Did you miss me?

We are going to do this in a list format.

1.  I missed you!  I've been cooking for the blog this entire time but not writing about it, which means I have to make the things again.  I have gone back and forth on this issue--should I just count them done or do I have to redo them?  And I think I have to redo them.  This is essentially a diary for me and I really miss having it.  I don't miss writing the blog but it's gotten easier as I've been ignoring it.

2.  I've had huge life changes in the meantime!  My life is nearly 100% different than it was when I started this blog.  New state, new husband, new family size, new everything (other than my beloved dog!).

3.  I can't believe you all are still reading this.  I really can't.  My blog stats are fantastic.  Better than people who blog regularly.  And that's thanks to you.

4.  Blog add-ons and such have drastically shifted since I've been ignoring the blog.  This is going to force the redesign that should have happened long ago.

5.  That fear I had of the new edition of TJOC coming out?  We are in crunch time I suspect.

6.  WHY THE EFF DID I NOT FINISH ALL THE HIGH ALTITUDE RECIPES WHILE I LIVED IN COLORADO? 

7.  On the other hand, I live near cheap and tasty seafood now.

8.  I just brainstormed the idea of monthly "happy hour" style parties at my house so that I can knock off recipes.  I want to be more social (introverts unite!) but it's hard and I think this would be a good way to see my friends more often which is hard with the baby.

9.  I need to update my Washingtonian list because I've been kicking ass in that regard.

10.  My photography skills have improved in the last couple of years so I'm pleased that my pictures won't be quite the dumpster fires they have been in the past.

Skymall: Summer 2014

I've decided to start a new column dedicated to the wonders of the best catalog in the world:  Skymall.  I travel often for work and have regularly threatened my friends with the idea of an all Skymall Christmas. As I'm currently stuck on the Tarmac, ready for a 6 hr flight, it seems the perfect time to start this column.  The pictures aren't great as I'm literally on a plane.

Sadly, this Skymall isn't as insane as most!  But there are still some gems:

1.  A wine sippy cup.  Who exactly is this for?  The person who is to drunk to work a cup? A toddler with a drinking problem?   I guess the fake stem is just there to keep it classy.

2.  On top, they are advertising what is essentially a Segway without the top.  You just stand and it wheels you where you are going.  And it's almost a grand. So you can not walk.  Walking is free.  I recommend walking.  On the bottom is an amazing contraption that is half skateboard, half inline skates.  Once, when I was about 7, I decided to try my hand (foot?) at skateboarding and promptly fell off and almost broke my wrist.  I suspect my clumsy ass would not fare well in the Orbitwheel.  Although it's a bargain at a mere $99.99.  

3.  No lying--I need this jacket.  I will go to events where nobody else gets a single bug bite and I'll have dozens.  Over the years I've tried every type of spray.  I don't wear perfumes or scented anything and I never wear bright colors but I still get bit like mad.  Need to know if you have fleas?  I'll walk through your house and come out with ankles looking like I'm 9 months pregnant. This jacket might be the best invention in the world.  

4.  I would only buy this for someone as a joke. What kind of person buys a singing gondolier for their pool?  Who buys this???

5.  On the other hand--if I didn't live in an apartment I would not only have this climbing squirrel but that zombie dog??  Totally would be in my yard.  In fact, that's possibly my mom's Christmas present.  

6.  Doesn't everyone feel their shower could be improved if it looked more like a rave?  I've been to a lot of spas (okay, like 2 spas) and I don't remember multicolored showers!  Obviously I wasn't involved in the " pure fun"!  

7.  Don't lie.  You'd buy everything on this page if you could.   Everybody wants a body of armor or an Egyptian coffin in their house.  I'd use it to scare the dogs and pull "Home Alone" style pranks but I'm sure there are many uses. And most of the options offer curbside delivery!  So you don't have to go pick it up like a filthy heathen.  

8. I love this page.  In the middle, they offer his and her fake tattoo shirts--there is nothing more badass  than committing to wearing a shirt with printed tattoos.  So realistic!   I like the shirts in the lower left because I was just sitting waiting for this plane with a set of young lovers wearing matching shirts that said "I love my southern wife" and "I love my southern husband" over gigantic confederate flags.  Ah, young love.   

But the real winner is the box in the lower right corner.  It appears that the box exists to give you daily affirmations, but only if your name is Bob.  Wouldn't your day improve if a box complimented you every time you opened it?  I am looking good today, box, thanks for noticing!  

9. You think I'm going to talk about the hideous dholes but no--that bag freaking winks as you wear it!!!  What kind of black magic is that???  Burn the witch!!

All in all, I'm disappointed in the summer 2014 issue of Skymall.  It doesn't have nearly the WTFeryof previous editions.  I'm going to have to rate this one a 3/10 because there aren't nearly enough items you'd have to be low on oxygen to buy. 

Top 9 TJOTJOC posts of all time!! Or at least until now.

As I get back into the swing of posting, I thought I would do a "best of" list.  Here is a list of my top 9 posts of all time (according to Google) and my memory of them.  (Also, if you are going to post my stuff on Pinterest--and I love that--please don't post my very ugliest pictures!  Come on, guys!).

1.

Meatloaf I (p. 512), Meat Loaf Sandwich (p. 183), Thousand Island Dressing (p. 576), and Cabbage, Potatoes, and Ham (p. 263)

This is the best meatloaf recipe ever.  I'm not sure what makes it so great--there aren't any weird ingredients or anything, so it must really be just the exact right ingredient proportions.  Can't recommend this one enough.

2.  

Baked Macaroni and Cheese (p. 326), White Sauce I (p. 550), Buttered Breadcrumbs (p. 960), and Corn Bread, Muffins, or Sticks (p.632)

I always like baked mac and cheese more than stovetop because I like a crunchy top.  Frankly, everyone should be able to make white sauce at the drop of a hat, too, because it's the base of about a billion recipes.

3.  

Slow-cooker stock (p. 118), Chicken-fried steak (p. 475), Fried eggplant III (p. 273), and Jamaican rice and peas (p. 356)

I'm guessing the stock is the reason people read this one so much.  I don't really see the point of slow cooker stock and I've never made it again--it's so easy to make on the stove, I don't see the point.  I love that chicken fried steak recipe, I make fried eggplant all the time, and I don't remember the rice and peas at all.

4.  

Shortbread crust (p. 667), New York-style cheesecake (p. 744), Chocolate satin frosting (p. 796), and Fresh raspberry sauce (raspberry coulis)(p. 853)

Okay, this one I get.  This cheesecake was a beautiful work of art, the crust was delicious, and the sauces were the best.  

5.  

Guy Fawkes Day cake (p. 724)

Another one that confuses me.  Do people really make this cake that often or do they just wonder what it is?

6.  

Pulled pork (p. 500), Southern barbecue dry rub (p. 587), Western North Carolina barbecue sauce (p. 587), and Ray's mustard barbecue sauce (p. 586)

Pulled pork is SOOOOO easy to make and I always make my own barbeque sauce--it's easy and you get exactly what you want.

7.  

Beef Stroganoff (p. 476)

Not my favorite.  Never been my favorite, never going to be my favorite.

8.  

Chicken or turkey fricassee (p. 432)

I apparently really liked this when I made it but it included one of my biggest TJOC pet peeves--having to dig around chicken bones in sauce.  I haven't made it since.

9.  

Chili Con Carne (p.513) and Mexican Orange Drops (p. 874)

I don't like chili con carne because I like my chili to have ground beef and not chunks of beer.  The orange drops were great though.

The RELAUNCH!

What an exciting day this is going to be for everyone!  This is my relaunch of TJOTJOC!  Just what you've all been waiting for!

So, here's the rundown.

Schedule from now on:  I'm going to post at least a post a week.  It's very possible I'm going to write these all at once but I'm going to schedule them so they come out periodically.

Why the break?  I have had a lot of personal issues but on top of that, I just lost my passion for blogging.  I still was cooking but I managed to get so spectacularly behind I couldn't even imagine how I would ever catch up.  And that bogged me down.  And then I just gave up.  I had an entire Thanksgiving's worth of recipes on a phone that was stolen.  I was downtrodden.

So what changed?  My cousin, Erica, made the point that I could do whatever I want to catch up because it's my blog.  I can just summarize the recipes, I can post them in detail, I can cook them again.  I can do whatever I want because this blog is totally mine.  And that was empowering!  So I'm just going to start blogging about what I'm cooking and do exactly that to catch up--write up some old posts, summarize other, and just totally recook a few.

AND WHAT'S NEW?  Much like some of you, I've fallen in love with subscription boxes.  I actually switched out my bar budget for a subscription box budget (much healthier in the long run!).  I'm going to post about them.  If you like this, great!  If you hate it, skip them!  Simple.  The first week is going to be subscription box heavy but don't worry--the food will come back and be about 75% of the posts.

What else is new?  I've updated all the pages up top!  Make sure to comment and let me know what you think of the changes.  I'm excited and I hope you are too.

I love you all!  Thank you for sticking with me through the years!

Thanksgiving 2012 Post 1: Brussels sprouts with chestnuts (p. 261), Root vegetable puree (p. 245), and Creamed cabbage (p. 263)

So, I realize I've been the worst blogger ever and I greatly apologize!  I will catch up on old blog posts (I'm over a year behind--honestly, I haven't even blogged about Thanksgiving 2011 but I will!).  I thought I would post new posts while sprinkling in the old posts.  And I'm going to schedule these to post in a row, even if I write them all in the same day, so check back.

As most of you know, I'm running out of "normal" Thanksgiving foods to cook because I've already made them.  So I've taken to only making the side dishes, the stuffing, and the bread out of TJOC.  This years I made three vegetable side dishes.

Brussels sprouts (and yep, there is an s at the end of Brussels) are something most people are sure they hate, even if they've never eaten one.  They really aren't as bad as people think--they are cabbagey but not as strong and are absolutely amazing with butter and a little garlic and salt. So, strangely, it wasn't the Brussels sprouts that were my problem with Brussels sprouts with chestnuts (p. 261), it was the chestnuts.  I had never eaten a chestnut before and had no idea if I was going to like them or not.

The recipe was simple.  I melted butter and added 4 halved shallots (that seemed strange to me--I mean, you usually chop or slice them but only halving them?  And if you are going to half them, don't you think you'd use more?) and peeled chestnuts (I used the vacuum packaged ones, I didn't want to go through the trouble of peeling fresh chestnuts).

 

 I added the Brussels sprouts, chicken broth, a bay leaf, thyme, parsley, salt, and pepper and cooked it all for about 15 minutes: 


So it turns out I don't like chestnuts, nor did anybody else at this Thanksgiving dinner. They were mealy and tasteless and an expensive waste.  Does anyone out there like chestnuts?  What are they supposed to taste like?  The Brussels sprouts were absolutely delicious though so I would make this recipe again without the chestnuts.

I've meant to make Root vegetable puree (p. 245) for quite  awhile.  I knew it would be a winner because it's essentially mashed potatoes with other stuff and I love mashed potatoes.  I mean, who doesn't love mashed potatoes?  And every time I make them I wonder why I don't make them more often because they are so easy.

So this recipe was also easy.  I boiled potatoes, added carrots to boil, and waited until they were super tender. 



When they were fork tender, I mashed them with a potato masher and mixed in cream, butter, salt, and pepper:

Delicious! Make sure you add LOTS of salt though, it really needed it.  This was creamy, delicious, heated up wonderfully the next day, and was beloved by all.  The best part was that the carrots made it seem more healthy than regular mashed potatoes and gave a little more flavor.  I really recommend this!  You can also use any other root veggie and I suspect that parsnips would give it a nice little peppery flavor.

My mother was in charge of the turkey this year.  She gave me a timeline of how long the turkey would take to cook.  Several of these dishes (the rolls [post forthcoming], the cabbage, the root veggie puree, the gravy, and the Creamed cabbage (p. 263)) needed to be done in the last hour and a half or so.  All of a sudden, way before expected, the turkey was done.  So I had to pound out all of these dishes while the turkey was sitting.  It was extremely stressful but I got it done!

Creamed cabbage isn't that popular anymore but, the few times I've had it, I've liked it.  The recipe was simple.  I boiled milk in a pan and added shredded cabbage.  TJOC recommends the cabbage is finely shredded, which it wasn't when I made the recipe, because I couldn't get it shredded finely.  If I was at home it wouldn't have been a problem (hooray for the salad shooter!) but I was at mom's house so I just did my best.

After a couple of minutes I dropped it into a white sauce and seasoned it with horseradish, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Caraway was sprinkled on top:



I expected this dish to be unpopular and it was but it was really good!  Because I was hurrying (or maybe because the cabbage wasn't actually shredded finely enough) it was pretty crisp still but I think that made it even better.  It wasn't particularly creamy, which is exactly the way I like it, and the caraway gave it a nice German flavor.

There will only be 3 blog posts for the 2012 Thanksgiving festivities but there was actually quite a bit of food.  We seem to have settled on a menu of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, 2 types of cranberries, 2 types of stuffing, green bean casserole, the 3 veggie dishes, and rolls.  And that's for about 6 people!

What did everybody else enjoy?  Do you keep it traditional?

Thanksgiving 2011 Post 1: Rumaki (p. 83) and Clam dip (p. 72)

Thanksgiving!  And, yes, I realize this just shows how amazingly behind I am but, hey, I'm catching up!  Thanksgiving has started becoming a problem but I will get to that in future post.  (Note from Future Jessica in 2019: I never finished this set of blog posts but I remember what the problem was.  I had made every normal Thanksgiving recipe in the book and I was starting to have to branch out into stranger recipes nobody was excited about.  Taking a break for a decade really helped with that).

Those of you who have read the blog for a while know that for Thanksgiving at our house, I cook an appetizer-style lunch.  This has been getting more difficult because I have made so many of the TJOC appetizer recipes already.

Rumaki (p. 83) is not one of my favorite things.  That's likely because I really don't like liver.  TJOC pointed out that I could use whole water chestnuts instead of chicken livers, so that's what I decided to do for half the rumaki.  I thought it was a decent compromise.

I needed to grate ginger so I used the world's tiniest shredder.  I put it next to the water chestnuts so that you could see how truly tiny the shredder really was.

I mixed together soy sauce, dry sherry, the grated ginger, and brown sugar:

The whole chestnuts went into half the marinade and the livers went into the other half (I didn't want the livery flavors to go into the water chestnuts), where they sat for a few hours:

I made some of the rumaki the real way and some of them without liver.  If the rumaki included liver, I used just a slice of water chestnut and a quarter of a chicken liver.  For the rumaki without liver, I used a whole water chestnut.  I wrapped them in a half slice of bacon and skewered them with a toothpick:

They went in to the over for about ten minutes:

Rumaki is (are?  I'm not sure if we are talking singular or plural here) super common appetizers, so it was fun to try my hand at making it.  Super easy.  And strangely delicious--it has bacon so it's hard to go wrong.  People who don't have my hatred of liver thought they were both equally good.  And the toothpick made them easy to handle and easy to eat.

I love, love, love my modified version of the Becker sour cream dip, so I was confident that Clam dip (p. 72) would also be delicious (since it's essentially the exact same thing, with clams). That's exactly what it was--the sour cream dip with Worcestershire sauce and canned clams:

You almost can't go wrong with that dip recipe, it's that good, so, although I don't think the clams added anything, they didn't subtract either.

The easiest way to feel popular?

Cook.  All of a sudden everyone wants to be hanging around with you!

Panfried fish fillets or steaks (p. 407)

There are a lot of fairly easy fish recipes that I need to knock out and haven't for some reason.  One of these is Panfried fish fillets or steaks (p. 407).  I make salmon all the time but never made this exact recipe.

I took skin-on salmon, seasoned it with olive oil (and, obviously, other stuff--salt, pepper, garlic), and started it skin side down in the pan.  I cooked it undisturbed until the skin was brown and the flesh became opaque:

I turned it over and cooked it for a couple more minutes and done:

The finished product:

This was a delicious recipe but a really easy one.  There isn't a whole lot to say about it, other than if you like fish, this is an easy, fast way to make it with minimal fuss.  If you don't like fish, this recipe isn't going to change your mind.

What is your favorite way to cook fish?

November party post 9: Liquor-soaked pound cake (p. 716) and Gingerbread (p. 724)

Final party post!  My final thoughts on this party--I cooked sooooo much!  It was really fun, I had a great time, and it was a great last (and only) party in Fort Collins.  The best part is that I knocked out probably a solid 25 recipes!  I'll try to get the opinions of the people who were at the party--if they remember what the food tasted like, considering it was 9 months ago!  

Go through all the past posts and comment!  

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Post 4

Post 5

Post 6

Post 7

Post 8

Even though the guests were warned that the whole point of this particular party was to make a bunch of the strange TJOC recipes and get them knocked out, I wanted to make a couple desserts that I was confident would turn out well and reward them for showing up.  I know I make a great pound cake, so I decided to make Liquor-soaked pound cake (p. 716).

The recipe was simple.  First, I made pound cake and poured the batter into loaf pans and cooked it like that.  I combined sugar, water, and corn syrup over heat until the sugar was dissolved.  Once that had occurred, I added some good quality brandy (although you could use almost any type of liquor):

I used a skewer and poked holes in the pound cakes:

The sugar mixture was poured over the cake:

The liquid slowly soaked in to the pound cake.  Believe it or not, over a few hours, all of it soaked in.  This pound cake was DELICIOUS.  The extra liquid meant that the pound cake was ultra-moist and lasted forever--it essentially didn't stale.  And, remember, the alcohol doesn't cook out in recipes like this, so...be careful!  And use good quality alcohol--the flavor is really important.  

I also decided to make Gingerbread (p. 724).  Everybody thinks they like gingerbread, even though most people have never actually eaten it.  Or am I wrong about that?  

I mixed melted butter, egg, and sugar:

I whisked together flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon:

In a third container I whisked hot water, molasses, and honey together:

Eventually, added the dry and liquid ingredients alternately to the butter mixture and poured it in to a pan:

 Sadly, I have no final picture of this one either but it looked like gingerbread, nice and dark.  It was delicious.  Moist, spicy, delicious.  And the absolute perfect dessert for a holiday party.  If you haven't made gingerbread before, do it.

And with that, I will tell one of my favorite stories about my father.  One year, my dad decided that we would make gingerbread houses together.  I was probably 7 years old or so.  He made a bunch of gingerbread.  We cut it into pieces and tried building a house.  After about an hour of no progress at all no matter how hard we tried, we gave up and just ate the gingerbread.  Turns out, you make gingerbread houses with a totally different type of gingerbread--not this type, a more cardboardy type.  But nobody got mad that it was failing and it was so much fun.  It was one of my first lessons in the concept that sometimes even if your plan turns in to a disaster, it can still be a fun amazing memory.

November party post 8: Ricotta cheesecake (p. 745)

Almost done with these November party posts!  Wow, I really did cook a ton for that party!

I made the pat in the pan crust, which I've made a million times in the past--it's my favorite crust recipe because it's really easy and I don't have to roll it out (my least favorite part).  I don't know if you all own pie weights but they really are nice for keeping crusts from bubbling--I know you can just use rice but the weights are easy to wash and it seems less wasteful.

Pie weights

I decided to make Ricotta cheesecake (p. 745) for some reason.  I can't really explain why that recipe jumped out at me.

I mixed toasted pine nuts, chopped almonds, chocolate chips, and flour:

I thought that was a promising start, I really like all those ingredients.  In another bowl I beat egg with sugar and vanilla for a couple minutes, finally stirring in ricotta cheese:

The crust pre-cooking:

The nut mixture was mixed into the egg mixture:

The crust post-cooking:

The cheesecake mixture was poured into the baked crust:

And it was baked.  You will have to imagine the "after", I didn't get a picture of this one either, but it looked pretty much exactly the same.  I didn't like this recipe.  I don't like savory cheesecakes.  The pesto cheesecake that I made a couple New Year's Eves ago was much better than this recipe and this one was actually in the "cakes and cupcakes" section.  I love ricotta, I don't have a sweet tooth, and this recipe wasn't sweet enough for even me.  It wasn't popular.  

November party post 7: Party piroshki (p. 89)

Every now and then I have to make something that is totally mysterious to me.  Party piroshki (p. 89) was one of these items.  I had no idea what a piroshki even was and what made it "party"?  Confetti and balloons?  I was hopeful.

I sauteed onion in oil and added beef and salt.  After the meat started to brown, I added beef broth, pepper, sugar, and rice.  That was covered and allowed to cook:

I rolled out puff pastry (even TJOC says not to bother making your own puff pastry--just buy it.  And it's a bazillion times easier to work with than phyllo, so don't be scared).  I dumped the filling in the middle (actually, the recipe makes two, so the filling was halved):

The dough was rolled in to a pocked:

They were brushed with an egg wash:

And popped in the oven:

The rolls were then sliced:

These were great for a party!  They were the perfect size for an easy appetizer.  That being said, the piroshki were bland.  Which isn't a surprise because spices weren't added at all other than salt and pepper, which isn't enough for me.  I think it need at least garlic--at the very minimum.  Any other ideas?  I've never had a piroshki so I'm not sure if the recipe was accurate or not.  The pictures on Wikipedia are pretty similar to what I made--anyone had one before?  I imagine they were "party" because they were big, sadly, there were no balloons or banners involved.