patti

Sorry it has taken me so long to post about this CFM! Christmas week was jam packed and I had a couple of moments of high anxiety, wondering if I’d get it all done. On Tuesday morning, I started with two bone in hams. They were coated in mustard and a homemade rub. I poured a 12 oz bottle of Coke in the bottom of each pan, covered them tightly in foil, and then two hours in the oven at 275. Removed from the oven and covered in a combination of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce, apricot preserves, and apple cider vinegar, and back in the oven, with the temp raised to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. After the first two hours, as I was preparing to cover them in sauce. I thought they were done, but I was sadly mistaken (misunderstood the internal temp goal of 200 for pulled ham, vs 165 for “done” ham). So much to learn. Later that evening (hours later) it was pullable. Tasted good, too. The pulled ham sandwiches were accompanied by broccoli salad. (Thanks for the suggestion @Shelby!) My recipe calls for raisins, but I subbed with Craisins. Broccoli, bacon, cheddar, red onion, sunflower seeds, Craisins. My husband was turning his nose up at the broccoli salad from the beginning. (He is now a believer.) I made and dressed the broccoli salad on Tuesday for the Wednesday delivery. Before dressing: The dressing was made of mayo, sugar, red wine vinegar, salt, black pepper. Nothing unusual or edgy. I toasted the buns, and you can see that they are a beautiful color. Unfortunately, they were still a little over toasted and the sandwiches didn’t have any give. It made me sad. Maybe the chocolate chip cookies with flaky salt helped. I hope so. [ There was a family and two single guys waiting for food as we unloaded. I apologized for the over toasted buns and one of the single guys insisted he preferred crunchy bread. 😂 That was nice of him. ETA: The red hat peeking over the back seat says, “Ragin Cajuns,” btw. I feel good that we were able to complete and deliver for 11am on Christmas Eve.

No pics of Christmas Eve dinner (gumbo) or Christmas Day lunch, but last night was finally a relaxed meal, and it was meatballs (frozen Costco) and baked ricotta, and air fryer roasted broccoli.

I delivered the planned CFM earlier today, but now I’m getting ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so I will post about it later! Merry Christmas!

Yes, I forgot to mention the bacon! I have a bag of bacon crumbles from Costco and zapped a handful in the microwave to crisp them up. It did not suck as an addition. Some green onion would’ve also been nice.

Shrimp and (not) grits. Actually, just cheesy mashed cauliflower, but it worked.

Zatarain’s makes good products, but I’ve never used the gumbo mix. It would be worth giving it a try, except for the crazy prices! I looked at Walmart.ca, and they are currently out of stock … but that must mean that they sometimes have it in stock? I’d check there, and possibly request it, if they don’t usually stock it. This Louisiana based site seems to ship to Canada. I see that they sell two brands of gumbo base, Kary’s Gumbo base and Louisiana Gumbo base. Both of those companies make products I use. I’ve used Kary’s dark roux (in a jar), so I know they know what they’re doing: https://ca.creolefood.com/gumbo-base-and-mixes/

Thank you, ma’am! I get the darkest roux when I do it in the oven. ETA: I was in that gumbo cookoff, but my pics no longer show!

I first noticed them at Costco, but Albertsons has a Bob Mills brand, and now I just checked and Walmart has them! Shelby, there is good satisfying flavor and texture in this dish. I think you’ll love it. You can play with the ingredients, too. I usually have pecans on hand, but other nuts would be good, as well. After the veg is sautéed and the pecans slightly toasted, I add the hemp hearts, stir it around, and then add some chicken stock, and let it get absorbed. Season to taste. ETA: If you’re interested, I’ve made falafel and tabouleh with hemp hearts!

Those look amazing, and a nice variety! 😍 I made two cookie boxes a few days ago, but baked what I needed for those boxes (with extras for my husband). Chocolate chip, dark chocolate cranberry oatmeal, chocolate dipped peanut butter, and salted vanilla toffee cookies. I have cookie dough in the fridge for making boxes as needed, and will make more of some for the cookie tray.

I just checked on shipping frozen gumbo to Canada, but it appears that mixed ingredient foods are not allowed. 🤨 Gumbo is to Cajuns what pho is to the Vietnamese, or chicken soup is to the Jewish community. Soul soothing and comforting. With rice is best, of course: But sans rice, and with deviled eggs subbing for potato salad… also delicious. Seafood gumbo is pricey these days, but it is truly my favorite. I would LOVE to make it for Christmas Eve, but son and DIL wouldn’t eat any, and my husband would be good for one bowl and then done. Sigh. Not sure why I keep so many pics of gumbo on my computer, haha! Shrimp and okra gumbo.

Grilled filet and air fryer green beans a couple of nights ago. Leftover filet turned into beef & broccoli last night. And a little salad.

Last Christmas Eve was the first annual Mimi & Murphy making cookies for Santa event. We will repeat that, and have a simple gumbo for Christmas Eve dinner. We’ll be having Christmas dinner at son & DIL’s house, along with her parents, sisters, and their families. Everyone brings something, and mac and cheese and cookies were requested. I will happily comply. My DIL’s father is Lebanese and he will be making a couple of dishes that I look forward to trying. I’ll probably also bring a low carb faux wild rice pilaf, using hemp hearts in place of wild rice. It consists of diced mushrooms, chopped pecans, diced onions and red bell pepper, garlic, and hemp seed hearts. DIL and her mom and sisters enjoyed it last time I made some. And it ends up looking like this: The cookie tray will include lemon crinkles, dark chocolate dipped peanut butter, dark chocolate and cranberry oatmeal cookies*, salted vanilla toffee cookies, and the ubiquitous (but delicious) chocolate chip (with flaky salt). I’m not good at making pretty cookies, but I can make some that taste really good! *Might be replaced with iced gingerbread oatmeal cookies.

Thank you both for offering your opinions. Pulled ham sandwiches (on a sturdy bun) with pickles, and a side of broccoli salad does sound good (with plenty of red/green opportunities for a Christmas theme). Merci!

Already second guessing the pulled ham. Too similar to the pulled pork from a few weeks ago. It’s not off the table for the future, though.

It all looks so good, but please, tell me more about mushroom sauce! My meals have been very ugly lately. How ugly, you ask? Chili dog in a bowl, anyone? Chili, chopped up hot dogs that had been microwaved, diced onion, and grainy mustard. There is cheese under the weenies and mixed in with the chili. Ham & mushroom crustless quiche, salsa, pickles. A shrimp stir fry with hardly any vegetables, but mushrooms and peppers. Dinner salad.

Dear Shelby, MaryIsobel, and all others who mentioned favoring burnt cheese, Apologies for not boxing up and shipping the big pile of burned cheese scraps for y’all to devour. 🤔 Next time, I promise! 😜😆😂 I’m thinking of pulled ham sandwiches and broccoli salad for next week’s CFM. I know that doesn’t sound very Christmassy, but there may also be some homemade cookies involved. Not sure which day will be food delivery day, but it might be early on Christmas Eve day. Alternatively, the day after Christmas. Is this where I admit I’ve never baked a ham? I saw a vid of someone doing pulled ham for sandwiches, and it looked scrumptious. Shelby’s idea for broccoli salad would go good with this, I think.

Yes, I agree it should be listed!

😜 I love crispy edges of browned cheese, but this was a little bitter to me. I ate some of the scraps after cleaning up the first pan. I would not have gone to the trouble of doing it with the second pan if I’d enjoyed any from the first! It wasn’t gooey underneath the dark parts.

The best laid plans… Yesterday, starting with most of the ingredients for baked ziti. There were cheeses, as well, not pictured. And stock, red wine, and a bay leaf or two, and minced garlic. Ziti. I figure I’ve posted enough pics of big pots with meat or sauce of some kind simmering on the stove, so I skipped to the chase, meat sauce mixed with ziti. Didn’t take pics of the ricotta, egg, parm & mozzarella mixture that was layered after a layer of ziti and sauce, but here are the pans with the top layer of ziti and sauce, before topping with cheese. Topped with cheese before putting in the ovens. Ugh! I was careless, and burned the cheese on BOTH pans of ziti. Double ovens, double carelessness. And I was out of cheese. My husband and I debated whether or not I needed to scrape off the charred bits. I thought I should, he thought it was unnecessary. I’m betting y’all will agree with me. Pan #1 Pan #2 After new cheese and a trip to the store today, only one pan pictured: For the salad today I decided to jazz up the cucumber, tomato, and red onion salad with some marinated mozzarella. I had a sixth English cucumber, didn’t use it, and regretted it. I barely had enough. I prefer to have too much! I used a three cheese vinaigrette from Aldi for the dressing, and lots of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Realized I needed some fresh herbs for the salad, but my husband didn’t see (or chose not to see) that I’d texted him while at the store. How dare he! 😉 Waiting for the toast to come out of the oven. Plated meal: I didn’t notice that my husband edited my ingredient list until after the fact. He said I didn’t need to list every little glug of Worcestershire or Tabasco or balsamic. Grrr. If this post seems a little discombobulated, so am I! But a food delivery was made, so that’s something. ETA: Earlier in the post I said I was out of cheese. Let me amend that, because I’m NEVER actually out of cheese. I was just out of the kind of cheese I wanted for this meal.

Before I get started on the CFM for tomorrow, I wanted to show off a most generous donation from a fellow eGullet member who wishes to remain anonymous. 14 pounds of Rancho Gordo beans and popcorn! This fabulous donation arrived yesterday afternoon. I won’t be using any this week, as I’d already planned and shopped for the meal, but I’ll be researching recipes and ideas for future use. Wouldn’t popcorn be great as a soup topping, in place of croutons? It would also be fun to include a bag of popcorn as a snack. The black eyed peas for New Year’s, obviously, but is Hoppin John too rustic for beans such as these? I know many of you are Rancho Gordo aficionados and will have ideas for using them. I just need make sure that what I make appeals to the people and not just me. Thank you so much, Dear Donor! What a thoughtful and lovely gift to the people who receive food from a community fridge. I am humbled to have them. The inventory:

Thank you! I do try to keep in mind that the people receiving the food probably prefer something familiar. Even non-Cajun ethnic food usually has inauthentic seasoning, like Tony’s, added to it. We get mad when “our” food gets bastardized, but have no problem doing it to everyone else’s cuisine! Sorry for the delayed response, but I missed seeing the notification that there was a new post.

I’ve been a fan (and buyer) of Rao’s for some time, but I was looking for a cheaper alternative for cooking for a group, and found Aldi’s Specially Selected Marinara tastes remarkably like Rao’s, but significantly cheaper, like $4 a jar cheaper. Rumor has it that it’s Rao’s produced for Aldi, but it could be just a rumor.