Stitching Up a Storm in Alamo City

Mitt's Meatloaf Cakes

I read in the New York Times that Mitt Romney's birthday was Monday, and when he was asked what he had for his birthay dinner (or going to have) he replied "Meatloaf Cakes."   Of course, the NYTimes printed Ann's recipe for them and so Mr. Mark and I had them for dinner last night.   I also made the Leek, Potato and Cabbage soup from one of the NYTimes Food articles.   Both were very tasty!!!  And we always love a good salad.  (You can find both recipes in the NY Times Dining Section - March 13, 2012)

I didn't tell Mark that the soup had cabbage in it.   He would have politely declined to eat it.   After he'd eaten half the bowl (with gusto) I told him what ELSE was in it.  He was shocked, but told me to definitely put it on the "Keeper" list. Sometimes temporary deceit is for his own good. 

Happy stitching.
Jane

 

 

Crazy cooking right before Christmas

Jordan got home on Monday - we decided to do some ridiculous cooking before the rest of the family arrives in town this weekend.

So we pulled out the Momofuku cookbook and got busy.  My favorite grocery store in town, Central Market, was a little scant in the Asian aisle, so we went to a Korean market on the East side of town and found the rest of everything we needed.   (The people in the store were lovely. The other customers were especially helpful.)

We made Asian fried chicken, noodles with scallions and asparagus with a poached egg - for the first time with all the recipes, I think it turned out very well.   Quite tasty.  And you know me, I think a poached egg on top of just about ANYTHING is the best meal one could have!!  Love those things!!

As crazy as it sounds, I have been stitching more than usual.   I'm still working on the Linda Carter Holman piece - I'll show it to you in a day or two.

Happy stitching and/or cooking.
Jane

Thanksgiving re-cap

Since Thanksgiving is almost my favorite holiday I thought I'd share a few pics and details.   We got back from Barbados on Friday night (the day after Thanksgiving) but I had planned in advance to have our Thanksgiving meal here on Sunday.  Our local offspring + our friends Bob and Ann came over to help us close out the holiday weekend.

Here's what I made:

        Ina Garten's roasted turkey breast (did them on the grill)
        Mashed potatoes and gravy
        Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows
        Cornbread, shrimp and andouille dressing
        Cranberry/Jalapeno Salsa
        Spinach Madeleine
        Kelly's Onion Pie
        Endive, Apple and Blue Cheese Salad (sort of an updated Waldorf)
        Marie Helene's Apple Cake
        Pumpkin Pie

Ann brought Butternut Squash soup and Dixie Belle dressing

Manda brought Cornbread/Tamale Dressing and Cranberry Salsa (a different kind)

Holly brought Cherry Pie

It was a feast!!!   Crazy amount of food for 8 adults and 2 babies.  Can you believe we ended up with 3 kinds of dressing?   And sort of at the last minute, I decided not to make another stuffed pumpkin.  That would have been over the top - even for me!!

Jakey's latest antic is that whenever he sees a camera, he leans toward it (or pulls the lens toward himself) and says, "CHEESE!!"   Funny boy.  Papa's pretty funny, too.

Happy holidays.
Jane

P.S.  Almost the best part of making the turkey breast is using the leftover bones and meat to make Turkey Gumbo.   I have decided I'm addicted to anything that is served over rice.   Love that stuff!!!

 

Stuffed Pumpkin

I have most of the day today without appointments or "must do"s so I decided to cook up a few things from the fridge.   I'd been eyeing this recipe from The Homesick Texan and remembered that my son in law, Matt really likes this kind of thing - it's a remake of Dorie Greenspan's Stuffed Pumpkin that I made last year (and told you about).

It's been affirmed that I have a Texan palate. This is good!!   And if you've ever made a Jack O' Lantern, you can do this!!

Stuffed Pumpkin with Cheese, Bacon and Chipotle Chile

    One 3-4 lb pie pumpkin
    salt and pepper to taste
    4 oz French bread, cut into 1/2 in cubes
    1/4 lb Gruyere cheese, shredded
    1/4 lb white cheddar cheese, shredded
    4 cloves garlic, minced
    1-2 chipotle chiles en adobo, diced
    1/4 lb cooked bacon, crumbled (I used HEB's thick sliced pepper bacon)
    1/4 t ground cumin
    1/2 c half and half

Prepare the oven by preheating it to 350 and putting a rack in the center.  

Cut a circle around the pumpkin stem about 1 inch away from the stem.   Remove the top and clean out the seeds and stringy bits from inside the pumpkin.  (Save the seeds for roasting later, if you like.)   Lightly salt and pepper the inside of the pumpkin.

Toss together the bread cubes, shredded cheeses, garlic, diced chiles and crumbled bacon, and stuff into the pumpkin.   Stir the cumin into the cream, adding a bit more salt and pepper to taste.   Pour cream mixture into pumpkin over bread and cheese mixture.

Place the top on the pumpkin and place the pumkin into a baking pan.   Bake for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until filling is brown and bubbling.  To serve, remove the top and spoon out portions of the filling, grabbing some of the cooked pumpkin.   Serve warm.

Happy stuffing and stitching.
Jane

A surplus of vegetables and an angel

Amanda signed up with a CSA this year, and they've been getting lots of very nice vegetables every week.   This weekend they were out of town, so I picked up the bounty and got busy in the kitchen.  We got basil, eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes and tons of cucumbers.

I had a few peppers in the fridge and a can of fire roasted tomatoes in the pantry, and got busy on Saturday afternoon making ratatouille, and bruschetta with some homemade bread.  This is the ratatouille before and after.....  Yum on all counts.   We ate the bruschetta so fast I forgot to take a picture of it.

Since I have one more eggplant left, I'm going to attempt some eggplant parmesan today.  I'm not sure I've made it before.

And, yes, I have been stitching a little bit, too.   On Wednesday of last week, I drove up to Austin and stitched with the ladies who stitch at The Needleworks every Wednesday.   They're a very friendly and fun bunch of ladies.   It was a fun day - even though I realized after I'd been stitching for a while on this angel that I had mis-counted on the bottom blue border.   ARGHHH!   I thought I was almost done with that section and quite the opposite was true. 

 

Do you also have those days where you are sure you have taken out more stitches than you put in???  I wasn't quite that bad last week, but almost.   I can't complain about the angel, however.  I put the first stitch in her on our trip to Prague, which was about 3 weeks ago, and I think she's about 70% done.   I didn't stitch at all for more than a week after we got back.  Once I get her wings done (which I think will be a challenge) I'll have the ornamentation to do - adding her facial lines (luckily she's not my age or that could take a LONG time), couching some gold, doing her head piece, the rest of the beads, and the star.  She's close.

I hope you put in more stitches than you take out every single day this week.
Jane