Harvest Beets

Start preparing these beets at least an hour and a half before dinner needs to be on the table. The whole beets take a long time to soften, but they are worth the effort. They hit every tender tongue spot: sweet, tangy, salty and umami. I know the finished product looks like clumps of coagulated blood. You'll just have to trust me; they're the tastiest beets you'll ever eat. And now that I've said that, you'll probably never make them. Your loss!

Harvest Beets
 
3 whole beets, scrubbed
2 qts boiling water

Sauce: 
1/3 cup cold water
1 Tbs corn starch
2 Tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C white vinegar
1/3 C reserved beet cooking liquid
2 Tbs butter

Cut tops and root ends off of beets. Wear an apron and use a cutting board; beets stain with a purple vengeance. Add to boiling water and cover pot. Cook until tender. Depending on the size of your beets, this can take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. When they are fork tender, remove them from the water (do not drain the water, you'll need some of it later) and run under cold tap water until the beets are cool enough to handle. Remove skin with paring knife and cut beets into bite-size cubes. In a small sauce pan, combine cold water and cornstarch until there are no lumps. Add salt, vinegar and beet liquid. Cook until thick. Remove from heat and melt butter in the sauce. Pour sauce over beets.

I serve these beets as a side to meatloaf or Veggie Meatballs, because they both start with 'M',  as in 'mmmmmmm'.

Veggie Meatballs

I like this recipe because I the kids don't complain about eating their vegetables. They don't even know they're there. Also, I get more mileage from my hamburger because I use less of it to make each meatball than I would to make a traditional one. This dish is tasty and great for a cold night.

Veggie Meatballs

 Meatballs:
2 medium carrots, shredded
2 potatoes, shredded
1 lb hamburger
1/2 C onion
1/2 C bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
pepper

Sauce:
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can milk (use the empty cream soup can to measure this)


Heat oven to 350⁰ and grease a 9x13 glass pan. In a bowl, mix all of the meatball ingredients with your hands until well combined. Form into medium size balls (about an inch and a half in diameter) and brown them in skillet until balls hold together. Move to the glass pan. Make sauce by whisking all ingredients until they are incorporated. Pour over meatballs. Bake for one hour. Meatballs should reach an internal temperature of at least 170⁰.

Serve with Harvest Beets. Since this recipe has potatoes in the meatball, you don't technically need a starch, but I like to serve it over cooked egg noodles or with slices of garlic bread to round out the plate.

Alfredo Night

I often have cream lurking in my fridge, especially after the holidays, and this is a tasty way to use it up. If you have a picky family, consider dong an alfredo bar: cook the pasta and the sauce and give them their choice of toppings like grilled chicken, shrimp, peas, steamed broccoli or anything else you might have on hand. Alfredo is versatile that way.

Pasta and Alfredo
Ingredients:
6-9 oz Pasta* cooked to package instructions and drained
1 stick butter
3 oz cream cheese
1 pint heavy cream
1 cup grated Parmesan
2 tsp dried parsley or  1 tsp fresh
Salt and Pepper to taste

Start your noodles on a back burner. In a medium size pot, melt one stick of butter. Add the cream cheese. It will dissolve faster into the butter if it's had time to come to room temperature first, but it's not necessary. Once cream cheese is melted, add the heavy cream. Simmer over medium heat until pasta is ready. Remove from heat and add Parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir unill parm is melted and pour over your pasta.

Serve with a salad or a side of steamed veggies and some garlic bread.

*Gauge how much pasta you need by how many servings you want to make. I usually plan one once per person. Also, your pasta does not have to be fettuccine. I've done it with linguine and thin spaghetti. Even farfalle or macaroni would work.

Indian Butter Chicken

If we have leftovers from a chicken or turkey roast, this is one of our favorite ways to use them. The kids don't even complain about the tomatoes. I think there's so much spicy interestingness going on that they didn't even notice they're in there.

Indian Butter Chicken
2 cups rotisserie chicken or turkey
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic*
2 Tbs butter
1 tsp dried ginger
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbs brown sugar
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
8 oz can tomatoe sauce
1/2 cup whipping cream**
1/2 cup sour cream**
Salt and pepper

 In a dutch oven or skillet over medium heat, sautee onions and garlic in butter until tender. Add spices, and roast until fragrant (about a minute). Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken and brown sugar. Cook until sugar is dissovled and sauce is warm. Add in the whipping cream and sour cream. Stir until everything is evenly incorporated. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice with a green veggie like edamame or broccoli  (I like the orange with the green).

* Instead of mincing garlic, I use these frozen cubes. They're called Pop n' Cook in the west. You can find them in the frozen section at Walmart. They are awesome.)
**if you don't have one of them on hand, you can skip it, it just won't be as creamy. I've even forgotten to add the cream products entirely and it was still a yummy dish. Healthier that way too.

Dissappearing Raspberry Pretzle Salad

Where's the picture?

Well, that's the thing about this salad. It disappears so fast, I haven't been able to catch it on camera. Like Big Foot and Nessie, this dish will just have to be savored in the moment, and people will just have to take your word for it when you tell them about your experience. ("I hid by the condiment table and snuck up on it--seriously. It never saw me coming-- My scoop was this big! I swear).

Crust:

2 cups crushed pretzels

¾ or cube of butter

2 TBS sugar

Cream Layer:

8 oz cream cheese (can use more if you like it creamy)

1 cup powdered sugar

8 oz cool whip

Jell-O Layer:

1  large box Raspberry Jell-O

2 cups boiling water

two 10 oz bags frozen berries (with syrup)

In a 9X 11 pan, press crust mixture into the bottom and bake at 400⁰ for 8 minutes. Set aside to cool. Combine ingredients for the cream layer until they are smooth. Dollop the cream mixture evenly over the crust once the crust has cooled.  In a separate bowl, dissolve Jell-o in boiling water until it is no longer cloudy.  Add frozen berries (leave them in the freezer before hand) to the Jell-o. Once the mixture is partially set up, spread it over the cream cheese. Refrigerate until it is ready to serve.

Turkey D-lux

Credit for this bit of deliciousness goes to my college roommate. She introduced me to it my first holiday season away from home, and I've loved it ever since. The flavors are simple, the recipe is easy and it's best served in a big sloppy helping. Comfort food at it's finest!

Turkey D-lux

1Tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups boiling water

1 cup rice

1 can Cream of Something  Soup (usually chicken)

8 oz sour cream

1 can turkey (10-12 oz) or 2-3 cups of shredded turkey (great for the day after Thanksgiving!)

Cranberry sauce of your choice

Preheat the oven to 400⁰. In a casserole dish, combine rice, butter, water, and salt. Cook in oven for 20 minutes. While the rice is cooking, combine soup and sour cream, mix thoroughly. Remove casserole dish from oven (rice should be cooked) and layer turkey and then cream mixture on top of the rice (do not stir). Cook in oven for another 20 minutes. Serve with cranberry sauce.

Dirty Dozen: Taco Soup

The most important ingredient in this cold weather staple is a can opener. It's so easy. And delicious.

Taco Soup
1 can black beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can corn, drained (I use a bag of freezer corn here)
1/4 lb browned hamburger
1 can diced or stewed tomatoes (un-drained)
1 can tomato paste
1/4 of a taco seasoning packet (about a Tablespoon)
1/4 cup water if necessary
Sour cream
Shredded cheese
Fritos

Warm beans, corn, burger, tomatoes, paste and seasoning and water in a pot over medium heat, or if you're pressed for time you can dump it in a crockpot (low-6hrs, high-3hrs) and forget about it. Serve with a dallop of sour cream, a sprinkle of shredded cheese and a handful of fritos.


My favorite memory of this soup? We took my aging and somewhat dementia plagued grandfather on a disorienting family vacation to the California coast. After a day at the beach we returned to our condo to warm up over a bowl of this stuff. We sprinkled his with the Frito scoops instead of the traditional Frito strips and he refused to eat it. He thought we were trying to feed him seashells. It's a little sad, I know, but I can't eat this without thinking of him and giggling a little bit.