Food and Recipes while under Coronavirus quarantine #8

[iamshadow21]

It’s a 3 1/2 hour drive for us from Central Indiana to Holland. At this point we are thinking we will need to reschedule.

Yeah, an intimate dinner with loved ones can be ANYTIME. Please, everyone who is driving, drive safe and take your time, and if it's unsafe, stay home.

 

[Knox]

I made homemade cranberry sauce for the first time this year. Incredibly easy and so much better than canned. Why didn’t I do this earlier, lol.

 

[IceIce9]

I recently read a book about Fred Harvey, who founded the first restaurant chain in America. He established “Harvey House” restaurants all along the Santa Fe rail line.

Fred Harvey had grown discouraged with the poor quality of food that was offered to travelers and so he started a chain of restaurants that emphasized professionalism, high quality food, and hospitality.

At one time there were over 80 Harvey House restaurants.

I had found several Harvey House recipes a few years ago, which piqued my interest.

This book is very interesting, and an appendix includes many recipes from Harvey House menus. It is called “Appetite for America” by Stephen Fried.

Appetite for America : Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West--One Meal at a Time​

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

It’s a 3 1/2 hour drive for us from Central Indiana to Holland. At this point we are thinking we will need to reschedule.

Snow is supposed to start here in Oakland County @3:00 and move eastward to Macomb and St. Counties. If our guests are on the road home by 3:30-4:00, they should be fine. We wanted them to drive through downtown Rochester to see the fabulous light display, but that will have to wait for another time.

Turkey meatballs with gravy are reheating in the slow cooker, rigatoni pasta dish is on the counter, Brie is cut and topped with Dalmatia fig spread. Depending on how soft the Brie gets out on the counter, I might warm it slightly in the oven. Beverages are chilled. Pumpkin cheesecake is thawed. I need to shower and get dressed before I finish other prepping. Trying not to stress out!

 

[Puzzles8]

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The Popeye's turkey was a hit! It was easy and flavorful. I was afraid the Cajun seasoning would be too much, but it was barely noticeable. The bird was just over 13 # and tender. The gravy had a little kick to it and we enjoyed it. Most of us liked the turkey. The vote was five for, one against. Overall I would recommend it 4/5 but not give the rave reviews I saw some people rate it.
This is my first attempt to attach photos. The picture of the dog - he has a turkey costume on.

We counted our blessings and gave thanks.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

[slowpoke]

Hi everyone! A belated Happy Thanksgiving wish to you all. Thanksgiving is a day for giving thanks, so I want to say I am grateful for this wonderful thread where we can share our shared interest of food—a happy oasis at WS, where sorrow and the worst of humanity are often front and center in most threads.

Thanksgiving was yesterday for me. We celebrated late, as my daughter and son-in-law came back from their overseas trip to Asia seeing SIL’s parents on Friday. So we decided we’d wait until Saturday to cook the meal. But I totally forgot to take any photos! On the menu, however, fully cooked or prepared by me and my husband was:

Roast turkey (cooked outside in our Char-Broil Big Easy Oil-Less Turkey Fryer)
Sausage bread stuffing (I say stuffing, but it was in a casserole pan not stuffed in the turkey)
Brown gravy
Candied sweet potatoes
Mashed potatoes
Cranberry sauce (simple basic one cooked just with sugar)
Roasted Brussels sprouts
Knorr spinach dip with crackers and baguette slices
Hawaiian bread rolls (I used to love butterflake rolls, but I can’t find any anymore, and I’m not competent to bake my own. Hawaiian rolls were not satisfying, however. Will have to keep searching.)


I was going to forgo dessert, and just put out some madeleines I got from Costco and frozen cream puffs, but my sister surprised me by making and dropping off a pumpkin pie! She is the pie baker in our family, but as she was not even coming to celebrate with us (she already did hers on Thursday), it was totally unexpected.

Everything turned out well! Lots of leftovers, so guess what we’re eating again tonight, lol. I may boil the carcass to eventually make turkey jook instead of soup this year. Maybe for tomorrow.

 

[killarney rose]

DH got a Big Easy for his birthday in September. We used it the first time for our TG turkey.

 

[slowpoke]

DH got a Big Easy for his birthday in September. We used it the first time for our TG turkey.

Did yours cook really fast in it? This time it cooked so fast, we couldn’t believe it! Our 14-lb turkey took only 1hr 25 min. and was perfectly done.

 

[killarney rose]

I’m not sure. My husband and son were in charge of the turkey and I was in the kitchen. I know the clean up was easy, which I liked.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Not sure if I've ever mentioned this before, but my newest favorite food product is Kerry Gold Garlic & Herb Butter. I've been using it frequently for a few years now and always have a stick in the freezer. It comes in handy for so many things: garlic bread, steak topper, in a roux instead of regular butter or oil. Nino Salvaggio's features Kerry Gold products - Irish butters and cheeses - around St. Patrick's Day, so I tried several products one year and have used them regularly ever since. The garlic & herb butter is awesome!

I won't be doing any baking or candy-making for the holidays this year. We have tins of David's Pecan Meltaways, multiple boxes of Godiva chocolates (some for gifting), and pumpkin cheesecake from Costco, along with Brach's Christmas Nougats that have long been a favorite holiday treat. I also like to make a quick candy and pretzel mix - one bag of holiday plain M&Ms, one bag of holiday peanut M&Ms, mini pretzels, and waffle pretzels. Toss together in a large serving bowl. Colorful, fun, tasty holiday snack that everyone loves. If your guests might have peanut allergy, omit the peanut M&Ms and double the regular holiday M&Ms.

We don't do much in the way of holiday decorating any more but always get fresh evergreen swags for the garage lights, porch lights, and post lamp, as well as a "drop in" evergreen planter for the urn on our front porch. The swags and planter are adorned with big red bows and ornamental red berries. Simple but lovely. Very little indoor holiday decor, and we have never had a Christmas tree in the nearly 33 years that we've lived in this house. Tossed the small artificial tree from our previous home along with ornaments and other decorations. We still have some stockings for the fireplace and some holiday candles that I can put out if we have guests. No definite plans to entertain this year but will host a family holiday dinner at some point when everyone can get here.

Happy baking, candy-making, and decorating!

 

[iamshadow21]

Stress making day, so it's muffin day. I dug into my Muffin Bible again for one I had my eye on - Jaffa Muffins. For those who don't know, Jaffas are round chocolate balls with a candy shell, a bit like much bigger m&ms, and they're orange flavoured.

We mostly followed the recipe, but added a generous half teaspoon each of cinnamon and mixed spice. And the yoghurt was honey cinnamon, not plain.

First outing for my newly discovered twelve cup pan, and we're going extra fancy because I found my mother had actual muffin sized patty pans in the cupboard where the baking powder lives, so we have paper cases!

EDIT: Just ate one they're really good. Partner says they could do with more orange, I agree, but that's not the recipe's fault, that's mine for only ordering one orange in the grocery order. Next time I'll make sure to have two. There was enough juice, but obviously the zest from the second orange punches up the flavour.

 

[iamshadow21]

Today I cooked chilli!

What I thought was beef mince in a bag was actually beef stir-fry strips, so there's that and a bit of chicken thigh chopped up. There are no beans, because of partner's FODMAP issues. Vegetables are carrot, a bit of parsnip, a bit of celery, zucchini, broccoli, baby multicoloured capsicums, a jalapeno, and two tins of diced tomatoes plus extra water. It was all cooked off with garlic and onion olive oil and the drippings from the frying pan we used to cook beef patties and bacon in yesterday. Seasonings were chicken stock, black pepper, sweet paprika, smoky paprika, cumin, ground coriander, and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Everything got cooked off for a while, and when it was all in, it simmered for an hour with the lid just cracked.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Has anyone had the awesome aioli that is served with various Costco sandwiches? I absolutely love it and have wondered if the recipe is available to the public. I kind of figured that it wasn't, but there are some knockoff versions that seem pretty close to what I taste in the concoction. I was definitely tasting mayo, Dijon mustard, garlic, and olive oil. Here's one of the recipes I came across that seems to confirm my thoughts about the ingredients.

https://www.thekitchn.com/garlic-aioli-recipe-23704273

I've posted this recipe previously but, with the holidays approaching, I thought it might be nice to share it again. I've been making this dish for at least 25 years, and it has always been a hit. Prep isn't too difficult or time-consuming as the potatoes are peeled and sliced one day, refrigerated in a bowl of water overnight, then the dish assembled prior to baking. It is a wonderful accompaniment to ham and roast beef.

Potatoes Dauphin

4 large russet potatoes
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups (about 1/2 pound) shredded Gruyere cheese
Salt and white pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

Peel potatoes. Cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Soak in ice water for several hours or overnight. Drain well and pat dry.

Preheat over to 400*.

Place one quarter of the potatoes in a single layer in a 9x13 or 7x12 baking dish. Sprinkle with a quarter of the garlic and a quarter of the cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Repeat process three times. Pour cream evenly over top.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and continue to bake until potatoes are tender and top is nicely browned (about 30 minutes). Remove from oven and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Serves 4-6.

Bon Appetit!