Late Recipe Tuesday :: Thanksgiving Goodies

Yesterday's post was interrupted by massive Christmas decorating which if it hadn't happened might not have made it up before the 25th.  So now I am sitting in a house that is only a couple of trees short of Santa's workshop, in my humble opinion, getting that post done.  Thanksgiving was on Saturday for us this year but on Thursday we did get to eat some turkey at the hospital.  I had had this grand idea to make cute leaf cookies for my fellow coworkers on Thanksgiving.  I got the dough ready...

Covered it and put it in the refrigerator which was supposed to only be a few hours but ended up being overnight because I caught the oven on fire.  No really.  Fire.  I had made an Autumn Cheesecake the weekend before and was in a hurry and used too much butter in the crust.  I tried to add more graham crackers to make up for it but the butter ended up leaking out of the springform pan and down on to the bottom of the oven.  I really should have put a piece of tinfoil underneath to catch it but it was a week of really bad decisions.  There were plans to clean the bottom of the oven before I made the cookies, but it didn't happen.  While I was preheating it I noticed a burning smell and smoke but I sort of figured it was just the butter burning off the bottom.  I showed Mom and we shut off the oven and she cooled the bottom with some water and got most of the butter off.  Our stove has a covered element and I saw that the cover was tipped to one corner.  I asked her if it had always been like that and she said she thought so, probably so things could drain.  Drain to where I asked?  Oh, just under the cover...where the elements are...where the fire was when we let the oven get up to 350. The smoke continued to come out of the oven and I said I could see flames under the cover and Mom ran and grabbed our fire extinguisher and gave it a short burst.  The flames went out and then appeared again so she gave it another shot.  That finally put it out but the smoke in the house set off the fire alarm which is attached to our ADT system.  So the alarm was going off and the siren and light on the top of the house was going off and ADT was calling.  I answered and they shut off the alarm and sent the fire department to make sure the oven would be okay.  They were very nice and looked under the cover to make sure there wasn't anything on fire or that the wires weren't burnt.  Mom got on the internet and set up a repair guy for the next day (which was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving!).  The fire department blew the smoke out of the house and I shut the breaker off to the stove until it was checked out.  It turned out that no wires were damaged and that after a little cleaning the stove was good to go.  So on Wednesday I continued on with the cookies.  There was still some smoke and toxic-ish fumes, but other than that we were okay.  I kept a fan going and the door open to clear the smoke and just kept on baking those cookies.

For our Saturday Thanksgiving I had three desserts planned, because I'm crazy.  We spent Friday doing some late evening Black Friday shopping, which still had some amazing deals, and so I was only able to make one the day before.  Instead of traditional pumpkin pie I wanted to do some mini pumpkin cheesecakes.  They needed to be refrigerated overnight, so they were the first to get done.

Then in the morning I made some mince tarts for Mom instead of a pie, because everything tastes better when it's little.  I think they turned out pretty well for winging it.

And then only one picture of a premade apple crumble cake which ended up being underdone in the middle even though I let it go for the longest time they said in the recipe.  :(  But the edges taste great!

We did the whole day proper.  After getting the desserts done and stuffing the turkey, we put the turkey in the oven and retired to the living room to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade which I had DVR'd, took some naps and then then got up and finished dinner.  The turkey timer even popped at just the end!  I set the table with our finest china...

And we feasted!

Later on it was all about those desserts.  They make a nice trio don't you think?

Recipe Tuesday :: Pasta e Fagioli

It has been cold here in the Pacific Northwest as of late.  Highs not quite reaching freezing and bitter cold lows with nary a flake of snow in sight.  That means that my power bill will make me faint when it next arrives and that we spend a lot of time bundled up, feeding fires and making warm things to eat.

If you've been following my posts you'll know that I have found true love...in pot form.  We have made quite a few soups and stews in my new Le Creuset and I believe it is that pot that makes it all taste so good.  So for it's next trick it made delicious Pasta e Fagioli using the excellent recipe from Damn Delicious.  This was a Pinterest recipe find and it's a win!  I felt that the only thing that would make this recipe better for me (and my waistline) is to sub lean hamburger for half of the italian sausage.  But that's just my opinion.  So, first we rounded up the ingredients...

Then browned the italian sausage...

Diced the vegetables...

And added them to the pot...

Added the broth and tomatoes...

And let it all simmer for a while.  Lastly the beans and the precooked pasta went in and were cooked until heated through.  Here's an action shot of our autumn table!  (Please ignore the plate that is destroying this picture.  Next time I will be a better food photographer and make sure the plates are all facing the right direction.)

And of course a hearty soup needs some bread!  Our favorite is the No-Knead Bread recipe from King Arthur flour.  It doesn't take any more time than you need to make the soup and is perfection itself.  Actually it looks like we've modified the recipe a bit once I read through it.  We skip steps 3 through 5 and only let it rise on some parchment for 30 minutes at step 8.  We've also cut this recipe down by 1/3, because we don't need that much bread (funny enough I actually tried to type "knead that much bread"...aha...aha.)

And because we should always end with a cute animal shot, here is one of my sweet puppies asking if she gets any.  (Sorry but no, it has onions in it.)

Recipe Tuesday :: Apple Fritters

I have made a big blog decision recently.  I'm going to make an effort to try and keep a more tidy blog structure and instead of bombarding you with recipes and pictures of food on most every post, I'm going to keep them to "Recipe Tuesdays."  Some of these will be things I cooked a while ago, but I think it's fun to look forward to a single day of food posts, rather than looking at my blog and thinking, "Is that the only thing she does?"  So with that introduction here we go!

On Halloween it has become tradition for Mom and I to make doughnuts.  You've already seen the Apple Cider Doughnuts we made about a week later, but on Halloween I made apple fritters.  We've got such a surplus of apples this year that I have been trying out plenty of apple recipes from my Pinterest boards.  This Glazed Apple Fritter recipe by The Kitchn turned out to be an all day affair.

There was the large amount of apples I had to peel and dice, the multiple rising steps and of course, the frying.  I also found out that while making the dough the instructions got pretty confusing.  I added the dry yeast to the dry ingredients like it said, but the dough was never going to come together without some water.  I'm not sure if the instructions were wrong and I was supposed to activate the yeast first in some warm water or if they forgot to tell you to add some water later.  In any case, my advice is to add warm water by tablespoon full until the dough comes together properly.

I do have to give this recipe props for it's amazing glaze which I modified for the apple cider doughnuts later.

And since I was slaving in the kitchen all day on these guys I called to have some pizza delivered.  It was my favorite older gentleman delivery guy and he asked if I was making pumpkin pie in there.  I said, no it was apple fritters, and his eyes lit up.  This made me think of myself as a cartoon version of Wiley Coyote trying to lure unsuspecting elders of advanced age with a sign that says "Free Apple Fritters." Trust me, they'd all go for it.

The biggest challenge I came up against with this one was that when I was ready to fry them up I didn't have enough oil.  We had a Costco sized jug of it, but there wasn't enough to get me up to the immersion point of my thermometer.  Luckily (or unluckily for her) Mom was working the noon to 8:30 shift at work that day (after we'd driven back from Seattle after I'd had my septum surgery) so I called her and she dropped by the grocery store to pick up some more.  We were frying doughnuts until after midnight.  Does that make them All Saints' Day doughnuts instead of All Hallows' Eve doughnuts? (Just a little Catholic humor for you...)  And usually we dress up the dogs in costumes but that didn't happen either so here are our two beautiful black cats who are always ready for Halloween.

Autumn Foods - Soups and Doughnuts

Soups and donuts...what a delicious combination!  Not sure what had made me so soup crazy this fall, but I really want to cook it.  All. The. Time.  The problem is that often the soups I make from recipes found online don't always live up to the delicious soup I have in my memory taste buds.  I go for recipes that have spices and chicken broth and lots of vegetables, but it doesn't necessarily work.  The first soup I made was the Spicy Tarragon Potato soup from Happyolks.  I left out the spicy because I'm not to into that, but it was still pretty good.  I halved the recipe for Mom and I, but it still left a lot of soup.  I, of course, imagined cooking it on a dark, cold, rainy day and we found the perfect one!  Here's the photo version of cooking soup in my beautiful new pot.

I have to say that the soup was....only okay in my book.  I probably would have liked mashed potatoes better.  But, only one person's opinion folks.


Next it was our idea for Halloween to make donuts and watch Hocus Pocus, but neither happened.  Mom worked very late and I was recovering from my surgery and it just never happened.  But work was having a potluck on the Tuesday we went back, and Mom had bought the buttermilk, so I made apple cider donuts.  Now these were DELISH!  We got the recipe out of a newspaper article, so I'm including it below.  I thought I'd taken pictures, but apparently I was too tired to remember that...

Glazed Apple Cider Doughnuts

(From the Yakima Herald Republic via smittenkitchen.com)

For dough:

1 cup apple cider

3 1/2 cups flour, plus additional for work surface

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used 1 teaspoon...always use twice as much cinnamon as they say)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

Vegetable oil or shortening for frying

For glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

4 Tablespoons apple cider

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cook apple cider in small saucepan over medium-low heat until reduced to 1/2 cup.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.  Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Mix in reduced apple cider and buttermilk until combined.  Add flour mixture and mix until incorporated.

On a floured parchment lined baking sheet, pat out dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick.  Place in freezer for 15 to 20 minutes until well chilled.  Using a 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, cut out circles of dough.  Place them on another parchment lined baking sheet or a plate and place in fridge until ready to fry.  Take scraps and roll with your hands for doughnut holes and place those on a plate in fridge.

While uncooked doughnuts chill, heat oil and prepare glaze.  In a bowl mix together confectioners sugar, cider and vanilla.  Mix until all of the sugar has incorporated.  You might need to make a second batch of glaze for all the doughnuts, or you can roll the rest in a cinnamon sugar mix.  

Heat 3 inches of oil in a deep pot over medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 370 degrees.  Carefully drop dough balls into oil (I did 3 at a time) and wait for them to rise back to the top of the oil.  Cook for 1 minute on each side.  Remove the doughnuts with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined plate.  While still warm, roll in glaze or cinnamon sugar, and place on cooling racks over paper towels.  Try to maintain a 370 degree oil temperature.  You may need to let the oil heat up or cool down accordingly.

Since our first soup wasn't spectacular we went back to old reliable during the weekend.  On Saturday we spent 4 hours removing the debris and cleaning up the garden.  All that's left out there are the carrots and they can stay in the ground for a little while.  We really needed a rest day on Sunday and some clam chowder was in the cards.  Here is our own cobbled together recipe for clam chowder and we think it's pretty fabulous.

Carrie's Crazy Good Clam Chowder

3 Tablespoons butter

1 to 1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 teaspoon (or 1-2 cloves) garlic

4 1/2 cups peeled and cubed yellow potatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon marjoram

1/4 cup flour

3 bottles clam juice

4 cans minced clams

2 1/2 cups half and half

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

4 strips bacon

Melt butter in large pot.  Add onion, celery and garlic and sauté until tender.  Add potatoes and clam juice to the pot.  Open clams and add drained juice from the clams to the pot.  Simmer covered until potatoes until tender enough to break them apart against the side of the pot, about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook bacon in the microwave between paper towels at 1 minute intervals until crisp and break into small pieces.  Make up a roux with the flour and some water until you have a nice thick sauce.  When potatoes are done add clams, bacon, salt, pepper, thyme and marjoram.  Stir in roux.  Soup will thicken up.  Add half and half and heavy cream and cook over medium heat until chowder boils and thickens slightly while stirring constantly.