More Cooking - trial and error

Just thought I'd record some lessons learned through trial and error cooking.....

• Cookies n'Cream brownies - It's not worth all the effort; the really simple method of just adding crumbled oreos and sprinkling on the top doesn't really turn out right.   It seems that the correct method has to go through the effort of mixing cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, milk, etc. for the real cream effect.   Meanwhile, eating all those extra oreos is not so good for me either.    The other thing to keep in mind is that substituting applesauce for oil is not so good for brownies - seems to make it too fluffy; probably better for cakes.   And then the baking time didn't seem to match either, for the 8x8x2 glass  (seemed to be better with the shorter time, for the 9x12x2)
• Tried to make the crab white sauce for a vegetable stir fry; but, when pan frying the canned crabmeat with egg white, sauce, and spice, the flavor was okay; but, the consistency was wrong.  Not sure how this can be fixed; nor whether it is worth re-visiting
• For the Mediterranean stew, mixed garbanzo beans, olives, stewed tomatoes, roasted bell pepper, and cilantro.   Adding Garam Massala actually helped bring out the flavors.
• Beef Stew - russet potatoes are better than the white potatoes (and leaving the skin in does not work well); the slow-cooked beef stew also seemed to be better than the one cooked over the burner 
• Potato "pancakes" - When I first learned to do this, I did it using Italian seasonings; but, I have found that I really like it "Asian" style, simply just shredding the potatoes and seasoning it with chopped green onions and salt.

This week, I visited a middle-eastern grocery store, MarketPlace.   Of the snacks, I picked up some cashews roasted w/salt and pepper.  They had a nice baklava station, though they were selling at $9.99/lb.  Lots of interesting spices, and some packages at $1.25.