Oven

Potatoes are a humble food. Grown under the ground until harvested and kept in the dark until needed as filler for a soup or a quick side, they are rarely given a moment in the spotlight. Sure, there are mashed potatoes and french fries, but they are used in many houses as a vehicle for gravy or ketchup. When properly cooked, seasoned thoroughly and paired with a complementing sauce, potatoes are surprisingly rich and reminiscent of their earthy upbringing. This recipe is a culinary classic.

My friend posted a link to this recipe for a skillet cookie the other day, and I could not stop thinking about it. I'd never even heard of such a thing, but today I just had to try it. The blog Sophistimom posted this originally, and I love the post. She recommends using high-quality ingredients because: "You wouldn't want to use crappy flour, or crappy margarine or fake vanilla. That would lessen the flavor, lessen the experience, and still make you fat. " Ha! And point taken.

Police logEllicott City: 3500 block of Court House Drive: Someone slid open a rear basement glass door and entered a house between 1: 30 a.m. and 7: 36 p.m. Saturday. The owner chased a person off the property. Nothing was taken. The intruder was described as a white male with black hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a blue sweat shirt and green Army fatigues.Ellicott City: 5900 block of Big Tree Court: Someone stole a refrigerator, a microwave oven and another oven from a model home between 4 p.m. and 4: 30 p.m. Friday after prying open the basement door.

Item: Betty Crocker Tuna HelperWhat you get: 5 servingsCost: about $1.80Preparation time: about 10 minutes on stove top, 16 to 18 minutes in microwave, 30 to 35 minutes in conventional ovenReview: I've never been a helper fan, but the sign said "improved," and the Creamy Pasta flavor looked like a quick version of the tuna casserole my 15-month-old loves. Results were mixed. The Creamy Pasta scored high even with the nontuna fan at lunch. The new Tuna Melt flavor was very cheesy, and the addition of chopped green onion and diced tomato complemented it. But the Creamy Broccoli was bland and offered no evidence of broccoli.

Life isn't much fun when your dogs are barking - the ones below your ankles that keep your legs from unraveling. Sole Custom Footbeds has come up with a line of shoe footbeds that conform to your foot after you warm them up in the oven. The inserts range in support from the "signature series," for the hard-core adventurer, to the "slim series" for everyday use. Prices start at $40. It's really easy to make the footbeds your own. Just pop them in an oven at 200 degrees for about two minutes, then slip the toasty inserts and your feet into your shoes.

Biscotti, a cross between a cookie and melba toast, are catching the coffee-drinking wave to success."I think it's all kind of tied to the interest in coffee, exotic coffee, dunking," says Marty Friedman, editor of New Product News, of biscotti's newfound popularity."

Item: Chung's Egg RollsServings per package: 4Cost: $3.29Preparation time: 10 minutes in conventional oven, 1 minute in microwave oven, or 3 minutes in deep fryer.Review: Is it possible to find a crispy, lightly seasoned egg roll brimming with crunchy vegetables at the supermarket? Maybe, but this refrigerated version doesn't qualify. There's way too much garlic and onion here; I was overpowered the instant I opened a package. Even worse, I couldn't taste a difference in the vegetable- or shrimp-flavored varieties.

Chef Barry Rumsey of the Bicycle restaurant, 1444 Light St., offers this recipe for Lovely Simple Sunday Chicken. "After cooking for hundreds of people a week, on my husband's day off, the last thing he wants is to spend hours in the kitchen," says Rumsey's wife, Deborah Mazzoleni. "And I like to remind him, there are no sous chefs to prep nor battalion of dishwashers for cleanup." His Sunday chicken, she says, is a big favorite of their family, including a 10-year-old who hopes to be a food critic when she grows up. LOVELY SIMPLE SUNDAY CHICKEN SERVES 4 TO 6 PEOPLE One 2-3 pound chicken (see if you can get farm-raised)

Sometimes the best pizza joints are the ones you've never heard of. GT PIZZA ADDRESS / / 10 W. Seminary Ave., Lutherville PHONE / / 410-821-9090 HOURS / / 9:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. daily The crust lining the bottom of this undercooked pizza, $11.65, was too thin. As a result, each slice was far too flimsy, and the cheese and pepperoni tended to slide off easily. The pizza could have used a couple more minutes in the oven. sam.sessa@baltsun.com PIZZA TIPS Here are some tips for ordering and reheating your Super Bowl pizza: Some restaurant / carryouts such as Gil's Pizza on Belair Road offer half-baked pizzas.

Peter Reinhart's passion for pizza turned into a search for the perfect crust. The author and cooking school instructor at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C. went on a tasting tour of pizzerias in Italy and the United States looking for answers to what makes a great pizza. While his ideal pizzas are baked in wood-burning brick ovens at high temperatures, Reinhart says cooks can produce first-rate pizzas in a home oven. He offers tips for a terrific crust: Let the dough rise and ferment at least five hours.