Norm Matthews

Several years ago, we started rotating who cooks the family's Thanksgiving meal. This year it is my nephew's family that will be hosting it because last year was his turn and it was cancelled. I always make a small second Thanksgiving meal the next day for the two of us just so we have some "left overs" I was asked to bring a pumpkin pie, one other pie of my choice to the dinner at Ryans. Besides the pumpkin pie I found some Oregon tart cherries at the store. They have been hard to find since I have been back in Kansas City and they are my favorite, so I'll make a cherry pie and an apple crisp to take over for them. For our dinner the next day, already have a turkey in the freezer and have made some cranberry sauce. I have made a cranberry chutney for years but last year I tried a new cranberry sauce and we both really liked it (and it is easier to make too). I picked up some stuff to make dressing at the store today. I plan to make the cornbread and yellow cake mixed together for one of the breads. I found a recipe for gravy that I made back in 1984 and it was a hit. I expect to make that again to see if it is still as good as I remember. The rest of the menu is still pending.

I made rice yesterday with the intention of making pork bulgogi to go with it but Charlie told me that he and some friends had made plans to go to the Whataburger that opened a few days ago. They figured the lines were down enough now that there would not be too long a wait. Whataburger is Patrick Mahomes favorite hamburger restaurant and an investment group he belongs to is bringing a string of them from here to Wichita and this is the first one. So the rice went in the refrigerator and got turned into fried rice today.

I made a chicken enchilada soup in the slow cooker today. It was a good cold day meal. Charlie had his with tortillas and I had mine with corn chips.

We shared a chicken breast that had been pounded out, split, breaded; pan fried, and was topped with gravy. Sides were Instant Pot green beans and oven crisped potatoes.

That would have been a good idea but I ate them anyway. Charlie had the chicken.

I was at an Asian Market to get short ribs and saw a package of duck wings and thought I'd try them along with the Buffalo wings I was planning to do anyway.

I made some Buffalo wings. The double jointed ones are duck wings. I thought they would take longer and half way through, they didn't look like they were as done but at the end, they were way over cooked.

Charlie wanted a crab boil but I said it was too expensive so he settled on steak.

In 1967 I was on leave in Paris and stopped in a restaurant for lunch. I just wanted a ham and cheese sandwich. The waiter asked me what kind of cheese I wanted. Kraft was the only kind of cheese I knew about. I said American. He looked puzzled and brought me one with cheddar, I later figured out.

@Kim Shook Here is the fried chicken recipe. For the Ranch sauce served on the side, I used Marzetti bottled Ranch. https://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/3452885033/ranch-fried-chicken-cooks-country-recipe/

Glad to help. I almost always post recipes at the blogspot link at the bottom of my posts.. Cheeseburger Soup TOTAL TIME: Prep: 45 min. Cook: 10 min. YIELD: 8 servings (2 quarts). A local restaurant serves a similar cheeseburger soup but wouldn't share its recipe with me. I developed my own, modifying a recipe I already had for potato soup. I was really pleased with the way this all-American dish turned out. —Joanie Shawhan, Madison, Wisconsin Ingredients 1/2 pound ground beef 4 tablespoons butter, divided 3/4 cup chopped onion 3/4 cup shredded carrots 3/4 cup diced celery 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes 1-3/4 pounds (about 4 cups) cubed peeled potatoes 3 cups chicken broth 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 to 4 cups shredded Velveeta 1-1/2 cups whole milk 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/4 cup sour cream Directions cook hamburger until no longer pink. Drain, set aside and melt 1 T. butter in same pan and cook onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley until tender. Add broth, potatoes and beef back to pot and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes. In a separate pan melt remaining butter; stir in flour. When combined, add to the broth and stir while bringing it back to a boi for a couple minutes. Reduce to simmer, add cheese, milk, salt and pepper. When cheese has melted, take off heat and add sour cream.

I had printed out some recipes to think about trying. One was for cheeseburger soup. I decided not to make it until Charlie saw it and said OOOOH that looks good. At first I thought it had too much cheese (if you consider Velveeta a cheese) but I had misread the recipe. It said 2 to 4 cups, not 2 to 4 pounds like it first thought. Yet two cups is still a lot. Charlie liked it. I thought it was OK. I think it should have been a little thinner. I used a scant two cups.

I have a cookbook written in 1949 and it has a recipe for Braunwschweiger spread. Cook 1/2 C. mushrooms in 1 Tbsp. butter until tender, add a cup of liver sausage, 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, salt if desired and enough mayonnaise to bind it together and spread on bread for a sandwich or on potato chips. Another one says to mix it with sweet pickle relish and a little mayo. Spread on bread, top with cheese and but the open faced sandwiches under the broiler until heated through

No I haven't heard of that before. I will look for a recipe that does that and give it a try.

Veal has never been cheap here in Kansas. Wherever I have lived, actually, it was almost always unavailable. Sometimes it's around during holidays. Buffalo Wings were the only thing I made today. Charlie said they were perfect. I used Alton Brown's recipe. First they were steamed, then dried and dried some more in the refrigerator. They were baked in a hot oven for about 40 minutes before tossing it in garlicky butter with hot sauce. I used Franks Hot Sauce because it isn't as vinegary as Tabasco. Charlie liked that too.

I made a recipe for Ranch Fried Chicken. No Hidden Valley was in the recipe and the Ranch sauce was on the side. When I was posting the recipe, I noticed some of the original recipe was missing and I didn't remember where I had seen it. It took quite a while to find out that someone had posted a Cooks Country recipe without giving them credit. I didn't find that persons recipe again but I found it posted by someone else and they did give credit for it. We really liked it. If I had known ahead that it was from Cooks Country, I probably would not have liked it so much 😁 Charlie suggested adding some powdered Ranch dressing to the seasoning mix but it was already frying by then. Maybe next time. I am pretty sure there will be a next time. It was boneless, skinless thighs with buttermilk, dill, garlic, chives and vinegar in the liquid coating and the same seasonings in the flour.

That sounds nice. When I first moved back to Kansas City, there were two grocery stores that carried meaty ham hocks but in the last several years, they carry something they call pork hocks. They might have come from a pig but they were not ham and they were all bone, skin and gristle. Maybe they have one bite of meat. The guys behind the meat counter pointed to them when I asked if they had ham hocks. They said what they had were the same thing. I said if you ordered a ham sandwich and they bring you a pork sandwich, I think you would be able to tell the difference. Lately one of the stores have big meaty ham shanks but these were tough and chewy and had some gristle. They tasted like country ham cured ( instead of "city" hams) which also made them really salty.

Navy beans, ham shanks and collards. I am about to give up on finding good ham shanks or hocks anymore.

Last month, a store here had whole briskets for sale @ 5.99/ lb. I got one to cut it into 5 smaller roasts and put them in the freezer. Today one of them was our dinner. It was braised in beer with root vegetables. I forgot to take a picture of it before we ate. These are leftovers.

Grilled some Kalbi found in the freezer. The hot dog was in case we ate all the ribs and were still hungry. We didn't eat all the ribs. We had two kinds of kimchi and rice to go with it.

I was wanting to make some corn chowder. My mom made some that was really good. The recipe used a can of creamed corn but I prefer make it with whole kernel corn instead of what comes in a can. It also had bacon and potatoes and I added some ham to make it more of a meal.

I rarely buy ready-made soup. Seems like no one can make a good commercial soup. I thought a gumbo frozen in a boil-in bag might be different. When I put it on the table, Charlie took two bites and knew I didn't make it. I think I once read where someone said - If you are served a bowl of gumbo and it has rice in it, it isn't gumbo. Gumbo is served with rice but it isn't supposed to have been cooked with rice.

I don't remember ever hearing about German Meatballs so I had to try this recipe when I saw it. It is 2 parts beef and 1 part pork and was simmered with sauerkraut.

Several years ago, Charlie, Cassie and I were at a restaurant and she ordered Whisky Marinated Steak. She gave us each a bite and it was good. I had never thought it was a good idea to marinate a good steak before. A while later, I tried it at home and Cassie said it was very close. Today I tried it a second time. I also did Pioneer Woman's twice baked potato. She kept apologizing for how much butter, sour cream and cheese she added, but I kept thinking it wasn't enough, especially the cheese. The salad dressing was the China Coast recipe.

HMM. As a potter I have been using Titanium dioxide in glazes for decades. I had no idea it was edible. Live and learn.