So what's for dinner?

[Unimportant]

Today was scotch fillet steak and mushrooms with steamed parsnip, cauliflower, silverbeet and asparagus, after a walk on the beach. Tomorrow will be ditto sans mushrooms, possibly with baked potato, after a trip to the dog park. Scotch fillet happily has a lot of fatty inedible bits for the dog with terminal cancer, who we will farewell the day after tomorrow.

 

[cmhbob]

Last night was grilled lime cilantro chicken with broccoli.

Thursday I'm going to smoke the turkey. Been wanting to do a smoked bird for years. I finally got a decent smoker this spring and have been working my way up to this since then. Got an 18-pound bird that I'll spatchcock. Fingers crossed.

 

[Brigid Barry]

I should probably find our Thanksgiving turkey and make sure it's not a frozen block of ice...

I am making some pulla bread (shame on me, I did NOT plan accordingly and I ruined my schedule today) to use for french toast and sausage tonight. Tomorrow will be spaghetti and meatballs.

Also tonight, I am going to make some more cranberry bread, and use some of our gazillion quarts of pumpkin to make some pumpkin bread and a pumpkin pie. There's an old fashioned recipe that I want to try.

 

[mrsmig]

Something with chicken breasts. I'm inclining toward a pot pie since I need to make pie crust anyway and it's a cold, wet, miserable day. Good for comfort food.

 

[CMBright]

Lunch is shrimp faux po-boy. Shrimp sauted in butter (OK Brummel and Brown margarine) on a hotdog bun and topped with a remoulade sauce.

 

[Introversion]

Leftovers. Because, darn it, we need the fridge space for Thursday!

 

[Brigid Barry]

I got lazy. Instead of french toast, I sliced up the loaf of pulla bread and took out the half dozen or so jars of jelly and jam from the fridge.

 

[CMBright]

I'm not sure what's for dinner, but it will be with some homemade bread.

 

[mrsmig]

It ended up being a chicken pot pie. Gotta say: the filling was delicious. I wasn't as happy with the crust.

I just got a pastry blender attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer and the jury is still out about it. I made three different pie crust recipes today (plain crust for pot pie, vodka pie crust and vinegar pie crust for Thanksgiving fruit pies) and all three seemed to get too "wet" too fast. Usually I cut the fat into the flour by hand, using a pastry cutter or two knives, and then mix in the water (or vodka, or vinegar) bit by bit, using a fork to blend. I like the ease of using the stand mixer, but I feel like maybe the fat is getting too warm as it's blended into the flour. Tonight's pot pie crust wasn't as high and flaky as I like, but it tasted fine and the texture was good. We'll see how the Thanksgiving dessert pies come out.

 

[Unimportant]

Dinner took a left turn because DB suddenly asked for bacon and French toast. And so it was. Doggo happily licked clean the pans and plates, for the last time.

 

[mrsmig]

Who here is celebrating Thanksgiving, or another holiday this month? Anyone want to share their menu?

Normally it's just me and my husband, but I still do little snacks throughout the day, leading up to a four-course meal in the early evening. This year the menu is the same, but there's more of everything since we're hosting my husband's brother, his wife and their two college-age daughters. So the menu is:

Appetizers: charcuterie board, steamed shrimp with cocktail sauce, parmesan crisps, sausage bread, crudites with clam dip.

First course: turkey soup with acini di pepe, rolls and honey butter

Second course: lettuce, apple and roasted almond salad with toasted goat cheese and champagne vinaigrette

Main course: roasted turkey, dressing and gravy, mashed garlic and parmesan potatoes, green beans with lemon and pancetta, cranberry-orange sauce, and pinot noir

Dessert: tart cherry pie, apple pie, whipped cream and vanilla ice cream, with champagne and prosecco

My husband leaves for Thailand Saturday morning, and our guests depart then as well. Once everyone's gone, I may crawl back in bed and stay there until Monday.

 

[Brigid Barry]

Going to see whether or not homemade pasta that I dehydrated cooks up well, and sacrificing a pint jar of tomato sauce. Pulled home made meatballs out of the freezer. Too many things can go wrong.

 

[Brigid Barry]

So the dehydrated pasta rehydrated almost immediately. The only weird thing was that dried, it was very brittle and it all broke into 2" pieces.

I was chastised by my husband and daughter for using Italian seasoning instead of basil and oregano, and it needed to be cooked down a bit more.

 

[Trying To Be Good]

The last week I have subsisted on Barilla pasta elbows (Two boxes worth) and penne. The canned traditional sauce is too sweet, the meat sauce is properly savory, and having the elbows with just a tablespoon of oil and powdered parm was very very good.

Today and yesterday, it's been two boxes of Private Selection® Wisconsin 5 Cheese Blend Macaroni & Cheese, with two cans of tuna mixed in.

All other nourishment was sandwiches, peanut butter, protein powder, and mixture of meat and vegetable's I had on bread two nights ago.

Overall, 9/10, would go "Full Italian-American" again. I want to thank my mom for introducing me to the concept of tuna in mac and cheese, along with the mixture of oil and powdered cheese for plain pasta.

ETA:

---

So the dehydrated pasta rehydrated almost immediately. The only weird thing was that dried, it was very brittle and it all broke into 2" pieces.

I was chastised by my husband and daughter for using Italian seasoning instead of basil and oregano, and it needed to be cooked down a bit more.

Dumb question, but what is in "Italian Seasoning" if not oregano and paprika?

I've made pasta that was under or over cooked, and both ways it really has an effect.

 

[Brigid Barry]

Dumb question, but what is in "Italian Seasoning" if not oregano and paprika?

Oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, sage, and rosemary. My husband thought it was the rosemary.

 

[Brigid Barry]

I really need to be better about writing recipes down. I had a post-it note about basting the turkey on my fridge for a year that I finally jotted down in my recipe book. Except half of the information wasn't on the post it and I didn't think to look it up.

 

[Introversion]

I really need to be better about writing recipes down.

I’ll put in a plug for using a recipe app. I use one called Paprika, on my tablet. Benefits:

• Lets you browse to a recipe and download it — no more bookmarks to recipes that later vanish from the Internet, and it also retains the recipe link in case you want to share with people.
• Lets you flexibly arrange recipes according to your own logic — I have one list I call “Soon”, which holds recipes I want to make soon.
• Lets you edit the instructions — I always insert blank lines between groups of ingredients that are meant to be processed together, or sometimes I move “chop this, sautee that” at the top. (How annoying is it when you’re midway through a recipe and realize that “Step 5” should’ve already happened?)
• Has easy ways to double or triple the recipe, with a click.
• Has easy ways to convert between measurement units, like ounces to grams, or whatever.

I won’t say having this changed my life, but it sure made it easier.

 

[Introversion]

Oh, and it has features I‘m still discovering. Like, “menus”. I imagine they’re meant for planning meals in advance, but I just created one called “Thanksgiving 2023” and added all the recipes I’m making. Handy way to remember, or in case someone later asks, “What was that pork dish you made last year?”

I seldom fall in love with software, but I love this one.

 

[Alessandra Kelley]

My family has been celebrating Thanksgiving on the Friday after ever since we were an impoverished* but host-minded young couple at university and none our friends could make it on Thursday. So tonight we are having simple bratwurst and potatoes (which won't leave leftovers) before the big family dinner tomorrow.



*It is possible we all sat on milk crates around the coffee table that first year...

 

[Diana Hignutt]

Roasting a small turkey breast in the oven as we speak. We'll also have stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, peas, dinner rolls, and pumpkin pie. Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!

 

[RedRajah]

My gingered apple cream pie and ube pie are ready. I, however, am not.

 

[Brigid Barry]

I made gallons of jams and jellies this summer, one of which had cranberries and pear (called Autumn Harvest something or other) in it.

Buttered whole wheat bread.
Chopped leftover turkey topped with Swiss on one side.
Jam on the other side.
Toss under the broiler to melt the cheese.
Add sliced onion and lettuce.

 

[Unimportant]

I've got bread dough on the rise, and three cauliflower in the garden that need to be harvested, so it'll be cauli cheese soup with fresh bread.

 

[RedRajah]

Bacon, egg & cheese sandwich

 

[mrsmig]

I'm so tired from cooking/hosting family for the past several days that I don't want to even touch a pot or pan. The husband is out of town for the next three weeks so the only palate I have to please is my own. I may just nibble on the turkey carcass tonight. I'm definitely eating that last piece of apple pie.