Happy Thanksgiving, poor little neglected blog!  I’m sorry you didn’t get to eat delicious smoked turkey and all the other tasty things that we (my in-laws and I) made today.  Not that blogs really eat much in the way of normal food, or anything…

My in-laws are farmers.  Or rather, my father in law is a farmer, and my mother in law runs their house and does all the bookkeeping for his business.  His job is muddier, but both are pretty important in their day to day life.   Thanksgiving here is a really special kind of thing, since their lives are very dependent on factors outside their control (sometimes as variable as whether the guy at the produce shed feels like being a jerk today.  Or whether it will rain here in the Rio Grande Valley).

One of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do this trip, aside from pouring over my mother in laws embroidery sewing machine and assorted fun project magazines, has been a trip out to the farm itself (their home is some distance away, since the land that he farms is her family’s historically).  I got to see fenugreek, italian parsley, curly parsley, cilantro, dill, and tomatoes.  South Texas’ climate allows for there to be produce in the ground all year long - and winter is one of the best times for greens.  Some of the tomatoes have just turned as well.

So I’m returning back home on Saturday with an armful of fresh cut dill, another armful of fresh Italian parsley, and approximately 10 lbs of tomatoes that were ripe enough to nearly fall off the vines when we picked them today.  The dill I will most likely dry (at least what we don’t eat by early next week), the parsley I’ll hopefully use up.  I’m not sure yet what to do with the tomatoes, other than slice them open and eat them with a little salt, because they really are that good.  Maybe I’ll bust out some old quart mason jars and can them for tasty noms this winter.

All in all though, a very good sort of day, busy for the right reasons, and not at all busy this evening.  I hope all of you had a similarly good turkey day (er… so long as you’re not turkeys - there are no turkeys on the internet right?) and a good weekend as well.

Tomorrow is the beginning of … well … crazy.  Fall is my favorite time of year, and this coming month is the ending of that and the beginning of winter, at least in places that are not full of palm trees.  There are some aspects of the coming season that I do truly love - and some that make me want to do my own dental surgery with rusty pliers.

But that’s a post for another day, so for now, enjoy lots of turkey leftovers, and don’t bug Uncle Ernie too badly for snoring at the football game.

My inlaws are arriving this afternoon and will be leaving Monday morning.  This means I need menu plans!  By my count, with one dinner out for husband’s birthday, I need 2 dinners (pick 2 from fri/sat/sun), 2 lunches (sat/sun), and three breakfasts (sat/sun/mon) planned.  And probably one dessert - my MIL is bringing a carrot cake with her.

For dessert, I’ll be making these apple dumplings.  They do not masquerade as health food.  They look a little strange.  But oh dear lord are they amazing.

Breakfasts:

• Cereal, Yogurt with fruit and granola
• Banana Bread
• Leftover apple dumplings

Lunches:

• Muffuletta (made with 1lb Italian bread loaf - serves at least 5)
• Spinach salad
• Sides: Corn and Black Bean salsa w/ Tortilla Chips; Cauliflower salad

Dinners:

• Flank Steak (woot!  sale!) and roasted potatoes
• Mustard Dill Salmon and wild rice
• Sides:  Roasted Asparagus with Balsalmic Vinegar; Fresh steamed green beans.

Normally things like fish and steak would be… uhh… budget busters.  But I live right near the incoming fish/shrimp boats offload point, so I can get seafood for amazingly cheap!

If anyone wants recipes for any of these, let me know!  Many of them are Anna’s Mama or Anna’s Nana’s recipes

This is based loosely around Annie’s Chicken and Spinach Lasagna.

You will need:

1 large can of chicken breast meat, drained well
1 can of sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 large can Hunt’s Traditional Spaghetti Sauce (the big one)
12 oz cottage cheese - I used low-fat
1 egg
6-8 Lasagna noodles - use the “cooks in the pan” kind, not the “boil first” kind
1 cup shredded mozarella cheese, divided in half

Italian Seasonings (Parsley, Basil, Oregano)
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

1 2-quart ceramic casserole dish (I love my Pyrex)
Large skillet of some kind

Heat the skillet over medium high heat with 1 TBSP olive oil.  Saute onions for a minute or two until they start to turn clear.  Add chicken and cook for another minute, until starting to brown.  Add garlic and mushrooms, cook for another minute (DO NOT LET THE GARLIC BURN).  Add 2/3-3/4 of the can of tomato sauce, put the rest in a container and freeze for individual spaghetti serving some other day.  Heat until just boiling, and then add in herbs.  I used about 1 TBSP each fresh parsley and basil, and about 1 tsp fresh oregano.

In a bowl, mix cottage cheese, egg, and half cup of mozarella thoroughly.

Now for the fun part!  In your casserole dish, place a good ladleful of the sauce to coat the bottom of hte dish (this keeps your noodles from becoming cement on the bottom of your casserole dish).  Then a layer of noodles (two for each layer was all I needed).  Then 1/3 of the cottage cheese mixture, spread out.  Then 1/3 of the sauce.

Repeat twice, until you have on top a final layer of sauce.  Sprinkle with the other 1/2 cup of mozarella cheese.

Bake covered at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes (until bubbly on the edges) and then uncovered for another 10 minutes to brown the cheese.

I’ve not made it yet, but this stuff sounds *amazing*.  The ingredients are a little on the posh side (I don’t have a Kafir lime leaf >.>) but easy enough to substitute.  Yum yum.

Blackberry Limeade Recipe

I love fruit. Summertime is *not* my favorite season, but I can’t get past all the delicious, sweet fresh fruits that I can get right now. So when I heard a tip that our local Wal Mart (where I do not usually shop) had some really gorgeous fresh fruit (which is unusual), I figured why not - we needed bread and milk anyway.

The tip paid off, and I scored some really gorgeous looking strawberries, nectarines, and plums very inexpensively. Hooray! I also got bread and milk, and some chickpeas to make hummous. (Hummous is of the devil, just so you know.)

But as I went through the bakery to get my bread… I saw it.

The memory of my morning’s eating ran through my mind (1 glass of iced tea. oops). And the sandwich called to me.

Chicken salad on a fresh croissant, with red leaf lettuce and tomato. The timestamp on the package said 10am. That meant it had been on ice long enough for the entire sandwich to be cold… but not long enough for the bread to be stale or soggy. The lettuce was ruffly on the edges, sticking out of the sandwich - enticing me.

My stomach growled.

My brain said: “Anna, you know you’ve not eaten anything, and if you eat that sandwich, you will not feel well. Your tummy does not like large amounts of calories on an empty stomach, and you KNOW that is not a low fat sandwich”

My tummy said: “Up yours!”

I looked at the price tag. $2. Two dollars. I could justify two dollars, couldn’t I? I put it in my basket, checked out, and - upon arriving at the car - tentatively opened the package, hoping that my expectations would not be disappointed.

They weren’t. It was every bit as good as I expected - and more. Cold, crisp lettuce on sweet buttery croissant with fresh tomato and fresh chunks of chicken and celery and onion in a tangy dressing, the entire thing chilled perfectly but not stale or soggy at all. I devoured the sandwich, right there in my car in the parking lot. (Hey - I was hungry!)

Upon arriving home, my stomach said: “uhh… so maybe we shouldn’t have been so enthusiastic.”

But you know what? It was worth it.

So it’s hot.  REALLY hot.  and humid.  And my apartment has no AC for the foreseeable future (or at least then next 5-6 hours).  Usually when I’m grumpy and frustrated, I like to cook or bake bread.  Running the oven when the apartment is already 85 degrees inside is, however, not a good idea.

So I figured I’d make up some lemonade, and the mint outside is growing fabulously… and I came up with the following:

Ginger Mint Lemonade

2QT pitcher (glass if possible, this is pretty to look at)
1 large or 2 small lemons, sliced thinly (save about 1/2inch off each end)
20-25 large mint leaves
1 inch fresh ginger, sliced
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup lemon juice (fresh is best, bottled is fine)
Several cups of ice
Cold Water

In pitcher place ice, lemon slices, lemon juice, about 10 of the mint leaves (give them a slight bruising), and 3-4 slices of ginger.  Set aside.  This works best if the ice is on the bottom and the tasty things are on top.

In a small saucepan combine sugar, 1cup water, the rest of the ginger and mint leaves, and the lemon ends.  Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat and cook for 3-5 minutes.

Add another 1/2 to 1cup cold water to the sugar mixture to cool and strain it into the pitcher.  Fill the pitcher with cold water and stir to combine.

The end result is cool, sweet, slightly spicy from the ginger, and with juuuust enough mint to be noticeable in your mouth without being overpowering.  And it’s fantastic for a hot sticky day.  You can add more or less of any of the ingredients (or make it entirely without the mint and ginger) and it’ll be just as tasty.

Enjoy!

Last night was, unfortunately, a rather difficult evening. Because, when it comes to the kitchen… well… I’m a great cook, and an accident waiting to happen. The last “mishap” involved an avocado and a chef’s knife, and ended with me attempting to put said chef’s knife straight through my hand. (I didn’t succeed, fortunately) I’ll leave the boiling sugar incident to your imaginations.

This one was… well, more brainless.

I was making a tasty baked omelette, with bread and cheese and eggs and mushrooms and bacon and onion and garlic and some asparagus. Yum! I baked it in my regular, heavy aluminum skillet. And when I removed it from the oven, I set it on the stove burner.

At which point my brain was thinking about getting food quickly and getting back to what I was doing, and previous habit said “skillet on stove, handle has never been hot before” and so I picked it up by the handle. Straight out of a 425 degree oven. With my bare hand. I’d show you the blisters, but my digital camera cord is out of commission.

Things I have learned:

• It is possible to play video games with one hand alternating between a bag of frozen stuff (I believe I went through peas, corn, strawberries, and peaches) and the keyboard.
• It is not possible to knit, spin, or wash dishes. (I’m horribly put out about that last one, can you tell?)
• Putting off the dishes until the next morning means a pan full of cement that previously was the remnants of bread and a baked omelette.

Now to figure out what I can do with three pounds of fresh strawberries… and only one working hand.