Hazelnut Meringues

A great low-fat cookie. Joy of Cooking says just 1 gram of fat per cookie. Have the egg whites at room temperature before you start whipping them for maximum volume. I just realized I left out the almond extract so I'll report back on whether that's optional!

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. You can also use wax paper but spray with cooking spray.

Preheat the oven to 250.

4 large egg whites
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract (unless using pecans)
1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts (or pecans or almonds)

At low speed whip together the egg whites, salt, and lemon juice until foamy, then turn to high speed and whip until soft peaks start to form. Gradually beat in the sugar, scraping the bowl down a few times.

Lower the speed and mix in the vanilla and almond extracts. Beat a few more minutes. The whites will start to take on a sheen and will stand in very stiff peaks when they're done. By hand, fold in the nuts.

I used my Pampered Chef thing to form the meringue into nice stars but you can also just drop them by heaping teaspoon onto the parchment paper. You want them just over 1" diameter. Space them about 1 1/2 inches apart. You should get about 3 dozen cookies.

Bake for 18 minutes, then rotate the trays and bake another 18 minutes. Without opening the oven door, turn the oven off and leave the cookies in the oven another 30 minutes. Slide the whole paper onto a cutting board or counter, leaving the meringues to cool completely before trying to remove them from the paper.

Potato Pancakes

• 3 pounds of potatoes, peeled and shredded

Remove as much moisture as you can from these. You can use a salad spinner or squeeze them by the handful then wrap in paper towels. Just an FYI, in an effort to be more "green" I used a regular kitchen towel once and the brown stains never came out. The salad spinner works as well as anything.

Heat oil in a frying pan while you mix up the rest.

• 3 Tbs flour
• 2 Tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 grated onion (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

After removing as much liquid as possible, combine the potatoes with the other ingredients.

When the oil is hot, drop the potatoes by the large spoonful into the oil, pressing with a spatula to flatten a bit. Let fry until nicely browned on the bottom, then turn and cook the other side. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels.

We like to serve these with both applesauce and sour cream on the side. I usually heat up a bit of beef sausage or kielbasa to go with the potato pancakes.