Tag: cooking

Thanksgiving 2017 Recipe Review

LaurenLeave a comment

I’ve been posting these little recipe reviews for a few years so I by the time I get to host Thanksgiving — my mom actually texted me this year asking if one day, when we have more space, we can all cook together at my house with the parade on in the background and to that I say YES! — I’ll know which recipes are go-to and which are no-go.  It’s a lifelong process, this Thanksgiving recipe collection thing.

Also, if I was a smart person, I might keep this note to myself in Google Docs, but I’m a blogger so I’m publicly posting it instead.  Don’t try to rationalize it.  

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Creamed Greens with Farro

If you’re bringing this for people who might not be super receptive to vegetables, let alone words like “kale,” “chard” or “farro,” feel free to re-brand this as “three cheese casserole.”  I went home with all the leftovers so I’m not sure that re-branding worked but I guess that just means more for me and I thought this was really good!  Except for the stemming/chopping of the greens (which you can totally do the weekend before), it comes together very fast, perfect for morning-of cooking.

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Sweet Potato Casserole

I made this last year and thought it was a tad sweet (even though I had already scaled back the sugar!) so I went with a 1/4 cup and it was perfect!  I roasted the sweet potatoes instead of using canned, then assembled the entire thing and put it in the fridge over night so come Thanksgiving, we just had to bake it.  Also maybe hit it with the broiler for a few minutes at the end to get the topping nice and crispy.  If you need a go-to sweet potato casserole, this is it.

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The New England Express

I made this a couple years ago and it was well received so I decided to bring it back.  Plus, if there’s going to be eight adults, two kids and two dogs in a 1000 square foot space, there must be alcohol.  Joey juiced something like 10 limes, then complained about how bad his fingers hurt for the rest of the week…

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Miso Caramel-Apple Pie

My Tuesday night Thanksgiving dessert-making ritual is the best!  Well, except for my Thanksgiving Eve ramen ritual.  And my Thanksgiving morning coffee and parade ritual.  And my actual Thanksgiving Day rituals.  But you now what I mean.  This pie dough bakes from frozen so I made it last weekend then finished it all up on Tuesday and it may or may not have taken me three tries to make the caramel sauce but all’s well that ends well.  I actually thought this pie tasted incredible but it didn’t really stand a chance against my mom’s chocolate cream pie.

What was your favorite Thanksgiving dish this year?

Weekend Things

Lauren2 Comments

The bad news is my iPhone 5S (guys, not to be dramatic but it’s from the Stone Age and it looks so small and dinky compared to the more recent versions of the iPhone!) seems to be on its last leg.  Meaning I can’t take pictures on it, both because the camera has a permanent fog filter and because there’s NO room for any (ideal when you write a blog that heavily relies on pictures from your daily life), my alarm has decided to stop working (ideal when you have a Sunday brunch reservation) and I can’t open my emails.  I don’t get my upgrade till May and even though that’s less than two months away, I’m not sure we’ll make it.

The good news is it was 70° on Friday, I had a chance to soak up some “me time” this weekend — which included reading at a coffee shop, eating vegan donuts and watching too many movies — and we now have extra light at the the end of the day, but the best news of all is that Joey is home from Vegas and I don’t have to talk to myself anymore 🙂

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Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I was kind of looking forward to a few days by myself.  I totally could have lined up some lady dates or had dinner with my family every night, but in true introvert fashion, I mostly played hermit.  Fine by me!  I started Friday with coffee, almond butter toast and a book then cut out of the office extra early, went on a run, read in the backyard, poured myself a beer, cooked dinner and watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  I’ve had Huckleberry Hound stuck in my head ever since.

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Saturday started out kind of rainy and cloudy so I stayed in my pajamas as long as possible but eventually went to the grocery store then ran a very important errand.  Aka picking up a donut snack from Beet Box.  I wasn’t overly impressed the first time I had those vegan donuts, but they’ve grown on me.  THEY’RE SO SOFT!  I brought some for my family and was all too happy to spend the afternoon/evening hanging with my sister.  Eventually took myself home to cook dinner for one (I made cauliflower rice and I don’t even know who I am) before watching Crash.  Joey picked out some movies for me to watch while he was gone and he picked well.  Except that he also left out Speed and after watching it last night, I’d like to put in a request for a refund on those two hours of my life.

P.S. I saw a church for sale near Beet Box and wondered if that’d make for a creepy house.

P.P.S. I feel like those pork tenderloin medallions look gross, but they really were good!

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I picked Joey up from the light rail station just after midnight on Saturday, finally got to sleep around 1:30 AM then woke up 30 minutes before our brunch reservation on Sunday (see aforementioned phone alarm complaint) but we made it and there were 3-berry muffins with vanilla-miso butter (!!!), steak and eggs and a huevos rancheros benedict so it probably doesn’t matter that I had to wash my hair in the sink and put my make up on in the car.  We were super lounge-y after brunch but then I spent something like 3 hours making lunches for the week and I’m never ever doing that again.

Sunday ended with a chillier-than-I’d-hoped walk through our neighborhood, salad dinner, that movie (ugh!) and a lot of moaning and groaning about having to go back to work.