Information and ideas for the Practical Gourmet in all of us.

All:
Two events have occurred: I’ve taken a new job (minor), and my mother has become very, very ill (major). I won’t be around for a bit until the dust settles here. I’ll post when I can, but at the moment, I have to spend my time and thought elsewhere.
Brutus, I’ll be back when I can.
J.

Wow, this is good:
Apple Crisp
Filling:
3 huge granny smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced and chunked, or tart apples to fill a 9-inch pie pan
1/2 c sugar
1 teas cinnamon
Topping :
3/4 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c butter, melted
Oven 400
Grease a 9-inch pie pan or equivalent size casserole dish. Toss the apple pieces with the sugar and cinnamon. Spread […]

Ok, so my sister sent me Williams-Sonoma frozen croissants for Christmas. They arrived a couple of weeks ago and have been languishing in the freezer, with the plan being to serve some of them as the bread entry with our makeshift Christmas dinner. Our friend Toni was coming for dinner, finding herself kidless and working […]

I love shortbread. People have mixed feelings about it — some think it’s dry, or just not what they think a cookie ought to be. Well, I’m not one of them, and I have some recipes to back that opinion up. Besides, it’s easy to make, and quick — serious benefits in my opinion.
Pecan Shortbread
2 […]

The midwest ice storms make me want to curl up on the couch with a good book, wrapped in a blanket in front of a fire — and I live in Florida and am currently wearing shorts. I can only imagine the extent to which the rest of the country is experiencing similar couch-envy. It’s […]

This was a standard for Christmas breakfast when I was a kid. First of all, this makes your whole house smell wonderful while it’s cooking. Second, it’s so quick to make that it will actually take me longer to post the recipe than it will for the one that’s currently in my oven to finish […]

Hi, everyone. I’m new here, but I promise not to poison you. I love to cook (or so my 800 cookbooks tell me — at least, they did before I sold about 200 of them off. 800 is ridiculous. 600, somehow, is sane. Never mind.) but I don’t always have the sort of time required […]