 Big Guy and I have tried to walk everyday since the passing of our Doodle. It was a daily routine in all kinds of weather with her, and we cannot let that habit go since it is good for our mental, physical, and spiritual health. We do not wish the ghost of our Doodle to come back and smite us!
We decided to go to the Missouri Botanical Garden. We were delighted to see we could get a preview of the holiday wreaths and the holiday floral show. We struck up a conversation with a lovely woman working the information desk and she said to look for the poinsettias with mouse ears. What? She continued to explain that the bracts were round instead of pointed like traditional poinsettias. In doing research on this plant, the Christmas Mouse Poinsettia is not only unique, but new to the market. I suspect this will become a popular plant. I appreciate MBG is on top of this emerging plant by sharing it with the visitors to the garden.
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 Big Guy was in his element preparing our Thanksgiving meats for the holiday. I love the fact that he lets the ham shine without too much fuss.
We picked up our beautiful Miller ham from Vincent’s Market already cooked, sliced, and twined up ready for a reheat on the big day. Yes, the ham would have been delicious by itself, but Big Guy pulled his glaze recipe out of one of our Southern cookbooks, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea, by Martha Hall Foose. The simplicity of the sauce made it perfect. The glaze was a mix of Barq’s Root Beer, ketchup, dark brown sugar, mustard, and the zest and juice of a lemon. He simmered the sauce for ten minutes. The aroma from the sauce was making my mouth water before he even brushed the first layer on the ham. As the ham reheated, he continued to brush the ham with this sauce. It ultimately gave the ham a beautiful shine and so much flavor. In fact, we received a picture from our kiddos of the leftover ham being used again in a breakfast scrabble the next day. It was a big hit!  We opted to make a roasted turkey roulade to accompany our ham for the Thanksgiving festivities. With turkey coming in around $3.00 a pound, Big Guy remembered this recipe that only uses the breast of the turkey. “Why pay for the weight of the bones,” exclaimed the Big Guy.
It was good to revisit this recipe. We first made it the year Ina Garten included it in her cookbook, Back to Basics. The overall idea of the recipe is to encase your dressing in the rolled turkey breast. I love this dressing recipe because it is very flavorful. The stars of the dressing are sage sausage, cranberries, and pine nuts just to name the first three ingredients found in it. It was a multi-staged process, but so worth the effort. In fact, the turkey disappeared so fast at the family gathering we wondered if we should have made a bigger turkey breast and a smaller ham. There is always next year!  We offered to bring the ham and turkey this year to our family celebration. After the sticker shock, Big Guy and I got busy gathering the ingredients for our feast. Big Guy loves to make his southern ham with a glaze whose primary ingredient is root beer. It is from our Screen Doors and Sweet Tea cookbook so you know it will be good. In fact, we made it last year and our kiddos were fighting over the leftovers the next day. Apparently, that never happened in the past! Our addition this year is Ina Garten’s turkey roulade. We have not made it since the passing of my mom, so we are ready to bring this great meal back to the table. I know she would approve.   Big Guy and I have started traditions during the holiday season. One dear to us is the advent candle and now, unfortunately, spreading sprays and flowers at the graveside of our parents.
One, however, was an old family tradition on my side that signaled the time to decorate the tree. I never forgot getting our annual box of sausages and cheeses and how we would delight in the flavors of such a bounty. As my parents got toward the latter part of their lives, this tradition was almost forgotten. I was looking at the various catalogs we get each year around the holidays. The box of sausages and cheese jumped out at me with such clarity I was close to tears. We had received a Swiss Colony catalog and there was the flashback to my childhood in a split second. Big Guy and I restarted the tradition. Our box of “tree trimming” delights has arrived just in time to kick off the holidays and add cheer to our days ahead getting the house decorated for the holidays.  Big Guy has been asking for soups and salads as we gear up for the big feast with our family. As I surveyed my pantry and freezer, I realized I had the ingredients for an old-fashioned vegetable soup.
I realize I just wrote vegetable in the previous sentence, but I also had a package of lovely bacon so I used several slices to get my onions happy in my pot. Once I got the raw vegetables sauteed, I got crazy and started opening cans of corn, tomatoes, beans, and peas which I added along with my vegetable stock I made this summer. I even had barley and lentil in my dry cabinet, so it was a true kitchen soup moment when I added all the ingredients into the pot. It will be the perfect freezing day meal along with a fresh loaf of bread. Oh, and wine too! Yum!  If you have been living under a rock and did not notice the creeping in of Christmas, you do not have to look any further than your mailbox. The number of catalogs we have gotten this year is incredible. Our poor mail lady will need a back brace to get through this holiday season.
I admit we have ordered things in the past from vendors who have sent us catalogs. It is the individual ones that I have never heard of that have me momentarily stumped. I have learned from my inquiries in the past that the mystery catalogs are usually related to another company hoping we will continue to purchase items from their stores. In this crazy world, it is good to slow down and check out the magazines just to marvel at the products on the market in 2022. I hope all your retail dreams come true by spending local, supporting our excellent makers in our community, and bringing joy to your family and friends this holiday season.  Do you ever feel like you need to get creative with hamburger? My family loved to mix hamburger with onions and potatoes served with plenty of ketchup on the side. In fact, it was my special recipe I shared with Big Guy when we first got married. I was proud of this recipe since I grew up in the age of Hamburger Helper.
I wanted to expand my recipe past this one and that great standby of meatloaf. Big Guy found a recipe in the New York Times for Salisbury Steak, so we were armed with a new recipe and the right ingredients in the house. Big Guy took the reins of this cooking experience and noted it was a simple recipe. He mixed onion, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, an egg, and panko to the hamburger mixing it until all the ingredients were incorporated into the meat. He formed the mix into oval shaped patties, then put them in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up. He opted to cook the steaks in the oven for about 45 minutes. We had beef gravy in our pantry, so he opted to use the recipe for the steak and then change it up for the gravy. It was very delicious, and I was amazed at how “smooth” the ingredients made the meat. I know the next time we make the steaks we will make the “proper” gravy so we can have mushrooms dancing over our steak. Yummy!  Big Guy and I love breakfast food any time of day, but it is most special on those cold days when we do not feel like going out.
I tend to keep maple sausage in the freezer to go with waffles, but this day we opted for eggs, toast, and coffee to accompany them. The aroma of the cooking sausages filled the air as I cracked the eggs and beat them with milk and butter. Big Guy taught me to slowly cook the eggs to give them time to become fluffy and so delicious. It was the perfect way to start our pajama day. We read papers and followed up with naps and a movie. So good!  Big Guy has offered to help me cull through my grandmother’s recipe box. He has been typing, and scanning like a mad man, trying to make sense of her chicken scratch on old paper with faded writing. I know I will have much testing to do over the years to try and replicate her recipes.
One recipe I have been making for years is her caramel popcorn. As I was typing, Big Guy sent me the recipe for review. I opened the document and immediately said the recipe was wrong. He walked over to me and showed me the recipe. I noted the measurements were all wrong. What just happened here? Full disclosure will tell you there was a tense moment between two individuals feeling right in the moment. Then it hit me. I have not made a single batch of caramel popcorn for over ten years, so I forgot that the measurement would be less for a single batch. Doh! Cue the laugh track for this Carondelet Kitchen sitcom! |
AuthorJust a super cool old couple who love to cook and eat and drink in their Carondelet Kitchen in South Saint Louis, Missouri! Archives
December 2024
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