Thanksgiving part 7 - Cheesecake

I made a cheesecake for my contribution to dessert at R's request. I roundly enjoy a good cheesecake, but for whatever reason, I don't ever really enjoy my own. Everyone else seems to, but then again, they could just be acting polite. For this cheesecake, I relied on an Emeril recipe. I made the crust from cinnamon graham crackers, because that's what I had on hand. The filling was like most fillings (lotsa cream cheese, sour cream, eggs) and I may have under-sugared it, as I'm wont to do in desserts. It was a very VERY tall cheesecake - a half inch of crust and 4 inches of creamcheesiness. Also at R's request, I made a blueberry topping. I did not want to just buy a can of pie filling, so I mixed 1 package of frozen blueberries with sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, orange juice, cinnamon, a few tbsp of cornstarch, and some water in a pan on the stove and heated until most of the berries had burst, and the liquid had thickened. It seemed to be well-received. And I will say that it tasted quite good on some sugar cookies I'd made for my niece to decorate. So there you go.

Thanksgiving part 6 - giblets

Giblets. The word evokes pleasure to some - thinking of giblet gravy and hearth and home. The word brings about horror to others - sick, innards of a bird. I was rather firmly in the latter camp, but Elle and others persuaded me that perhaps they DID have a use. I took the innards and boiled them in water for about 15 hours (actually, more like 80 minutes) with some salt and peppercorns. I used the resulting stock in my Thanksgiving meal. Whatever happened to the giblets themselves? Why, Miss Daisy got a series of delicious additions to her Iams kibble over the weekend of course!

Thanksgiving part 5 - sweet potatoes

So, I discovered that my in-laws do not generally enjoy sweet potatoes. No problem, I'll skip them in the future. That being said, I'm still working on a large casserole of sweet potatoes, so I'm feeling a bit bitter. :)

For said sweet potato casserole, I relied on a Tyler Florence recipe. I roasted 6 medium sweet potatoes in a 375 deg oven for about 40 minutes. I then tossed in four bananas and continued to roast for another 15 minutes. I then put them in the ol' Kitchenaid and whipped them up with a stick of butter, about 2 tbsp of honey, a large handful of brown sugar, and some cinnamon, nutmeg, and some salt. Actually, a LOT of cinnamon and nutmeg because they smelled kinda bland. I smushed them into a large oval casserole dish then made a butter/brown sugar/pecan/cinnamon praline topping. They got baked (heehee) for about 35 minutes in a 375 deg oven.

They were pretty good, although I would probably not do them with the bananas again, it added a strange taste to some bites. And blackened bananas were a bit rude to look at on my countertop. R was a bit startled when he saw them.

Thanksgiving part 4 - Stuffing

My stuffing isn't really that spectacularly unique - Pepperidge Farm cubed herbed stuffing, chicken stock, onion, celery...mix...bake...or stuff into bird and bake....I like it a bit dry, so you can put gravy on it and moisten it up.

The problem with stuffing the bird is the cloud of food poisoning or destroying the turkey. You are supposed to get the stuffing temperature to 165 deg. in order to prevent food-borne illness. In order to avoid the whole "toxically undercooked stuffing" dilemna, once the turkey was done, I took out the stuffing and put it back in the oven for a good half hour. To date, no one got sick, so fingers crossed this works in the future too. Safe stuffing plus NOT overcooked bird = happy guests.

Thanksgiving part 3 - Gravy

As mentioned, the gravy was quite tasty. Some of this can be put down to homemade stock. There really IS a difference, although, it is a PIA if you don't have poultry carcasses lying around. I also contend that allowing the drippings to pool around lovely roasting onions/garlic/herbs helps a lot. After the turkey(s) were finished, I strained out the vegetables and flotsam, and put the roasting pan and its dripping back on the stove top on medium high. I added a large knob of butter, probably equally around 1 c of liquid drippings total. I tossed in probably a half cup of flour and made a lovely roux. After said roux had cooked adequately to erase raw flour tastes, R helped me add probably 3/4 of a gallon of the stock along with some wine, salt, and pepper. I cooked this until thickened and serve. We had a LOT of gravy obviously, but it was really good!

Thanksgiving part 2 - The turkey

So in addition to the turkey breast, we also had a 12 pound turkey. For the lovely turkey, I made a roasted shallot/garlic/thyme rub to put under the turkey skin. I roasted a half pound of shallots, about 6 garlic cloves, and several sprigs of thyme in a 375 deg. oven for an hour. I then pureed them with about a stick of butter and smeared it all under the breast skin and inside the turkey cavity. The turkey was stuffed (I live dangerously) and placed on a rack in a large roasting pan, hovering over 2 onions, quartered (skins on), several cloves of garlic, and sprigs of thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and sage. I liberally buttered the entire bird as well. I poured in about a cup of chicken stock and a hefty splash of Chardonnay and roasted it for about 3 3/4 hours at 325 degrees. I added new butter from time to time as it roasted. It was quite tasty, although, compared to the brined breast, wasn't quite as lovely. But the shallot rub did keep it moister than usual. And the gravy, more later, was ambrosial.

Thanksgiving part 1 - turkey breast

Holy schmoley, it's been a while since I posted. Sorry for that. It's been a weird month. Nonetheless, the mecca of holiday feasting, Thanksgiving, was recently upon us. In installments, I will (without pics, sadly) explain how it went down.

First off, we had a turkey breast (turkey will be discussed later). R and I decided to experiment a bit and brine the turkey before roasting it. Relying loosely on an Alton recipe, I heated about 2 qts of water with about a 1/2 c of kosher salt, 1/4 c of brown sugar, and a tbsp of peppercorns. I allowed that to cool and then poured it into a large stock pot in the sink, cushioned the pot with ice, and put the turkey breast in. I replaced the ice throughout the morning and let the turkey float in its brine for about 4 hours before thoroughly rinsing it, buttering it up, and putting it in its baking dish. Once at the Thanksgiving final destination of the brother-in-law, it got baked for about 2 1/2 hours and was LUSCIOUSLY moist and tender and perfectly seasoned. Would highly recommend doing, and will likely do it to an entire turkey next year. Thumbs up on brining.

Life altering candy bar

So, since it is it now post-Halloween, everyone has a schload of candy leftover. One of my coworkers made up little sachets of goodness - a few candy bars, some peanut butter crackers, twizzlers, a pencil, etc. V. nice. Included among the goodies was a mini Take 5 bar. Have others had this type of candy bar? It is utterly amazing. Milk chocolate, peanut butter, peanuts, caramels, and the piece de resistance - pretzels. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!

Spooooooky Cake!

We had a bake sale at work today. Elle made a tombstone cake which was totally sweet. I went slightly lamer and just made a delish Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. Quite tasty, less impressive though.

Note the deformed looking spider...I was running out of decorating gel!

Thanksgiving trial run

Having never really prepared a turkey on my own before, or all the accoutrements, I decided to get a bone-in turkey breast and make some fixins this weekend. I had a delightful 6.3 pound breast that apparently needed lots of weird gross juices added to it, which I had to pour out of the cavity and rinse thoroughly. The dog was VERY interested in these smells. Anyways, I seasoned said bird with salt, pepper, and slathered some butter all over it. Then tossed an onion in the small cavity and slung it in a 325 deg. oven. It needed about 3 and a quarter hours until it reached 170 degs internally.

Meanwhile, I prepared some stuffing/dressing. I cheated - I simply softened an onion and some celery in some butter with salt/pepper, then tossed in about 3 c of cubed Pepperidge Farm seasoned stuffing mix and added the requisite amount of chicken broth. Toss in a casserole dish, and it baked alongside the turkey for the last hour or so.

Additionally meanwhile, I made some mashed potatoes. I'm not going to explain how to make potatoes. If you need assistance, see the Food Network homepage.

And finally, I made gravy with the turkey drippings. Drippings, plus flour, mix until flour is unfloury, add chicken broth (or turkey broth) and in my case, pepper and wine. A bit too much wine, so I had to cook it a bit longer and add more broth, but it was still pretty good.

c'est fin.

Sandwich experiments

R and I experimented with a Cuban sandwich, as envisioned by one Mr. Alton Brown in this recipe. It involved layering pork, ham, cheese, mustard, and pickle slices on a hoagie bun. It was actually quite delish. Elle will be horrified.

More FB snacks

Elle will recall these from our recent mini-party at Chez Elle, but R and I devoured a plate of these whilst watching football on Saturday:

Mmm....delicious crescent roll filled with pepperoni and provolone...

Eat a dang quesadilla!

Last night's dinner was fab quesadillas. Tortillas with a spread of refried beans mixed with diced chilis, some shredded chicken, a bit of cheese, and sauteed onions and peppers. Mmm. Delish.

Here's R's, sans beans. Photo by R.

Building a soup

Sunday was spent in the kitchen making some soups. I decided to do a sort of vegetable beef stew and R requested chicken noodle for his lunches.


For the vegetable beef stew, I lightly floured* 2 lbs of extra lean stew meat and browned it in a small amount of olive oil, in batches. Set aside the meat on a plate. In the remaining fat, add 2 chopped onions, 1 c thinly sliced carrots, and 1/2 c chopped celery.



Give that 10-15 minutes to soften. Then I added 1 chopped zucchini, about 1 1/2 c fresh green beans, and 2 diced potatoes.





THEN, I added the herbs - a sprig of rosemary, several sprigs of thyme, and some bay leaves, along with more salt/pepper. And I squished in some roasted garlic.



I added about 1/2 c of red wine and allowed that to simmer. Then came a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, with their juice, and 2 boxes of beef broth. I let that simmer forever, meanwhile, adding about 1/3 c of pearl barley, 1/4 elbow macaroni, and about 1/4 c lentils. There was also corn. I added about a shot's worth of Worcestershire sauce and probably a tsp of bouillion powder over the duration of the cooking time. I don't have a pic of the final product, because I keep forgetting. But it is quite good. And we're eating it again tonight. Third night of it. Yeah.


The chicken soup is much quicker. First, I browned 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs in a small bit of oil. Once the skin was browned, I added some salt and pepper, and 1 box and 1 can of low sodium chicken broth, along with a can's worth of water. I added a sprig of rosemary, two thyme sprigs, a sprig of majoram, more salt and pepper, 1 chopped onion, about 1 c of chopped carrot and 1 stalk of chopped celery (R doesn't like celery). I also squeezed in some remaining roasted garlic, about 3 cloves worth. I allowed that to simmer at a low boil for about 20-25 minutes, until the chicken was cooked through. I took the chicken thighs out, and replaced them with 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. After 15 minutes, those were also removed, and all the chicken parts were de-meated and the meat was shredded (skin/bones were discarded, much to the pup's dismay). The chicken meat was returned to the pot, the liquid was brought back up to a boil, and a heaping handful of egg noodles were added and cooked until soft. And that's that.








*I seasoned the flour with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Pasta fagioli

As mentioned, we kick off the diet with dinners of decent sized helping of pasta fagioli, or, Italian bean soup (we add meat too b/c we heart meat).

Start by frying up one strip of bacon over medium low heat with 1 tbsp olive oil in a large stockpot. Meanwhile, brown 3/4 lb ground sirloin in a separate pan, and drain thoroughly. To the bacon, add 2 medium onions, chopped, 1/2 chopped carrots, and 2 chopped celery stalks. Turn up heat to medium and cook until slightly tender. Add 3-4 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2 tsp red chili pepper flakes, 1 tsp dried rosemary (crushed), 1-2 tsp dried thyme (crushed), salt, and pepper. Allow the seasonings to toast a bit, then add in the ground beef, 1 large can of crushed tomatoes, 1 smaller can of diced tomatoes (I used leftover garden tomatoes), and about 5 c of chicken stock. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, then add 6-8 oz. dried elbow macaroni, or other short pasta. Add one can each dark red kidney beans and navy beans, rinsed and drained. Allow to cook on medium heat until pasta is tender. Serve with a light dusting of parmigiano reggiano grated on top. Delish.

Chicken and beyond

Earlier this month, R and I had a chance to dine at one of our fave restaurants, Maggiano's for a rehearsal dinner. We had some lovely apps, followed by a family-style servings of chopped salad and caesar salad, gnocci with a tomato vodka sauce, chicken saltimbocca, roasted pork, chicken with veggies and farfalle, and for dessert, chocolate zuccotto and a delicious apple crostada. It was super delish, and super filling, obviously.

R lurved the chicken saltimbocca, so I set about to replicate it at home. Basically, I pounded out chicken, seasoned with salt, pepper, and an Italian seasoning mix (was out of sage, and was v. po'd about it) and then layered on some prosciutto and a sprinkling of parm. Rolled it up, pinned it with some toothpicks, and then browned it in a pan and baked until done. I then made a bit of a sauce using the brown bits in the pan, a splash of wine, chicken broth, lemon juice, and butter.

To go along with the chicken, I made an Everyday Food recipe, Mushroom Ragout with Pasta. I didn't use quite that many mushrooms, mainly b/c I didn't feel like buying that many mushrooms, and I subbed in some tomato balsamic vinegar for the red wine vinegar (because I had it on hand, from the fab Oil & Vinegar store). It was pretty tasty, and R loooved it. I'm not sure that I'd build the sauce with just tomato paste the next time, but then, I guess it simply becomes a basic mushroom sauce. Hmm. Anyways, I would recommend it for mushroom people.

Chicken Cordon Bleu (or something like it)

So, after seeing leftovers of Elle's fab chicken, I decided to go out on my own and prepare something resembling chicken cordon bleu. First, I mixed about 1/3 c of mayo, 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard, 1 finely minced garlic clove, salt, pepper, and about 1/2 c shredded swiss cheese. Then, I pounded flat two chicken breasts, laid slices of smoked ham on top, and spread on the swiss cheese mixture.

I then crushed about half a sleeve of faux Ritz crackers and placed in a bowl. The chicken was rolled up, floured, egged, and crackered, then fried in a bit of oil and butter until crisp and browned. The chicken was tossed in a 375 degree oven until cooked through (25 minutes?) and served with a fabulous (actually, kinda gross) Rice-a-Roni mixture and some green beans with red pepper and garlic.



Note to BC grads - anyone remember the Chicken Kiev or whatever it was called that was served in the dining halls that would literally shoot butter in your face when you sliced it?

R's cooking adventures

Last night, craving something other than leftover jambalaya and corn chowder, R prepared a meal of beef stroganoff for me. I came home from the dog park, offered assistance, was rebuffed, and awaited the meal ahead. Everything seemed to go smoothly, and the resulting meal was quite tasty (albeit, a bit drab looking). Well done R! I salute you!

Experimental Snack Food

So, as Miss A will recall, I purchased a bag of Totino's Pepperoni Trio pizza rolls on Sunday afternoon, for a v. light and fatty lunch before we ate a fab dinner (to be discussed later). THREE flavors of pepperoni! THREE! They were hot, nuclear hot, and very spicy after you ate more than 3 of them. One of the three flavors was clearly "nuke-ular." Am not sure what other pepperoni flavors were present.

Ingestion of the Trio rolls forced ingestion of these:

Pigskin Pigout

So, R and I indulged a LOT on Saturday afternoon/evening between the Notre Dame and OSU games...our menu included chicken empanadas, pigs in blankets, and fried ravioli. All were delish, but particularly the chicken empanadas. I used the Paula Deen recipe, with some changes. I increased the cream cheese, decreased the chicken, added a chipotle in adobo (b/c I heart them) instead of a regular pepper, added a roasted red pepper and some carmelized onions instead of just a regular sweet pepper. I still have half of the filling left, I may make enchiladas, or more empanadas. They were really really REEEEALLY good. For the fried ravioli, I used a Giada recipe, of course, and I don't think I made any changes!