Whats For Dinner?

Tonight I had dinner at my mom’s house. My sister was up for her high school reunion and we went over to see her and have dinner. Part of the dinner was clams.

When I was a kid, we would walk down to the beach and dig clams. You would head down there 1 hour before the posted low tide time to maximize digging time. We would come home with a 5 gallon bucket about 3/4 full.

To make the clam boil, you need a large pot. The clams are the bottom layer. Put water to the top of the clams. Then potato halves go on top of the clams, then whole onions go next. Then there is sausage (breakfast sausage from the meat department), chourico, and hot dogs. If you want, you can put eggs on top to become hard boiled eggs.

Bring the pot up to a boil then turn down to simmer. You want it to simmer until the potatoes are done. Everything else should be done by this time. Probably and hour to an hour and a half.

Serve with melted butter and broth from the pan. It’s the best one pot meal you’ll ever have.

I don’t know why but I prefer not to have a turkey on Christmas. I don’t know if it’s the proximity to Thanksgiving that leaves me not wanting turkey again one month later.

I love turkey, I really do but just not on Christmas. The last 2 years, I’ve had everyone over on Christmas. I like to have a ham, a pasta dish, scallop casserole and another meat choice as main dish options. One year I had pork tenderloin and last year it was a beef tenderloin.

It could also be that if I made a turkey on Christmas then I’d be expected to make all the sides that go with a turkey dinner. It just seems like a lot of work for a holiday when food is not the main focus.

When I’ve had smaller Christmas celebrations at my house, I’ve had a variety of meals. One year we had a really good (really expensive) hotel rib roast. That was probably the best thing ever.

One year we had a brunch with ham and the overnight french toast that I had previously posted. That was an excellent meal too and it was easy.

No one has decided who is hosting Christmas this year. If it turns out to be me again, I’ll be needing some new and exciting ideas, as long as it doesn’t include turkey.

So, we are sitting here watching the movie “Elf” for like the millionth time and it’s just as funny as the first time.

As Buddy sits down to dinner for the first time with his new family, it’s established that he likes sugar. Then he proceeds to give the four elf food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup.

Could you imagine what it would be like if that was the food groups. I guess, candy corn sounds almost like a vegetable.

Then, he actually put the maple syrup on spaghetti. And he serves it to the family for breakfast.

Now he’s asking out Jovy, and as Michael says “ask her out for food, not candy”. It’s the code, (*wink*).

Of course, as I’m writing this, the kids are in the kitchen making cup cakes with the new Gourmet Girl Cupcake Maker. It was an early Christmas gift.

I guess the elves know what they are talking about.

So, what are you going to do with the leftover turkey? Here’s a list of suggestions:

turkey soup

turkey croquettes

barbeque turkey bake

breakfast turkey burritos

turkey pot pie

turkey salad

turkey and stuffing pie

phyllo turkey puffs

polenta with turkey and mushrooms

sweet and sour turkey

turkey quesidillas

turkey chili

turkey chow mein

turkey frittata

And the list goes on and on. So, get creative and use up all the turkey and make some great recipes.

Here’s an easy but fancy shmancy idea for Thanksgiving, or any turkey dinner. I always make homemade cranberry sauce. It’s so easy and people love it.

Put 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add 1 whole bag of cranberries. Boil until the cranberries pop and it starts to foam. Allow to cool then refrigerate. You’ll need to make this a day a head. You can even make it a few days in advance.

To me, dinner rolls make all the difference. I like them a little warm, crispy on the outside but soft on the inside.

Another side dish we always had growing up was mashed turnips and carrots. It’s such a great looking dish too, very orange. It’s a great change from butternut squash. Although, I should be pushing the squash because there are many farms in my town that grow thousands of pounds of butternut squash each year.

Whatever your traditions, enjoy the day. Give thanks for what you have and give a little extra to those less fortunate than you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year, we always want to have Thanksgiving at our house. Every year, except one, it’s never happened. I don’t know why, it’s not like I’m a bad cook or anything. Just once, I’d like to be able to stay home for Thanksgiving.

The one year we did have dinner at our house, I had everyone bring 2 things. Whoever was supposed to bring rolls forgot (no one claimed responsibility). We ended up having sliced bread. Now if we have something at our house, I never dole out the important things.

We’ve been doing the same thing for the past probably 10 years. We always have all the same things. I always have to bring homemade cranberry sauce and an apple pie. I know it’s Thanksgiving and it’s all about tradition but sometimes you need to shake things up a bit.

Also, we start eating before noon. When we get home at around 5 or 6 PM, the kids are hungry and I have to make them something to eat.

Maybe next year I tell myself, maybe next year.

Did you ever think about what you could make for dinner if you could only use your pantry? It’s almost like a challenge to make meals from only what you have on hand.

I think I probably would end up making a soup. I would use a combination of broth and water and maybe some tomatoes from a can as the base.

I have half a bag of lentils that I could add to the soup. I’d like to put some vegetables in but I usually don’t buy canned vegetables. I get fresh or frozen vegetables.

I have a variety of spices on hand at all times. My favorite right now is celery seed. It gives a great celery flavor without the soggy vegetables.

I always have some pasta. I think I even have some soup type pastas. They were discontinuing it at my store and I bought a few boxes at half price.

It might not be too creative but I would make a soup with just the ingredients from my pantry. What would you make?

With today being Sunday, we spent most of the day watching football. We only ventured outside when necessary because we’ve been locked in a cold snap. It’s been unseasonably cold with temps in the 20’s with significant winds.

When we watch football, we like to have game time snacks. If you read my post from Friday, you could guess that we had hot wings. They weren’t the awesome drippy wings like the other night but they were still pretty good.

I also cooked up some little bagel pizzas. There’s nothing easier than putting together some bagel pizzas. Just a little sauce and cheese, pop them in the oven and it’s done.

My big rule for game time snacks is that there is no using of utensils. Everything must be eaten with the hands. I prefer to use paper plates too so there is very little clean up. If I’m watching the game, I hate to spend the time doing dishes.

One of my other favorites is shrimp. We didn’t have that today, the game wasn’t just big enough. We only break out the big guns during big games.

Timing is crucial too. If the snacks are timed out correctly, there is no need to make an actual meal for dinner. I love the ease and variety of having appetizers for dinner.

I thought it would get easier to make meals as the kids got older but it seems to be the opposite. No matter what I make there is always someone who doesn’t want or like what I’m making.

Some nights I’ll make frozen chicken nuggets and fries (on those quick dinner nights) and I’ll get complaints. Strangely enough, it’s often “Do I have to eat the fries?”. I swear I have the only kids who could care less about french fries.

Potatoes are always a battle. Some like mashed potatoes, some don’t. One likes baked potatoes, the rest don’t. Then there are the above mentioned fries and tater tots, one hates them, the other 2 love them.

Two of them will eat soup, the other won’t. She’d rather have a grilled cheesse but the others don’t want it. One likes hot dogs, the other 2 prefer cheeseburgers.

One will eat just about any seafood. Another will eat fried seafood as long as it comes off my plate (but not the fries of course). One likes pasta with sauce, one will eat it with butter and one would rather have SpaghettiOs.

Do you get the drift of this. I can’t think of any meal that I can make that everyone loves and no one complains about anything. I’m not making anything funky like brussel sprouts and cedar plank salmon. Then again, the three of them can’t agree on anything.

Did I get your attention? I thought so. To me, by far, the greatest food invention is

BUFFALO CHICKEN

I mean, back to basics, fire hot, chicken wings with bones. The sauce has to be dripping off too. The wings have to be deep fried before getting coated with all that beautiful sauce.

It’s such a basic recipe too. It’s melted butter and Red Hot sauce. If you coat the wings just out of the fryer, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Tonight I had some. They were so hot that I can still feel it more than 2 hours later. They were so hot that if you had a cut on your finger, it would sting from the sauce.

I don’t remember getting the wings from this particular pizza place before, but I’ll tell you, we’re definately getting them from there again. They were that good.

To those of you from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY my hat (if I wore a hat) is off to you tonight.