Week 24: Merry Christmas

Recipes to Go: 507 268

Weeks to Go: 52 28

Recipes Made This Week

Black Bean 'n' Pumpkin Chili

Fluffy Lemon Squares

Hunter's Delight

Prime Rib Dinner

Onion Yorkshire Pudding

Cranberry Fluff

Warm 'n' Fruity Breakfast Cereal

Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles

Holiday Spritz

Almond Tassies

Walnut Horn Cookies

Turtle-Shaped Cookies

Apple Pie Pastries

Fruit-Glazed Spiral Ham

Celebration Green Beans

Calico Corn Bread Dressing

Perfect Dinner Rolls

Homemade Eggnog

Mustard-Sour Cream Salad Dressing

Elegant Eggnog Dessert

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pecan Brittle

Lemon Meringue Pie

Yes, it was a busy week. I decided to take the excuse and make another big meal for Christmas. In hindsight, maybe I should have thought it through better because the only people we had over were the missionaries, which meant no one else was going to be supplying any food, and there would only be 4 1/2 people to eat the whole feast. Luckily for me, I had a lot of help Christmas day, and it wasn't as bad as it looks.

So, not wanting the family to starve all week just because I had 10 recipes to do for one dinner, I carefully planned our meals for the week. All of them were slow cooked, which mean minimal effort on my part after nap time, which is when the chaos usually begins.

So Sunday, I made the Black Bean 'n' Pumpkin Chili. I've made this recipe twice before, but I've never used all the ingredients.

This time, I actually used turkey and pumpkin, and this was the best version I've had. Of course, that's also because I had 4 hours to let it simmer on the stove.

I started on two of the desserts as well, since I knew I had to take advantage of all the time I had. The Lemon Squares needed a few hours in the fridge, and the Truffles were supposed to set overnight before getting balled. So I made both, not to finish the truffles for another few days. The Lemon Squares were delicious. Unfortunately, they didn't maintain their shape once cut and scooped so I didn't get to give any away. Which means they're lost in the fridge somewhere, and forgotten with all the other desserts invading the house.

My plan was simple--dinner every other day, 3 cookies Monday and Tuesday, deliver cookies on Wednesday, 3 Christmas Dinner recipes Thursday and Friday, then less to worry about come Saturday.

So Monday I made the Holiday Spritz and the Almond Tassies and finished the Truffles. I wish I had a cookie punch like the recipe suggests for the Spritz because they would have looked as good as they tasted. I tried to pour them into a cookie cutter like a mold, but that failed miserably. So I settle for shaping them into the best circles I could. They looked lame, but at least they tasted good.

The Almond Tassies were my first opportunity to use my mini muffin tins. I greased the heck out of them first, for which I was thankful to myself later. I used shortening, which has become my greaser of choice. Pam, or the store version of cooking spray, leaves an annoying, sticky coating on my cooking trays and pans that takes steal wool to get out, which of coarse destroys non-stick coating. So all my nice stuff doesn't get Pam-ed. And I have recently decided that it's much better to just use my bare fingers to apply shortening rather than a paper towel because it's easier to get the stuff off my hands than anything else. So thanks to my ridiculously small hands (for my height), I was able to work the shortening into the mini muffin tins successfully, for this beautiful result.

The truffles had been so long in the fridge, they were impossible to get out with a melon baller, as the recipe suggests, so I used a spoon and my palms to shape. I stuck a whole almond in the center instead of a hazelnut, which I didn't have. I did roll the tops in hazelnuts, though. I layered all the cooled cookies in my giant tupperware container and used parchment paper to stack. I've always wanted to stack stuff in the giant container, so it was very gratifying.

Tuesday morning, I put the Hunter's Delight stew in the slow cooker. The venison practically cubed itself it was so lean, so the hardest part of putting it together was slicing potatoes. And I'm happy to say, my knife skills are improving, so even that didn't take very long.

Dinner accomplished, I turned to more cookie making. Luckily The Captain loves licking beaters, because we had a lot of dough to make. The anticipation of licking kept him happy enough. We made Walnut Horn Cookies and Turtle-Shaped Cookies.

I didn't have enough walnuts, so I decided to use Graham Crackers for the filling of the Horn cookies instead. That ended up being a pretty good substitution. These were so fun to make. I love rolling up crescent rolls, so this was a treat. They ended up so pretty and yummy. I'll have to make them again sometime.

The Turtle-Shaped Cookies ended up not being so turtle shaped due to my lack of pecan halves. But the maple flavored cookies were still very addictive.

I forgot to put the powdered sugar in the chocolate topping initially, and since I used unsweetened chocolate, that was a problem. Luckily, we added some milk chocolate and sugar and heated it up again, and all was well. Some powdered sugar on top of the ones already dipped proved an adequate solution as well.

I didn't get to make the Apple Pie Pastries until The Captain was asleep that night. The other cookie recipes were specifically in the Christmas Goodies section, but the Apple Pie Pastry came from the Valentines recipes, and I can see why. This might be the best apple pie in the world. I'm pretty sure you could get some action after making these pies. Wow! I had to interrupt The Husband from his racing game in the middle of the track to eat one because they were that good. And he definitely wasn't mad at me for interrupting him either . . .

I guess I should mention the stew before moving on. It ended up being a little too sweet for me in the end. And the venison was still gamey after 6 hours in the slow cooker. It was still good and everyone enjoyed it. It's a good way to use some venison if you find yourself overloaded.

Wednesday we put the cookies in improvised baskets made of cheap paper plates.

They looked better than I was hoping, so I wasn't embarrassed to give them away. Then we bundled up and walked around the neighborhood giving them away. The Captain is so cute that we ended up staying way too long at the neighbors, but it made them merry, which was the whole idea, so I can't complain. Plus, it was very nice to get out of the house.

I was debating on whether to make the big prime rib dinner on Thursday or Christmas Eve, but decided Thursday would be best because I didn't want us to be full going into Christmas. Plus, growing up Christmas Adam (as I call the day before Christmas Eve because Adam came before Eve, get it?) was always a big day for us because we had a big family sleepover under the tree. We read Christmas stories and eat treats and everyone falls asleep except my mom and me who have to stay up to finish whatever book she got from the library to read, weeping most of the time. (Darn Christmas books and their sad story lines.) I wanted to keep the tradition alive, so we had our big dinner. Unfortunately, my freezer is full of meat, and I didn't have a rump roast like I thought, and I couldn't justify buying more meat when I can barely close the freezer as it is, so we had a pork roast dinner instead of prime rib.

The Husband was disappointed when he saw the original recipe, but luckily that was after he had already enjoyed his dinner. It was good, except that I don't have a roasting pan, so the veggies got a bit dry.

The Onion Yorkshire Pudding was amazing. First of all, it's like a soufle, and it actually worked for me. Second, it was hearty and perfect for a cold winter's eve.

We both agreed that it hit the spot.

The cranberry fluff was pretty fun to make. This was The Captain's favorite, by far. In his defense, there are mini marshmallows in it, which are hard for any little boy to resist.

This is surprisingly tart at moments, so it feels pretty light, which is good after so much heavy food.

I started the recipes for Christmas Dinner early in the day so I could have the afternoon to put together dinner. I made the salad dressing--easy,

and the Eggnog--took time on the stove, but that's it, and the stuffing, which I put sans broth in the fridge.

This stuffing recipe is very similar to the one I usually use for Thanksgiving except it uses regular bread in addition to corn bread. After trying it, we decided to stick with mine for future dinners.

Friday, Christmas Eve, was devoted to getting three desserts made. This didn't sound like a hard idea at the beginning of the week, but when it came down to it, I was pretty wiped out. It took everything I had (and an extra spring form donated by my neighbor) to make myself get it done. I've hand-washed my KitchenAid at least a dozen times this week.

I made the Pumpkin Cheesecake first. This time I ground the Gingersnap cookies in the food processor (more hand washing) for the crust. Got it all cooking and started on the brittle to garnish the top. I've never made brittle before, but I guess I should have greased the cooking sheet with butter instead of shortening since it made for a much messier clean up than was necessary.

It surprised me by setting up, since I didn't have a candy thermometer. I relied on dumb luck and YouTube videos to figure out when I reached soft-ball and hard crack stage. I think it wasn't quite as hard as it could have been, but I wasn't going to risk anything, so I took it out at the beginning, rather than the middle of hard-crack.

While all that was cooling, I tried to make the other two somewhat simultaneously. The problem was, I had to send The Husband to the store for vanilla pudding, which I had forgotten, so I ended up finishing the Lemon meringue pie before I could start the Eggnog dessert. I only realized this after I had been creaming the cream cheese for the Eggnog dessert, which meant more hand washing.

I was determined to redeem myself with this lemon meringue pie. My first ever lemon meringue was Thanksgiving '09 and it was beautiful, and then the lemonade meringue pie for the Pre-Thanksgiving Day Feast this year was such a dismal failure. I had to make sure the last one was more of a fluke than a pattern. Luckily, this one set up in the pan on the stove, so I knew that at least it wouldn't be a soupy mess. The meringue is always the part that makes me nervous, though. this one was the smoothest process yet, and because I had done one so recently, I wasn't as worried about over-beating as I normally am. I am happy to say that The Husband said it looked like a painting when he got it out of the oven. Everything was sealed and pretty. I let it cool sufficiently before putting it in the fridge, and the flavor was delicious. Verdict? Redeemed.

The eggnog dessert I picked because I could use the eggnog I just made to make this. We aren't huge eggnog fans at our house (except The Captain, I just learned), so I thought this would help with leftovers. Plus, it would look very pretty for Christmas.

I worked out well, even though I had to use the rest of my box of Vanilla Wafers instead of Graham Crackers for the crust, since I had used the last of my Graham Crackers for the Walnut Horn Cookies. Meh, one cookie crust is pretty much the same as another. Much to the delight of the missionary who helped me finish this with the Pirouette Cookies, it fit exactly the right amount around it to stagger chocolate and vanilla.

Breakfast for Christmas was great because it was also a slow cooked dish--oatmeal. I put it together before we went to bed on Friday and when we got up on Christmas, breakfast was waiting for us. I used quick cooking oats instead of the 7 grain cereal recommended,

and next time I'll use something not quick cooking because it did all turn to mush. But The Captain really liked it. So we'll keep having it for breakfast until it's gone.

Christmas Day I was lucky to have the missionaries there to help me as The Husband was sick all day.

Tragic, I know. No one should be sick on Christmas. I gave each young lady an assignment. We started at 2:30 and ate dinner at 6. I forgot to cover the ham when it started baking, so I didn't end up baking it the full 2 hours.

Eh, it's fully cooked already, and it was heated through, so we were fine.

The rolls I had to start much earlier in the day, my fight with yeast and all.

It took 2 hours for them to rise, but I planned for time so they ended up finishing before I needed to put the ham in the oven.

The green beans were a surprise. I hardly had leftovers they were so popular.

I guess I have a new green bean casserole recipe. This is much better than Campbell's.

Week 23: Getting My Act Together

Recipes to Go: 507 280

Weeks to Go: 52 29

Recipes Made This Week

Black Bean Asparagus Salad

Pan-Fried Venison Steak

Swiss-Almond Floret Bake

Tangy Rhubarb Fool

Meat Loaf with Potato Crust

Savory Grilled Potatoes

Next Day Turkey Primavera

Cranberry Swirl Loaf

As odd as it sounds, after Thanksgiving I was getting nervous about running out of recipes. Not that I would get through the 507 early, but that I would get to the end and all that would be left would be desserts and I'd have to make and eat 10 desserts a week. I don't really have a sweet tooth, so the idea didn't appeal to me. So I did a little inventory. I sat down and divided everything into categories again and did extra tallies for the recipes that I consider more appropriate for summer and looked to see how many of each thing I had. Well, turns out I have about 6 weeks worth of summer recipes (perfect) and the rest are split about evenly. So, to make my life easier, I just have to pick 3 main dishes, 3 side dishes, and 3 desserts every week. Then with breakfast on Saturday I have 10 recipes. I can pretty much count on two desserts for game night, which means we only have 1 to eat during the week. That's something I can live with. And suddenly weekly menus are much easier to plan.

Lest you start to question my intelligence waiting so long to do this, I did try to start something like this at the beginning, but the whole thing was a little overwhelming and I had to get my feet on the ground before I could run in a specific direction.

So now I had a plan. The problem this week, aka why I only have 8 recipes, is that we didn't have Game Night again, this time because we weren't home. We took a part business/part pleasure trip to DC over the weekend and so I didn't get any cooking done on Friday or Saturday. So I carried over the two desserts into the next week, which got a little crazy . . . but more on that later.

Some friends asked us over to dinner on Sunday, and since they know about my goal, they asked if I had a side dish to bring. Check and check. The black bean salad was good. Sadly, I didn't taste it before I left because I would have added more salt, which was all it needed, so it didn't get the rave reviews it deserved. Luckily, that just meant we had leftovers for us to enjoy, and with a touch of salt, we did.

Not letting any grass grow under my feet with the new plan in place, on Monday I cooked up some venison and a casserole. I consider myself lucky to have started this whole scheme in a place where I've been able to find everything I need. Sure, I have to drive 1/2 hour one way to get to the only decent grocery store in the area once a week, but it's been wonderful for my planning skills (not to mention saving on gas). And unlike other places I've lived, here I am surrounded by hunters. Fairly successful hunters, too, who are nice enough to generously share of their spoils. That's how I came by quite a bit of venison. The sweet young man who gave it to me didn't even care about getting paid for it either. I love this town!

So, this was my first experience using the venison. It came apart when The Husband flattened it out for me, so we ended up with lots of little stakes to fry. The saltine coating was perfect, and the meat is so sweet that The Captain ate it up without complaint.

The floret bake was super easy since I just used two bags of frozen broccoli and cauliflower heads. It was much cheaper than buying the real stuff out of season. Thank goodness for frozen food. It was very tasty, but due to a car battery mishap, I had to put it together rather quickly to go rescue The Husband from work. This meant I didn't get to mix it all together before sticking it in the oven, so the yummiest part was just on the top. This is something I'd make again, though, especially if I find myself with an overabundance of broccoli and cauliflower.

Tuesday was spent eating leftovers, so I made dessert to go with it. Luckily for me, I bought a lot of rhubarb to freeze, so I can enjoy it all winter (since I fell in love with it this summer). I didn't take the time to chop it up really small before putting it all together, which I think I will do next time. And there will be a next time because The Husband raved about this. I loved it. It was made with plain yogurt, so it's relatively healthy and very tangy. Which is what we both loved about it. It was definitely a dessert, but one that didn't make me feel like I needed a trip to the dentist when I was done. It was so refreshing. So definitely on the Make Again list.

Wednesday I made the meat loaf. Since I was making a potato side dish with it, I didn't put a potato crust on top.

I really love the curry powder in the recipe, but The Husband wasn't as much of a fan. I guess I'll stick to the other meat loaf he "could get behind".

The grilled potato recipe I was interested to try. Because it is made in foil, it is something I could potentially make in the fireplace should the power go out for an extended period. There were major power outages in the area last year due to unseasonable snow, and the snow seems to have come back this year. I've become a little paranoid, so it's nice to have some plans on the back burner.

Since this recipe was essentially potatoes and onions, it shouldn't be too hard to keep those things on hand, so I'll just give it a few hours, and we can at least have something hot to eat should the power go out.

My favorite recipe this week was the Turkey Primavera. I can see why it won the turkey leftover contest. It was such a good flavor, just from an Italian salad dressing mix, and with all the veggies, it was easy to look past the heavy whipping cream in the sauce.

I will probably be making the vegetarian version of this recipe a lot in the summer because it would be a great way to use up garden veggies. And I don't think anyone would complain having to eat it a few weeks in a row.

Since we were leaving early in the morning on Friday, I made the Cranberry Swirl Loaf Thursday night. As always, the yeast and I had a fight. I lost strictly because of time, but the end result was still good. The time factor also kept me from letting the cranberry filling cool enough. I think it's supposed to be like jam, but it was more like sauce, which made for some messy jelly rolling. In the end, the stuff that leaked out in the pan acted as a glaze and was very yummy, so all's well that ends well, I guess.

This was delicious. I love cranberries deeply. I have a lot in my freezer to use this winter. Sadly, I didn't put nuts in this either, but we managed to eat the whole thing anyway. Actually, we almost ate the whole thing in the car it was so good.

Week 22: Happy Hanukkah

Recipes to Go: 507 288

Weeks to Go: 52 30

Recipes Made This Week

Citrus Asparagus Salad

Peach Bliss Dessert

Chunky Turkey Soup

Turkey Sandwiches with Red Pepper Hummus

Panhandle Beef Brisket

Zucchini Latkes

Sauerbraten Stew

German Potato Salad with Sausage

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake

Hot Spinach Spread with Pita Chips

Sweet Potato Tart

Pecan-Raisin Cinnamon Rolls

To go with all the leftovers we were eating on Sunday, I made the Citrus Asparagus Salad. The Husband and I both agreed that the citrus flavors weren't as strong as we were hoping. He still really liked it, but I didn't as much. I think I was spoiled with the asparagus crepes.

This time the asparagus didn't seem to be steamed as well, so it was kind of tough to eat. It wasn't horrible my any means, but maybe I'm not an asparagus fan.

I also made the Peach Bliss Dessert. I was really fortunate in making this because its a recipe that only makes four servings and calls for leftover sponge cake. I don't usually have leftover sponge cake lying around, and I didn't want to buy a whole cake for four slices, but luckily for me, my neighbors are ridiculously generous.

After I finally got to the store last Friday, I picked up some things for my neighbor who just had surgery and was recovering at home. When I went over to her house I brought her stuff, and ended up leaving with 1/4 of a South Carolina sponge cake that one of her church's members had brought by that they couldn't finish. So, it worked out perfectly for me.

And can I say, the Bliss in the title of this dessert was not a fabrication. It was divine. Easy, lovely, delicious. All agreed. If only I got leftover sponge cake more often . . .

I decided to cook part of the second turkey I bought for Thanksgiving. Let me explain . . . I called my mom, the expert bargin shopper in my life, before Thanksgiving to see what price she usually gets turkey for. I couldn't find any advertised price lower than $.99/lb around us. She said she gets them when they reach $.39/lb. And she heard some advice to buy two, and have the meat department quarter one for you, so it takes up less freezer space and can be eaten by a smaller crowd throughout the year. Since I had so many recipes that call for turkey, this sounded like an excellent idea to me. So when I saw a $.39/lb deal, I snatched two turkeys. I then had to wait around for help at the meat department only to hear that they were no longer allowed to cut poultry. Lame. So then I was faced with a dilemma--only buy the one turkey for Thanksgiving, or buy two and try to cut the second one myself. Feeling adventurous as I have this year, I chose door number two. That is how I became intimately acquainted with a turkey and almost got frost bite.

Back to this week, I put 1/4 of the second turkey in the slow cooker and it took a lot longer to cook than I anticipated. So I didn't get to make dinner on Monday, and made it on Tuesday instead.I used the turkey in the soup and the sandwiches.

The turkey soup was the first time I have made my own broth. It was kind of fun. I felt very domestic.

The orzo in the soup was wonderful, I'll do that again, and the curry powder was a nice touch. The sandwiches were also good, though red peppers would have made them even better.

I did enjoy the hummus, though. It's been too long since I made hummus last.

Wednesday was the end of Hanukkah, and in celebration I made a Jewish-inspired meal--brisket and zucchini latkes. The brisket was good,

nice and steamy as you can see, but the star of the meal was definitely the latkes. Don't let the picture fool you. They might be the best thing I've fried so far.

I dried the zucchini enough that they stuck together really well, and I occupied myself enough while frying them that I didn't take them out too early. That seems to be my most common frying mistake. So cleaning up and doing the dishes not only made me happy as only a clean kitchen can, but made the latkes better. Classic win-win.

Since we needed a dessert, I gave The Husband the option and he picked the chocolate chip pumpkin cake. That meant he had to go to the store to get me a fluted tube pan. It was good, heavy, and it took awhile to eat, but it was good.

As you can see, despite all my best greasing efforts, only half of it successfully came out of the pan. And fluted pans are ridiculously hard to clean!

Ignoring the potential irony, I made a German-themed dinner on Wednesday. The potato salad was delicious and since in was made in the slow cooker, it was easy. And the Sauerbraten Stew was slow cooked in the oven. It was delicious and really hardy, as all German food is.

Friday night we had a church Christmas party in lew of Game Night. I made the spinach dip and the sweet potato tart. Sadly, the tart didn't set up, so it was a failure.

But the dip more than made up for it. I was smart this time and tasted it before it vanished, but so many people asked me for the recipe that I offered to just put it in the bulletin the next Sunday. It was gratifying to my ego. But it really is delicious dip.

The pita chips are excellent as well.

Saturday morning was my first attempt at cinnamon rolls from the book. I am really bad at rolling out dough into a square, so the ends of my jelly rolls are always smaller. Luckily I have a toddler, so that usually works out well to have some toddler-sized buns. I usually dispense with the nuts in recipes because of said toddler, but I really wanted to try them in these rolls. So I made a special batch with nuts just for me. They were good with just the raisins, but the nuts were heavenly.

Sadly, I never wait for the rolls to cool enough before frosting them. (What can I say, I like to eat them when they're warm.) So the frosting always ends up more of a glaze, and very gooey. It was sad, but they still tasted great, though they didn't stay soft very long. However, part of that was my fault for not putting them in a container right away.

Week 21: In Which I Can't Seem to Make it to the Store

Recipes to Go: 507 300

Weeks to Go: 52 31

Recipes Made This Week

Southwestern Soup

Ham and Cheese Sandwich Loaf

Mashed Potato 'n' Parsnip

Tomato 'n' Corn Risotto

Spaghetti Squash Supreme

Carrots and Pearl Onions

Cherry Chocolate Bark

Chunky Fruit 'n' Nut Fudge

Jumbo Pumpkin Pecan Muffins

Tastes Like Thanksgiving Casserole

Monday I was planning to go to the store, but after unpacking and cleaning up, it didn't seem to happen, so I put together the Southwestern Soup with things I had on hand. It was pretty typical for a southwestern soup. Which means we loved it.

I managed to make it to the local grocery store on Tuesday to pick up the necessities, but I still didn't even have a menu planned for the week. Luckily, I remembered that there was another tasty sandwich recipes, so I picked up a loaf of Italian bread.

On Wednesday, I made the Ham and Cheese Sandwich Loaf and the Mashed Potatoes 'n' Parsnip.

I used a leftover sweet potato and red potatoes to make the mashed potatoes. It was sweet and fillings. So was the sandwich. We have all become fans of the hollowed, stuffed and baked sandwiches.

Thursday rolled around, and I still hadn't gone to the store, so I put together the Tomato and Corn Risotto. I used Orzo pasta instead of Arborito rice. It took a long time to coax it into absorbing the liquid, and I didn't get all of it in, but it was still ridiculously good. This was another recipe we argued over for the leftovers.

Friday came and I got my act together and drove the 30 minutes to the decent grocery store in my area. As a result, we had Spaghetti Squash Supreme on Friday with Carrots and Pearl Onions. Spaghetti squash was so easy to cut and carve. I was expecting something as hard as the butternut squash and pumpkin, but it only had a thin skin.

The casserole was more watery than I was expecting and needed a little salt. It was good, but not my favorite recipe so far.

The carrots and pearl onions were tasty. That was probably because there was bacon in it. And we all know, bacon makes things tasty. That's why it's a major taste vitamin.

Unfortunately, the only pearl onions I could find were pickled, so there was a strong vinegar flavor to the whole dish. The Husband enjoyed this, The Captain did not. He did eat the carrots, though which was huge for him. I would love to try this again with non-pickled pearl onions.

I made fudge and Cherry Chocolate Bark for Game Night on Friday. I've never made fudge before. I don't normally like it with nuts, to say nothing of fruit, but I liked this a lot. I did get worried making it that I was going to cook it too long, or that it was never going to set, but it did. And it was lovely. And it made a huge amount, so I gave half of it away on Game Night. Our friends who came over had family coming the next day and I was happy to help them out with there dessert needs.

I was unable to find cherry extract in the store, but I did find peppermint, so that substitution was a good decision. I am pretty much in love with peppermint. I'll take it over cherry any day. This bark was also a first for me, and the base layer set up too fast for me to do a good marbling effect on the top. I've never been good at marbling. I'm not sure how much more practice I'll get in this book, but I'll try to keep working on it after this year. Because I think you eat with your eyes first and it's important to have pretty looking desserts.

Saturday morning, I made the Pumpkin Muffins. I don't have giant muffin tins, so they were just regular sized. They weren't too memorable, but they made a good breakfast for the next week.

The Tastes like Thanksgiving Casserole was delicious. I used chicken instead of turkey, so it didn't really really taste like Thanksgiving, however it was delicious.

The Captain loved it, and we ate it for days.

Week 20: Happy Thanksgiving

Recipes to Go: 507 310

Weeks to Go: 52 32

Recipes Made This Week

Turkey Enchiladas

Apple & Herb Roasted Turkey

Double Corn Dressing

Rosemary Mashed Potatoes

Texas Pecan Pie

Simple Lemon Pie

Eggnog Pumpkin Pie

I included the Pre-Thanksgiving Day Feast recipes in the count this week, so you don't start questioning my math skills.

We were lucky enough this year to be close enough to family to spend the holiday with them. It was still a 6 hour drive, and The Husband didn't have any days before Thanksgiving off, so we left in time to make it late Wednesday night. For me this meant that I wanted to have all my recipes made before we left. So rather than getting to relax after the feast, I charged ahead making pies and enchiladas.

Actually, I made those Tuesday so we could have a nice dinner before we left. And lucky me, it made a ton, so we stuck them in the fridge and voila! dinner was waiting for us when we arrived home at dinnertime on Sunday. It was marvelous. And the dinner was great, too.

So I made pies and pies on Tuesday. I didn't eat much of the pumpkin pie. I tried it, but it wasn't nearly as amazing as the streusel-topped one from our feast, so it mostly sat around feeling sorry for itself.

The pecan was really good. I'm glad I didn't use all 2 cups of corn syrup. I was planning on it, but I only ended up with 1/2 cup of light. And I figured there was enough other sugar in it that no one would notice. And no one did. In fact, I would venture to say that the missing half cup contributed to its success. Pecan pie is normally so sweet and rich that it's hard to eat a lot of it. This was wasn't as bad, so it was gobbled up.

The lemon pie was my favorite. And it was disgustingly simple. Plus it was from the Eating Lighter section, so it wasn't stuffed with sugar like most pies. I found the light lemon flavor and the light texture of this pie was exactly what I craved after all the heavy Thanksgiving food. So I ate most of this pie.

The stuffing was nice because it was pretty easy as well, and despite my normal ambivalence towards stuffing, I was drawn to this again and again because it had really good flavor. Plus, because it called for red and green peppers it was very colorful and looked great on the plate.

This turkey was much more successful as far as appearance went. And we got enough drippings to make gravy. It was very tasty, but I didn't notice a huge difference between it and other turkeys I've had.

The mashed potatoes were great, probably because I used Alton Brown's method rather than the recipe's. And despite the fact that I don't really like rosemary, I loved these. Go figure.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I was in a turkey comma all weekend. So here are some pictures from my niece who stole my camera instead. I call this series "The Bag"

Pre-Thanksgiving Day Feast

Our 5th annual Pre-Thanksgiving Day Feast was a huge success. Every year I get a little stressed out with planning and executing and feeling like I'm the only one who cares, and I wonder why I do this every year. Then people come and we have a great time, and I think everything is worth it.

This year, due partially to my growing experience in planning weekly menus and partially due to luck, I managed not only to make 10 recipes for an early dinner (for us, it was 4 this year instead of 6), but to keep the kitchen in pristine condition. That has never happened before.

Recipes Made for Today

Grilled Apple-Brined Turkey

Mango Cranberry Sauce

Bubbly Cranberry Punch

Pilgrim Hat Cookies

Ginger-Streusel Pumpkin Pie

Lemonade Meringue Pie

Festive Cranberry Topped Cheesecake

Everything was done with plenty of time, except the turkey. It just always takes longer than I think it will, and we had a function that night, which was why we had dinner early, and we stuck it in right after church, which was done at noon, so it had as much time as we could give it. We carved the breast and stuck it back in the oven. After cleaning it all up, we realized that it actually probably didn't need the extra time. It had been marinating for a day and a half and was just super moist. So moist in fact, that we had no drippings for gravy. It just held on to every bit of moisture. Which is what made it so delicious. We didn't get to grill it, but we are planning on getting a grill, so maybe next year. This was worth not having any room in my fridge for two days.

The Pilgrim Hat Cookies were too cute and easy not to use for table decorations. We put them on the roll plate along with an autumn leaf we collected back in September. We pressed them in a book and wrote people's names on them for place cards. It was cute, but I need a thicker sharpie and note for next year, yellow leaves are easier to read than red. Though they made nice table decorations.

The cranberry punch was amazing. I think that got the most comments that were consistently good. And it was super easy. Those two things (the punch and the cookies) were just about the only things I had to make on Sunday. And I will probably be using these again and again as well.

As you can see the food spread was pretty amazing.

Everyone was so generous with their offerings, and between nice guests and my husband I think I only did 3 dishes.

Here's a close up:

This one has my pies in it.

I think the pumpkin pie I made might be the best pumpkin pie I've ever had. And the cheesecake was also amazing. I loved the cranberry topping and it was an extra creamy cheesecake because The Husband was doing the grocery run for me on Saturday when I was making all the pies, and I ran out of eggs before he got back, so I just let the Kitchenaid keep creaming until he got back. It was only 10 minutes or so, but it made a big difference. The lemonade meringue was a dismal failure, but the other two made up for it, I think. Plus, The Husband made his Banana Cream, so there was plenty of pie.

So in addition to the 7 recipes from the book, I also made my corn bread sausage stuffing, which I learned is a very Southern tradition. Everyone was impressed that I knew about corn bread stuffing, but thanks to the internet, I've been a fan for awhile. I'm glad I can pass off as Southern occasionally.

I also made sweet potatoes in the slow cooker, and my Grandma's fruit salad, which is the dish that holds the most Thanksgiving memories for me.

Well, we had the most people over that we've ever had. Next year we'll have to get more chairs. And everyone enjoyed themselves, including The Captain who got to have 2 cups of punch. Ask him if he's happy about that.

Week 19: Ready for Thanksgiving

Recipes to Go: 507 324

Weeks to Go: 52 33

Recipes Made This Week

Cowboy Beef Dip

Bavarian Pork Loin

Fiesta Chicken Chowder

No-Bones Chicken Wing Dip

Savory Pumpkin Ravioli

Rustic Autumn Fruit Tart

Fruit-Nut Pumpkin Bread

Mexicorn Grits

The Cowboy Beef Dip was very good and very spicy. We had a bit of an adventure trying to find mexicorn, luckily I have the internet on my phone, so I could Google image search for it in the store and find the equivalent store brand. Handy, since I needed it not only for this recipe, but for the Mexicorn Grits on Saturday. While this was fine as a main dish, but I probably should have made something else, because I think it makes a much better side dish.

I needed to use the rest of the sauerkraut in my fridge, so I made the Bavarian Pork Loin. The pork was nothing spectacular, in fact, it was a little dry, but the rest of the stuff in the slow cooker was amazing.

The apples, especially. I couldn't get The Captain to eat them, though. He wouldn't believe that they were apples. It took all week to get him to try them, then he loved them as much as we did.

The Fiesta Chicken Chowder was good, a fairly typical southwest soup. But it gave me the opportunity to use the rest of my brown rice. I don't normally buy brown rice, being a jasmine rice eater myself, so it was nice to not have leftovers.

I don't normally think to add rice to my soups, maybe this will help me remember. This soup was very spicy, which means The Captain really liked it. It stored really well in the fridge, except for the chicken, which got a little chewy, sadly.

The No-Bones Chicken Wing Dip was good, but again, I should have made something else, too. While The Captain was happy to eat nothing but condiments and a little chicken, I missed something else to eat. And I found out that The Husband doesn't like blue cheese, which was a big flavor aspect of the dip.

So, I finally found a baking pumpkin, and again, I was supposed to peel and cube it. Well, after pretty much the same routine--cooking it, only to puree it, I will next time just cook it in the oven. So this was the first time I've ever made my own pasta. I was really worried since I don't have any pasta making equipment or attachments for my Kitchenaid. But the dough was really easy to work with and really easy to roll out. Overall, I was quite impressed with myself. Although, the stuffing needed a little more salt, and I overcooked the pasta a little. Also, because it looked different, I couldn't get The Captain to try it. And he's normally such a fan of pasta . . .

The Rustic Fruit Tart was divine. It really did taste autumny with apples and pears and pumpkin pie spices.

The dough had cream cheese in it, so you know that was good. It turned out beautifully. And because no one came to Game Night again, we got to enjoy it all.

Saturday morning we made Fruit-Nut Pumpkin Bread . . . without the nuts. It was delicious, but one loaf fell, and the other loaf fell apart when I tried to take it out of the pan.

We still enjoyed it for breakfast all week long. I will definitely try this one again. The crust was so nice.

For dinner that night, I made the Mexicorn Grits. I've never tried grits before.

They were a lot like cous-cous. The Captain really liked them. Other then the excessive butter used (I will more than half that next time) it was delicious, and was possibly better as leftovers.

The best thing was that I got to make all of this and still make the stuff for a hugely successful Pre-Thanksgiving Day Feast.