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Katie Meadow

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Posts posted by Katie Meadow

  1. It's chilly this morning and I don't feel like getting out of bed until my husband turns on the heat, so.......it's time for a rant!

     

    You've heard it before, of course, but that so-called lasagne was one of the few times I've had to confront in real life the vegan substitution problem. My dwindling circle of friends as I get older are omnivores and vegetarians, but not vegans. When I think over my (also dwindling) repertoire of hits I realize that quite a few of them are, in fact, totally vegan. Chinese stir-fries top the list if you like a variety of vegetables and greens and tofu. And it's easy, although good equipment like a wok and a range with strong BTU's helps. As @liuzhousuggests, Italian pasta dishes also offer lots of options. Besides pesto, if you don't make it with cheese, the variety of meatless tomato sauce dishes is wide. I particularly like to add garlicky sautéed cauliflower or artichokes. Grated hard cheese for a topping can be optional for non-vegans at the table. Casseroles using a variety of grains and veggies baked in the oven are also no brainers, and can be really satisfying.  And curries! Any number of great vegetable curries can be made using coconut oil instead of butter. Cauliflower and tomato curry is a favorite of mine. Skip the raita and serve it with fresh cooling  fruit.

     

    Grain salads are excellent. I have one I adore that's made with bulgur wheat, swiss chard, olives and pine nuts, with a tangy shallot dressing. Cuisines that don't rely on butter offer a lot of choices. None of the many vegan dishes I often make don't require a banner headline advertising that they are vegan. They are not called burgers or lasagne. They just don't include animal products nor do they try to recreate versions of dishes that showcase eggs, cheeses or other dairy or meats. My mother always made her potato salad with an olive oil dressing, like for a nicoise; she was not a fan of mayo. For soups or beans, make a really good vegetable stock. That alone goes a long way toward flavor. Many "cream of" green soups are great without the cream. Croutons fried in garlic olive oil to garnish soup cannot be overstated! Okay, done.

     

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    • Like 4
  2. Trying to use up turkey is a chore. This year we ended up with a lot of leftover turkey, partly because a few people opted out due to sickness, and also partly because my husband carefully wrapped up a generous mix of white and dark meat for a guest to take home and then forgot to give it to him. Today's project is stock, having a good size carcass and bones etc.

     

    But yesterday I actually had a quart-plus of turkey broth ahead of the game because I always roast a couple of wings and necks the week before Thanksgiving as our gravy demands it. So I made the NYT recipe for a soup with turkey, farro and chickpeas, with minor tweaks. It was very good and I highly recommend it, with a major caveat: use dark meat only. I have never yet found a good use for leftover breast meat, although through force of habit I eat one turkey sandwich on the Friday after. I shredded the leftover dark meat odds and ends and added it only at the very end to warm them up in the soup.

     

    The recipe also calls for Baharat spice mix, which I don't believe I've ever had (at least knowingly). I made that too, since the many spices are ones I typically have on the shelf . Never had that before and it was really nice and different. We topped off our bowls with a dab of harissa at the table. Excellent use of post Thanksgiving  material.

    • Like 4
  3. 35 minutes ago, Dejah said:

    Chicken Fajita,  Spanish Rice, Guac and fixings                   ChickenFajita2802.jpg.505923bd2b4e01cde5ccb6bed1886da7.jpg

     

    Dessert: Persimmons! I prefer the Fuyu variety and hubby loves the Hachiya variety.

     

                                                                                                                    Persimmons2792.jpg.e844cd79be21a689fc8a80f141ef6c1a.jpg

                                                                                             

    Persimmon people take note. Here's a link to David Lebovitz update of James Beard's Persimmon Pudding: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/persimmon-bread/

     

    • Thanks 1
  4. 1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:


    How was it?  Hetty Lui McKinnon has a recipe for a vegetarian butternut squash “lasagna” in her book Tenderheart. It uses thin slices of butternut squash instead of noodles and includes options to veganize it. Not sure how it would mesh with traditional Thanksgiving flavors but I thought it sounded pretty good. 

    It was awful. And I certainly wouldn't call it lasagne. Tofu simply can't replace ricotta and mozzarella. 

    • Sad 4
  5. 8 hours ago, liuzhou said:

    Tonight a lovely young nurse tried to feed me some rice noodles because she assumed a foreigner couldn't use chopsticks. I didn't want to embarrass her but I've been in China longer than she has and been using chopsticks three times longer than she's been alive. So, I just asked her for the chopsticks and fed myself. Instead of being embarrassed, she was delighted and spent the afternoon giggling.  Real sweetie.

    Did I miss something? Please tell me you are not in the hospital again!

  6. 5 hours ago, Smithy said:

     

    Someone - maybe @russ parsons - commented that the flavor had been bred out of them along with the strings. That may be true. I don't think they have quite the same meaty taste they used to, but I still like them a lot.

    Like seedless watermelon: when they lost the seems some flavor went along for the ride. No seedless watermelon compares to the best seeded once. As for for low-flavor / poor texture green beans, I help them out two ways. One is to roast them with olive oil ad salt, which concentrates the original string bean flavor. I also think long-cooking with bacon or smoked ham product and tomatoes helps them a lot. Or maybe it just helps me.

     

    @Margaret Pilgrim   you  must have a good source for haricot vert, because I have found them often to be just as tasteless as bigger ones.

    • Like 3
  7. 7 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

    I almost given up buying fresh green beans.  They are labeled "stringless" and sure enough when trimming them, there is no string to pull off.  But as soon as they are cooked it's like green dental floss.  My SIL made wonderful tasting green beans yesterday and they were stringy.  I'm wondering if other people had that issue or if it is perhaps a regional problem.  

    My experience for the last few years is that green beans aren't what they used to be. Every once in a while I will get a batch that is not tough and actually tastes like green beans. But mostly they are nothing to write home about. Even in summer from the farmers' market they are hit or miss. Hope springs eternal: I keep on buying them anyway.

    • Like 1
  8. This holiday I will be grateful for many things, but most importantly for growing old on eG. When I repeat stories or content or dopey opinions no one blinks twice because no one remembers anything, just like I don't. Old ideas always seem fresh. Enablers keep succeeding despite our better judgment, which is probably just getting worse. Some members have really quirky likes and dislikes; the ones that get repeated are no less weird than they were the first time I heard them.  I'm content knowing that I will take my own picture of @JoNorvelleWalker's bedroom to my grave. I also have absurdly conflated snail broth and hatred of corn, and the person responsible for that is the only person on earth who knows both things intimately. I owe my successful learning curve for making Scotch Broth from scratch to eG. I must have learned a multitude of other things as well, but I can't remember what off the top of my head.  Cheers! Here's to Chum and AnnaN and everyone else.

     

     

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  9. I'm far from a vegan, but my husband's family includes a lot of vegetarians, so veg entrees for holiday meals is nothing new to me. When it comes to vegan dishes I prefer the ones that were never conceived with meat, dairy or eggs to begin with. I  just can't get my head around subbing cashews for cheese or tofu for anything. Various bean soups and stews are often easily put together without compromising  flavor by using vegetable stock and/or a tomato base. Add roasted artichokes or cauliflower to marinara sauce with pasta; non vegans can always have grated hard cheese on the side. Hummus and babaganouj for apps are terrific when made from scratch, and can be complimented by a variety of veggies for dipping or breads and crackers for spreading.  

     

    This thanksgiving one of my sisters-in-law is bringing something she is calling vegan butternut squash lasagne, despite the fact that no guests will be vegan as far as I know. I'm having a hard time looking forward to that one, but I will save my judgment for next Friday. She's not a great cook to begin with, so that won't help. 

    • Like 2
  10. 39 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

    this does a good job at producing intact halves - I see it's labelled 'vintage' - so not sure if they're still available...

    image.jpeg.3bcfb98fbf3c4b3726dbbb58acb59e37.jpeg

    There are plenty of them on eBay. If you google "pecan and nut cracker"  you will find them; they vary from vintage to new and in between. If you google "nut cracker" you will be down a frightening xmas rabbit hole that goes to the center of the earth. I don't know if this contraption was originally designed for pecans, but that seems to be the operative word. Maybe pecans are particularly difficult to crack. I wouldn't know.

  11. 4 hours ago, lindag said:

    Image from selfproclaimedfoodie.com

     

    turkey pretzel treats for thanksgiving.

     A centerpiece! Gets my vote for best use of candy corn. My late MIL's idea of a centerpiece was to ask one of her sons to pick some branches or greens from someone else's yard. 

    • Haha 4
  12. @Kim Shookyou have my sympathy. For some people the holiday is about stuffing, oneself and the turkey. For others it means a chance to see relatives or friends we don't get together with that often. For other people it's just about tradition and nostalgia. Unfortunately for another group, it's about control: what gets cooked, who gets invited and how to make yourself the star of the day, with everyone thanking you for all your labors. From my perspective it is very hard to get around those people who would turn a family gathering into a forum for grievances. 

     

    So your in-laws don't want apps. They can try to insure that no one gets them or they can welcome anyone who wants to provide them do the work and they can simply not eat them. Your hosts have taken the first way. They are ungenerous and foolish and that is the kind of ingrown smallness that makes sure the traditions of ill will don't die, since that seems to fuel them. You can stay away and make your own Thanksgiving with people you enjoy spending time with. Or you can go and view the experience as an opportunity to study human behavior and have a free meal. Or you can confront the issue and make a ruckus, which rarely ends well. I really hope you can find a solution that doesn't feel like punishment. I don't know a soul on earth that hasn't had conflicts around holidays at least once or more in their lives. 

    • Like 5
  13. Like @heidihI'm in it for the carcass. And the gravy, primarily so I can use it to flavor a turkey pot pie, which to be clear,  I make with chicken. The turkey white meat, wing excepted maybe, is a bore. I give chunks of the breast away to guests, who are thrilled to have it. Win win!

    • Like 1
  14. 26 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

    What makes RG beans so great?

    What Smithy says, all of which contributes to the fact that they are good for you and taste great. Besides that: They are fresh. They are consistent. They are beautiful. The packages are tidy and easy to open and they are clean. Almost never are found stones, dirt or weird beans. And if you order $50 worth of stuff, which is easier than ever to do, the shipping is free.

    • Like 2
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  15. 14 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

    I had such an epiphany maybe half dozen years ago when I stood tall and announced, after some 50 years of hosting, "I have cooked my LAST turkey!"  .

    I declared the same, several years ago. So my husband does the whole job, including gravy! I'm so happy to give it up. The truth is, excluding what my mother always referred to as "the Pope's nose," turkey bores me to death. Although my husband's gravy is to die for on mashed potatoes. As long as I am in control of the potatoes.  

     

    We did however totally give up on stuffing the bird. We used to make a giant amount of chestnut and bread stuffing, using the better part of it for vegetarian stuffing cooked separately. For many years there were grandparents (husband's parents), four siblings plus spouses and five cousins. Now it's a tamer affair. The cousins are spread out over the country and often go to their respective partners' families for the holiday. The only new generation is my daughter's twins, and they all stay in Atlanta and do it up with friends. This year will be the largest group since before the pandemic and everyone will be a grown-up, including some of my sister-in-law's boyfriend's relations. Hopefully his nephew will do a repeat of his fantastic mac n cheese, which was never a part of Thanksgiving for my family or my husband's family and for which I am eternally grateful! 

     

    Edited because I thought I was in the Thanksgiving thread!

    • Like 2
  16. It's pomegranate season! Could I be any happier? Last night I made a salad from the NYT composed of three ingredients: slices of oranges (these were cara caras) a sprinkling of pomegranate arils and then a sprinkling of lightly salted chopped roasted pistachios. The orange was quite good, considering citrus season is only getting started. The pomegranate was the best one I've ever had. The recipe called for orange flower water, which I don't have and never use, and a sprinkle of confectioner's sugar which I saw no good reason to add. There was no dressing. This was the most delicious combination of three. My husband thought it needed a dressing so he drizzled his portion with a little olive oil and was sorry he did. After cutting open the pomegranate a large pool of juice filled the plate. After I tilted the plate and drank it I realized it might have been put on the salad, but it was too late. The rest of the pomegranate will be eaten by me today, standing over the sink. 

    • Like 3
    • Delicious 1
  17. 19 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

    I need to make up some sorghum butter and make some biscuits! Or pancakes! Now I'm hungry!! I have heard of Steen's but have not had it. I'll check it out. Am sure I can order online if I can't find it locally,

    Both are easily available at Amazon

    • Thanks 1
  18. Yes I'm a fan! Of the syrup, that is. My first taste was "sorghum butter" served with bread at a restaurant in Tennessee. It  was just sorghum mixed into butter. We eat a lot of biscuits in our house, and I keep the sorghum in a squeeze bottle within arm's reach of a biscuit, whether the biscuit is fresh out of the oven or toasted the next day. I like it in hot cereal too and sometimes on pancakes when I don't feel like maple flavor. Doesn't taste like anything else, I don't think. I don't cook with it but I imagine it would work well along with other sweeteners in a pecan pie. 

     

    I am also a big fan of Steen's cane syrup, which is less sweet than sorghum and more mellow than molasses.That works in pecan pie, granola, etc. Also on biscuits! 

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  19. I'm somewhat in the seasonal camp. Here in the Bay Area summers are unpredictable. Sometimes there's a heat wave and it takes a couple of days to gather the ingredients for gazpacho. If you want the weather to cool down, you make gazpacho for dinner. By four in the afternoon the fog comes rolling in and the temperature plummets. Like clockwork. 

     

    A few days ago I made my first soup of the season. Continuing my attempt to shovel in dark leafy greens it was a pureed soup of chard, spinach and potato. Very green it was. I like mine with toasted garlic croutons and a flurry of chives. It's time to stock up the freezer again: ham broth, chicken broth and veg broth. 

    • Like 4
  20. Nothing could be more horrible than circus peanuts. Although Peeps give them a run for their money. The saving grace of "original" candy corn is that it has pretty much no flavor. Never mess with a "good" thing. Junk food companies must have the weirdest brainstorming meetings. Do the creative teams sit around saying, "How can we make this worse?"

  21. 16 hours ago, liuzhou said:

    This article ranks high among things I wish I didn't know. Red Mullet must  be delicious. I've never had it, but have always noted that all good recipes for bouillabaisse require it. The Romans were a sick bunch. Watching a fish die at the dinner table for fun? No thanks.  

    • Like 1
  22. On 10/19/2023 at 9:36 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

     

    The problem with Macoun I've found is that they don't keep.  Pick them, enjoy them while you can.

     

    The same is true of Empires. The one from the farm was fantastic. Occasionally these appear in the East Bay but are always soft.

  23. 7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

     

    The problem with Macoun I've found is that they don't keep.  Pick them, enjoy them while you can.

     

    That was always true of the Macintosh apples  we used to get: eat 'em when they are nice and hard because they turn soft in a heartbeat.  There were also Cortlands at the orchard but they didn't seem as firm and I'm not about to bake a pie on this trip, or most likely any trip.

    • Like 1
  24. And here I am again in apple country, this time in Middlefield MA, about 45 minutes from Northhampton. Yesterday we spent the morning in Easthampton at an apple farm. Yes, I did get my apple cider donut fix. It was very good, although my nephew said they are best right out of the oven (duh) and without the sugar topping, which he claims masks the subtle flavor of the cider. Until the gods see fit to provide me with the perfect donut I'll take what I can get. We had the remaining ones warmed up the next morning for breakfast in our charming little cabin airbnb. Blissful.

     

    We purchased several varieties of apples at the farm, all of which were new to me. So far we have eaten a Macoun ( nice all around flavorful and juicy) and a Ruby Macintosh, which I loved. I grew up eating early Vermont Macs and this was even better. Super crisp, tart but not as tart as the greener macs. We still have left to try a Florina and a Cosmic Crisp and an Empire. Those will be for the plane ride home to SFO. After five weeks away I'm looking forward to my own cooking and my own equipment and my own shower. 

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