Thanksgiving Eats

I love cooking for Thanksgiving, because I get to be in charge of what we eat. We've started our own traditions, favorites that we love but we're too lazy to cook most nights. This year we had:

-fresh cranberry sauce
-turkey breast with herbs, basted with chicken stock and aromatics
-cornbread stuffing with sweet turkey sausage (our one indulgence)
-pan-roasted Brussels sprouts with shallots
-roasted vegetables and potatoes: carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, rutabega, acorn squash, Yukon potatoes, green beans, onions, 2 cloves garlic, tossed in olive oil and rosemary and thyme
-crescent rolls (my childhood favorite)

The turkey was done much sooner than expected, so the timing was off and the carrots weren't as soft as they should have been. But it was still delicious! This was my plate:





Oh, I did have more stuffing than that. But not much more; filling half my plate with veggies saved my dupa. I haven't overstuffed myself at any point this weekend, and of course we have continued to eat. We HAD to have sandwiches that night: turkey, stuffing, cranberry with bacon on toast. It's a long-held tradition in my family. The best part nowadays is that all the leftovers we have are still so healthy. Tomorrow we'll start really diving in; I may even make soup with the turkey and veggies. Yum yum yum.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We skipped the football games and went to the casino instead, and Hubby won a bundle. I'm getting a new computer for Christmas!

Thanksgiving Recipes

My friend Angie was asking to see some of my Thanksgiving food photos and some recipes. I'll try to take some better ones this year, but these are the cheesy mashed potatoes I made my first Thanksgiving three years ago. I'm not making them this year; they'll be my Christmas dish instead.

This is the recipe for them, from my friend Sharyn in Massachusetts.

Mashed Potato Casserole

8 - 12 potatoes (about 3 pounds. Depends on how big the potatoes are)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled
1 stick of butter (you can use half this, and it's fine)
1 cup sour cream (regular or light)
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish (you can prepare it yourself if you like. But I used the kind from the jar)
1 tablespoon coarse-ground black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
paprika (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Wash, peel and quarter potatoes (if you use red potatoes, you don't have to peel, although I prefer my mashed potatoes peel-less). Place in a large pot and cover with water. Boil potatoes until tender (about 15 minutes).

While potatoes are cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Coarsely chop onion and place in the skillet. Saute until translucent (about 5 minutes).

Drain potatoes and return to pot (or use a large mixing bowl. I don't like to wash extra stuff). Add onion, butter, sour cream, horseradish, pepper and salt. Now, the original recipe says to whip the potatoes using a hand-held electric mixer. I think it makes the potatoes a little gluey, so I just mix it all up good with a large wooden spoon. If you've cooked the potatoes long enough, they'll mash up easy. Or use a potato masher! It depends on how you like your potatoes mixed. In any case, if you use a wooden spoon, beat them up good, until they're fairly smooth. Then! Stir in your cheese.

Put the entire thing in an ungreased casserole dish.* I sprinkle paprika on it at this point, but it's more for looks than for taste, so that's optional. Cover with foil and bake for about 20 minutes, or until thoroughly heated. Take foil off for last few minutes and it will brown up a bit, if you like that.

*If you want, refrigerate it at this point, and bake the next day. It takes more like 40 minutes to bake if it's cold when starting.

+++++

I also make a cornbread and sausage stuffing which is DIVINE. I promise there will be many pictures this year. But here's the recipe from Eating Well.

DIVINE.

007 wedding cake

This was my favorite wedding cake at the Sandwich Fair. Not the most romantic of themes, but the funniest!



This vignette is my favorite. Was he ejected, or did he get out and stagger off until he passed out in the icing? Hahahaha!

Happy Birthday Kris!

Happy Birthday to one of the most generous friends I have. May you have a wonderful day and an even better year, m'dear!




(The cakes are from my niece and nephew's bar mitzvahs, but the dessert table was so huge they probably still have some left over. Ha!)

Cezanne

Taken at the Chicago Art Institute, January 2008.

What We Eat: Week 7 February 2008

This is going to be a week of eating out and/or heating up soup; my husband has training sessions and I'm moving offices. But I've got Hostess coffee cakes, so all is right with the world. And we'll be having bison steaks tomorrow. Yum!

What We Eat: Week 6 February 2008

We're still on a cheese kick. Plus pasta and more soup. It's cold out there!

What We Eat: Week 3 January 2008

Just got our last winter CSA box full of root vegetables, so there are lots of soups in the works. And a ton of frozen food I forgot to add to the photo. Too tired to cook this week!

What We Eat: Week 2 January 2008

Week 2 of the year-long photo series. I'll be making pumpkin soup, chicken-mushroom soup, Chinese beef with broccoli, whole-wheat pasta with turkey meatballs, and our favorite roasted chicken with 20 cloves of garlic this week. Can't wait!

What We Eat: Week 1 2008

Click here for a larger, more detailed version.

Last year I participated in a cool Flickr project called Items We Carry, in which people photographed all the things they carried around daily. I submitted two photos, one for my photography excursions and one for everyday. I loved the concept of itemizing the mundane and putting it all together in a series to emphasize how different and how similar we all are.

So while fishing around for a project for the year, I kept going back to the Flickr project; I can't commit to a Project365-type thing, where you take at least one photo every day all year, but a weekly series feels do-able. As I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes, and I adore grocery shopping, a Saturday photo of the food we plan to eat each week seems appropriate.

This week's shot does not include the chicken, ground beef, or steak we will be eating; those typically get bought a day or two before we eat it. I also omitted the two gallons of skim milk we drink per week. :)

Bon appetit!

Coney Island Countermen

A trip to Detroit would not be complete without a stop at Lafayette Coney Island. (A Coney, if you've never had one, is a hotdog with chili, mustard and onions. My husband is a very big fan.) The place was pretty empty, (unsurprising for 11am on the day before Christmas) and the countermen were nice enough to let me take pictures. I'm not crazy about the colors -- they came out with a lot more yellow than I remember there being -- but there is something so timeless about the place I had to post them.











The whole set can be found here.

Reindog 23: The edible Reindog at Fredhots

Today's dog is a little different, but if you know me, you know I had to include it. (Also, we went here for lunch immediately after the Reindog Parade. We had to!) This is the very tasty reindeer hotdog served up at Fredhots and Fries in Glenview. I especially love the cherry tomato nose!



Fredhots is a great, GREAT hotdog stand. The food is delicious, and they have a wonderful sense of creativity and enthusiasm. Sure, you can get a traditional Chicago style hotdog, or an excellent Italian beef sandwich, but the thing I go back for are the specialty sausages. The reindeer one is his most famous, but throughout the year he may also have alligator, elk, duck, buffalo, you name it! My favorite is the Reuben dog. Served with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a fabulous spicy Thousand Island, the meat remarkably has the flavor and mouth-feel of corned beef.

And let's not forget the amazing frites and aiolis! Mmmmm. I never thought mayonnaise on French Fries could be so good. But it is!



Plus, look at these guys. How can you not want to buy a hotdog from them? I ask you.



The man himself, Fred. Don't you recognize him from the logo? :)


Fredhots is located on 1707 Chestnut Avenue in Glenview, just off Waukegan Road. They're open 7 days a week (Sunday is just 12-3 so you can get your fix before the Bears games). Tell them Kristen said hello!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I made my very first Thanksgiving dinner today. It came out wonderfully, very VERY delicious.





Good food, good friends, a good husband, a good job, good health, and a good family. I have much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!