She finally succumbed.

( What? To Eat! New Chicken Parm )

As we were finishing dinner I mentioned how much I enjoyed doing this, serving the family a healthy (ish) sensible meal that tasted good. SLB informed me that my dinner was on par with what his mother or grandmother might make.

0_0

Anyone who knows an Italian family knows what high praise that is. I will be tempted to make it when we have his mother over for dinner sometime.

Why, yes I DO have another episode of What's To Eat?! Today, it's soup!

So after the New Year's party we were left with about three pounds of broccoli, cauliflower and baby carrots. Not wanting all these good veggies to go to waste, and it being winter and all, I elected to attempt Cream of Broccoli soup!

As I cannot stand onions raw or cooking, I substituted scallions. We had stock in the freezer, so I elected to use that instead of bouillon and for the most part stick with that Paragon of Recipes, Joy of Cooking.

I started about 4 pm, chopping up celery and scallions and cooking those slowly in butter. Feeling a little adventurous, I chopped up about a pound or so of broccoli AND cauliflower and added that after the celery was tender. That took a lot longer then expected, almost 45 minutes, but I was glad I stuck it out. After the veggies had cooked a little more, I added 1/4 c. flour and got the defrosted stock out of the sink.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered instead of beef stock, I was holding a bag of squash puree!

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," I said, or something to that effect, and dumped the puree into the soup pot. I also added two cups of beef bouillon just to be on the safe side. I brought the whole mass to a boil and then turned the heat down to simmer and let it bubble away to itself for thirty minutes, stirring every ten.

Once that was done, I broke out my trusty multi-use blender and pureed the whole kit & kaboodle in two batches. The puree went back into the pot and I added the last of my cream, roughly 1/2 cup, and some salt and pepper. Let the whole thing get piping hot and tasted.

Not too bad. It's very faintly sweet, thanks to the squash (I'm guessing it was butternut) and the texture isn't as creamy as I would like, (probably the blender's fault. It's not the best blender.) but it made a very pleasant dinner, especially when I added a dollop of sour cream and a chunk of sourdough bread around 6 pm.

It would also be excellent with a sharp cheese.

What's To Eat?! My attempts to cook like Wolf. There are no guarantees.

Everyone LOVED the pies and the berry mix worked wonderfully with the chardonnay.

Go Queenie, you're a kitchen witch!

We 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...

( What to Eat )
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.