Category Archives: Sides

Easter Guinea Pigs

No, not actual guinea pigs for Easter dinner, how horrific! We were just pig sittin’ (and yes, when you are pig sittin’, you don’t use the second g). But I’m talking about the humans who tested my practice Easter dishes. Though the thought did scare the April Fool’s Day donuts!

So for one of the practice Easters, I made up my own ham glaze with 1 10 ounce jar peach preserves and 1 tablespoon each brown sugar and dijon mustard. Now this was a tiny spiral ham for only 5 people and it still took approximately a jillion hours to get to the safe internal temperature. The glaze was great, but I think I’m gonna start the Easter ham this Thursday.

I might have accidentally bought this bunny with a light up egg. Ok, two. But, you’ll see come actual Easter, there is….a theme! (name that movie).

I made Cooking Light’s Artichoke and Spinach STUFFING. Yes, that’s right, stuffing. Because any reasonable 10 year old would know that if this were called a strata, it would be disgusting. And heaven forbid if one called it bread pudding, then it would be straight-up G-ROSS. But when it is a stuffing, well then, we’re in familiar territory. And it was delightful.

The only thing I did differently was used a mix of Gruyere and Fontina cheeses because that’s what I had handy. And I used canned artichokes hearts and just chopped them up a little, which I would definitely suggest.

Ok, let’s talk about this amazing simple Asparagus and Arugula Salad, also from Cooking Light. Just greens (I used Spring mix), asparagus and hard boiled egg.

I grated one egg over the salad, tossed, and then grated another one. Also added 1/2 teaspoon mustard to the dressing. Don’t be tempted to add more to the dressing, I had thought about dill but then was very glad I didn’t add it. It is luscious as is.

Kevin doesn’t like asparagus so he picked it out, but still liked the salad. I guess I could make it with other green vegetables instead like peas (Kevin – Nope), pea pods (Kevin – Nope), broccoli (Kevin – Nope). But why mess with a classic?

Does anyone want a cocktail? Will be making the Porch Punch from Imbibe Magazine though I cut the proportions down significantly from the 21 cups of tea and 2 bottles of bourbon! How many people does Imbibe Magazine’s porch hold?

Porch Punch

WHAT YOU NEED
5 cups boiling water
3 Earl Grey tea bags
1 mint tea bag
1 cup sugar
.25 ounces orange bitters
.125 ounces orange blossom water
juice of one lime
lemon and lime slices

WHAT YOU DO
Put the sugar and tea bags in the boiling water and stir to dissolve sugar. Steep the tea about 7 minutes then strain into a pitcher and cool. When cool, add the bitters, orange water and lime juice. Refrigerate until ready. Serve with lemon and lime slices over ice. If you had fresh mint, that would be a lovely garnish, but don’t go out and get it just for this.

When buying the boys Easter shirts at TJ Maxx I might have also accidentally purchased these rose gold sandals.

Dry Rub Dry Run

They say practice makes perfect. I don’t know about that, but people do seem to enjoy the practice efforts.
The Kiddie Cocktails do make it go down a little easier, if ya know what I’m sayin’

First up, the turkey. I made this Cranberry Dry Rub from Foodie with Family. The only snafu was I could not find freeze dried cranberries anywhere. So I had to oven-dry Craisins as I mentioned in a prior post. Nonetheless, I used Foodie with Family’s Turkey recipe, replacing sweet potatoes with regular and used butter instead of olive oil. Turned out great.

The potatoes underneath were just so-so. But not to fear, made Smitten Kitchen’s Sweet Potato Roast. Even people who don’t like sweet potatoes liked these.

Made Pioneer Woman’s Beautiful Brussel Sprouts. Sorry PW, it’s not you, it’s me. Just not a huge sprout fan.

And now this.

Hey, it is practice after all. I might add, this was the only dish completely polished off.

We finished with Smitten Kitchen’s Pear, Cranberry and Gingersnap Crumble with vanilla ice cream. It was delicious.

I found some gluten free gingersnaps yesterday at Whole Foods. Might try this again for McNamara Christmas. Which is what I’m practicing for today!

That’s right, I have 6 events in 45 days here. So there’s a lot of list-making and practicing coming up. For now, I think I’ll practice with some sangria.

And leave you with this, from our event last night at the Museum of Science and Industry. I hope science can fix whatever is wrong with Guitar Boy’s neck.

Have a great week and a safe and warm Thanksgiving everyone.

Turns Out They Don’t Make Candles That Say 103

So my grandmother turned 103 this month. Passed her drivers test. Still lives in her condo. Still likes to go to parties. Still needs help with the iPad. Still better dressed than me.

So we had a 103rd birthday party. Which required (yes, required) commemorative menu cards.

Made easier with the Avery template design tool. I also used it to make the cake topper signs.

So, let’s get this party started with a cocktail. An Orange Crush Cocktail from Kitchen Konfidence to be precise.

In an official Pittsburgh Pirates Old Fashioned glass. It’s the right thing to do.

The only thing I changed was to double the orange juice and add sliced oranges. I used the suggested Olmeca Altos Tequila and though I’m not usually down with the brown liquor, it was very good. Those with more discriminating palates than mine thought it was good neat as well.

As you can read from the menu card, we had roasted beef tenderloin which I discuss in this post. Though I didn’t use the garlic, just rubbed with olive oil and cracked pepper before putting it in the oven and made a herb sauce. We also had Waldorf Salad Cups where I used the recipe for the salad, but then used whole butter lettuce leaves and spooned some salad onto each leaf. People were hungry so we ravaged and thus, I forgot to take a picture. Oh, well, just imagine it looked delicious.

Made this Jeweled Tabbouleh side salad.

Jeweled Grain Tabbouleh
Adapted just barely from A View From Great Island

WHAT YOU NEED
4 cups cooked grains. I’ve used quinoa (keeps the dish gluten free) and freekeh (the picture is freekeh). The original recipe called for 2 cups each cracked wheat and wheat berries.
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 large bunch minced fresh parsley, stems removed
1 small bunch of fresh mint leaves, finely chopped (I used half of one of those grocery store plastic containers)
1/2 English cucumber, finely diced
1/2 medium red onion, finely diced
1/2 cup raw pistachios, rough chopped
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely diced
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup Craisins or dried cherries

WHAT YOU DO
Mix the dressing by shaking the olive oil, lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste in a jar. Pour it over the grains and toss to combine. Mix in the the minced parsley, mint, cucumber, and red onion. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. Mix in the nuts and fruit just before serving.

And cake from Kirschbaums, because that’s how we roll in the Wes’ Subs.

A little help from some of the great grandchildren.

Baby D recommends the frosting as a side dish. And a way to power through no-nap all the way until 9 p.m.

But the true frosting on the cake was GG’s grandchildren and great grandchildren teaching her to use Snapchat. This is her skeptical reaction to seeing this essential piece of technology:

But then she got more comfortable breathing fire.

But perhaps most disturbing was the face swap with P.

But, in the end, everyone was satisfied.

Very satisfied.

Have a great week everyone.

The I’ll Do it Someday Someday is Now!

Sure, some people might have days off between jobs and go away for a weekend. A spa day perhaps? Maybe just lounge about on the porch and read some of those eleven books stacked up on one’s nightstand? Sure, one COULD do that. Or, presented with 10 days of no kids at home and a husband who can reach things in high places, one COULD also embark on the biggest organizing and cleaning spree since one moved in here eight years ago. And it was done. So say we all. #Nerdfoiles.

First up, the most significant change was Drummer Boy’s room losing its nursery motif. Because he’s 9. Yep, 9. I never said I moved with lightning speed.

And changing colors

To a sports/Minecraft/Art theme more suited to a boy of his maturity.

Next up, our closet. Before:

After

Yes, I know the tag is still on it. I’m gonna wear it this fall, I swear.

But oh, it gets worse. Don’t worry, we’re getting there. Laundry room before:

After

Oh dear, now we go down to THE BASEMENT. Actually, it’s been more cluttered. We recently unloaded the baby toys (like play kitchens, small vehicles) so there are lot less large items. I remember buying this house thinking, “Now we have a finished basement, so all the toys will be down there and I won’t have to stare at a mess all day”. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, woo, woo, oh. Whew!

Anyway, the basement before:

And after

Behind the bar, before

Behind the bar, after. Why yes, we do need more can koozies. Thank you for asking.

And finally, the utility room. Now, by way of background for those that are new here, at the old house we had a scary, spider-filled, space between the stairs where someone could easily grab you type of basement. Thus, whenever I would accidentally go to Homegoods, I would purchase a festive red platter, enjoy it, and then send that festive red platter down to said basement. Then the next time I accidentally went to Homegoods, I’d think “Hey, I don’t have a red platter” because, you know, object permanence issues. And down to the scary Hell-mouth basement that one would go too. Tablecloths would suffer the same fate. Resulting, as some might say, in an excess of housewares. Now, however, there is no excuse as our basement is lovely. No excuse for THIS!

Or this tablecloth tower of doooooom:

But, finally all is in order. With napkins in drawers labeled by season, kitchen and hand towels bagged by holiday:

Tablecloths loaded into a dresser by size of the table:

Often used items put within handy reach:

And platters and assorted dishes organized by color. As any normal person does. Right? Normal people do that, right?!!

Note the number of red dishes. It was a real problem.

Along the way a number of drawers were organized (nightstand, desk), supplies were created for the holiday gift I’m going to give the neighbors (SUSPENSE – it’s only September!) and Halloween Block Party planning/organizing has begun.

But for those who only come here for the food and not the OCD ramblings of a hoarder, what were some of the food highlights I made after seven days of seven straight hours of straight up straightening up?

Made this Shrimp with Spicy Garlic Sauce from Can You Stay for Dinner. Didn’t have green beans so I used broccoli. Also, only used half the chili garlic sauce and it was plenty spicy for me. Did I take a picture – no, because I was too tired from all the before and aftering.

Also grilled up some very simple chicken legs. This is a very simple, fast way to grill chicken legs with lots of flavor.

And, the never fail Ina Garten’s Baked Potato Wedges

The leftovers of which became Two Peas and Their Pod’s Loaded Baked Potato Frittata (fri-ta-ta – that’s a fun word to say) for dinner the following night.

And for dessert during my unemployment period?

Kentucky Butter Cake cookies from Cookies and Cups.

Oh, I may have also watched two entire seasons of Orphan Black at City Cousin’s insistence. Which means I also didn’t sleep very much on certain evenings.

So, ultimately, over the last two weeks we donated/gave away/boxed up for Mom’s garage sale:

13 Hefty bags total of clothing and shoes
4 bags of toys
3 boxes of books
3 boxes of ancient financial records shredded
3 boxes of housewares

Buuuuuuut, nonetheless, I accidentally went to Homegoods because I had something to return (it happens!), and may have bought a new fall pillow and blanket.

Which Skunk the Cat is totally fine with.

Now go get your weekend on. I know I will as I have to go to the new job on Monday. There may be pumpkin bread involved. Just sayin’

Happy Fall y’all.

Enjoy It While It Lasts

That time of summer break between sports ending and sports and school starting. Two weeks of nothing but easy day camps, shopping for school supplies and hanging out at the pool. Wish that it could never end.

Didn’t do much in the way of cooking. Made some Greek chicken kabobs with Tzatziki Sauce and saffron rice.

Chicken Kabobs with Tzatziki Sauce

WHAT YOU NEED
For Chicken
2 cups plain greek yogurt (not non-fat)
1 1/2 TBSP chopped garlic
Zest of 1 large lemon
Juice of said large lemon
2 tsp of chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 – 1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces
1 red onion, cut into medium wedges
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

8 skewers

WHAT YOU DO
Place first 7 ingredients in a glass dish or bowl and whisk to combine. Add chicken and cover and refrigerate for 4 hours to overnight. If using wood skewers, soak the skewers in water for 30 minutes before you are ready to cook. To grill, heat grill to medium heat. Thread the chicken and red onion on skewers, alternating between chicken and onion. Grill until chicken is 165 degrees, taking care to move to lower heat if burning. About 15 minutes total.

For the Tzatziki Sauce
I basically used Ina Garten’s recipe for the Tzatziki Sauce. However, while Ina awaits Jeffery’s arrival from the city with a fresh bouquet of hydrangeas, she has time to drain her yogurt and shredded cucumbers for hours. She is not taking her children to the latest movie cast by her dear friend Barbara McCarthy. No, not The Stanford Prison Experiment!! But Pixels. And if we’re going to see a movie about deadly video games, we’re going to do it in style where we can recline and be served ice-cold Fanta.

Needless to say, this left me without the requisite amount of yogurt and cucumber draining time. We did not suffer.

Saffron Rice

WHAT YOU NEED
2 pinches of saffron, crumbled or crushed with back of spoon in small dish
1 cup basmati rice
1 TBSP dried minced onion
2 cups low or no-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp kosher salt

WHAT YOU DO
Bring all ingredients to boil in a pot. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is fluffy.

I also had leftover red wine from Friday’s pizza night. So I made sangria with this cute pitcher I got when we accidentally went to Ikea after the movie.

However, the photo shoot of said sangria did not go well as I had a lot of help by someone with a bad sense of white space balance and shadows.

So we’ll make it again another time and share. But suffice to say, there is nothing LaCroix Cran-Raspberry water cannot do!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Saturday Night’s All Right for Baking

Fake Sister is having the third birthday celebration of turning 12 tonight (MTV Birthday Weekend!!!!) so the block has been overcome with tweens playing outside. They’re playing Infection, which we used to call Ghost in the Graveyard. Stupid zombies changing everything.

We’re hiding inside. So what did we do with this free time?

Continue reading →

Warm Food for Cold Days

Earlier in the week, when it was still big-coat cold, I made this soup, inspired by How Sweet It Is’ Potato and Roasted Garlic Soup,

But I changed quite a few things.

WHAT YOU NEED
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced  (or, if your onion is ginormous, use ½)
3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
5 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 bulbs roasted garlic
¼ cup whole milk
2 TBSP plain Greek yogurt
¾ tsp salt
¼ tsp fresh ground pepper

WHAT YOU DO
Then I followed her directions, but used an immersion blender to blend in pot. Served with Turkey sandwiches on Artichoke Bread from The Merry Thought. The bread was done as a test for an appetizer at the Super Bowl but wow, it is amazing as a sandwich. Continue reading →

A Time to Give Thanks

As far as my young children are concerned, Thanksgiving is just a small step between Halloween and Christmas. A step where people eat “gross” food (except for canned, jellied cranberry sauce – that apparently is acceptable). So we were trying to make it more meaningful last week and in talking about what we are thankful for, the main thing the boys agreed we are thankful for is:

Skunk, our cat. Sure, we love our family and friends. Happiness and health – good things as well, both boys agreed. But survey says what we are most grateful for is our cat. That, and Xbox.

Since we cannot show our appreciation and thanks to the folks at the Microsoft corporation, we instead agreed with the boys that if we are thankful for Skunk, we should show our thanks during this season by donating to the shelter that saved him. So the boys gathered up their tooth fairy and the occasional chore money and we took it over to the shelter (Mom and Dad augmented the donation).

The shelter couldn’t have been more gracious. Getting out of there without another kitten may qualify as a Thanksgiving miracle.

But enough about giving thanks for the things we should, let’s talk about giving thanks for the little things that make Thanksgiving easier or more fun. After all, this blog is about tabletops and recipes, written at night by someone who works 12 hour days sitting behind a desk and really isn’t physically fit or mentally competent to be offering any kind of life advice. If you want to read some truly uplifting and spiritual discussions about how to live your life, I suggest you try my sister-in-law’s blog at Everyday Faith.

But as for me, on with the material possessions!

Serving Platter/Carving Board

This carving board from Cost Plus World Market:

Isn’t it pretty? I most often use it as a cheese board but this year will use it for the turkey. And right now it’s $29.99 and, if you still have the Sunday Chicago Tribune around from 2 weeks ago, there’s a coupon in there for 10% off. THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE. It’s a newspaper. Yes, on paper. Yes, we still get one.

Wishbones

Given that I have two boys who feel bad about eating animals (but won’t eat beans, kale, spinach, cheese or any other protein or iron based food – so chicken nuggets it is!), I’m not sure how they’d feel about breaking a turkey’s furcula (look it up!). But hey, tradition, so I had them make a bunch of these fun clay wishbones from Oh Happy Day. Added bonus, everyone who comes for Thanksgiving can make a wish.

By the way, I told Guitar Boy and Drummer Boy that I think Turkey’s Furcula should be the name of their band someday “THANK YOU CHICAGO – WE ARE TURKEY’S FURCULA – GOODNIGHT!!!” They did not agree.

Salted Butter on Little Plates

I read this story at TheKitchn about salting butter. Now I don’t usually use butter on bread, but Faith Durand’s story about how this simple act – slicing butter and sprinkling smoked salt on it – would transform people’s opinion on bread and butter moved me to action. And I can tell you, it totally works, everyone comments on it. You know, because we need to find a way for Americans to eat more bread and butter. I’m a patriot really.

I use this smoked salt from Williams and Sonoma.

And I serve on little plates. Such as these. From TJ Maxx/HomeGoods. I know.

Chocolate turkeys:

Because I can. WorldMarket, Dylan’s Candy Bar and Godiva all have some.

Turkey – to heck with tradition

After seeing 3 or so articles from chefs about how we are all suckers for cooking a turkey whole, where the breast is done and dry way before the dark meat was fully cooked, I decided to try the turkey in parts. You show everyone the turkey for like 1 minute and then take it back to the kitchen for slicing, so why all the hype about a whole turkey? *shaking fist at Norman Rockwell in heaven*

The practice turkey from House Beautiful turned out well. The whole turkey, white and dark done to perfection, in 1 ½ hours.

However, we thought it needed a little something-something. So Thanksgiving turkey will be some combination of these two recipes from Epicurious: Deconstructed Holiday Turkey with Sage Gravy or Citrus Sage Roast Turkey Breast.

I’ve made the latter turkey breast before in testing out the stuffing recipe (see below), but kind of think brining could help. I’ve also pre-made the gravy (wha?!) because TheKitchn told me I could. We’ll do a gravy taste-test on Thanksgiving to see if TheKItchn was right. Mmmmmmh, gravy taste-test.

I’ll let you know how everything turns out afterwards – in between cleaning up Thanksgiving and putting up Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Halloween Redux

Here are various pictures of the crew:

at Alvin’s costume birthday party:

carving pumpkins:

and actual Halloween.

Check out the detail on Fake Sister’s home made by Dad Up costume. Amazing.

New decorating idea – cheap snakes from Target dollar section stuck in my flowers.

Green pepper ghouls:

Oranges for the kids – everyone knows that kids DEMAND healthy snacks when they return from trick-or-treating in the Illinois Halloween snow. Yep, snow.

And, best drink from Halloween Pizza Night:

Vampire Blood Margaritas (aka Pomegranate Lime Margaritas from Howsweeteats)

As I had to make 2 pitchers of them, after juicing 12 limes I decided that bottled lime juice is no longer as fake tasting as I tend to think it is. And it tasted fine mixed with the fresh in the drink.

Dipped top of pitcher in corn syrup mixed with red food coloring and let it drip down the outside for spooky effect. But forgot to take a picture, because, well, 2 pitchers of pomegranate margaritas might explain why.

NEW MONTH

But, now that it’s November and Halloween is behind us (other than the 12 hours of putting away all the Halloween décor), I made a mini Thanksgiving. I was inspired to do so when I saw pumpkin/cornbread croutons at Trader Joe’s. Then I found this recipe for Pumpkin Cornbread Stuffing at The View from Great Island.

Use 2 boxes of TJ’s pumpkin cornbread croutons. 3 out of 5 Wileys surveyed recommend this stuffing. But quick, it’s a seasonal item so HOARD NOW. Among other things, I combined it with the Citrus Sage Roast Turkey Breast from Epicurious.

I’ll be back when Christmas season approaches.

Don’t forget to set your clocks back!

Happy Daylight Savings Time everyone!

Lucky Rhino

For the recipes and pictures I promised to send, but never do.