adding them to the mix for extra flavor. Thoughts?

Mmm, a thread with near-to-be-hobbits!

My sister and I have been cooking a lot lately, and some things have been good while others have been faliures. But, eh. I think I'm better at cookies and desserts, while my sister's really good with casseroles and sandwiches. Like two puzzle pieces fitting together...

Anyways. Does anyone know of a good recepie that requires using condensed milk? I thought I knew one, figured I didn't, and now I have an open can of the stuff waiting to be used. I looked at some sites, but it requires things that (most) people don't acquire easily.

*is glad she found this thread*

Hm...There might be some fudge recipes, Bella. Or we have one for homemade ice cream (very simple, requires sweetened condensed milk, whipping cream, vanilla, water, and Oreos...though you can put something else in besides Oreos if you want) if you'd like that.

*scurries off as she hasn't had time to do much cooking lately*

I made some chocolate chip cookies today, just the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag

@Pattertwigs Pal: Your gingerbread nativity is so cute! I wanted to make a gingerbread house this past Christmas, but never did...
Those cupcakes look really yummy, Shantih!

But those cookies are always SOO good aren't they Glenstorm?!

^^they are! Soooo delicious. I actually left out 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips b/c they said to put in 2 cups and there was only 1 1/2 of flour!

My mom get's the kind that uses the whole bag for the recipe, bt she always doubles it, but puts only one bag of CCs in it. They are still really good though!

Awesome food everyone... It all sounds very tasty and looks amazing.

After looking through all of the pages I have to say SnowAngel You are welcome to come over and cook here anytime you like.

I've never been much of a cook... I always forget simple things like when I last tried to make pancakes I forgot to add the flour...

But I really enjoy eating food... So when I get the chance and I don't mind putting my life at risk I try cooking some.

Today I made myself some Sunny side up Eggs... Which I am sure this is a very easy task for anyone that knows what there doing but for me it was a big accomplishment.

(Yes, I'll admit I used "WikiHow" To teach myself how to cook them).

I have not died yet from the eggs so I am thinking I'll be alright.

I think my favorite thing I've ever made was... I took a bread making class at work. (Home made bread). We used a bread oven etc etc etc...

I have to say that bread was the best bread I have ever tasted. Though I had tons of help so I wouldn't give myself much if any of the credit. Plus it was quite awhile ago...

I also made cookies a while ago... (Some of you may remember me posting something on Facebook) but they turned out quite salty for some reason and kind of gave me a stomachache so I think that was a flop.

(though it very well could have been that I made a couple Dozen and ate most of them myself).

I've also done some cooking trainings at work... I mean to be quite honest the only reason I sign up for them is for the eating of the food! But they make everyone help out some.

I normally end up making butter which that I am quite good at if I say so myself.

Setting the table for dinner is more up my ally though... Also I tend to make big messes and not really want to clean them up... So that can tend to be a problem at times.

EDIT: I didn't really feel like breaking the rules and double posting. So about... I'm not sure maybe 3-5 days after I posted this post... I learned how to make French Toast... So that was pretty cool... I again used Wiki how. Seems to be very helpful.

Yes, I did enjoy the food I cooked... But I still would rather just order a pizza.

French toast is great, I recently made some for my flat mate who'd never heard of it before. She's sold on it now

SnowAngel - Butter roux is a kind of light, very smooth buttercream. You make your buttercream with granulated sugar, and then slowly mix in the roux (heated milk and flour). It's amazing, I have to resist the urge to top everything with it

I made strawberry cupcakes with swiss meringue butter icing today -



I was nervous as I had to replace the cake flour (there's no such thing in the UK) with plain flour mixed with cornstarch, but it worked really well. The sponge is really light and springy and the strawberries taste like little pockets of jam

I found the most crazy cookbook ever. It's the Star Wars cookbook. Here's some items: Princess Leia's Danish Dos, Mos Eisley Morsels, Yoda Soda, Hoth Chocolate, Wookie Cookies, and Greedo's Burritos. Weird sounding. I might try one or two. I just today made a banana cake. It's vannilla cake with banana pudding and bananas on top. It was ok, but I like making brownies with icing on top personally.