Thanksgiving Cheese

So we had an excellent Thanksgiving feast, with Glynne's pork ragout, Eric's fabulous family rolls, a nice green salad, green and black olives (we have pictures of olive fingers as soon as we get them on the computer), yam and apple casserole (another Eric favorite), and some lovely cheese and crackers.

Someday Eric will post roll pictures and recipe, but this time they turned out super fluffy and therefore less crescent-y than usual so he feels this batch isn't good enough for pictures. Meh.

So I really wanted to mention the cheese. We had Masdaam smoked gouda and Beehive cajun cheddar, which I'm pretty sure I've written about before. Our third cheese was Carr Valley crema kasa--I picked it up the night before Thanksgiving to round out our cheese plate (leaving Eric to continue my online scrabble with mom--she destroyed us! *sigh*). I'm pretty sure it's this but ours had bright blue wax that really impressed the kids. This was really good eatin' cheese--if you've ever had butterkase it's like that but creamier. If you've never had butterkase, itls like a cross between creamy havarti and edam. Great for munching with crackers.

Carrot & Pineapple Jell-O Salad

MOM'SCARROT & PINEAPPLE JELL-O SALAD

NOTE: I learned to make this Jell-0 salad from your grandmother Munroe (mymother).  Jell-0 salads were very popular when I was growing up andthis was the one she always made for Thanksgiving.   I made the changeto cranberry when Jell-0 began producing a cranberry flavor. When itbecame unavailable, I simply started using cranberry juice in placeof the cold water called for in making Jell-0.

1   large (6-oz.) or 2 small (3-oz.) boxes of orange Jell-O

1   cup shredded carrots(approximate measure)

1   cup crushed pineapple,drained (more if you like)

1   cups cranberry juice (use in place of cold water in mixing the Jell-O)

1   tablespoon applecider vinegar

1   teaspoon salt

Dissolve Jell-O in 1 ¾cups boiling water. Add the cranberry juice, vinegar, and salt. Stir in the carrots and pineapple. Chill until set.

NOTE:At other times of the year, I make this salad using cold waterinstead of cranberry juice. Another variation would be to combineorange and lemon Jell-O. Sometimes, I use pineapple chunks ortidbits, drained. I used the juice as part of the cold water to beadded.  Being diabetic, Dad and I now substitute sugar free Jell-O and use "Diet Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice."

Corn Bread - Mom's

MOM'S CORN BREAD RECIPE

Albers® Corn Bread

(Makes 12 servings) 

This moist corn bread can be served with salads, soups, stews, chilies, or southern fried chicken. Try it toasted and spread with butter and jam in the morning.

• 1 cup Albers® White or Yellow Corn Meal    *Mom always uses yellow! 
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.
COMBINE meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Combine milk, oil and egg in small bowl; mix well. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until blended. Pour into prepared pan.
BAKE for 20 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm.
NOTE Recipe may be doubled. Use greased 13x9-inch baking pan; bake as above.


FOR MUFFINS:
SPOON batter into 10 to 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. Bake in preheated 400°F oven for 15 minutes.

Corn Bread Stuffing - Mom's

Thanksgiving at theWalleys !

Read this and you will know why the recipe is called "Grandma Helen's"!  As you read, be sure to follow my notes.

Friday,November 18, 2011, Glynne posted on my facebook wall, “CanI get your Thanksgiving stuffing recipe? I think you gave it to meyears ago, but I can't find it.”

Havinginsomnia, I read that about midnight and had a good chuckle. When Itold Dad the next morning, he laughed and said, “Whatrecipe?”

Exactly!

OnSaturday, this was my response to Glynne's question: “Uh Oh!!! That would be the stuffing that has no recipe - the one Ilearned by helping my mother! The Japanese curry that you and Dadmake is pretty much learned the same way - by doing. However, I willspend some time giving instructions as best I can tomorrow (Sunday).Glad you asked - how flattering to me and your grandmother Munroe."

ThanJoanna said, “Ooh,put it on the food blog. I think we'd all like the tips. :)”

Glynneand I had a nice chat last night (Sunday) about how I make thestuffing and I think I gave him enough guidelines that he new what tobuy at the grocery store. I had planned to give what directions Icould on the family food blog yesterday but didn't feel well in theevening and put it off until today. I'm glad that I did because,after I talked with Glynne, I finally got around to reading ParadeMagazinefrom our Sunday paper and, lo and behold, there was a recipe in itthat is very helpful in giving you approximate amounts for thestuffing.

SO – HERE GOES!!!

Grandma Helen's CornBread Stuffing

by: ElizabethMitchell

Photo by: Kat Keutsch forPARADE

In my family (ElizabethMitchell), we've cooked turkey every which way, but we alwaysmake Grandma Helen's stuffing. It tastes like home, and I crave itall year long. Thanksgiving just wouldn't be the same without it.

ingredients:

1½ (8-inch square) panscorn bread *About the same amount I use
4 slicesItalian bread with sesame seeds, torn into very small pieces *Iuse regular bread or usually a prepackaged bag of herbed stuffingmix, usually Pepperidge Farm
4 hard-boiled eggs (use just2 of the whites), mashed *I've never heard of this but I do addone or two raw eggs after I'm done tasting and before putting in abaking pan
1 tsp seasoned salt *I salt to taste
1/4tsp white pepper *I pepper to taste with black pepper
1Tbsp chopped sage *I do add sage seasoning totaste.....probably about the same amount
1 cup choppedparsley *I've never used parsley but it might be worth a try
21/2 cups chopped celery *I probably use one to twocups.....depends on taste
1 cup chopped Spanish onion*Perhaps a little more........yellow onion.....we loveonions
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, divided *Iuse a similar amount but melted and included in the dressing
1(14-oz) can chicken or turkey broth *Dad cooks the giblets! Heand the dog eat the heart, liver, and gizzard........ugh! He pullsand shreds meat from the neck and adds it to the dressing. We usethe broth that's left from this to add to the dressing and then addcanned broth if we need more moisture. Beyond that, water can beadded if need be.

directions:

1. Crumble corn bread into a largebowl; combine with Italian bread pieces. Add mashed egg yolks andwhites. Sprinkle with seasoned salt, white pepper, sage, and parsley.Toss gently to mix. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Setaside.

2. Sauté celery and onion in ½ cupbutter until soft.

3. Add onion and celeryto bread mixture and toss. Pour in most of broth and mix well. Addmore if mixture seems dry.

4. Grease a9-by-13-inch baking pan with 1 Tbsp butter. Transfer stuffing topan. Lightly moisten with more broth if needed. Dot top with rest ofbutter.

5. Bake at 325°F for 30 to 40minutes, until browned on top, or stuff in a turkey and cook untildone.

Elizabeth's Tips:

• When my grandmother makes this stuffing, she tops it with little bits of butter, which then melts.
• Grandma Helen makes her corn bread with white cornmeal, not yellow.
• Mix wet and dry ingredients gently with your hands or a large fork to keep the stuffing light

MOM'SNotes!!!

1. I don't use boiled eggs. I use black pepper. I haven't ever used parsley but it might be good. I do add Poultry Seasoning in addition to the Sage.........to taste.
2. I do not saute' the celery and onion..........just add it after chopping in the food processor.
3. I use PAM to grease the pan. I've never dotted butter on top or added both at that stage..........you might want to experiment.
4. Usually I bake at 350ºF for about an hour.........until a knife comes out fairly clean as in testing a cake.

Webake a pan of dressing in the morning and eat it hot out of the ovenat lunch.....with cranberry sauce. Leftover cornbread, too. Howmuch cornbread and dressing we make depends on how many people we'llfeed and how much we want to eat aside from the actual Thanksgivingmeal. Leftover dressing sometimes gets frozen at our house to besliced and fried later on. We sometimes add it to Dad's turkey soup.

Idon't know what else I can tell you but you can always call with anyquestions. Good luck! I am also posting my standard cornbreadrecipe.........the one you grew up eating. However, we often useJiffy mix cornbread nowadays.

Bread maker question

We're thinking of buying a bread machine. We don't have one. We're kind of snooty about bread - we love yuppie bakeries, of which we have a plethora here in the 'Gene. But at the same time there's nothing like fresh and homemade, or at least so say our cocooning instincts.

So my question to those of you who have bread machines is: are they worth it? Does the bread that comes out of it satisfy a snooty bread eater? Can you make the same variety of bread in one that you can get in a yuppie bakery? (Sourdough? Seedy? Olive bread? Potato-flour bread? Etc.?) Is it cheaper to get the ingredients and make it in a bread machine than to buy a loaf from a yuppie bakery?

Any advice on makes and features?

Anadama Bread

So! I decided to surprise Cherilyn with an unusual new homemade bread when she came home! One problem, the flour and yeast were in the fridge and did not have time to get to room temp. So I attempted to gently heat said flour and yeast. I unfortunately burnt some flour, leaving a burnt popcorn like smell in the house...

End result is the bread machine got opened in attempt to locate the smell. This was during the second rise cycle, so I took the bread out, had it rise the old fashioned way, and put it in the oven. The only problem was this as a 1.5 lb loaf recipe, and I had only one loaf pan. You see what came out. =D

Despite looking like a potato or Super Mario Bro's mushroom, it was quite tasty!

According to Wiki, the name of this bread is a bit of a legend, originating from Massachusetts fishing communities. Anna kept feeding her husband cornmeal and molasses and he got mad one day and, while adding flour and salt, said Anna damn it, quit feeding me this stuff! The townspeople decided to bake it, it was yummy and the name and legend were born!
(Bad paraphrasing care of yours truly!)

Bread machine recipe:
1 1/2 lb version:
1 1/2C water
1/4 C dark molasses
3 Tbsp shortening
3 C bread flour (I used all purpose, worked fine)
1/2 C corn meal
3/4 t salt
1 t yeast.

Add according to your bread machine instructions. :)

Bread and Stuff

Hello, everyone! Being a student-teacher means I am away from home a lot and it is a little hard to make myself cook good food. Recently however, the change in the weather has been somewhat inspiring and I have been using the oven a lot. I baked bread (which is a new hobby of mine since the spring) and made my first apple pie. I also have been doing some cool things with vegetables. I will include my favorite bread recipe in the near future but seeing as it is somewhat detailed and I am at school right now without my bread cookbook, I am going to stick with the veg for the time being:

Impromptu Roasted Vegetables:

1/2 bag pre-chopped mirepoix or equal parts chopped onion, celery, and carrots

A generous amount of fresh cauliflower (how much depends on how much you like it!)

1 zucchini sliced into 1/2" thick chunks or whatever really

1 yellow squash - make it match your zuch

A big handful of cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half

A big pinch of dried thyme

A drizzle of oil (olive or other kind of cooking oil)

Salt

Throw all of your stuff into a glass or ceramic baking dish and chuck your salt and thyme on it. Drizzle the whole mess with some oil and toss it all together with a spoon. Don't stress about this part, just try to get a little flavor and salt on everything. Roast in a 350 degree oven for about half an hour ti 45 min. depending on how dark you want the stuff. Eat. This works really nicely over some rice cooked with bullion or even spaghetti with parm and a bit of garlic. I got a pre-cut bag of mirepoix at wegman's because it was ten thousand percent easier for me than to actually cut the stuff because I am rather crunched for time these days :) Pre-cut or not, it was shocking the amount of flavor the carrots, onions, and celery contributed so don't skip them.

Suffed Peppers:

I made stuffed peppers for the first time about two weeks ago and I liked how they turned out so I thought I'd share what I did. I took them in a tex-mex sort of direction and that was nice.

3 bell peppers cleaned, tops removed, seeds and ribs removed

1.5 cups rice (cooked. I used leftovers)

1 tray ground chicken

1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies

1 generous pinch of chipotle powder

pinch of garlic powder

salt to taste

cilantro - I used the stuff that comes pureed in a tube. I like to keep it on hand.

1 packed Sazon de Goya (i used the kind with saffron: con azafran!)

Brown your chicken with the packet of Goya seasoning. Microwave your rice if it was refrigerated so that it isn't glued together in one big mass because you have to mix it with stuff. Drain your can of tomatoes (this part is sad because the juice is good but it's just too much liquid for this particular recipe) and mix them into your rice. Throw your chicken in there with some salt, some garlic, and however much chipotle you think you can handle, chuck some cilantro in there too. Stir it until you think you have a fairly well integrated mixture and spoon it generously into your pepper shells. I had them sitting in a glass baking dish. If they don't stand up on their own, slice a little off the bottom of eat pepper to make a flat surface. Bake in a 350 degree oven until the tops look nice and brown. The baking is really to your liking since everything is pre-cooked or edible raw. I just went with my gut and took them out after about 45 min. Enjoy :)

New Foods! Yay! Cracker Edition

We've been into Triscuits Thin Crisps lately. The Chile Pepper flavor is nice and not too spicy--it goes great with any kind of mild cheese. We also just tried the Four Cheese flavor and really liked it. They're good just by themselves, too.

We also tried mimolette cheese yesterday, which I'm pretty sure Glynne blogged about. I'm pretty sure Glynne described it as a cross between cheddar and parmesan, and if he didn't he should have because that's totally what it's like. We shredded it and put it on crostinis. It was really good with tomatoes. I highly recommend this one.

Pork ragout

Yet another slow cooker recipe, from the book. We've been using the slow cooker a lot this fall. Not only is the chilly rainy Oregon winter the kind of thing that makes you crave cocooning food, but I have an evening class, and by the time we get home, if there's not something waiting we end up doing takeout. So: slow cooker.

Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 pound of boneless pork chops
1/4 cup flour
3 tbsp cooking oil
1 and 1/4 cup white wine (don't worry, the alcohol cooks out)
1 pound or so baby red potatoes
1 large carrot or 10-12 baby carrots
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes
1 red onion
2 celery stalks
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
salt

Note: amounts of pork, potatoes, and carrots can be adjusted up or down according to how much your cooker holds, how many people you're cooking for, and how many days you want to eat this.

1. Cut pork into 1-inch cubes. Toss in the flour.

2. Heat the oil in a pan and brown the pork. When the pork is brown, transfer it to the slow cooker, but don't scrape the bottom of the frying pan. The pork should be concentrated in the center of the cooker.

3. Add wine to the frying pan and bring it to a boil, scraping up the flour, oil, and browned bits in the pan. Pour this mix into the slow cooker.

4. Slice the potatoes (unpeeled) into quarters and place them around the pork, up against the sides of the cooker. Slice carrots and add to the cooker.

5. Chop red onion extremely fine - it's best if you use a food processor and chop it until it's almost (but not quite) liquefied. Add to slow cooker.

6. Chop celery extremely fine - again, food processor is best, until almost (but not quite) liquefied. Add to slow cooker.

7. Add diced tomatoes (and the liquid in the can).

8. Add water, garlic, black pepper, and a pinch of salt. Add the cinnamon stick and make sure it's submerged in the liquid.

9. Cook on low for 6 hours or so. Remove cinnamon stick before serving.

Notes: You can do this without browning the pork (I did that the first time I made it), but browning it makes a big difference: it keeps the pork moist inside and adds a great flavor to the outside. But the real secret to this (which I only discovered because I'm lazy) turned out to be using the food processor to chop the onion and celery: rather than being pieces floating in the soup, they ended up being a component of the broth - and you wouldn't think wine, cinnamon, and celery would work together, but they really do. ...I found that adding salt when you eat this really brings out the flavor, but Akiko thought it was better without, so I suggest making it with only a pinch of salt at most and then seasoning to taste. Goes best when served with some nice crusty bread for dipping.

Coconut Marshmallow Kit-Kat Confectionary Creation!

Kibo's Kitty Cat Cage Playpen

So, a couple of weeks ago I was outside building Kibo's Kitty Cage Playpen (see photo) and Dena was grilling hamburgers (with Reese's help). Unbeknownst to me, she was also cooking up a confectionary delight in the form of a lightly toasted coconut marshmallow with a piece of Kit Kat poked in the middle. The result was unbelievably delicious!

Jamaican Jonkanoo Pepper Sauce

Walkerswood 'seriously hot' Jamaican Jonkanoo Pepper Sauce!

Not for the faint of heart!

We bought this at an unexpected venture into an Afro-Caribbean grocery we happened upon. It is hot!
Scotch Bonnet Pepper hot!

Dena doesn't need to use Sudafed to clear her sinuses, hot!

Yummy stuff!! =D

Salmon & Texas Caviar

First of all, the salmon was my addition. I bought some and thought it would go well with this recipe, so I did so! The 'caviar' is supposed to be served with tortilla chips, salsa style.
I made two versions of the caviar- a Cherilyn safe version, and a Dena version. The Cherilyn version is as the recipe came, except I substituted powered garlic due to her allergy. My version had the addition of an habanero pepper and I used roasted minced garlic.

Salmon:
I use my Asian stir fry oil for fish, as I have learned the sesame/peanut/olive oil blend does better at the hotter temps used in pan frying or grilling than olive oil does. I've actually been told not to try to use EEOO for frying, as it breaks down too easily.

Thus my salmon fillet was pan friend with my stir fry oil and grated lemon peel, thyme, and a bit of rosemary. Once one side was browned, I flipped it and browned the other side. This allowed me to easily peal the skin off and serve it in a more diner friendly manner.

I flaked the salmon and served it alongside the caviar and chips.

Texas Caviar (according to the back of the Market Pantry bag of black eyed peas)

1/2lb black eyed peas, soaked, rinsed and drained
1/2 C Italian salad dressing (I used Fat Free Zesty Italian)
2 Tomatoes, diced
1/2 C bell pepper, diced (I used an orange one, great color)
1/2 C diced onion (I used white to try to minimize it for Cherilyn)
2-3 jalapeños, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt to taste
tortilla chips

Combine all ingredients except tortilla chips, refrigerate until chilled. Serve with tortilla chips.

Note to reduce negative side effects of bean consumption:
1) Do the full 6-8 hour soak and change the water mid-soak, rinsing the beans when you swap the water.
2) Add a small amount of vinegar tot he soak water.
3) Rinse the beans thoroughly after the final soak.
It may not prevent the problem all together, but it should prevent the malodorous aspect of it!

Chicken Tropicale

Another from our crock-pot cookbook, which worked without major modification.

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes
1 parsnip
1 can (8 oz) sliced water chestnuts
1 cup golden raisins
1 20-oz can pineapple tidbits in juice, drained, with juice reserved
2 to 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (depending on size of breasts, size of cooker, number of people)
4 tsp Jamaican jerk seasoning
1/4 cup dried onion flakes
3 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp grated lime peel
1tsp cumin seed, crushed
wild rice

1. Cut your sweet potatoes into 1 to 2 inch cubes and put in slow cooker.

2. Peel your parsnip and cut into 1 inch cubes or rounds and put in slow cooker.

3. Drain the water chestnuts and add to slow cooker.

4. Add raisins and pineapple tidbits (without juice). Stir.

5. Sprinkle jerk seasoning on chicken. Lay chicken breasts on top of potato-parsnip-fruit mixture. Do not submerge.

6. In a bowl, combine pineapple juice, onion flakes, ginger, W sauce, lime peel, and cumin. Pour this mixture over the chicken. The liquid should filter down to the potatoes, while the ginger, onion flakes, lime peel, and crushed cumin should sit on top of the chicken breasts, to mix with the jerk seasoning.

7. Cover and cook on low 7-9 hours or high 3-4 hours, until everything's tender.

8. Serve with wild rice.

The result should be a nicely seasoned and tender potato-parsnip-water chestnut-pineapple stew, and chicken breasts that are basically roasted rather than simmered, with the ginger-lime peel- cumin mixture turning into almost a crust on top of them. Real, real good, especially with the wild rice. The water chestnuts, by the way, are the surprise ingredient that really makes the dish, to my mind.