Pasta Dinner

Last night Spud was begging for pasta to go with the re-directed turkey, so I figured I would accomodate tonight.  I admit I am exhausted after not sleeping to well last night, so this blog will probably not do this dish justice, but it was delicious.  The Pasta with Bolognese Sauce, page 221 did not dissappoint.  Bolognese is one of my favorite dishes, and somehow I have never made this one, and it is the best I have had.   It contains every element that any other bologneses usually only use part of.  This one has the carrots, celery and onion, the milk and white wine to go with the tomatoes.   It uses ground meatloaf mix instead of whole pieces of meat.  It is a nice easy recipe and will definately be a regular in my food repetoire.

Re-directed Dinner

     Last night I set out to make Chicken Divan, I asked Coco to take the chicken out of the freezer.  When I got home, the recipe was more involved than I felt like making, so I decided to do a change over to an easier Rachel Ray Recipe from Everyday magazine.  I decided to use her Chicken Fried Steak recipe and changed it to Chicken Fried Chicken.  The only problem was that when I opened  the package Coco took out, I realized he took out the Turkey cutlets, so dinner became Chicken Fried Turkey.   This recipe makes a really nice pan gravy to go with it.  I further cheated this meal with frozen green beans and instant mashed potatoes, but it was like eating a homemade tv dinner.   The dish turned out pretty well with the turkey substitution.

Sunday Night Supper

After overeating yesterday and travelling today with a late lunch ( dare I admit fastfood at a rest area!) we decided to eat a little later this evening and a little lighter.  Spud requested brussel sprouts for dinner, probably one of the few 10 year olds in America who's favorite vegetable is brussel sprouts.  I ran to the store for a mini-shopping trip, and the local grocery just didn't have them.  I am not sure what the season of a brussel sprout is.  So as a second choice I bought Swiss Chard to make Swiss Chard Gratin, page 543.  Spud didn't like it, said it reminded him of Spinach Souffle, and he has declared that eggs should never be with spinach.  This dish has no eggs in it though, and was quite good.  It actually calls to make it with spinach too, but I just made it with all Swiss Chard.  It was really more like a more complex version of creamed spinach.  I liked the touch of chicken stock in with the cream, it adds a more intersted flavor.  I think I will try this with creamed spinach in the future as well. Of course the best part is the cheesy, breadcrumb topping that bakes and get crispy.  I made this side with Veal Scallops with Lemon and Capers, page 456.  I love this dish as it is so light and easy and full of flavor.  I admit that I hate capers though, and I leave them out when I make this dish.

Desserts to Tailgate with

    I had been planning a tailgate football party with friends for a while now and I had had dreams of cooking all this amazing tailgate food, but life just got in the way.  Thank goodness for friends who are fellow foodies, because my friend, Carmelita jumped in and did everything for an amazing tailgate.  We had Hebrew Nat's, Beef Burgers, Turkey Burgers, Italian Sausage, peppers and onions and all the fixins.  Everyone brought amazing sides and we were overkilled on the desserts.  One of my friends made amazing butterscotch bars and delicious cheesecake squares.  I never had a chance with her caramel brownies, they were gone instantly.   We had no shortage of brownies, but is there really such a thing as too many brownies?  I made Katharine Hepburn's Brownies, page 688 which I have made before as they are famous and have been published by a few cookbook authors.  These are the best classic brownies, a perfect blend of fudgy & cakey.   I also made the Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies, page 674 and I am pretty sure these were perfect Peanut Butter Cookies.  I always slightly overbake my bottom oven rack, but the top rack came out perfectly.  This is an unbelieveably easy reciped also as it is only 4 ingredients.  There is no excuse with this receipe for anyone to say they don't have time or can't bake.  This is a recipe that busy mom's should keep on hand to use as lunchbox or afterschool snacks.  Both these desserts stay fresh for a few days and traveled well in Tupperware containers.
     Our tailgate party was a huge success, but sadly our game got rained on and only the die hard  fans went to the game.  I personally only go to the game for the party, so I stayed dry.