Menu? I gotcha menu right here (turkey excepted)

It's Saturday. Do you know where your Thanksgiving shopping list is? 

Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to scare you. It's all going to be okay. I'm here! With a menu! And it's not hard! I'm not going to cover the main dish - the turkey - because EPF is in charge of that. He smokes it. (Not in the way that is now legal here in Washington....like over woodchips) but for sides, I've got your back. We're having Thanksgiving, part 1, tonight - so you'll have all the recipes and reviews you need tomorrow, in plenty of time to shop and cook. It's going to be great. Some of these I've written about previously, so they're linked.

Your menu (pick and choose what you want):

Turkey (like I say, I'm no help here. Sorry.)

Gravy (I cheat and buy it. Want to trick people? Ask at the butcher counter - they might be able to guide you to a good imitation of homemade.)

The Best Stuffing Ever

Green beans (not the mushroom casserole - gremolata)

Roasted acorn squash

Homemade cranberry sauce (you have the canned gel too, if you want. We do both.)

Mashed potatoes

Pumpkin pie, with decor 

Toll house cookies

Plus, a bonus Brussels sprouts recipe - we're not having it for Thanksgiving but I just made it and it's great, so it's an option.

All pretty simple, although it's a lot so scheduling is key. But you can do this! 

More tomorrow...

Project Update: Week Three

In case my flurry of posts over the last 24 hours didn't give it away, the project had some snafus towards the end of last week, and I got a little discombobulated. It was mostly a success, although Thursday's leftover night moved to Friday due to pre-Trick-or-treating snacks getting out of hand and precluding dinner. Then the eggplant parmesan got bumped further to Sunday, because Dungeness crabs have started coming in fresh for the season so that happened Saturday night (yum). But in the end it worked out.

This week is off to a bumpy start as well. Monday night crept up at found me standing in the kitchen at quarter past five, trying to figure out what protein I could scramble together to create a meal -- and the end result with leftover eggplant parm, whole wheat pasta (sausage for EPF), and a tomato/avocado salad. All delicious but I felt like I had kind of copped out, between the leftovers and the lack of planning. Here's the rest of the week, I hope:

• Tuesday: pan seared sole and zucchini (the sole is very fast-cooking, as is the zucchini, so works for a late night dinner as Tuesdays are.)
• Wednesday: lamb loin and sauteed rainbow chard (The lamb was buried in the freezer and needed cooking. We didn't have a lot of luck last time we tried a loin, as opposed to chops, but maybe this time will be better. The rainbow chard is this week's challenge vegetable! It's kind of a stretch for me as I have a really hard time with greens - I have burned kale chips, and never successfully simmered down spinach in a pan. But I have high hopes nonetheless!)
• Thursday: pork tenderloin & acorn squash. (This was the semi-challenge vegetable last week - I just halved it, dumped in some butter, brown sugar and sea salt, and roasted it, a la this recipe, only with a little less brown sugar. It was delicious, so much so that EPF asked for it again, and it's still in the farmers markets. I haven't made a tenderloin in a while but I used to make a mean one, so we'll see if I still can.)
• Friday: we have houseguests, so will likely have dinner out. 

Three nights, one tricky meat and one challenge vegetable. Here we go!

No Strings Attached

In my ongoing full immersion into autumn and all things cozy and homey, it was inevitable that I was going to want pot roast at some point. I haven't had pot roast in a long, long time - we had it when I was younger but not much since then, and I've never made it. So clearly it had to happen. While I was open to doing it the old school way - big chuck roast, crock pot, Lipton's soup mix, etc - we were rapidly running out of room in our fridge, and minimizing leftovers was key. Meanwhile, somewhere along the line I had clipped a recipe I'd been meaning to try -- "individual" pot roasts. A little more effort than the traditional, sure, but SO GOOD. Kind of a hybrid of pot roast and boeuf bourguignon - not quite as complicated though. The meat was tender, not at all stringy, and flavorful, and it has been officially placed in EPF's top five dishes. Try it - it's worth the extra effort. It does take a little time, so probably more of a weekend than a weekday dish, but it reheats well.

Late Dinners

Last week, I was in a deeply autumnal mood. This meant hearty things, autumn-colored food, and at least one use of the slow cooker and/or dutch oven. This slow cooker thing is new to me - I haven't owned a full size one previously, but EPF came with one - so I'm making the most of it. As I was flailing about for ideas I remembered that on Facebook recently my friend Johnny had shared his split pea soup recipe, and as it fit all the criteria, I gave it a whirl. EPF was pretty fond of it - I was too, although I wasn't sure going in. I haven't had split pea in a very, very long time so couldn't even remember what it was actually supposed to taste like, making this a experiment on many levels. It worked out deliciously, though. I may play with the variety of meat in my next batch - the andouille gave it a great kick, so I'd leave most of it, but we've been getting this amazing smoky bacon from the awesome new butcher in our neighborhood - maybe a few slices of that in place of one of the andouille links, to see what that flavor does.

Grumpy but grateful

Apparently there's this thing going on with Facebook this month...you're supposed to put something you're grateful for every day. Seems like a lovely exercise, but I don't think other people really care what I'm grateful for. And really, 30 days is a lot. Some days I'm just GRUMPY. I understand that's the point - to focus on what you're blessed with in life - but, I mean, grumpy. 

That said, I think often of how lucky I am to have a kitchen, and a good one - and a well-stocked one. I regularly volunteer at my local food bank, and am constantly reminded that I have nothing about which to complain. There's one client who has started coming since I began volunteering. When he first came he would take the full amount we offered him. After about a month, he started taking less, saying he didn't have access to an entire fridge anymore. Then not too long after that he wasn't able to take any food that would need refrigeration, and the past few weeks I haven't seen him at all. He reminds me very much of a guy I was friends with in college, and I can't help but worry about him. Things are tough for a lot of people, and the food bank keeps getting busier. With the SNAP cuts that just kicked in, it will only get worse over the next few months - busy to begin with, between the cold and the holidays. Friends, if you have some time or some financial ability, consider calling up your local food pantry to see what they need most. It's a tough time out there and we're lucky to have what we have. 

Anyway. That's my bit for this morning. Recipe updates, coming up shortly. 

"We rise by lifting others."

-Robert Ingersoll

Adulthood is tricky and other obvious things

The sky is blue! 

This may seem like a given to you...but it's not so normal this time of year out here. So, I celebrate. This day last year, Hurricane Sandy whacked into the Northeast, leaving many friends and loved ones in a bad spot. Here in Seattle we got a bit of a gift out of it - my aunt and uncle ended up extending their visit with us as they couldn't get a flight home. Not so fun for them but we loved having them, and that's what I'll choose to focus on - I've spent enough time on various blogs climbing upon my government-response-after-disasters soapbox. And this is a happy place! With food! 

In honor of the region of my roots, this week's menu...well, it has nothing to do with Sandy. Unless you consider some seafood. It does, however, include a recipe from my friend Johnny from New Jersey, so we'll count that. Unfortunately I do not have a new produce adventure to report on: a late night Saturday led to missing the Farmer's Market Sunday, so no new acquisitions. I still have last week's emergency acorn squash, though, so am carrying that through with a promise to do better next week. I'm sticking with the goal of menu planning, though, so here's this week's menu. 

• Monday: pan-seared local salmon & acorn squash. We stocked up on sockeye when it was coming in fresh over the summer, so this is a "reach into the freezer for a fast entree", and the aforementioned semi-new produce. 
• Tuesday: Johnny's slow cooker split pea soup & homemade corn bread. Johnny is a guy with a busy and stressful job, and the recipe he shared seems easy and well-suited for that kind of life. EPF teaches Tuesday nights and I'll be out voluworking (why didn't spellcheck catch what seems like a clearly made up word combining volunteering and working?) all afternoon, so this seems like something that will be just right for a late dinner. The cornbread is something I haven't made in a long time - and never the recipe I'm eyeing - but seemed like it would go well with this. 
• Wednesday: Individual Pot Roasts. Another new recipe, this is a dutch oven thing - love me some one-pot cooking. 
• Thursday: Leftover night! Assuming the weather cooperates we'll be trick or treating with our friends and their sweet little boy, so leftovers will be quick and easy - and we're going to run out of plastic containers if we don't clean out the fridge soon anyway.
• Friday: Baked Eggplant Parmesan. I'm trying a new recipe that calls this "healthy" and "easy". We'll see if it is either. 

And that's the plan! Last week, while a success in terms of planning, was also kind of a tip toe into this plan, with only two nights of real cooking - only one of which was "new". This week is a little more ambitious, although not hugely. Hopefully these will all turns out to be as not-enormously-complicated as I hope. 

Results to follow, friends...

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, 
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth 
seeking the successive autumns."

-George Eliot

Planning is for Adults

Tonight begins Project: Meg Cooks Like a Grown-up. The menu: slow cooker carnitas & delicata squash. The inadvertant theme: "quick" is in the...mind of the time-challenged. While both of these things involved minimal effort - and one was in a Crock-Pot, the modern originator of "the machine cooks it for you" - they both involved forethought and quite a lot of time. The Crock-Pot obviously does, although the assembly is about 10-15 minutes, tops. But if you're like me and can barely get out the door in time what with the clothing putting on and the coffee making and the whatnot, well, then, make it on a weekend. Being of the non-working variety, this was a Monday attempt for me. The delicata is also not very labor intensive, but does take about 30 minutes and needs tending, so can't really be put in and then left alone for 30 minutes. But once it's in, you can do the prep for the carnitas toppings and shred the meat, so it works out.

First up, carnitas. I might be the only person out there who hasn't made carnitas yet, so this seemed like a good thing to get in the repertoire. I mostly followed one recipe...but tweaked it based on another and then added a random fridge leftover. So, the end result is below (which shortcuts noted where possible), and aside from a deliciously fragrant house it was also super tasty. Not overwhelming but just snappy enough to perk up the evening. We did feel it needed a little kick, so the hot sauce was employed - but that can be optional. We added chopped avocado, a little sour cream and some flour tortillas, and it was creamy and tangy deliciousness. (The avocado was of course hard as a rock...October in the PacNW isn't exactly their time. It spent the afternoon snuggling with an apple in the Paper Bag Hotel, and the results were workable.) The original recipe suggested toppings of diced green chiles and carmelized onions. Neither of us is really into fiery hot food, so I scratched the chiles, and I wasn't feeling onions today but may try them out another time. 

Getting back in the groove

It's time to wake this thing back up. It's time for cold (permanently foggy) days and fireplaces. It's time to refocus from the depressing cesspool of our country's "government" to food, family, friends, festivities. It's Time To Cook.

It was a summer of minimal cooking - life was busy, EPF and I moved, and, well, it was summer, when a lack of both a/c and a grill means lots of salads and sushi. What with my patio garden doing really truly terribly, my domestic inspiration level was low, low, looooow. But now that we're sharing a home and eating together, there is some actual planning that needs to happen for us to eat like normal people (read: not takeout every night, which we could easily slip into with the wealth of options in this neighborhood). So: while I'm without garden for now (of the outdoor plants, only the rosemary and now-struggling sage made the move - the others went to the Garden Intake Shelter, aka my next door neighbors' patio), I do need menu planning motivation and this blog is going to be it! Because I said so! And so it is! (Do I sound fired up yet? I'm still working on the coffee.)

This week I'm also embarking on a new low-grade project: each week I'm attempting a new, ideally seasonal, produce that I haven't messed with previously (or at least don't do on a regular basis). I feel like incorporating fresh produce outside of the summer is challenging, but I know it can be done, so will now shame myself into doing so. This week, squash. I acquired delicata and acorn at the farmer's market yesterday, and am starting with delicata since I've never made it. (Acorn I have made, so it's in case of crisis - this is the first week, after all)

The week's plan:

• Monday: Slow cooker carnitas & roasted delicata squash. This is a double experiment as I've never made carnitas either, but nothing in the slow cooker is that complex - so how hard can it be? I'm combining a couple recipes - we'll see how it goes.
• Tuesday: Roast chicken thighs with carrot-fennel soup (yay for carrot and fennel season!)
• Wednesday: (nothing: we have dinner plans, so a nicely timed break)
• Thursday: Roast chicken a la EPF. Somehow I have reached the distinguished age of...uh...over 28 without mastering the art of roast chicken (intact, that is - I can handle pieces - see Tuesday). I can make one, but it won't be amazing. EPF, on the other hand, creates a masterpiece, so he is in charge of this one. If the acorn squash is still around, it may go with this. TBD.
• Friday: Leftover red sauce & pasta. It's Friday, people. C'mon. 

Lots of white meat, but then again we've been eating a lot of lamb and bacon lately so it's probably a good thing to err away from the highest possible cholesterol levels for a bit, no?

"Ask not what you can do for your country. 
Ask what's for lunch."
-Orson Wells

It's that season again

The sun has been out here in Seattle for days now. Days! It's gorgeous. I'm sunburned. It's only April. I could not be happier. 

As an obvious result, I've been pretty much parked on my patio, and have been puttering and freshening up garden pots. In the process, I've discovered that while I never really checked to see if my peas from last year were perennials...it's kind of looking like maybe they are. The pot in which (I assume, can't really remember) they were planted last year suddenly has a collection of pea-looking sprouts, without me having paid the slightest bit of attention. 

there are four or five of these - peas-to-be?

 All I've done is...I don't know, till? the soil to air it out after the winter, with intent to fertilize and reuse later in the season. I didn't think I even left any of the plant behind last year. But something is growing and it's not a weed or a stray birdseed (not the current finch families are leaving much behind to begin with), so maybe I'm lucking into another crop. It's a mystery.

Meanwhile it appears I'm going to have some sort of tomato bonanza. Last year I planted 9-10 seeds and got something sad like 1 sprout, and had to purchase a start from a local farm at the farmers' market to make sure I had a crop at all. This year I planted 16 seeds, and so far I have 9 - nine! - sprouts. I'm going to have to buy more pots. The mint won't die, the thyme seems to have created a baby thyme at the side of the pot, the sage looks like winter never even happened, and even the rosemary is doing well. This is all before this week, when we've had nearly a full week of stunning weather (did I mention that I'm sunburned). This week the arugula has popped up all over the place and three new orchid buds have bloomed. The only thing not busting out is the violet hybrid I seeded in pots - which is probably fine since now I'm going to need those pots for tomatoes. I love spring. 

itty bitty tomato sprout...one of many

Sprung!

I'm typing from the inside of a sunbeam. A sunbeam! This is so exciting - not just because it's Seattle and it rains a lot. No, this is more because it's Seattle...and we're kind of far north. For a long stretch in the winter, the sun - when it happens to come out in the middle of the day to begin with - never makes it high enough in the sky to make it into the interior courtyard of my building, which my apartment faces. I know it's over there...but it never shows itself. But now! Now my patio is awash in sun, my desk is a warm and happy place, and my cat is writhing in ecstasy in a sun patch in the next room. 

There really is nothing like early spring, amirite? That first warm day: bare feet and cropped pants, iced coffee, chirping birds, picnic-planning with EPB (who is now EPFiance, so I guess he needs a new acronym). Best of all, though, there are actual!fresh!delicious! things in the produce section. Lunches are suddenly much more interesting - today's was a big fresh salad, with fresh asparagus and chickpeas (okay, those aren't "fresh", but they were good) with a lemon vinaigrette and fresh pepper. You can't get springier. It was marvelous. I used to be afraid of asparagus. If you don't know how to cook them you can rapidly slide down a complicated path of blanching AND sauteing, or roasting them to death, or other complicated disasters. No more! Thanks, Alton Brown.

Welcome, spring! 

Simple and Delicious Vinaigrette

It's a personal thing, a homemade salad dressing. I like mine on the basic side. The general rule of thumb is 1 part acid to 2 parts oil, with seasonings if you want. Add your acids first, then the salt and other seasonings - they'll dissolve better before you add the oil. Then add your oil, whisk aggressively, and you're all set. My current go-to, in the order you should combine: 1 part balsamic, 1 part lemon juice (fresh if you have it), a generous pinch of salt, a pinch of dried whole thyme (crush it as if your hands were a mortar and pestle as you add it to the container), and a generous grinding of fresh pepper. Mix. Then add two parts good extra virgin olive oil - and if you have a lightly flavored oil, like a pepper-infused one i'm enjoying right now, make it 1 part that and 1 part unflavored oil. Mix, taste, adjust as needed. 

Easiest possible way to make asparagus

Via Alton Brown, Food Network

Ingredients

1/4 cup water

1 pound fresh asparagus, 1 to 1 1/2 inches cut off the bottom [*note from your blogger: don't get too technical here, just snap them - the stalk will break where it's supposed to*]

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Pour or spritz the water onto 4 paper towels. Spread out the paper towels and lay the asparagus on top of the dampened towels. Sprinkle with the salt. Roll up the asparagus in the dampened towels. Lay the bundle, seam side down, in the microwave. Microwave on high until the asparagus is just crisp tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the microwave using tongs and carefully unwrap. Arrange on a serving platter and serve immediately.