Time to start blogging again

I have been ordering far too many cookbooks recently.  I am hoping to do a cook-along with the new Dorie Greenspan book, Baking Chez Moi.  I'll post the results on here.  Along with anything else I bake/cook that I want to remember.  I'm really good at making great meals and then forgetting where I got the recipe so we never eat it again.  Hopefully this blog will help me keep track of them.  I intend to duplicate the Thanksgiving menu I used a few years ago -- that I had forgotten about!

I also liked the list of what's in the freezer that I put on here once.  I intend to do that again as I have way too much food in there that needs to be used up.

Worst Blogger Award

I am not good at this blogging thing! I keep thinking I'll keep it updated but it doesn't happen. This week Charlotte and David are going to be very busy preparing for the Science Olympiad on Saturday. I hope the team does well.

Merry Christmas!

I don't know where the last month has gone.


We spent Christmas Eve at my friend Judy's house.


I got up at about 9:30. Two of the girls were already up and getting anxious to open presents but we waited until David was up and showered. The girls seemed pleased with their presents. I got a beautiful bracelet from David:

I made a delicious meal in record time. David wanted beef instead of turkey. I got a Santa Maria Tri-Tip Roast from Trader Joe's and we had the Gruyere cauliflower we had at Thanksgiving and smashed red potatoes. It was really good and took a lot less time than the traditional turkey and all the trimmings. After lunch David and I went for a walk along Franklin Street in Chapel Hill to work off some of the calories. I like walking along Franklin Street when it is deserted. We came home and had Mrs Smith's Apple Pie and cream and then everyone did their own thing.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to the one or two people who might see this blog!
I am sure I will be spending tomorrow in the kitchen. I have a few things already prepared but it still seems to take me the whole day to prepare the food. And then it gets eaten in five minutes.
I'll post a menu tomorrow so that I can refer to it again next year if it was good.

Here's our menu:

Roast Turkey Breast (always allow far more time for this to cook than you think it'll take)

Sausage, Mushroom and Chestnut Stuffing

Colcannon (Paula Deen recipe) -- I made this when my parents were visiting and froze some to save time on Turkey Day

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Cauliflower with cheese sauce (Cooking Light recipe)

Sweet Potato Casserole

Gravy

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Dessert was a Toll House Pie that I made before Turkey Day and froze

Fudgy Cups

Since we moved I have not been able to find my little photo album full of Penzey's Spices recipes. I just don't have the patience to sort through all of the stuff in the spare room which is where I think it is. I assumed I would not be able to make the Penzey's Fudgy Cups that I like to make each Christmas. However, I am more organized than I give myself credit for and I actually typed up a copy on my laptop. I am posting the recipe here so that I will always have a record of it. These little cups are so delicious and very easy to make. I have a little gadget that I love from Pampered Chef that makes the little indentation for the filling. http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/catalog/product.jsp?productId=184&categoryCode=BK It doesn't take much to make me happy!

So here's the recipe:

Fudgy Cups
From Penzey’s Spices

Is it a candy, or is it a cookie? You be the judge. Fudgy Cups can be made with many different flavorings – change them to your taste. Use all vanilla for a yummy chocolate filling, add orange for a zesty, rich filling, or almond for a smooth nutty flavor. If you like chocolate covered cherries, put half a maraschino cherry in the bottom of each cup before adding the filling.

Pastry:

¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup natural cocoa powder 1/3 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar

Filling:

¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup natural cocoa powder
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. vanilla, orange or almond extract
12 maraschino cherries, halved (optional)

Sift together the flour and cocoa, set aside. In a small bowl, beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until fluffy. Add the flour mixture and beat until combined. The dough will be sticky, so refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325˚and lightly spray two mini-muffin pans with vegetable oil spray. Divide the dough into 24 balls and press each into the bottom and up the sides, about 2/3 of the way up) of the muffin tin. Mix together the melted butter, cocoa, egg, vanilla, and additional flavoring of choice. Mix until well blended. If using cherries, place one half of a cherry, cut side up, in each muffin cup. Spoon about 1 tsp. of filling in each cup. Bake for 18 minutes, or until the filling is set. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans. Remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Prep. Time: 45 minutes (includes chilling time)
Baking time: 18 minutes
Yield: 24

Dinner tonight -- Monday 17th

Tonight I am going to make the Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach Bake from the October 2008 Delicious magazine. It gave a recipe for make-ahead chicken that gave you three portions of chicken to use at a future date to make dinner preparation easier. The chicken is cooked and seasoned and onion etc. is added. I just need to thaw it, add cooked pasta, mushrooms, spinach and cheese and bake it. Dinner will be quick and I'll have a little more free space in my jam-packed freezer.

Meals in the Freezer

I have so much food in my freezer. I need to make a list of meals that are in there so that I can use the food up and so that it will be easier to plan dinners.

Bag of Spiced Citrus Dump Chicken (recipe from oamc.8m.com) -- using on 11/19/08 with roasted carrots
Bag of Garlic Lemon Dump Chicken
Lots and lots of frozen chicken breasts
Frozen lasagna (eaten on 11/15)
Chicken Portabello and another kind of prepared chicken from Trader Joe's Chicken to make recipes in October 2008 Delicious
Frozen salmon
Puff pastry (for chicken with boursin cheese, Southwest Chicken . .)
Pie crusts (for quiches, pies etc.)
Turkey burgers
Ground beef
Ground turkey
Beef round
Cheese tortellini (eaten)
Stuffing
Meatballs
Soup mix
Peppers
Green beans
Tomato paste
Turkey breast
Colcannon
Cube steak

Peppermint cheesecake
Cream puffs

I need to get some beef to make sauerbraten from the penzeys.com site and also for the Italian pot roast in the Art Smith Kitchenlife book.

Menu for Thanksgiving:
Turkey breast (in freezer)
Colcannon (in freezer)
Stuffing (in freezer) -- add sausage meat, mushrooms, possibly chestnuts (bought at TJ's on 11/15)
Brussels Sprouts -- buy
Carrots
Cauliflower (from Cooking Light)
Gravy
Cranberry sauce
Bread rolls

Pecan pie (from Cooking Light)
Cream puffs
Cheesecake
Toll House Pie (baked on 11/16 and frozen)