mulberryshoots

As a change of pace for supper tonight, I’m making a braised lamb dish with vegetables and white beans.

Dredged the lamb in flour with garlic salt and cracked pepper, browned it in olive oil and combined with carrots, celery hearts, onion, tomato, white beans and beef broth. A couple of bay leaves and will simmer for a few hours the rest of the day. Will serve with toasted corn muffins tonight.

I’ve been taking different approaches to cooking so as to decrease the amount of meat we eat and to make cooking more convenient. Toward that end, I skillet cooked four chicken thighs yesterday morning, let them cool and froze them. I poured the chicken drippings into an a glass jar and set it in the fridge.

Today, I made a chicken, spinach and mushroom fettucine alfredo in these few steps. I cut up the chicken from one defrosted thigh, minus the skin. Stirred 2 minced cloves of garlic, a chopped shallot, olive oil and chicken. Added quartered fresh mushrooms and a half a batch of fresh spinach minus the stems. Stirred in the reserved chicken drippings and set it aside.

In a clean skillet, I melted 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, added about 1/4 cup of flour and blended it in, 1/2 cup of half and half, still stirring and a cup of pasta water from the fettucine that was boiling alongside. Added the chicken,mushroom,spinach saute to the alfredo sauce, a third of a package of mozzarella cheese, and the drained fettucine noodles mixing well.

Divided into two aluminum baking pans and grated a lot of parmesan cheese on top. One of our elderly neighbors is coming home from the hospital so one casserole will go down to them along with some baked crescent rolls. A light Boston lettuce salad with honey/lemon dressing will complete our supper tonight. I made Katharine Hepburn’s brownies yesterday and there are still some left for dessert

I was picking up some last minute things at Shaw’s when I saw a package of GIGANTIC mushrooms for just $5.99. I brought them home thinking that making baked stuffed mushrooms would go very nicely on New Year’s Day with leftover slices of cold roast lamb served with Major Grey’s mango chutney.

There are lots of recipes online but here’s the one I use each time I make these – which is not very often. So, it’s fun! Pluck out stems from the mushrooms. In a skillet, melt half a stick of unsalted butter, chop 4-5 cloves of garlic; chop up a healthy bunch of fresh parsley and add both to bubbling skillet. Sprinkle on some Bell’s seasoning for sage flavor and mix well. Add half a bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing crumbs and a half can of Swanson’s chicken broth. Mix well by scooping up and around so that air is able to help cook the stuffing. Add more broth if needed for it to adhere to itself. Let cool.

In a much larger skillet, sprinkle with a little olive oil, stuff each mushroom to the gills, pressing down on the stuffing so it stays together. Heat each one up in the olive oil – When all are filled, let cook on low heat for awhile until bottoms are a little golden brown.Transfer the mushrooms to a sprayed pan and set together gently. Grate some fresh parmesan on the tops of the stuffed mushrooms.

When ready to eat, preheat the oven to 375 and bake the mushrooms for about 20 minutes until they are golden brown on the top and look cooked in the middle. ENJOY!

We enjoyed a baked ham with fresh pineapple, cloves and a brown sugar/vinegar glaze last night with company. It was a Cook’s shank ham which I’ve had before – and it was very tender and tasty.

This morning, I cut the large chunks of leftover ham off the bone and started an “all-in” ham and bean soup: sauteed one chopped onion, 2 carrots with the hambone, then added 2 cans of chicken broth, 2 cans of filtered water, a can of diced tomatoes and a leftover baked sweet potato and pineapple bits.

Simmering this until the afternoon when I’ll add a large can of small white beans into the soup. Cook until suppertime when we’ll send some of the soup and ham sandwiches on homemade 10-grain bread down to our 93 year old neighbor who lives down the street.

Bon Appetit!

Supper tonight! (Recipe adapted from Melissa Clark, NYTimes)

Roasted butternut squash, melted 4 T. unsalted butter until slightly browned in pot; added chopped shallot, squash, 1 1/2 cups orzo pasta; 1 can of Swanson chicken broth. Cook until liquid is absorbed. Stir so orzo doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Added Bell’s Seasoning (sage, rosemary, thyme); red pepper flakes, salt and fresh ground pepper, zest of one lemon; juice of half a lemon, grated parmesan cheese. Stir together and turn off heat. Tonight, warm up and serve with more parmesan, lemon juice and a dollop of ricotta cheese. YUM!!

15h  ·

For Thanksgiving, G. and I enjoyed having Peking Duck with wrappers that I made myself. There were some left over so I made a moo shu vegetable dish to use up the wrappers – while G. finished up the duck!

To make it authentic, I soaked some tree fungus called “moo-er” and some daylily buds that I have out in the pantry. After they’re soaked and soft, I rinsed them and cut them up into small pieces. In a skillet with heated vegetable oil, I sauteed garlic, scallions and ginger, then added fresh sliced mushrooms, sliced sugar snap peas and the moo-er and daylily pieces. Stir-fried, they combined well and I added in a half bag of raw coleslaw with carrots. This is an easy way to add cabbage to stir-fries without buying a whole cabbage. While vegetables cooked, I added soy sauce, sugar, a little seasoned Japanese rice wine and oyster sauce into a small dish. Stirred it up and added it to the frying mixture, scooping it up and turning the vegetables over with the sauce. It was really good – especially with the crunchy tree ear and daylily buds. Will add more next time! YUM!

t’s mid-November, a chilly, rainy Friday morning. For lunch, I’m making a ramen noodle dish, made with a Japanese ramen noodle (comes dried, then cooked and drained before adding to the broth.)

I used to use Sapporo Ichiban as my go-to ramen noodle, but these were worth a try. I cooked the noodles and rinsed them in cold water. Then made the “homemade” stock: purified water, 2 spoonfuls of instant Dashi, a can of Swanson low-sodium chicken broth and a 2 spoonfuls of soy sauce.

Stirred it together, brought it to a boil and added 2/3rds of the cooked noodles. Standing by for when we’re ready to eat are gorgeous fresh spinach leaves and fresh mushrooms that will be cooked just when ready to serve. YUM!

It was 28 degrees this morning, George reported – and so this afternoon, I thought I might warm things up with a pumpkin pie. I don’t make them that often, but when I have, I use the recipe on the “One-Pie” can of pumpkin (which was available online, but the cans were not, in the store.)

I compared recipes and remembered that what made the pumpkin pies of past years so tasty was: molasses and melted butter added to most traditional recipes. I also par-baked the frozen pie crust before filling it to the tippy top because the filling was so plentiful.

Placed the pie on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and that saved the oven (mostly) from charred scraps after the pie was baked.

The recipe I use calls for: a can of pumpkin puree, a can of Carnation evaporated milk, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 eggs, 1/8 cup of molasses, 2 T melted butter, 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. 2 T. cornstarch mixed with spices before adding. Baked the crust 10 min. to avoid sogginess, then filled it and baked at 425 for 15 min.; then turned down to 350 for 45-50 min. to make sure the center wasn’t jiggling. The outer crust got burned but no problem just cutting it off.

Looking forward to enjoying it tonight after supper.

Wednesday morning’s bounty: a month’s worth of cinnamon raisin bread from rising to loaf shaping to final baked bread! Smells divine!

Coleslaw with a twist!

This coleslaw is made with a combination of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing (1/3 cup); a splash of Marukan SEASONED GOURMET rice vinegar and Vermont sugar-free maple syrup.

Taste for proportions that you like the best.

Mix with coleslaw mix and refrigerate for an hour or so before serving. Mmm-Mmm-GOOD!!