Easter Recap

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I apologize to all my foodie friends for not getting any photos of the Easter dinner. With a crowd to serve I just can't say "Hold it -- gotta get some photos first!" Everything tasted wonderful, but you'll just have to trust me. ;-)

I did get a picture of the cake and the Easter bread (first ever!) and the table.

 Eggs dyed by the children.

 Easter bread -- recipe to come.

The annual Hot Milk Cake.

 One of the tables -- the dining room.

 I snatched this little butter lamb at the store over a month ago. I learned years ago to get one early.

Join the ladies at Catholic Cuisine for most Easter dinners.

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Thanksgiving Postmortem

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I've been up a few hours this morning stressing the next big food event -- our 25/50 party tomorrow, but for a moment I want to talk about Thanksgiving.

I hope that you had an enjoyable one.

I hope that you were able to truly appreciate your family, or friends, whomever you decided to spend your holiday.

I hope you gave thanks to Our Father who makes all things possible.

About the food: I hope your turkey was moist and tasty. Mine most definitely was. It was also done early, God bless him. And because I roasted it breast side down again, it was perfectly cooked, soooo moist and very tasty. I will never roast a bird right side up again. Ever.

Alright then, good gravy. My mom is in charge of gravy, usually because gravy needs attention, and when you're trying to get eight other dishes on the table, you can't babysit gravy. The gravy was yummy (it always is) due to yummy drippings. I place 14 oz of turkey broth and 14 oz of vegetable broth in the bottom of the pan when the turkey goes in the oven, along with a quartered onion. I stuff the cavity with celery and a quartered onion. I baste the turkey with the broth that the giblets and neck cook in (which starts as salted water but after cooking for several hours it's very rich broth). That all adds up to tasty drippings, and that's gravy! We also use whatever broth is left in the giblets pan. This year I purchased one of these

and I must say it made gravy-making infinitely simpler. The only thing bad about this model (Norpro) is it is glass and feels fairly fragile (thin glass). I would probably get a plastic one if (when) this one breaks. It was simple to get the right ratio of broth to melted fat -- you only need a little of the latter for good gravy. And in case you're wondering, it only takes a minute for the fat to separate. We also add the minced giblets and minced neck meat to the gravy, in case you're wondering. Giblets...mmmm.

Stuffing: Grandma Ruth's stuffing made with chorizo was a huge hit. Huge.  I can see that there maybe a circumstance in the future when I would make it the traditional way, but I don't know that my brother will come to Thanksgiving dinner again if I don't make the Thanksgiving stuffing with chorizo. I also made some homemade bread for the stuffing instead of sandwich bread and that probably contributed to the overall yumminess of the dish. I am reposting the recipe below. It went very well with the Jalapeno Bacon Corn, which was zippy but not overly so. Recipe also below. Sorry, no pics.


Everything else I made was the same as in other years, but it was all good and all went very well together. Yum!

Grandma Ruth's Sausage Stuffing (Kicked-up version)

1 med. onion, finely chopped
6 stalks celery, chopped finely
6 T. butter
1/3 pound fresh chorizo (that was two links for me)
10 twigs fresh parsley, chopped fine
dried bread cubes (see note)
¾ T. poultry seasoning
2 t. salt
¼ t. pepper
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups water (or more to make moist stuffing)

Saute onion and celery in butter until slightly cooked but crispy.
Toss parsley, sausage, bread cubes,
poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.
Combine eggs and water.
Lightly toss with bread mixture.
Stuffs a 13 pound turkey.
Or place in a greased casserole dish
and bake at 350 degrees F. for 45 to 60 minutes until completely done
(see thermometer note above).

NOTE: slowly bake 25 bread slices at 300 degrees F.
until dry and lightly browned, turning once. Slice into 1" cubes.

Jalapeno Bacon Corn
6 slices bacon

3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced finely
3 (1#) bags frozen corn
3 T. butter
salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium high heat until crisp.
Remove the bacon from the pan. Add jalapeno peppers and saute until tender.
Add butter to the pan and melt. Add the corn and cook until corn is hot.
Crumble bacon into corn.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

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Mother's Day Postmortem

We survived. The best part of the day (don't tell my kids) was going to Mass alone. We actually all went Saturday afternoon for Doug's nephew's First Holy Communion and since it was the Sunday liturgy we fulfilled our Sunday obligation. On Sunday, however, our beautiful seminarian/deacon was celebrating his last Mass at our parish, and I wanted to give him a little gift. So, I went alone. It was bliss, I tell you.

I digress from the topic at hand -- food. The burgers were just o.k. (actually I didn't eat one, but they looked a little dry and we were apparently out of ketchup unbeknownst to the chief grocery shopper and chef -- don't ask); the Chili Sauce and kosher beef dogs were very good; the corn salad was, as always, awesome; the fruit was good, considering most of it came from other nations a bazillion miles away (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe and red grapes); the salsa was spicy and the chips were salty and crunchy (a blog post on homemade corn chips later); the sangria was divine; and the Tres Leches cake was so-so, although my company all enjoyed it. I apologize that I did not get one picture. I blame the sangria.

I hope your Mother's Day was blissful, or at the very least, not painful.

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Easter Recap

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We had an awesome Easter -- I hope you did, too. We went to brunch at my mom's house and enjoyed a great breakfast casserole with sausage, green pepper and potatoes -- kind of a Western omelet in a casserole. It was yummy. And my own Easter dinner turned out really well, if I do say so myself. I'm glad I didn't let my husband talk me into trying a new recipe -- I was comfortable with everything I made and it tasted great together.

The Scalloped Potatoes (sans ham) were cooked just right and I sprinkled the top with Parmesan cheese for a nice toasty brown top. And the Sweet Potato Souffle dish was completely empty after dinner, so that was obviously a hit. The Roasted Sesame Asparagus was wonderful -- thick, tender, in-season stalks made it perfect. Everyone seemed to enjoy the House Salad which was tasty with the other dishes. I think everything had just the right balance of sweet and salty to go with the ham.

And speaking of the ham, I bought a Giant Eagle brand whole, bone-in, spiral-sliced ham. I followed the heating directions on the package and I had to take the ham out of the oven about 90 minutes before dinner because I was afraid it would be dry. It didn't need near the time the directions allow -- 15 minutes per pound, which would have had me baking my 15.5 pounder almost 4 hours. Two hours would have been more than enough. When I realized it was hot throughout, I took it out of the oven, left the foil cover on and let it sit on top of the hot stove for an hour while the other foods baked. About 30 minutes before dinner, I popped it back in, foil off, basted with pan juices and glazed with a Pineapple Brown Sugar glaze (recipe below). It was a little dry around the edges, but had great flavor and was easy (so easy) to prepare.

My sister-in-law brought an appetizer for dinner that was a huge hit, especially with my hungry boys. She had a big tray of Italian hummus bruschetta (I'll try to get the recipe), peppered salami slices, slices of a salsa cheese (both of which she bought at Giant Eagle), crackers and big purple grapes, along with a plate of deviled eggs. I think after snacking on candy all day, we were all hungry for something salty and spicy, and it hit the spot.

This was a dinner that I will remember because all of the flavors went so well together and everything came together well time-wise, which is often a challenge with big meals.

Pineapple Brown Sugar Glaze

1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 T. orange juice
3 T. cornstarch

In a small saucepan combine pineapple juice, brown sugar and honey. Heat over medium heat. Stir cornstarch into orange juice in a small dish. Add to brown sugar mixture and heat to a boil. Let simmer for a few minutes until sauce thickens. Baste on outside of ham and them bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

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Turkey Postmortem

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Sorry I've been such a poor host lately. My company finally left, and then I got blasted by a head cold. I do, however, have lots of good stuff to post today. These thoughts have been bouncing around in my head since Thanksgiving, so I want to get them down first. I decided I better write them down somewhere, because I know I won't remember them for much longer. Since this is my cooking log, I'm writing them here. Hopefully I'll remember that I wrote them down and go looking next year.

Turkey: awesome upside down. I shall never roast a bird right side up again. The breast was so juicy, and the dark meat got done -- which always seems to take forever. The rosemary butter was delish, also. I shmooshed the butter underneath the back, thigh and leg skin, and then rubbed butter on the outside, so the people who like to pick skin were in hog heaven. It got very brown and crisp since it had butter on both sides. The rosemary flavor was very subtle, but good. Use more rosemary next time.

Sweet potatoes: one and a half times the recipe was just enough for 17 people. Place in two smaller casseroles next time, instead of one big one -- it takes too long to get done in the middle.

Potatoes: Ten pounds was too much. Maybe 8 pounds next year. Put potatoes in crock by 1 p.m. to have hot by 5 p.m.

Plantation Beans: great flavor contrast with the other foods. Definitely do again.

Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cake: everyone enjoyed having a bit of chocolate with their other desserts, but this cake was too big with pumpkin pie and pecan pie on the dessert table. Maybe a bit of chocolate pie next year, or even just some frosted brownies.

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