Gobble Gobble

this is NOT my turkey

  I went to my mom's for dinner, and I had the best intentions of  making at least one dish from the four Thanksgiving dinners in "A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving" in season 3 but alas, it was too much for me this year.
The thought of deep frying a turkey made me incredibly nervous that I'd burn my house down. But I know how delicious deep fried turkey is. Maybe next year?

"Did someone say JACKSON??"

There was a lot to choose from in this episode with traditional Thanksgiving meals at Luke's and at Richard and Emily's and there were also variations on the tradition with Jackson's deep fried turkey and Mrs. Kim's "tofurkey."

Now I fancy myself a bit of a Gilmore-oloist. One conversation that always bugs me is from Valentine's Day at Martha's Vineyard.  Lorelai is helping Rory in the kitchen and Rory warns Lorelai of the dangers of over mashing and said "it's called potato soup." Well Gilmore Girls, leave the cooking to Sookie, because if you over mash or over whip your potatoes they turn gummy or chewy. Don't over work your spuds!

 (I had this knowledge even BEFORE I ruined the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner.  No pic necessary.)

 So my other contribution for dinner was pie. They eat a whole lot of pie on the show. I think it will take me a good long while before I get through all the featured pies on the show especially if I start with pies never mentioned on the show. Which is what I did this week. I always make sweet potato pie for the holidays. In my opinion it is soooo much better than pumpkin pie!

The first pic I took at my house right when the pie got out of the oven. The pie got a bit squished in transport so there was not an  aesthetically pleasing slice to photograph. But I promise you it's tasty!     

I also made (for the first time ever) a chocolate cream pie. I'm very proud of how this turned out seeing as it was "my first pancake"! It was pretty good and the family ate it up! Full disclosure: my sister-in-law--who bakes way more than I do--made it look pretty after I just blobbed a bunch of whipped cream on top.

 

I think she made it look like meringue which is what the original recipe called for, that sounded weird to me with chocolate, so I went with home made whipped cream. (just use an electric mixer to beat 1 cup of whipping cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla until soft peaks form)

Dark Chocolate Cream Pie

• In a medium saucepan combine 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup cornstarch
• To the saucepan gradually stir in 3 ounces chopped unsweetened chocolate and 2 1/2 cups half and half
• Cook and stir over medium high heat until thickened and bubbly; reduce heat. Cook and stir  for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat.
•  Slightly beat 4 egg yolks; gradually stir about 1 cup of hot pie filling into the yolks then add yolk mixture to filling in saucepan. Bring to gentle boil; reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat.
• Stir in 1 Tbsp butter and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla.
• Pour warm filling into baked pastry shell; bake in 325 degree oven for 30 minutes.
• Cool on wire rack 1 hour. Chill 3 to 6 hours before serving.
• Top with whipped cream.

This is my favorite Sookie quote

Happy Holidays!

Dude made that face on purpose.

Donna Reed Night

  Everyone always talks about the infinite number of pop culture references on Gilmore Girls. I would guess that the average person doesn't fully get half of them with out at least some sort of research. One such reference for me was The Donna Reed Show. I knew Donna Reed only as Mary Bailey from 'It's a Wonderful Life'; I had no idea that she starred in her own series for eight years.
  When I first saw The Donna Reed Show (last year) I geeked out a little, recalling the classic season 1 episode of Gilmore Girls, 'That Damn Donna Reed' (episode 14).
  So I put on my heels, my apron and my pearls and recreated (most of) Rory's meal for Dean.

** I've got issues with this episode: Rory made a pretty spur of the moment decision to pull this evening together after a fight with Dean. Issue 1.) where did Rory get the clothes?? She clearly didn't borrow them from her mom because Lorelai made fun of the look when she saw her later, she couldn't have just taken them from Babbette's closet they are clearly not the same size. She even had matching heels. This took me out of the moment. 2.)  How did Rory have time to pull all this off? Even considering the fact that she made canned beans and instant potatoes she still had to go to the grocery store, she had to cook and set the table and back to issue #1 she had to find her Donna Reed outfit (I'm assuming this took some shopping as well), plus she stopped at Lane's to get the music. She spent the whole afternoon running around town then after finding all the stuff she had to get back to Babbette's to prepare. This was a bit unrealistic for me. But I digress. Back to the food.**

Inspired by Donna Reed Rory made steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and "lime fantasy supreme." Just thinking about this episode and I was craving steak so bad. I don't eat a lot of red meat so I needed to look up some recipes. When I saw this pic I knew I had to try this recipe if only for the amazing sauce. 

 I threw my steaks on my George Foreman grill. I got some nice grill marks, but the star of the show was the Gorgonzola Cream Sauce. I can not describe how delicious this sauce is.

 

While cooking it may not look like much but if you do it right it is so good. Like Rory I forgot the rolls. Also like Rory I did manage to make green beans--I shot my plate and started eating before I remembered to put the beans on my plate. I was just so excited about the sauce (I don't know how many times or different ways to tell you that this sauce is amazing and you NEED to try it)

I also  whipped out my slow cooker and made homemade beef stew.  When Emily and Richard were 'separated' and he was living in the pool house with Robert the valet, Emily argued that stew was not an acceptable meal. I beg to differ Mrs. Gilmore! My beef stew was all kinds of delicious!!

soon to be stew...

I didn't really follow a recipe for this one. I seasoned a couple of pounds of stew meat with salt and pepper then coated the meat with  seasoned flour.  I threw the meat in a pan with a couple tablespoons of oil on medium high heat. I just wanted to get some color; the meat cooks in the slow cooker. 

 I put water and a cup of dry red wine into the slow cooker then added potatoes, baby carrots and frozen pearl onions. I put the meat on top of the vegetables then deglazed the pan with more red wine (easier clean up and to get every bit of flavor from the pan) then I poured the wine/drippings over the meat in the slow cooker. Then I just "set it and forget it". I turned the slow cooker on low and went to work. (...or while the slow cooker does it's thing you can do laundry, wash dishes and windows, make dessert, educate the children, do all the shopping, and anything--and everything else that comes with running a household--you've got 7 hours...) When I got home the whole house was filled with a mouth watering aroma of simmering stew. 

 

I did not make Rory's dessert "Lime Fantasy Supreme" which is green jell-o and cool whip. Eating Jell-o gives me PTSD and I'm instantly brought back to staying in the hospital. Jell-o is not something that I choose to eat at home.  

                                          

I did however make chocolate souffle again (Dude calls it "Souffle Chocolate") the second attempt was even better than the first--and the first was incredibly tasty. For those of you paying attention: the extra cream of tartar totally helped my egg whites and this time the souffle rose even higher. It was really good.

In conclusion I recommend you put on full make up and pearls (and heels) and cook these meals (especially the Gorgonzola sauce). At the end of the night when you get to take off the make up and heels and pearls you'll feel like you've earned it.

    

Souffles!

I have yet to sit down and calculate exactly how many Gilmore Girls episodes where a souffle is served, but let me tell you right now: it's a lot. Unfortunately the majority of the time they simply say souffle" and leave it at that. So I decided this post is dedicated to Souffles in different forms.
  My first attempt was a chocolate souffle. There was a bit of a learning curve for me with this one but let me skip to the end--DELICIOUS!! I see why souffles were a frequent staple for the Gilmores and for the Dragon Fly Inn (I also fully understand why it's not something we see Luke make--tedious and time consuming for sure but totally worth it!)
This recipe was actually fairly simple:

Directions

Heat oven to 375° F. Use 1 tablespoon of the butter to grease one 16-ounce or two 8-ounce ramekins. Coat the ramekins with the cocoa, tapping out the excess.

In a large bowl, over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and remaining butter. Stir occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Whisk in the yolks one at a time until smooth. Set aside.

        

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar, salt, and cream of tartar until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Gently fold the egg-white mixture into the chocolate. Spoon into the ramekins. (The recipe can be made to this point up to 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.)

using just one beater slowed this process

Bake until puffed and set, 40 minutes for a 16-ounce soufflé, 20 minutes for two smaller ones. (If baked directly from the refrigerator, add 5 to 10 minutes.) Serve immediately. 

I also made the one that perhaps I should have started with: a Basic Souffle.

Although seeing the way this one blew up it may have discouraged me from trying another recipe. Hmm. I guess it worked out all right.

So I corrected my mistake of only one beater in the mixer and this made a HUGE difference. When I made the chocolate souffle I stood with my hand held mixer (I don't have a stand mixer...yet) for what seemed like days, but I was hungry, tired, impatient and foolishly making a souffle after a 10 hour work day. Who does that?! So with the basic recipe I had both the beaters in; beating the egg whites was so much easier. Also the chocolate recipe called for "a pinch" of cream of tartar. I didn't know what that meant, it caused me more stress than what's probably normal or appropriate. The basic recipe gave me a tangible measurement. I think this also factored in to better, stiffer egg whites.

I was anxious to taste this basic recipe. I was pretty surprised when I opened the oven and saw that the souffles had more than the typical height for a souffle. Exploded is probably not the right word but they definitely out grew their ramekins. Although these were not as aesthetically pleasing as the chocolate, they were still pretty good.

 In the not too distant future I will make a cheese souffle and a raspberry souffle. Raspberry is the only specific variation of this dish I remember being mentioned on the show which is crazy because they have some sort of souffle practically every other episode.
So stay tuned for even more souffles; in the mean time try these recipes. They are so good!

 Bye!

Mother Son Weekend

Taking a mini-break from the food entries to write about Dude's belated birthday get-away which included a sleepover at Grandpa's house where there was more cake and presents, and he all but forced Grandpa and Gmom to watch The Lego Movie.


Epic game of Battleship with Gmom
 

   After that we met up with Dude's friend O. We picked up O and his mom, dropped our stuff at the hotel and then it was off to our adventure at the Mall of America!

 

  

 

terrified of heights
 

  

 
Dude has never been to the Mall of America before so his excitement and energy were through. the. roof. One would think that the main event (for a seven year old) would be rides at Nickelodeon Universe--which was super fun for the boys--but, for Dude the whole purpose for the road trip was going to The Lego Store.  There was so much to see and do at the store he didn't even know where to begin.

He got to create his own new character at the store, he got a new (and super large) set and got to see the larger-than-life creations from real-life "master builders".

  

 We rounded out the weekend by spending the morning in the hotel pool before heading back to the mall (Lego Store and all) again. The boys even managed to get the moms on rides this time.




The weekend was a HUGE success. I'm now ready to cook again.
Until next time friends!

 Bonus pic for no reason:



like the chapeau?