Month: November 2015

Thanksgiving Traditions- Don’t Mess with ‘Em

Green Bean Casserole

The above phrase can strike terror or warm, fuzzy, family memories. I always liked the basic, read off the back-of-the-soup can recipe. My grandmother would make this casserole and bring it to our home on Thanksgiving. Her son was the master turkey chef- if you kept the faith in the Atkins Diet as long as my father has, you’d be able to whip out a 20 pound turkey, too.

I felt like changing up the usual recipe but did it in a super-smart way: ten days ahead of time, experimenting on my favorite subject… the men in my household.

IMG_9251This is an All-Trader Joe’s version of the Green Bean Casserole, recipe available on the back of the canister of TJ’s Crispy Fried Onions.

Of course I didn’t follow their recipe.

I kind of wanted to stick to the ease of the original, so I used the frozen bag of haricots verts green beans, the carton of portobello mushroom soup, grated Swiss cheese, fried onion pieces, and mixed them all together, and baked it at 375 for about 20 minutes.

Meh.

The Husband liked it a  lot, The Boy had to be threatened to eat it, and although I liked it- it was as easy to throw together as the original recipe concocted back in the 1950’s for the Campbell’s Soup company, but I do like the original best.

I’ve learned to carve the turkey from my father, and between my mother and me messing with the classic Green Bean Casserole recipe over the years, I’ve also learned to stick to the original green bean recipe. I’m sure glad I tried this well in advance, it might go over about as well and some of my mom’s concoctions she’s tried to sneak in as a replacement. Actually… I’m the only one who hasn’t liked some of her attempts. Everyone else loves them. But everyone also has great memories of Grandma’s recipe.

Trader Joe’s Taste Testing- Fall Holiday Sides!

Ever walk down the aisles at the store and wonder… “Wouldn’t it be easier and taste just as good to use the pre-cooked side dishes from my favorite grocery store?”

Don’t. Make your own. Unless, you don’t mind settling for sides that are less than okay.

Case in point:

IMG_9134Cauliflower Au Gratin with Gruyere Sauce and Parmesan Breadcrumbs

IMG_9135Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries and Pecans

IMG_9155Trader Joe’s Ready to Use Turkey Gravy

 

Again, don’t. Just… no. In very little time, you to peel, cube, and roast a couple of sweet potatoes, drizzle with your own maple syrup or sprinkle on brown sugar, and this will taste WORLDS better, the texture will be FAR superior, and you will spend maybe a third of the price. As for the cauliflower– well, it didn’t taste bad (neither did it taste good), but the vegetable was buried under about three times as much crumb topping as needed. Oddly enough, both packages of sides seemed under cooked, even though I followed the directions for time and temperature.

The gravy. Ummm… what to say. Not much turkey flavor, not horrible, but I wouldn’t buy it again or use it again. Ever. This product simply does not taste good. I’d rather mix up the McCormick’s envelope from the seasoning section of the supermarket. I would drink up a pot full of gravy from a straw, and I will not touch the Trader Joe’s gravy with a ten foot pole.

I love my Trader Joe’s stores, and rarely find something I dislike, or dislike this much. I’m glad I gave these a try, it was worth the price to try something new, and gratifying to know that a simple home made recipe is so much better. Save yourself the scratch. Make simple sides from scratch.

Got a Little Time to Cook? Simple Recipe Suggestions:

AllRecipes.com Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Thyme and Maple Syrup

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower

Got a Little More Time to Cook: Still Somewhat Simple Suggestion:

Make Ahead Turkey Gravy

 

Easier (and lighter) Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

I love seeing the short recipe videos that friends share on Facebook and other sites. You know, the 15 second or one minute clips showing how to put together quick side dishes or appetizers?

I saw this two minute video tonight and wondered if it would be better than my simple baked sweet potato that I serve with a pat of butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar…

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Click photo to link to the original AllRecipes.com video “Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Browned Butter”

Here’s what I did:

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Oven at 400… (Six o’clock already… dinner’s gonna be late tonight!
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…Sweet Potatoes, cleaned and poked with knife, in for 50-60 minutes…
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…2 Tbsp. Butter, pinch of salt, fresh ground pepper, 1 tsp. brown sugar…
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When tender, cut potatoes in half, scoop potato from skins, mush up potato with ingredients in bowl, and put back into the potato skins. Top with small marshmallows and bake for 10 more minutes until marshmallows get toasty.
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10 minutes later, Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes!

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The Husband approved, The Boy is a stinker- he doesn’t like toasted marshmallows, and I thought they were too sweet. I’ll stick to a ridiculously simple baked, pat of butter, sprinkle of brown sugar version. BUT- if you like a nice, sweet, holiday-style Sweet Potato, these definitely fit the bill! Simple, quick, and quite good. If you like sweet. Is it just me? I think that sweet potatoes are rich and sweet enough, that they don’t need very much butter or sugar to make them delicious.

By the way, if you look at the recipe video that caught my attention originally, you see that it calls for cream cheese. I think that would be really nice in this dish, and will give it another try with that extra ingredient. Also- my potatoes were kind of small, which made scooping out and stuffing them a little tricky. I’d use a bigger sweet potato next time.

San Diego Beer Week 2015 #8 Division 23

So, what do you do if you want a second career because you’d like to branch out from the world of construction and engineering? If you live in San Diego, you start a brewery and hire people who have worked with some of the best California craft beer houses, of course! We LOVED this place.

Kellen Smith, Allen Hampton, and Kevin Dougherty have the praise of their regulars, who proudly told us the backstory of Division 23 Brewing. Some of these brew-flies are practically employees said our bar guide, and bona fide employee Alicia. She knows these beers and walked me through the flight of six small tastes. To paraphrase good ol’ Bill, “They may be small, but they are mighty.” (holy cow, that was a LOT of beer!).

IMG_9207Morrisch Meister German Pilsner- if mass market American beers tasted good, this is how they would taste. It’s flavorful.

Barrel Aged Berlinerweisse- amazingly different. Sour. Tastes like an orange grove, no lie- the musty citrus smell. One guy described it like a Chardonnay.

Sour Superintendent Berlinerweisse- it’s the above beer, not barrel aged. And it’s just weird. Whatever happened in the barrel, that’s what put the finishing touch on this beer.

Night Shift Imperial Stout- smell this, it’s coffee. Taste it, heavy coffee. Really full and heavy. Really toasty and sweet.

Change Order Porter- drinking a porter after a stout is like Cabernet and merlot. Cab makes Merlot taste like water to me. Tasting The Husband’s IPA in between helped. I like it.

Bitter Foreman IPA with Fire Roasted Chiles- holy cow you can smell the pepper. Mamacita, this is gooood!!! No bite from the pepper, it’s all flavor and aroma. And it’s an IPA that I like! I know, right?!? 

The group that was schooling me about the brews.
The group that was schooling me about the brews.

Division 23 Brewing is at the top of our list to come back to where we can share beer talk and brew stories with devoted regulars and Alicia. What a great group of people brought together by quality drinks! They really have done it right, here.

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Shuffleboard, anyone?
Shuffleboard, anyone?
Check out these light fixtures, slick!
Check out these light fixtures, slick!
SDBW 2015 passport stamping
SDBW 2015 passport stamping. Had we known about this White Labs Tshirt scavenger hunt last week, we would have played, too. Boo.