Tag Archives: food

Christmas Cooking

Posted on December 20, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

What’s wrong with All Christmas All The Time anyways?

How about a cooking post. I had hoped to have enough oomph one day this week to make White Trash to bring to the Ilion Little Theatre dinner meeting on Thursday. Tuesday I managed it.

First I found a peppy Christmas CD to inspire me. I picked “Roomful of Christmas” by Roomful of Blues. Oh yeah.

I got the white chocolate chips out of the refrigerator. I have four bags altogether, enough for two batches. One Girardelli, one Nestle and two store brand. I decided to mix and match: the Nestle and the store brand. When I taste tested the chips (well, naturally I taste tested! Stop shaking your dieter’s finger at me!), they tasted remarkable alike.

I put them in my fancy double boiler, a frying pan of water with a pot sitting in it, and added two tablespoons of olive oil.

While it came to a boil, I mixed six cups of hexagon cereal, two cups Tasteos (generic Cheerios), two cups peanuts and two cups pretzels. I broke some of the pretzels (on purpose).

Of course I put too much water in the frying pan. I siphoned some off with a turkey baster.

Then I could not find my red and green sugar. It is not part of the recipe to sprinkle colored sugar on the finished product, but I like to be seasonal. Red and green for Christmas, orange and black for Halloween. Wait a minute, did I use it all up last year? Who can remember these things?

I was out of time to search for colored sugar! I had to start stirring the white chocolate chips or they would burn to the bottom of the pan! Oh no!

I hollered up the stairs for Steven, being quite loud about it, because I had the music cranked. He thought something must be horribly wrong, so that was ill done of me. Scaring my husband over colored sugar. What’s the matter with me? (Do NOT answer that!)

Steven came down and confirmed our lack of colored sugar. No matter. White is still seasonal.

I poured the melted white chocolate over the stuff and stirred. Then Steven had to find something else to put his coffee filters in, because I accidentally dropped some on the plastic bag they were in. I never said I was Rachel Ray.

Soon I was spreading the mixture on wax paper to cool. Later on I taste tested it as I broke it apart and put it in a bowl. Steven tried some too. We pronounced it yummy.

In retrospect, I’m sure I’ve shared the White Trash recipe before. However, I thought what with hollering up the stairs and spilling some on the coffee filters, last night’s episode had a certain charm all its own. Anyways, some people just can’t get enough White Trash.

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Where’s the Beef? At Church

Posted on December 4, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was delighted to see Christ Episcopal Church’s Annual Roast Beef Dinner scheduled for last Saturday. Steven worked till six, and the dinner ran till seven. We would be fashionably late but not unreasonably so.

When Steven and I have someplace to go after he gets off work, I try to meet him outside the house. That way he doesn’t come inside, get Tabby all excited, then leave. It just seems a mean thing to do to a cute little dog. I mean, she is SO happy when we’re both home; I hate to see it come crashing down. I suppose I am getting sentimental in my old age or super-sensitive or something (we’ll call that my Monday Middle-aged Musing for the week).

It was cold on Saturday. I stood at the end of the driveway watching approaching headlights and cursing the ones that weren’t Steven. All I could think of was that Vicki Carr song: “It must be him! It must be him!” At last it was.

There were a few empty tables at the dinner, most of them dirty. A lady quickly cleaned one for us. I always observe that we get top notch service at these dinners.

I got roast beef and mashed potatoes, which I covered in gravy, but I declined the squash and peas. I love being an adult and not having to eat vegetables I don’t like. I know, the younger generation can’t really identify with that, because it has gone out of fashion to make kids clean their plates (oh, nobody needs to tell me why this is psychologically and nutritionally a good idea; I was just making an observation) (or was that another Middle-aged Musing?).

I saw one little boy mowing down a big plate covered with peas and nothing else. I was impressed.

The food was delicious, as you probably expected. I especially enjoyed the roll with real butter. For dessert I dithered for a while between cheesecake and a chocolate pudding cake. I finally decided on the cheesecake. Steven made it to the dessert table a few minutes after me (he took longer because he ate his vegetables). Guess which he picked. So I got to try them both.

While we ate we were highly entertained by the toddler son of a couple of parishioners. He was playing with a roll of tape about four or five inches in diameter. He would roll it down the floor and cheer about how far it went. I could go on for a bit about high tech toys all the kids seem to want, but let’s have no more Middle-aged Musings today.

Before we left we put in for the various items they were raffling: a poinsettia with scratch-off lottery tickets and a couple of stockings with goodies. We chatted with the lady at the table about donating the 50/50 back if we won, which we have known people to do. It did not arise Saturday, though, because we did not win.

That was really no matter. We had enjoyed an excellent dinner. I’ve never personally roasted a beef in my life. I may try. Or I may just wait for the next church dinner.

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Return to PK’s

Posted on November 22, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Some weeks ago our friend Tracy was supposed to visit us, and we intended to introduce her to PK’s Pub. She was unable to make it, so we went without her. I wrote a blog post about it. Recently Tracy did visit us and we went to PK’s. I see no reason not to give them another shout out.

My friend Pete was not behind the bar this time, but I met up with him later when I had to visit the ladies room. He and two other guys were in it, checking on something or fixing something (I think).

“You gents visit the ladies room often?” I asked.

“All the time,” one of the guys assured me.

“It is the happening place,” I agreed.

I had been going to order Hats and Broccoli, which Steven had last time, but changed my mind and got the Chicken Riggies. Spicy! Steven got a dish with pesto and chicken, and Tracy had something involving pork, mashed potatoes and mushrooms. I foolishly did not make a note of the name of what Tracy had, but I bet I’ll be able to figure it out and order it myself when I go back there.

We all enjoyed the salads before dinner, remarking that they are more substantial than the salads some places serve. I especially enjoy the garbanzo beans, and what I really love is the herbed butter that comes with the rolls.

When the waitress asked us were we all set, I was about to ask for the check when Tracy spoke up and asked about desserts. Well, I couldn’t let her eat dessert alone, could I? We all three had a chocolate ice cream cake that was heavenly.

It was a great meal with great service. Steven and I will not wait till the next time Tracy visits to return to PK’s Pub. They are located at 221 King St., Herkimer, NY 13350, phone number 315-866-3494. Hours are Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 4:30 to 10 p.m.

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A Great Spot for Breakfast

Posted on September 5, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

To celebrate our day off together on Monday, Steven and I went to breakfast at The Knight Spot on Frankfort, NY.

I know I have written about The Knight Spot before. It is a favorite of ours for breakfast, lunch, dinner or the occasional afternoon ice cream sundae. As we waited for our breakfast menus I read the desserts on the board on the wall near us and considered ordering pie for breakfast. Or possibly deep fried cheesecake. And of course they have all those wonderful flavors of Gifford hard ice cream. No, no, we were there for breakfast.

I ordered my favorite breakfast sandwich of sausage, egg and cheese on a hard roll. Steven ordered fried eggs with bacon and Italian toast.

“I only ever get bacon when we go out for breakfast,” he observed.

It’s true. We used to almost always have bacon in our refrigerator. We stopped buying it so often when Steven was diagnosed with high cholesterol. Now it’s a special treat. I don’t mean to say we eat healthily all the time or even most of the time. But we eat less egregiously unhealthily than we used to. That said, Steven enjoyed his bacon.

The whole breakfast was enjoyable. The Knight Spot has that hometown atmosphere that many area restaurants share. You get the feeling that many of your fellow diners are Regulars, that some of them probably went to high school with the waitress and everybody is ready to be friends. Of course none of that may be true, but it doesn’t matter. The place feels friendly, and the food tastes good.

The Knight Spot is located at 264 E. Main St., Frankfort, NY, phone 315-894-5054. They are open seven days from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can “Like” them on Facebook. I did.

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Crock Pot Creativity

Posted on August 17, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I haven’t done a cooking post recently, and I did some cooking last night (Wednesday), so I thought this might be a change of pace.

Wednesday’s dinner was grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches. I thought about doing something to make it more memorable, like adding pesto or using real butter, but I was impatient to eat so I used the traditional, easy method. I did use farm stand tomato, so it was local (and yummy!), but that wasn’t what I meant to write about anyways. I got creative for Thursday’s dinner.

You see, Thursday is two days away from the DARE 5K (you knew I’d get back to talking about that sooner or later, didn’t you?). A guy at the Sneaker Store in New Hartford, NY, told me to eat a steak dinner two days before the Boilermaker and pasta the night before. The Sneaker Store, just to give a quick plug to a local business, is where I purchase my running shoes, because they are so helpful and knowledgeable. In this case, I had stopped in for running socks and advice about the intensity of my workouts the week before the big race.

I don’t know how to cook a steak, but I can throw a London Broil into the crock pot. I figured beef is beef. This would work.

I also happened to have an eggplant, which I know goes good with beef. I chopped the eggplant into bite sized pieces and put them in the bottom of the crock pot, which Steven had helpfully sprayed with no-stick stuff for me. I had some pesto I had made on Sunday, so I drizzled that over the eggplant and stirred.

My pesto is not made according to a real recipe. This time I used a combination of olive and canola oil to which I added fresh basil from my container garden, crushed garlic (which I let breathe for 15 minutes) and fresh grated Parmesan. I whirred everything around in the blender till it looked good. We had it with angel hair and chicken. I always try to make enough pesto for leftovers.

I put the London Broil on top of the eggplant, brushed it with pesto and sprinkled on a little garlic powder for good measure. Then I made a note on our grocery list to buy more garlic powder. Purists are now throwing up their hands in horror that I do not use fresh garlic exclusively. To these people I say, as kindly as possible, get over yourselves.

Then I looked in the cabinet for diced tomatoes or tomato sauce and found I have none. What’s that all about? Well, I don’t get to Aldi’s, that excellent source for canned food, as often as I used to. Also, for a while there I was going a little crazy with the diced tomatoes. They were piling up and I kept neglecting to rotate my stock with the result that some cans expired. By a couple of years. So now I err on the other side and don’t have things when I need them.

Steven found me some tubes of pizza sauce in the freezer. I’ve mentioned this sauce before: it comes with the pizza crust we sometimes buy (and for you purists who are now raising your hands in horror because I don’t make pizza crust from scratch and/or because I’m using the sauce that comes with it, oh, just put your hands down. Who asked you?). I put the tubes in some hot water to thaw and went upstairs to write yesterday’s blog post.

When I returned I squeezed the tomato sauce over the beef and eggplant and put the whole thing in the refrigerator. I have a fancy crock pot (purchased some years ago with money my mom and dad sent me for my birthday. Thanks, Mom and Dad!). The bowl comes out of the heating unit, for ease of cleaning and to put your food in the fridge overnight. A very handy feature.

Steven’s assignment today is to put the crock in the pot (or is it the pot in the crock?) and turn it on low, eight to ten hours before we plan to eat. If that turns out to be before I type this into my computer, I’ll let you know how it turns out.

ADDED NOTE: Haven’t tried the stuff yet, but it smells good and I’m hungry! I hope you’re eating well tonight, too.

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