Pretty much ALL processed foods that require cooking say 'do not eat raw' on the box, whether it makes a difference or not. (like anybody's going to try to eat a raw frozen pizza...)

Canned or frozen spinach (fresh baby spinach is delicious)
turnips
Brussels Sprouts
Bitter melon
Fennel

(unlike many of these posters, I LOVE beets, especially if they're pickled. But I can't STAND bitter foods or anything that tastes like fennel/aniseed.)

Nothing except the cooking time. Mufins have a larger surface area so they cook in about half the time of a cake. Check them after 20 minutes and bake longer if they're not done.

BJs uses those horrid containers too... even though their milk is much cheaper than the grocery store, it's not worth the hassle. They're too heavy, too awkward to lift, and impossible to pour from without putting half the milk on the floor. Once was more than enough to tell me it's one of the most appalling designs on the planet.

I just found out by chance that they've opened a Penzey's in Orlando... I'm just dying to go up to Orlando so I can stock up on salt-free msg-free blends!

There ARE convenience foods made without MSG. They generally cost more and they usually taste a lot better. I've been screening MSG out of my diet for a decade. The last few years I've been ill so packaged foods have crept increasingly into our diet as I haven't had the stamina to stand in the kitchen cooking from scratch. I buy things like the Kraft 'homestyle' mac and cheese in a baggie and check labels carefully for msg before I buy anything new.
If you're seasoning food from scratch, watch out for MSG in bottled spice mixes.

If I need a restroom I go to a (good) gas station, or a fast food place. And I usually buy a soda or small snack on the way out because I think it's rude to go in and use their facilities without even buying anything... if I don't want to buy food or drink, I'll go to a supermarket.

Our microwave was really gross especially on the roof (because you can't even see it unless you contort yourself, so it doesn't get cleaned nearly as well as the door and the bottom) and I was desperate enough to spray it with the new Scrubbing Bubbles lemon cleaner. It worked like a charm! Then I cleaned it again with plain water just to make sure it didn't leave any residue...

There's a reason I prefer to have a (small) bag with the wallet-part permanently attached. It makes it much more difficult to misplace anything! But women who have lots of different handbags could easily lose track... especially if there are family distractions while they're in the middle of changing purses.

I've never actually forgotten my wallet, but DH and I sat down in a small restaurant once and never noticed that they didn't take credit cards until we were ready to pay! Fortunately there was an ATM outside, otherwise we would have been in trouble because our checkbooks and debit cards were useless.

If you're making your own smoothies, cottage cheese blends down nicely and adds protein to your shake in a more natural form than the protein powders. Your body needs calories to heal properly, so don't try to go too low - you're not going to gain weight on a liquid diet unless you live on milkshakes. I had to do a liquid diet for four weeks when was dieting and I had dental surgery and the biggest problem was making sure I had ENOUGH calories each day that my metabolism didn't go into slowdown.
Weetbix purees up really smooth for a quick breakfast, but by the end of it I couldn't stand the sight of them. Baby food is good to add some extra variety to your diet. It's not very sweet.

A long time ago I remember somebody mentioning a really good for the price Japanese buffet in Broward. Not Kyojin Buffet, we go there all the time and we like it just fine, but we'd like to try someplace different. This was further west. Anybody know where it is?

Answer (especially since you're apparently far from having a weight problem) - 'you say that like it's a bad thing'...

If you MUST make us add an extra click to get to the 'all boards' menu, why are the general boards at the BOTTOM of the very long list of boards of much less general interest? Move them to the top at least. Menus that make sense move from the general to the specific, not the other way around. Not one of the boards I regularly look at is featured in the 'popular boards' dropdown except Home Cooking.

Well, I guess they could have made her use a guide dog instead of a guide human... but it would have been a little difficult for it to bring her the ingredients from the pantry in its mouth.

Seriously, I had major doubts about whether she'd even make the first cut, but she's brilliant! I admire her immensely and hope she goes far...

I quit it three years ago but DH still watches it, so I'm stuck... I read my book and try to ignore all the back-biting, sniping, and unprofessionalism on the screen.

I'm sure they tried it and just didn't show it on camera... I think he's a supreme moron, and I can't WAIT to see them send Tali home - the guy thinks he's god's gift to cooking and he's been on the bottom in every challenge? No wonder Ryan is cultivating him - he's no competition whatsoever.

VERY impressed by Christine.

I don't see how you could make it work in an hour without pre-cooking the filling... When I bake a pie (which isn't often) I start with raw apples and bake it until the skewer says it's done - usually about an hour, depending on how firm those particular apples are. And they only HAD an hour!

The filling was pre-cooked, for one, and it looked like the pastry was extremely thin, so I'm sure it takes a lot less time in the oven than it would otherwise. But I expected her bottom crust to be raw.

I must confess. I keep the butter in the freezer, so the simplest and easiest way to get it ready for cooking is to melt it in the microwave, so everything I bake starts with melted butter, whether the recipe said to or not!

I second the well-insulated cooler bag. I pack DH's lunch into one with a big iceblock and most of the time when he gets home the ice block is still frozen solid, so that thing stays COLD. Your food would be quite safe in one for three hours, as long as you had it in the fridge at work so it started out cold.

ALL the ground turkey at BJs was packaged in tautly-puffed containers the other week - with the exception of a few where the seal had broken and of course they weren't any good. I don't know for sure, but I assume they put nitrogen or something similar into the packages to help preserve the contents.

Some of the Lean Cuisines are really good, especially the new 'chef's pick' ones. My staples are the butternut squash ravioli, tortilla crusted fish (I add veggies) and the Thai chicken (add veggies).

You need to add something to bind them together, or you're just going to get granola, as you've already found. Agave syrup and coconut oil are both liquid (or semi-liquid) at room temperature. The recipes I've got use some combination of honey, brown sugar, applesauce and peanutbutter as binding agents.

Usually... I don't like drinking straight out of the can unless I have a straw. But even then I'm really not a big fan of bubbles/fizz. If you pour it into a glass from a height you can cut the carbonation by about 50% before you drink it. I'll also drink half the can and leave the other half in the fridge opened for a day or so, then drink it when the fizz is almost entirely gone.

I bought a bag of frozen back-eyed peas at Christmas, and I never got around to using them, so I tossed half the bag into a chilli I was making last night. I cooked it for two hours and they never ever got soft, so I gave up and put the chilli in the fridge overnight, and reheating some now, the black-eyed peas are STILL firm. Were they ever supposed to get soft in the first place? Did I cook them wrong? I've never used or eaten them before so I don't really know what they were supposed to be like. I also tossed some frozen edamame into the chilli and that stayed firm as well, but I expected it.

Alas, DH has a very bad digestive reaction to sugar when it sneaks into his diet... otherwise I'd just keep buying the 'light' icecream we always used to eat. There's very little calorie difference between the 'sugar-free' and 'light' versions. Based on our taste test we'll stick to Edys, at least until they put the Blue Bunny on sale so we can try that.

DH has requested icecream... so I bought a few brands to try, and they all taste very different. Publix sugar-free vanilla was very disappointing (strong chemical flavour) and Edys sugar-free chocolate was delicious. Have you tried any, and which do you find the best tasting?

Shortbread is traditionally very crumbly and buttery and not particularly sweet. You press it into a sheet pan to bake and poke holes all over it to ensure that it won't rise.

Sugar cookies are usually crisp, not crumbly, and a lot sweeter.

I just wanted to say good for you for taking this on! We feed 100 homeless people once a week at church, and we have a soup every single week, usually made with the leftover veggies etc from last week, plus our hot main dish and a veggie or salad.They talk about this being the 'gourmet soup kitchen' because a lot of the veggies start life fresh and aren't cooked to death, and the food tastes very good for what it is, but if we tried to give them anything remotely 'gourmet' in the true sense there'd be a mass revolt. Our audience is not interested in spices or exotic flavours - they like it hot, fresh, and simple, and pasta features heavily on the menu.

They get very excited when we have the resources to give them a more meat-heavy meal (meatloaf, lasagna, roast chicken/turkey)...

I use my deep-sided frying pan almost every day... I like the high edges to keep stuff from spilling out onto the stove (especially since I usually cook with liquid and /or vegetables in the pan, and I hardly ever dry-fry) but I've probably only ever put a lid onto it once. The shallower frying pans are useless.