Thanksgiving Revisited

Happy New Year! I was planning to share this post with you a few weeks ago, but alas, time got away from me. I have two delish recipes for you...

These scalloped potatoes are my second favorite recipe of all time (first place goes to my mom's chicken croquettes, which we had for Christmas dinner). I have zero self control when they're sitting in the fridge... to the point where I get a serving, microwave it, eat it, repeat, repeat, repeat. It's embarrassing but very true.

I got this recipe from my mother in law, who got it from a friend, who I believe originally got it from the Barefoot Contessa. I've changed it a good bit from the version that was sent to me, and in my opinion they're absolute perfection. I make this each year for Thanksgiving to replace mashed potatoes, and they are a delicious upgrade that I suggest you try out for yourself.

Just like the chocolate chip cookies I posted about recently, I made these scalloped potatoes into some recipe art as well.

See how convenient it is to just have it right there? The scalloped potatoes are on bottom so I can read them most easily... because they are my favorite.

As the recipe art suggests, the ingredients are as simple as:

4 large potatoes
2 yellow onions
½ lb grated gruyere
2 cups heavy cream
Salt & pepper

I just noticed that the recipe art calls for half a stick of butter, but I didn't use any butter when I made them, so you could go either way on that. If you did want to add it in, you'd use the butter for the onions in addition to or instead of the olive oil.

First up, I sautéed the onions.

I let them cook on medium-low until they were really soft and caramelized, and had no bite left to them at all.

Next, I used a mandoline to slice the potatoes paper thin. Using a mandoline makes a big difference in the final product. Having thick pieces of potato really detracts from the texture and overall result, so I would definitely suggest going the extra mile and getting the right equipment. Before we got this one for our wedding, I used a really inexpensive version like this that worked very well.

After they were all sliced, I laid a thin layer on the bottom of my baking dish.

Next, I layered the onions and cheese, then repeated until I had nothing left.

Lastly, I poured the cream over top and baked them at 350 for an hour and a half.

Smelling the gruyere while it cooks is pure torture. Once they're all done... it's magic.

This was the first of many, many (many, many, many) slices.

Look at all of those layers!

The other recipe I make for Thanksgiving always makes me feel a little nostalgic. One of my childhood friends' mother used to make this dijon mac & cheese recipe and would bring it to all of the potlucks at school. I lived for those potlucks purely because this dish was so, so good. A few years ago, I stumbled across the crumpled up piece of notebook paper that written the recipe on for me back in elementary school. I've made it countless times since then, and the only things I've changed (I think) is to add more dijon and to not include breadcrumbs. 

This mac & cheese recipe is like... real mac & cheese. Because it's baked, the pasta really absorbs the sauce rather than it being soupy. This is my dad's girlfriend's favorite dish, which meant that when I made it for Thanksgiving, I gave her all of the leftovers :)

One thing I love about this recipe is that all you need is one large pot. I cook the pasta, set it aside, and then use that pot to finish everything out.

The ingredients are:

1 lb cavatappi pasta

3 tbsp dijon mustard

1 lb shredded sharp cheddar

4 cups preheated milk

4 tbsp butter

½ cup flour

Salt & pepper

First, I made a roux by melting the butter over medium-low heat, then slowly stirred in the flour.

Next, I slowly added in the milk, stirring constantly.

The mixture will get looser and looser.

The first time I made this recipe, I thought I had done something terribly wrong, because this is what I ended up with:

Rest assured, the fact that it looks like milk soup is exactly the way it should. Stirring constantly over medium heat, I brought the mixture to a simmer. Then, reduced to medium-low and stirred for 10 more minutes.

Next, added in the cheese, dijon, salt, & pepper.

Lastly, stirred in the cavatappi.

I transferred the mixture to a baking dish and cooked it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

For some reason, I like the re-heated version of this recipe best. I think it's because everything really has time to sit together and the sauce thickens a little on the re-heat.

I wish I had taken a picture, but on Thanksgiving day, my plate was ⅓ scalloped potatoes, ⅓ mac & cheese, and ⅓ everything else (turkey, bread, brussels sprouts, etc.). I complained about sweets overload in one of my previous posts, but in my opinion, there is no such thing as carbs overload. 

What are your favorite Thanksgiving dishes that are a little unconventional?

A Gift For Later

I love just about every aspect of the holidays. The weather… traditions... warm blankets… decorations… community cheer… surprise… need I go on? One thing I'm not as fond of, however, is that you get completely inundated with sweets. That may sound strange, but I mean it. I love sweets, and I love eating them, but when I have 17 different options from 17 different people, I end up enjoying them a just a little less because it's sweets overload. Plus, you have to eat them pretty soon after receiving them to make sure they keep. So much pressure!

Something I wanted to do for Christmas was to make cookies to give to people, but I had mixed feelings since I would be contributing to the exact "problem" I just described. So, I decided to do a homemade version of individual frozen cookies, that way those on the receiving end will have the choice of when to eat them without worrying they'll go bad.

I used the cookie recipe that I made recipe art out of last year.

The recipe actually hangs in the perfect spot to reference while cooking!

As the recipe art suggests, the ingredients are:

1 cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

2 sticks butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour

2 large eggs

1 tsp baking soda

I always get my mise en place ready before I start to make everything quick and easy.

First, cream the butter and both sugars together. Then, add the vanilla and eggs. Last, add the flour and baking soda.

My favorite version of these cookies has white chocolate chips, but knowing that other people may have different preferences, I split the dough in thirds and added M&Ms and chocolate chips to the other portions.

Next, I cut parchment paper into roughly 5"x5" squares.

To make sure each cookie was the same size, I used an ice cream scooper to dole each of them out (I use one that's 1 ¾" wide, but they have a smaller and a larger version at Williams Sonoma).

Just plop the dough down...

Then, sandwich with another piece of parchment, and smush it down a little. Not only does it take up less space this way, I like how the cookies turn out better when they start in this flat shape in the oven rather than in a spherical one (this way they're less cakey).

After I sandwiched all of the dough between pieces of parchment, I stacked them up in 6 piles of 5 cookies each (i.e., this recipe makes 30 cookies).

Next I used some wax-lined tissue paper and a cellophane bag to bundle them up. The wax paper came from The Container Store, and the cellophane bags and paper tags came from Crate & Barrel.

Granted, you can't store these under the tree for any period longer than a quick photoshoot (they're back in the freezer waiting to be delivered), but they sure do make for a cute picture! On the back I'll write the baking directions, which are 10-13 minutes at 350 degrees. I spent a long time combining and tweaking different recipes, and this version is my idea of heaven. The brown sugar makes the edges crisp and sweet, but the middle is still soft and chewy without being too thick or cakey. 

I actually bake these directly on the parchment paper, and as soon as they come out of the oven I pull the parchment & cookie onto my granite counters to cool down just enough to not fall apart. Then I eat them with a glass of milk. Mmm… delish. 

What are your favorite things to cook during the holidays?

Chicken Fried Rice

Can you tell that I really like chicken... and rice? Between my saffron chicken & rice and chicken enchiladas, it's probably pretty evident that we eat a lot of chicken. See, I must confess, this is mainly due to my laziness. I love cooking, but I hate how long it takes, so making a full-blown meal from scratch every night just isn't something I'm usually up for. We don't like to eat out on weeknights though (because we're not made of $$), and I don't like eating pre-made or partially-made meals, so the best solution I've come up with is to cook enough on the weekends to feed us for the rest of the week.

Each Sunday, that's typically what I do. I make a large recipe of something and we eat it during the subsequent weeknights. That may sound boring and repetitive to some people, but when I find something I like, I actually enjoy eating it over and over. Weird? I don't know, but it's how we roll. 

Last weekend I had a craving for fried rice. I decided to make some and to add chicken for some protein. I contemplated using bacon which would taste more like what you'd typically find in Hawaii, which is mainly where I eat fried rice, but I settled on chicken for a lower fat content. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups short grain white rice (I have to go to Asian markets to get this... for some reason they don't carry it at HEB but truly short grain is my favorite)

1 3/4 water

1 package 97% lean ground chicken

4 eggs

2 bunches scallions, chopped (separate the whites and greens) 

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp oyster sauce

I'm really not a lover of seafood, so the idea of oyster sauce grosses me out, but when it's all said and done you can't single it out and everything comes together really nicely.

You may remember that in my saffron chicken & rice post I resorted to cooking the rice in my dutch oven because I couldn't figure out how to successfully make it on our new stove. I had tried at least a dozen times, and each time it was coming out under cooked. I tried cooking it with more water, letting it cook longer, and keeping it at a boil longer, but nothing worked. Since then I've figured out the key: my stove's lowest heat setting is a good bit cooler than what it was on my previous stove, so the rice was getting too cool. If you're having issues with your rice being undercooked, cook it just a tad hotter and it just may do the trick!

To make the white rice:

• Put the 1 1/2 cups of rice in the pot
• Wash the rice in cool water roughly 7-10 times, until the water is significantly less murky
• Drain all of the water out
• Add 1 3/4 cups of water to the pot
• Put the pot on the stove and bring the water & rice to a boil
• Lower the temperature to the lowest or nearly lowest setting on the stove, and allow the rice to cook for 20 minutes

While I had the rice cooking, I browned the ground chicken in my dutch oven. I did pour in about a tablespoon of canola oil before putting the chicken in, plus some salt and pepper. The key, as usual, is to let it brown before stirring it up/flipping it over. In the beginning it looked sort of like one large chicken pancake, but after I flipped it over and let the other side brown I broke it back up.

I set the chicken aside, then added the eggs and the white part of the scallions. I know they look pretty green in the picture below, but this was roughly the bottom half of the scallion which has a more onion-y texture than the top half, so they need to cook a little to mellow out their flavor.

After the eggs and scallions cooked, I set them aside and put the cooked rice into the dutch oven with the oyster sauce and soy, then mixed them together.

Next I added in the chicken and eggs.

Lastly, I added the green part of the scallions. Depending on how much onion flavor you like, you may not want to add all of what you chopped... but I love me some onion, so I put it all in.

And there you go, leftovers for the whole week!

What do you put in your fried rice? This was my first time to ever work with ground chicken and I really like how it came out. It was really fast and easy compared to using whole breasts. Most of what I make are "one pot meals" but this one felt particularly quick and easy. In my mind, there's nothing better than a speedy cleanup!

John doesn't like calling this recipe "fried rice" because he feels like there's nothing fried about it. I can totally get on board with that. While much of this recipe is carbs, it's not all that bad for you given that it has only a tiny bit of oil spread over many servings, and then lean chicken and egg. You could do just egg whites if you were wanting a lower cholesterol content. 

Poor John is typically very wary of Asian foods, but this was only a small jump from things we already eat and he's had it for a couple of meals already, so I think we're good to go. Whew.

Slow Cookin' Some Chicken

We spent a few days celebrating one of our friends’ 24^th birthday this past weekend. Friday night we grilled out, and Saturday the girls and guys split off and did their own things. The guys went out tubing while we stayed home and had a spa day, complete with masseuses, nail-painting, wine glass etching (much like my kitchen canister etching), and TV watching. It was a relaxing and fun and just what I needed!

The group had dinner at NoRTH and then headed to the Midnight Cowboy and stopped by other bars before heading home.

P.S. I chopped all my hair off! So far, so good. 

We spent Sunday recuperating, and as you may have seen on Instagram, cooking. 

I've made a chicken and rice dish for many years that I love, but ever since we switched to an induction stove I've had a hard time getting the rice to turn out the way I want it. So, I decided to switch up the recipe all together and try something new.

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
1/2 cup vinaigrette (I used La Martinique French Vinaigrette)
1 cup rice
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp seasoned salt

1 tsp turmeric

5 saffron sprigs

1 can diced tomatoes

Directions:
Marinate the chicken in the vinaigrette for 10 minutes.
In a dutch oven, with the stove on high, brown the chicken on each side. Set aside.

Chop the onion and mince the garlic (I used my microplane to get it to a pasty consistency).

Rinse the rice. With the stove on low, combine the rice, chicken broth, seasoned salt, saffron, turmeric, garlic, and can of tomatoes into the dutch oven. Place the chicken on top, then the onions.

Put the lid on and allow to cook for an hour (I cooked it for longer than an hour and wished I had done less so the chicken would have been a little more moist and the rice would have cooked less).

Give it a stir and serve it up or store it in the fridge!

Yum! I didn't eat that whole piece of chicken... that would have been a lot. The dish came out well and John has had it for dinner every night since! He would eat just about anything, so I guess that's not a huge testament, but I'll take it.

What are yall's favorite recipes? The same friend who turned 24 cooked us a really yummy chicken enchilada dinner a few weeks ago that I really want to try myself. I was surprised to hear that the recipe actually came from HEB... but it was SO good!