Roast Turkey

I made this turkey a few weeks ago. Isn't it pretty?

Macaroni & Cheese

3 T unsalted butter
3 T finely chopped onion
1/2 garlic clove, minced
3 T flour
3 1/2 C whole milk
1 pound cheddar, shredded
2 T Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp salt plus more to taste
1 pound elbow macaroni or any short tubular pasta
2 T dry bread crumbs

1. 400°. Butter a 10-inch round casserole that is at least 3 inches deep. I use a big casserole stoneware bowl from Pampered Chef.

2. Melt butter over medium heat, then add onion & garlic and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the flour to form a roux, stirring for about 1 minute. Whisk in milk. Return to medium-low and simmer, stirring regularly, until smooth but still liquidy, about 15 minutes. It will not be thickened. Add the cheese in handfuls, stirring until melted. Add mustard, Worcestershire & salt.

3. Meanwhile, cook elbow macaroni for HALF the time specified on the box. Pour into the casserole, then pour sauce over and stir well. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top and bake until delicious and golden and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes.

This recipe is adapted from Bake Until Bubbly by Clifford A. Wright.

Christmas Yummies

Somehow I just knew Blogger was going to put my pictures in the wrong order! So in the above picture you see the delicious Christmas dinner we enjoyed. Honey-glazed ham, homemade rolls, and Harvest Green Beans. With Martinelli's to drink, natch.

The picture below shows part of Christmas breakfast. My husband and I have a traditional Christmas breakfast, as I suspect most do. Ours is bacon, eggs & orange juice. We made an addition this year. My husband treated us to the bacon and eggs...

...while I provided the cinnamon rolls. This recipe is very handy as you make the rolls the night before and then pop them in the fridge. Half an hour to warm up in the morning and half an hour to bake and you've got fresh, gooey cinnamon rolls without having to wake up early! The dough is very rich and eggy. Yum! We decided these are now part of our traditional Christmas breakfast.

Pre-frosting.

I too love Basmati Rice

Anth encouraged us to try Basmati rice. So our last trip to Costco we each bought a big bag. This naturally aromatic rice tastes "dewicious" as my girls would say. We had it with stir fry but I was content to eat it plain as well. Everyone in the family loved it.

Braised Chicken with Dried Plums

from Everyday Food

First you brown 8 chicken thighs. I forgot to take a picture of the thighs browning. Oil was splattering and I had to have Dh do the flipping to avoid getting disfiguring burns. Here are the thighs sort of browned, removed to a platter:

(Raw meat. Yummy!)

Then you brown onions in the remaining oil and chicken fat, scraping up the bits. The onions get nice and soft. Add in a bit of flour and two cups of grape juice:

Then you put the chicken back in the pot. I was excited to use my locking silicone-tipped tongs for the first time:



Here is something I've realized about Everyday Food in relation to myself: I have to cook food 2-3 times longer than listed in EF. Pretty much every time I'm cooking meat. I suspect this is because my pans all suck and therefore do not conduct heat well. Someday I will have an All-Clad 12-inch and a La Crueset Dutch oven, but until then I will have to fiddle with cooking times. The recipe said cook 8-10 minutes. I had to cook these babies 30 minutes (granted, I did a piss-poor browning job, which extended the braise time).

It doesn't look that great, does it? But, oh yum!

Here is my bowl. My favorite part of this dish was definitely the sauce. Serve this dish with a crusty French bread to sop up the sauce. I could have just eaten the sauce with bread and been fine.


This dish is economical and easy. Two thumbs up!

Braised Chicken with Dried Plums
Serves 4

2 T olive oil
8 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (I used a 3-lb. bag from Winco)
coarse salt & ground pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T flour
2 C dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
1 C pitted dried plums (aka prunes)

1. In a 5-qt Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt & pepper. Cook in 2 batches until browned, 6-8 minutes, flipping once. Transfer to a plate.

2. To pot, add onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until onion begins to brown, 3-5 minutes. Reduce heat if necessary. Add flour, cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and chicken along with any accumulated juices.

3. Cover and cook until chicken is opaque throughout, 8-10 minutes (or thirty if your pan sucks too!). Stir in prunes.