Thanksgiving Think-Ahead

Since it's Halloween, it's not too early to start thinking about Thanksgiving.  This year I will be cooking for 11 (including us).  I am not a person who likes to innovate on Thanksgiving.  My motto is "keep it traditional" and to me "traditional" means "what my grandmother served on Thanksgiving when I was a kid."  I have her stuffing recipe in her handwriting.  I make the stuffing INSIDE the turkey.

They were heavy on "creamed" foods when I was a kid, and I won't be going there.  I will not be serving creamed cauliflower or creamed spinach, both of which I remember on the Thanksgiving table of my childhood.  But I will served mashed turnips (rutabagas) despite the fact that I'm the only one who's going to eat it.  It's just not Thanksgiving without it.

Other likely items on the menu:  mashed potatoes, Granma's rolls, gravy (from a can, since I'm no good at making the real thing), cranberry sauce (possibly from a can, but maybe I'll try to make the real thing if I can get my friend's recipe), corn and steamed broccoli or green beans.  I will also have a vegetable platter (carrots, celery, peppers and cucumbers) and plenty of chips and salsa.

Dessert is apple pie, of course, plus a pan of brownies for the kids.  (Not my kids--they love my apple pie--but the visiting kids who are already "iffy" on most of the Thanksgiving menu.)

Chocolate-Craisin Cookies

These cookies are a delicious combination of sweet, tart and crunchy!  Find the full recipe at Cook and Count.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup II

In my quest to make my own fancy coffee at home, I've been trying various pumpkin-spice syrups.  Here's one that stood up to refrigeration.  It's the spice, not pumpkin, that gives the syrup the signature taste.  That, and the brown sugar.

1 cup water
1 cup dark brown sugar (must be dark brown)
1/4 tsp each cloves and ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

Bring to a boil, then cook over lower heat until the syrup is reduced by half.  This takes 5 to 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely, then pour into a glass jar and refrigerate.  This makes about 1 cup of syrup.

Menu Plan for September 23-30, 2010

Thurs 23:  Chicken Caroline, rice

Fri 24:  Flounder, hash brown casserole, green beans

Sat 25:  Pot luck dinner after 5:00 Mass.  We hosted.  Our contributions:  meatballs and sauce and beef barley soup.

Sun 26:  Sloppy Joes.

Mon 27:  Ham steak

Tues 28:  Sichuan chicken, rice

Wed 29:  Spaghetti

Thurs 30:  Takeout.  We had a hellish schedule and I gave in to the pressure.

Shuffle the Plan!

I was pretty impressed with myself for showing restraint this afternoon.  My daughter called after school and said she needed a ride home, as her field hockey game was canceled.  Then she wanted to know if she could visit a friend.  This meant that she wouldn't be home for dinner--a dinner that she had requested this morning and that I had rearranged the menu plan to accommodate.  (GRRRR!)

Fortunately I hadn't yet done any cooking, just defrosting.  I figured I'd refrigerate those ingredients for later this week, and shuffle around my menu plan.

Also fortunately, the ham steak that was on sale at Shop Rite today and that I had a great coupon for turned out to be a very small slice of ham steak.  It'll feed 1 1/2 people (or my husband and younger son).  They can have that tonight.  I have some leftovers I'll be happy to eat.

The moral of this story is:  always write your menu plan in pencil!  You never know when someone's going to make you shuffle it!

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

The Taste of Home crew on Facebook was talking about Pumpkin Spice Lattes today. One member shared a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Syrup that she had found.

I love Pumpkin Spice Lattes but I don't love paying over $4 for a beverage. I'd tried a few recipes in recent weeks but it wasn't quite "it." So I thought I'd make some of this syrup.

I had more pumpkin in the fridge (from those recent experiments) than this recipe required so I figured I'd double it and use up that pumpkin. I adjusted the spice a little as well. So here's how it worked out:

PUMPKIN SPICE SYRUP

2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup pumpkin puree

Stir water and sugar in a saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Add spices and pumpkin and simmer 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. (A whisk is a good tool for this job!) Allow to cool. Pour into jars and keep refrigerated until ready to use. Makes about 4 cups syrup--enough to share!

To make my "latte" I make 2 cups (coffeemaker measure, which is not actual cups) of coffee using 2 1/2 measures of ground coffee. I warm up 1/2 cup milk in the microwave for 45 seconds and then use my frother to foam it up. Then I add some pumpkin syrup (about 2 TBL), pour in some of the milk, then the coffee, then the frothy part of the milk. That makes enough to fill my favorite travel mug--and there's even room for whipped cream, if I happened to have any, which unfortunately I did not today.

Delicious!  And WAY cheaper than that expensive coffeehouse chain's (or even Dunkin' Donuts, who makes a mean pumpkin latte for about $3.)

NOTE:  This tasted good, but I found that it wound up separating over time, especially in the fridge.  So, on to a new recipe!

Menu Plan for September 16-22, 2010

Thurs 16: Spaghetti and meatballs

Fri 17: Salmon burgers

Sat 18: "Fend for yourself" night. I had Polish Gnocchi.

Sun 19: Chicken on the grill

Mon 20: Nachos, salad

Tues 21: Pasta party for the Freshman Field Hockey team. I served spaghetti and meatballs, ziti, baked ziti with cheese and beef, Italian bread, salad, brownies and banana bread.

Wed 22: Beef paysanne (made with leftover pot roast--whoa, this was the best paysanne yet--even better than when we make it with leftover filet mignon!) over noodles

Honey Garlic Chicken

The original recipe, from Family Circle magazine, calls for chicken thighs. This would work well with any bone-in, skin-on chicken; just adjust the cooking time accordingly.

6 chicken thighs
1/3 cup honey
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with foil. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and place on baking sheet. Mix honey, garlic, thyme and rosemary. Brush some of the honey mixture on chicken. Bake 40 minutes, basting every 10 minutes with more of the honey mixture.

Comfort food: Polish Gnocchi

I miss one of the Polish dishes that used to be served at our parish carnival: kluski. This was not proper kluski, but instead a way to use up lots of leftovers from other dishes. It included any pierogi that didn't make the cut (that is, the ones that broke in the pot). Those would be scooped out and dumped into a pan where someone would chop them into bite-sized pieces. I had that job a few times, and all that chopping really is an upper-arm workout. It was worth it, though.
The chopped pierogi were then fried with plenty of butter, chopped onions, and the pieces of cabbage that were too small to be made into golabki (stuffed cabbage).

Not having easy access to broken pierogi, I figured that gnocchi might do the trick. It worked great.

1 package gnocchi (fresh or frozen)
1 TBL butter per serving, based on serving size on package
1/2 small to medium onion, chopped fine
dried parsley, salt and pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheese (Romano, Parmesan, or Cheddar, depending on the flavor you're after)


Cook gnocchi as directed on package and drain.
Saute onion in butter. When onion is soft, add gnocchi to the pan and cook a few minutes until everything is well mixed.  Season with parsley, salt and pepper to taste.  It's even better if you cook it long enough for it to start to brown. Serve to plates or bowls and top with shredded cheese.

Menu Plan for September 9-15, 2010

Thurs 9: Spaghetti and meatballs. I made a big batch, enough for 9 more dinners! I love having spaghetti sauce in the freezer, ready when I need it.

Fri 10: takeout pizza

Sat 11: Honey Garlic Chicken thighs (recipe soon! This was a keeper!)

Sun 12: dinner out in honor of TheDad's birthday

Mon 13: Roast chicken, garlic roasted potatoes, skillet brussels sprouts

Tues 14: Cheesy garlic chicken, rice, green beans

Wed 15: Pot roast in the slow cooker

Extra-Frugal Couponing

Here's my tip for extra-frugal couponing:

Save those single-sided notices & newsletters that your kids bring home from school (provided they're not too crumpled to work in your printer.) Load them into your printer so the printing will be on the back side of the paper. Use this paper to print those Internet Printable coupons!

Menu Plan for September 1 - 8, 2010

Wed 1:  Chicken Marsala, rice, broccoli

Thurs 2:  Spaghetti with meatballs

Fri 3:  Pizza rolls (new recipe--we weren't too crazy for these; my kids all said my regular recipe is better)

Sat 4:  Barbecued chicken, orzo, mixed vegetables

Sun 5:  picnic at a friend's house

Mon 6:  went to Oktoberfest in Philly.  Potato pancakes!!

Tues 7:  Taco Skillet Dinner Kit style, salad

Wed 8:  Slow-Cooker Pork Chops, rice, broccoli

Survival Dinner: Slow-Cooker Pork Chops

This meal is great for days like today.  I have to pick up my daughter from her sports practice sometime after 6, then get dinner on the table, eat, and return to her school for a 7:00 parents' meeting.

I am thankful for my rice cooker (it's filled and ready.  When I leave to pick her up, I'll turn it on) and for microwave "steam-in-the-bag" broccoli.  Those things, and my slow cooker, will allow me to get dinner on the table quickly tonight!

Slow-Cooker Pork Chops

4 boneless pork chops
2 cups barbecue sauce
2 tbl olive oil

Oil a skillet or griddle and brown the pork chops on the outside.  Do not cook them all the way through--they'll finish in the slow cooker.
Spread a little of the barbecue sauce over the bottom of the slow-cooker crock.  Place pork chops on top.  If they overlap, make sure there's some sauce in between the pork chops.  Pour the rest of the barbecue sauce over the pork chops.
Cover and cook 1 hour on high, then switch to low for 3 hours.

Supermarket Hint

Tonight at Shop-Rite I discovered why it's a good idea to save that little printout you get when you use the "Dexter Deli" machine to order cold cuts.

There was a coupon in this week's circular for Shop-Rite American cheese, making it $2.98 a pound (a $1.01 saving).  I needed some American cheese, since we're having a picnic tomorrow evening for the Cub Scout leaders and their families to kick off the new year.   So I ordered a pound of American from the deli computer. 

When I picked up the cheese, I noticed that they had marked "out" next to the roast beef I had also ordered (it was also on sale this week).  I looked around for a trash can to throw away my little printout, since I had matched up the order numbers, but I didn't find one, so I put it in my pocket and headed to the checkout counter.

The cashier rang up the cheese, but the coupon I handed her didn't work.  She asked me to unpack the cheese from my bag so she could check it--and then she told me that it was the wrong cheese and I couldn't get the coupon price.  I then pulled out my receipt, showed her that the orders matched, and the manager said that I should pay the sale price since it was not my error.  (The manager then headed over to the deli counter, where I imagine the person manning the slicer would hear about it.)

I just checked--that was $6.49-a-pound cheese they gave me by mistake.  UNfortunately, it was "slender" cheese which probably means it doesn't taste or melt quite the same as regular cheese does.  But that's what I have; I'm not going back to the store tomorrow; we're eating it on the burgers tomorrow.

And here's my coupon brag of the day:  spent $116.50; saved a total of $101.52 in sales, coupons, and Cellfire coupons.  Woot!

Maple-Mustard Chicken Thighs

Visit Cook and Count to see this recipe!

Sweet & Spicy Citrus Fish Fillets

This is "what's for dinner" tonight and it was SO delicious--and very easy.  Middle Sister didn't even notice the soy sauce.

source: Cooking Light magazine, August 2010 (slightly modified)

5 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets (or flounder, sole or other white fish)
Olive oil for the pan
juice and zest of 1 orange
juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin OR ginger (pick only one)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tbl minced garlic

Arrange fish in a single layer in a 9X13 glass baking pan brushed with olive oil. Combine remaining ingredients; pour over fish. Let stand 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425.

Bake 15 minutes or until done. Drizzle sauce over fish.

NOTE:  depending on the thickness of the fish, baking time will need to be adjusted.

Kitchen Confidential

Tonight for dinner I'm making Barbara's recipe for Italian Roast Beef Sandwiches. I browned the meat in a heavy pan on the stovetop and then transferred it and the broth and onions to my crockpot and cooked on high for 3 hours. I skipped the green peppers because my people are just not so fond of those.

I was doing just fine until I grabbed the cutting board and the meat fork so I could take the roast out to settle before slicing it. The fork's handle bent, dropping the roast back into the crockpot full of spicy au jus, which flew all over the wall behind the crockpot and ran down to the floor.

I sorted that out and cleaned up the mess, then sliced the roast and prepared to return it to the crockpot. As soon as all the meat was in there and the lid was on it, I went to pick up the cutting board so I could put it in the dishwasher, and it tipped over, pouring all the accumulated juice and little scraps down my shins, onto my shoes and socks, and onto the floor.

Good thing mopping day is tomorrow.

This recipe had better be good for all the trouble it has been today!

UPDATE: And the verdict is in...it's fabulous. Definitely a keeper. Wish I could say the same for my kitchen fork.

Penne Vesuviana

This recipe is loosely based on Amanda's Farfalle alla Vesuviana.

1 pound penne or mini penne pasta, cooked al dente (reserve 1 cup pasta water)
3 TBL olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
4 cups crushed tomatoes (if they're fresh) or 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tsp capers, drained
1/3 cup Italian green olives, pitted and chopped
1/4 tsp each oregano and basil
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tbl dried parsley flakes or 2 tbl fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
grated Parmesan or Romano cheese for topping

Saute garlic in the olive oil until softened. Add tomatoes, capers, olives, and seasonings, except parsley and cheese. Simmer until the pasta is done. Add pasta water a little at a time if needed to moisten the tomato sauce.
Toss the sauce mixture with the pasta and parsley. Top with grated cheese before serving.

July 2010 Menu

Thurs 1: visited my parents

Fri 2: pizza

Sat 3: Barbecued chicken, corn on the cob, salad

Sun 4: Mexican steak, burgers & hot dogs on the grill, Dr. Pepper baked beans, salad, fresh vegetables for dipping

Mon 5: burgers, hot dogs on the grill

Tues 6: Spanish Pan Roast from Cooking Light magazine (I left out the chorizo). Made it in a 12-qt roaster oven. Delicious!

Wed 7:

Thurs 8: Spaghetti and meatballs

Fri 9: Tilapia with Mandarin Oranges& Honey in the slow cooker

Garlic Caesar Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup Caesar salad dressing
4 TBL minced garlic
3/4 cup chicken broth

Mix salad dressing, garlic and broth in large skillet. Add chicken chunks, bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cover. Cook 10 minutes.

Serve with mini farfalle noodles and peas (it's really good if you mix that all together)