Thanksgiving Sliders

 

FriendsGiving and Halloween

We live on a four-house private lane so the odds of trick or treaters is virtually zero.  Instead, we drive a few miles down the road to our friend Uncle Lou’s.  He and his crew from the Norwaldo group set up a tent and chairs and a fire pit and have LOADS of candy for the neighborhood kids.  And, all the kids who come in from other neighborhoods.  

In the past we’ve done the trick or treat thing and then had a lovely Friendsgiving.  Well, that’s getting tougher and tougher for those of us still working.  Friendsgiving has been moved to a non-school night so Halloween is heavy appetizers. 

My mind immediately went to the yummy ham and cheese rolls using Kings Hawaiian rolls. But how could I turn them into a pre-Thanksgiving treat?  How about turkey, swiss and cranberry sauce? 

I’ve got to tell you these were a HIT!  Lou made chili.  Bill made one of his famous concoctions (bourbon and apple cider were the base,) Diane made chicken salad sliders, somebody brought some wonderful gruyere dip, Jillian bought cheesecakes at Costco and we had our sandwiches.  Despite the spitting snow we kept warm and well fed and enjoyed watching all the fun costumes.  Well, that and catching up!

Ingredients: 

Kings Hawaiian rolls – 24 pack is what we used

Deli sliced turkey breast – we used the majority of a 22 oz package

Jarlsberg or Swiss cheese – enough shredded on the large holes of a grater to cover well

14 oz can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 T Triple Sec or orange juice

Bell’s seasoning – I made my own

¼ c butter

 

Directions: 

Either buy Bell’s seasoning or make your own.  I found a great recipe from Mary’s Nest.  (https://marysnest.com/wprm_print/4855)  Connie is the one from Boston so he’s the expert on Bell’s seasoning since it’s not a Midwest kind of thing.  He took one sniff of the finished product and said OH YES!   Mary’s recipe called for putting this thru a coffee grinder.  I wanted a more “chunky” topping so chose to keep is as is.  

Melt the butter. 

In another saucepan, mix the whole cranberry sauce and the Triple Sec or the orange juice.  Let it simmer just a bit. 

Put the rolls on a piece of lightly oiled foil on a half sheet.  Cut them in half and put the tops to the side.  

Brush the bottoms of the rolls with the cranberry sauce.  Use all of it. 

Top the rolls with the sliced turkey.  Then, top that with the shredded cheese.  It’ll need to be pretty thickly covered.  What you see in the photo is about half the amount of cheese we used. 

Top the rolls with the tops and brush with butter.  

Top with sprinkles of Bell’s seasoning. 

Put another piece of foil on top and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loaded Hash Browns

 

What a day!  We were startled by an alarm at the Cape Cod condo.  Some friends who were staying there had set the alarm to stay and forgot and opened the sliding door to the deck to check the weather.  Then, as soon as we fell back asleep the doorbell rang with a FedEx envelope.  We were due down the street to get our toes done.  Ok, fine, our talons cut.  At that point we said what the heck and got up.  After our toes Connie had to take Abby the dog to the vet for an ear infection – better, an eye infection – much better, and a potential urinary tract infection – don’t ask me about the urine collection we’ve got to do.  I dug in to my office work for a few hours until it was time to go get my eyes checked.  I LOVE visiting with Paige. She’s just one of the nicest human beings ever.  While we were on Cape Cod I broke my ONE pair of glasses.  The good folks at Lenscrafters managed to cobble them back together so other than the daily headaches from them not setting exactly where they should, I’ve been fine.  After Paige we headed a block north to Goodwill.  Let’s see if I can remember the highlights…  A Belgian cookbook, a Martha Stewart Light, one on margaritas, one from the Culinary Institute of America, and a couple of others.  Then, we were off to Costco to order our new glasses and to shop for the Girls Night Out party this coming Saturday.  We’re doing chicken green bean casserole and salads.  Two friends are bringing appetizers, one each is bringing homemade rolls, a pasta dish and a dessert.  I’ve also got some cheese to put out.  I just had to look at the cookbooks at Costco. There were only three selections.  I had two of them.  What I didn’t have was Gina Holmoka’s Skinny Taste Simple.  That problem got solved poste haste.  Then, on our way out of Castleton we made our first visit to Saraga International Market.  And, fell in love with the place.  Goodness.  I can’t even begin to remember what all we bought.  I can remember that I didn’t see arugula, baby endive or escarole.  Or, rolled anchovies with capers or consommé soup.  Otherwise, we found all kinds of things we’ve either had to go over to Cincinnati to shop at Jungle Jim’s or we’ve had to order online. Connie who always shops with a list and doesn’t really buy anything that isn’t on the list literally walked every aisle with me.  We found ground duck, garlic paste, Kewpie mayonnaise, teff flour…  A long list of happiness! 

On the way home I started reading Gina’s cookbook.  The plan for dinner had been some fish from the freezer with a tomato salad with pecan pesto.  Something about starting pesto at 7pm didn’t quite appeal to either of us.  Connie made an Agave Maria from our new margarita cookbook.  I was vacillating between Meridian Hills Special Salad, chili stuffed baked potatoes and a new recipe from Gina’s cookbook.  Gina won out.  We’d put green onions in our cocktails as a garnish so they were ready to be chopped.  I had two slices of bacon I wanted to use up.  You’re right.  The bacon isn’t in the original recipe.  And, there were a couple of wedges of cheese that needed to be used up.  Plus there’s a big bag of Yukon Gold potatoes hanging out in the kitchen…  Loaded waffled hash browns it was.  Except I didn’t want to dirty yet another piece of kitchen equipment so I went for her alternative and made a big hash brown patty.  Connie who is not particularly fond of potatoes exclaimed it one of the best potato dishes he’d ever had.  We both rated it a five on a scale of one to five.  Alongside we had once again sliced tomatoes with shallots, basil and a Dijon mustard vinaigrette.  YUM!

Loaded Waffled Hash Browns

Serves two

Ingredients:

1 large Yukon Gold potato, not peeled

2 green onions, finely chopped

2 eggs

¼ cup shredded cheese, cheddar or something else assertive

2 strips thick cut bacon (my addition)

 

Directions:

Brown, drain and finely chop the bacon.  While that’s getting happy, grate the potato on the large holes of a grater.  Plop the grated potato in the middle of a towel, head to the sink and squeeze all the liquid out.  Toss the potato with the chopped green onion.  You can either make waffled hash browns or you can coat a non-stick skillet with olive oil and make one large hash brown patty.  Gorgeous or pretty.  Tougher to make and keep warm or super simple.  Your choice.  

As soon as the hash brown patty has been flipped – that is once the bottom is nice and brown and you CAN flip it, you’ll want to crack two eggs into the pan where you cooked the bacon. Yes, you’ll want to drain the bacon fat first.  Just leave a thin coating in the pan.  Enough to flavor the eggs…  Top the eggs with the shredded cheese then put a lid on the skillet and cook the eggs until the whites are done but the yolks are runny and the cheese is melted.  

To assemble you’ll cut the potato pancake in half and slide it onto a plate.  Top that with one of the eggs then sprinkle the bacon over the top.  Repeat and you’ve got dinner.  

Super simple and super good.  We loved the green onions in the potato pancakes.  The whole dish was just fabulous and will be a regular around here.

 

Adapted from SkinnytasteSimple by Gina Homolka

Char-Grilled Asparagus with Warm Bread Salad

Late last December I started keeping a log of recipes we’d either tried or made again along with a list of recipes to try.  By now in September we’re up to about 145 recipes.   Ninety-six of them are new.  That’s an average of ten new recipes a month.  You can tell when the wheels came off since I went from 15 in January and 21 in February down to 10 in March and less than 10 a month during April through August.  We stuck to a lot of old favorites those months!  Comfort food was what we needed.  Now, it’s time to once again try some new dishes.  Month-to-date in September we’ve made 15 new recipes.  Our average score on a scale of 1-5 is 4.3125.  That’s just slightly below February’s 4.286 and slightly above January’s 4.267.  The bottom line is that we tend to like most of the new recipes we try.  I’ve still got about 50 new recipes to try with half a dozen cookbooks to be added to the mix.  Yes, I LOVE statistics.  My brain thinks in Excel…  One of the reasons I love cooking so much is that it uses a different part of my brain.  So it’s relaxing after a long day of work. 

Tonight the menu was mahi-mahi with a mango cilantro chutney.  Took the mango chunks out of the freezer and let’s just say fruit doesn’t last much past it’s expiration date in the freezer.  Mango chunks in particular.  So I grabbed one of the tomatoes Connie had picked up for Wednesday’s tomato salad with pecan basil pesto.  BLT’s!  Along side I was thinking something with potatoes or cauliflower but the asparagus with warm bread salad from Flavoring With Olive Oil really caught my eye.  We didn’t have the sourdough bread the recipe called for but I was happy to substitute what we had.  Typically I buy the thinner asparagus spears but this bunch came from Imperfect so I didn’t have a choice. 

What did we think?  Absolutely a recipe we’ll make again.  And this is a great winter recipe too.  We’ve found from previous recipes tried in this cookbook that the quantity of olive oil used is immense.  I’ve noted what we actually used…

Char-Grilled Asparagus with Warm Bread Salad

Ingredients:

1 bunch asparagus, the thicker the better

1 T olive oil

1 slice whole grain bread

½ T white wine vinegar

1 T olive oil

Sprinkle of garlic powder

1 hard cooked egg, peeled and chopped

2 t capers

1 large sprig flat leaf parsley, chopped

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

White wine vinegar for drizzling

 

Directions

Cube the bread and put it in a bowl.  Drizzle in the 1/2 T of vinegar and toss it well.  Heat the 1 T of olive oil in a small skillet.  When it’s shimmering add the bread cubes  and sprinkle them with garlic powder.  Saute until the bread cubes are well browned.  

While all of that is going on, heat a grill pan and coat it with olive oil.  You’re going to want to cook your asparagus until it’s blistered on all sides.

Put the cooked asparagus on plates.  Top with chopped egg, capers and the bread cubes.  Drizzle with white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil

 

 

  

Flank Steak Fajitas

 

As with many of our friends, the last three plus years have been challenging.  On the one hand we’ve loved working remotely.  On the other hand, we had some significant staff turnover.  Now, I have the best team in the world!  We’ve celebrated many happy occasions and mourned many sad ones.  The most recent was the death of my brother John.  He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April and told he’d probably have one to one and a half years with chemo.  It was three months and ten days.  I miss him like all get out.  A month after his death we celebrated his life.  First with a calling and family dinner on a Friday.  Then, with a service at church followed by a celebration of life at our local Knights of Columbus.  After that Connie and I had dinner for 34 at our home. 

We got home from the celebration of life with two and a half hours before our first guests due.  Time to fly!  I ran back to our bedroom and put the pretty pillows on the bed, opened the shutters and turned on lights so it’d look pretty when the ladies dropped their purses back there.  Then, out to the kitchen to finish up the last minute, ok last hour projects.  I hit a wall of heat.  There was just no way the sous vide could’ve created that much heat!  The thermostat said 78 but it was set at 70.  I clicked it down to 68 and still nothing.  Time to shout for Connie.  He was downstairs playing pool with our grandkids.  Long story short we had to put in an emergency call to our HVAC folks.  Our tech showed up just as our first guest did.  Bottom line was a blown motor that couldn’t be replaced until Tuesday…  34 people in the kitchen, dining room and great room.  Both ovens blaring.  No air conditioning.  Everyone kept a smile on their face through their sweat.  

My sister-in-law, Pam, had asked that I make John’s favorite meal.  That would be chicken green bean casserole, Jordan Marsh blueberry muffins and cranberry sauce.  I made a few things in addition.  LOL, a few things.  I think we wound up with close to 20 dishes once friends showed up with desserts.  One of the additions was flank steak with caper sauce.  That was our birthday dinner growing up.  Everyone inhaled the flank steak.  INHALED is a better word!  I cooked it to 125 degrees sous vide and then my brother Ken seared it on the grill two minutes each side.  Actually, one minute, one minute, one minute and one minute to get gorgeous grill marks.  I’d say he had the grill on nuclear.  Somewhere around 600 degrees.  Brother Matt and nephew Tom then were the designated slicers.  There was a lot of caper sauce left over.  I didn’t want that to go to waste so Connie bought some more flank steak the only place he could find it – Costco.  Yup, two large flank steaks.  I cooked them using the same method and we had flank steak with caper sauce for a couple of meals.  Then, I had leftover flank steak.  Like a really large flank steak. 

The first recipe that caught my eye was a flank steak niçoise salad in That Must Be the Place from Rachael Ray.  That was one yummy salad!  A couple of flank steak and tomato sandwiches with horseradish sauce followed.  Ok, fine, time to try making fajitas.  Can you believe that’s something I’ve never made?  I order them out all the time but have never tried making them myself.  John got me started on Serious Eats so that’s where I went to hunt for the recipe.  Yes, I pretty much majorly modified it.  But the bones of the recipe are still from Serious Eats.  Funny aside…  We had a peach, rosemary bourbon cocktail also.  Turns out its from Serious Eats!

 

Flank Steak Fajitas

 Ingredients:

¼ medium rare flank steak, very thinly sliced against the grain

1 T light olive oil

1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1 jalapeno, finely diced

1 tomato thinly sliced

 

For the marinade:

2 T soy sauce

2 T lime juice

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 t sugar

1 t oregano

1 t cumin

 

For the sour cream topping:

½ c sour cream

1 T lime juice

1 t cumin

 

2 large flour tortillas

1 c shredded cheddar cheese

 

Directions: 

Make the marinade and toss the sliced flank steak into it. 

Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet and add the onions and the green bell pepper.  Once the onions have turned translucent add the jalapeno.  To heat the tortillas, I laid them across the vegetables and flipped them over after a minute or two. 

Mix the sour cream while the vegetables are cooking. 

Add the tomato and the steak to the vegetables and warm them through.  

Put the tortillas on plates and top with the flank steak mixture followed by the sour cream and then the cheese. 

Gingery Pork Meatballs with Swiss Chard

 

Gingery Pork Meatballs with Swiss Chard

The question is…  Do I write this up as I made it or do I write it up as the recipe was written?  Since we LOVED this dish I’m going with how I made it.  This recipe came from Comfort in an Instant by Melissa Clark.  We’ve pretty much been cooking our way through the cookbook.  The one no-go was the Lebanese Chicken Soup.  I found it sounded a lot better than it was.  And, Connie’s not a fan of soup so he certainly didn’t help the process.  Now, back to the pork meatballs!

I put the Swiss Chard stems in ice water to revitalize the droopy leaves.  Then, I pulled out the instant pot.  And the new steamer basket I’d never used.  UGH!  The steamer basket was too big.  So much for following the recipe!  I’d done a taste test in a small skillet so I rolled four meatballs and popped them in the skillet while I thought about how to do the Swiss Chard.  We’ve really enjoyed it sauteed so that ought to work…  After 8 of the meatballs were done I put the chopped stems into the skillet with the last four meatballs.  Then, once those were done I took them out and added in the chopped chard leaves.  On the other side of the stove was a saucepan of fine egg noodles. 

What did we think?  We both LOVED the meatballs and the chard.  For a vegetable that neither of us had tried until a handful of years ago it certainly has moved right up the hit list!  During the summer when we’ve got a garden it’s a weekly favorite.  I added a bit of seasoning to the meatballs.  More garlic, more soy sauce, more fish sauce, more chili garlic sauce.  Oh, wait the chili garlic sauce was a total addition!  LOL. 

Good news there are six meatballs left.  And, there’s also a serving of chicken green bean casserole.  Means that whoever snags whatever has some good eating on the way!

Ingredients:

2 T toasted sesame oil

2 shallots or 1 sm red onion, finely diced

3 oz shitake or cremini mushroom caps, finely diced

1 serrano or jalapeno chile, seeded and finely diced

1 T finely grated fresh ginger

3 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced

Finely grated zest of one lime

2 t soy sauce

2 t Asian fish sauce

Salt

1 lb ground pork or turkey

1/3 c panko bread crumbs

1 egg

1 bunch Swiss Chard, stems and leaves chopped but separate

 

Directions:

Saute the onion and mushrooms and jalapenos in the oil.  NB:  I used olive oil here since the sesame oil’s flavor is a bit fragile.  Add in the garlic, ginger, lime, soy sauce and fish sauce.  Once the onion is translucent and the mushrooms are softened, remove the skillet from the heat.  In a medium bowl combine the pork, egg, panko and mushroom/onion mixture.  Put about a teaspoon of the mixture into a skillet and cook it through to test it for seasoning.  Add more as desired.  I added more of several of the ingredients.  Once you’ve adjusted the seasoning to your liking, roll the meatballs. 

 

Saute the meatballs in a skillet.  For 2” diameter meatballs they’ll take about 3 minutes per side – assuming there are three sides.  Remove the meatballs to a plate.  Once you’re ready for the last batch, toss the chard stems into the middle of the skillet.  Then, when you remove those meatballs, add in the chard leaves.  Again, add seasoning as you desire.  I used a bit of sesame oil and soy sauce.  Let the leaves wilt but don’t let them become soggy. 

 

Serve with rice or noodles. 

adapted from Comfort in an Instant

Chicken Cacciatore and Glazed Carrots plus Sausage Chowder for Lunch

 

Every once in a while I pick up a cookbook and really want to cook my way totally through it.  Comfort in an Instant is one of those.  Even though it’s an instant pot cookbook I’ve done the time math and many of the recipes are quicker on the stovetop.  Risotto is ten minutes to reach power, six under pressure and ten to decompress.  Twenty-six minutes versus twenty-five on the stovetop…  Yes, I do think in numbers and Excel spreadsheets 😊   At any rate, this is really a fun cookbook.  Among the half dozen try now recipes was Chicken Cacciatore.   

Then, after a run through Aldi’s we stopped at Ollie’s to browse the cookbooks.  Where I found Field to Fork.  A collection of recipes from the Old Farmers Almanac.  I opened it to Maple Orange Glazed Carrots and that was all I needed to see.  Into the cart.   

While I was fixing dinner I also made a pot of The Brick’s Sausage Stew.  The Brick is a hole in the wall dive bar in Jonesville.  We’ve been there once.  I can’t particularly recommend it but it’s an institution so is worth a visit.  While I was doing my friend Gail’s review a couple of days ago we started chatting about soups and how good they are this time of year.  She texted me the recipe today and the rest is history.  Lunch tomorrow will be really good!

What did we think about the Chicken Cacciatore?  A five out of five.  Ditto the Maple Orange Glazed Carrots.  Those were amazing.  A dinner that left both of us totally satisfied and looking forward to making both dishes again.

 

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:

2T olive oil

2 lbs bone-in, skin on chicken thighs

Salt and freshly ground pepper

4 oz cremini or white button mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 small bell pepper, thinly sliced (I used green, the recipe called for red)

2 cloves garlic (I used minced)

¾ c canned diced tomatoes and their juice

¼ c dry white or red wine (I used white)

2 large sprigs rosemary (I used ½ t crushed)

2 T drained capers

 

Directions:

This recipe works on the stovetop, in an instant pot and in a slow cooker.  I chose the stovetop because the math worked out that that was the quickest method.  Therefore all of the instructions are based on that…  

Heat the olive oil.  Sprinkle the thighs with salt and pepper.  Brown both sides.  Remove the thighs from the skillet and add the onion, pepper, mushrooms and garlic.  Cook until they’re tender.  It’ll take about five minutes.  Add in the tomatoes, wine and rosemary.  Cook for a couple of minutes to tighten the sauce.  Add back the thighs.  Cook on low for another 10-15 minutes.  Or, you can use medium and shorten the time.  Add in the capers just before serving.

Here's how it looked:

adapted from Comfort in an Instant by Melissa Clark

 

Maple Orange Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:

4-6 large carrots (I used baby carrots cut into coins)

1 T butter

¼ c maple syrup

2 T frozen orange juice concentrate

Pinch of salt

Pinch of ground nutmeg

Chopped walnuts – optional for garnish

 

Directions:

Cook the carrots until tender.  Drain and set aside on a warm stove. In a small skillet melt the butter and mix in the other ingredients.  Toss the carrots with the glaze.

adapted from Field to Fork

 

The Brick’s Sausage Chowder

 Ingredients:

1 package sausage (I used Polish Kielbasa) cut into medallions

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium green bell pepper, diced

4 Yukon gold potatoes or 2 large russet potatoes, diced

1 can hot chili beans

1 can diced stewed tomatoes

1 4 oz can of diced green chiles

1-2 T brown sugar

1-2 T chili powder

1 t garlic powder

 

Directions:

Saute the sausage, onion and bell pepper in olive oil just until softened.  Add the other ingredients, cover and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through. 

Thank you Gail!

 

 

 

Pizza and Salad

 

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to try more recipes.  All too often last year 6:00 arrived and we had no clue what was for dinner.  Cluster Truck, a trip down the street to Murphy’s at Flynns, grilled cheese…  Time to change.  I created a spreadsheet to track our progress.  Name of the recipe.  Where to find it.  (Not as easy as it sounds with 2500 cookbooks and thousands of saved recipes either in print or electronic version.)  Where have I posted it – blog, biz website?  How did we rate it?  The great news is since December 17, 2022 we’ve tried 18 new recipes.  Eighteen.  That’s kind of a lot.  Average rating of 3.8 on a scale of 1-5.  Actually I’m pretty certain we’ve never had a “1.”  I’ve thrown away some 2’s that I probably should’ve labelled a one.  But I didn’t.  Out of the 18 we had three 2’s.  Two were just incredibly blah.  And one was salty.  Kinda like licking a salt block salty.  That I threw away and it should’ve been a one.  We had three three’s and seven four’s and five five’s.  Not a bad distribution of scores! 

By the weekend I was down to three recipes on the to-try list. Time to hunt in the freezer and figure out what I want to use up over the next week.  Chicken thighs, ground pork, sweet Italian sausage, cod, shrimp and a container of rice from a run to Golden Dragon were all in the freezer.  Some smallish potatoes and some naan bread were hanging out in the kitchen.

Next up, hunting for recipes for all of the goodies.  I love eatyourbooks.com.  And, I’ve usually got a stash of recipes to try on my desktop.  And, then there are the cookbooks I’m in the midst of reading.  A plethora of choices!

Naan bread makes some of my all-time favorite pizzas.  Without the dough-making effort.  On to eatyourbooks.com where I kept seeing references to the Emily Cookbook. Pizza with sausage plus a salad of broccoli, orange and feta would be one evening. 

Cod Florentine with a roasted potato salad on the side would be another.  Then, bacon, egg and shrimp fried rice would use up a bunch of things.  A recipe for chicken and wild rice in a cream sauce would be great with a side of carrots.  And, last but not least lettuce wraps with the ground pork would be wonderful with a side salad of shaved zucchini and radishes.  Connie headed to the grocery for the few items we needed and we were ready to start cooking! 

I’ve been a big fan of broccoli salad ever since my friends Helen and Bob took me to a cute little diner out in the middle of nowhere.  Their broccoli salad was very finely diced.  No horsey sized pieces of broccoli.  Just a lovely mix that meant you got some of everything in every bite.  I feel the same way about vegetable soup where I like all the veggies cut to about the size of a pea or a kernel of corn.  Lots of goodness in every bite!  This broccoli salad came from Taste of the South.  I get the magazine on Readly and love it along with their sister publication that showcases New Orleans. 

We skipped the tomatoes and used Rao’s pizza sauce.  Just like their marinaras I rarely buy any other brand.  It’s just plain the best I’ve had.  We didn’t have cheddar cheese curds but I did have a lovely wedge of white cheddar that would be a good substitute.  Time to cook!

What did we think?  A solid five out of five for both of them.  I think I could’ve just sat down with the bowl of broccoli salad and polished that off for dinner.  It was amazing.  Despite a lot of substitutions the pizza also was a solid five.

Broccoli Orange Feta Salad

Serves 10

Ingredients:

½ c olive oil

¼ c sugar

3 T Dijon

2 T apple cider vinegar

2 T fresh orange juice

2 t kosher salt

½ t ground black pepper

8 c chopped broccoli (about 2 large heads)

2 large navel oranges, sectioned

1 c diced red onion

1 c crumbled feta cheese

½ c sunflower seeds

½ c golden raisins

 

Directions:

Make the dressing first with the first seven ingredients.  Toss together the other ingredients and the dressing.  Chill for a couple of hours to allow the flavors to blend. 

 

Adapted from Taste of the South

 

The Camp Randall Pizza 

Ingredients:

2 large naan breads

½ lb sweet Italian sausage, crumbled, browned and drained

½ c Rao’s pizza sauce (the recipe calls for crushed tomatoes)

¼ c grated pecorino Romano (we used Asiago)

10-12 cheddar cheese curds, cut in half (we used ¼” white cheddar cheese cubes)

12 thin slices green bell pepper (I used ½ of a bell pepper)

6 cremini mushrooms, very thinly sliced

 

Directions:

Spread ¼ c of pizza sauce on each naan bread.  

Top that with the sausage and Asiago or Romano.  Then sprinkle on the bell pepper, mushrooms and cheddar curds or cheese cubes.  

Bake at 500 until the toppings are bubbling, about 5-10 minutes. 

 adapted from The Emily Cookbook

 

 

 

New Year's Day Appetizers

 

We were supposed to head to Cape Cod over the Christmas holiday.  Life interfered.  Big time!  And actually it’s a good thing it did.  I got to focus 100% on a huge office project that wound up coming in exactly on time.  Had I gone east that wouldn’t have happened.  Then, we had the major cold storm.  Our pet sitter had to stay at the Zoo and take care of critters so our furry kids would’ve had to count on neighbors.  And, who wants to ask their neighbors to head out in -30 degree wind chills?  Finally, our beloved next door dog, Blizzard, went over the Rainbow Bridge.  We got to say good-bye.  In fact in our office newsletter I told a story about him:

"Before I get back to the original newsletter, I really want to tell you about Blizzard and Connie. Connie is the food guy. We’d get home and get out of the car and if the boys were out they’d come to the very edge of their invisible fence with tails wagging and a couple of woofs. Connie would split a big dog biscuit and take it over. Blizzard would stick around for an ear scratch and Blaze would take off with his half. Yesterday when I got over to their front porch Blizzard barely lifted his head for me. I loved on him and he acknowledged me. His mama, Shantel, had brought him out hoping to let him take one last walk. Didn’t look like it was going to happen. Then, Connie showed up. Blizzard stood up and wagged his tail and woofed. He’d quit eating even his beloved cheese a day before. Connie asked if he could give him a bone and Shantel said sure. So off to our garage Connie went. And, unbelievably Blizzard stood up, toddled down the steps, down the front walk, across the driveway to HIS spot. And, he ate every bite of that dog bone. Shantel and I just stood on the front porch and cried! We’ve been so very lucky to have such wonderful neighbors!" 

Now, the last part of what we would’ve missed is what I’m hoping will become a new family tradition.  We huddled at my brother’s house for heavy appetizers followed by board games followed by the traditional pork, sauerkraut, mashed potato and gravy dinner.  We LOVE board games.  Used to go to an annual party at our friends Jim and Donna’s house.  Then, they moved up here to Indy and their annual games party ended.  And, sadly after a morning of rising early, cooking like crazy and then said heavy appetizers I wound up taking a nap during the board games hour…  You’re probably wondering what we took…

My sister-in-law’s mother requested that I bring “those” wings.  This is a recipe I just can’t believe I haven’t posted before.  We first made these in November, 2017.  My notes say, “WOW! Kids devoured!”  They’ve totally replaced the La Brea Tar Pit wings I made for years.  They’re just plain addictive!

Next up is Bon Appetit’s Old Bay Chips with Lemon Mayo.  John listed them on the menu as “Kate’s funky chips.”  And, they are.  They’re great without the dip and great with the dip.  And, they’re not too terribly difficult to put together.

Then, there’s Palomino’s Tomato and Feta Relish.  We loved Palomino.  It was our before theatre restaurant downtown.  The food and the service were always great.  It was a sad day when they closed.  Fortunately I’ve been able to find all three of our favorite recipes:  Chop Chop Salad, Portobello Mushroom Soup and the Tomato and Feta Relish.  This says to let it sit overnight to let the flavors blend.  Good luck with that in our home!  LOL

I found a book of pimento cheese recipes.  Yup, a whole book.  Read most of it out loud to Connie as we drove up to my niece’s for Christmas brunch.  We tried to figure out which recipe we were going to try first since and I finally decided the author’s pimento cheese was the one to start with.  It was good.  It had pecans in it.  Otherwise, it was a bit bland.  I added some minced onion and some Chipotle Tabasco.  I’ll wait til we have a real winner from this cookbook before I add one of the recipes to the blog.

Then, there’s brie with mushrooms.  My brother John loves mushrooms.  His wife doesn’t.  Means  they’re an out to dinner treat.  I had a small wheel of brie so thought adding this in would be fun.  Here’s the link:  Brie with Mushrooms. 

And, last and certainly least was the tuna tapenade.  It sounded wonderful.  Tuna, capers, anchovies, brandy.  What’s not to love about that?  Salt.  Both Connie and I are pretty fond of salt.  And neither of us could handle this.  Marked it as don’t think about making it again and tossed the whole dish. 

Let’s get cooking!

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

5 lbs chicken wings

1 c brown sugar, packed

¾ c dry sherry

½ t dry mustard

2 c soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

 

Directions:

Prep the wings by splitting them and removing the tips.  Or, do what we do and buy the prepped wings at Costco.  Just saying.  Put them in a baking pan or two or three in a single layer.  I use 3 – 9x13 pans lined with aluminum foil.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Pour the sauce over.  Bake for two more hours turning the wings every 30 minutes.  Remember to rotate the pans within your oven.  If your sauce hasn’t cooked down to an appropriately syrupy consistency, you can put it in a saucepan and cook it down.  I usually serve these ribs in a crockpot.  And, one other note, no matter how much you think is enough it usually isn’t. 

 

Adapted from A Taste of Palm Springs

 

Old Bay Chips with Lemon Mayo

 

Ingredients:

1 t powdered sugar

3 t Old Bay seasoning, divided

1 8.5 oz bag kettle cooked chips (we use Cape Cod Chips)

1 lemon

1 garlic clove, finely grated

½ c mayo

2 T finely chopped parsley (nice but not mandatory)

 

Directions: 

Preheat your oven to 425 

Put the chips on a half sheet and sprinkle them with a teaspoon of Old Bay.  Pop them in the oven for 4-5 minutes or until they just start to darken. 

While the chips are baking, mix the remaining two teaspoons of Old Bay with the powdered sugar.  Zest the lemon and then cut it in half

 Mix the mayo and garlic with the juice from one half of the lemon.  This is your sauce. 

As soon as the chips come out of the oven sprinkle them with the Old Bay powdered sugar mix and then the lemon zest.  And, then the parsley if you’d like.

 

Adapted from Bon Appetit

 

Palomino’s Tomato and Feta Relish

 

Ingredients:

1 14 oz can whole tomatoes in juice crushed by hand with juice ( I used petite diced tomatoes)

¼ c extra virgin olive oil

½ t minced garli

Pinch Kosher salt

1 T julienned fresh basil

2 T pitted and coarsely chopped Kalamata olives

1 T finely diced red onion

2 T crumbled feta cheese

2 T red wine vinegar

Sliced ciabatta or baguette for serving

 

Directions:

Mix the ingredients and put them in the fridge in a covered container overnight.  That’ll allow the flavors to blend.  You can toast the bread or not. 

 

Adapted from Palomino Restaurant