This Week's Weekend Six

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dawnnys

Well-known member
It's a beautiful day (70+), I'm not cooking! Chinese take-out for us tonight.

Yesterday made pot roast in the crockpot over mashed potatoes harvested from the garden (the last of them). Mmmm, good.

Tried a new cranberry-orange relish in preparation for Thanksgiving, but I think I like the traditional tangy-sweet kind instead. And love the smell of vanilla cooking in the air too ;o).

Went to my sister-in-law's jewelry party and had the best Tex-Mex savory cheesecake. Must get the recipe.

Saturday we went to the Veteran's Day Parade at the Fairgrounds... too bad it couldn't have been today instead, a little dreary yesterday, but a good time.

Dinner out Friday was Haddock with Avocado-Pineapple Salsa. Seems easy enough to make if I remember to use the avocado before it goes bad (again!). Must get my act together and clean out the refrigerator again :eek:(

 
You have 70+ temps upstate?! Only in the 60s, here. smileys/wink.gif (Plus Sat. Six)

1. Funnily enough, we also had pot roast, but on Friday night. I wasn't using my mom's recipe, and it turned out more liquidy than I would've liked. Lesson: If you have your mother's recipe, use it!

2. I ventured into the bowels of Macy's yesterday for their cookware sale. Have mercy. Everyone and his uncle (and all of his uncle's sisters and aunts) was there, haggling over $9.99 sets of nonstick pans, immersion blenders, and kitchen knives. More or less what I imagine Babylon to be. I got the heck out of there. (It was a slightly more civilized scene--but only slightly--on the other floors.) Also...whatever they're spraying on those pans to be able to sell 3 for $9.99 is not something I want flaking off and entering my system...

3. Tea and friends and very good macarons at a tea salon in the West Village yesterday afternoon for a very civilized baby shower (i.e., no games). smileys/wink.gif A great antidote to a gloomy, cloudy Saturday!

4. Went down to Battery Park this morning and sat in the sun with coffee and a cinnamon roll while J. went to see "Skyfall." (NFRC: There wasn't a trace of the hurricane, but they haven't put any of the chairs or tables back yet, and most of the buildings have green signs saying, "No structural damage detected." The only (hair-raising) evidence I saw of the flood was on the east side of the pedestrian overpass over West Street--there was a swath of leaves and muck plastered to the plywood between the sidewalk and the World Trade Center area, as though someone had painted it on. It was at head level--and I'm five foot ten. This is about a block away from the Battery Tunnel, so I guess the water got pretty high.) smileys/irritated.gif

5. Dealt with insomnia, this week, by trying to plan Thanksgiving... I'm sure most of you have your trusted recipes in a special folder, right? Or have some other organizational method so that when November rolls around, you don't curse yourself and wonder how on earth this will work?! All I have is the chronology of events (for lack of a better term) and a master shopping list...but I can't figure out where I put all the good recipes I used last year! GRRR.

5b. Quick poll: For 4 people, plus leftovers... An 8 lb. turkey? Or a couple turkey breasts and a few drumsticks? I'm not really sure I want to tackle the entire bird, this year... Our freezer isn't that big. smileys/frown.gif

6. Speaking of Thanksgiving... This is from 2009, but it looks helpful--Mark Bittman's "101 Head Starts on the Day"; they're not all tips--some are recipes--but they're organized according to the meal (Relishes, Soups, Stuffings, Vegetable Sides, etc.) and have some great, simple ideas.

 
Weekend 2? Busy weekend and not much time to cook but I got a couple of things in...

Sat was a trip to a farm about an hour from home. They just got their permit to sell beef and goat meat. They harvested their first pastured raised steer and have a freezer full of beautiful beef. I bought a gorgeous chuck steak for pot roast, a big soup bone and a bag of stew meat. Can't wait to try them out. I also brought home some purple carrots, organic cranberries from NJ (who knew there were cranberry bogs in NJ??), a just harvested chicken and I chatted with the last few turkeys that haven't been harvested yet, they looked a bit nervous, their friends keep disappearing!!

Tonight I tried Papillote of Trout. Trout fillets layered with a carrot, onion, leek and apple filling and then sauced with an apple cider reduction. Wrap all this in parchment and bake for 20 minutes. WOW!! It is sooo good, I really didn't expect it to be so flavorful. DH just loved it. Very easy too except when you forget about the reducing apple cider and your kitchen fills with stinky smoke!!

Also tried out is a delicious Pumpkin Walnut Bread with Cranberry-Orange Preserves from Bon Apetit. Another keeper!

 
Weekend in chicago . . .

In the low 70's today . . . now raining and wind advisories . . . temps dropping, and we should see some snow activity before the end of the night. Just a typical day in Chicago in November!

Made Ina Garten's pea soup yesterday for the week's lunches. My peas never got soft, so I just buzzed them into submission with the immersion blender. BTW, any of Ina's soups are GREAT!! I make a rotation of tomato, mushroom, pea, etc.

Needed my "fix" of intensive cooking for the week, so I have dolmatas on the stove. Not much chopping involved, but certainly time intensive in the preparation, but it will keep me for the week.

 
I sort of already feel like I have a 10-lb. turkey strapped to me... Hence, maybe, my reluctance to

wrestle with another one... smileys/wink.gif

 
I'll be there in a week! IN/IL/KY/MI. whirlwind trip.going to Bears game on 25th. yikes if it's

anything like yesterday! bringing a cooler with frozen salmon. taking back cooler with sausages from Detroit. Is it a little sad that we're looking forward to Cracker Barrels on our road trips? Nah.

 
Well, that's what the Butterball calculator recommended, but we usually buy from DiPaola Turkey Farm

in NJ. (They sell their birds at greenmarkets in the city.) Last year, we had a big one from them for 12 people, and it was excellent. This year, though, there are only 4 of us, so I keep trying to decide b/w tiny turkey or breast. (I can't do game hens--I did that once just for the two of us and, while tasty, it just wasn't the same.) smileys/wink.gif

 
You're welcome. smileys/smile.gif I think I might try making the Onion Jam w/ Bacon and Bourbon for gifts!

 
my one cooking accomplishment this weekend was Mom's Choc PNut butter balls.sheesh

Now I know what a labor of love that was for her to make dozens every Christmas. What a pain in the #@&*. I think crunching the Rice Krispies up would have helped keep the mixture more "stickable". the biggest pain was rolling them into balls.(next time I'm pressing the mixture in a pan, cooling and cutting into squares, then dipping) And, there's no way anyone could get 54 out of that recipe. Anyway---I'm hauling them all the way to Indiana for a surprise treat for thanksgiving. Last year I sent a beautiful box of baked goods and all the kids noticed was, "where's the pnut butter balls?".
from the Kellogs site:
Peanut butter crunch balls
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups Kellogg's® Rice Krispies® cereal
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
54mini-muffin paper cups

1. In large electric mixer bowl, beat peanut butter, margarine and sugar on medium speed until thoroughly combined. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal, mixing thoroughly. Portion mixture, using rounded teaspoon. Shape into balls. Place each ball in paper cup. Refrigerate.

2. Melt chocolate morsels and shortening in small saucepan, over low heat, stirring constantly. Spoon 1 teaspoon melted chocolate over each peanut butter ball. Refrigerate until firm. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

 
OMG your comment about lil barb_b being strapped to you just cracked me up! Make it easy

if J likes dark meat, I would go with the legs...I am not so good with the breast meat. It always dries out.

Just have fun, enjoy and do not fuss.... And what is up with the pretzel thingy... Seriously? You should not be cooking, but being served.... : )

P.S.. I really wont be hurt if you do not name the baby barb_b... I will get over it. : )

 
Ha ha. smileys/wink.gif I love to cook--so it's not a big deal. And, unlike last year, it's not 12 people. smileys/wink.gif))

 
DiPaola's!! I used to go there during lunch when I lived in Hamilton Twp (by Trenton) and

worked in East Windsor (at Astrospace....formerly Martin Marietta/formerly Ge/formerly RCA). Bought their turkeys both years that I lived there.

I made many of fine ratatouille from their farm stand.

 
I'd go with at least a 12-lb one too. Otherwise you don't get the juicy

meat, I've found, a little too scrawny! And you're doing all the work, so you may as well have lots of leftovers to share.

'Love macarons, by the way.

Yes, it was that warm. And then last night they forecasted snow flurries!

 
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