Norm Matthews

Ihave been under the weather since Christmas but felt up to making dinner for tonight. Here it is out of the oven and here is is ready to serve later tonight. It's meatloaf and potatoes.

I don't doubt the kids like it. It sounds to me like candied chicken cooked in soy syrup.

I have already used it three times and only had it two days. It's very nice.

Thanks Okanagancook. This was my first time using the popover pans too. I got them yesterday along with a Breville Smart oven as presents to myself. I found a lot of useful information about Yorkshire pudding here: http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/food-lab-yorkshire-pudding-popover-best-method-science.html I used a teaspoon of roast drippings in the pan then filled them about 1/3 full of batter. The article says you get your best rise if the batter sits in the fridge overnight. I didn't get the pans hot like I should have though. The article said it wasn't as important with thin pans like these but it is with heavy cast iron pans that you could also use.

We had our Christmas meal at lunch time. It was a rib roast, salad, scalloped potatoes, shrimp cocktail, popovers, and some sauces and a relish. Dessert will be later: Cherries Jubilee but without the jubilee. (no brandy).Picture didn't turn out very well. Sorry.

RE the phone: When we moved here, we decided not to have land line phone but I put up the one we had before to cover the phone jack. The cornbread mold is Wagner pat. July 6, 1920. Here are my daughter-in-law and her niece making tamales. She had intentions of making more than one kind, but it was 2:30 am when this batch finished. She said something about making some more tomorrow.

My DIL, Cassie, her sister, aunt, and I don"t know who else, are all coming over this afternoon to keep their family tradition of making tamales for Christmas.

Shelby, Thank you. My son has always been good at art and his wife (who helped) was an art major for a time when she was in college are both very artistically inclined. It sort of runs in the family. I have high expectations for their kids. They are both good cooks too.

I made chili while son was decorating the outside. Actually he spent several days drawing and painting the grinch. The leg lamp poster just came in the mail.

I seldom do sweets but in the spirit of the season made a stab at making some candy. I made some turtles and chocolate covered truffles.

I had printed off a couple recipes I saw online and wanted to give a try. Cassie made chicken the day before and one of the recipes I was going to try was also chicken. I thought it would be ok to have chicken twice until Cassie told me that the recipe she did was the same as the one I was going to try. Oops. So I still did the oven roasted potatoes but got some ribeyes to grill instead. I never would have thought I'd be grilling outside in the middle of December without wearing a parka but it was downright balmy. We also had spinach and broiled tomatoes.

With leftover ham, ham bones and turkey stock, I cooked some beans and collard greens. We also had corn muffins, salad and sauteed mushrooms.

Heidih, I also noticed that both King Arthur and David Levowitz suggested adding some chocolate to the pie filling. King Arthur specifically said 2 oz. bittersweet chunks added to the filling.

My nephew's wife always brings this one to our dinner. I PMed you some others that I saw on line and considered making if she wasn't going to bring this one. Sweet Potato Souffle 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes 1 Cup Sugar (I thought this was excessive so I only used 1/2 cup. Next time I may omit this completely or substitute 1-2 T. apple juice) 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs, beaten 1/3 stick margarine or butter, melted 1/2 C milk 1tsp vanilla Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased baking dish. Topping: 1/3 stick margarine or butter, melted 1 C brown sugar 1 C chopped nuts 1/3 C flour Melt butter. Mix together flour and sugar, add melted butter and chopped nuts. Pour over the sweet potato mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Rebecca Moore

I looked up the recipe and it was from King Arthur Flour. The pie recipe was attributed to: Credit for this pie belongs to Alison Kave and her book First Prize Pies. Her special recipe adds three types of ginger to a pecan pie filling — with a splash of quality sipping bourbon, too. The recipe from the David Lebovitz site also gives her credit for the recipe.

I did not see any attribution to the cook (or baker) on the recipe I have, but most of the ingredients are the same. The differences are the recipe i have just says to use a classic single pie crust and 1 1/2 C. pecans to 2 C. and 3/4 C. brown sugar to 1 C. I do have some Knob Creek whiskey that I was planning to use.

Tentative menu

The ham from Heritage Foods arrived today. I'll slice it up and freeze most of it until Thanksgiving. We'll probably have some for dinner in a day or two too. My sister reminded me that when we had it at my aunt and uncle's house every year when we were kids, she always served ham because Uncle Don never ate poultry. I never knew why. But bringing back old things, I inherited moms silver plate and aunt and uncle's porcelain which will be on the table. Thanks for the Crepes, I'll ask my son if he will be up for grilling. This salad is good and I may do it for Thanksgiving. That will be a new one for TGday. 1/2 cup raisins 3 T. bourbon 1 cup pecan pieces 1 T. packed brown sugar 1/2 tsp. ground cumin 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper 3/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 1 T. Dijon mustard Salt and coarse ground pepper to taste 2 small heads radicchio, coarsely shredded 2 heads endive, leaves separated 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced 2 medium Granny Smith apples, cubed 2 cups coarsely chopped celery feta cheese Soak raisins in bourbon for at least 3 hours, until plump. Heat pecans, sugar, cumin and cayenne over medium heat in large skillet, stirring until lightly toasted. Remove from heat and set aside. Blend oil, vinegar, and mustard in bowl with wire whisk, add salt and pepper to taste, refrigerate until serving time. Toss radicchio, endive, onion, apple and celery with prepared dressing in large bowl; serves 8. Top each salad with raisins, pecans and feta cheese.

Recipe copied and saved. Thanks.

My sister has always had dinner at her house and resisted any suggestions to have it anywhere else. Last Thanksgiving, right after dinner, she asked if we were open to rotating the event. i said I'd do it this year but figured it was out of being very tired and expected her to forget or try to waffle out of having it somewhere else. Last month she was having dinner at my DIL's restaurant and my DIL reminded her that we were having it at out house this year. She did try to waffle out of it but my DIL said I'd already mede out the menu and bought extra chairs. She made up some of that but it's at my house for sure this year. I have not made the menu for sure but one thing I plan to add is Heritage ham as well as turkey. i am going to add a cranberry relish with apples and pears that we have never had before. I am still working on the rest of the menu and would take any suggestions.

Thanks for the Crepes, Thanks for the link to the recipe. It looks good. If you click on the http link at the bottom of my post it will take you to the recipe I used. I also cook the dressing separate and don't truss poultry. With full sized chickens, I often slash the skin between the legs and body to let the heat in so that area cooks as fast as the rest of the chicken. That is something I saw Jaques Pepin do.

About 25 years ago I tried a recipe for Honey Lacquered Game Hens. It became my one of my son's favorite dishes. About 20 years ago ex #2 stole the recipe when she left. (FWIW, she also stole my smoker and Charlie's basketball goal) I've made up similar versions and we've liked them too. Actually I think I recently found the original online and we didn't like it as well as what I do now. I always have had it with rice before but today made cornbread stuffing and mixed vegetables.

The round and rump are from the back leg of the cow. The rump is the lower portion. Sirloin is between the end of the loin and beginning of the round.

Some cut of round or rump would be my guess. It looks too lean to be much of anything else.

I read that this study used consumption rates of a little over 9 hot dogs or 14 strips of bacon per week every week and that amount would increase the risk of colon cancer by 17% PS the low average life expectancy among early humans was largely due to the high infant mortality rate which bought the number down quite a bit. It wasn't terribly unusual for adults to live to old age. PPS Actually high infant mortality was the case even up to relative modern times. Understanding of the need for sanitation and pasteurized milk helped quite a lot.