Janice Cook: I like that goal a lot. Do you use a bread machine or make it from scratch?

Laurie Hogan: My previous attempts have been at making bread from scratch. I have a KitchenAid stand mixer with a dough hook, so that helps. I need to practice knowing when the dough has been kneeded enough and making sure my kitchen is warm enough for the dough to rise. Any tips or secrets would be greatly appreciated!

Janice Cook: I use the book healthy bread in 5 minutes a day. It's more of a technique than a collection of recipes and I'm still new at it but that's my current adventure. I would like my loaves to become a bit fluffier over time. I have a recipe for Whey bread that is super easy and consistent. I use whey but you can sub milk with good results.

Dawn Knowlton: Laurie - Michael Ruhlman has made January "Bread Baking Month" on his blog - http://ruhlman.com/. He is a phenomenal chef and perhaps you can find some great tips and recipes to try through his blog. Good luck! Bread intimidates me, so I am sticking with my bread machine. *lol*

Janice Cook: oooh thanks for sharing this. i'm a sucker for a good cooking blog!!

Laurie Hogan: Dawn, thanks so much for the tip!

Matriarchy: I want to hear how those Toffee Crackers turn out!

Laurie Hogan: Sure thing. A coworker handed out baggies of something like these last week and they were melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I hope to recreate that.

Laurie Hogan: The Pecan Toffee Crackers turned out great. At first, they were a little chewy compared to what my coworker had made, but they firmed up after putting them in the refrigerator. I'll definitely make them again.

Eunice : and yummy! what's your recipe?

Laurie Hogan: I wanted to make a smaller amount since it was my first time attempting pickles, so I estimated amounts for one pint of pickles based on ratios in larger recipes. Here's what I came up with, but I'm sure it could be adjusted for personal tastes: http://wegottaeat.com/lauriebhogan/recipes/refrigerator-dill-pickles

Eunice : thanks!

Eunice : Laurie, good luck!! you, your husband and your kitty are adorable...if you don't mind my saying. and your video was unique and set you apart from the other contestants. hope you win!

Laurie Hogan: Thanks so much! Spread the word if you can. I have no idea how many votes we've gotten so far. We've got until Monday to get votes and then we'll find out if we made the top 5.

Eunice : whoa...how did this mint chocolate/spinach frozen yogurt turn out?

Laurie Hogan: Haha... I actually haven't tried it yet. I thought I had fresh mint and apparently I didn't. I was too afraid to put spinach in the ice cream without the mint, so I opted to make regular chocolate chip frozen yogurt. I still plan to try the spinach sometime though.

Eunice : do keep us abreast of the results. and please post the recipe so we could all test it out...or not. that just sounds crazy...but so cool if it works out. i'm just dying to know what it tastes like. Mitchell's Ice Cream in San Francisco made canteloupe ice cream - mighty tasty, fyi - and some other ingredients that were rather exotic but nothing like spinach ice cream...but then Gilroy makes garlic ice cream so guess spinach is not too off-the-wall. recipe is here if spinach isn't challenging enough for you. thanks for the post and really looking forwards to your update on this.

Laurie Hogan: I found the recipe by Googling something like "healthy ice cream recipes." Here's a link to the original: http://healthycooking.suite101.com/article.cfm/mint_chocolate_chip_frozen_yogurt. It might be a while before I make another batch of ice cream, so if anyone else is brave and tries this before I do, let me know if it works out. It calls for 2 cups of spinach, which sounds like a lot to me. I love making desserts too much, so I'm always looking for ways to make them healthier.

Laurie Hogan: Hey, thanks for the message. Your sister is awesome, and she has some good recipes too!