Christmas Cookies

It's Christmas! Merry Christmas Everyone!

On Friday, my mother-in-law sent bunches of cookies to my parents as a Christmas present. They were wonderful, yummy, assorted cookies. They were also gone in 3 hours. So yesterday I made cookies to replace them. After all, what is Christmas without lots of cookies...yummy, wonderful, happy cookies. So, I made brown sugar cookies and rolled them in crushed candy canes and Andes mint pieces. By the way, since we only had 4 people yesterday, these cookies lasted a whole 24 hours!
Christmas was lots of fun with many goodies. Since I received a food dehydrator and a waffle iron, I am sure that I will have lots of recipes for you to try later. Merry Christmas!

Brown Sugar Cookies (Makes about 4 dozen)

Ingredients:
1/2 c. vegetable shortening
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 3/4c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 lg egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Beat together shortening, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until light and fluffy
3. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt
4. Shape dough into 1 inch balls (a small ice cream scoop works well for this!)
5. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet (this is the time to roll in crushed peppermints, etc)
6. Bake 12-14 min or until golden brown
7. Remove to cooling rack after 1 minute.

Enjoy!

Everyone can cook (Pot Pie)

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved to cook. She cooked with her grandmother, who let her make a mess of the kitchen. She cooked with her other grandmother, an amateur gourmet. She cooked with her mother, and her friends. And she slowly grew up and was finally allowed to cook on her own. With the help of her family and friends, the girl had been able to make cornish game hens, biscuits, and scrambled eggs. She made wonderful food. But by herself she made raw chicken, split quiche, and burned pizza. But slowly, she became a good cook. Until one day she realized, I love food. It is pretty much all I talk about! So instead of boring her family and friends, the girl made a blog. This blog. For all to read (and hopefully not be bored!) And she realized that given enough time and patience (and a fool proof recipe) anyone could cook! So here is a recipe for pot pie that anyone can make...it's comfy and warming...it's easy (really!) and you don't even have to make the crust from scratch (though I won't stop you from trying).

Pot Pie (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
2 ready-made refrigerated pie crusts (Pillsbury tastes best)
2 c. mixed frozen vegetables (Cascadian Farms)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (Campbell's)
1 8 oz can evaporated milk
1 1/2 c. chopped cooked poultry (leftover maybe?) Try chicken, pheasant, turkey, etc
2 tbsp Italian herb blend or herbs de Provence
butter or cooking spray

Directions:
Grease a 9" pie pan with butter or cooking spray (do not use margarine)
Place one pie crust in the pan.
Microwave (or cook) mixed vegetables until soft.
Mix all ingredients except pie crust in medium bowl.
Place filling in pie pan.
Top with 2nd crust. Slit to vent.

Option 1: Bake at 350 for 45-60 min.
Option 2: Cover with plastic wrap, then with foil. Place in freezer up to 4 months. Bake, from frozen, at 350 for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Option 3: Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate up to 3 days, bake as in option 1.

Serve with spiced apples (ok...you don't have to...)

Enjoy!

Let's Eat Tomatoes! (Chicken Pizza)

How many of you see those tasteless tomatoes in grocery stores year after year? You wait, with excited anticipation for that first Brandywine to appear in the local farmer’s market every summer. Tomatoes are, without a doubt America’s favorite food. And yet, did you know that the fresh tomato industry uses slave labor to pick those balls of red that can actually bounce off a counter and survive unharmed? Not only does the U.S. fresh tomato industry, which supplies 1/3 of the U.S. tomatoes every winter, use 100’s of pesticides banned from many other crops, they pick the tomatoes with slave labor! 7 cases of slave labor have successfully been tried at court over the last 15 years in Florida, where many other cases have also been ignored. According to Barry Estabrook, author of Tomatoland (p xvi), if you, as a consumer, have eaten a fresh tomato from the grocery store, fast food restaurant, or food-service company in winter, you have eaten a fruit picked by a slave.

So I ask you for this: that you wait each year for those wonderful ripe summer tomatoes, and ignore the gassed balls of pseudo-tomatoes each winter.

Please make note that pasta sauces and other canned tomatoes in the winter are fine, as they are produced by a distinctly different California based industry.


And now a recipes for winter using those canned tomatoes :)

Chicken Pizza (serves 4)

Ingredients:
1/2 c. chopped cooked chicken (I used chicken thighs)
1 c. shredded cheese (a four cheese blend is different and good)
1/2 c. tomato-basil pasta sauce
1/2 carrot, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp diced onion
1/2 c. shredded spinach
1 refrigerated pizza crust
1 tsp olive oil
pinch of dried oregano

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Spread pizza crust on cookie sheet.
3. Brush crust with olive oil, and dust with oregano.
4. Top with carrot, garlic, and onion.
5. Bake for 5 minutes and remove from oven.
6. Add, in the following order, the remaining ingredients. Sauce, chicken, spinach, cheese.
7. Bake for 5-10 more minutes until cheese is melted and crust browns.
8. Slice and serve!

Enjoy!


For more information check out:

"Tomatoes" by Thomas Whiteside (the New Yorker, January 24, 1977)
"A Matter of Taste: Who Killed the Flavor in America's Supermarket Tomatoes?" by Craig Canine (Eating Well, Jan/Feb 1991)
"Politics of the Plate: The Price of Tomatoes" by Barry Estabrook (Gourmet, March 2009)

"Cheating" when cooking (Turkey Tettrazini Anyone)

Sometimes I cheat when I cook. Now when I say cheat, I mean that I do what the everyday cook does all the time. I use ready-made products, and pretend that I went to a lot of work to make whatever it is. I am currently reading "The United States of Arugula" by David Kamp. He is a good author, and I love reading about the Big Three of American cooking (James Beard, Julia Child, and Craig Clairborne) who brought home cooking to the American mainstream kitchen. But meanwhile, Kamp frowns upon those who fell for the convenience foods of the early 20th century (even Beard did Green Giant commercials!) And yet...would you rather open up a can of cream of mushroom soup (Campbell's of course) or make a mushroom cream sauce from scratch? There are just days when it seems like it would be to much effort...even if all you need is 3 tbsp of flour, 2 tbsp of butter, and 1 c. of heavy cream (and of course, 1/2c freshly foraged chopped mushrooms of the edible variety!) So is it bad to cheat? No...but don't forget how to cook "real" food either!

And so...a Thanksgiving leftover favorite...use up that turkey!

Turkey Tetrazini
Ingredients:
8 oz medium egg noodles, cooked according to package directions
1 c. shredded turkey (sub any cooked cubed or shredded poultry for this)
1 can Campbell's cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. evaportated milk
1 tbsp Herbs de Provence or Italian herb blend
1/2 c. shredded mexican cheese blend

Directions:
Spray a 2-quart casserole with Pam. Mix all ingredients except cheese together. Put in casserole. Spread cheese on top. Bake at 350 15-20 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted. Serve with applesauce and salad.

Enjoy!

P.S. This casserole may be prepared ahead and refrigerated, covered with saran wrap, up to 24 hours or frozen, covered in foil, up to 3 months. If frozen, increase bake temp to 400 and bake time to 1 hour.

Thanksgiving Success (and the perfect whipped potatoes)

It was a first. My father-in-law gave me a complement for dinner. I will admit, I was shocked! Thanksgiving went well...we had to much food (kind of) but very little left over except for the meat. With both turkey and Quaducant, it was just to much. I mean, we also had: french bread with herb butter, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, dressing, and sugar snaps. Followed by homemade cinnamon and Aztec "Hot" Chocolate ice creams. And cranberry pear crumble pie, and pumpkin roll...You get the idea. Every once in a while, I make mashed potatoes. Skin on, skin off, lumpy, smooth, garlic, ranch...I love them all. And my husband prefers flavored potatoes with skin (whether they are mashed or not) so I very rarely make the kind of potatoes I grew up with (that my dad loves). But for Thanksgiving, I made them (almost) like my mom used to make. They were perfect.

Whipped Potatoes
Ingredients:
4 lbs of potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 quarts water, lightly salted
2 tbsp butter
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. sour cream

Directions:
Boil the potatoes in the water on med-high heat until soft, about 30 minutes. (Hint: to keep potatoes from discoloring while you peel and slice, put them in the cold water)
Drain the potatoes and return to pot.
In the microwave, melt the butter into the milk. Pour over the potatoes. Add the heavy cream and sour cream. Beat with an electric mixer on medium until no lumps remain. Be careful not to overbeat or potatoes will become gluey!
Serve immediately or transfer to a serving dish, covered with foil to keep warm up to 30 min.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Practice (Roasted Pheasant anyone?)

It is a first in my house. This Thursday, I will be hosting my first Thanksgiving, with both my parents and my in-laws in attendance. My mom, knowing how much I love the turducen (a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken stuffed with creole sausage) she makes at Christmas, and my love of food, ordered a quaducant (a pheasant stuffed with a duck stuffed with a quail with creole sausage) for the occasion. This is where it gets interesting. My husband and I are looking forward to the quaducant, as is my mom, and my dad will eat anything. My mother-in-law gamely says she'll try it...and my father-in-law said he wouldn't come if there wasn't turkey...so I am making a turkey. Hence the experimentation a week in advance. Obviously, I can't roast two birds in my oven and expect good results.

My husband and I rotisseried a pheasant. We have a convection oven with a rotisserie option. It was amazing! Now we know how to cook the turkey for Thanksgiving while the quaducant roasts in the oven...but just in case you don't have a rotisserie at your house...roasting pheasant works too!

Roasted (Rotisserie) Pheasant (serves 2-4 depending on size)

Ingredients:
1 whole thawed pheasant (3-5 lbs), gizzards, giblets, and neck removed
2 Tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp corriander

Directions:
The night before (or 8 hours before roasting), dry brine the pheasant. Mix the salt, pepper, and sugar together. Rub under the skin and in the cavity of the pheasant. Let sit 8 hours or overnight.

Mix the butter, paprika, and corriander together. Put in fridge overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 or preheat your rotisserie.
Rinse the salt off of the pheasant. Put the paprika butter under the skin, over the skin, and in the cavity of the pheasant. Place pheasant in roasting pan or on rotisserie.
Roast, uncovered, 1 1/2 -2 hours or until and internal temp of 165 is reached in the leg (away from the bone). If using a rotisserie, follow unit instructions.

Let rest 30 minutes before carving.

Serve with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, broccoli and rolls (or your favorite sides, of course!).

Enjoy!

In a new kitchen....

It's amazing! Our new kitchen has a flat surface stove, an oven with both elements working, and wait for it....a dishwasher! When I was growing up I took dishwashers for granted. Now I know, having had to wash way to many dishes, that dishwashers are the most amazing invention ever! (Ok, I bet people who washed laundry without a washing machine might disagree). I can make cookies that brown to Price's happiness level. I made fish empanada's and they browned perfectly. I can't wait to make Thanksgiving for my family this year in my wonderful new kitchen! Now, if only I remembered that I had a blog on a regular basis....

Everyone, enjoy your dishwashers (and if you don't have one, I sympathize, I really do).