So...whats for dinner?
Comments
-
Wally, the greens I buy are freshly picked and bundled. The first step is washing them thoroughly to remove any sand or dirt. I fill one sink with water, wash and drain in the other sink. Repeat twice. You can usually see "grit" when the water drains.
I rip out the big vein if the leaves are large. You can chop these veins but I discard them. I pile up leaves and slice them. Transfer to a large pot with a small amount of water and diced raw pickled pork. Bring to a boil and simmer. Seasoning is salt and pepper and onion powder. I cook until tender. Serve in bowls with cornbread. The juice is called pot liquor.
This is pretty much a standard southern cooking technique but some people add chopped onion and use a different meat seasoning, bacon, ham, smoked ham hocks. Some people add a little sugar.
I will be interested in your recipe.
Tonight will be hamburgers and small white potatoes. DH wants to leave early tomorrow morning, at least by 6:30. Today I will tackle a hated job, packing. And work on being cheerful. DH loves Thanksgiving and looks forward to spending some time with members of his family. We have spent most of our married years attending Thanksgiving at some relative's house in Illinois or Indiana.
The Thanksgivings at this nephew's house have been the most interesting. One year he hired a chef to finish and serve the meal at the nephew's house. This year the meal will be catered food from Whole Foods. The nephew and wife have been eating vegan for a year or two so I am looking forward to some vegan side dishes. And there is always an open bar and bottles of wine.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
0 -
Special, thank you for the recipe. I have a can of chiles that I can use. I'll mention it to DH.
Tonight will be mushroom (a blend of dried and fresh) asparagus risotto. I'll make enough for leftovers and maybe enough for a small side to go with the crab for Thursday.
I found a new to me cookbook that I borrowed from the library; there's a recipe for "mapo ragu"...it requires "hearty greens" so it is a riff on mapo tofu, though it uses both pork and tofu. I have all the ingredients and will make that for Friday. I'll report back.Happy T-day to all and may you be surrounded by loved ones and have much to be thankful for.
0 -
Sharon and I keep a LOT of chipotle pepper around in the pantry. We'll give it a try too as we have a large harvest of sweet potatoes from the sweet potato i stuck into a large pot when we moved here.
Thanksgiving will be a lot smaller this year. It used to be seven folks and is now down to just three of us. DD is in Detroit, so it's just MIL, Sharon and I.
The freezer is still in storage. It will go into the garage when the electrical wiring is done. So, for now, there is no freezer. This means planning a meal with few to no leftovers. Turkey, Special's sweet potato recipe, rolls, stuffing, gravy and a salad. I had the freezer section of the refrigerator emptied out a bit, but that was to accommodate the (actually wonderful) stuff from MIL's freezer.MIL's house is now on the market and we brought up the very last load of stuff from Phoenix last night. So, there won't be so many 400 mile round trips and we will have a very much cheaper storage bill while we are finishing things up at the house.
0 -
Special, the cauliflower soup recipe is here below (including the cover of this vintage cookbook, for fun). The only variation I do is using different levels of dairy depending on what I have. (fat free to whipping cream) just makes it richer the more fat. I'm sure non- dairy could be substituted. The nutmeg grating is important. Bland otherwise. Last night I served it with Irish sharp cheddar to taste. Feel better soon!
Everyone's meals sound delicious. Happy Thanksgiving! We are taking homemade pies to friends of ours who graciously invited us.
0 -
Reader, I took a screenshot of that recipe, DH and I love all things cauliflower, thank you!
Tonight I made blackened mahi mahi, with a rice blend and spring mix salad for myself, DH won’t touch anything but Cod and Haddock. He made a pork green chili dish for a friend arriving soon for thanksgiving. I don’t care for the chili, so I am happy to fend for myself. Not sure if I posted a pic last time I made it but I love foods pics, so here it is.
0 -
reader - omg, I am 99% sure I had that same book! I just went through and donated a bunch of cookbooks, and I think that one was among them. Thank you for the recipe - I will try it for sure!
illimae - great photo as usual, looks yum!
Yesterday was a mixed bag - spent several hours at my local stand-alone ER getting IV antibiotics for cellulitis on my lymphedema arm. I started at the hospital ER, which is conveniently close - but also conveniently close for a bunch of other people too! I would have been there all night. I walked in, and walked right back out. I had passed the other hospital system's separate ER on the way and noted the parking lot looked less crowded, so I turned around and went there - which was a great decision. I was seen immediately and no time was wasted in taking history, doing the exam, and getting treated. I had US to make sure this wasn't a clot, and once that was done they started the meds. I had extensive labs to determine whether this was now systemic, which didn't seem to be the case, and they provided me with copies of the labs done. I am on oral antibiotics for the next week, but the arm is already so much better. It still hurts, but the swelling and extreme redness is gone. I was in and out in 2.5 hours, not too bad. I am pretty sure I would have been in the waiting room of the other ER for that same amount of time before even being seen. On the bright side, I did make cranberry sauce yesterday! Today I plan to make some of the sides and desserts ahead. Making the cranberry sauce was a struggle, I had to sit a couple of times because I felt pretty bad. Feeling much better today so hopefully will be easier! I am very glad I did not wait any longer to be seen for this - it is not to be ignored!
Thankful for all who gather at this kitchen table!
0 -
Special - I am soooo glad you got to a doc. Sounds line a thorough and excellent work up. Since I too have lymphadema (thank you BC), I routinely carry antibiotics when i travel just in case. Especially if I'm not going to be in a big city. Thankfully I haven't had to use them yet. Hope you can find someone to help with all the chopping & mixing & stirring. Try to take it easy.
0 -
minus - thanks! Me too! Even though this was not found to be systemic I was shocked at how sick I felt yesterday and how much better I feel today. The good news is that I don't have a ton of chopping to do and DH will lift the turkey into and out of the oven. I was very happy with the ER, they were indeed thorough and took the breast cancer history and lymphedema seriously. The doc was a young woman, I liked her very much. Her DH is a former Navy seal, so we had a nice chat about military stuff too. I found all of their personnel to be friendly and helpful - helped make a bad thing into a very tolerable experience. I was asked about who my primary care doc was, and had to confess that I don't currently have one. The base cut me loose once I was on Medicare, and trying to find someone locally has been a challenge - many here are not taking new patients. I have a new patient consult for the one my MO recommended but it is not until Oct 2023! The ER doc went the extra mile by making two recommendations and taking the time to look up and note their phone numbers on my release paperwork.
0 -
Special - I'm astonished at all the things you manage to do for others while being ill yourself. I hope someone is taking care of you! I've had cellulitis and it's no fun. Mine took forever and multiple rounds of antibiotics to go away. I hope yours does not.
I've been busy too. A couple of days ago I made and froze six dozen butter rolls and cranberry chutney. As usual, we'll go to DH's sister's home tomorrow and have a smaller dinner for ourselves and the kids on Saturday. My contribution to tomorrow's dinner will be three dozen of the dinner rolls and an autumn succotash. This version of succotash includes red bell pepper, zucchini, summer squash and fresh sage in addition to the standard corn and baby limas. It's an attractive and tasty dish. Yesterday I made a small carrot cake and froze it. The cake will join a 6" pecan and 8" pumpkin pie for dessert on Saturday. The pecan pie was bought at a local bakery but I will make the pumpkin. Other Saturday sides will be garlic mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts with dried cranberries and toasted pine nuts, more succotash and dressing. Several years ago I turned the dressing over to my DDIL. It's my least favorite part of the meal and the most annoying and time consuming to make - all that chopping. The twelve pound turkey will be spatchcocked and dry brined tomorrow after we get home. I'll do most of the prep work Friday to make my small kitchen less stress inducing on Saturday.
Wally - pickled pork is quite easy to make yourself and I almost always keep some in the freezer for greens. My family's favorite was collard greens but I think I prefer turnip greens or a mixture of mustard, collard and turnip. I like them all but haven't yet managed to replicate my great grandmother's greens. I bet Carole has.
Beautiful pic Mae. They always make me hungry.
Carole - looking forward to a report on the nephew's meal.
Eric - I'm happy for you that your MIL is now moved and the house is on the market. That will surely make life a little easier.
Hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving with all that you enjoy!
0 -
Special...Glad you got in quickly to get it taken care of before it got even worse. I, too, have found the stand alone ED places to be far less crowded than the in-hospital ED.
Let someone else do the work tomorrow!
0 -
I went to one of those ERs when I was in Texas in April. I was very impressed with them too with no waiting.
Tonight's offering is air fried chicken wings with a honey mustard glaze, twice baked potato casserole and broccoli with lemon garlic butter.
0 -
I'm making Special's sweet potato recipe. I didn't cut the 4 pound sweet potato and it's taking forever to bake. :-)
0 -
Seems strange not to be cooking.
I'm meeting my ex-DH and his wife at Eddie V's. Our nephew and his 7 year old daughter will join us (wife has to work). Korean Brussels Sprouts. Crab Fried Rice. Maine Lobster bisque. Jumbo crab cakes. And that's before we discuss the entree. I'll probably go with the Georges Banks Scallops. And then - Bananas Foster Butter cake or Meyer Lemon Tarte or Hot Chocolate Godiva cake. Pounds ahead for sure.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
0 -
When nephew lived in Chicago, we always had Portillo’s for dinner the night before Thanksgiving. There is no nearby Portillo’s here in FL. So they ordered from Portillo’s and I had my much-liked Italian beef with hot and sweet peppers and dh had his favorite hot dogs. Nephew and his wife always make us feel welcome
0 -
Happy thanksgiving!
0 -
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating. I hope no one has a "food coma". :-)
0 -
Thank you, Special, for posting the chipolte-sweet potato recipe.
0 -
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m stuffed and can’t finish my pumpkin pie but excited for tomorrow’s after thanksgiving sandwich.
0 -
Me too illimae...my friend's DH outdid himself making a capon, pecan sweet potatoes, etc. etc. I think I'm going to be up a while reading to avoid heartburn. But worth it. Keep warm and hopefully it won't snow " too much".
0 -
Nance - I swear I could give up everything else and just eat your delicious looking rolls. Bread & butter is always my downfall, but these remind me of the rolls my Mother used to make.
0 -
Minus - these are a modification of the rolls DHs grandmother made. (The original recipe had way too much sugar imo). Anyway they’re always a hit and I thought of you when I posted the pic.
0 -
Just for grins, here's my Mother's recipe from the 1950s. I still have recipe card she wrote out for me called "Easy Rolls" with the diagram on the back of the circle cut into 8 triangles. I haven't made them in 30 years. How does this compare Nance?
2 Yeast cakes dissolved in 1/4c warm water & set aside; beat 2 eggs & add 1/2 cup sugar; 1 tsp salt; 1 cup very warm water; 1 cube melted butter. Add yeast mix and 4-1/2 cups flour. Rise once in bulk then make rolls & rise once again. Bake 10 minutes at 450.
I think she used the same recipe when she made the fancy rolls for "ladies luncheons" - but she rolled the dough out in a square or rectangle & spread with mix of melted butter, orange zest, fresh orange juice and (?) grated pecans, before rolling into a tube & cutting round slices to rise again.
0 -
Minus - it's pretty close. For the same number of rolls in your recipe mine calls for 1 pkg dry yeast, 1 cup warm water, 1/4cup sugar, 1 1/2 sticks of butter, 3 eggs and 4 1/4 cups of flour, 1 1/4 tsp salt. It requires an overnight rise, shape and then rise until doubled. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. The original called for twice as much yeast, twice as much sugar and “oleo".
0 -
Oleo....my grandmother used that term. I'm guessing it's been 35 years since I've heard that. :-)
0 -
We are finally finished with the Dungeness crab and the mushroom asparagus risotto. I had plans to make the mapo ragu but things changed.
We are not big turkey lovers; then we discovered Mary's turkey. We prefer the thighs/leg...good luck finding that ANYWHERE. I suspect we could have asked our local "health food" store butcher a bird for the thighs. Did that one year and got a piece no one would recognize. NOT thighs. Hence the T-day crab. Previous neighbor from WI raved about a crockpot turkey breast that everyone says is to die for. Skeptical. Needed salad makings so went to the store and lo and behold, they are clearing out turkey...99cents/pound for anything. If I had been there a minute earlier, I'd have scored a huge 17 pound Mary's turkey. As it was, they did have the bone-in breast so...the experiment begins tomorrow to see if we can be converts to the white meat. At worst, we're out about 6 bucks. Maybe the cat will like it. So the mapo ragu is being pushed out and I am hopeful the mustard greens are playing nicely with the paper-toweling in their bag. Our sides will be asparagus and roasted purple potatoes.
p.s. the risotto and crab were insanely good. Our neighbor said he has more crab.
0 -
Dinner was a slice of pumpkin pie. I had my layered thanksgiving leftovers sandwich around 3pm, so not hungry for a meal.
Tomorrow I’ll breakdown the remaining turkey for sandwiches, turkey a la king and broth.
I’ve been craving French bread pizza, so planning that for our dinner with a friend next Saturday. I’ll be working on clearing the fridge this week
0 -
Playing catch-up here. Special, hope you're on the mend from that cellulitis. I think we're all terrified about developing it since we all are at some degree of LE risk (or already have LE). I haven't had cellulitis since 1997, when we adopted a tiny kitten who liked to play rough. He bit me on the forearm, and if you've ever had a kitten you know their teeth are like little needles--attached to bacteria-delivery syringes. My arm puffed up within 10 minutes, and I had to take Keflex (at the time I was still penicillin-allergic) for 10 days.
Monday night Bob worked late, so I threw together a keto bagel, lox & schmear for dinner. Tuesday was my Hooked on Fish pickup day. Dinner was six Malpeque oysters (PEI) followed by cedar planked Scottish salmon with sauteed red & yellow peppers and blistered shishitos. Wed. night I had to attend a shiva for a friend who died suddenly Mon. morning at only 57. We don't know the cause: Jews don't request autopsies when not required by law, and he died at home with no foul play or substance abuse suspected. But he did weigh >300 lbs., was a Type 2 diabetic, and always complained about his CPAP machine. Anyway, he had so many friends from temple (both the main congregation and the smaller LGBTQ one) and the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus that the shiva had to be moved down to his condo bldg.'s party room. People brought various noshes: a deli platter, lox & fixings, crudité, chips, nuts, candies and various & sundry desserts--so I had a de facto keto-friendly dinner, before going home (after the prayer service) to make "glatt treyf:" I shucked six Miyagi oysters (Hood Canal) and we ate them with salads. Hooked on Fish doesn't usually have oysters, but that week they had both kinds for $1.50 each. For that price it was worth the mess & elbow grease of shucking them (and making mignonette sauce, which was quite easy).
Thanksgiving dinner at Wildfire hit a few snags--even though our res was for 7:15 (and they ostensibly closed at 8), they were running so far behind (not to mention having to find two adjacent tables for our party) that we didn't get seated till nearly 8. They were extremely short-staffed (only ONE bartender!) so that may have contributed to the chaos. Still, the mgr. did a great job of herding cats while trying to catch greased eels with one hand behind his back. But the food itself was great: old-fashioned supper-club relish tray with deviled eggs; Caesar & chopped salads; turkey & dressing and roast sliced beef tenderloin. (Nobody wanted the salmon). Ran out of mashed potatoes, so we subbed creamed spinach & roasted veggies. No cranberry sauce (which nobody missed); and they ran out of pecan pie, so we opted for Door County cherry & Key lime. As hosts, we had dibs on leftovers--which we ate last night. Sat. night Bob said he wouldn't make it home for dinner, so I defrosted & reheated last Sunday's leftover pork shank & polenta, and roasted Brussels sprouts (tossed with S&P, cumin, olive oil and balsamic plus pepitas). As I was halfway through eating it (it was already 9 pm). Bob called to tell me he would be home for dinner after all. I didn't feel like going out that late, plus I didn't have enough other stuff defrosted to cook for him, so he had dinner at Calo (his usual watering hole, which had been our go-to Italian restaurant since 1979). Tomorrow night he promises to get home in time to make it to Chengdu Impression (which he was supposed to do Fri. night but took on extra consults as he was about to leave the hospital). But it'll be chilly, with the tail end of tomorrow's rain. Not a pleasant walk, but not far enough to drive (much less jockey for parking). We will try some of the dishes listed as "numbing," which is a hallmark of Sichuan peppercorns. Hopefully, the heat of the food (and the Riesling with which we'll accompany it) will make the walk home seem faster.
0 -
I'm a dark-meat lover in all fowl, but I must say, this crockpot turkey breast was insanely good. Leftovers tomorrow. Froze any scraps I picked off the bones to put into stuff at some point.
0 -
Cellulitis is pretty much done - I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the swelling and redness dissipated within 24 hours of the infused antibiotic - I can see why that is the preferred treatment. I am continuing with the oral meds but have reached the point where they are bothering my stomach even though I am taking them with food. This is my norm, just have to ride it out. Thanks all for worrying! I am hoping this is my one and only experience with this, but my poor little immune system may say otherwise.
chisandy - yes, I am familiar with those tiny kitten teeth! The only serious cat related incident came from my own cat - like an idiot I decided to take him with me to the mailbox, and he saw another cat. I refused to let him go, he freaked out, and his hind foot cut a large gash in my hand. This required stitches and also required the ER to report all of this to the county animal control. An armed officer came to my house and took a report. She confined the cat to house arrest - which was hilarious since he was an indoor cat except for ill-advised trips to the mailbox - and that was it. Unfortunately, this was once again my dominant hand, and I had a catering job. I was mostly done but DH was pressed into service to finish things up!
auntie and reader - beautiful pics!
eric - I hope you enjoyed the sweet potatoes - I did have a complaint from DD that I didn't make the usual ones with pecans and pineapple. You can't make all of the people happy all of the time,. lol!
oleo - made me smile - my mom used that term for all non-butter things.
0 -
Special, glad to hear you are on the mend. My baby-girl-cat (my avatar) did the same to me; thankfully, pre-breast cancer. Interestingly, when I went for my colonoscopy, they wanted to use my right arm for IV and I said no. She was a little huffy and said "you're past getting LE" and I just rolled my eyes and said, "humor me." OY.
Leftover turkey breast tonight.
0
