Category Archives: Recipes
All Booked Up
Tuesday night, I hosted my book club. It’s not a hard job. As host, you basically have three duties: 1) buy a bottle of red and a bottle of white and put out some wine glasses; 2) bake or buy some kind of dessert; and 3) provide a selection of four or five books on which the group will vote to read for the next meeting. I have been a member of this group since 1996 – almost 18 years – so I have hosted many times.
Yesterday I baked a batch of brownies and made a simple ganache frosting by heating up cream and pouring it over 8 oz. of chocolate chips to melt, then adding a teaspoon of instant coffee. Because I was feeling particularly festive and clever, I crunched up three or four candy canes and sprinkled them over the top of the brownies after I frosted them with the ganache, for some added Christmas spirit. Furthermore, I made a special trip to our neighborhood liquor store where I bought a nice red zin and a crisp pinot grigio. I cleaned the house and set up the room for our gathering at 7:30.
Bill and I were sitting down and eating a quick dinner at 6:45, when – and I don’t know why – it suddenly hit me that I hadn’t gotten any books on which the members could vote for next time. Generally, the host actually has the books on hand so that the members can peruse them prior to making their collective decision. I had nothing. I said a bad word.
Thank goodness that I keep a running list of books that I want to read. Our book club has two rules regarding the books: 1) (and aren’t I using a lot of numerated lists in this post?) the book must be available in paperback; and 2) the book selected must be a book that no one in the group has already read.
The problem with my list of books I want to read is that it includes hard cover books, and it also includes many mysteries (which I happen to love but the rest of the group doesn’t). In a matter of minutes, however, Bill had figured out the perfect answer: 1) (I can’t resist) go through my list, and upon finding a suitable book, find it on Amazon; 2) hit the “share” button and email it to him; and 3) he would do the rest.
I used my list, coupled with the section of Amazon that says “customers who bought this item also bought…”, and was able, in about 20 minutes, to come up with a list of six books. Bill worked his magic, and in 10 more minutes, he handed me six sheets of paper, each with a picture of a book and the synopsis. I had time to pour myself a glass of wine to calm down!
Our book club was founded in 1994, and we have seen many members come and go over the years. It is a awesome group of women of different ages and different backgrounds who all happen to love to read. Our conversations about the books are always interesting but never snooty or overly intellectual. Just intellectual enough! And we digress – a lot! I will, of course, be unable to attend for the next four months or so as I will be in AZ. But I will continue to read the books they select and maybe even – if I’m really ambitious – electronically provide my thoughts about the book, perhaps via Nanaswhimsies!
They, by the way, didn’t blink an eye when I handed them sheets of paper instead of books. Thanks friends.
In addition to my numerated lists, I also seem to be using a lot more exclamation points than usual. Too much coffee perhaps? And now that I’ve mentioned it, I’m not going to change them!
Yesterday morning I made my annual holiday batch of caramel corn. Who doesn’t like caramel corn? I can tell you that I brought a batch in a tin to my son with whom I ate lunch, and he was very happy. I even snuck in a leftover brownie from last night. The recipe is simple and delicious.
Caramel Corn
Ingredients
1 c. butter
2 c. brown sugar
½ c. corn syrup
1 t. salt
½ t. soda
1 t. vanilla
5 quarts popped popcorn
Process
Preheat oven to 250 and place popped corn on tray(s) in oven to keep warm.
In medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Then boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla. Pour in then stream over corn; stir to coat.
Bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven; let cool completely before breaking into pieces.
Nana’s Notes: Every year, including this year, I use too much popcorn. The result is the corn isn’t as thickly coated as I would like. Use less. Pretend I said 4 quarts of popped corn.
And now……
Cream Cheese Kolacky Cookie, via Margaret M.
Ingredients
3 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla (lemon or orange are nice also, depending on what filling you use)
1/2 cup filling (jam or pie filling)
1/4 – 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
Process
Mix the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla. Add the flour slowly until well blended. Shape into a log and chill overnight or for several hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll the log in the powdered sugar. Slice off 1/8 in thick slices and place about 1/2 tsp filling in the middle of the cookie. Fold ends of cookie over the jam. (The original recipe calls for rolling out the dough and cutting 2-1/2 inch squares then overlapping opposite corners. The modification is just easier when we are doing this with kids, and we don’t handle the dough as much, so it’s flakier). Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven. If desired, sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar after cooling.
Source (before modifications) : Allrecipes
Makes about 3 dozen.
Nana’s Notes: Thanks for the great recipe. I rolled the dough out and used a biscuit cutter to cut circles. I placed about a half tsp of blueberry or apricot peach preserves in the center and folded the cookie over. I didn’t have a lot of success getting them to stick. But, while they aren’t lovely, they are definitely delicious. I should have rolled them thinner and used egg to seal.
Anyone else have a recipe they want to share? Comment or send an email to the address on top right.
Organized Chaos
I’m good at many things. Wrapping gifts is not one of them.
I’m not being modest. Look at that picture and you’ll know I speak the truth. I was never happier than when gift bags became popular. If I get some wrap around a gift with about a foot of scotch tape and slap a sticker on, I’m good. I used to do bows, but they looked so sad. I’m really being serious. It’s the worst thing about Christmas for me. But I turn on Christmas music really loud and that makes it bearable. This year I wrapped to Christmas music from Glee, and I got it all done yesterday afternoon.
One of the best things about Christmas is holiday baking and cooking. And I’m never happier than on my annual Grandchildren-Sugar-Cookie-Decorating Day. It is organized chaos at its best. There is colored sugar and pieces of dough everywhere. For days I find drips and drops of colored icing hidden in places where icing doesn’t belong. The cookies invariably turn out garishly but lovingly decorated, heavy on the colored sugar. This year I allowed the use of M&Ms, marshmallows, and chocolate chips.
The decorating was done in two shifts. The two little granddaughters came over early because they weren’t in school. Mylee is 
much more interested in eating the icing than in decorating the cookies, but she managed to complete a couple. Hers are the ones with the sugar only dumped in the middle. Kaiya, on the other hand, carefully arranged her chocolate chips. She insisted on using my heart cookie cutter as well. You can’t, after all, have too many pink hearts, no matter the season.
Later, the three older McLains came by (the little one had a dance lesson) to decorate.
Kaiya and Mylee watched. Addie led the show, or tried to. Her suggestions generally fell on deaf ears, particularly when it came to 7-year-old Dagny, who has a mind of her own. Even 8-year-old Alastair joined in, again ignoring Addie’s advice. “You can’t make a Christmas tree red,” she tells him. Wanna bet? I just stand back and make sure no one gets hurt.
At the tail end, while the others had moved on to hide-and-seek, Dagny carefully took her last Christmas tree shaped cookie, and poured all of the remaining icing over the entire cookie, decorated it with every last remaining M&M and chocolate chip, and grinned her little missing-teeth grin in total satisfaction.
I know there are a million sugar cookie recipes, and they’re all pretty much the same. But this is one I have used for years. I got the book, Better Homes and Gardens Cookies and Candies, in 1972. I know this because I put my name and the date inside the cover. That means it has been assisting me in making cookies for over 30 years. Way to go Better Homes and Gardens.
Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
2/3 c. shortening
¾ c. granulated sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 egg
4 t. milk
2 c. sifted all-purpose flour
1-1/2 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
Process
Thoroughly cream shortening, sugar, and vanilla. Add egg; beat till light and fluffy. Stir in milk. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; blend into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Chill 1 hour.
On lightly floured surface, roll to 1/8 in. thickness. Cut in desired shapes with cutters. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 about 6 to 8 min. Cool slightly; remove from pan. Cool on rack. Makes about 2 doz. cookies.
Nana’s Notes: At the bakery, my dad would sprinkle colored sugar on the cookies before he would bake them. That’s the easiest thing to do, but not nearly as much fun. The kids simply love cutting out the cookies, patiently waiting the 6 minutes or so for them to bake and the 5 minutes or so for them to cool, and then look out! No holds barred! Close your eyes and know that the mess will be cleaned up soon enough.
Kids’ Whimsical Cooking: "Snow" Made Ice Cream
Hey this is Addie and I made Snow Made Ice Cream. This is a great sweet snack that looks, tastes, and smells like regular ice cream. As long as you keep stirring and chilling, your treat will turn out right.
This snack only works if you have snow. Half and half, sugar, vanilla, and snow are the essential ingredients to the mix. (You may use candy to flavor up your ice cream.) I am sure you have those ingredients in you cabinets. I hope you try making this fun snack.
Snow Made Ice Cream
Ingredients
3 c. loose clean snow
2 T milk or half and half
1/4 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
Process
Mix all the ingredients and adjust sugar and vanilla as needed. Continue to stir until mixture resembles ice cream.
Nana’s Notes: Not to be too nitpicky, but I’m guessing you probably don’t have fresh snow in your cabinets as Addie suggests you might. The rest of the ingredients are likely there. While this is not technically a holiday treat, it is certainly a winter treat. My grandkids absolutely LOVE to make this ice cream. Supervise the collection of the snow as smaller kids can include leaves in with the snow. Make sure they are not using yellow snow! Addie added chocolate chips and toffee chips to her treat.
And hey! I haven’t heard from a single person. Can’t have a cookie exchange without the exchange. Send me your faves.
I Feel Like a Real Turkey!
Tick tock, tick tock. Christmas is getting nearer by the day. It’s time to start my holiday baking and candy making.
And I want to try something fun – a virtual cookie exchange. Each day I will post a different recipe for a holiday treat. I encourage all of you to either comment below or send me an email at the address provided in the upper right hand corner of my home page with a favorite holiday recipe. I will post them along with mine.
But first, I have a couple of stories.
It was a spectacular Saturday, despite the cold weather, simply because it was filled with family and friends. My Saturday began with an annual gathering of friends that has been taking place for over 12 years. Not only is this annual holiday event a chance to catch up on everyone’s life (since many of us don’t see each other but once a year), but the gathering goes beyond that. We come together in memory of a very dear friend who passed away almost 11 years ago at a much too young age, after a long illness. Our friend Paulette LOVED Christmas. She and I worked together for many years, and it was no secret that Christmas was her favorite time of year. She was in charge of decorating the Christmas tree in the lobby of our building, and I didn’t know a tree could hold so many lights. When I thought that another string of lights simply couldn’t fit on the tree, she would open another box. Needless to say, the trees were always spectacular.
Her friends and family gathered with her at Christmas while she was alive, and we continue the tradition in her memory. Her mother and sister are present, and this year her nieces also joined us. What a treat. Merry Christmas friends.
Later that evening, my son dropped off their two daughters for a sleepover at Nana and Papa’s house. I am trying to absorb all of their sweetness and funniness and love that I can before we leave for Arizona.
Yesterday morning, I asked the girls what they wanted for breakfast. Kaiya, the 5-year-old, thought carefully (as she is prone to do) and chose Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Three-year-old Mylee didn’t have to think twice. Her answer, “A turkey sandwich.” Well, the look of disdain on her face when I admitted to her that I didn’t have any turkey meat in the house was sobering. “Cinnamon toast?” I asked. Nope. A turkey sandwich. “How about yogurt?” Nope. A turkey sandwich. She finally settled on pretzels. That’s one of the things I like best about being a grandmother. Pretzels can actually be a food group in Nanaworld when you’re desperate.
But here’s the thing. Later on I went to the grocery store to get the ingredients for my delicious Almond Roca that is featured below. I bought butter, almonds, and sugar. When I got home, I knew there wasn’t anything that was terribly perishable, and the Broncos were on TV, so I set the bags down until halftime.
When I began putting my ingredients away, what should I find in my bag but turkey lunch meat. I swear on a stack of bibles that I didn’t put that in my cart, but somehow, someway, Mylee saw to it that there will be turkey meat next time she’s here.
True story.
Yesterday I made my personal favorite Christmas treat, Almond Roca. It really is the only candy I ever make, and it is delicious.
Holiday Almond Roca
Ingredients
1 lb. real butter (no substitutes)
3 c. granulated white sugar
1 lb. whole shelled almonds (unsalted)
1 giant Hershey milk chocolate bar
Process
Place butter and sugar in large heavy saucepan or Dutch oven .Blend sugar and butter over medium heat, stirring continually. When mixture begins to bubble increase heat, time for 5 min., stir constantly. Mixture will begin to brown. Add whole almonds and continue cooking on high heat, stirring constantly for 7 to 10 min. Mixture should be smooth and resemble a brown, thick syrup. Quickly pour onto a large, sided cookie sheet. Mixture is extremely hot. Set aside to cool. Melt Hershey bar in a saucepan. Spread on one side of candy block. Allow to harden. Turn and frost other side of block. Break into small pieces.
Nana’s Notes: I never use a candy thermometer, but I think the mixture should reach 300 degrees. I have always cooked it the original 5 min., and then 7 minutes more, no longer. Keep stirring, or it will begin to separate. I have seen where some people pour out the mixture, and then lay the chocolate bars right onto the candy to melt. I use a double boiler. The candy mixture really is like molten lava, so I never do it when the kids are around.
Lazy Snow Daze
Man, oh man. If the word lazy could be personified, it would look a lot like me yesterday. But I have a good excuse. The high was only 10 degrees, and it snowed all day.
Actually, I had one duty that required that I at least got dressed. I gave two of my grandchildren a ride to school – a mere five block trek. Still, it required clothes and the car to be cleaned off. And thank goodness it was only five blocks, because the roads were slippery and the temperature was cold, cold, cold.
So I came home, postponed a planned lunch, encouraged Bill to change a doctor appointment to a more habitable day, and settled in for a day of Christmas movies.
I watched The Last Holiday, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Love Actually, and, just for kicks, threw in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the animated version, not the movie). Somewhere in there I made us some lunch and ordered some more Christmas presents using my Ipad.
Our high of 10 was reached at noon, and it went downhill from there. The low reached below zero last night, but we are snug and warm in our cozy house. I put a couple of potatoes in the oven to bake last night. We enjoyed the potatoes with roasted chicken tenders with lemon and thyme.
TodayI may venture out. I’m running out of Christmas movies. Of course, I haven’t yet watched my favorite, A Christmas Story…….
Lemon Thyme Chicken
Ingredients
4 small chicken breasts
2 T. olive oil
1 T. butter
Juice of one lemon
2 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1 t. dried thyme
Salt and pepper
Process
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook in 2 T. olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until golden, turning once, about 12-15 min. total. Add butter, lemon juice, and thyme to skillet; cover, and cook 3 minutes longer.
Nana’s Notes: I couldn’t find Redbird chicken breasts yesterday at the grocery store, so I bought chicken tenders instead. They worked fine. I served it with Swiss chard. I couldn’t hide the chard like I hid the carrots and spinach yesterday, so Bill said no thank you. I love any kind of greens, so I ate his share.
Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful
It was so cold at 6 o’clock this morning that, despite the fact that I was covered by two comforters and an afghan, my nose was cold. But I was wide awake and decided to face the day.
Yesterday morning I did a bit of Christmas shopping at the big nearby mall, and was surprised to find it very quiet. It was early, but still, I thought I would have to put up with a few inconveniences. Not so. I found what I was looking for and walked right up to a checkstand.
Afterwards, I drove to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant to meet my son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters for delicious pho. (I, by the way, am absolutely addicted to this delicious Vietnamese noodle soup. Can’t get enough of it.) Anyhoo, when I walked into the restaurant, I was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and no coat. The temperature was a balmy 58 degrees and sunny.
An hour later when I exited the restaurant, the temperature had dropped at least 20 degrees and it was cloudy and wintery-looking. Hmphfff.
The weather forecasters have been telling me for three days now that the temperatures, which have been so very pleasant, were going to drop Tuesday afternoon, and around rush hour time, it was going to begin to snow. And it will continue to snow throughout today. Furthermore, the temperatures in the next few days and through the weekend will be in single digits, and well below zero at night.
Somehow, I was hoping the forecasters had gotten it wrong. They often do, but not this time it appears. This cold, cold weather is supposed to wait until we have left for Arizona to arrive in Colorado. Didn’t Mother Nature get the memo?
By the way, the same cold front is hitting a large area, including the Phoenix metro area. My sister who lives in the Phoenix metro area informed me last night that she went for a walk to look at Christmas lights and saw someone wearing gloves, boots, and earmuffs. The temperature was 60. Seriously?
Anyway, I stopped at the grocery store on my way home from lunch to get a few vegetables and treats to enjoy over the next few days. Though it was only 1:30 or so, there were quite a few shoppers who were doing the very same thing as I. And it was likely even crazier later in the afternoon after more people got off work. There is sort of an energy in the air at the grocery store when folks are expecting a snowstorm. An alertness. A sense of frenzy. Hard to describe, but definitely present in the shoppers. No one yanked the last carton of eggs out of my hands, however. At 1:30, folks were still civil.
I’m doing my best to continue my healthy eating this week. Last night I made a delicious frittata. Bill asked me how a frittata differs from a quiche, and I explained there isn’t a whole lot of difference, but the frittata is crustless, thereby making it lower in carbs and calories. The nice thing about a frittata is you can use whatever you have in your refrigerator. So again, not really a recipe.
I browned some Italian turkey sausage, and removed it from the pan when it was fully cooked. I used the same cast iron skillet to sauté some green onions and carrots that I got from the Whole Food salad bar (my favorite way to trick Bill into eating vegetables). I also included the other half of the green pepper that didn’t go into my chili the night before. 
Once the vegetables were soft, I added the meat back to the pan, threw in some baby spinach, and tossed some grated cheddar cheese over it all. I whisked up six eggs seasoned with salt and pepper and poured them over the whole concoction. I let it cook for just a minute until the edges had sort of set up. I placed the skillet into a preheated 400 degree oven and let it cook for about 10 minutes, until completely set.
Nana’s Notes: You can make a frittata completely on the stovetop, but I like to finish mine off in the oven. Make sure your skillet is ovenproof. You can really use whatever vegetables and/or meat you have in the fridge. Bacon is good, as is cooked broccoli or asparagus. The options are endless.
Frozen Solid
I woke up early yesterday morning and got on Amazon to place my Christmas order. I found everything I wanted and put it in my shopping cart, but decided to wait until afternoon to push the button because I wanted to ask one of my daughters-in-law what her youngest would like for Christmas. I thought I might be able to include it in the order.
By jove, I got her suggestion yesterday afternoon, went back to my computer, and my Amazon world had changed. Some things were no longer available; the price on one thing had gone up significantly; the delivery date for another was not until after Christmas. Holy Moley! Only four hours later. Cyber Monday v. Nana, and Cyber Monday won.
Still, I was able to figure most everything out, and now a big chunk of my Christmas shopping is done. The rest should be easy. As an interesting side note, according to Jeff Bezos (the Amazon czar), in a relatively short period of time (sometime after 2015), my order will possibly be delivered by a tiny little drone that will land in my front yard. Seriously, it gets creepier and creepier.
The four hours I spent not pushing the “place order” button on Amazon.com were not spent unwisely, however. I took two of my granddaughters to see the movie Frozen. It was a 1:15 showing, and after plopping down $23 for tickets and another $12 for popcorn, watermelon-flavored Sour Patch Kids and fruit-flavored Mike & Ikes, I hurried them into the theater, hoping we could still get a seat as the movie was scheduled to begin in a couple of minutes. Much to my surprise, the theater was entirely empty. Apparently, if people weren’t at work, they were either shopping at the malls or sitting at home buying all of my Amazon items. The movie, Friends, was phenomenal. Seriously, I enjoyed it very much. The animation was amazing and the music was awesome. Typical Disney princess story line, only in a frozen tundra. But some of the characters offered dialogue that made me laugh out loud.
I am so happy that they make children’s movies now that are also enjoyable to the adult person taking them to the movie. Back when my son was small, the movies I had to sit through were terrible. I will accept the PG rating for the new kids’ movies as long as I can enjoy them as well. They don’t understand the PG stuff anyway.
I highly recommend the movie.
Tonight, in keeping with my healthy eating post-Thanksgiving, I made a version of my mother’s chili recipe, adding delicious vegetables and a couple of kinds of beans to add fiber. When all is said and done, it really isn’t much like my mother’s chili, but I’m going to give you her recipe, exactly as it is on the recipe card, because it makes me laugh every time I see it.
Beckie’s Chili (originally my chili)
Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
1 lg. onion, chopped
1 t. salt
2-3 T. chili powder
1 T vinegar
1-1/2 T. brown sugar
1 c. water
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 can kidney beans
Garlic salt
Process
Brown ground beef and onion. Add rest of ingredients.
Nana’s Notes: It always makes me laugh that she calls it Beckie’s chili, but adds that it was originally her chili. Is my sister Beckie a chili recipe thief? Or is it just that Mom always loved her best so she will attribute her recipe to Beckie? I will never know.
My version uses very lean ground beef (sometimes I use half ground beef and half ground turkey). I sauté a clove of garlic with the onion and beef and leave out the garlic salt. In addition to the chili powder, I also add a tsp. of ground cumin. I leave out the vinegar and the brown sugar. Instead of tomato sauce, I used a can of tomato paste and a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes. I also added a green pepper for flavor and vitamins. Finally, in addition to kidney beans, I also added a can of black beans. I know I was going to go low-carb this week, but beans are good carbs with lots of fiber. I won’t apologize.
If I were smart, I would have waited until Thursday to serve chili as the high is only expected to reach 8. Yikes!
Settling out of/ into the Season
I slept 10 hours Friday night. I think the last time I slept 10 hours straight through was when I was maybe 7. The only reason Bill didn’t put a mirror under my nose to make sure I was still breathing was because he slept even longer than me.
Don’t know if it was the Thanksgiving festivities, the carb overload, or simply the need to catch up on some zzz’s since I had not been sleeping well in anticipation of our family gathering, but I woke up rested and ready to start the Christmas season.
Our Thanksgiving couldn’t have been better. It isn’t very often that all of our kids and grandkids can gather together since our daughter’s family lives far away in Vermont. The kids enjoyed playing together. It’s fun to see how they sort of pair off, come back together, and then pair off differently. At one point our 3-year-old granddaughter was playing with our 8-year-old grandson. Not sure how they made that work, but they seemed content.
We had amazing food at the Thanksgiving table. All the usual suspects were present, but because we had several people who eat gluten-free diets, there were doubles on some things – i.e. pumpkin pie, dressing, green bean casserole. I don’t think anyone went away hungry.
I must say, however, that the carb overload has definitely made me aware of eating a bit healthier this week. We started last night with roasted chicken wings. I don’t really have a recipe for this. I simply take whole chicken wings, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and either grill them for about 15 minutes per side, or bake them in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, turn them over and bake them 25-30 more minutes. I do absolutely nothing else. No hot sauce. No butter. I think they’re delicious.
I’m ready to dive into Christmas joy! While I didn’t partake in Black Friday festivities (my sister and I went geocaching instead), I will be online at Amazon tomorrow with a kajillion others.
Bleu Cheese Dressing (from Allrecipes)
Ingredients
2-1/2 oz. bleu cheese
3 T. buttermilk
3 T. sour cream
2 T. mayo
2 t. white wine vinegar
¼ t. sugar
1/8 t. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Process
In a small bowl, mash cheese and buttermilk together with a fork until mixture resembles large curd cottage cheese. Stir in sour cream, mayo, vinegar, sugar, and garlic powder until well-blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Nana’s Notes: I use light sour cream and olive oil mayonnaise, so my bleu cheese dressing is fairly healthy. I started my healthy-eating week off right!
Abbodanza!
I have told you how much I love Thanksgiving, but I’m aware that this holiday isn’t as happy for some people. Perhaps, for example, they live far away from home and are looking at the grim prospect of eating a turkey TV dinner in front of their television, all by themselves.
It is for that very reason that I have often included non-family members at my holiday table. Perhaps one of our kids’ college roommate who can’t make it home for Thanksgiving, or a newly-divorced friend facing their first holiday alone. When it comes to our holiday table, anyone who lands there is part of the family.
When Bill was much younger, he was faced with the prospect of a Thanksgiving alone. For most of the time that he was in the Army, he was stationed at Frankfort Arsenal in Philadelphia. It was too far for him to make it home to Chicago on that first Thanksgiving that he was away. He was kindly invited to eat Thanksgiving dinner with the family of a friend who was of Italian descent.
Bill says he sat at the enormous table surrounded by the raucous and joyful family, and he really felt at home. The first food to come out of the kitchen was a huge antipasto plate filled with roasted red peppers and salami and cheese and tomatoes and spicy peppers and artichoke hearts and olives. Delicious, he recalls. He filled his plate.
Soon after, his friend’s mother brings to the table a huge platter of spaghetti and meatballs. Bill says he clearly remembers thinking, “Well, this is certainly not the traditional Thanksgiving meal that I’m used to, but boy, is it ever delicious. I’m just going to enjoy it.” He commenced loading his plate with a big helping of the delicious pasta, and eating and loving every bite.
He was really getting going on the spaghetti when he hears his friend say to his mother, “Mama, how is the turkey coming?” Bill said he laughed out loud, amused at the joke about having turkey after all of the food they had already eaten.
But he laughed too soon, because Mama got out of her chair, went into the kitchen, and began bringing out all of the traditional Thanksgiving food – a great big turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, and so forth. Poor Bill; all that food and not much more room in his stomach!
The meal, he recalls ended with Mama bringing out platters of dates and candied fruit and nuts in addition to the traditional Thanksgiving pies. The meal concluded with cigars and Bushmill’s Irish Whiskey for the men, and washing many, many dishes for the women. Some things are the same in all cultures!
His story always reminds me that every family has its own traditions, even if they aren’t quite as unique as Bill’s meal with the Italian American family. We all have our own dressing recipes. Some families have a special cranberry salad; others open a can of jellied cranberries. Sweet potato casseroles can be sweet or savory. Jello salad or no jello salad?
But what is generally the same, no matter the traditions, is the family and friends gathered together, thankful for the gifts they have been given over the past year. The sound of children playing and noisy kitchens. Football games as background noise. Leftovers somewhere around 9 o’clock. Even if the leftovers are warmed up spaghetti and meatballs.
Now for another Thanksgiving recipe…..
My mother never, as far as I recall, made her gravy any way except from the little packets. I don’t know why this was so, though it perhaps had something to do with the fact that she mostly prepared the meal all by herself. Perhaps making turkey gravy from scratch just felt to her like the straw that broke the camel’s back. All I know is that I grew up thinking that gravy must be really difficult to make, so for many years I did the same thing – gravy from the little packets.
Now I know that making gravy is really very easy, and I do so often (though I must admit that I still occasionally use the packets if I am making something just for Bill and me). But a number of years ago, I found this recipe for gravy that you make ahead, and it is such a cinch that I have done it every year since.
Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy, Women’s Day Magazine, November 15, 2005
Ingredients
4 turkey wings (3-4 lbs.)
2 onions, pulled and quartered
8 c. chicken broth
¾ c. chopped carrots
½ t. dried thyme
¾ c. flour
2 T. butter
½ t. freshly ground pepper
Process
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Have ready a large roasting pan, a 5-6 qt. pot and a 3 qt. saucepan. Put wings in a single layer in the roasting pan, scatter the onions on top. Roast 1-1/4 hours, or until wings are browned.
Put wings and onions in the pot. Add 6 c. broth (refrigerate remaining 2 c.), the carrots and thyme. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered, 1-1/2 hours.
Remove wings and allow to cool. When cool, pull off skin and meat. Discard skin; save meat for another use. Strain broth into saucepan, pressing vegetables to extract liquid. Discard vegetables; skim fat.
Whisk flour into remaining 2 c. broth until blended and smooth.
Bring broth in the saucepan to a gentle boil. Whisk in the flour mixture and boil 4 – 5 min. to thicken gravy and remove floury taste. Stir in butter and pepper.
Freeze up to one month. When serving, add pan drippings from the turkey to the hot gravy.
Makes 8 cups.
Nana’s Notes: I frequently have been unable to find turkey wings, so I substitute turkey legs. Also, since I am generally cooking for the mighty hordes, I have to at a minimum double the recipe. That has always worked fine. Finally, make sure you strain out the grease from the pan drippings if you use them at the end. Making the gravy ahead is just one less thing you have to do at the very end when it seems so chaotic getting the food on the table, and the gravy is really very good.
Nana's Whimsies 