Cleansing the Body

Years ago, a coworker did this crazy diet -- he consumed nothing but lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water for ten days. It looked miserable during the ten days, but he kept saying how he felt really good. He lost a pretty significant amount of weight, and then switched to a vegetarian diet, and is still thin today.

I was intrigued, so I researched it. Called the Master Cleanse, it is intended to remove toxins from the body and give the digestive system a rest so it can get rejuvenated and ready to go again. Toxins end up in our system from fast food, processed food, chemicals in the water, etc. Now, I don't subscribe to any of the conspiracy theories about the government trying to poison us, but I do know that a lot of the chemicals used in foods to brighten up the color or enhance the flavor haven't been around long enough to *really* know what they can do to us long-term. I really don't want to use my body as a part of that experiment, so I thought I'd give it the old college try.

I made my first attempt a couple of years ago. I tried out the concoction, and it actually tastes pretty good, and does a decent job of keeping the hunger pangs to a minimum. However, I derailed at day three when french fries were consumed in my presence. I love carbs, and I just didn't have the willpower to resist those fries. And then I moved. And then I got married. And then I got pregnant. And then I miscarried. And then I got pregnant again. And then I was pumping. Some of those were probably excuses, but several were legitmate reasons not to do, in effect, a starvation diet. So I held off. And then I did it in April. I finished all ten days of the diet with no cheating or anything. I had two really tough days in there (day four and day eight), but otherwise it was just the boredom of the same thing every day that was more of a factor than the craving of any food in particular.

I lost 9.5 pounds on the cleanse, and really felt pretty good -- energized and ready to take on the world again. When I returned to eating regular food, I have been following the diet I did while pregnant with gestational diabetes (but with occasional alcohol). Mostly, that entails eating more salad and fewer/better carbs. And I eschew most fast food (I love the word eschew, but now I want a cashew). I certainly expected my weight to go up as I added calories and solid food back into my, but it hasn't gone up much. At a week out from finishing the cleanse, I appear to have stabilized at about a 6-7 pound loss. Add to that some exercise, and I should be in good shape. My goal was drop a few pounds to reduce my likelihood for developing gestational diabetes if we get pregnant again.

So, when my period was late, I didn't give it a second thought. I figured I was essentially on a starvation diet for 10 days, and that's bound to mess up a woman's cycle. As I ate more normally again, my body would naturally start doing those things it does. And then, last night, I realized I'm now 8 days late. Like a good woman of childbearing age planning to start trying to get pregnant again this summer, I had some tests on hand. So I took one this morning -- fully expecting a negative result. Surely I'm just late because of the diet.

And then there was that faint second line. And now I feel awful. I was doing this diet right when I would have ovulated, and that's not a great start for a baby. Praying hard today that everything is okay.

Happy Christmas Adam!

Today is Christmas Adam, and it's the big holiday day for my family.

Let me back up and explain. Since my dad's a pastor, he works on Christmas Eve, and in the past he'd also worked on Christmas morning. That pretty much throws a wrench into the holiday family time, since he has to get to the church early and he has to be the last to leave. It mostly meant we had to wait until Christmas afternoon to have time together to eat, enjoy company, open presents, etc. And then, my sister, A., suggested we celebrate Christmas Adam. And since Adam came before Eve, that makes it today.

Mostly, we treat it like other families treat Christmas Eve. We have a nice dinner, and then we play games and get to open one present. While that was originally intended to hold us kids over until Christmas Day, sometimes it lead to a full-on excessive present opening shindig. Now that we're older, we have more control. Well, sort of.

We still eat way too much, and today we are each making a seafood appetizer to comprise the dinner. I believe there will be gumbo, lobster something-or-other, seafood pizza, and my entry, pairing two of my favorite foods in the world: crab-stuffed mushrooms. I guess we're sort of going with the dim sum approach to dinner -- lots of little bits make people full just like big plates of entrees. It should be fun, and I'm looking forward to how everyone will pull their pieces together. It helps that the family is full of good cooks. Yum!

Recipes are Good Blog Fodder

Last week I was in North Carolina visiting my sister. I was there to go to her graduation and her commissioning as a Naval officer, and stuck around the whole week, because traveling from one coast to another and back just for a weekend seems silly. I worked from her apartment for the week while she went to work, and then we hung out at night doing various things -- chilling in bars where a guy tried to pick up yours truly, doing karaoke where another guy tried to do the same, sucking at trivia, and just generally drinking too much and being out too late. It was a good week.

Anyway, by Friday night, I was pretty tired. My sister informed me it was my job to plan our evening's festivities, and I was really itching to cook. So I did. And I even had access to recipes from home, just via an internet connection.

Isn't the internet grand?

Variety of Food, Day 30: Green Chicken Enchiladas

On the last day of this month of cooking, I contemplated making some elaborate feast. I thought about doing something amazing -- something that I wouldn't normally fix. And then I realized all my dishes are dirty and my kitchen is a disaster. So, instead I went with my old standby. A crockpot meal.

I don't think most people really understand my obsession with the crockpot. It is, far and away, my favorite kitchen appliance. The ice cream maker may not be far behind, but the crockpot is definitely first. I love the way that you can put a meal together and then forget about it. Then, when you come back into the kitchen you have these amazing smells, and you wonder when house elves moved in. Instead of a house elf, I have a crockpot. It has a green insert with an ivy pattern on the outside, which we got as a wedding gift nearly 10 years ago. I even wrote a haiku for mine.

Green and white vessel --
You create wonderful smells.
I love you, crockpot!

So, tonight, we had a crockpot meal. It may not sound fabulous, but I assure you it was.

Green Chicken Enchiladas
2 pounds chicken, cooked and chopped
1 tbsp oil
2 onions, 1 quartered, 1 chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp cumin
28 oz verde sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
12 corn tortillas
I tend to just brown the chicken lightly to cook it. I did that today. Then, put some oil in the pan and cook the chopped onion for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the chopped chicken and the cumin and stir through. Remove from the heat. Blend the quartered onion and the green sauce like a crazy person. Then, assemble your enchilada casserole. Start with 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of the insert. Then layer 4 of the tortillas, a third of the chicken mixture, and a third of the cheese. Repeat layers so you have three, and stop with the last of the chicken. Dump whatever sauce is left evenly over the whole thing and top with the last of the cheese. Cook on low for 7 hours.

Don't knock it until you've tried it. Good stuff.

And now it's time for a break. A long enough break to get the kitchen clean. I'm not expecting to cook again before June.

I kid. I've actually already been thinking of how I'll make this little exercise harder the next time I do it. I have some ideas, but we'll just have to see what shakes out. Thanks for taking this little journey with me.

Variety of Food, Day 29: Chicken Marsala

Tonight I'm pretty tired. So tired that in non-months-of-daily-cooking, I would have just eaten a little leftover something and gone to bed early. But, no, that's not an option on the 29th of the month in question. Tonight we had a favorite that re-reminded me that my husband and I have very different ideas of how many mushrooms is really enough.

Chicken Marsala
1 pound chicken breasts
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup marsala wine
1 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper
Salt and pepper the chicken breasts. Heat two tablespoons of the butter and the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat. Brown the chicken breasts on each side, but don't cook them until done, just brown. Remove to a plate, and add the onions and mushrooms to the oil in the pan. Cook until the liquid the mushrooms give off is evaporated. Add the marsala, and reduce by half. Add the chicken broth and the chicken from the plate, along with any juices that have collected. Turn the heat to medium and simmer gently for 10 minutes, until the chicken is done. Remove the chicken to your serving plate. Boil the onions, mushrooms, and associated juices to have them reduce a little more. Remove from the heat and add the other two tablespoons of butter and stir that in. Salt and pepper to taste.

We ate this over whole wheat spaghetti and some steamed broccoli. And now Heather is tired and is going to bed.

Variety of Food, Day 28: Ham, Mushroom and Cheese Waffles

Tonight's meal was a lesson in how forgiving some recipes really can be. It's comforting, really, after all this cooking to have it firmly implanted how little precision really is necessary. I made an old family favorite for no other reason than I had the ingredients in the house. Well, most of the ingredients, and I faked the rest.

Ham, Mushroom and Cheese Sauce
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 can evaporated milk (or a pint of buttermilk, if that's what you have)
1 cup swiss cheese (or 2 cups, if you happen to have ounce conversion issues for the moment)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup diced ham
Melt the butter in a saucepan over high eat. Add the flour and stir together. Pour in the milk slowly, stirring constantly. Add the cheese and let it melt. Add the mushrooms and ham and heat through. Serve over cornmeal waffles.

Cornmeal Waffles
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk
1 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cornmeal
5 tbsp melted butter
Beat the eggs and milk together. Combine the dry ingredients and add them to the liquid ones, mixing with a few swift strokes (don't overstir!!). Use a few more strokes to add in the butter. Cook on a waffle griddle until done.

Of course, waffles are more fun to make on a 100-year-old cast-iron waffle iron. I know, blah, cast-iron bad for you, blah, blah. It makes phenomenal waffles, so don't make me give it up!

Variety of Food, Day 27: Lamb Ragu

Tonight I went with a dish I hadn't done before from a tried and true book. It's generally a pretty safe way to branch out, and I'm not interested in failures this close to the end of the month. True to form, this didn't disappoint.

Lamb Ragu
Adapted from The Classic Pasta Cookbook by Giuliano Hazan
1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 rib of celery, diced
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp juniper berries
1 lb ground lamb (or you can use a larger piece of meat and dice it up)
salt and pepper
1/3 cup dry white wine
14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup grated parmesan
Soak the mushrooms for at least 20 minutes in 1 cup of warm water. Remove and squeeze all the extra liquid back into your soaking water and save that. Chop the mushrooms coarsely. In a medium saucepan, put the oil, 1 tbsp of the butter and the onion and cook over medium-low heat until the onion is nicely golden. Add the carrot, celery, rosemary and the juniper berries and continue to cook until the vegetables get browned (about 15 minutes). Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the meat. Cook and stir until there is no more pink in the meat, and then add salt, pepper, and the wine. Let the wine reduce by half before adding the mushrooms, their soaking water and the tomatoes. When it comes back to a boil, lower the heat to low and simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. It should be thick and not watery to signal that it's done. Cook a pound of rigatoni, and combine the cooked pasta with the sauce, the other 2 tbsp of the butter and the parmesan.

This was rich and tasty, and lamb is just not a meat we eat that often, so it was sort of a treat. More of a treat is that there are just 3 meals left in the month. Woohoo!!

Variety of Food, Day 26: Yeo's Shrimp Curry

I'm into the home stretch now. I was hungry for Indian food, but really didn't want to spend 3 hours cooking curry from scratch. So I started with samosas from Trader Joe's (not very good -- won't do those again) and papadams (I'm a fan of the Swad brand and the Udad flavor -- spicy!). The papadams are supposed to be cooked in a tandoor. I don't know about you, but I don't have a tandoor in my kitchen. However, I can set an oven to 425 and put in my pizza stone. Once it's all heated up, the papadams cook for about 30 seconds on each side, until they are bubbly, without any darkening in color.

Then I made steamed rice and the curry. This is where my "not from scratch" part came into play. I don't eat a lot of premade curry, but I was recently in an Asian grocery looking for lumpia wrappers, and found the pinnacle of canned curry: Yeo's Singapore Curry Gravy. There's only one flavor, only one spiciness, but it is some seriously tasty stuff. Here's the recipe, pretty much from the side of the can.

Yeo's Shrimp Curry
Slice an onion and cook over medium heat in a small amount of oil, until the onion is golden. Add three potatoes cut into bite-size pieces and stir constantly for 5 minutes. Add 1/2 pound of peeled shrimp and continue to stir until the shrimp are all just pink. Pour in the can of curry gravy and mix together. Lower the heat and cover to simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

I know, not that complicated. But this is so good I still call it homemade. And it still took me about 45 minutes in the kitchen, so it was no frozen pizza.

Thanksgiving Recap

I know I'm slow, but this is a long post, so it took some time to write. And after my parents left, I needed a few days to recover. They have some serious energy for old farts!

Really, the dinner preparations for the big meal started on Tuesday, when I made the ice cream. My dad's diabetic, so I have tried making this with evaporated milk instead of cream and with splenda instead of sugar. Don't make either of those mistakes if you choose to make ice cream from scratch. It just results in a rock hard mess that tastes awful. I have a Krups ice cream maker, so I had put the freezer insert in on Saturday to get it good and cold for the effort. This recipe comes from the booklet that came with the appliance.

French Vanilla Ice Cream
3 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla
Beat the eggs and milk together in a 3 qt saucepan. Add sugar and cook over low heat for about 15-20 minutes, whisking constantly. It's important to stir all the time, so you don't end up with scrambled egg pieces in your ice cream. When the mixture is thick and coats the spoon, remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Add the cream and vanilla and refrigerate overnight before freezing in the ice cream maker.

While that was cooling, I made a strawberry sorbet. I've also made this with frozen berries: mixed berries, raspberries, and I would think other berries would work equally well.

Strawberry Sorbet
3 cups fresh berries or a 12-oz bag of frozen berries
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg whites
1/2 cup orange juice
Put berries, water, and sugar in a 3-qt saucepan and heat at medium until the sugar dissolves in the liquid. Puree the mixture and refrigerate for several hours. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the orange juice to the pureed berries and then fold in the egg whites before freezing the mixture in the maker.

Both recipes make a quart of ice cream, so I have a couple of 1.2 or 1.3 quart containers that I use to hold the frozen goodness after it comes out of the ice cream maker. That works well.

On Wednesday, I made the pie to go with all that ice cream. I discovered this whole apple pie-making thing last year, and now I make apple pie anytime I need a dessert for something. I never realized how much I love apple pie. I don't love making pie crust, so I buy those, but the filling I make.

Apple Pie
Adapted from Joy of Cooking, of which I believe I have the 423rd edition
Make your double pie crusts or take yours out of the freezer to start to thaw. Core and slice in 1/4 inch thick slices 3 pounds of apples. I used Pink Lady this time, but I've also used Gala and Fuji, and they've worked great, too. I think next time I will try Honey Crisp. Be wary of squishy apples like red delicious or granny smith, as these will get mushy in a pie. In a very large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of butter over high heat until the butter is sizzling and smelling yummy. Add the apples and toss them around to coat them with the butter. Lower the heat to medium, cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently. You want the apples to be getting soft, but not to be falling apart. Add 3/4 cup sugar or splenda, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon of salt and mix together. Turn the heat back up to high and boil the liquid and the apples until it starts to become thick, like syrup, about 3 minutes more. Remove the apples and spread them out on a cookie sheet and cool to room temperature. Preheat your oven to 425. Pile the apples and the syrup into the bottom crust. It will be a pile, but that's what makes this good. I wet the edges of the bottom crust, and then press the top crust onto it to make them stick together. Vent and bake until the filling is brown and bubbly and the crust is nicely golden, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool on a baking rack, and leave out for tomorrow.

Also on Wednesday, I tore up a loaf of whole wheat bread into pieces and let it sit out to get a little stale. Then I made the cranberries. I like to make two kinds, and this year I did half a bag one way and the other half the other way. Fewer leftovers that way.

Cooked Cranberries
half a bag of fresh cranberries
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp fresh ginger
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir until the mixture boils and the cranberries have all popped (about 10 minutes). Refrigerate to serve.

Fresh Cranberry Relish
half a bag of fresh cranberries
2 oranges, quartered
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup gin or vodka (but gin is better)
Put the cranberries and oranges in a food processor or blender until all broken up. Add the gin and sugar and refrigerate until serving.

I really should have made these earlier. The fresh is better when it's been sitting for 3 or 4 days, and there's no harm in making the other early. I serve them cold, so making them early is just a way to keep from going insane with the things that can't be done until the day of.

Then we come to Thursday morning. I got up and started to prep the turkey first thing in the morning. Well, a little later than first thing, since I slept in a bit. As a morning person, you have to understand that means I got up at 6:30. Just so we're all clear that I didn't sleep in so late so as to appreciably affect the completion of the meal.

Roast Turkey
Remove the giblets and neck and wash the turkey (I did a 17.5 pound one). Rub an even mixture of salt, pepper, and thyme all over the skin and the inside cavity of the bird. Into the neck and butt cavities, fill with quartered onions and celery and carrots cut into 2-inch lengths. Put breast down in a covered roaster and into a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes per pound (that's 5 hours and 50 minutes for my turkey). Baste every 30 minutes with turkey or chicken broth, adding 1.5 to 2 cups of liquid each basting until the broth in the pan starts to be more than the last time you basted.

This doesn't make the prettiest roast turkey ever, since the breast is down in the broth, but it sure makes it juicier. I figure I'm going for tasty rather than for a turkey that belongs on the front of a magazine, so it's an easy tradeoff to make. Since the turkey was in at 7am, I knew we would be eating about 1:15 or 1:30, so the rest of the pieces of the meal are timed for that. The next order of business was to make the dressing. Since I only have one small oven, and it was taken up with turkey, I decided to try making my regular dressing in the crockpot.

Sherry Pecan Dressing
Saute 2 chopped onions in 3/4 cup butter until just tender and golden. Dump in the crockpot with 2 cups of chopped celery, 1 tablespoons chopped fresh parley, 1 1/2 teaspoons each of thyme, margoram and salt, 1/2 teaspoon each of celery seed and nutmeg, and 1/4 cup of sherry. Once combined, add the torn bread we made and left for stale yesterday and a cup of chopped pecans. Cover and set the crockpot on low, and check it periodically, adding chicken broth as it gets a little dry. Once the turkey comes out of the oven to rest, put the uncovered crockpot insert in the oven for 15 minutes just to make the top of the dressing crunchy and crispy.

Once all that was going, it was time for breakfast and a little card playing or other diversions (my mother watched football, one of the benefits of living on the west coast -- the games start at 8 or 9am). About noon (the turkey is coming out at 1, after all), I started making the mashed potatoes.

Mashed Potatoes
Quarter (or smaller, just so all the pieces are the same size) 3 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes. Put them all in a pot with water covering them and boil until a fork goes into the pieces easily (25-40 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces). Drain off the water, but leave the potatoes in the pot. Add a stick of butter and 1/2 cup of milk, and mash with a hand mixer on the slowest setting. If the potatoes aren't creamy enough, add more butter and/or milk. Add salt to taste.

While the potatoes were boiling, I ended the green beans and prepped the asparagus. Both were in their respective pots for steaming as soon as I was done mashing the potatoes. Mashed potatoes hold their heat well, so you can finish them a little earlier than the other pieces. About this time, the turkey was done, and I took it out of the oven and removed it to its serving plate to rest. This leaves the broth in the roasting pan to make gravy.

Turkey Gravy
Mix flour and water (about twice as much water as flour) in a tightly sealing plastic container. Shake vigorously to remove any flour lumps. Bring the broth in the roasting pan to a boil on the stove. Drizzle the flour/water mixture into the broth while stirring constantly. Once thickened to the desired consistency, ladle into a gravy boat for serving.

As the veggies finished up, I put them in their serving bowls with a pat of butter and a little salt. Everything was served, and the turkey was carved to a plate to make getting food easier. We drank a local wine from the Presidio winery we visited on Tuesday with the meal, and it was very nice.

After folks had had a chance to let their food settle, we had dessert. I set the oven back to 350, and put the pie back in for 15 minutes to warm it up. Served up with homemade vanilla ice cream, you'd think there was no space to put it after all that eating. However, I may have mentioned that I like apple pie, so I managed to find a crevice to stuff it into.

And there you have it -- my Thanksgiving dinner. And now I'm fooded out, and don't even want to make dinner tonight. But, we all have our burdens to bear. Off to the store again!

Variety of Food, Day 25: Thai Basil Chicken

We're fighting a losing battle on this one. Back in college, we had a Thai place that we really liked to go to. Great food, and cheap. Whenever I would go back for work or to go to a sporting event of some kind, I would eat there, or get an order of this garlicky basily chicken that was phenomenal to take home with me. However, the last time I was in College Station, Thai Taste was nowhere to be found. Even before that point, we hve been trying to recreate the flavor of that dish. We've never succeeded, but it doesn't keep us from trying. At this point, we are likely trying to achieve something that isn't even possible because it's some imagined flavor that can't be recreated. Add to that the fact that my husband's memory of that dish is likely different from mine, and failure is nearly assured.

But, like the little engine, we keep chugging away at it. Tonight, we used fresh Thai basil that I got down at the farmer's market this week. It smelled wonderful, and I thought we might have a chance. No dice. Dinner was okay, but until I actually create something worth eating again, I don't want to share the recipe. The basic gist of the dish is chicken in a lightly sweet golden brown sauce with an enormous amount of garlic and slightly wilted basil and lettuce. Served with hot white rice, you'd think you'd died and gone to heaven, if I could just get it to taste right.

Variety of Food, Day 24: Turkey Tetrazzini

Today, we continued with the theme of eating the leftover turkey in non-Thanksgiving-dinner fashion. I really felt no need to cook with my parents having left and being more wiped out than I could have guessed I would be. Conveniently, I had all the ingredients for this dish, because adding a grocery store trip to today would have likely been more than I could have handled.

Turkey Tetrazzini
Start boiling water for pasta. Slice half a pound of mushrooms, and sautee them in 2-3 tablespoons of butter. After a couple minutes, add 2 tablespoons of sherry, a can of evaporated milk (or a pint of cream), and a pound of shredded, leftover turkey. Bring it slowly to a boil, seasoning with salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 325, and drop 8 ounces of spaghetti into the water, broken into 3-inch long pieces. Cut 2 tablespoons of butter into two tablespoons of flour and add to the turkey mixture to thicken. Lightly butter a casserole dish. Drain the pasta when it is still a bit underdone and chewy, and put in the casserole. Spoon the chicken mixture over the top and sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of parmesan on the top. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the top starts to get golden brown and crunchy.

It ain't healthy, but it sure hit the spot tonight. Tomorrow I better hit up the grocery store for the home stretch.

Variety of Food, Day 23: Tortilla Soup

Today was mostly a football game, but when my Aggies pulled out the win against Texas, it was time for me to bring my best game. I'm a big fan of doing something completely different with the leftover turkey on the day after Thanksgiving. This year was no different.

Tortilla Soup
Char a jalepeno, ancho, and poblano pepper on a skillet or open fire. Cool and dice while sauteeing a chopped onion in a bit of oil in a stew pot. As the onion gets brown, add the peppers, 4 cloves of minced garlic, a bay leaf, 3 teaspoons cumin, and a dash of cayenne. While that cooks, chop up 8 tomatoes and then add them to the pot with 8 cups of chicken or turkey broth, an 8 oz can of tomato sauce, and 6 epasote leaves, if you want them. Simmer it all together for 30-45 minutes. Then add half a pound of shredded turkey meat and a small can of sweet corn and heat through. Serve with garnishes of sliced avocado, shredded cheese, cilantro, and tortilla chips.

It was pronounced tasty and everyone was full for the umpteenth day in a row. And, thanks to my mom, my kitchen is still clean. I feel like such a slavedriver, making her work, but it sure has been appreciated.

Variety of Food, Day 22: Thanksgiving Dinner

I really enjoy cooking for Thanksgiving, so early on in our marriage, we announced that we would not be traveling for that holiday. Anyone that want to see us for that would need to travel to us. When you're a young married couple without kids, it's hard to get people to visit you; you have to set arbitrary restrictions to make that happen, and this is one of the ones we set for ourselves.


There's a lot of food to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner in our house, so to make it all work, you have to start a few days early. I'll give the full rundown of how I made it all fit tomorrow, but before I went to bed tonight, I wanted to show you pictures of the spread. I put all the food out on two buffet tables for folks to serve themselves. This is mostly about the fact that our dining table is small, but it does make it more obvious when someone gets seconds. The buffet started with the turkey. I forgot to get a picture of the turkey before the carving began, so just believe me when I say that it looked good initially. Then there was the dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy. Next in line we had the vegetables -- asparagus and peas -- both with lots and lots of butter. Finally, we have two kinds of cranberries. Once you had all your food, it was time to sit at the table with a nice glass of wine and enjoy the meal.

After a bit of a rest, we had apple pie and homemade vanilla ice cream. It was a glorious pile of eating, and now I'm going into a turkey coma. I'll provide more details when I come from from the state of excessive sleepiness.

Variety of Food, Day 21: Akoori

Today we have plans to go out for dinner this evening, so I did my cooking for brunch. We had Akoori, an Indian scrambled egg curry.

Akoori
From The Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon
8 eggs
4 tbsp milk
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp butter
2 spring onions, chopped
1/2 jalepeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1/8 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp chopped coriander (which is the same as cilantro)
1 tomato, diced
1/2 tsp cumin
Beat the eggs in a bowl with the milk, salt and pepper. Heat the butter over low heat in a heavy skillet until melted. Add the onions, jalepeno and ginger and cook until soft and fragrant. Add the turmeric, coriander and tomato, and few for another minute or two. Add the cumin and the egg mixture, and stir constantly until the eggs are creamy, but not stiff. Serve with warm whole-wheat tortillas or another Indian bread.

This is easy, and very flavorful, and now we're ready for our day. Get ready for tomorrow's marathon post!!

Variety of Food, Day 20: Penne Arrabiata

I'm a big fan of a little irony, when I can fit it in. Tonight, that was in the form of serving "angry pasta" to my parents. Hee hee! It was tasty with a little salad and some nice cabernet.

Penne Arrabbiata
From The Classic Pasta Cookbook by Guiliano Hazan
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
3 oz pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch strips
28 oz canned diced tomatoes
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1 lb penne
12 fresh basil leaves, torn into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tbsp grated romano cheese
Heat the olive oil and garlic in a skillet over medium heat until the garlic is sizzling, Add the pancetta and cook to browned, but not crisp. Add the tomatoes, red pepper and a pinch of salt. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 30-40 minutes until the tomatoes have cooked down. Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until tender. Add the basil to the sauce and toss together. Combine the pasta, sauce, and cheese and toss together to serve.

It's easy, and it's one of our favorites these days. It was nice to share it with my parents, who missed the irony and appreciated the flavors. Ah, the naivete.

Variety of Food, Day 19: Hoi Sin Fish

I have people to cook for again! My mom and dad came into town today, and my husband may even be in later tonight. So much better than cooking just for one. We started with dumplings and sauce, and proceeded to the main meal.

Hoi Sin Fish
From Charmaine Solomon's The Complete Asian Cookbook
1 1/2 pounds of firm white fish (I used Chilean sea bass)
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 cloves of crushed garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp hoi sin sauce
1 spring onion diced
Heat the oil in a wok, and fry the garlic to golden brown. Add the fish, and brown on both sides. Sprinkle the soy sauce over the fish and cover for 1 minute. Add the ginger and cover for another minute. Turn off the heat, add the hoi sin sauce to the gravy. Serve the fish with the gravy over the top, garnished with the spring onions.

I served this with white rice and some braised baby bok choy, and it was pronounced tasty. It's just so nice to have a reason to cook again, and it's doubly nice that my mom helped me do all the dishes after dinner. Woohoo!

Variety of Food, Day 18: Ham and Mushroom Pasta

Rationalization and diversion did a number on me today. My afternoon went something like this.

Got up from the couch, noticing it was dark outside. I figured it must be too late to eat, and I should just go to bed. Nope, it's 5:30. No wonder I'm not hungry -- I barely finished lunch (leftovers). Hmm, I need to pay bills and otherwise waste some time on the internet. And the guest bathroom needs to be cleaned and have fresh towels put out. Okay, that's done. The kitchen is a mess, and I don't want to make it worse before my parents come to town tomorrow. Well, it's good that the kitchen is clean now. Here's an example of one of the seventeen loads of dishes I did today.I may be exaggerating a little on the number of loads, but not by much. You wanna see that work surface I showed you a couple of days ago that looked like such a disaster? Please humor me. I need to share my accomplishment with someone, and Moo-Bunny just isn't cutting it on this. Thanks for letting me share. Then I remembered I had laundry in the dryer. That's folded and put away now.

By this time, my house is almost clean, and I'm running out of diversionary tactics to keep me from cooking. I'm also hungry by this point. So, I went with something easy. It was just like Day 13, except with ham and mushrooms instead of the prosciutto and peas. Tasted totally different. I liked this one a lot better. I would upload a picture, but Blogger has decided I have enough in this post, and I'm too tired to try to get it to work. I'll put the picture in words: it was a bowl of fettucine with little cubes of ham and sauteed mushrooms dotting it.

And now I can go to bed. I know it's bad to eat and then sleep immediately, but eh. I'm too tired to do anything else.

Variety of Food, Day 17: Steak

I didn't want to eat alone this evening. With my husband 4 time zones away, and it being a Saturday night, my options were limited. So, I called on an old friend.

Years ago, my husband created a unique gift for me for Christmas: a Moo-Bunny. He bought a stuffed rabbit and a stuffed cow, and then Frankesteined them together. The cow parts didn't fit in the holes on the bunny, so I don't have two of these creatures, just the cow with the bunny ears and tail. Moo-Bunny keeps me company when my husband is out of town, and tonight was no exception.

Initially, Moo-Bunny was annoyed that I'd invited him to eat with me on a night I had gone to the store and bought a single portion of filet mignon. I can't really blame him. The only thing that would have been worse is if I'd had some sort of rabbit sauce on the steak.


Eventually, I was able to convince him to just eat the veggies. Corn and broccoli aren't nearly as offensive, and I think he just wanted to be out in the fun. We enjoyed a generally underdone dinner. It's the way I like things, but I try to cook everything a tad longer when other people are eating with me. Moo-Bunny is used to raw veggies, so it was fine for him.

To make dinner, I started boiling water in the asparagus pot. (It was clean. Think whatever you want.) Then I sauteed a few mushrooms in butter, and when they were getting dark, I added some sherry and cooked that down. Then I steamed the broccoli in the microwave (a little water in a bowl, add the broccoli, cover with plastic wrap, poke a few holes, and nuke for 3 minutes). I salted and peppered the steaks and pan-fried them for a few minutes on each side. I threw the corn in the boiling water for a couple minutes, and voila -- 15-minute dinner.

And the best part, besides the silent, furry company? No leftovers.

Variety of Food, Day 16: French Toast

I love breakfast food. Tonight, I really wanted to make French toast with some leftover sourdough bread I had lying around. And I figured that if I was just cooking for myself, why couldn't I just have French toast for dinner? I figure I've had enough pasta lately, so I decided to load up on other carbs, instead. What did I decide to have with my French toast? Potato pancakes. Just because they sounded good as their own entity, separate from the French toast.


I can also now tell you that French toast is not very good with applesauce, nor are potato pancakes any good with syrup, just in case you were wondering. However, my non-conventional dinner hit the spot.

Variety of Food, Day 15: Ravioli Pomodoro

Tonight's my first night in a span of nights cooking for myself. BORING. Cooking for two is hard enough (I think I'm only capable of cooking for 4 or more), so cooking for one is nearly unbearable. Tonight I made an easy sauce, and put it with some prepared chicken and garlic ravioli. Wanna see how easy that sauce is?

Ravioli Pomodoro
New recipe from Giuliano Hazan's The Classic Pasta Cookbook
In a saucepan, put a large can (24 ounces) of chopped tomatoes, 6 tablespoons of butter, an onion cut in halves, and a bit of salt. Simmer over low heat until the tomatoes break down and separate from the butter (20-40 minutes). Cook the pasta, and toss the sauce and 4 tablespoons grated parmesan with the pasta.

Total Kitchen Time: 10 minutes

That's it. I might even put this on the list for easy lunches to make in the future. I hope the leftovers freeze okay, because I can't bear to have any more leftovers in the fridge at this point.