What Ya' Got Cookin' Thanksgiving 2015 edition

Ohhhh, butter helps brown and add extra tasty YUMMMMM!!!!!. I make quesadillas Thomas likes them. I am babysitting more, since DIL gets called in to substitute. All this week and next. It's nice when I know ahead of time. He is such a cutie!

I made coconut macaroons today. Used a different recipe. I think I should have left them in a little longer. Maybe make them a little smaller. Still pretty good, though.

Yummmmm--to you all! You make me hungry!

Jilll--I like your cooking methods. D.

A funny note, Holly did a little last minute shopping for Thanksgiving, she wanted extra ice tea and grabbed 2 gallons of Sweet tea as that was all that was left. Well it was like sweet tea from a Georgia dinner, strong and saturated with sugar.LOL I ask her about it and she said, "well it has a lemon on the label". So I've been drinking it by starting with 1/3 glass of water, a bit of lemon juice, and the rest tea and its still gawd awful sweet.

Has anyone tried making Caramel? There is a recipe that has been on Facebook that looks good and easy.

I've burned sugar a couple of times, never actually made any caramel.

Brittle is-----
Melted butter and sugar cooked until caramalized and then cooled== brittle.

Would adding heavy cream to this make caramel???? Just wondering....G.

Simmer an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a sauce pan for about 45 to 50 minutes. It converts to excellent caramel.

Look who has the secret, again! Ok, we need a new contest.
"Stump David"

How much water is added? Enough to cover the can or just part way?

Right, sally!
David seems to have a solution for everything!
He sure has had an informative life and has stashed it all in his brain.

Good title for a bio
"An Informative Life"

Being lazy, I found a link to this process. Just as well, I incorrectly remembered the length of heating time. http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/38234/caramel+from+sweetened+condensed+milk

That's an easy enough venture David. It looks as though it's creamy. The one I was referring to results in a semi-solid and chewy. http://www.trendfrenzy.net/microwave-caramels/

Going to check both of those links now. Thanks youse guys!!!!

Gonna have to try them sometime.

Starting a meatloaf, traditional with ketchup and brown sugar topping to share with Josh, Holly's parents, and Holly who's long term baby sitting in a vegetarian household. She's been at Jen's since Wednesday with Lily and Lucas while Matt and Jen are at a conference in the Sunshine State. I'll probably make a mushroom brown gravy and mashed to go with. Cortney is not vegetarian but does not use commercial pork or beef. Jen is actually vegan herself, but the kids eat dairy and egg products.

Ric, I think the main difference in caramel texture is temperature. Boiling water bath provides temps around 210-212. Firm ball stage for firm caramels requires around 245-250. I may try boiling a can, then heating contents in a sauce pan with a candy thermometer as an experiment. Unless I burn it, the result will be tasty, whatever the texture.

I'm sure it will be tasty David, and I hate the smell of producing carbon. LOL

Thd.cooked can stuff sounds fun. Thx for the link

Weather got a bid colder today and the house has a chill to it. Wanted something easy and with that comfort food feel for dinner. Made a big pot of what my mother always called goulash - elbow macaroni, ground beef, tomatoes. Really hit the spot.

I loved that stuff when I was a kid! Mom didn't give it a name.

Made bean soup yesterday with a Smithfield spiral ham bone. It was a bit sweet but good. A touch of vinegar might have been good for it. There's plenty left for lunch tomorrow, and enough broth that it could stand some pasta added.

DS will have surgery on Monday and be on a liquid diet for a while- pretty much bumming me out about having extra time and kids home to cook for, but if he can't eat it- rats.

That Goulash Sounds Great nice and Hearty

'Course I already said this but it did not stick

Sally, hope DS's surgery will go well tomorrow. Being on a liquid diet, just means you can do some experimenting with soups :-) I think I could be happy having soup for almost every meal, especially in winter!

Ditto Sally thoughts and prayers for you and yours.

thanks, gang!
My daughter says the girls in her apartment really liked the Ninja 'blender' device. It sounds handier than the traditional blender, and it blends smoother, they say.

We have a batch of cookies (peanut butter- oatmeal w chocolate chips) going. DS can eat some tonight, then we will finish them before he comes home in two days, so he won't have to look at them and be denied.

We called that "goulash" also -- our family's ultimate comfort food, possibly because it has so many good camping trip memories associated with it. We make ours with macaroni, hamburger, a bit of onion, campbell's (condensed) cream of tomato, and mexicorn... and yes, it does have to be mexicorn. We've tried variations and substitutions and finally decided we just have to pay the going price for "gourmet" canned corn if we want it to taste right!

Joyanna and I are both recovering from "just a cold," so our cookie efforts have been very limited, but we did do a double batch of gingersnaps yesterday... taking 3 dozen along to school tomorrow for the "cookie exchange" where teachers and staff get to make up plates from the hopefully bountiful assortment. It's the only school thing so far where home-baked has been OK; otherwise everything has to be store-packaged. Joyanna is very proud to bring in our blue-ribbon-winning cookies; she worked hard helping me roll the dough balls and dip them in red & green sugar.

The Ninja blender is a little spendy for my budget, but I do have a "Magic Bullet" (the original one) that I really love. We make individual smoothies with it, and I use it at least every other morning to mix high-protein "cream" for my coffee (unflavored whey powder, nonfat dried milk, a couple ice cubes, and some water). It's nutritious, tastes rich in my coffee, and makes outstanding thai iced tea. Most mornings, I'd rather only have coffee until about noon, and using this concoction lets me get away with that. I guess it's like having a protein shake for breakfast, except I put it into my coffee.

Anyway, I picked up another Magic Bullet set on sale at Kohl's and will send it to a niece at college. Of course, I'm certain it will only be used for smoothies. *snort*

Are you referring to an immersion blender..sort of an electriclly driven stick with a beater/ chopper at the end or something with a container and llid?

I wanted to contribute homebaked mini poundcakes for Sophia's fall festival but only store bought allowed.

Instead of the big pitcher, the Ninja type has a plastic cup. Fill the cup, screw on the cover and blades then invert that onto the motor. I dunno, she says they liked it a lot.

I bet they did..with a ninja name how can it miss? 😊
The immersion I have ..has a container but not for liquids I don't think.....I chop things in it ..last were the cranberries..made a quick neat job of those.
The immersion wand/ stick whatever it is called, I love. It breaks up tomatoes in the sauce. It pureees the squash in th soup...busts up the cannollini beans in the pasta fagioli soup ( pre pasta! ) I use it while the soups are bubbling away..any time really.

This message was edited Dec 22, 2015 2:17 AM

The "Magic Bullet" is a similar design, 16 oz cups that you screw the blade onto, then invert the whole thing on top of the motorized base and let 'er rip. But I think the Ninja is 3x the cost... also is probably 3x more powerful, important if you're pulverizing fruits & veggies into smoothies... I think I've seen people add unpeeled chunks of oranges, carrots, etc., and I wouldn't do that with the Magic Bullet.

We use frozen bananas, strawberries, peaches, etc. plus yogurt and a little milk, sometimes chocolate or peanut butter as the mood strikes us. The Magic Bullet can handle a few ice cubes just fine, too, as long as there's enough liquid to cover them.

I do have an immersion blender (whirly blade at the end of a stick), and it's great for soups. I used to use it for protein shakes or smoothies, but the Magic Bullet does a better job with less risk of getting stuff splattered all over.

Chicken and dumplings tonight made with boneless thighs and simple bisquick dumplings. Favorite go to meal when I want something with a creamy sauce. Takes an hour to cook, but not much prep work at all. Easy peasy, even for me :-)

I got a big batch of Indian food yesterday at a place in Glen Burnie. I really know very little about indian food but I figured theyd have a couple soft vegetarian items for the non chewers. It's all very good. We had enough so there are leftovers tonight too.
I'm having some shahi paneer right now. Cubes of soft mild cheese, reminds you of tofu, in curry sauce over rice. The naan bread is fantastic, light and soft. I should have gotten Mango lassi for the boys- a mango-yogurt blended smoothie. Fun and different, very glad everyone liked it.

Sally--wish I liked spicy food! No Go!
Some of the Vietnamese and Indian dishes sound great.
When my neighbor from Pakistan cooks dinner--this wonderful aroma
permeates the air. It always smells the same. It may be the spices she uses.

I think I could do a barely spicy something.....but normally am not a fan of "hot" foods.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! Gita

They offer your choice of mild, medium, or hot. I am a mild. The mediums were borderline too hot for me, but I am wimpy.
Curry is not necessarily hot but has a lot of spices like turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, garlic, ginger.
We got a tin of garam masala (an indian spice blend) for Xmas, and my daughter made some chicken with it. Simple, yet savory and different. Yummy.

Garam masala was just what I was going to suggest for an intro to Indian flavors... I used to do a dish where I sauteed basmati rice with butter and garam masala until the rice turned a sort of chalky color... then add chicken stock (twice as much stock as rice, by volume), diced onions, frozen green peas if you wish... simmer until rice is tender, 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. It's a great side dish with some simple garlic chicken.

The "simmer sauces" from Trader Joes are great, also, or look for "patak" brand sauces in the ethnic aisle. Butter chicken, biryani (meant to season a rice dish with a little meat added) are both mild... oh, and there's another mild one, a light colored sauce like butter chicken sauce but with some coconut in it... ?

Too-hot curries can be cooled down with plain yogurt and sweet chutney... that's what my daughter and I add when we have vindaloo chicken. Hmm, I have one more container of that in the freezer from the last big batch of it... I think we'll be eating it soon!

Crab melts and vegetable soup
Quiche and pumpkin scones
Bolognese sauce
Or the ever popular leftovers

Yum! Don't know what is on the menu tonight, yet. Gotta go shopping.

Homemade chicken soup
Stuffed pepers with rice and mushrooms

OK!!!
Tonight--I want to experiment with making chicken soup with noodles & collard greens.
It just sounds good to me. just seems that these two would go together quite well.,
I have cooked Kale before--but not Collard Greens. Is there a difference n taste?

Inspired by SallyG's cooking the breast bones "remnants" that I buy at Richardson's Farms--(a great start for Chicken Soup)--and how I could expand the flavor of
Chicken Soup?. OH--I will add the usual. Onions. Celery. a bit of garlic and Parsley--
BUT-what else????
The Breast bones, and adjoining chicken flesh from the filleting of the breasts--
is a great deal at 2+ lbs @ $1.50 a bag of these, Lots of meat left on these bones!!!
Great deal for otherwise "trash" remnants for great Broth or stock or soup.

Tonight--I got a bag of these bone-trimmings and I am going-for the 1st time ever--to try to make chicken soup/broth out of them in my Crock Pot. Never used one before
.
It is now ALL in there!! (the crock pot) -- Celery-Onion-Parsley, etc.
Waiting for bed time to plug it in so it can start "simmering" all night " in a Crock Pot.

I also bought a whole fresh chicken ~ 3lbs. +--to try to make fresh Chicken Veg. +Noodle soup.. Wanted to see if FRESH chicken really makes a difference
in the long run. These chickens come fro PA Farmers--NOT commercially grown ones.

Wish me luck! I like the simple ingredients--NOT canned broth or canned anything!!
Has o be all fresh! I can add the veggies.from stores...Can't do much harm to carrots
or Parsley or celery.
I will be cooking this all tomorrow. So-it will be--what it will be. I am NOT a novice cooker---Just looking for other's input ON THIS tomorrow--(feb. 19TH)
I KNOW it will turn out OK. But-------------????????
Tanks, Gita

Sounds good, Gita. How did it turn out?

Jan--
It was OK. My Crock Pot was one of the small ones--close to 1 gallon size.
I turned it on LOW and went to bed around 10PM. Got up around 9AM. YIKES!
This broth had simmered way longer than it needed to do. But--it seemed good.
It was my 1st attempt at Crock Pot cooking. I was amazed how well done everything was!!
NOW--my "doctoring" began. I always have to add more or change this and that....
SO--I detected a somewhat unpleasant flavor when I tasted the finished broth.
I wanted this broth to be very natural and basic....AL chicken flavor...

I remembered something "darius" (long deceased--a very respected cook
of all things natural)--said when she posted about making Chicken Broth from scratch.
Darius said she never used Celery--b/c she thought it "killed the flavor of Ch. Broth".
SO--I thought that it was what I was tasting that I did not like. I did add about
3 stalks of cut up Celery on the bottom of the Crock Pot.---Lesson learned.
I also added diced carrots and an onion (it may also been to blame-they were a bit old) a bit of Thyme a couple Bay Leaves and about 4 seeds of Allspice.
I tried to keep it simple... BUT-I always end up adding too much of this and that
and then I don't like the result. I failed...
SO-I "doctored it up" some more by mixing in some low-sodium Soup base--
never used it before..but better than the salty Chicken powder one!!! I added one can of sweet corn and asst. noodles. Can't have chicken soup w/o noodles of some kind. It gives it "body".In the end--I was happy with the results.
**********************************************
NEXT----I have to do the same with all the fresh, whole, 4lb Chicken I bought at Richardsons. I was going to cook it also in my BIGGER Crock Pot.
Not sure I will get to it before next Monday. I Should I freeze it???? I think I will wait. I washed the whole chicken parts and put them back in a heavy plastic bag. I think it will hold until Monday.
Cooking something is never a simple project for me.....:o(

Gita