Archive for November, 2009

Thanksgiving leftovers

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Spending Thanksgiving with my family is fun for a variety of reasons beyond what you would expect.  1) Food.  My menu is determined by my imagination, not my budget, since my mom is always happy to pay for ingredients that she doesn’t have to prepare.  2) Cable.  Specifically, food network.  This afternoon, I caught a bit of this episode of Rachael Ray’s.  I was inspired.

Nate has taught me a thing or two

After a bit of time catching up with a good friend, I hit the local grocery store.  Herb and garlic seasoned pork loin, sweet peppers, bread crumbs (I’m a little embarrassed that I actually bought this), and cream cheese.  Before hitting the Dickens Festival in downtown Fayetteville, I mixed feta with the cream cheese.  I cut off the tops of the peppers and scraped out the seeds.  Stuffed the peppers with the cheese mixture, and into the fridge they went.

3 hours later, back from the Dickens Festival, I roasted the stuffed peppers.  When they were done, put in the pork loin and some asparagus we didn’t cook for Thanksgiving.  Then the fun part…

I pulled out leftover sweet potato casserole, rolled it into balls, covered with bread crumbs and pan fried them.  The sweet potato “croquettes” went amazingly well with the rest of the meal.  Time spent in actual preparation for the whole meal: definitely under half an hour.

All in all, the meal was a success!  I want to make it again tomorrow.  Even my little sister who hates feta was grabbing seconds of the peppers.  Alas, the sweet potatoes are almost gone…

Not your grandma’s pumpkin pie

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

I like cutting corners, but only to the degree that I can get away with it. Trust me when I say that these mini pumpkin pies are *so* worth the extra effort.

not your grandma's pumpkin pie

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Crust:

2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. molasses
2 t. ground ginger
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. salted butter (cut into 1 cm cubes, very cold)
1/4 c. water (more, if necessary)

Mix first five ingredients together. I like to use a pastry cutter to really work in the molasses. Then, cut the butter into the flour mixture until shaggy. (I never understood that term until I started working on this recipe. Trust me when I say that you will too.) Slowly add the water and work the dough until moist and doughy throughout. Refrigerate dough for at least 3 hours.

Filling:

1 pkg. cream cheese
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 can pureed pumpkin
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
dash of ground cloves

With electric mixer, mix thoroughly cream cheese and brown sugar. Stir in condensed milk, eggs, and pureed pumpkin. Finally, mix in cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

Putting it together:

Adding flour if necessary, push a tablespoon of dough into each muffin cup and up the sides. It’s important to make sure there are no holes in the mini pie crust. Spoon filling into crusts until full. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes. You want the filling to be nice and puffy and the crust to be golden brown.

Sausage Week – part 2

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

This post is long, perhaps too long, and I hope you’ll make it to the end. Trust me; it’s worth it.  I spent the past weekend in Charlotte with Quentin’s family.  My trip was not without a food adventure or two.  Pictures will come.  I promise.  In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe for Sausage Week. I also hope you prepare for Thanksgiving with these mini pumpkin pies. You can make them in typical pie fashion, but they’re not nearly as much fun.

Italian Sausage Paninis

These were absolutely delicious! Italian sausage, sauteed red peppers and onions, spinach, and provolone. I love food!

Italian Sausage Panini

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Blind Date

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Our favorite pasta recipe went out last night.  It seemed only fitting that sausage would be the highlight.  I browned the sausage and then placed on a paper towel lined plate.  I then cooked the onions and garlic in the same pan.  The recipe went on as usual, only I added broccoli and sundried tomatoes when I dumped in the pasta.  The tomatoes were plumped up nicely, and the broccoli cooked perfectly.  I threw in the sausage at the last minute.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

All in all, a success.  No extra seasoning… no fuss.  I highly recommend it.

Sausage Week

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

“So, here’s some advice I wish I woulda got when I was your age: Live every week like it’s Shark Week.” – Tracy Jordan, 30 Rock

I’ve noticed that being a 30-minutes-or-less kind of chef is not usually a matter of knowing some good recipes.  It can be.  … but usually 30 minute recipes take at least an hour the first time you make them.  Rather, it’s a matter of knowing tricks for making all recipes simpler, easier, and most importantly, quicker.  Store bought pesto, for instance, is something I always have in my fridge.  Pasta is always in my pantry.  I spent 5 hours cleaning last Saturday, and we still ate a delicious lunch.  And it’s not because I had put something in the crock pot before the day began.  A grocery run was days overdue, and were it not for pantry staples, we likely would have starved (or fed on chocolate… not such a bad alternative now that I think about it).

<sales pitch>One ingredient that makes all cooking easier, quicker, and quite a bit tastier is sausage.  So today, I challenge you to live every week like it’s Sausage Week.  At the very least, enjoy our very own Sausage Week while it lasts.  Why is sausage so amazing? A few reasons:

  1. Sausage is pre-seasoned meat, essentially.  It’s packed full of flavor.  Adding it to pasta, sandwiches, etc. can often flavor the entire dish.  No measuring herbs and spices, no worrying about whether you have that obscure seasoning – the work is done for you.
  2. Sausage used to only come in one general variety: super unhealthy.  Such is not the case anymore.  Not only are there more flavors than ever before, but there are also a variety of different meats that are playing the sausage game; look for chicken and turkey.  There’s reduced fat sausage and good ol’ country sausage.  Italian sausage and apple sausage.  All of it is delicious.

Put it in your soup, pasta, or chili, and save your valuable brain cells for something else.  Sometime this week, take an otherwise bland dish, and give it personality!</sales pitch>

Keep your eye out for delicious sausage based dishes this coming week.  It’s going to be fun!