Post-Thanksgiving Post

While it would have made sense for me to have blogged about our Thanksgiving dinner, I didn't. I was having way too much fun cooking to remember to take pictures, and I realized that many of our family favorite dishes don't really translate well in a visual way. Plus, frozen vegetables plus a can of cream of mushroom soup hardly strikes me as blog-worthy. (Tasty, yes, blog-worthy, no.)

But what about the Monday after Thanksgiving? The leftovers are just about gone, but there hasn't been a new mission to the grocery store. What then? Especially when it's awfully cold outside?

My family has a love for a soup that we call Pumpkin Soup. I say we call it that because it doesn't have any pumpkin in it. I've never made it with pumpkin. (Too much work, all that scooping.) I suppose it's more accurate to call it Winter Squash Soup. But somehow that name doesn't have the same ring to it.

But with some vegetables dying a slow and ugly death in the crisper, it was time to use them or lose them.

Get a big pot. Peel and coarsley chop 3-4 carrots. Coarsley chop half a "head" of celery (including the leaves). Peel and slice 3-4 potatoes (last night I used sweet potatoes and may make that a permanent change). Dump those in the pot and cover with water (or chicken broth...I used water because of the vegetarians). Simmer. Add thyme to taste (add more than you think you need...it's the defining flavor), and salt and pepper.

Leftover alert: this is a great time to use leftover mashed potatoes or cooked carrots!

Simultaneously, cut a winter squash in half, scoop out the seeds, place in a casserole dish along with 1/2" of water, and put it in a 350 degree oven. Bake while the other vegetables are simmering.

After an hour, remove the squash from the oven and scoop out the flesh (carefully - it's hot), and add the flesh to the vegetables and stock. Simmer until the carrots and potatoes are soft enough to mash with a fork.

Transfer contents of pot to the blender (it takes my blender two batches, so you'll need another pot or a big measuring cup or a bowl for half the mixture) and carefully blend until smooth. Carefully. Because you might get a big mess. Use the lowest speed and hold that lid like your life depends on it.

Return to the original pot, taste, adjust seasonings, and serve.

Delicious with a salad and muffins. Or at least that's what my kids tell me.

Perfect pairing

Now that we have the bread sorted out, let's make it a balanced meal. Because nothing warms me up on a blustery fall day than a dinner of soup and bread. And nothing cleans out the refrigerator better than my family's favorite soup.

This one is never exactly the same twice, because the whole point is to clean out the fridge. You know what I'm talking about. The celery that's not quite as crisp as it should be. The cabbage that you kind of forgot about but still has a little life left. The remnants of whatever else might be in there and not quite worthy of the bin.

This time, I started with this:



Things weren't as questionable as they often are. Because the fridge had been cleaned out pretty recently. But if it makes you happy to pretend that the celery is wilted and the cabbage is less than perfect, go ahead. Because it usually is. You see that jar? It contains about 1/2 cup of brown rice. I was sick of looking at that almost-empty container. And those cans of tomatoes are essential if I want my kids to eat this soup. For them, it's not good soup without a tomato base and a healthy dose of cabbage.



I sauteed the leeks and a couple of cloves of garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil for a few minutes. When they start getting soft and fragrant, I added the other ingredients: the chopped veggies and about a quart of vegetable stock, along with the cans of tomatoes. EXCEPT the cabbage. Save that for the last 15 minutes.



And honestly, that's about all. Let it simmer the whole time you're baking the bread. The longer, the better. Throw in the cabbage for the last fifteen minutes of cooking.

Oh, seasonings? I used my old standby fresh herbs from the garden: thyme, oregano, basil. There was some shady-looking parsley in the fridge, so in it went. And some celery salt and pepper. If you have other favorites, substitute away.

And when it looks like this, it's ready to eat. Unless you have my kids, in which case you're going to need a few ice cubes. Maybe they're Russian?

Singing the praises of vegetarian chicken patties

Last night was one of those nights. My family had plans that didn't work out. Those plans included the post-vacation grocery shopping. But the car had other ideas, namely not turning over and being quite still in the driveway.

On grocery nights, my kids often eat TV dinners, only because (a) they like them and (b) after working all day and grocery shopping, there's not time or energy to cook. And that's what their tastebuds were expecting.

Plan B. I had some butter beans in the fridge from the farmer's market. The broccoli and cauliflower had held up fine, and there were baby carrots. That's a perfectly balanced, reasonable meal, especially with fruit and yogurt smoothies in the plan for dessert.

But my poor son. When he saw his plate, he literally wept. It hadn't clicked in his brain that we had to buy the TV dinners at the store, and we hadn't been to the store. Since I haven't seen the kids in weeks, I wasn't feeling stern; I didn't want to tell him to get a grip. He was disappointed, reasonably so, and I wanted to make him feel better.

So I opened the freezer, praying that I'd find some old TV dinner from months ago. Nope. But I did see vegetarian chicken patties. And that was enough to make him smile. And enough cooking time to get him to eat his vegetables while it cooked.

He didn't like the beans. He tolerated the broccoli and cauliflower. He deemed the carrots "too sweet." But he hugged me after he finished that chicken patty.

The carrots were delicious and made the house smell great. What did I do to them?

Cranberry Carrots
In a saucepan, pour 3/4 cup cranberry juice over 2 cups baby carrots. Add a few (5) whole cloves. Cook over low heat, covered, until the carrots reach desired tenderness. Serve.

Fruit Smoothies
Fill a blender with mixed fruit (I use the Spectrum brand that I find at Costco, which has a blend of peaches, melon, strawberries, blueberries and more, covering all the colors of fruit...it's frozen so allow time for it to thaw). Add 1 cup fruit juice (I used the rest of the cranberry), 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt, and a banana. Blend until smooth. It's easier (and more fun) to drink this with a big straw (you can find them with the bubble tea supplies at most Asian markets).