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Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Kalamata but not in brine--must be oil cured
Food Nicknames
Monkey brains = stuffed peppers (kids and Dad of course!)
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Blueberries and Balsamic Vinegar in Pie?
Posted by smallblondemom, June 5, 2009 at 10:56 AM
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
People, you can make the sides any time with any meal but the occasion to cook a great big bird only comes around once or twice a year. Yes, we can cook a turkey for a dinner party but most of us don't. It's the turkey!
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Kalamata but not in brine--must be oil cured
Food Nicknames
Monkey brains = stuffed peppers (kids and Dad of course!)
Freeze It!
Quiche, It's easy to freeze, easy to defrost and easy to eat. And you can fill it with vegetables which will be good for them
Your Clever SE Name
When my oldest daughter was in High School her two best friends had Moms who were blonde and small like me and they used to call us the "Small Blonde Moms". Those were good times with great memories so I am proud to be "Smallblondemom".
Beer Bread Pecan Rolls
@lemonfair: I sure am! Go to our website www.carolinabb.com and click on the blog button
Dinner Tonight: Bacon, Pear, and Cheese Sandwich
This sounds like a brunch dish to me!
What's your favorite food when drunk?
Potato chips, potato chips, potato chips!
Beer Bread Pecan Rolls
I just bought a Bed and Breakfast and I love the idea of doing something like this (people love them) but how would you balance out the rest of the meal?
Fruit to start then sticky buns and???
Your Fast Food Urge.....just had mine...tasty.
Donuts!!!!!
Jelly donuts from Dunkin donuts
or Krispie Kremes freshly made (none of that shipped to a grocery store stuff).
Cook the Book: Bacon Fat Mayonnaise
Really? Tellicherry black pepper? Is the pepper THAT much better that it needs to be explicitly requested?
'Are You a Menu Whisperer?': Take 2
Okay, here's my take:
1. Order your whole meal from the appetizer section. As a rule much more goes into making these so-called "little" bites interesting and enjoyable than the obligatory filet and potatoes (or salmon etc)
2. READ the menu: imagine eating this dish. Do the ingredients intrigue you? You cook, what do you think? Do the ingredients balance? But don't be afraid to try something which you might not have seen before. (I rarely watch IronChef but the other day they had one where the secret ingredient was fennel and it was eye-popping (taste-bud popping??))
Does it balance with the other dishes you are eating?
3. One light course and one heavy one is my rule. Too much food is too much food and your enjoyment will suffer. You want to walk away from the meal feeling satisfied, not stuffed. Remember, there is always another meal to come. If you don't eat a cream based sauce today, you can tomorrow!
4. You can ask the waiter what other people order but, seriously, are you "other" people??? Ask yourself if you like it!
Do you have a recipe you won't share?
I once had a recipe I wouldn't share. Then I moved house and it was lost in the process. Lesson learned.
Macarons should be the new cupcakes
Aren't they called Macaroons?
Cook the Book: 'Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies'
I love to bake and have had my share of successes and failures. My latest success was a blueberry pie! I used balsamic vinegar in place of the lemon and ground thyme (just a teeny bit). Another big favorite was a peach pie I made and I added a bunch of ripe plums which needed using up. It gave it a lovely color and punched up the taste beautifully. Baking failures? I think I choose not to remember them!
Vegan and Carnivores eating together
@Madelyn-- Thank you!!!!
balsamic advice
Where are you located? There is a great shop in Chicago that has all sort of amazing balsamic vinegar (and olive oil). I bought some 18 year old vinegar there that is fabulous (almost as good as the stuff I brought home from Florence but not quite...)
Cooking your own food = rare?
One of my husband's favorite stories is about one Wednesday night when I was flambe-ing a duck breast and the flame ran up my arm and across the back of my furry sweater without damaging the sweater or me. The part he likes about the story is that whenever he tells it, someone in the audience invariably says, "Wait a minute, it was Wednesday night and she was FLAMBE-ING a duck breast????????" They can never believe that you don't have to wait for the weekend or a holiday to cook a meal!
Cookout Etiquette
I guess the answer to your question is: there is no normal!
Are phyllo dough and puff pastry interchangeable?
Interesting. We always use filo dough for our brie wheel! They are totally different products but once you have cooked with each, you will be able to imagine their uses and different effects. Think of the difference between a salmon en croute with puff pastry vs. one wrapped in puff pastry.
what to do with left over ears of corn?
Is it cooked or uncooked? If uncooked, you can make a corn saute or a corn salad. If cooked you can take the kernels off and add it to a green salad or to potato salad. Corn muffins also benefit from the addition of fresh kernels to the batter.
Cookout Etiquette
If you are in college then I am assuming your friends are too. I would be very surprised if they had the money (and storage space!) for all the accoutrements needed for an outdoor BBQ. It seems to me the point is to get together and have fun in spite of not having very much to show. I remember a BBQ in college when it was all my boyfriend and I could manage to bring hot-dogs for our grill! Our friends shared their steaks and we all danced to each other's music. It was friendship that made it happen. Not everything in life has rules.
When it's hot. . .
Fresh fresh melon with proscuito, stone fruits (peaches, plums), anything you can cook on a grill and anything from the ocean. Pies and icebox cake. Simple food, nothing fussy or long cooked (except maybe ribs and BBQ)
Peach And Chocolate Chip Pancakes
For years I have made crepes and filled them with a fresh peach sauce made by simmering chopped peaches with just a little water (sugar if needed). It is one of my kids' favorite summer breakfasts.
As is leftover peach pie!
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
I'm with Ed. Let's eat pie.
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
Do I really have to choose? They're all so good.
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
This year we are having 18 for dinner.My daughter and I do nearly all of it. She always brings mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing (yuck!), a pumpkin cheesecake, her Sexy Salad ( greens with sexy stuff in it), my dad's green beans (with shallots and bacon - coming from our garden this year), and chile con queso. I do the rest, usually, although this year Jose Luis and Carmen are bringing smoked brisket and tamales. (They recently inherited my cast-iron smoker which Jose-Luis can make sing arias.) I will be making a sweet potato pie, a few apple pies (the youngest child and his beloved are bringing New England apples they picked last week with his roomates), at least 3 pecan pies, and a carrot cake for dessert. If I can squeeze it in, I want to also make a 3 layer chocoalte cake for me. The sides I make are cranberry-ginger sauce (the cranberries are also being brought directly from the bog in MA), 8 dozen homemade rolls, a relish tray with homemade pickled green beans and pickled okra, and tiny gherkins and our friend Richard Moon will augment it with different olives and throw some sweet pickles, baby carrots and left-over celery from the dressing on the plate. I might make some hummus for that.
I have a 25.7 lb turkey in the freezer and a 10lb ham in the fridge. We should be in good shape. I've been saving plastic send-home containers for a few months so everyone can bring stuff for sandwiches the next day.
My mouth is watering for Friday's breakfast which will be turkey (breast meat only, please), mayo, cranberry sauce and dressing on sourdough sandwiches.
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
Even though I have to watch my carbs and sugar for health reasons, I always have been and always will be a sides girl (just gotta eat little bits of it now instead of going all out!). I like ham and turkey just fine, but I eat deli meat a lot throughout the year, so it doesn't really seem like anything special. Southern cornbread dressing, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole (we do a pecan streusel-mini marshmallow mixture on top), orange-cranberry sauce, yeast rolls... it's all so good!! Of course, I adore pumpkin pie and pecan pie too... have to have a little bite of them to really call it Thanksgiving!
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
Oyster dressing smothered in turkey gravy.....yum! I can't wait!!!!
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
I love the entire trifecta.
The turkey is great esp since we deep fry it with a nice spice rub on the skin.
The sides are great - sausage and apple stuffing, stuffed mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes, etc. And of course deep dried mac n cheese balls.
Then the dessert is the closing act - pumpkin pie is a must but apple pie with some vanilla ice cream works too!
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
Without the turkey there is no gravy. Gravy is the essential T-Day component. ALL non-dessert food is there merely as a vehicle for the gravy. Hmm, even some of the dessert food is improved by it. I say the heck with it. Gravy should be the main course, with everything else as a side.
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
Definitely the sides. Yes, you could make them any other time, but generally we don't make that particular combination of sides. And although I don't especially care about *eating* the turkey, I care very deeply about smelling it while it cooks and the gravy it produces. So I guess that means the turkey is equally important, but for different reasons.
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?
I like the whole meal: turkey, sides, and pies. But if I had to choose among them, I'd say the sides are my favorite.
Thanksgiving Foods We Love to Hate
I love all of those things. I don't have them anymore at my thanksgiving table, but if I'm served (any and all of it!) somewhere, I go for it and bask in nostalgia for days gone by with Nana and the whole fam!
Thanksgiving Foods We Love to Hate
@ mr guy- I agree, the brining doesn't do much for me either. I've done it the past two years, and if you ask me it's a big pain in the ass for little results. Expensive too.
Thanksgiving Foods We Love to Hate
Cans of thick slop and sludge never get anywhere near my cooking. As a matter of fact, Campbell's cream "soup" line is single handedly responsible for making crock pots the biggest laugh in the kitchen. (The crock pot was later de-throned by Sandra Lee as the biggest laugh in the kitchen - ironically a chronic user of cream soups.)
Thanksgiving Foods We Love to Hate
Don't be hating on me, but Campbell's creamy onion soup is far superior to use in casseroles versus the cream of mushroom. When I took over Thanksgiving duty from my MIL, that marshmallow sweet potato monstrosity was banned from my menu. As well as the canned cranberry "sauce", I make my own SF version from the real cranberries from the produce section.
Thanksgiving Foods We Love to Hate
Everything was fair game until you got to the marshmallows.
Marshmallows aren't Thanksgiving food. They're candy.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Congrats to our winner gargupie, and thank you to everyone who entered. We have notified the lucky new olive oil owner and updated our Contest Winners page.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Any olive cured any way, I love them all. I have a small dish every day after work with a glass of wine. or beer. or whatever is available.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Blue-cheese stuffed olives, in a dirty vodka martini!
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
arbequina olives are my personal favorites - and not just because they're fun to say! as always, feta makes anything taste better and these two go great together
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
I love ALL olives. The more the merrier. Kalamata, Black, Green, Nicoise bring it on! What a beautiful idea & a great opportunity! I would love to showcase this on my site!
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
I too prefer olives in their oil iteration.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
I'm not a fan of olives, but I do love olive oil!
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Kalamatas are amazing, but I'm a huge fan of the black Greek/Turkish ones, not sure of the name...
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Moroccan oil-cured are my favorite, the wrinkled ugly things.
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
Nicoise are definitely my favorite, but I'm a sucker for jalapeno-stuffed green olives too!
Weekend Giveaway: Nudo Olive Tree Adoption
kalamatas are popular in my house too
Recent Posts
Blueberries and Balsamic Vinegar in Pie?
Posted by smallblondemom, June 5, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Refrigerator-freezer advice needed:
Posted by smallblondemom, January 20, 2008 at 10:18 PM
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People, you can make the sides any time with any meal but the occasion to cook a great big bird only comes around once or twice a year. Yes, we can cook a turkey for a dinner party but most of us don't. It's the turkey!