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Sweet Potato Casserole

Fried Chicken and Cheesesteaks — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:00:25 GMT

First, wash and bake your sweet potatoes. (I threw them in the oven, just as I was pulling something else out. After a while I turned the oven off, but left the door shut to use up the residual heat)

Let them cool. Peel them with your fingers (almost as easy as peeling a banana when they are baked and cooled - but if you prefer to use a vegetable peeler on raw ones, by all means)

Place the now lukewarm peeled sweet potatoes in your mixer (or a big bowl). Mash them. Add some cinnamon, nutmeg, milk and molasses. Once it is nice and creamy, scoop into a casserole dish.

To make the topping, melt 1/2 stick of butter, and mix with brown sugar (about 1/2 cup), a dash of salt and a cup of pecans. Pour this mixture on top, evenly distributing the pecans with your spatula or spoon.

Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes - until hot and bubbly in the center.

Winner of Earthbound Farm Cookbook Giveaway Announced

Flavor a Deux — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:00:23 GMT

The lucky recipient of Earthbound Farm’s Food to Live By cookbook is commenter number 2. The winner was determined by a random number generator. Congratulations to Bay Area Foodie, who said: BayAreaFoodie November 5th, 2008 at 5:09 pm I will be making that salad dressing tonight!

My Thanksgiving Cooking Schedule

The Pioneer Woman Cooks! — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:00:32 GMT

I’m still working on the photos for the new Thanksgiving recipe, and will try to cram as many new ones in before Thanksgiving as my bottom and nervous system will allow. (Here’s the entire list of PW Thanksgiving Recipes, in case you need ideas or inspiration.) For this morning, since it’s getting to be “about that time”, here’s my day-by-day Thanksgiving Cooking Schedule, which kicks into gear next Monday. With four kids, a husband, and many bovine and equine creatures in my life, I have to start ahead of time or I can’t even hope to get anything done by the time all my freaky relatives arrive next Thursday.

I hope it’s helpful to those of you who are tackling the entire meal yourselves for the first time. Even if you’re only cooking one or two things, you might get some ideas about how to do things ahead of time.

Marlboro Man did my grocery shopping yesterday. I love it when he does my grocery shopping. It takes him, like, seven hours, but he doesn’t miss a trick.

______________________________

MONDAY:
Realize you’ve forgotten to wash and iron the cloth napkins. Consider using Bounty paper towels this year instead. Realize that would be the end of reason and throw napkins in the washing machine. Curse Martha Stewart.

Start de-cluttering the kitchen countertops: put away nonessential appliances, spices, utensils, etc. Strive for a clean canvas. Whatever that means.

Make Butternut Squash Puree.
Place into large ziploc bags, then store flat in the freezer. Lick spoon and bowl when you’re finished.

TUESDAY:
Make 2 recipes of Perfect Pie Crust. This will make four pie crusts: One for Pecan Pie, one for Pumpkin Pie, one for Chocolate Pie, and one for…TURKEY POT PIE with turkey leftovers.

Put each crust in large Ziploc bag, flatten slightly, and store in fridge. They’ll keep just fine in the fridge.

Walk around the house, picking up all day. Lock the kids outside until bedtime.

WEDNESDAY

Morning:

Lock the kids outside until bedtime.

Make Creamy, Delicious Mashed Potatoes.
Place into a large casserole (I use a huge lasagna pan), cover tightly with foil, and place into the fridge overnight.

Noonish: Bring brine ingredients to a boil…
Then turn off heat and allow to cool completely. (This photo is the brine spice from Williams Sonoma, but I”ll be posting a new make-from scratch recipe this weekend.)

Afternoon: Finely chop onions and celery for Stuffing/Dressing:
Store in separate ziploc bags in fridge until the next day.

Finely chop onions for Green Beans & Tomatoes:
Store in ziploc bag in fridge.

Slice bacon into 1-inch pieces for Green Beans & Tomatoes:
Store in ziploc in fridge.

Make No-Knead Dinner Roll dough.
Allow to rise in same pan for a couple of hours, then punch down, transfer to large bowl, cover with clean dish towel, and place into the fridge overnight.

Make cornbread for stuffing. Leave in pan and cover with a dishtowel until cooled.

Cut cornbread and french bread into cubes, allow to dry on cookie sheets overnight. (I cover with dishtowels before I go to bed.)

3:00 pm: Unwrap turkey from plastic.

Remove the gross, disgusting bags inside and set aside.

Rinse turkey thoroughly under cold water, the place into a brining bag (unless my boys have run off with them, in which case I’ll use a big ol’ pot), add cold water and brine solution. Seal tightly and place into the fridge to soak in brine for 12 hours. Remove giblets and other junk from bags, rinse thoroughly, and place into ziploc bag and store in the fridge

Evening: Make Pecan Pie. Allow to cool completely, then cover with a clean dish towel and leave on counter overnight.

Set out dishes, glasses, platters, silverware, gravy boat, serving pieces, and crispy ironed napkins. Make sure salt and pepper shakers are full.

Place printed recipes for remaining dishes on island with corresponding non-perishable ingredients (cans, spices) sitting on top of each recipe. Saves time tomorrow.

Pour myself a glass of wine and sit down with Marlboro Man. Fall asleep within thirteen seconds.

THURSDAY MORNING, 4 am:
Press snooze button for an extra fifteen minutes. Get up, brush teeth. Feel cranky. Then go to the kitchen and set oven to 275.

Remove turkey from brining bag, discard brine solution:
Rinse turkey and pat dry, then place on a roasting pan and cover tightly with foil:

Put into the oven by 4:30. Follow instructions for Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey.

Remove dinner roll dough from fridge and allow to come to room temperature.
Roll into balls at least 1 hour ahead of baking. Allow to rise on countertop, covered with dishtowel, for at least an hour. (Note: Rolls can be made on Monday, fully baked, and stored in ziplocs in freezer. Then, simply reheat on Thanksgiving day.)

Remove mashed potatoes from fridge so they’ll be room temperature by early afternoon.

Throughout the morning:
Assemble stuffing:
Stuff bird with part of stuffing if desired. Otherwise, put all stuffing into large baking pan. Cover and set aside.

Make Chocolate Pie:
Lick the spatula for breakfast.

Make Pumpkin Pie (Recipe coming!)

Make Green Beans & Tomatoes.
Allow to simmer on stove.

Remove giblets from fridge, boil in small pan of water.
Set aside for giblet gravy. (Don’t discard the water!)

Roll dough into balls:

Allow to rise on counter for at least an hour.

***Get into turkey & gravy mode!***

__________________________

This schedule is by no means complete—I left out a couple of very easy side dishes I’ll add in here and there—but is meant to show my overall approach of cooking things that can be made way ahead of time or frozen on Monday and Tuesday, then using Wednesday as a prep day for chopping, brining, peeling, prepping, so that Thursday can just be about assembling and finishing the cooking/baking process.

I hope I didn’t freak you out.

But hear me when I say this: If I can do it, you can do it.

Crosnes- The Discovery of a New Tuber

Kitchen Caravan — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:00:29 GMT

One of the fun things about shopping at the local farmers market is discovering new things. At first glance, it looks like there are a lot of apples, cheeses, breads, and some meat. However, if you look carefully at each stand and examine the names of the fruits and vegetables, you see that there are vegetables you have never tried, apple strains you have never heard of, and herbs that you thought only grew in other places.
I did not quite know what I was going to eat for lunch the other day. I had just gotten back from Italy and was excited to eat some home-cooked veggies. I love Italian food, but I had been in pasta overload, and was missing some fresh vegetables. I found some beautiful sunchokes and smoked trout, and was trying to figure out the best way to use them in something light and healthy. Then I cam across some Crosnes. It looked like a crate full of little white worms, something that you would go to the doctor to get out of your system. But I was intrigued. I asked the women what they were, and they described them as small little tubers. I love tubers: sweet potatoes, yucca, taro, potatoes of all shapes and sizes, sunchokes- well, why not try another one? I took them home and looked them up online. It turns out that they are native to China, but the French imported them in the late 19th century, and they got their name from a town in their adoptive country.
They are small little tan tubers, and combined with smoked trout and sunchokes, I knew that I would need some color on my plate. I decided to jazz up my salad with some grated carrots, cilantro and thinly sliced watermelon radish. In the end I had a gorgeous salad that looked like a party on my plate.
Anyway, the point of this entry is to say that I had never had Crosnes before, and had no idea what they were before a week ago. But I bought them and tried them, and now my world is just a little bit bigger. So go to the markets, read all the signs and find something new to try. Do not be afraid!

The glory of Gingerbread

Kate in the Kitchen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:00:28 GMT

It’s another great food holiday today, if you’re me that is; it’s National Gingerbread Day! I love gingerbread. Again, it’s a Mom thing as is nearly all of my baking love; something I got from having a mom who loved Gingersnap cookies and would make them regularly when I was little. That molasses tang, the bite [...]

Top Tips For Good Nutrition This Thanksgiving

Chef Tom Cooks - Recipe Blog — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:00:21 GMT

To many, good nutrition and thanksgiving dinner seem to cancel each other out. However it should be possible and even easy to make a nutritious meal that is a pleasure to share with friends and family. Here are a few tips to help you make your holiday meals healthy ones too. Prepare a wide variety [...]

Truffles - a bit of literary trivia

Tasting Spoons — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:00:32 GMT

Joyce met Proust once at a literary dinner, and Proust asked Joyce did he like truffles, and Joyce said yes, he did, and I know Joyce was very amused afterwards. He said, “Here the two greatest literary figures of our time meet, and they ask each other if they like truffles.” . . . Arthur [...]

CMN Video: Chef Mark in Bali, Part 1

ReMARKable Palate — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:00:31 GMT

CMN Video: Chef Mark in Bali, Part 1 I’m in Indonesia as a guest of the Ministry of Culture for “Pesta Blogger 2008“, a large gathering of bloggers from the whole country. We’re on “The Road to Pesta Blogger”, seeing many of the cultural and culinary highlights of this beautiful country. I visit the [...]

EASY Herb Thanksgiving Turkey

Kick Back and Kook — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:00:27 GMT

Easy Herb Thanksgiving Turkey **If this is your first Thanksgiving turkey, I advise you to cook the stuffing separately until you are confident that you can cook the stuffing inside the turkey safely! Be well for the holidays!** * 1 (14...

An Erin Cooks Contest: The Pink and Cheesy Party Duo

Erin Cooks — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:00:22 GMT

Over the next few weeks I’ll be giving away 5 sets of brand new cookbooks, direct from the Erin Cooks bookshelf, that I’ve grouped into cute themes. Don’t worry I’ll dust them off before I send them out to the lucky winners. You never know when these giveaways will pop up online so it might [...]