my "domestic" thanksgiving

i had a lovely thanksgiving. and dinner was delicious. here's how you can have a thanksgiving dinner like mine. minimal work, maximum happiness.
get in yer car.
drive to the nearest eatery that is open.
order coffee. or hot cocoa. who cares about caffeine, it's a holiday weekend.
beg for a side of stuffing with your dinner.
enjoy with your new husband.

my dinner. chicken strips with rice and stuffing. carb overload, FTW!

chris' dinner. chicken fried steak, potatoes, green beans.

a thanksgiving favorite...CHEESY POTATOES!

i'm aliiiivvveeeeeeeeeeeee! 

i have been the worst blogger ever this month. lots of things happening...not that that's an excuse.. but it is what it is. even though i haven't been blogging, i have been cooking, so i have a few new recipes to share in the near future.

i wanted to get back into blog mode with a recipe that i LOVE for thanksgiving- cheesy potato casserole. this recipe isnt anything fancy schmancy, and a lot of you have probably had or made some rendition of this at one time or another, but, here it goes:

you will need:

1 (DEFROSTED) 2lb bag frozen potatoes. i use the 'southern style' cubed ones but have heard of people using shredded hashbrowns
1/4 c melted butter
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 c (or more to taste) chopped white onion
1 1/2 can cream of chicken soup
1 c milk
1 c sour cream
1 8oz bag shredded cheddar cheese


topping:
3 c crushed corn flakes
1/2 c melted butter

mix all the ingredients (minus topping) together in a 9x13 casserole dish

i like to crush the corn flakes in a big ziplock bag, then add the melted butter

pour the butter/cornflake mix over the potato mix

bake casserole at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, let cool for 5.

that's it!!!!! it will be a hit, promise!

have a fab turkey day. see you soon!

spaghetti squash and meatballs

i made an amazing dinner last night. amazing. and i only took one photo, just now, of my leftovers. sorry.

so i made homemade meatballs first. easy. one pound of ground beef, half of a small onion (diced small), 1/2 cup bread crumbs, salt, pepper, one egg, 2T water. mix it all. form into balls and bake at 350 until done (20 minutes? 30 minutes?).

then i baked a spaghetti squash. there are so many ways to cook it if you look online-- but they all come to the same conclusion. cut it in half, put it face down, and bake or microwave. well, i found a better way to do it on the pioneer woman's blog. you just take the whole, intact squash, put it in the oven at 375 for an hour. that's it. then it's done, and it is so much easier to cut in half. scoop out the seeds, and use forks to shred. all the photos for that are on her website. sorry i didn't take any.

except for this amazing iphone photo of the leftovers.

i served the spaghetti squash (which, by the way, was still crunchy and amazing) with a few of the meatballs and some organic spaghetti sauce (thank to watching food, inc earlier in the day). also served with a side salad and red wine.

it was awesome.

from the "archives"-- french onion soup

this recipe comes from my other blog. i was browsing on it, looking for this recipe-- because it's getting cold and i'm in soup mode. this is one of the best soups ever, especially for winter. and i love how much better it tastes than even one from a restaurant, which is usually too salty for me. this one has a delicious sweetness to it, if you use the right type of onion and *accidentally* double the sugar during the carmelization process.


so, enjoy one of my favorite recipes!

I have this sort of ongoing goal to try a few new recipes every week. This week, you may have seen my horrible attempt at Orange Chicken. Absolutely inedible. Boo.

Well. It's all better this time. I made French Onion Soup for the first time ever and it was amazing. So good, it's worth sharing the recipe with you.

1. Slice 7-ish medium to large yellow or purple onions, and sautee in some olive oil. I bought a special slicer for it (a mandolin), where you run them along it and it slices them really thin. It went so fast! By the time Chris had peeled an onion, I was waiting to slice it. I love it.


Simmer the onions for quite a while. Serious. Like, maybe 40 minutes. 10 minutes into the cook time, add about a half teaspoon of sugar. It helps with the caramelization. Now, mine never actually caramelized, but they got plenty cooked and delicious. After they're cooked, add two cloves of minced garlic and sautee for another minute or so.

2. Add 8 cups beef stock (*not* broth!), 1/2 cup dry red wine, 1 bay leaf, some thyme, and some salt and pepper. Don't add too much salt.


3. Simmer it together for about 30 minutes to let the flavors mingle, then ladle into individual oven-proof bowls.

4. Top with a piece of french bread toast and some cheese. The original post called for gruyere cheese, but Walmart didn't have it (surprise!), so I got Havarti because I know it melts well. Broil for about 10 minutes.


5. Immediately after removing from the oven, top with some fresh parmesan cheese. My only change will be adding more cheese next time.

This one got rave reviews from my new roomie and from my boyfriend. Yay!

sweet? savory? ahh-- "delicious" pumpkin cheesecake

i love pumpkin. you may have noticed lately. well, i've stopped using "safe" recipes, and now i'm on to ones i haven't heard of, or have been too scared to try.
this weekend, it was pumpkin cheesecake. and it was awesome.

i was nervous because the recipe only called for 1 cup of pumpkin puree, instead of a whole can. that can't be enough! i need to feel smothered with my pumpkin! but, surprisingly, it was. don't be distracted by the smell of cream cheese that over powers the pumpkin. it's worth it.

however, i didn't bake it long enough. sad panda. well, sorta sad. it ended up more like a custard than a cheesecake, and you can't really ruin anything with pumpkin in it, right? right.
i already can't wait to make it again. this time, though, i'll cook it for about 10-15 minutes longer.

have i mentioned how much i love the sour cream topping? it's a deliciously spectacular mix of sweet and tart.

crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup finely ground ginger cookies
1T white sugar
4-5T melted butter

cheesecake:

2/3 c (145 grams) light brown sugar

1/2 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t ground ginger

1/8 t ground cloves

1/8 t ground nutmeg

1/4 t salt

1 pound (454 grams) cream cheese, room temperature

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (210 grams) pure pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)

topping:

1 c sour cream

1 t vanilla extract

1/4 c white sugar

for the crust, mix together all the ingredients (i did this in the food processor so that it finely ground the graham crackers and the gingersnap cookies), then press into a greased springform pan.

for the cheesecake, in a small bowl, combine the sugar, spices, and salt. in the kitchen aid mixer (or by hand mixer if you are a poor, unfortunate soul like i was such a short time ago), beat the cream cheese until smooth. slowly add the sugar mixture, beating until smooth again. add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. beat in the pumpkin and vanilla last.

pour into the prepared pan with the crust, then place in the oven. ALSO place in the oven a bread pan half full with some HOT water to keep it moist in the oven. bake in the 350 oven for 35 minutes, then decrease temperature to 325 and continue baking for 10-20 minutes more, or until the edges are puffed but the middle still jiggles some when you shake the pan.

for the topping, while the cheesecake is baking, whisk together the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. when the cheesecake's done, pour this topping over it and rotate the pan so it's completely covered. then return it to the oven for about 8-10 minutes to set the topping.

remove from the oven and run a sharp knife along the inside of the springform sides-- this prevents cracking as the cheesecake cools. place on a wire rack and cover with foil so the cake cools slowly. when it's completely cooled, cover and put it in the fridge for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

 

edited: after just a few days in the fridge, it tasted even better than it did the first day. it firmed up enough to be like a "real" cheesecake and not the thick custard thing i mentioned at first. however, i'll still cook it for a few minutes longer next time i make it.

starbucks got nuthin' on me

i made homemade chai this weekend.

i'd been putting it off, because it calls for cardamom. do you have any idea how expensive cardamom pods are? it's like, $13 for that glass jar. so expensive. then i realized that one chai from starbucks costs about $6, and since i only use less than a third of the seasoning per batch of homemade chai, it's waaaay cheaper to make your own. i didn't do the math. but probably it costs a few cents (definitely less than a dollar) for a cup of homemade awesomeness.

per my husband, it's the best chai he's ever had. take it for what it's worth.

here's how you can do it, too.

i don't remember where i found the recipe. i think i just changed a bunch of recipes. so we'll call this "erin's chai recipe"-- i'm so creative. seriously.

boil 10 cups of water with the following (all are approximate. do what you will with it.):
20-ish cardamom pods
24-ish whole cloves
1-2 t fennel seeds
a lot of cinnamon. i never measure, i just sprinkled a lot.
some ginger. see cinnamon, just in smaller quantity.

bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
add 3 cups milk and 10 black teabags. i used 2% milk, but skim would probably be good too, then it'd be that much healthier.

let it cool a little, then strain into a big pitcher. i used cheesecloth because i wanted to catch most of the smaller items, too. up to you. if you use cheesecloth, have your husband (or any available person) hold it for you and go slow or else it will spill over the counter.

clean up the mess. it makes a lot. we got a really big pitcher, and look how full it is!

i stored mine in the fridge. then you can have either iced chai, or you can heat it up for a bit in the microwave (like we did every night this weekend).
it's awesome.
one of the great things about this recipe is that it's totally customizable. you can use chocolate milk instead of regular. you can add vanilla or almond extract if that suits you. you can use peppermint tea instead of black tea. if you can dream it, you can chai it!
cheers!

amazing roasted chicken

this is one of my favorite fall-back meals. super easy, very moist, and impressive for guests on a sunday evening.

oh, it's cheap, too.

so, here's all you do.

buy a chicken. you can get the fryer or roaster kind. it does not matter one bit. plus, it's like, less than $5.
open it. clean out the inside (they sometimes keep the, um, organs? in there). rinse it. drain it.
separate the skin from the breasts, carefully. add a few thin pats of butter between the meat and the skin.
tie up the legs if they are spread too far. aka, if your chicken is a floozy. joke. but seriously, tie those babies up.
cut into big bit-size pieces some onion, carrots, potatoes. celery if you want. add that all to the space around the chicken.
sprinkle the whole thing with seasoning. whatever kind you want. i think i used a sort of parmesan herb seasoning? use anything.

put in a 400 oven for an hour. maybe an hour and a half. depends on the size of your bird.
sorry i don't have an "after" photo.

it's done when you poke the breast with a toothpick and clear juice runs out.
more specific? stick a thermometer in the thickest part of the breast and if it says the temp is good for chicken, it's cooked through. i don't know the temp. my meat thermometer says that on the holder.

not your momma's pork and beans

i haven't made my menu for november yet. shame on me. i promise to work on that this weekend.

related, i have a bunch of food leftover from my plans for october. because, you know, life happens. so we eat leftovers one day. or we forget to add a veggie to the spaghetti. yeah. so i have enough food for the first week in november and won't have to go grocery shopping until NEXT weekend! yay!

but, as i'm making things, i'm kind of out of plans. and i still need to account for my late nights at class, and that i'm trying to prepare something for husband. AND that it's totally crock pot season and i haven't used mine enough yet.

so i foraged through my cupboards and freezer, and came up with my own pork and beans. i was extremely nervous, but it turned out so good.

here's what you do:

cut up a large onion. put it in the crock. add other things. whatever you want. i added kidney beans and corn and a bit of leftover black beans. this would have been delish with some rotel though, now that i think of it. add it all to the crock.

top with pork chops. i used bone-in, and next time i'd use boneless (because they were so tender that they fell apart. awesome).

then i topped with homemade cream of celery soup. i would use cream of mushroom, but i didn't have it. some worcestershire sauce, some seasonings (basil, garlic, salt, pepper in mine), and that's it. cook on low for 8 hours.

it was so good. i love when i just throw things together and they turn out delicious.