Filed under Holiday …

Nov 25 2011
4 Comments
Holiday

Thanksgiving 2011

Planning for Thanksgiving 2011 began a few weeks ago when Matt and I decided to stay in Saint Paul for the weekend.  Actually it was in the works prior to that because we’d decided that even if we went to Wisconsin or Iowa to celebrate with our families, we’d cook a second Thanksgiving dinner ourselves.  A little ambitious?  Yes.  Also ambitious: cooking nine dishes for two people.  That’s why I made sweet potato casserole and spinach balls to eat during the week leading up to Thanksgiving, so I’d only have to make seven things for Thanksgiving day.  It’s called being sensible.  Did I mention that I also made two pies for two people?  It’s not Thanksgiving without options, is it?  It’s also not Thanksgiving without a few blunders, which is why I made sure to slice a couple of fingers, burn my arm, burn the last of my pecans that were destined for a last-minute pecan tart, and buy a bag full of moldy chestnuts from Trader Joe’s.  This year I am thankful for generous return policies.  I am also thankful for great food, a boyfriend who insists on taking a bite of turkey heart before consuming the rest of the bird, and a wonderful family a safe distance away.  Just kidding!  We missed you all very much!

To prepare for our feast, I scoured many a cooking magazine, cookbook, and food blog as well as the family recipe collection in search of the perfect menu.  To prevent myself from losing my mind, I made a master list where I kept track of all of the recipes that I planned to use, their sources, and all of the ingredients that they required.  From there, I crossed off the ingredients that I already had and made a grocery list with the rest.  Then I went to about five grocery stores (some of them twice) over the course of a few days, and I was ready to cook.

WEDNESDAY

The first dish: Apple Cider Cream Pie.  Also on the agenda: drying out a few loaves of Rustica bread for stuffing.

Next: Cranberry Jello Salad.

And after taking a musical break, salting the bird.

THURSDAY

Draping the turkey in butter-and-cider-and-sage-soaked cheesecloth just before sticking it in the oven.

Rolls and stuffing in progress, and a smoky porter to keep me going.

The beginning of something delicious.

Fuel.

Stuffing prep.

More stuffing prep.

Basting.

Potato prep.

Turkey!  We did it!

My timing was a bit off on the rolls, so they grew and grew and grew before baking, but they were still fluffy and delicious.

Carving the juicy bird.

Quality control.

The spread.

Recipes:

Dessert:

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Mar 02 2011
5 Comments
Holiday

Twenty Eight

In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, I came up with an alternate title to this post: One Cake, Two Cake, Root Beer Cake, Chocolate Cake.

In honor of my own birthday, I baked myself a root beer chocolate cake.

On today’s agenda:

  • Wake up to -2 air temperature and a frozen glass of water on the windowsill
  • Go out for good coffee and work on the crossword from The Onion
  • Listen to my mom talk about crossing the street to walk on the sunny side in 70-degree Miami & wonder how my parents forgot to buy me a plane ticket
  • Wander through a kitchen store
  • Free birthday yoga class
  • Macaron baking with girlfriends
  • Dinner with boyfriend
  • Birthday cake!

Recipe coming soon!

Feb 15 2011
2 Comments
31 in 2011, Chicken, Holiday

Fried Chicken + Sides

Until yesterday I was pretty much indifferent to Valentine’s Day.  I was happy to celebrate it if I had a reason to celebrate, but I was never one to make a big deal out of not having a reason to celebrate.  Fancy dates on a pressure-filled night are totally not my style, and neither are anti-Valentine’s parties.  Wearing a little pink or red, eating seasonal candy, and digging into a slice of Chocolate Chip Applesauce Cake from my mom’s annual Valentine’s Day package are definitely my style, though.  I’m all for being festive and eating good food, but I’m not into celebrations fueled by pressure and high expectations.

Until yesterday I was also indifferent to fried chicken, which stems from the fact that I have never had real fried chicken.  I should mention that I don’t count chicken strips from fast food restaurants or anything from a grocery store deli case as real fried chicken.  Mass produced, reconstituted blobs of chicken-y stuff and pieces of chicken encased in a cold, soggy coating cannot be what fried chicken is all about.  My boyfriend disagrees and tries to tell me that fried chicken is like pizza; there’s good pizza, mediocre pizza, and bad pizza, but it’s all pizza.  I’m sticking to my story: I have been living a fried-chicken-free existence for the last 27 (almost 28!) years.  And then last night happened…

Fried chicken might not be the most traditional choice for a Valentine’s Day dinner, but it was an inexpensive choice, it sounded good, and it’s on my list of 31 things to make in 2011.  It was without a doubt the right choice.  This was the best meal we’ve ever made.  Thanks to my wonderful valentine and our delicious dinner of salty fried chicken, crunchy slaw, bacon-infused greens, crispy potatoes, and a sour beer to balance it all out, I am no longer indifferent to either Valentine’s Day or fried chicken.  Standing over a pot of three hundred and forty degree safflower oil might not sound all that romantic, but I couldn’t have asked for a better February 14th.

The Menu

Dipping and dredging the chicken while the oil heats up

Sizzling chicken

Proud/amazed/hungry

I’m clearly not an expert in the area of fried chicken, but I thought the results were fantastic.  It was salty and crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside.

Is it wrong to eat a piece of fried chicken as an appetizer while you’re cooking the rest of the bird?  Not if it’s in the name of quality control.

This fresh, crunchy slaw went really well with the salty chicken.

[1/2 head of cabbage, 1 carrot, a few scallions + 1/2 jalapeño, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 tbsp Dijon mustard, 1 tbsp lime juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt & pepper]

The collards were not quite as refreshing as the slaw (and we could have been less heavy-handed with the bacon), but they were still delicious.

[1 or 2 strips of bacon, chopped and sautéed until starting to crisp + 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced + 1 bunch of collard greens, stems removed and chopped, leaves cut into strips (sauté the stems with the bacon + garlic for a few minutes, then add the leaves and cook until soft) + a little chicken broth to loosen up the pan bits + salt + pepper]

Crispy potatoes for a completely unnecessary (but tasty) non-veggie side + most of the chicken.  The blurriness of this photo is due to my excitement over what we just cooked and that we were about to eat it.

I ate every last bite on my plate and then realized that I was too full to take off my elastic-waisted skirt to put on sweatpants.  After a few minutes of cleaning up the kitchen I was able to make the switch, and I immediately found my way to the couch where we (fittingly?) watched two episodes of one of the greatest shows on television, Heavy.

Thirty minutes later, I somehow managed to eat a couple of chocolate covered strawberries.  What a night.

[Melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips in a bowl, dip strawberries in the chocolate, place them on wax paper, and cool in the refrigerator]

Jan 01 2011
4 Comments
Holiday

1-1-11

Happy New Year!

Our plans for a low-key New Year’s Eve at home came to an abrupt halt when Matt got sick, so the steaks and lobster tails that we’d rushed around to pick up yesterday morning remained in the fridge and I was forced to singlehandedly eat a quarter of a wheel of brie wrapped in puff pastry.  In other words, my night was off to a pretty decent start.

After the brie I ate even more cheese, this time mixed into risotto.  I didn’t feel too guilty for eating so much cheese knowing that if things would have gone according to the original plan, I would have been chasing it all with butter-soaked lobster.  Or, if things would have gone according to Matt’s original plan, we would have been eating nothing more than steak, lobster, and risotto.  Who needs vegetables when you have steak and lobster?

To keep it feeling like a celebration I stuck to my plan of wearing my sequin skirt, even if it was paired with Snooki slippers.

 

2011 Resolutions

I’m not usually one for making New Year’s resolutions, but as I was cooking yesterday I came up with a few that I’m pretty excited about.  Resolutions to lose weight or to exercise seven days a week aren’t really my style, but resolutions centered on eating (as long as it’s not followed by the word “less”) are totally my style.  I decided to share them in case you want to use them, too.  I set the bar pretty low, so they’re all manageable, but I always have the option to do more than the bare minimum.

  • Try one new restaurant each month.  I have a growing list of restaurants that I want to try, but I also have a habit of running to the nearest Chipotle instead of trying new places.  Hopefully this results in eating a lot of good food as well as finding some new go-to places.
  • Make something new from one of my cookbooks each month.  I have a bookshelf full of cookbooks, many of which I rarely use.  I need to either use them or get rid of them, and forcing myself to use them should make the process of whittling down my collection easier.
  • Use one new ingredient each month.  There are a lot of things that I’ve eaten at restaurants or read about in cookbooks but never actually used.  Now I can motivate myself to experiment more.
  • Run a 6+ mile run each month.  I have to do something to compensate for all of this eating, and since most of my runs are around four miles, it shouldn’t be too difficult to tack on a couple of miles once a month.

What are your resolutions?

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