My favorite Holiday

Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday. I enjoy hanging out with my family and eating good food! Here are some memories from this year's thanksgiving at Nana's House. It included cooking and baking with mom, Hanging out with my Bro Timmy and going over to Nana's for Turkey.

Nana's $65 Thanksgiving for 25

All for only $65. Nana knows how to shop for deals!

Three Layer Pumpkin DEEEE-Lite

Another layered dish to make me feel at home:

Three layers of goodness- Nutty crust, Cream cheese, cool whip and sugar, & pumpkin

1st Layer: mix 1 cup flour, 2 Tblsp sugar, 1/2 cup margarine, 1/2 Cup chopped Walnuts

Bake at 350 untill golden, Let cool

2nd Layer: Beat 8 oz pack of cream cheese, 1 Cup powdered sugar, 6 oz cool whip


3rd Layer: 16 oz can of pumpkin, 2 small packages vanilla instant pudding, 1 cup half and half, 1 tspn cinnamon, 1/2 tspn powdered ginger, 1/4 tspn ground cloves.


4th layer- top with a final layer of plain cool whip and garnish with chopped nuts

Prelude to Thanksgiving

Whenever I come home for the holidays my mom always asks me what my requested meal is. This time I did not hesitate I wanted King Ranch Chicken Cassarole. Nothing makes me feel like home like a good cassarole. And not surprisingly, two weeks ago when my sister came home she also requested King Ranch Chicken Cassarole.

King Ranch Chicken Cassarole

Ingredients:

3-4 cups cooked boned and diced chicken breast ( boil it) ( keep the broth)

1Lb Sharp chedder cheese grated

8-9 flour tortillas cut into pieces

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can chicken broth (retained from boiling of the chicken)

1 can celery Soup

1 small can chopped green chillis

1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chillies

Directions

1)soften tortillas in chicken broth

2) mix all soups and broth togetrher with chillies and tomatos and heat slowly

3) Season with salt and pepper

4) In Buttered cassarole dish layer tortillas, chicken and soup in that order then top with cheese. Continue layering untill all ingredients are used. Final layer should be cheese

5) Bake at 350 for 1 hour

Slime Balls aka baby cabbages aka Brussell Sprouts

I have a very distinct memory of growing up and my mom occassionally putting something on the table that we were forced to try and had to finish before we left the table. The one food that sticks out in my memory is the night that my mom bought frozen brussell sprouts and boiled them. Then FORCED my sister and I to eat the Slimey balls that they were.

As I remember the Brussell sprouts were slimey balls that tasted NASTY! They were so repulsive that my mom admitted that she would never make us eat them again. My mom was a fair player-- as long as we had to endure the slimey balls she had to try them also. And from what I remember she was not too happy with the slimey balls that frozen brussell sprouts turned out to be.

I suppose my mom had an ulterior motive in making us try the brussell sprouts. In fact, growing up I always remember her saying "you at least have to try it, because some day you may be in someone's house and they might bring you something to eat that smells weird or tastes awfull and you have to be polite and eat it." Little did I know in the middle of eating nasty slime balls that my mom's wisdom would ring true. However, years later when I was in India I realized my mom's wisdom. For the most part I loved Indian food. However, there were rare occassions when I would be at a friend's house and offered fried goat's blood, or when I bit down on a cardomom seed ( which makes your mouth feel like it is being turned inside out). My reaction was usually strong. But I had a little voice in my head that sounded like my mom telling me I had to try it.

Now years after the traumatic slime ball incident I find myself walking through the farmers market and take a special effort to try new things that I have never had or trying things that I have bad memories of as a child. As my mom always reminded me as a child "you never know, your taste buds may have changed." ( ironically I find myself saying the same thing to friends that refuse to eat certain vegetables and my 16 year old brother that is one of the pickiest eaters I know)

In walks the Brussell Sprout

I have recently re-discovered a love for the brussell sprout, (not of the slime ball inclination but fresh farm picked sprouts). I take them home, wash them, halve, and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Then I roast them in a 350 oven.

I have recalimed the brussell sprout and now love them.

Thanks mom for teaching me to try new things!

Next mission is to convert my mom back to the brussell sprout. ( everytime I tell her I am making them she cringes, laughs, and then reminds me of the slime ball incident.)

Creamy Rice

Nothing warms a cold rainy day like a pot of creamy risotto! An added bonus is that the constant stirring is very soothing and theraputic. Better still-- share the pot of creamy rice with a friend. Rissotto is great as a stand alone dish or served with a vegtable side. It is also a great blank palatte, to which you can add any desired goody (i.e. peas, shitake mushrooms, truffels (the pig sniff'n kind) etc)

My recipe is essentially the recipe in Joy of Cooking but be sure to use Secret ingredient #1 and Secret Technique #2. And don't trust Joy when it says it only takes 30 minutes. It always takes me longer to stir and incorporate the stock to the desired creaminess. No problem waiting here though-- the wait is well worth it!

Creamy Parmesean Risotto

1) Heat olive oil in saute pan, add chopped onion. Saute until onion is soft

2) Add one cup of aborio rice, toast in the olive oil just to coat the grains of rice

3) Add 1/2 cup of dry white wine. Heat until you can see a cloudy center in the rice grain surrounded by translucent edges

4) SECRET INGREDIENT #1: Homemade Chicken stock. Add one cup of hot homemade chicken stock at a time. Allow rice to absorb the stock then add another.

5) SECRET #2: Constantly stir ( yes as a matter of fact you will be tethered to the stove)

6) Continue adding stock untill the rice is soft and creamy

7) add a cup of frozen peas

8) add one -2 cups parmesean cheese and slabs of butter.

Serve hot!

YUM!

Fake Cake

I made my first venture into the land of vegan baking today. One of my friends kept going on about how great this coffee shop's vegan carrot cake was so I decided to take a stab at it myself.

In addition to my first vegan cake it was also my first layer cake that did not fall apart when I tried to stack it and put icing on it.

Secret vegan ingredients= FAKE Egg (Ener- G egg replacer) & Tofutti FAKE cream cheese.

Never have I enjoyed FAKE so much!

Plus it made my apartment smell really yummy!



Vegan/FAKE Carrot Cake (compliments of Vegweb)

2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or allspice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup cane sugar
3 egg equivalent in Ener-G FAKE egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups finely grated carrots
1 can (about 14 oz) crushe'd pineapple, drained
1 cup shredded coconut
nuts and raisins optional


Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, spice, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, mix sugar and eggs until creamy (works best with an electric mixer) - add vanilla, then add vegetable oil. Mix wet and dry ingredients together and add carrots, pineapple, and coconut.

I like to use two 6 inch round cake pans and then stack them on top of each other with a layer of frosting sandwiched in the middle. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Be sure to let the cake adequately cool before frosting.

FAKE Cream Cheese Frosting recipe

1 package vegan cream cheese (tofutti) 1/3 cup margarine, softened. 1 tsp. vanilla and 2 cups confectioners sugar

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and margarine. Add vanilla, then add sugar.

Tasty Toasted Treats

There is nothing better to sate an appetite late in the evening than a batch of toasted squash seeds.

I got home from school today and decided to roast my acorn squash. While I patiently wait for the squash to roast with the added butter and brown sugar. I dried off the seeds, tossed them with olive oil and salt and pepper and toasted in the oven for several minutes.

Result: tasty toasted treats. (that is until my cat pulled the paper towl with the seeds on it down from the counter)

Simply Sweet Tators

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and so are tables full of variations on the favorite tuber of sweetness-- the sweet tator!

I grew up with my grandmother's sweet potato casserole mashed sweet potatos with a crunchy topping of brown sugar and pecans. It was almost so sweet it could be a desert. In fact, when I lived in India, on Thanksgiving we made a t-giving meal. My contribution was Nana's sweet potato casserole. Aside from the fact that in India ovens don't exist: I had to resort to a toaster over- increasing the baking time from 1 hour to 6 hours ( even still the topping on the top was never crispy like Nana's-- the cooks laughed at me but told me how much they liked it. It apparently was similar to many of the indian sweets that pack enough sugar to kill a large elephant.

Then there is the perenial sweet tator dish: Yam cubes roasted in a jammy sugar substance and topped with marshmallows.

I recently discovered a much simpler and not quite as sweet version of the sweet tuber.

I take a good size sweet potato, bake it in a 350-400 degree oven, Squeeze open and add butter, little brown sugar and either creme fresche or sour cream.

YUM!!!

Yum in the Tum

Cool weather is blowing in and it is time for warm autumn soup to warm my soul.

After getting over fears, propagated by friends, of an apartment that smelled like cauliflower, I spent the evening sauteing, boiling, simmering and pureeing, not to be confused with the motor like purring of my cat.


Cauliflower Pureed Soup Garnished with Toasted Florets and Pecans


Recipe, compliments of the Thanksgiving edition of Food and Wine.

1) Saute 1 leek and 2 cloves of mashed garlic in olive oil.

2) Add chopped Cauliflower from one medium sized head (save several small florets), chopped and peeled granny smith apple.

3) Add three cups of vegetable stock and 4 sprigs of thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes

Meanwhile....

Open a bottle of wine-- enjoy-- read the paper and listen to good music.

4) Heat the oven at 350. Toss small cauliflower florets and handfull of pecans in olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in oven.

5) after the soup has simmereed puree in a food mill with the finest grade. (I preferr a food mill to a food processor; the food mill can make a more refined puree. Though sometimes I do the first batch in the food processor and finish it off with the manual food mill.)

Garnish with the roasted pecans and florets. I also added a dallop of goat cheese and a drizzle of Olive oil.

ENJOY autumn's warming soup.