Discuss: Cast Iron? (aka WF #122!)

Do you have a cast iron skillet? Dutch oven? Do you love it? Do you use it as much as as you thought you would? Do you like cooking with it? What about the enameled kind? Is Le Creuset the only way to go?


(AKJ, I'm totally hijacking your discussion question to be today's WF. I hope you don't mind. Hooray for not having to think up my own! :) Also, I'll do double polls on the side to see if that helps gather the info you want. Thanks! - MHH)

Wednesday Fun #92 - Let us discuss lettuce...

This will be our 6th week of our CSA share... and I'm betting we'll have lettuce. Pretty much every week we get lettuce - either a bag of salad mix or spinach (not yet this year though) or a head (or several) of something like red romaine. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I don't usually do a main dish salad, but I did serve one last week that surprisingly went over gangbusters. I guess I shouldn't've been so surprised - any time I serve a "make your own" version of something, be it pizza or noodles or, apparently, salad, the girls love it. So small bowls of toppings it is!

But really, what ELSE can I do with all this lettuce besides salads and throw it on a sandwich? Any ideas would be more than welcome, 'cuz I'm guessing we'll be getting some more tomorrow! (...and the next week, and the next, and the next...)


P.S. My Wordless Wednesday today over at Musings & Mutterings also happens to be food- (and poll-) related...

Cheesecloth

Anyone know a good substitute for cheesecloth? I can't find any here but have a pumpkin to bake and puree and get rid of some extra juice. Or, if you know another method to do so so I can use said pumpkin puree for bread etc with out having to guess how much I need to reduce the oil/other moisture by, please let me know.

Recipe Request - Green Tomatoes

Um, help?!?!?

Recipe Request - Maple Nut Ice Cream

Hello, fellow recipeeples!

Say, my mom is looking for a homemade maple nut ice cream recipe & my SIL suggested maybe I throw the question out to y'all. So how 'bout it? Anybody got a good maple nut ice cream recipe they're willing to share?

Thanks!

Recipe Request: Rhubarb

I'm trying to be better about actually using the massive amounts of rhubarb we grow (partly because that will hopefully keep it from trying to tackle us as we walk past...). Last weekend I made a sweet rhubarb bread, and it was fine, but sort of generic. Tasty, but not particularly interesting. Other than the rhubarb, no ingredients to get excited about. So I'm turning to my recipeeples — do any of you have a good recipe that involves rhubarb?

Recipe Request - Fish & Seafood

I have never really liked fish. Growing up, I could tolerate fish sticks or a fish sandwich if there was so much tartar sauce on it that you couldn't taste it.

But so many seafood recipes look and sound good, if I could get past the fish. And I always taste Mr. Kluges' seafood if he has some at a restaurant. And we've been served seafood dishes occasionally by friends and relatives. And sometimes it's delicious! Like when he had some Chilean sea bass at the Oceanaire once... or the absolutely, positively fresh cod we ate in Iceland on a day expedition that included riding Icelandic ponies... or in Paris where we had The. Most. Incredible. Meal. Ever. at a little place called La Casa di Sergio with stuff like mussels in pasta and it was all just *swoon*.

Ok, maybe I just need to travel to enjoy seafood.


But since that's not so much an option at the moment, I've been trying to stretch my taste buds a bit. And I've found a recipe or two (ok, actually, 2) that are fine.

But I'd like to be cooking a bit more fish and seafood for menu variety, for the Omega-3s and health benefits, and to help my girls learn to like fish. (Pumpkin seems to enjoy it already.)

So if you've got a yummy fish or seafood recipe, would you mind sharing it? Or any tips or hints about cooking fish? Because my experience with it is quite minimal.

Thank you!!!

Slow cooker gravy best practices question

So you know how when you make a roast in the slow cooker? And there's all this tasty extra liquid at the bottom when you're done, what with the potatoes and carrots and meat and mushrooms and tomatoes and all? And you think it'd make really yummy gravy?

What's the best way to do that?

I've heard about adding tapioca to the slow cooker, so it automatically the leftover liquid is thicker, but I'm doubtful, and don't quite know when one would add it. I've taken the liquid at the end and boiled it up with some cornstarch, but then all the rest of the food is sitting there getting cold... So, any good suggestions?

Bison?

I was reading an article this weekend about Bison and how it's supposed to be better to eat because it's really lean. Also, I guess the trend towards local foods is helping boost the popularity of Bison. I know that we've had it, but it was always at a restaurant or a fair or something. Has anyone ever cooked Bison at home? Any ideas? Can you do more with it than just make burgers? Have you tried?