Did you wake up, with the sudden realization that Thanksgiving is day after tomorrow? And you're supposed to bring the sweet potatoes...but you don't make sweet potatoes?! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? You know the grocery's shelves are empty by now, right??? No cans of the orange darlings, no bags of marshmallows to be found. It's too late to order them all made up from the deli counter. What will they still have in abundance? Simple, old-fashioned, made from scratch ingredients. Besides, you probably already have most of these in your pantry and fridge. Yes, Virginia, you can make these from scratch and watch people swoon!
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
3 medium sweet potatoes, baked, flesh scooped out (about 3 cups) You bake these babies just like a regular potato, prick it, rub the outside with butter, BUT put them on a foil lined baking sheet because they are messier bakers)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon (I use a rounded measure for the cinnamon and nutmeg.)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup heavy cream, half & half, or whole milk I've made it all ways, it's all good!
Topping
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup flour
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Mix all the sweet potato ingredients together EXCEPT the cream. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the cream and mix well. Pour into a greased casserole dish, about the size of an 8" x 8" one.
Mix the topping ingredients together with a fork and sprinkle over the top of the sweet potatoes.
Bake 25 - 30 minutes.
Watch the sweet potato haters convert!
Okay, I have written more about being thankful, and deleted them all, than you might imagine. Why can't I get it down? What's the block Sherri? What's the happs? It's that time of year. You have friends who have been posting since the beginning of November, what they are thankful for each day. I don't know, but I suspect, that it's because, at 44, I have had my share of unexpected tragedy, despair and devastation. I know I'm not alone in this. But because I'm truly an optimist, I have always found the blessing, however tiny, and clung, sometimes desperately, to it.
So when I contemplate my deeply thankful spirit, I tend toward the dramatic, I get a little maudlin, I usually shed a few tears. But without those experiences...would I be as determined as I am to find the joy in it all? Would I have the strength I have? Would I have been able to simply be glad my daughter and I weren't the first guy in line at the ER a couple weeks ago? Nope. And there you have it. My grandma was right, those things that haven't killed me, have indeed made me stronger. Contributed greatly to the woman I've become. So those ugly parts of your life? They happen. But if you can find the ray of hope, even if it's that you will see you can get through it, hold on to that. Because neither the good or the bad last forever! Revel in the good, know the bad will pass. It's how you let those things define you, that make you who you are.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!
~S
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Confessions and Cranberries
Thanksgiving is creeping up on us! I LOVE Thanksgiving dinner. It is, hands down, my all time favorite meal. I savor the co-mingling of the sweet from sweet potato souffle, with the saltiness of my Aunt Maria's cucumber salad, the smooth as silk gravy flowing over the lumpy mashed potatoes, the combination of hot and cold things on my plate at the same time, the mellow flavors of the turkey and dressing with the pungent tartness of good, home made cranberry sauce. I am totally one of those people who doesn't really want anything to do with a cranberry sauce that came out of can. Sorry. It's one of those things about me you just have to know. I will never, ever, forget being at my grandmother's house one Thanksgiving and watching her carefully, slowly, painstakingly coaxing the cranberry sauce gelatin out of the can and rejoicing in the perfect lines from the can that allowed her to make even slices of the stuff. Even at the tender age I was, I knew there had to be a better way. Go ahead and try and guess which grandma. I have 3, so you've only got a 33% of guessing correctly. If you knew any of these fine ladies, you will likely be able to eliminate one right off the bat. And my grandma with the canned stuff, well, she's got many, many other fabulous attributes so I don't think she worries too much about our cranberry differences.
But I digress. You must make this cranberry recipe. I have made several over the years, including my other grandma's which with her doubled sugar was my favorite standby until I found this one a couple years back. It is the ONLY cranberry recipe you need. And you can make it the weekend before Thanksgiving, eliminating one thing to do on the day of. In fact, it's better made ahead so all the flavors can mingle and marry. And the color is breathtaking. Put it in a cut crystal bowl, or any glass dish you have, and it just gleams on the table.
ALICE'S CRANBERRY SAUCE (from the Sweet & Savory blog by Alice if I remember correctly)
12 oz. bag cranberries
3/4 cup orange juice
2/3 cup brown sugar (I use dark brown)
1/3 cup white sugar
2 oz. rum (optional) Now you know I use this. It gives it so much more depth of flavor.
Place all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium high 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The cranberries will pop. Cool. Refrigerate until the big day.
That's IT! Simple, you probably already have every single ingredient except the cranberries, but you're going to the grocery anyway, so buy some ahead and freeze the bag if you want to. Just that before you cook 'em. With this recipe there is simply no reason for that nasty canned stuff to be on anybody's table. I'm just going to lay it out there.
Gobble gobble,
~S
But I digress. You must make this cranberry recipe. I have made several over the years, including my other grandma's which with her doubled sugar was my favorite standby until I found this one a couple years back. It is the ONLY cranberry recipe you need. And you can make it the weekend before Thanksgiving, eliminating one thing to do on the day of. In fact, it's better made ahead so all the flavors can mingle and marry. And the color is breathtaking. Put it in a cut crystal bowl, or any glass dish you have, and it just gleams on the table.
ALICE'S CRANBERRY SAUCE (from the Sweet & Savory blog by Alice if I remember correctly)
12 oz. bag cranberries
3/4 cup orange juice
2/3 cup brown sugar (I use dark brown)
1/3 cup white sugar
2 oz. rum (optional) Now you know I use this. It gives it so much more depth of flavor.
Place all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium high 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The cranberries will pop. Cool. Refrigerate until the big day.
That's IT! Simple, you probably already have every single ingredient except the cranberries, but you're going to the grocery anyway, so buy some ahead and freeze the bag if you want to. Just that before you cook 'em. With this recipe there is simply no reason for that nasty canned stuff to be on anybody's table. I'm just going to lay it out there.
Gobble gobble,
~S
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
This Wednesday (today) RIGHT NOW...
...really just might kill me if it doesn't end soon.
Just sayin'.
xoxo
~S
Just sayin'.
xoxo
~S
Monday, November 15, 2010
We are SUCH a bunch of gringos.
You know, I pride myself on the quarter part of my heritage that is Mexican. And no, I don't call myself Hispanic, of Spanish descent or any of the other indistinct monikers. My family is from Guadalajara, Mexico. We are Mexican! Every time I have to fill out an ethnicity box on a form, my eyes roll back in my head. They always want me to choose between Caucasian, Not of Hispanic Descent OR Hispanic. Ummm, have you seen me? Pasty redhead with freckles. But yeah, Mexican blood does run through my veins. So I always choose Other, because apparently in the eyes of statisticians it's who I am. Square peg, round hole. Let's just say I'm familiar with the concept.
Tonight though, around our dinner table, we all discovered just what gringos we are. Bill's friend from work, Big Rey, had given him some homemade Mexican sausage awhile back. I've had Big Rey's salsa, so I knew this sausage was going to be hot, hot, hot before I even laid eyes on how red it was from all the peppers in it. Whew. It scared me. So I did what I always do with something I don't know how to cook right away, I put it in the freezer. Well, don't you know that last week Big Ray clapped Bill on the back and asked how the family had liked the sausage. And Bill, being The Most Upstanding Person I Know (including me), admitted we hadn't eaten it yet. Big Rey was...disappointed. We had let him down. It was time to cook the sausage.
So tonight I broke that sausage out of it's casing, fried it up, and served it alongside scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, and fruit. You know that long, slow, afterburn really good, really hot, Mexican dishes have? Yep. Quadruple that, and you have this sausage. The sensible females of the household sprinkled some atop our eggs like it was black pepper, buried it in cheese where it was quite tasty and still really hot. But the males, oh the males. They got a little cocky. There was a little boasting and strutting going on. A wager or two might have been made. Always a good time for us women folk when the men break out their peacock feathers. You just know it's there's going to be a show. Big bitefuls were consumed. Faces contorted and turned red. Brows beaded with sweat. Strange sounds were squeaked out. Large glasses of milk were consumed and refilled. But sadly, in the end, most of the sausage didn't get eaten. Because we are pretty darn gringo. Sigh.
At least nobody complained that the biscuits were a little too done.
From your gringo blogging friend...have a good one!!!
~S
Tonight though, around our dinner table, we all discovered just what gringos we are. Bill's friend from work, Big Rey, had given him some homemade Mexican sausage awhile back. I've had Big Rey's salsa, so I knew this sausage was going to be hot, hot, hot before I even laid eyes on how red it was from all the peppers in it. Whew. It scared me. So I did what I always do with something I don't know how to cook right away, I put it in the freezer. Well, don't you know that last week Big Ray clapped Bill on the back and asked how the family had liked the sausage. And Bill, being The Most Upstanding Person I Know (including me), admitted we hadn't eaten it yet. Big Rey was...disappointed. We had let him down. It was time to cook the sausage.
So tonight I broke that sausage out of it's casing, fried it up, and served it alongside scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, and fruit. You know that long, slow, afterburn really good, really hot, Mexican dishes have? Yep. Quadruple that, and you have this sausage. The sensible females of the household sprinkled some atop our eggs like it was black pepper, buried it in cheese where it was quite tasty and still really hot. But the males, oh the males. They got a little cocky. There was a little boasting and strutting going on. A wager or two might have been made. Always a good time for us women folk when the men break out their peacock feathers. You just know it's there's going to be a show. Big bitefuls were consumed. Faces contorted and turned red. Brows beaded with sweat. Strange sounds were squeaked out. Large glasses of milk were consumed and refilled. But sadly, in the end, most of the sausage didn't get eaten. Because we are pretty darn gringo. Sigh.
At least nobody complained that the biscuits were a little too done.
From your gringo blogging friend...have a good one!!!
~S
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Lists and chocolate chip cookies. They go together.
I'm totally a list maker. Once a long time ago, before I retired to be a full time mom, a friend I worked with was listening to the radio. They were talking about personality types, and how that is reflected in the lists they make or don't make. Some of us, apparently, are a bit obsessive about the whole thing. They will add things they've already done to a To Do List just so they can cross it off. That's me. I absolutely do that! Before that, I thought it was just me. When life gets busy...I think in lists. This is today's...
1. I didn't vote in last week's election. It was a conscious decision. With a super excusable reason - I was taking my child to an ER 70 miles away at the behest of our pediatrician.
2. If I had been able to vote (and please know that I stopped at our polling place and nobody cared to let me skip the line despite the fact that I was on the way to the hospital with my kid), I would not have voted for a particular incumbent city council member. Why? Because he lives around the corner from me and each and every morning on our walk, my faithful beagle chose his yard to do his business in, as soon as Mr. Incumbent Council Member put his little campaign sign up in his yard. I took that as a sign. Charlie hasn't steered me wrong yet.
3. My 13 year old son is on the edge of a growth spurt and is eating us out of house and home. He's about to be taller than his 6' dad.
4. While I was out this afternoon, somebody used up all the flour...but there were no baked goods in the kitchen to show for it. There were however a couple dozen chocolate chip cookies stowed away in my daughter's room. She says she didn't know if we could all eat them since we don't know if she's contagious. Really she didn't want to share with the above mentioned 13 year old who would have wolfed them down in the space of an hour. I'll be making her reservation at the local teen girl eating disorder clinic tomorrow morning. Kidding! But I do know now that she is capable of cleaning the kitchen to spotless perfection when necessary...
5. We actually still don't know what's ailing her.
6. We got a Bass Pro Shop mailer today. I can't wait to read it after dinner. I love Bass Pro Shop.
7. And country music. (That's Bill's fault BTW.)
8. My mother is rolling in her grave over numbers 6 and 7 right now.
9. Sometimes the perfect time to feed my family dinner is 7:30pm.
10 This is the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the missing flour....and it is straight out of Trisha Yearwood's cookbook Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen.
2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed (don't use the light brown, trust me on this)
1 large egg, room temperature (I'm pretty sure I don't plan ahead this far)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (we've already had the discussion - only use the REAL stuff)
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (16 oz. package) semisweet chocolate chips
Place the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Using the electric mixer (I use my Kitchen-Aid but I'm sure a hand held would work too), beat the butter, sugars, egg and vanilla together until smooth.
Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together and, with the beater running, slowly add to the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. (Okay, I NEVER sift anything. It gives me a headache. I just get out my whisk and whisk all of it in a bowl until I think it looks fluffier. Precise right?)
Drop the batter by teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Carefully remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. (I make big teaspoon drops because I like 'em chewy in the middle!)
I just found this recipe about a month ago, maybe 2, and I can't tell you how many countless batches I've made. It is hands down my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Second ONLY to my chocolate chip cookie bars.
11. You knew there had to be an 11 right? A nice and tidy 10 is so not me. We all laughed so hard at dinner tonight that I was sure milk was coming out of somebody's nose. Life is good.
Make cookies,
~S
1. I didn't vote in last week's election. It was a conscious decision. With a super excusable reason - I was taking my child to an ER 70 miles away at the behest of our pediatrician.
2. If I had been able to vote (and please know that I stopped at our polling place and nobody cared to let me skip the line despite the fact that I was on the way to the hospital with my kid), I would not have voted for a particular incumbent city council member. Why? Because he lives around the corner from me and each and every morning on our walk, my faithful beagle chose his yard to do his business in, as soon as Mr. Incumbent Council Member put his little campaign sign up in his yard. I took that as a sign. Charlie hasn't steered me wrong yet.
3. My 13 year old son is on the edge of a growth spurt and is eating us out of house and home. He's about to be taller than his 6' dad.
4. While I was out this afternoon, somebody used up all the flour...but there were no baked goods in the kitchen to show for it. There were however a couple dozen chocolate chip cookies stowed away in my daughter's room. She says she didn't know if we could all eat them since we don't know if she's contagious. Really she didn't want to share with the above mentioned 13 year old who would have wolfed them down in the space of an hour. I'll be making her reservation at the local teen girl eating disorder clinic tomorrow morning. Kidding! But I do know now that she is capable of cleaning the kitchen to spotless perfection when necessary...
5. We actually still don't know what's ailing her.
6. We got a Bass Pro Shop mailer today. I can't wait to read it after dinner. I love Bass Pro Shop.
7. And country music. (That's Bill's fault BTW.)
8. My mother is rolling in her grave over numbers 6 and 7 right now.
9. Sometimes the perfect time to feed my family dinner is 7:30pm.
10 This is the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the missing flour....and it is straight out of Trisha Yearwood's cookbook Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen.
2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed (don't use the light brown, trust me on this)
1 large egg, room temperature (I'm pretty sure I don't plan ahead this far)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (we've already had the discussion - only use the REAL stuff)
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (16 oz. package) semisweet chocolate chips
Place the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Using the electric mixer (I use my Kitchen-Aid but I'm sure a hand held would work too), beat the butter, sugars, egg and vanilla together until smooth.
Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together and, with the beater running, slowly add to the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. (Okay, I NEVER sift anything. It gives me a headache. I just get out my whisk and whisk all of it in a bowl until I think it looks fluffier. Precise right?)
Drop the batter by teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Carefully remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. (I make big teaspoon drops because I like 'em chewy in the middle!)
I just found this recipe about a month ago, maybe 2, and I can't tell you how many countless batches I've made. It is hands down my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Second ONLY to my chocolate chip cookie bars.
11. You knew there had to be an 11 right? A nice and tidy 10 is so not me. We all laughed so hard at dinner tonight that I was sure milk was coming out of somebody's nose. Life is good.
Make cookies,
~S
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
And we're out of soap.
This past month and a half have been unusually busy with sick people in our family. But one, my daughter, is still not well. And she got sick first. So last night we were told at her afternoon doctor appointment, to...go home, pack a bag, go to Children's Hospital's ER and be prepared to possibly be admitted. Alrighty then. Not what I expected, but we're an adaptable bunch.
Did we go? Being the cooperative, coachable, doctor direction following mom and daughter that we are, we did. This particular hospital happens to be 70 miles away! But I didn't blink an eye, figuring I'd at least get to sleep in the uncomfortable chair in her room.
Did they admit her? Nope.
Run a bunch of tests? Absolutely.
Look at us like why are you here at night, in the ER, for this? Definitely.
Did I spend 6 hours in a small, hard, desk type chair, not sleeping? Uh huh.
Was she released at 2am so we could now drive, exhausted, the 70 miles back home? Of course.
Offer me a cup of coffee? Ummm, there's a 7-11 a couple blocks away.
Like I would even consider getting out of my car at a deserted 7-11 at 2am while leaving my baby girl in the car. Riiight. Do I look that dumb?
After I silently cursed them all out, wondering if they cared at all about the studies showing the dangers of driving while sleep deprived, the fact that 2am is the worst time to be on the roads, after all the bars have just closed, the tiny little fact that our house is 70 MILES AWAY?!; we asked for a security escort to our car in the parking structure down the block, and drove home.
Arriving safely at the blissful hour of 3:20am.
Making my crazy, little dog bark like crazy as soon as the garage door went up. He knows we're a respectable family, always tucked safely in at this wee hour. This was his house, and he was going to make sure we all knew it. Waking up Bill, poor guy.
I gave my groggy man a synopsis of what all happened...and pretty much the last thing he said to me before he drifted back to sleep was...oh, and we're out of soap.
I love this! Because it means, that the normal activities of the day, like showering, must go on. That despite the fact that I'm frustrated with our medical care and the lack of a cohesive plan between doctors, that they exist. That tests are available. A solution is somewhere in our future. And while I run around with our daughter taking care of all the business, the men in our little family, will keep the place running, have KFC for dinner and use up all the soap!
Love ya!
~S
Did we go? Being the cooperative, coachable, doctor direction following mom and daughter that we are, we did. This particular hospital happens to be 70 miles away! But I didn't blink an eye, figuring I'd at least get to sleep in the uncomfortable chair in her room.
Did they admit her? Nope.
Run a bunch of tests? Absolutely.
Look at us like why are you here at night, in the ER, for this? Definitely.
Did I spend 6 hours in a small, hard, desk type chair, not sleeping? Uh huh.
Was she released at 2am so we could now drive, exhausted, the 70 miles back home? Of course.
Offer me a cup of coffee? Ummm, there's a 7-11 a couple blocks away.
Like I would even consider getting out of my car at a deserted 7-11 at 2am while leaving my baby girl in the car. Riiight. Do I look that dumb?
After I silently cursed them all out, wondering if they cared at all about the studies showing the dangers of driving while sleep deprived, the fact that 2am is the worst time to be on the roads, after all the bars have just closed, the tiny little fact that our house is 70 MILES AWAY?!; we asked for a security escort to our car in the parking structure down the block, and drove home.
Arriving safely at the blissful hour of 3:20am.
Making my crazy, little dog bark like crazy as soon as the garage door went up. He knows we're a respectable family, always tucked safely in at this wee hour. This was his house, and he was going to make sure we all knew it. Waking up Bill, poor guy.
I gave my groggy man a synopsis of what all happened...and pretty much the last thing he said to me before he drifted back to sleep was...oh, and we're out of soap.
I love this! Because it means, that the normal activities of the day, like showering, must go on. That despite the fact that I'm frustrated with our medical care and the lack of a cohesive plan between doctors, that they exist. That tests are available. A solution is somewhere in our future. And while I run around with our daughter taking care of all the business, the men in our little family, will keep the place running, have KFC for dinner and use up all the soap!
Love ya!
~S
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