Thanksgiving with Friends

Last night, we had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with friends. It was a large group (8 couples) and it was so much fun. I made Granny's Cranberry Salad and these two dishes to share:

Cran Apple Dressing
14 slices of bread, cubed
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 apples, diced
1 cup cranberries
1 T fresh sage
salt
pepper

Melt butter in saucepan and saute celery and onion.
When onion is tender, add apples and cranberries until apples are soft and cranberries begin to burst.
Add broth to fruit and veggie mixture.
Gently fold in bread.
Pour into 9 x 13 pan.
Bake at 325 for 30 minutes covered, 15 minutes uncovered.

Honey Mustard Rosemary Turkey
12 lb. turkey (or whatever size you need)
1 orange, quartered
2 stalks celery
1 onion, quartered
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup mustard
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, diced
salt
pepper

Rinse turkey well.
Fill cavity with oranges, onion and celery.
Mix honey, mustard and rosemary together.
Pour honey mustard over turkey.
Bake turkey, covered, at 325.
Baste after one hour.
After two hours, baste again.
Baste again in thirty minutes and remove cover.
Baste every thirty minutes until turkey is cooked according to meat thermometer.

I keep the honey mustard drippings and use a gravy packet to make gravy.

We use the left-over turkey to make sandwiches with a layer of cream cheese, a layer of cranberry salad and a layer of turkey. So yummy!

Veggie Tarts

While I'm a bit behind in blogging this week, we've had some good dinners.

On Monday, we were all in the mood for something light after a weekend of Halloween's sugar saturation. I made two vegetable tarts, one thin crust, one deep dish:

Vegetable Tarts
2 refrigerated pie crusts, rolled
2-3 cups mozzarella cheese
2-3 T feta cheese
2 small zucchini, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
olive oil
fresh rosemary

For thin crust:
Unroll pie crust on a pizza pan.
Brush crust with olive oil.
Cover crust with thin layer of mozzarella cheese.
Top with one sliced zucchini and half of available red bell pepper.
(I added a bit of left-over cooked broccoli that I had in the fridge - this was a great addition, but I wouldn't use raw since I don't think it would cook enough in the oven.)
Brush again with olive oil.
Top with salt, pepper and fresh rosemary.
Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.

For deep dish:
Unroll pie crust into a pie pan.
Brush crust with olive oil.
Cover crust with about 2 cups of mozzarella cheese.
Top with one sliced zucchini and half of available red bell pepper.
Brush again with olive oil.
Top with salt, pepper and fresh rosemary.
Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

Granny's Cranberry Salad

Growing up, my grandmother made this salad every Thanksgiving. She then went out of town for Thanksgiving, but not before dropping off a bowl of this for my mom, who loved it. Sadly, I didn't realize how good this stuff was as a kid. Happily, we found her recipe a few years ago and I now make it every year. But every year, I have to search for the recipe because I always put it in a different place. For my own sanity, here is the recipe for the next time I need it:

2 cups ground fresh cranberries
2 whole oranges
1 small can crushed pineapple
1 c sugar
1 package cherry jello (small package)
2 T plain gelatin (knox's)
1 c nuts, chopped (pecans)
1 1/2 c hot water

Grind cranberries and oranges (including peel) in blender or food processor.
Drain pineapple (reserving juice) and combine with berries, oranges and nuts.
Dissolve sugar, jello and gelatin in hot water and pineapple juice.
Add jello mixture to fruit and stir well.
Put in mold or your favorite bowl and refrigerate.

My grandmother always used the same bowl to bring this to my mom - a cut glass bowl with a silver rim. Unfortunately, I didn't think to ask for this bowl when my grandmother moved to a nursing home. But I still picture this salad in that bowl every time I make it.

Variation on the Lasagna Theme

When we created the fall menu, I tried to include items that I thought would allow me to vary the recipe while staying roughly within the bounds of trying to provide more consistent offerings to our family. So when I wrote lasagna, I thought "vegetarian lasagna, beef lasagna, chicken lasagna, black bean lasagna." I've never made a chicken lasagna, but I had left-over cooked chicken from the chicken and dumplings last week, so I thought I'd give it a try. I looked up a few recipes on allrecipes.com and decided to modify one that used a red sauce since several called for jars of alfredo sauce or cream of chicken soup, neither one of which sounded appealing to me.

Chicken Lasagna
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 8 oz. bag of spinach
2 cups cooked chicken (approximately)
8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
2 cups Italian blend cheese
1 jar spaghetti sauce
lasagna noodles

Sautee onions, peppers and spinach in olive oil.
Mix veggies together with chicken and cream cheese.
Spray 9 x 13 pan with non-stick spray.
Place a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the pan.
Put a layer of noodles atop the sauce.
Spread 1/2 of chicken and veggie mixture.
Another layer of sauce.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Repeat noodles, chicken, sauce, cheese.
For final layer, add more noodles, the remaining sauce and a sprinkling of cheese.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, 15 minutes uncovered.

We had this with a simple salad of mixed greens, craisins and feta cheese. K (who is 5 and weighs only 32 pounds) ate three servings of the lasagna. That girl is a carb-o-holic.

Pumpkin Soup

Sorry it's been a while since I included any actual recipes on here, but I've been short of time... here's a good soup recipe that we had tonight. Unlike my last pumpkin soup, this one has a bit of a kick to it.

Southwestern Pumpkin Soup
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
5 pickled jalapeno sliced, diced
1/2 chipotle chile in adobo sauced, finely diced
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1 medium sweet potato, peeled & diced
2 medium white potatoes, peeled & diced
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 can pumpkin puree
1 can black beans, drained
sour cream
fresh cilantro

Sautee onions, jalapenos and chipotle in olive oil.
Add water, potatoes and spices.
Cook for 30 minutes or so until potatoes are soft.
Smooth out with hand blender.
Stir in pumpkin puree and black beans and cook until ready to serve.
Add a dollop of sour cream (and a pinch of fresh cilantro, if you have it) to serve.

We had this with cornbread and everyone (even J, who is no fan of soup) enjoyed it! If I were making it for someone other than my children, I would have made jalapeno cornbread. I decided not to kill them with the spiciness and left the bread mild.

Cooking, Just Not Blogging

Once again, I've spent more time during the last week cooking than blogging. My family would tell you they'd rather have it this way than the other. Here's what we've had lately:

Mango Pork Sandwiches & Roasted Veggies
Zucchini Soup
Shredded Beef & Harvest Grains with Broccoli
Broccoli & Cheese Soup with Quiche and Vegetable Tart
Traditional Chili with Ground Turkey, Ground Beef & Kidney Beans

One thing I've discovered after trying the menu for a few weeks is that I need more soup options. When it's chilly outside, a bowl of liquid warmth is what I crave. Plus, I love making soups and my girls love eating them. Soups are a sure-fire way to pump the veggies into my daughters.

Most of these weren't new recipes, but the Vegetable Tart was an experiment that I thought was pretty successful. Here's what I did, to the best of my recollection:

Vegetable Tart
1 refrigerated pie crust
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 small zucchini, sliced in circles
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 tbsp romano cheese
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Place pie crust flat on pizza pan and coat with 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil.
Spread mozzarella.
Top with zucchini and bell pepper.
Brush 1/2 tbsp olive oil on veggies, then top with romano.
Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and veggies are crisp, but slightly cooked.

I tried this tart as a variation on the tomato tart for when fresh tomatoes aren't in season. Since J is not a big fan of soup, I thought that making a quiche or tart to accompany a soup might be a solution to satisfy the whole family. If I keep pie crusts on hand, this could easily be adapted for whatever fresh veggies are in the fridge.

The Week That Was

While I haven't blogged faithfully, I have been (mostly) faithful to our fall menu. Monday brought to a close our home renovations, so I spent that afternoon clearing out drywall dust and we ate frozen pizza. After that things went more smoothly:

Tuesday - Black Bean & Chorizo Chili
Wednesday - Sausage & Chicken Jambalaya with Broccoli
Thursday - Carrot Souffle and Roasted Veggies

I wrote down how I made the chili and then lost the note... so I'll let you know about that the next time I make it. Same with the other recipes.

Maybe next week will bring more detailed blogging... have a good weekend!