Get Sauced for Turkey Day

It's Thanksgiving!  That means cooking!  And that means more blog entries!  Yay!!!

Also, I hadn't thought about blogging my dishes for Thanksgiving until a coworker mentioned it today, so lucky for all you out there reading this that he reminded me.  So thanks SZ!

So let's talk Cranberry sauce.  What's a sauce?  According to various sources around the internet, and my dictionary, sauce is defined as a thick liquid served with food.  When someone says sauce, what comes to your mind?  Mine, tomato sauce.  Oh how I love tomato sauce.  I never, ever get it, because my children have decided it's the food of the devil (not really) and won't eat it, ever.  My oldest gags and pretends she's dying even if I ask her to take the tiniest taste, and this includes pizza.

But, back to cranberries.  I couldn't find why it's called Cranberry sauce (in the short span of me writing this) as most cranberry "sauce" recipes are actually a jam, or jelly, or relish.  If I had to categorize today's recipe, I would say mine is a Cranberry Jam just based off it's consistency and ingredients, and the definition in the link I provided.

I never use to like homemade cranberry sauce.  Growing up, our Thanksgiving dinners had both the cranberry jelly out of a can, and my mom would make her own.  No one ever touched her homemade sauce except her.  It had bits and pieces in it, and no one wants to chew their cranberry sauce.  Back then, as a child, it's a texture thing.  So I don't get offended when my kids won't eat the homemade cranberry sauce on our table tomorrow.  We serve them side by side.  At our family Thanksgiving dinners you will find our perfectly popped out, unblemished jelly form from the can, right next to my homemade cranberry jam.  And for the record, my mom's recipe, straight from Joy of Cooking.  My kitchen Bible.  I can't stress enough if you do not have this book, you must buy it. And the older the version, the better.  Here's some history, and here's why the version is important.  I have the 7th edition and love it.  Would really like to get my hands on the 6th.

Ah yes, but cranberries is what we're talking today.  Now, most cranberry sauces are of the same base recipe.  Cranberries, sugar and water.  And when you search on the internet you get a couple variations and additions.  Most people add oranges and orange juice, a few add cinnamon sticks.  Last year, on a whim, I added an extra flavor, that I personally feel, made this cranberry sauce just POP.  I improved on it again this year, adding yet another layer of awesome.   So now, when you place a spoon of this cranberry sauce in your mouth, you get that initial zing of cranberry, and underlying tones of orange, cloves and almonds.  That's right, you read that correctly... cloves and almond.  You ready?  Let's play.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag cranberries
• 1 navel orange
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed juice from an orange
• 2 teaspoons orange zest

 Prep Time:

Clean and sort the berries!

Remove any berries that are squished or turning into shrivels

Remove stems, search carefully, I have missed a few in the past

Get Sauced:
 

^^^My Young K2 sous chef!

Zest the Orange for 2 teaspoons
Juice the orange for 1/2 cup, strain pulp/seeds
Add to 6qt sauce pan

Add 1.5 cups sugar
Add 1/4 cup honey
Add 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Add 1/4 teaspoon almost extract

Add the berries, stir well
Put on Med-High heat and bring to boil

Gellin' Time:
As the sauce boils, the berries will start to pop.  This is fun to do with kids, because they can hear and see the berries pop open.  The sauce goes from a light orange, to pink, to red, to maroon.  The science behind how cranberries have a natural pectin is explained real well in this recipe by Scientific American

Below are the three stages I have found when making cranberry sauce.

1. Once the cranberries start to really pop open the sauce is a deep purple you have more of a "mash."  And that's pretty much what I start doing with it.. I mash the cranberries into the side of the pan.  Crush them up using your spoon. 
2. Then, the sauce will really start to thicken.  And as you're stirring, it won't just slide off the spoon or down the side of the pot.  You'll start to see it leave a trail behind.
3. Then it will start to really clump and become heavy.  It's at this point it's ready.
4. Turn off the heat and move to another area to sit and cool.  And as it cools, you'll start to really begin to gel.

 And when this sauce is complete, you'll have a beautiful deep maroon sauce.  I like to this sauce the day before you want to serve it.  Gives it a real good chance to congeal and bring the flavors together.

Pulled Pork

I made the most amazing pulled pork last night.
 Too bad for you that I failed to get pictures of it.

Crock pot.  Pork Butt.  Various Spices (heavy handed).  Beef broth.
8 hours later, total yummy goodness.
NO SAUCE REQUIRED (shocker right?)

Even my picky eater 7 year old went back for 3rds.  Mom win.

Soup is Easy

I recently signed up for a weight loss challenge at work.  What my actual weight is, is none of your business, but I have to lose 5% in the next 8 weeks.  I had to pony up $20 and all those in the pot who reach the 5% goal get to split the pot.  It's at $460 right now.  I'll take those odds.  Losing weight is not a first for me.  After the birth of my oldest child I joined Weight Watchers (WW) and lost 75lbs on the program in one year and kept it off for 2 years after that until the birth of my second daughter came along.  And I haven't been able to lose the baby fat since.  So I know my limits, I know my pain points and I know what I'm up against.  I can do this.

I dug deep into my memory bank to try and remember how I did it 7 years ago and remember starting in the first month and going WW recipe crazy.  I pulled out all the stops and measured and counted and followed all the rules.  In WW land, today those have all changed.  But one thing I remember that helped me jump start was by making soup.  WW has this soup recipe that's all broth and vegetables and it's REALLY GOOD.  But you think I could find that again?  I remember what was in it so I planned to just wing it.   Although, the grocery store had other plans for me, they didn't have 1/2 the ingredients I needed in the vegetable aisle.  So.  Ok.  I'll change it up and use intuition and play.  And here's what happened.

Ingredients
All amounts are relative to how much soup you want to make!

• Carrot
• Onion (I use vidalia, i like 'em sweet)
• Celery
• Rutabaga/Turnip
• Chicken/Vegetable Stock (low sodium)
• 1-2 cloves Garlic
• 1 Bay Leaf
• Caraway
• Coriander
• Basil
• Salt/Pepper
• Ditalini Pasta (optional)
• Olive Oil

Seriously?  Rutabaga (aka Turnip)?  Yep.  I didn't want to use potato, all that starch.  I recently made boiled dinner which got the flavor of Turnip/Rutabaga in my brain, and I really like that root vegetable.  (See it used with Beef Brisket boiled dinner)  And I started to research it after I bought it.  Granted, you can only trust half of what you read on the Internet, but most of what I found seemed to all corroborate these results.  They are low carb.  And calories in a Rutabega are much less than calories in a Potato.

"Mise en Place" aka Preparation

I heard Chef Anne Burrell use this a lot on Worst Chefs in America on the latest episode and I like it.  Basically, it's "get your stuff ready before you start cooking"

• Carrots - peel, slice down middle lengthwise and chop
• Onion - peel, slice off ends, slice in half, chop into 3rds
• Celery - trim dirty ends, chop
• Rutabaga - peel, slice dice into 1/2" cubes
• Garlic - smashed and finely chopped or pressed in a garlic press

Play

1.  In a large stock pot, drizzle the bottom with olive oil, turn heat to medium, add onions
   
2. Salt and Pepper heavily
3. Keep onions moving and saute until they start to soften and become translucent
4. Add carrots and celery
   
5. Add bay leaf, basil, carraway and coriander
6. Continue to saute until carrots become soft
7. Add garlic and saute long enough for the garlic to soften
8. Add stock, you're going to want at least 4cups, I used 6 as I had more veggies
   
9. Add Rutabaga
   

At this point, you need to decide if you want to add the pasta or not.
And if so, are you going to eat it now, or store it for later?
If you're not going to use pasta, you're done, serve and enjoy!

       10. If you're going to add pasta and eat tonight
             - let stock boil until Rutabaga is almost soft
             - add pasta and serve once pasta is at desire texture.
       11. If you're going to add pasta and eat the soup next day
             - let stock boil until Rutabaga is completely soft
             - add pasta and get soup into your containers.
             - As the pasta sits in the soup as it cools down, it will cook.

And of course, if you find yourself home the next night, alone, after the kids went to bed having had their own dinner, you can always have soup.  With grapes (NOT olives.  Ew)

Kielbasa Risotto

My girls and I watched Ratatouille the other night.  If you have never seen it, stop what you're doing now, buy/rent it and go watch it.  And of course, since it's a movie that involves food, and cooking, it follows suit that I was in the mood to cook.  Add to that someone in my Facebook feed talking about recently having made risotto, and top it with being hungry for kielbasa, then we have a match made in heaven.  The following week, I just had to play.

Up until 1994 I had never had kielbasa a day in my life, let alone even knew what it was.  I grew up on German, and Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine.  This delightful sausage is Polish, and until I met my husband, didn't even know where Poland was on the map.  Not that he's strong in his heritage or anything, but with a last name with 10 letters, one must assume homeland food runs in the family somewhere right?  I mean, I grew up with sauerkraut (YICK).  Well, eventually I learned it's actually a pretty common food in this area, eaten by more than just Polish heritage.  And it's freaking AWESOME!  So of course, I cook with it as much as I can.  And this time around decided to put it into risotto.  I present to you, Kielbasa Risotto.

Ingredients

• Kielbasa, one link, sliced down the middle then diced so you have half moons
• Chives, 3 or 4 stalks.  I prefer to use chive over onion as it's not so strong a flavor
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Cloves, 3 or 4 small ones, smashed and minced
• Aborio Rice, 1 cup
• Chicken Stock, or boullion/water, 6 cups
• Sweet Vermouth, splash

Directions
 

1.  In an 8 cup pot, drizzle olive oil in the bottom and place in chives and garlic.  Saute on med heat until the garlic is brown and chives are softened.  Add to that your kielbasa and cook until browned, continuously stirring so as not to burn the bottom too much.  It's OK if some of it turns brown.  That's called "fond" and it's flavor.  Besides it goes away in this next step.

 2.)  Take meat out, retaining juices and oil in the pan.  Set aside in bowl for later.  Pour the rice into the pot.  Stir briefly then, then splash with the sweet vermouth.  If you HAVE to measure, it was probably 1/4 cup.  Keep stirring until the vermouth is absorbed into the rice.

 3.)  Pour 1 cup of chicken broth in and bring to simmer on low.  You don't ever want this to boil, just a soft simmer.  Continue to stir.  We don't want the water the boil away, we want the rice to absorb it.  Continue to add water at 1/2 to 3/4 cup at a time.  Wait until you have nothing but rice left before adding the next addition of water.  This WILL TAKE FOREVER.  Or approximately 30 minutes, of you standing there stirring rice and adding stock.  But it's SO worth it.  When you have just 1-1/2 c of stock left, dump the kielbasa back into the pot with 1/2 cup of water and continue to stir and let it absorb.

 4.)  With 1/2c of stock left, optional... dump in some frozen peas.  I'm a mom, gotta have that vegetable.  Oh hey, speaking of mom, this is also a ONE POT MEAL!  Score.  Let the last of the stock absorb into the rice and you'll notice that it has taken on a creamy consistency without actually having any cream in it.  Ta-da, you just made risotto.



AND... the kids and husband gobbled it up!

Serve and Enjoy!

Side Note:  This reheats well in the microwave.  Just be sure to re-heat after adding a splash of water for it to steam by.

Almost Like Green Bean Casserole but not...

School is back in session.  Dance classes have started up.  In another month or so, we will add swim class and Girl Scouts.  No mom has time for dinner after all that, let alone DISHES.  So finding something I can whip up in less than 30 minutes, ideally less than 20 minutes with as few dishes as possible is key.  Talk all you want about crock pot meals.  My family (not me) doesn't like them, they're a waste of food for us, they go uneaten... finding one they all love is rare.  So, if I can whip it up in one pot and make it look like it took all day, even better.

This particular meal is by no means gourmet, it's not "unhealthy" or "healthy" but it's grub, it's devoured, quick and less mess.  Once what took me 3 pots, is now 1.  It almost tastes like green bean casserole.  It almost tastes like tuna noodle casserole.  A good chicken substitute just might be tuna... but that could cause 2 pots since you'd want to toss that in LAST after just barely sauteing it.

Ingredients 

• Egg Noodles
• Frozen Green Beans
• Cream of Mushroom Soup (condensed)
• Milk
• Chicken, diced
• Olive Oil
• Salt/Pepper

Directions

• Bring a large (but not massive) pot of water to boil, toss in egg noodles and cook until tender.  Drain, let sit. 

• Return empty pot to stove, pour in ~2T olive oil and toss in your chicken.
• Heavily salt and pepper the chicken.  If you think it's enough, toss in a bit more, remember we're adding more to this pot later.
• Saute the chicken until all sides are browned.

• Toss in the green beans.

 

• Dump in the can of mushroom soup and one can of milk.

 

• Stir and bring to boil, don't let burn.
• Turn heat down and let simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Get your noodles.  Remove pot from heat, and dump in noodles and stir.
• Serve.

Optional components.. if your family really likes mushrooms, you can toss in some diced ones while you're sauteing the chicken.

The recipe isn't rocket science.  It's not that "original" but it gets the job done.  But who knows, maybe you've never seen it before and now I've added time back into your evening.  And with that, I have a crying child to attend to.

One Pot Trickery

I'm on fire tonight!  2 posts.  Wow.  Gotta make up for the last 8 months, so hopefully I can keep up some "steam" and get things "cooking" around here again.    This is by NO means a typical "Jenn Plays" meal, but this is a triumph for me.

I LOVE spaghetti and meatballs.  It's a meal I could devour until it came out my ears.  It just doesn't get any better than homemade sauce, savory meatballs, and al dente pasta smothered in fresh Parmesan cheese.  Growing up in my house, Sunday night was spaghetti night.  Mom would make a giant bowl and we'd dip in.  All you can eat.  Spoons and forks clanking, napkins folded into shirts, the sound of thin spaghetti noodles being slurped up, and honestly, the familiar chatter it brought about between kids and adult. 

--Excerpt from Today:
I've recently learned it was a maternal family thing.  My cousins and I recently reminisced about it, apparently, the tradition held true in their households as well.  That's cool.
--And now back to our story.

Fast forward to marrying my husband and Sunday Spaghetti came to a screeching halt.  He doesn't like "red sauce" dishes.  Almost grounds for divorce right there.  STOP THE TRUCK, BACK UP.  There has to be a way around this.  No way.  I can't go without it.  But I did.  Spaghetti Sunday was lost, an ancient ruin in the memory of comfort foods. I learned to eat it when I could find it.  Make it in small batches when he wasn't home.  Buy... gulp... canned sauce just to get my fix.  Then one day, I learn he like lasagna, and then it's baked ziti.  Oh the joys!  I can have something similar to spaghetti, at least.  It's a glimmer.  Small hope that maybe someday Spaghetti Sundays could be back in my life again.  But alas, these escapades with sauce are still few and far between.

Along comes baby #1.  Maybe I will have a partner in red sauce love.  Maybe I can raise this one as my own.  Perhaps she too, will share my love of this blessed meal.  Alas, no.  She's too smart for me.  She overhears the husband one night complain that I've made one to many baked zitis lately and he doesn't like red sauce. And I hear from the kitchen table... "Mommy, I don't like red sauce!" Nooooooooo... what have you done!? I didn't hear that! It's can't be true, it shan't be true!!!  But it is.  So begins my life with child #1 not liking "red sauce" and even pizza is ordered sans sauce.

Along comes baby #2.  Could it be this time?  I'm not getting my hopes up.  I can't come crashing down like that again.  No, I won't let it.  I introduce it slowly.  Making spaghetti one night as butter/garlic only, I toss a batch of red sauce to the side for me and offer it with no other option to child #2.  And?  No hesitation!  We have a winner!!!  Angels sing, the people rejoice.  I have a friend in red at last!

Being the stubborn mother than I am, do you have ANY idea how frustrating it is to have a 6 year old that doesn't eat pizza with sauce?  Go to a child's birthday party, what's served, pizza.  Sorry kid, too bad.  So my never ending attempt goes on.  "Try it" "Try it"  "Try it"  Which brings me to tonight's post. I'm forever looking for ways to ease child #1 into red sauce.  I KNOW she likes it.  She's just being stubborn.  WHO DOESN'T LIKE RED SAUCE!?  (Oh right, my husband, but I digress.)

So tonight.  Tonight's dish is semi-homemade and done in ONE pot.  That's the best part and reason I'm really blogging.  One pot dishes are the best, easier to clean up, quick meals.  Watch me play.

Ingredients
1 box pasta, pick your favorite shape
1 lb ground beef
Broccoli
1 pkt Knorr's Parma Rosa sauce mix
1 T butter/margarine
1.25c milk
Water

Boil pasta to almost desired tenderness, add broccoli finish boiling, drain, let sit

Return pot to stove and brown beef

Add Milk, Butter, and contents of Knorr packet.

Follow directions to boil for 4 minutes

 Dump pasta/broccoli into pot and stir.

 

So Jenn.  What does this have to do with red sauce and child #1?
Well... Parma Rosa... hello, red sauce!  She ate it.
Gobbled it right up, like it was going out of style and even had seconds!!
Tasted like tomato sauce but lighter in color
Genius.
Score one for mom.

Maybe Spaghetti Sundays aren't too far off in my future to return....

Not Your Average Chicken & Corn Chowder

Every once in a while I get in the mood for soup.  Which is great, because soup is so easy to make, and there are so many different ways to make the same soup, adjusting ingredients to your individual liking or taste at the time.  I don't think I've ever made the same soup twice.  The bad part is, I have yet to figure out how to make soup for 1, with a couple nights' leftovers.  When you make soup, you make for the masses.  One of these days I will have to master how to make soup for 5, and not 25.  See, I'm the only one in the household who will eat soup.  5 year old girls tend to be picky eaters at this phase, 2 year olds don't yet have the ability to manage it on a spoon, and well husbands... the one in my house just doesn't like soup.  And that's OK.  More for me!

Several weeks ago, some time around Valentine's Day, my mother in law throws this really fun party for the adult women of the family.  Much laughter, as you can imagine.  This year, I was unable to attend, but was there to drop my girls off for the afternoon.  Her menu for the party that day included Corn Chowder.  She makes a great corn chowder.  After finishing two and a half bowls of it quickly before we had to leave, I was determined to get it on the menu at my house in the following weeks.  And wouldn't ya know... Sunday night, I made a roast chicken.  How convenient for me, now I can make my own stock.  Score! 

I like chicken in my corn chowder.  Growing up, my dad was a Boy Scout Executive leader, and there was this one troop that had a chicken and corn chowder meal every year.  Raising funds for some project or another.  Well, the gentleman who was in charge of making the chicken and corn chowder had the most amazing recipe.  I have never had another like it.  So I always think back to that, and eventually I will find my recipe falling into that memory.

So, last night was Chicken & Corn chowder.  I didn't even bother with a recipe, I figured I could get it close enough.  I had a general idea of what is supposed to go into it and what it supposed to taste like.  I must say, I was right on.

Chicken Stock

One leftover roast chicken.  Put it in a large pot, fill with water to just 1 inch over the height of the bird, and boil it for about 3 hours.  Not a high boil, but a medium simmer.  You shouldn't have to add too much extra flavoring to this, since your chicken should have already had flavor to it when you roasted it.  We're going to add flavor to this stock later anyhow when we make it soup.  Once the 3 hours are up, you'll want to drain the stock into a collander over another large stock pot or bowl to save for later.  Keeping the bones out, but retaining the stock.

SOUP Time!


Ingredients
4-6 cups chicken stock
Chicken, shredded or cut into small pieces (as much as you like)
4-6 carrots (chopped to 1/2 inch pieces or smaller)
4-6 celery stalks (chopped to 1/2 inch pieces or smaller)
1 medium vadallia onion (chopped to 1/2 inch pieces or smaller)
2 cans sweet corn
1 can creamed corn
1 dozen small (golf ball size) red potatos - can't find the golf ball size, then adjust accordingly - chop in to bite size pieces
1 pint Light Cream
Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper


In the bottom of a stock pot, drizzle the olive oil and heat to med-high heat.  Add your carrots, celery and onion.  This is a classic mirepox, or the holy trinity, of soup. Some people use this in just making the stock only and then dispose of it.  In this case, I like a colorful soup.  If it's not fun to eat, then why eat it?  I decided to leave these in.

Add salt and pepper.  Saute over medium heat until they are soft and the onions become translucent.  Don't rush this part, the longer they sit and marry, the better the flavor.  If you get a touch of burning on the bottom, that is ok, it's not actual burning, it's "fond" which I've talked about in past posts.  You'll scrape this off once you add the stock.

Once the mirepox is soft and translucent, add the corn and creamed corn.  Give them a good stir and let saute for just a moment.  Then add your chicken stock.  So how much?  How thick do you like your chowder and how much soup are you making?  Start by adding 4 cups and go from there.  After you add just 4 cups of stock, add the whole pint of light cream.  Stir everything together.  If you need more stock, adjust accordingly as you add the potatoes and chicken.  Bring the heat to high to boil 1-2 minutes, watching not to burn the milk.  Turn back to low and simmer until potatoes are tender.

Remove from heat, let cool so you don't burn your tongue... enjoy!