Roast Chicken Dinner

SP asked me to roast a chicken for dinner one recent Sunday. I do love a roast chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy.


I didn't think to buy green beans at the store and we didn't have any frozen so I had to sub broccoli. It was fine, but green beans are my favorite veggie with roast chicken.


The skin was crispy and delicious. I never used to eat chicken skin but when I can get it very crispy I love it. I made the gravy by cooking 2 tablespoons butter with 2 heaping tablespoons flour to make a roux, then adding chicken stock and allowing it to thicken. I seasoned the gravy with salt and pepper - simple and tasty.

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Turkey Day! Yes, I know this post is a little late but things are hectic around here, as you can imagine. This year we decided to keep things very low-key. We still went to my parent's house, but SP did some of the cooking (veggie sides and dessert) and my mom did the turkey and the rest of the sides. It was a great time and Baby Girl slept through the whole meal, allowing everyone to enjoy a hot meal together.

Here's the turkey, fresh from the oven:


And here it is after my stepdad worked his carving magic:


Glorious, fluffy mashed potatoes:


SP made the stuffing, with a little help from me:


...with a hint of apple from apple cider. Delish! He also made green bean casserole:


Yes, it had cream of mushroom soup, but the beans were fresh. Cranberry sauce:


Glazed carrots:


... were the surprise hit of the year. It was a simple recipe using brown sugar, sherry and baby carrots and butter. Plenty of gravy made from the turkey drippings:


The table all laid out:


My plate with lots of everything.


I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Next year maybe Baby Girl will be helping out in the kitchen.

Mini Thanksgiving Dinner

Just look at this gorgeous plate:


No, it's not the fourth Thursday in November, but this is a Thanksgiving meal. Our friends C & D came over for a pre-Thanksgiving meal to get us ready for the big day in a few weeks. We split the menu so neither of us was cooking the whole meal. D made the turkey:


...which he carved before bringing it over to make reheating it easier. He told us he rubbed the turkey with a bunch of seasonings and then cooked it at high heat to seal in the juices and brown the skin and then finished it low and slow to keep it moist, basting it with apple cider along the way. It was sensational - moist, tender and very flavorful. He also made the stuffing:


... and the gravy:


I was in charge of sides, including a fresh take on green bean casserole:


... where everything was fresh instead of canned. Green bean casserole isn't a staple on our holiday table, but I've been interested in trying a fresh version and this didn't disappoint. Even D, who isn't a fan of green bean casserole, had two huge helpings. I also did mashed potatoes:


... roasted sweet potatoes:


... two kinds of cranberry sauce (jellied and jellied with whole fruit):


... and SP's famous biscuits:


I actually made this batch of biscuits since SP had been cleaning the house all day and didn't want to get any chemical residue in the dough. He walked me through each step and the biscuits were really good, with a nice tang from the buttermilk. C & D were also in charge of dessert, and C made a double chocolate cake:


She even made chocolate leaves to go on top of the cake. It was decadent and very good. After all this food we needed a long walk around the neighborhood. I think we're all sufficiently ready for Turkey Day on the 27th.

Thanksgiving Day Part 2

We got to my parent's house around noon and my mom and I set to putting the finishing touches on our Thanksgiving feast. I just love looking at this picture - it really was a feast.


In order to keep our energy up while we cooked, we noshed on a few nibbles:


... pita chips, crackers, hummus, various pitted olives and marinated mozzarella and sundried tomatoes. The turkey looked beautiful when it came out of the oven:


... all crispy and golden brown. My stepfather did an expert job of carving it using a new butcher's method:


We had two things of stuffing, one that was inside the bird:


... and the overflow that was baked alongside with some of the tasty pan drippings. While they both tasted sensational, I preferred the insider stuffing since it had that amazing turkey and butter flavor you can only get from stuffing cooked inside the bird.


We also had the rest of the usual suspects, including mashed potatoes:


... steamed green beans:


... and roasted sweet potatoes:


Here's the table all set and waiting for everyone to sit down and dig in:


For dessert we had three kinds of pie - pecan, pumpkin and cheesecake (if that counts as a pie):


I opted for a big slice of cheesecake with raspberries and raspberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, both of which were outstanding. Another successful Thanksgiving dinner. I hope everyone had a nice holiday!

Smothered Pork Chops

When my plans for Thai food with friends fell through at the last minute I needed to come up with a quick dinner idea. Some people on a cooking board I frequent recommended Tyler Florence's recipe for Smothered Pork Chops and since bone-in chops were on sale at the supermarket this week it seemed like the perfect solution.


It was recommended I serve the chops with mashed potatoes to sop up all the yummy gravy (and potatoes were on sale - how fortuitous). I also steamed a few heads of broccoli and dinner was served.


One of the things I liked about this recipe was that the chops were coated in a seasoned flour mixture, which gave them a nice crispy exterior. I seasoned the flour with salt, pepper, cayenne and garlic powder. We don't keep onion powder on hand so I finely diced half an onion and cooked it in the pan before making the gravy. Because of the cayenne in the flour the gravy has just the slightest hint of heat, which SP and I agreed was a very welcome addition. I also skipped the buttermilk, opting instead for plain old milk. It worked out fine, but I'm sure it would add a nice tang to the gravy.

I mashed the potatoes with more of my Plugra butter. They were absolutely delicious. Overall a fantastic, satisfying meal.