Busy Weekend, Part Two
Nov. 6th, 2011 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodsong1We were out of the house by 9:45 to go apple picking. We got there a few minutes early, but that also meant we got the apple orchard all to ourselves for about 20 minutes.
I'm not sure how the weight distribution worked itself out, but we had 19 lbs instead of 27 lbs, yet it felt about the same carrying it. Lone Maple Farm contracts with two other local farms for fresh Thanksgiving turkeys. Having read and adored Ursula's (of Dragonbreath and Kevin & Ursula Eat Cheap fame. Google. I am horrible with links) monster turkey report, I decided to give it a go. One quick phone call to Louuuuuu for weight size and $59 later, I have a 20 pounder reserved for the day before so I can work my brining magic.
Yes, this turkey was $2.99/lb, but it's local, free range and I am willing to spend the extra money accordingly. Louuuuu volunteered to chip in, so I expect to get some of that back. I will also take a free turkey if I get the points for Weis and that way I will have LOTS of turkey meat. This pleases me.
After a grocery run, we came home and I started cooking. So! Here's another addition of...
I cooked my little heart out today. I made another batch of applesauce, an apple pie, Acorn Squash Soup and Meatloaf Muffins. I will discuss the soup and the muffins.
One of my biggest problems with soups and sauces is forgetting to start with a proper base, be it a roux or that trifecta whose French name escapes me and I'm too tired to look up; carrots, celery and onion.
Today I took the precaution of looking up a squash soup recipe on my Epicurious app. I heart that app. I found an easy one that used uncooked pumpkin and a Dutch oven. I had baked acorn squash and a 3 quart pot.
Having looked up the recipe AFTER I got home from grocery shopping, substitutions were in order. No celery, but two parsnips. No stock and no bouillon, but applesauce.
Well, why not?
So I sauteed the parsnips, baby carrots and dried minced onion (chopped as needed) in butter, then peeled the acorn squash, added that, nearly equal parts applesauce and water, salt, pepper, ginger and cinnamon and let it simmer. I forgot to add the heavy cream, but I did top it with a spoonful of sour cream when I fixed myself a bowl. I didn't puree either. The texture doesn't bother me and it ended up tasting pretty good, with a bit of a spice burn at the back. It's missing an umamme (sp? *shrug*) element, but I'm not sure what else to add. I'll let it mingle overnight in the fridge and see how it tastes tomorrow night.
Meatloaf Muffins are incredibly easy. Take your favorite meatloaf recipe and make individual servings in a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan. Tonight it was hamburger, oatmeal, an egg and some salt and pepper, squished together. The kids are gobbling them down, because like all children it seems, they prefer bland food.
I do have one thing I want to say about my apple pie. I used a frozen pie shell, so I didn't have a top crust. I was thinking about letting it be open faced, then I remembered the KUEC episode where Ursula looked at Kevin with puppy eyes and said "Can you make peach cobbler?" and he looked at her condescendingly and said "See if we have Bisquick." Now, I don't keep Bisquick, but a crumble topping works on cobbler too, and a crumble isn't more then sugar, butter and maybe something else like oats, right?
1/2 stick of butter, roughly a 3/4 cup of brown sugar and about 1/2 cup of oatmeal, squished together in my fingers and sprinkled on top of the apples and voila!
I baked it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. It was golden brown and delicious looking when I took it out. I will find out how it really tastes shortly.
What to Eat? Queenie's attempts to cook like her dearly departed husband. There are no guarantees.
Aside from not holding together properly, the pie is DELICIOUS!!! SCORE!!!
The kitchen isn't clean, but there was another load of dishes done. I also got my laundry done and I even got a nap. I am satisfied.
I'm not sure how the weight distribution worked itself out, but we had 19 lbs instead of 27 lbs, yet it felt about the same carrying it. Lone Maple Farm contracts with two other local farms for fresh Thanksgiving turkeys. Having read and adored Ursula's (of Dragonbreath and Kevin & Ursula Eat Cheap fame. Google. I am horrible with links) monster turkey report, I decided to give it a go. One quick phone call to Louuuuuu for weight size and $59 later, I have a 20 pounder reserved for the day before so I can work my brining magic.
Yes, this turkey was $2.99/lb, but it's local, free range and I am willing to spend the extra money accordingly. Louuuuu volunteered to chip in, so I expect to get some of that back. I will also take a free turkey if I get the points for Weis and that way I will have LOTS of turkey meat. This pleases me.
After a grocery run, we came home and I started cooking. So! Here's another addition of...
I cooked my little heart out today. I made another batch of applesauce, an apple pie, Acorn Squash Soup and Meatloaf Muffins. I will discuss the soup and the muffins.
One of my biggest problems with soups and sauces is forgetting to start with a proper base, be it a roux or that trifecta whose French name escapes me and I'm too tired to look up; carrots, celery and onion.
Today I took the precaution of looking up a squash soup recipe on my Epicurious app. I heart that app. I found an easy one that used uncooked pumpkin and a Dutch oven. I had baked acorn squash and a 3 quart pot.
Having looked up the recipe AFTER I got home from grocery shopping, substitutions were in order. No celery, but two parsnips. No stock and no bouillon, but applesauce.
Well, why not?
So I sauteed the parsnips, baby carrots and dried minced onion (chopped as needed) in butter, then peeled the acorn squash, added that, nearly equal parts applesauce and water, salt, pepper, ginger and cinnamon and let it simmer. I forgot to add the heavy cream, but I did top it with a spoonful of sour cream when I fixed myself a bowl. I didn't puree either. The texture doesn't bother me and it ended up tasting pretty good, with a bit of a spice burn at the back. It's missing an umamme (sp? *shrug*) element, but I'm not sure what else to add. I'll let it mingle overnight in the fridge and see how it tastes tomorrow night.
Meatloaf Muffins are incredibly easy. Take your favorite meatloaf recipe and make individual servings in a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan. Tonight it was hamburger, oatmeal, an egg and some salt and pepper, squished together. The kids are gobbling them down, because like all children it seems, they prefer bland food.
I do have one thing I want to say about my apple pie. I used a frozen pie shell, so I didn't have a top crust. I was thinking about letting it be open faced, then I remembered the KUEC episode where Ursula looked at Kevin with puppy eyes and said "Can you make peach cobbler?" and he looked at her condescendingly and said "See if we have Bisquick." Now, I don't keep Bisquick, but a crumble topping works on cobbler too, and a crumble isn't more then sugar, butter and maybe something else like oats, right?
1/2 stick of butter, roughly a 3/4 cup of brown sugar and about 1/2 cup of oatmeal, squished together in my fingers and sprinkled on top of the apples and voila!
I baked it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. It was golden brown and delicious looking when I took it out. I will find out how it really tastes shortly.
What to Eat? Queenie's attempts to cook like her dearly departed husband. There are no guarantees.
Aside from not holding together properly, the pie is DELICIOUS!!! SCORE!!!
The kitchen isn't clean, but there was another load of dishes done. I also got my laundry done and I even got a nap. I am satisfied.
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Date: 2011-11-08 10:22 pm (UTC)For the umami notes in the soup, you could try a dash of soy sauce (high in glutamates responsible for umami). Or mashed anchovies cooked into the soup when it's hot. Or a tablespoon of anchovy paste (they sell tubes of it).
Pies do not have to hold together, in my book, they just have to taste good, so EPIC WIN for you.
And as far as real cooking goes, anyone can follow a recipe. Cooking from the heart involves using what you've got on hand and tweaking things to try something new. I have dozens of cookbooks and thousands of recipes, but I almost never follow them. Which does make it rough when someone asks me for a recipe, but...
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Date: 2011-11-09 01:50 am (UTC)