Pinterest and Sweet Potato Pie Dip

2014 was my year of Pinterest!  This pin was the basis for building a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf in our house. We now have a shelf behind our sofa in our small living room because I saw this pin.  I brought a cheesy, gooey Jalapeno Popper dip for a Christmas Eve appetizer thanks to this pin. I used the recipe for a tart, sweet, and spicy Jalapeno Cranberry dip on this pin for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and again for New Year's. Last night, I made a creamy Sweet Potato Pie dip because I thankfully pinned this a while back.

I'm blogging about the Sweet Potato Pie dip because it is definitely a keeper, I want to make a minor adjustment to the original recipe, and family members who sampled it last night asked for the recipe AND suggested alternate uses for leftovers, which I want to share here.

Dip:
1 (8-oz) block of cream cheese, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
2 Tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Graham crackers or ginger snaps

Pecan Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup dry oatmeal
1/2 cup chopped pecans






 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. When oven is ready, bake the sweet potatoes until they are fork-tender.
3. Mix together the cream cheese and brown sugar. Add the mashed sweet potatoes, butter, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. I used a food processor to get the consistency nice and smooth.
4. Mix together all the ingredients of the pecan topping. I added oatmeal to the recipe because when I made it according to the original recipe (without oatmeal), the butter pooled on the top. Adding the oatmeal will give the dip a crisp-like feel and will eliminate butter pooling.
5. Sprinkle the topping on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes and serve with graham crackers and/or ginger snaps.

This dip was so good that by the time I remembered to take a photo for the blog, we had it 1/4 eaten!

For leftovers (if you  have any) or if you just want a twist, this would make a classy dessert served in nice glasses decorated with a cookie dipped onto the top. You could also add a dollop of real whipping cream or ice cream on top.

Pinterest treated me well in 2014. Hoping 2015 brings the same type of success!

Co-op Gift Card: Year Three

The whole spread (minus the chicken feed)

If you've been following our blog for a while, you might remember that one of our most anticipated and useful Christmas presents is a gift card to our absolute favorite place to shop: the Willy Street Co-op. Mr. and Mrs. Claus have bestowed upon us this wonderful gift three times, and each time, I believe Andy and I have gotten better at figuring out how to get the most bang for our buck.

Veggie Burger Ingredients

Before heading to the co-op, we sit down to brainstorm a few meals to make in bulk and freeze - we try to coincide those with our financial and dietary pitfalls. Anyone who knows Andy knows he has a slight addiction to pizza. So,this year, we canned extra pizza sauce, and with our gift card, we bought enough mozzarella cheese to make me reconsider our need to own our very own cow!  Another way that we fail to live sustainably, both in terms of ethical food production and our personal finances is going out to eat during the work week. Usually this is because we don't have the time or the energy to use the ingredients residing in our fridge and cupboard. So, we bought all of the ingredients to quadruple our recipe for veggie burgers. This way, hopefully, when one of suggests going to Chipotle, the other can counter-argue that by pointing out we have veggie burgers in the freezer and potatoes in the cupboard.

Oftentimes, an argument against shopping for whole, organic, local foods is that it is too expensive. This is where being shopper savvy comes in handy. The back of our Subaru is loaded with canvas totes, Ball jars, canisters, and reused glass bottles because we buy nearly everything that we can't get from our CSA or garden in bulk. Local and/or organic bulk foods are surprisingly reasonable. Yesterday, we stocked up on maple syrup, honey, oats, peppercorns, coffee beans, milk powder, a few spices, and chicken feed.

Ingredients for granola

Milk powder for yogurt

A few other necessities...

Our personal New Year's Resolutions involve financial, dietary, and sustainability goals. This co-op trip and the cooking resulting afterward were a perfectly wonderful way to work towards those....for FREE! Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Clause for once again helping us reach our goals.

What to do with all of those holiday leftovers?

This Christmas, like all others, we ended the evening too full to even consider dessert. Thankfully, we had stuffed ourselves with Christmas cookies all day long anyway, so we had our go at the sweet stuff.

The Poquette-Lapp Christmas dinner is what many would consider the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Our menu hasn't changed much from last year, but we did have a few highlights.

We began the day with  Irish Cream (of course) and cheese, crackers, and trail mix. That evening, our menu was as follows:

• Turkey
• Garlicky Mashed Potatoes
• Gravy
• Brussel Sprouts with Bacon
• Cranberry Relish
• Fruity Coleslaw

The brussel sprouts were a new addition. At the last second, we Wisconsinites went out to our brownish-green yard, found our way to our still half-living garden, and picked a fresh stalk of Brussel Sprouts. It's worth noting because this may never happen on Christmas Day in Wisconsin to us again. We actually still have two more stalks to pick -- it's looking good that we may get fresh Brussel Sprouts again on New Year's.

Another reason to mention the Brussel Sprouts is that they ended up being the main attraction at dinner. To make them, you need:

• one stalk of Brussel Sprouts
• 1/2 lb. of bacon, diced
• seasoning (salt, pepper, etc.)
• a tiny drizzle of olive oil

Instructions:

1. Toss diced bacon, halved Brussel sprouts, and seasoning together. If the bacon isn't giving off enough fat, a drizzle of olive oil may be necessary.
2. Dump onto baking sheet. Put in the oven at 425 until done.

]

The pets thoroughly enjoyed Christmas also, as you can see in the pictures below.

Franklin enjoying his first turkey dinner.

Benson --after a little too much to drink :)

 Yesterday, we used the leftover cranberry relish as a topper to a wedge of brie and toasted baguettes as an appetizer. Yum! For the main course last evening, we made a half-vegetarian, half-turkey casserole using the leftover turkey and stuffing. Both the appetizer and the casserole were divine, and our fridge is much more manageable today without all of the leftovers occupying every shelf.

Here's our rough recipe for Fetttuccine Turkey Casserole

3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbs. butter
1-2 Tbs. flour
4 cups of 2% or whole milk
4-6 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. shredded Romano cheese
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
leftover turkey
leftover stuffing
fettuccine noodles

1.To make the alfredo sauce,

• Melt butter in saute pan. Add garlic, and saute for about one minute. Add flour. Cook until golden. This is called a roux.
  
• Slowly mix in the milk. Heat on medium-high heat until milk begins to boil. Reduce heat. Add cream cheese in cubes. Continue stirring until cream cheese is combined thoroughly. Gradually reduce the heat as you add in the Parmesan and Romano cheese.

2.  Boil noodles. Drain. Put them in a baking dish, mix in the turkey chunks, and pour sauce over the mixture. Top with stuffing, and grate fresh Parmesan over the top.

3. Bake at 350 until the sauce is bubbly, 20-25 minutes.

Thanksgiving Favorites, 2011

We were lazy this Thanksgiving. The appetizer we shared with our families involved zero preparation. We simply opened jars, did a bit of slicing and dicing, and viola - complete!  As the holidays approached, we realized we had done a lot of pickling and fermenting this summer. We decided to share a platter of salty, sweet, bitter, and sour flavors. And so, this year, we are especially thankful for healthy, organic produce and for the steamy summer nights we dealt with it all over gigantic cups of iced coffees. Those memories are ones we'll never forget because there really is nothing as romantic as two sweaty adults in a closet-sized kitchen with water canners heating up the already 90+ degree house. Thankful, we are.

Our pickle tray consisted of:
balsamic onions
sour pickles
spicy sliced carrots
dill rat-tail radishes
sweet pepper marmalade served with cream cheese and crackers
pickled spring garlic

On Thanksgiving day, while the Packers won their 11th game this season, some braver family members filled snack plates with pickles. During Lappsgiving (what we've begun to affectionately call our second Thanksgiving), we chatted while delighting in these finger foods while we sipped glasses of wine. Zero preparation, and tons of taste. Pickling a variety in the summer and serving these foods up for holidays could easily become a tradition.

As always, for "Lappsgiving," we made the holiday menu from the current issue of Vegetarian Times. This year's "French twist" menu was not as scrumptious as that in 2009 or 2010, but it was still pleasing to our palettes.

The foods we decided to make were:

Salad of Shaved Fennel, Oranges, and Candied Pecans (YUM!)

Spiced Balsamic Beet Compote (DOUBLE YUM...a definite keeper!)

Seiten Timbales with Chestnut-Champignon Stuffing

...and, of course, we made the same dessert we always make for Thanksgiving: Ginger Sweet Potato Pie.

Ginger Sweet Potato Pies

Mostly because I don't want to forget either the candied pecan recipe or the spiced balsamic beet compote recipe, I'm going to share them here.

First, the candied pecans. These would go well in virtually any fall salad.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup pecans, halved and quartered
1 Tbs. pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Toss pecans with maple syrup in a small bowl. Add sugar, salt, and cayenne pepper. Toss to coat.
2. Spread nuts on baking sheet, and roast 10 minutes or until crispy and aromatic.
3. Cool for 10 minutes.

And, now for a new favorite appetizer, which is sure to turn up again and again in our house. We liked it over goat cheese on a sourdough baguette, but my parents liked it over cream cheese. This is a great way to use a lot of beets!

Spiced Balsamic Beet Compote
Ingredients:
1/2 cup golden raisins (we used dates because that's what we had, but I bet raisins would be even better!)
2 large beets (about 3 cups)
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. garam masala or curry powder
2 shallots (we used one onion and one clove of garlic)
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt 

Instructions:
1. Cover raisins with boiling water, and let stand 30 minutes.
2. Cook beets in large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.
3. Heat oil in large skillet over medium  heat. Add spice, and cook 20 seconds. Add shallots (or garlic and onion), and saute 20 minutes. Stir in beets, raisins, vinegar, sugar, salt, and 1/2 cup water.
4. Cover, and simmer 20 minutes, or until compote is thickened. Cool.

Very Late Christmas Additions: Chutney and Coleslaw

Even though I'm a bit late (like a month!), I still want to share our Christmas menu. We experimented with two traditional sides, and the results were delicious. I have to record the recipes so that I remember to make them again!


The first: Fruity Coleslaw 

6 cups green or savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
2 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pistachio nuts, chopped
2 clementines or tangerines, peeled, divided into segments and chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:
Combine the cabbage and onion in a large bowl.
Mix the sugar, buttermilk, mayonnaise and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth. Pour the buttermilk mixture over the vegetable mixture and toss to coat thoroughly.
Fold in the cranberries, pistachios and clementines. Season with salt and pepper.
Let stand for at least 1 hour or refrigerate for up to 8 hours before serving. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper before serving. Serves 6.

— From Recipes from the Root Cellar by Andrea Chesman 

The Second: Cranberry Pear Hazelnut Chutney

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, picked over, and stemmed
1¼ cups sugar
3 whole cloves
1 cinnamon sticks about 3 inches long
½ teaspoon salt
2 firm Bosc or Anjou pears, peeled, halved lengthwise, cored, and cut into ½ inch dice
1 small yellow onion, diced
½ cup golden raisins
⅔ cup diced crystallized ginger
¼ cup whole hazelnuts, roasted, skins removed, and halved (see Cook’s Notes)

Instructions

In a deep 6-quart saucepan, combine the cranberries, sugar, ½ cup water, cloves, cinnamon, and salt.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Cook until the cranberries begin
to open, about 10 to 12 minutes. Adjust the heat so the mixture simmers.

Stir in the pears, onion, raisins, and ginger. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until thick, 10 to 15 minutes
longer.
Remove from the heat, stir in the hazelnuts, and allow the mixture to cook to room temperature.

Discard the cinnamon sticks and cloves if you can find them.

Refrigerate in tightly sealed jars for up to 3 months.

Makes about 1 quart

Cook’s Note: Try to buy shelled hazelnuts (also known as “fi lberts”) with the skins removed. To roast,
place the nuts on a rimmed baking sheet in a preheated 375 degree F oven. Roast for about 15 minutes,
until lightly browned. If they have skins, when they cool enough to handle, lay them on a clean
kitchen towel, or between several sheets of paper towels. Rub the nuts to remove most of the skins
(they never completely come off). You can substitute unsalted cashews, if necessary. Roast like hazelnuts,
until lightly browned, about 12 to 15 minutes.

--recipe from Harmony Valley Farm

The rest of our menu consisted of what we could dig out of the fridge and a turkey.

Appetizers:

Crackers and cheese, pickled beets, dip and veggies, pickled beans

Dill dip with carrots, winter radishes, and sunchokes

Sliced Daikon radishes with herbed cream cheese

Main Course

turkey

rutabaga-potato mash 

mushroom gravy

fruity coleslaw

cranberry pear hazelnut chutney

Dessert

leftover Christmas cookies

Irish Cream

Merry Belated Christmas!

Thanksgiving(s) 2010

Thursday's dinner at Andy's parents'  house was a delightfully tasty collection of the season's favorites: a turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, Jill's sweet potato casserole, our squash and apple soup, a cranberry mold, and of course, a variety of pie, including our Ginger Sweet Potato Pie.

As is tradition for the past few years, we shop for the turkey, and then split the cost with Andy's parents. This year we were fortunate enough to buy from a company called Black Earth Meats about which we felt pretty good (well, as good as one can feel about any farmed meat). As noted on Black Earth Meat's website, "Our animals are never held in confinement, are never fed antibiotics and never receive synthetic growth hormones." That's about as good as it can get in these times of big business and large farms. Well, short of going out into the woods and hunting down a turkey yourself!

Then,  on Friday, as has become tradition,  Darcy's parents came over for a Vegetarian Thanksgiving Feast. We started the day with pickled beets and beans, crostinis and cheese from our CSA box, and dates.

 Later, we whipped up  most of this year's Vegetarian Times'  holiday menu. We modified a bit, and spent only $35.89 for this meal. Our canned foods, CSA box, and freezer stock helped out immensely. The seasonal Vegetarian Tiimes' menus never disappoint; this year was no exception. The menu was based off of Greens Restaurant in San Francisco and including the following:

• Winter Squash, Leek, and Apple Soup with Cider Creme Fraiche
• Wild Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Shepard's Pies with Mushroom Pinot-Noir Sauce
• Roasted  Brussel Sprouts
• Roasted Carrots and Parsnips
• Rainbow Chard with Pumpkin Seeds
• Wilted Spinach and with Asian Pears, Blue Cheese, and Toasted Pecans (we didn't get to this one)
• Honey-Almond Tart with Orange Mascarpone (we had squash pie instead)

The highlights were the soup (which we consumed both Thanksgiving days and then had a few bowls for leftovers) and the Wild Mushroom Shepard's Pies with Mushroom Pinot Noir Sauce. This is our third blog entry with a different version of squash soup. Why so many, you might ask? Well, 1) each is a bit different, 2) it's fun to experiment and try new varieties, and 3) most importantly, the three versions point to the countless ingredients and ways you could make squash soup. It really is a simple soup incorporating squash, liquid, and spices. The rest is up to you and your palette.

Here's how you make this holiday's version of the soup and the Sheperd's Pie with Pinot-Noir Sauce. 

Winter Squash, Leek, and Apple Soup with Cider Creme Fraiche
Ingredients:
Soup:
1 large winter squash, halved, seeds removed
1 tart apple, peeled, cored, and quartered
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 medium leeks, white parts only, sliced (2 cups)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 pinches ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
6 cups Vegetable Stock
1 bay leaf
Cider Creme Fraiche
1/2 cup creme fraiche
2 Tbs. apple cider or apple juice  

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place squash face down and apple quarters in large baking dish. Add 1 cup of water, cover, and roast for 35-40 minutes, or until squash is tender.

Cool until squash is easy to handle. Scoop flesh from skin; you  should have 6 cups.
2. Heat oil in large soup pot. Add leeks, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1 pinch.  pepper; cook 3 minutes, or until pot is nearly dry. Add squash, apple, stock, remaining 1/4 tsp. salt, remaining pinch of pepper, and bay leaf; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered 20 minutes. Remove bay leaf, and puree with immersion blender until smooth and creamy (we just put ours in our Cuisinart). Cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
3. To make Cider Creme Fraiche: whisk together ingredients in a small bowl.
4. To serve, ladle hot Soup into bowls and swirl with Cider Creme Friache. (Hint: If serving for a holiday, I would not skip this step. The Cider Creme Fraiche took the soup up a few notches. I'd also make a bit more Creme Fraiche if I were to serve it at another more formal gathering). 

PER ONE CUP OF SOUP AND 1 TBS. OF CREME FRAICHE: 155 CALORIES; 2 G PROT; 6 G TOTAL FAT (3 GRAM SAT. FAT); 24 G CARBS; 13 MG CHOL; 392 MG SOD; 5 G FIBER; 10 G SUGARS


Wild Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Shepherd's Pie(s)
This can be made into 8 individual ramekins or into one 9-inch pie. We chose to do the latter.
Ingredients:
FOR THE POTATOES:
3 lb. gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 Tbs. unsalted butter
6 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling
2 Tbs. chopped chives
FOR THE FILLING:
5 Tbs. olive oil, divided, plus more for greasing
2 medium yellow onions, halved and sliced (3 cups)
3 medium portobello mushroom caps
1.5 lb. assorted wild mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup grated Asiago cheese
2 Tbs. flat leaf parsley, thyme, oregano, and/or sage

Instructions:
1. To make Potatoes: Put potatoes in pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain. Warm cream and butter in pot; add potatoes, and mash until smooth. Stir in Parmesan and chives, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Cool.
2. To make Filling: Heat 1 Tbs. oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onions, and cook 20 minutes, or until golden.
portobellos gill-side up on baking sheet, and drizzle with 1 Tbs. oil. Roast 25 minutes, or until tender. Cool, then slice thin.
4. Toss wild mushrooms with remaining 3 Tbs. oil and garlic on separate baking sheet; season with salt and pepper, if desired. Roast 20 minutes, or until tender. Cool, chop, and toss with Asiago, herbs, and onions.
5. Coat 9-inch pie dish with cooking pray. Layer portobello slices on bottom of each ring. (Add remaining portobellos to mushroom mixture). Use half of wild mushroom mixture to create second layer. Use one-third of potatoes to create a third layer, then add remaining mushroom mixture. Top with remaining Potatoes, shaping  into a dome. Sprinkle pie with  Parmesan. Bake 40 minutes or until golden.

1/8 OF PIE SERVING: 407 CAL; 12 G PROT; 23 G TOTAL FAT (10 G SAT. FAT); 40 G CARB; 41 MG SOD; 5 G FIBER; 4 G SUGARS

We made our own Mushroom Stock. Yum!

Mushroom Pinot-Noir Sauce
Ingredients:
1/4 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
2.5 cups Mushroom Stock or prepared mushroom broth
1/4 cup Pinot Noir or flavorful red wine
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1.5 Tbs. all purpose flour
1.5 tsp. tamari or mushroom soy sauce.

Instructions:
1. Soak porcini in 1/4 cup hot water 30 minutes. Drain and reserve liquid. Finely chop porcini, and set aside.
2. Bring Mushroom Stock, wine and soaking liquid to a boil in saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.
3. Melt butter in separate saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour, and cook 2 to 3 minutes, whisking constantly. Whisk 1/2 cup Mushroom Stock into flour mixture to make paste. Add remaining stock 1 cup at a time. Add chopped porcini and soy sauce; simmer 15 minutes, or until sauce is thickened, stirring often. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.


PER 1/2 CUP SERVING: 39 CAL; <1 G PROT; 3 G TOTAL FAT (2 G SAT FAT); 2 G CARBS; 8 MG CHOL; 161 MG SOD; <1 G FIBER; <1 G SUGARS



 

Ginger Sweet Potato Pie

We're on the dessert task force for tomorrow's Thanksgiving celebration, and we need something sweet for Friday's Vegetarian Thanksgiving, AND I needed something for today's ESL potluck. What to make? Sweet Potato Pie! We realized that we'd been hoarding CSA sweet potatoes for weeks and had just enough to make three pies.

This being our first attempt at a sweet potato pie, we needed to reference an expert. We found an Alton Brown recipe and used it as a skeleton, adding our own flavors and unique techniques to make it our own.

Darcy served the first of the three today at school, and her awesomely fantastic (and sweet) students ate it up! Each of them reacted well, which was a true compliment, given their diverse backgrounds and palettes. They even took extras home for their moms, so that they too could experience this Southern iconic dessert for the first time.

Here's what we did to make three pies:
Ingredients:
Filling:
roughly 3.5-4 lbs. of sweet potatoes
One 12 oz can of evaporated milk
3 cups of homemade yogurt (or store bought))
15 egg yolks
2.25 cups dark brown sugar, packed
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. freshly grated ginger (or more or less to your liking...you can eliminate this if you don't like ginger)
Topping:
3-5 Tbs. maple syrup (depending on your preferences)
3 cups of crushed pecans
3-5 Tbs. brown sugar

Crust:

3 pre-made 9-inch pie crusts (Willy  Street Co-op sells excellent local crusts)...or try our recipe 

Instructions:
1. Drizzle olive oil on cookie sheet or roasting pan. Cut sweet potatoes in half, lengthwise. Sprinkle each sweet potato with a pinch of sugar. Place sugar side down onto the cookie sheet.

• The key to a perfectly roasted sweet potato is NOT to pre-heat the oven. 
• Start roasting sweet potatoes in a cold oven. This will caramelize and accentuate the sugars, making for sweeter sweet potatoes.  
• We added the sugar on the bottom of the sweet potatoes. The tubers gladly accepted this addition and tasted ... How do you say?... Delicious! 

2. Roast at 375ish until potatoes are fork tender (depending on the size, anywhere from 30-50 minutes).
3. Remove from oven. Once potatoes are cool, remove skins. We found this was easily done by pinching the potatoes with our fingers. The flesh oozed out, leaving the skins behind.
4. Mash the sweet potatoes well.
5. Blend in the yogurt and evaporated milk, the dark sugar, the spices, the ginger, and the egg yolks.
6. Pour into crusts.
7. Sprinkle pecans on pies. Then, sprinkle brown sugar on the pecans. And finally drizzle with the maple syrup...yum! You can use as much or as little as you want for each of these. Personally, we go ALL OUT here. It is already fattening, why not?
8. Bake in a pre-heated oven - 350 degrees - for 50-55 minutes. Ours baked significantly longer (nearly 90 minutes) due to baking three at a time. Good indicators that your pies are ready are that the pies are solid, don't jiggle, and when a knife is inserted into the center, it comes out 90%-100% clean.
9. Cool and then refrigerate.
10. Whip up some organic, locally-produced, humanely-received (be kind to the four-legged creatures, especially on the holidays!) heavy cream to top off each slice of goodness.

ENJOY! Feed back is encouraged and appreciated!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

A Venture to the Urban Market

You know you're getting old when one of your most anticipated and wished-for present is a gift card to your favorite grocery store. In our case, that would be for the Willy Street Co-op in Madison. Two years ago, we included a Willy Street Co-op gift card on our Christmas lists, and for the last two years, Mr. and Mrs. Santa Clause have provided us with a nice, hefty amount!


This is so great for a number of reasons.
#1: We never feel like we can walk around the store and afford to pick up all the necessary basics for a pantry. With the annual gift card, we do.
#2: Between our yearlong preservation efforts and the bulk items purchased with this gift card, we are fully stocked for the winter. All we really need to visit the store for now is milk.
#3: I get so, so, so excited to wander around the bulk bin aisles with my Mason jars and tupperware. It's really one of the best days of my year. I feel like a video game junkie in an arcade.
#4: This shopping venture gives us an excuse and the means to do some winter preservation ~ this trip resulted in freezer food: Mexican lasagna, spinach lasagna, and homemade veggie burgers! 
#5: Food is a fantastic gift ~ it fills a basic human need, farmers are supported, little waste is created, and it will be used.


Here are some photos of our prizes from our shopping adventure in the "urban market":

The spread of it all!

grains, legumes, honey, etc.

Lovely, fabulous TEA (mouth is watering)!

local dairy products ~ Happier cows come from Wisco!

Christmas Dinner: A Traditional Thanksgiving Feast?

If you've read any of our recent holiday entries, you will have noticed that we partake in a traditional turkey dinner on Thanksgiving and then a vegetarian feast the day after. So, on Christmas Day, Andy doesn't miss the annual opportunity to make a sustainable Thanksgiving dinner. This year, we threw the cookbooks out, called family members to get recipes, and opened our refrigerator and cupboard in a vow to try to buy very little but the actual turkey itself.


After our "research," our menu consisted of the following:

Appetizers:

• Cheese from our CSA box and crackers
• Canned Pepper Jelly, cream cheese, and crackers
• Irish cream/mimosas/red wine
• 
  

Feast

• Turkey
• Mashed Roots
• Mushroom Gravy
• Stuffing
• Buttered Beets
  
• Cranberry Relish
• A bottle of a big hearty Zinfandel (or two!)
  

Dessert:

• Andy's dad's peanut clusters and coffee

Preparing this year's dinner made me truly thankful for our CSA. Having prepaid for our CSA box, we had to spend very little money other than for our turkey, crackers, some of the ingredients for drinks and the actual alcohol itself. We bought our turkey from a local farm, which helped the screaming, animal rights vegetarian within me to find a bit of peace with the soon-to-be cooking bird inside my home. Buying our food from local sources insures our money is going into the hands of the farmer and his workers. Plus the animals are allowed to walk and frolic for much of their lives as animals should, no matter what the end result. What a great holiday feeling for all involved!

Now for the recipes:

To make the turkey, Andy used the Poquette Thanksgiving turkey as a model. The night before, he soaked the turkey in the following brine:

2 cups salt
2 cups sugar
various herbs and spices (typically sage, thyme, oregano, pepper, etc.)
enough water to cover the bird

He submersed the bird in the brine inside of a cooler for 10 hours. The recommended time frame is 8-12 hours.

The next day, he stuffed our 12 lb. bird and put it in the oven for roughly 3.5 hours at 350 degrees. Obviously depending on the size of your bird, that might change. To check if the bird is done, either use a meat thermometer to be sure the coldest part of the turkey is at a minimum of 165 degrees and/or (Andy and my mom's favorite method) lift and twist a leg ~ if it pulls away from the bird with ease, it's done.

And now for everyone's favorite: the stuffing! Andy L.O.V.E.S. his dad's traditional stuffing, so there was no question as to where we'd get the recipe. Now this recipe might take some interpretation based on your culinary abilities, but who am I to alter the words of a family tradition? Here is the recipe, word-for-word as given to us, and I quote:

Simmer giblets in crock pot overnight with onion, celery, garlic, whatever-
Peel off neck meat. Put in processor with other giblet stuff and chop.
Sage and Onion
bread cubes
onion-chop
celery-slice
apple-slice beer
stock

Andy took the liberty of adding some leftover, stale cornbread, but other than that, pretty much followed the recipe "step-by-step." To make both vegetarian and regular stuffing, he simply combined all ingredients first and then added the turkey parts to just a portion, which later was stuffed into the turkey.

We didn't have any potatoes left in the house, so we decided to botch the myth that potatoes are necessary for a holiday feast and made mashed roots instead. They were so delicious!!!

Mashed Roots
cream cheese
butter
salt
milk
Any amount of any of the following roots will suffice:
rutabagas
turnips
celeriac

Peel and chop roots. Boil until tender. Drain water. Mash roots with cream cheese, milk, butter, and salt until desired consistency. We topped this off with gravy, but it was magnificently delicious on its own as well.


Buttered Beets
beets
butter
salt and pepper

Scrub beets clean. Boil beets until tender. Then slice off the ends and discard. Cut beets into bite-sized pieces. Serve with butter, salt and pepper. So simple, yet so very good!

Finally, the cranberry relish. My intention was to mimic the yummy raw cranberry salad from our Thanksgiving dinner at the Poquettes, but unfortunately, I didn't read Uncle Jim's recipe until Christmas Day... I was supposed to have made it the night before and refrigerated it. Oops! Next year, I guess. So, I threw together what I could. It turned out sweetly tart and tasty.

Cranberry Relish
1 pint cranberries
1 cup of orange juice
1.5 cups sugar
1 two-inch pieced of thinly sliced ginger
1 cup water
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the orange juice and ginger. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes. Add the cranberries, cinnamon, and cloves and cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 15 minutes. Pour into a bowl and let cool. Serve.

What a feast!