She has become very dear to me. Even though our ages would point to a mother/child relationship we started out as neighbors and became good friends quickly. If my bits of help allows her to stay independent a little longer I’ll be thrilled.
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A very strange hodgepodge for dinner. A third of a cup of last nights rice/pork belly/veg plus a bit larger amount of a farro risotto leftover mix added to a mystery eggplant/lentil soup found hiding in the freezer. Hearty and strangely tasty. Three containers down - making way for Thanksgiving leftovers!
My neighbor had awoke at 4 am and decided to tackle her pantry. Everything was put away plus she had generated a bag of canned goods to donate to another neighbors church. Her grocery list is done and her dry goods are in the staging area. She keeps getting a little confused as to when Thanksgiving is (days away? weeks away?). One of her daughters comes by at least once a week so I’ll see if she has noticed an spike in disorientation too.
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I had it once as a child and detested it - probably since it was made with canned skinny string beans.
I was served the" back of the can" recipe made with fresh green beans a few years ago and was surprised that I liked it. Now I make about 2 servings worth once a year and enjoy it!
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I’ve tried the “classic” recipe made by others a few times trying to understand the enchantment and can’t get down more than a bite- the canned (ick!!) or prefrozen then cooked to death beans are a total dealbreaker for me.
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Fresh beans and a good quality canned soup make it work for me! That said, once a year is enough to satisfy the craving.
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Heading to CA fellow HOs. Whirlwind ahead.
Happy Thanksgiving all! Here’s to your good health and holiday cheer!!
Rooster
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In this house, a bog standard mac & cheese is usually enhanced with the addition of garlic, onion, courgettes & bacon (an original recipe idea from Delia Smith more years ago than I care to remember - 1985, if you insist on knowing)
Tonight, a sort of similarish version from Nigel Slater (Kitchen Diaries 2). He uses orzo, so shall we. Pancetta and chopped onion are fried till just about cooked. A small glass of white wine goes and reduces by half. Half moons of courgette go in, along with seasoning and it simmers till the courgette is tender. The cooked orzo goes in along with a good 50g Parmesan. The idea is the cheese melts while it’s being stirred through.
For Team Harters, this is a rare voyage into the relatively uncharted waters of healthy eating.
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Notice: Awful pics. Don’t know if the heat off the dishes clouded the lens, or I had the jitters.
Back Story: Browsed five of our cookbooks to find a simple recipe for Pot Roast. Seemed to find here in the Western Hemisphere in the 21st Century, Pot Roast has been “embellished”. There is no “simple” pot roast…
Looked to the slo cooker, and that’s the way I went. Six hours later a tasty Sunday Dinner on Saturday. Plenty of left overs for tonight. Pot Roast was marinated in Root Beer for five hours, then heavily seasoned with crushed black pepper, sea salt & minced garlic.
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I loosely based my recipe/method from Jim Hughes of Brick & Fire Bistro in Eureka, CA. I cut the amount of mushrooms down to just 1 quart (the amount I had), only 1 small onion,1 shallot, 1/4 cup each of white wine and sherry, and 1 cup of cream. I hope this gives an idea of what I did.
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I had to do it. I love mushroom anything!
http://whereandwhatintheworld.com/2014/07/jim-hughes-brick-fire-bistro-mushroom-cobbler-recipe.html
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Thanks!
Inspiration for dinner was Mahi that needed to get cooked, locanto kale that had languished in the fridge as well as peppers, snow peas and frozen corn.
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A shopping day in Nashua, NH. Kind of dumb the weekend before Black Friday weekend, but whatevs.
A TON of chocolate goodies for work gift bags at Home Goods, some PJs for Mom at Marshall’s, and some stuff for me at Kohl’s both in-store and online with an incredibly helpful C/S rep who got rave reviews from me both in person and online on Kohl’s feedback survey site.
Dinner was a Heat-and-Eat appetizer dinner, due to going to Trader Joe’s. Their appetizers are usually too enticing to pass up. LOL
From Trader Joe’s:
Bacon-Wrapped Dates (a bit overly crispy, but still good!)
Crispy Vegetable Pouches (fair)
Truffle&Swiss and Bacon&Sauteed Onion Mini Quiches (a total MEH)
Spanakopita (good)
Tempura Shrimp with a Soy dipping sauce (augmented with honey and freshly grated ginger) (very good)
From BJs Wholesale Club:
Goat Cheese and Honey Arancini Bites (fair)
The mini quiches and arancini were the most disappointing. I think the aracini need some marinara sauce for dipping - the quiches will probably be tossed out - REALLY flavorless.
There was wine. This will be my last real meal unless I eat tomorrow afternoon after getting back from Mom’s. Liquid diet starting tomorrow at 5 pm until “the exam” on Tuesday morning. Chicken stock, water, ginger ale, and lemon ice popsicles are all I’ll be allowed on Monday night.
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That sounds like a perfect day - I love the multitude of appetizer!
Hope your liquid regime and test go well. 
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Looks very tasty!
I had a neighbor like that as well. She always wanted company for goldfish crackers and white wine. I came, and she came to us for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. She died long ago and I still miss her.
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This appetizing 
concoction is one of our family comfort foods known simply as “eggs and potatoes” - an egg & potato salad of sorts, everything mashed into oblivion, bound with BUTTER, seasoned simply with salt & pepper. Eaten with buttered toast, or as a sandwich in soft bread. Toast for me.
I had a tough weekend emotionally and physically: another friend lost a parent too soon; I did a one-day trip up for the ceremonies… heartbroken for them, irritated at other friends who made it all about themselves.
Carbs on carbs were what was needed tonight.
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Obviously random meals are my culinary signature, so I’m just going to embrace that…!
Needed serious vegetable matter, bought a cauliflower since the rest will be ok in the fridge til I’m back in a few days.
Just steamed it since my piece of *ish oven was acting up (aka not actually lighting) and added salt and everything seasoning
More Lazy Girl Tofu which was just as unattractive as it was last night, so i’ll spare you the visual.
And a few handfuls of pretzel fishies, the most delicious fish maybe ever. The rest of the bag will come with me as part of my desk snacks stash.
Kombucha a la carte. And a stupid early morning with a very long day ahead of me tomorrow…
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A real “Borgassmord”…Great idea to do an “exam” right before Thanksgiving"… But then again I am scheduled for the same right before Christamas…
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We had guests over last night. I failed at making a batch of doughnuts earlier in the day. (NEVER try a new recipe when you’re expecting company. I always say this, but do it anyway.) I said forget about dessert and moved on. For the rest of the meal, I went with what I knew could do well. A simple meal of “brown” rice (tarkay walay chawal), fried chicken, and a cole slaw-y salad.
It came out way better than I expected. Not a single complaint from any of the kids. No one asked for ketchup or chutneys. These were the leftovers. No one even mentioned dessert, which is completely unheard of at our place. I wish I could cook like this every day.
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