Friday OT: Recipe for gratitude
- Thread starter cyclones500
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I make spicy pretzles for special events. I got the recipe through allrecipes.com but people never ask about that. They are addictive after a few brews.Hi all. Angie is away from the CF-keyboard for a short time, so she asked me to provide a Friday OT for this week. Of course, I’m happy to serve as backup-QB. I hope I can do the series justice in her absence.
This week’s question: Do you have a “special recipe” you’ve perfected to the point that people expect/anticipate you making it for seasonal or special occasions? Did you encounter the recipe through family or friends, then customized as you went along? Or did you start with a cookbook source and tinker with it from there?
Feel free to list multiple recipes, if it applies.
I have a couple things I've gotten pretty good at and are always popular.
I doctored up my mom's lasagna recipe and get lots of positives for that. It's the cream cheese and Italian sausage. Get the ricotta out of here.
My chocolate chip cookies - it's just the tollhouse recipe but I made about 4 dozen last weekend for friends and 9 people had them gone in about two hours.
Husband's apple crisp is a fave at his workplace. I can make it too don't take it out of the house to share like he does.
I doctored up my mom's lasagna recipe and get lots of positives for that. It's the cream cheese and Italian sausage. Get the ricotta out of here.
My chocolate chip cookies - it's just the tollhouse recipe but I made about 4 dozen last weekend for friends and 9 people had them gone in about two hours.
Husband's apple crisp is a fave at his workplace. I can make it too don't take it out of the house to share like he does.
I'm going to try that w/ my next lasagna event.
@cyclones500 - you are the best! 
THANK YOU!
I am unqualified, really, to answer this thread! I DO have a couple of secrets to make toast magical, and some friends have stolen them and now use them. But I don't think that's a recipe.
THANK YOU!I am unqualified, really, to answer this thread! I DO have a couple of secrets to make toast magical, and some friends have stolen them and now use them. But I don't think that's a recipe.
It has been more than a decade since I've made it (and I no longer work at the same place), and I'm not sure I even have the recipe anymore, but people at the place where I used to work used to demand that I bring my dilled bean salad to work potlucks. I also used to make a highly sought after Minnesota wild rice soup (another recipe I need to find again).
Nowadays it's mostly my killer Long Island/Tennessee Iced Tea (the difference - Long Island gets tequila; Tennessee gets Jack Daniel's).
Nowadays it's mostly my killer Long Island/Tennessee Iced Tea (the difference - Long Island gets tequila; Tennessee gets Jack Daniel's).
I'm making lasagna for me-sig-other birthday meal right now. I offered to use cream cheese, but everyone likes my lasagna the way I make it, and they like ricotta, so they don't want me to mess with it.
Yeah, I could've substituted it secretly, but it could've backfired if it wasn't up to snuff.
--> I already use Italian sausage instead of beef (or sometimes 50-50), so I'm halfway there.
I'm making lasagna for me-sig-other birthday meal right now. I offered to use cream cheese, but everyone likes my lasagna the way I make it, and they like ricotta, so they don't want me to mess with it.
Yeah, I could've substituted it secretly, but it could've backfired if it wasn't up to snuff.
--> I already use Italian sausage instead of beef (or sometimes 50-50), so I'm halfway there.
next time try one on one half and one on the other
next time try one on one half and one on the other
Good idea. I think I could pull it off.
That way, I can do a phase-in.
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On the cheese-choice topic, what do you think is most noticeable advantage of cream over ricotta?
I think it's just creamier and more delicious with that bit of tang. Ricotta to me gets dried out and not very tasty.
Pecan Pie. Every time the kids come visit. Apple pie comes in second. My fried chicken is also a request.
The pecan pie is my grandmother's recipe, and she got it from HER mother, so it dates back to at least the late 1800s.
The pecan pie is my grandmother's recipe, and she got it from HER mother, so it dates back to at least the late 1800s.
I've started making lasagna on Christmas Eve now that my kids are doing their own things, using a recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens recipe book we received in '81 for our wedding. Use half beef and half Italian sausage. It's great. I looked up the current BH&G recipe online. Half the cheese as their old recipe. Wimps! I use ricotta - no cottage cheese in this!
