Z's Thanksgiving

I should have followed my nephew around and had him take more pictures of FOOD, like the amazing dessert table (2 apple pies, 2 pumpin pies and chocolate/peanut butter thick brownies...and whipped cream!), but here are some shots from Z's Family Thanksgiving in Bel Air, California, at my uncle and aunt's home!  at least all the shots I could find that didn't have people in them...you know how into anonymity I am! The dinner was DEEEElicious! 

  Appetizers of hummus, a fish spread, pita bread, salamis, string and feta cheeses, etc..really good

 Savory bread pudding, corn, string beans, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and very simple stuffing that was out of this world...I may leave sausage out next time I make it  myself..this was just the bread/onion/celery/seasonings stuffing and was amazingly good.  The flowers were about 2' long and consisted of tangerine, orange and red tulips and roses and other flowers..so pretty!

 Turkey before bringing it to the table!  Just the smell of the roasting turkey tells us Thanksgiving is here, doesn't it?   There were about 35 of us and a good time, and delicious time, was had by all. My aunt and uncle are amazing hosts and I want to thank them here for such a beautiful evening.  xxxx

 Centerpieces..they were so beautiful.

I hope your Thanksgiving was great, too. 

Thanksgiving side dishes

I love Thanksgiving food. (except giblets)  Because my family meets at  my Uncle and Aunt's home and they are having it catered for the second time in a row (though my Aunt's an excellent cook and gracious hostess), I won't be taking anything with me......BUT, more than the turkey, I adore the side dishes and wondered if you have special recipes for any that I can dream about :-)  I have a girlfriend who's come down with a cold so bad it's keeping her from spending her typical family Thanksgiving at her cabin in Big Bear up in the mountains, so I'm thinking we'll have to make up for her missing Thanksgiving dinner and I'll either cook or we'll find a turkey dinner somewhere next week!    Any ideas you'd like to share with us?   My blog friend, Silverlady, has provided what she calls "an infallibly good recipe for turkey."  She adds that "you might want to add it to your cooking site.  I used to put the bird in the oven, go to the barn, & ride for 3 hours.  Happy Thanksgiving  & love to all."

Here it is!: 

Roast turkey in foil (Life Picture Cook Book  - 1958)

Oven- 400' pre-heated

1 twelve-fifteen lb. bird
Butter
1/4 C. dry white wine
1/4 C. brandy
1 tsp. thyme (I'd use a bit more)
1 tsp. basil (" ")
Salt & pepper
Stuffing

Rub the outside of the bird with salt & pepper and softened butter, then stuff.  Put on large piece of HEAVY foil in a baking pan.  Pour over the wine & brandy mixed with the herbs.  Seal the foil & roast in hot oven (400') for 3 1/2 hours, more for larger bird  (3 3/4 or 4).  Fold foil back, spoon off drippings to add to gravy, & put bird back in the oven 30 minutes uncovered to brown, leaving the temp at 400 degrees.

SO...what to serve WITH your turkey?  Please chime in!  I have to admit that I'm a DRESSING fan (cooked outside the bird because it's way less fuss) but I still call it STUFFING and if anybody's got a great recipe for that, I'd love to hear it.  Turkey stuffing rates up there with Mac 'n Cheese with me, and you know that's UP there!

z

APPLE PIE......what do you think?

It's annoying enough to click on a Yahoo Homepage article and have to sit through an ad and THEN a video instead of just reading what it says they're going to tell you on their teaser headline, but this really made me curious! (and a little ticked off)

I saw there's some award winning apple pie recipe which the developer of that recipe is finally sharing so I figured I'd check to see what makes her pie special (what makes my apple pie very special is bourbon-soaked raisins in it!). 

So I clicked on the headline and there's one of the dreaded videos.......I decided it can't be that they've brought me here and aren't publishing the recipe, too, so I scrolled down and hit COMMENTS......I was slowly reading through them (everybody's ticked off at the video instead of a recipe and a deaf person or two is really outraged because there's no accomodation for the deaf) when I saw a commenter had published the recipe.  She said "Here it is, for those of you who'd like it".......I'd gone by that comment when what she'd written finally HIT me!....but, by the time I scrolled back up, it was GONE, folks.   Honestly!   And, I'd noticed that the comments were up to something like 131 and, suddenly, it said 129!

Now, it could be it wasn't THAT recipe and the editors deleted it or they just plain want you to WATCH THE VIDEO so their advertisers which show their ad first get their payback!?  What do you think?  I just checked again, and way down the line of comments someone HAS printed "A" recipe, who knows if it's the one? But, there's nothing really special about it at all.  How can using a mechanical apple peeler make your pie better??   I WILL admit that the commenter said the award winner uses EMPIRE APPLES and they are MY FAVORITES and I've only had them ONCE in London, Ontario, Canada at an apple picking place near my sister's home.........and they've stuck in my mind as THE BEST!

Well, putting that aside, what special things do you do with YOUR apple pie? (and you've just got to decorate with those leaves (it's SO easy) but you MUST include a little apple alongside the leaves like I do!)    The apples in the image are Empires, by the way!

z

SOUP! It's getting cooler outside (Hurrah!)

Do you have a soup you love and can share with us?  Just tell us the ingredients or, if you have a recipe, please include it!   I love soup and I hope we get some good ones for everyone to share.
I'm going to post a few in comments but can't get to it right now.  
Thanks for participating!

Soup, Stew, roasts, .......it's my favorite season for good food!

z

It's your LAST MEAL before EXECUTION!

Do you think it's right that Texas has stopped giving men on their last night alive a special meal they request?  I don't.  The guy in THIS article was apparently a scumbag, but not to get one more meal of food that you love?  The night before YOU DIE?

What do you think?  And, what would be YOUR last meal, if you could order any and all the things you wanted to taste before meeting your maker?

I have to think about this, but I'll let you know what I'd pick soon!
Thanks!
z

I am SO ANGRY that I HAVE to eat........................

...........FILL IN THE BLANK!   Do you have a food you just have to have when you are as steamed as a perfectly cooked artichoke?

Is it carbs or sweets or ........what?  What do you run to when you're really mad and must have ...that food?  Let us know!

thanks! z

Do you have ONE FAVORITE DISH?

Please let us know what your ALL TIME FAVORITE FOOD/DISH is!!    And, if you can, please include the recipe!   I guess my very favorite food is Macaroni and Cheese and I have to admit I probably have 239487234987 recipes that would be my second favorite food.    Maybe spaghetti and meatballs would be on that 'second favorite' list.......and baked potatoes with all the trimmings, or pasta with white truffles (which MAY be even over Mac and Cheese, got to think about that)........or just a lovely baked chicken with fresh bread, DELICIOUS!  


SO...what about you?  Thanks!


Oh! And I LOVE MEAT LOAF! z

Breakfast........

"It's the most important meal of the day".........do you agree?

What do you like to eat for breakfast?   First tell us what you'd LIKE to eat for breakfast, putting health and weight aside, then tell us what you DO eat for breakfast!!

Any clever new recipe ideas are more than welcome........thanks

Z

What's your favorite COCKTAIL?

If you imbibe, tell us what you love.  Is it a particular beer?  Do you love mixed drinks?   Have you changed over the years in what your favorite drink was/is?     I think it would be fun to find out!
And, if you have a recipe for a really unusual one that's delicious, please include it!

Cheers!
z

TUNA FISH! Mmmmm

HERE is an article on the best canned tuna brands!   SO, of course, that got me thinking: 
WHAT do you put in your tuna salad for a sandwich?  Do you prefer white meat or darker meat-tuna?  Pickle relish? Lemon?  Both?  No mayo?  With Mayo?  White bread?  Wheat bread? Sourdough?  Crust on/crust off?  Tuna melt?     I'd love to have your input!

thanks!

Z

BURGERS: got the perfect one?

What is the PERFECT HAMBURGER in your opinion?  Friends barbecued burgers for us out on the deck Friday in Venice, California, overlooking their canal...ducks going buy, picture-perfect weather; and FABULOUS burgers (to say nothing of the excellent company).  As I ate the burger, I realized it was as pink as I personally like inside, but without that 'soft and kind of uncooked feeling' inside like a rare burger sometimes is, and gorgeously charred on the outside, so I asked my friend what he did.  A big smile crossed his and his wife's faces "You noticed!" they said, "the trick is to put them on the grill frozen and don't buy the meat too lean because the fat cooks off into the coals, anyway, and emits that gorgeous flame that charbroils the burger so well.   I'm telling you, they were PERFECTION.

Do you have a special way of preparing them?  And what do you like on them?  Ours yesterday had melted cheese and we all used catsup, S&P, and that was IT.  They were THAT good. (and one MUST put the buns on the grill just for a little grill marking and heat as my host did...perfection)
z

Casseroles.......

Casseroles seem to be a little bit a 'thing of the past', but I believe they should make a come-back, particularly with our grocery bills rising by the minute and how many people they can feed.   Casseroles can be fattening if you add sour cream or mushroom soup or lots of pastas or rices, but they can be very healthy, too.   Either way, they're very often full of lower-cost foods than we might make otherwise.  Instead of pork chops or lamb chops, ground meats are usually in casseroles and they're usually less costly.  Sometimes, you can throw a bag of frozen vegetables into a casserole and, if you're not watching your carbs, they're often full of rice or noodles, and they're not expensive, either.    (I happen to love tuna noodle casserole but never make it because it's not exactly weight or health conscious!)

Do you have a favorite casserole you'd like to share with us?   You don't necessarily have to post the recipe, but give us an idea of what's included.    Was your casserole a family recipe, or is it one you just found and loved?  Let us know!  Thanks!

Talking about tuna noodle casserole reminds me of a dish I came up with out of sheer desperation while living in Paris.  We hadn't shopped for a while and I was running out of food and we decided to stay in for dinner that night so I found some spaghetti, a large can of tune and lemons and roughly did this:

Z's Pasta and Tuna:
Sauteed a thinly sliced onion on olive oil, added a little garlic if you've got it (Or garlic powder, not garlic salt, never), threw in the tuna(oil or water included) and broke it up into the olive oil, warmed that all up, squeezed lemon juice into it, added enough white wine to make it juicier (add a bit more olive oil if the sauce seems to need a little thickening to stick well enough to the pasta), and then threw cooked spaghetti noodles into that tuna 'sauce'.  I grind a good amount of black pepper on top as tuna and black pepper are such a good combination and it adds a real depth of flavor.  If I have parsley, I finely chop some for the top, and sometimes I throw some grated Parmesan on top. We loved it and I made it for Mr. Z several times even if I did have my refrigerator full of other foods to choose from!  I later took to adding chopped dill, which he adored, or anything else I thought might work.  It's delicious, cheap, and has a lot of things you already have in your house, right?  ENJOY!

z

Macaroni and cheese, AND..................????

Most of you know I don't believe in adding anything to great mac 'n cheese.   To me, the noodles and cheese are enough if they're delicious.  THAT is 'real' macaroni and cheese.  I'm not a 'designer pizza' person, either...keep smoked duck off my pizza or call it something other than pizza :-) 

BUT.......today, I saw Paula Dean make mac 'n cheese with thinly sliced tomatoes on the top  and I thought that looked pretty good and that the sweetness and moisture of the peeled tomatoes, baked on top, so they're even sweeter, could be a nice addition.........kind of a 'break' from the gorgeous richness of mac 'n cheese.......

The other night, I ordered macaroni and cheese for an APPETIZER at a terrific restaurant nearby which serves mostly less 'traditional' dishes than macaroni and cheese and they make that dish rather 'untraditionally'....My friend had a glass of wine, I had a gimlet, and I don't drink a cocktail without food, so I figured "Why not order a side of macaroni and cheese to share with our drinks?"   Even the waiter laughed and kind of liked the idea.  WE sure did! Their macaroni and cheese is wonderful;  I think there's some Fontina and white Cheddar in the sauce and plenty of rosemary and buttered Panko crumbs on top......fabulous.   So, I do like different cheeses, it doesn't have to be cheddar, and the rosemary was a very nice touch......but I don't go too far from my norm!

Do you make macaroni and cheese, and do you put ham in it, or tomatoes on top, or?..............Do you have a family tradition or a new recipe which includes something else?   Anything unusual or different about your macaroni and cheese?

Let us know......thanks!
z

DIET???

DIET is probably a very weird thing to talk about on a food site with a title like mine, but I thought it would be fun to share successful diets some of you might have followed?

So.........what do you do when you want to quickly take off five or ten pounds?   Lots of  salad?  Only protein?  Just stay off sugar?    Let us know!

Thanks!  Z

FATTENING FOOD........mmmmmm!!

What is THE MOST fattening thing you personally LOVE to eat.........whether you eat it every day or rarely, tell us all about it!  I love this kind of conversation and hope you join in!
HERE is a list of what the Yahoo staff says is awful for us to eat............Please add to it!

I have to admit I LOVE macaroni and cheese (as you can tell from my blog's name and image) but there are other things I like which are fattening...like almost every fried thing imaginable!   How about you?
z

SUPER BOWL FOOD!

SO, what about it?

WHAT ARE YOU EATING DURING THE SUPER BOWL GAME?

And, if there's a super recipe you would like to share, please do!

Have fun!  And thanks..........z