what i'm cooking this week:

dawn

i know split pea soup isn't everyone's favorite especially in my household, but it's certainly mine. i love it.  i more than love it.  i lurve it.

What I'm cooking this week:

Tracy

Pre-Turkey Noshes: The Easiest Holiday Apps

I feel a little silly calling these "recipes" because they're so not. I've been thinking a little lately about the all-important little side-table snacks and other appetizers for Thanksgiving this year. Here's what I've come up with so far.

1. Small wheel of brie or camembert, softened slightly in the microwave or the oven, with a little melted pear, apricot or raspberry jam drizzled over the top. The pear one is great spread on ginger snaps or Anna's ginger thins , and the raspberry is great on water crackers or Ritz. You can also spike them with a little chopped jalapeno or dried chili flakes. These little jewels look great on the table, and they can be thrown together in three minutes or less. And your Uncle Clyde will need to eat something with all those cocktails he likes to throw back before dinner.

2. Little bowls of unshelled nuts, with nutcrackers and big bowls for the shells. Reminds me of my grandma's house at the holidays.

3. Chex mix. The real deal---the kind you mix up and bake yourself. So much better than the newfangled bagged stuff, and you can jazz it up by adding a little extra Worcestershire, a dash of Tobasco or customizing further with jumbo cashews or pecans.

4. Little brown bags of popcorn for the kids, a' la Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I recently received a gift box of popcorn flavor shakers like nacho cheese and white cheddar, which would be perfect for this. It should keep them busy munching without filling them up too much for the main event. They can also decorate their bags with markers.

5. Hickory Farms smoked sausage and an accompanying cheese ball, served with grainy mustard and Wheat Thins or Triscuits. I know, I know---not exactly a "light" snack before the biggest meal of the year. But my husband's family insists on this particular treat at the holidays, and I know better than to buck tradition.

Hey Dawn-- What's your favorite, easy appetizer for holiday get-togethers?

i'm with you on the melted brie, tracy.  this weekend, i found those thin pretzel crackers and served them with sliced brie.  delish.  i also love the preserves and hot pepper jellies over a block of cream cheese.  if you're watching carbs, the fiber selects crackers are really good and a little better for you.  okay, i'm getting hungry now......

What I'm Cooking This Week

Tracy

Yesss! It's finally soup time!

I had to giggle when I saw that in my last post I commented that it was still 80 degrees out, and that was just a couple of weeks ago. Well, now the temps are around 35 in the mornings at the kids' bus stop and only getting up to around mid-fifties by midday. Our weather seriously needs some bi-polar meds. But, that's what they say about this part of Carolina--don't like the weather? Then wait a couple of hours!

The thermometer's dive below 60 brought me immense joy, because I seriously could not wait to make some creamy tomato soup. Dawn and I had a wonderful tomato bisque recently at a local frou-frou lunch spot (there were no crayons on the table so that qualifies as frou-frou. K?). It was so decadent and full of creamy, buttery goodness that a small bowl was really just enough. Oh, and we did each have a ho-hum side salad that totally paled in comparison to the soup. They really shouldn't have bothered. Especially since it was $8.95 worth of ho-hum.

ANYWAY. I digress---I love digressing. It would be so great if digressing burned calories.

This recipe was concocted from a combination of ingredients from bisque and soup recipes from allrecipes.com and cooks.com. The only things I really changed were the amount of onion (most called for a whole chopped onion but I don't like hunks of onion in my mater soup, thanks) and the amount of sugar, which I also reduced. The result is not quite as thick as a bisque, but not quite as thin as soup, either. Hybrids, on many levels, are often a wonderful thing!

Creamy Tomato Soup with Sherry

You'll need:

1 can petite-diced tomatoes

1/2 stick butter

About 1/4 of an onion, finely minced

1 48-oz bottle tomato juice

1 pint heavy cream (yes, go ahead and walk on the wild side and use the whole pint- - you'll thank me later!)

1/2 cup sherry or a little more to taste

1-2 tsp sugar

salt and fresh black pepper

About 2-3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Melt the butter in the bottom of a heavy soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and stir around for a minute or two just until soft. Add diced tomatoes and the sugar (just enough to cut the acidity of the tomatoes a little). Stir just until the sugar dissolves, then pour in the tomato juice. Bring to a simmer , pour in the sherry and then remove from the heat.

Then---and here's the fun, dangerous part. Draw the blinds, lock the door and stir in every bit of that luscious cream. Finish with a little salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with a little chopped parsley if you have it on hand.

Serve with big hunks of cheesy garlic bread or some seedy crackers with some creamy brie. Oh, and go unlock the door and invite some friends! This luscious soup was meant to be shared. 

Hey, Dawn---This would make an awesome starter to the big Thanksgiving meal that you somehow always end up hosting. Or, it could be a nice day-after meal when no one can bear to look at the gobbler! And by that I mean the turkey, not Mr. NTM. Hee! It's not even noon and I have amused myself. . .

and guess what?  i'm hosting again this year!  so your soup recipe looks especially divine.  i am so going to try it.  laughing at the listing of sherry in your ingredient list..."1/2 cup or a little more to taste". two bottles and a straw and a little more to taste is what i'll be doing by the end of thanksgiving day!

what i did this week

dawn

tracy, can we have just one more look at halloween?  a year from now is such a long wait.

What I'm Cooking This Week

Tracy

The Great Pumpkin Rises Again-This Time in My Pancakes.

Confession time. I've gone a little crazy with pumpkin lately; in addition, I have to admit I've been a little sneaky with it too. I can't blame my strange behavior on having fall fever because it's been 80-plus degrees in these parts this week. Maybe it's all the lovely photos at Dawn's . . .or maybe it's because Dawn's birthday is totally coming up within the next seven days!! (sorry, D- xo)

Last week I mentioned breakfast-for-dinner as a way that we stretch our food budget around here. Thursday night was BFD night for us, and I needed a way to use up some pumpkin puree that I'd previously frozen.

Pancakes were on the menu anyway, so I went ahead and stirred about 1/2 cup puree into my usual Bisquick batter, along with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and a about a tbsp of sugar , and they were scrumptious! I didn't post the actual recipe because I think this would work with any pancake recipe, as long as you adjust the batter so it's still pourable, but keep in mind the puree will make it thicker than usual. Chopped pecans or even a little grated orange zest would also be yummy additions.

These flapjacks were a little more dense and moist than usual plain cakes, but dense and moist are sometimes a GOOD thing, and that's definitely the case here.

Now for the sneakiness factor. My youngest sauntered in (is five too young to saunter?) about the time I was getting ready to flip the first batch. He carefully raised his healthy-food radar and asked, "How come these are a different color?" But then he saw the jar of cinnamon on the counter , smiled huge and said "Oooh, Mama--did you make CINNAMON pancakes?" Remembering his leeriness of all things with nutritional value, I said, "Yes. Yes I did." He totally scarfed them down.

Do I feel guilty? Nah. It's about time that kid ingested something orange around here other than Goldfish crackers!

what i did this week

dawn

well, tracy....as you know i turned older yet again this weekend.  i really need to stop doing this.  it's starting to get really annoying.  and because i love halloween so much and it's exactly one week from my birthday, i had the pleasure of enjoying a rather um....festive birthday/halloween cake.  

it reminded me of "pinky and the brain" because the brain on top of the cake actually lit up and changed colors.  i have to hand it to the fam...they outdid themselves on this one.  oh and the things sticking out of the sides of the cake are plastic fingers with blood dripping down them.  appetizing, no?

the pretty stuff also came my way.  i love fresh flowers more than anything and these are gorgeous.  

a very nice birthday indeed.  even if i did turn a year older.

What I'm Cooking This Week
Tracy


What's your favorite cheap go-to meal?With all the grim reports coming from the TV news lately: "Doom! Despair! Run! Hide!"---- plunking down $25+ on take-out for my little family of four just doesn't seem right.
But since the kiddos and I don't hit the front door until around 5:45 p.m. each night, whatever dinner costs, it's gotta be fast.
One of the ways foodie internet sites and magazines tell us we can cut our meal budget is to have at least two or more meatless nights per week. Moving "brunch time" to 6:15 p.m. or so is one way to fit the bill.
One of my favorite ways to stretch our food buck and to appease my breakfast-loving son is to have pancakes and the like for dinner once in awhile. A luscious omlette with cheese and veggies is also comforting, quick and inexpensive.
But I've been doing the breakfast-for-dinner thing at least two or three times a month for awhile, so I've been looking for other ways to serve something meatless (or at least something with meat not as the main feature) and fast.
Various noodle dishes are usually a hit around here,too, and certainly cheap enough to make, but I get tired of the same ol' marinara and spaghetti.
I saw this lightened-up version of Alfredo sauce on Cooking Light's website. It's great on its own over whole grain fettucine or penne, but I also like to add mushrooms sauteed with a handful of baby spinach leaves, and even a bit of crispy bacon. And it comes together almost as quickly as nuking a jar of Newman's Sockarooni sauce (although that's what H and I lived on early in the marriage and still dearly love).

You'll need:

About 2-3 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese
1 tbsp butter
1tbsp all-purpose flour
1 and 1/3 cups lowfat milk
1 cup grated parmesan cheese (plus a little extra for the table)
2 minced garlic cloves (I use a couple teaspoons of the bottled, pre-minced stuff)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
About 8 oz hot cooked pasta (linguine, fettucine or penne work best)

Melt butter in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook about one minute, stirring constantly. Whisk in flour until blended, then gradually add milk, whisking constantly. Keep stirring and cooking for about 5-6 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Add cream cheese, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and whisk until cheese melts. Toss with the cooked pasta and serve w/extra parmesan.
*Yummy variation: At my house I typically cook a few slices of chopped bacon in a separate skillet , then remove it from pan, and drain all the drippings except about one tbsp. Then I cook about 1/2 chopped onion until soft, then throw in a couple handfuls (about a cup) baby spinach leaves and 8 oz sliced mushrooms, then stir until the mushrooms are cooked and the spinach is wilted. Then I toss the veggies and bacon in with the Alfredo sauce.

So, Dawn! What's your go-to meal when your wallet is screaming for mercy and time is tight?

what i did this week

dawn
well tracy, let's just say my wallet is always screaming for mercy! actually, i think it needs an absolution at this point . but for us, one of our favorites is butternut squash chili which i happened to cook this weekend. it's cheap, it's super yummy and it stretches to several meals. three things that are good. very, very good.

i also baked these cheese wafers to have with the chili. in fact tracy, you gave this to me. do you remember where you got it?

Hey Dawn---I picked these up in the freezer section of our beloved Fresh Market (the one off Providence). What a great idea to have them with your chili!

what i cooked this week

dawn

yes tracy, i made the dreaded swedish apple pie that our hips love so very much.

What I'm Cooking This Week

-Tracy

Shrieeeek! There's a little pumpkin in my oatmeal!

This morning while the kids dove into their Honey-Nut Cheerios with bananas, I decided to make something warm and comforting for me and H. There was finally a little nip in the air---yes, if the temperature is below 59 degrees in North Carolina , that's a verified nip---and so that warranted something hot and filling that takes more than a nano-second to wolf down.

I recently bought some canned pumpkin in preparation for making my friend Kelly's pumpkin cookies sometime this month, but then I searched my friends the innernets and saw a recipe for pumpkin-spice oatmeal. This is so fast and such a warm welcome after a loooong summer of cold cereal!

Pumpkin Oatmeal, adapted from allrecipes.com

*This makes two small servings or one huge one.

1 cup quick oats

3/4 cup milk (or more, for slightly thinner consistency)

dash of salt

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp brown sugar ( I reduced the sugar a tad because I like mine drizzled with a little sugar-free maple syrup after it's done)

Toasted chopped pecans for garnish, if desired

Mix oats, milk and salt in a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for about 90 seconds. Take out bowl and stir in pumpkin, spices ,brown sugar and another splash of milk if necessary and cook for another 40-45 seconds or until everything's heated through, and then OMG you're eating a super-nutritious yellow vegetable for breakfast, people!!

However! You won't really know it, because it tastes like pie, another favorite food group of mine. Happy Rocktober, pumpkin lovers!

tracy, i am so trying this one.  :)

what i found this week

dawn

actually, my daughter found this and we have spent the last several days drinking it like it's our jobs. it has a wonderful, spicy vanilla flavor and smell. bigelow's brand.

the last of the summer roses on my neighbor's bush.  sssshhhhhh....don't tell her i picked them.

i always use smart balance spread and now they have these new butter blends.  wonderful to bake with also.  highly recommend.

What I'm Cooking This Week- Ranger Cookies!

Tracy

Dosage: Take two, and unplug the phone.
John Deere plate optional.

Yesterday after school my youngest flopped down on a barstool at the kitchen table, propped up his elbows after an exhaustive sigh, and asked me, "Mama, you got any cookies? The from-the-oven kind? With chocolate chips and stuff?" I had to suppress a giggle because his request was sort of the five-year-old's version of "Gimme a scotch and soda on the rocks with a twist. Easy on the soda." Sometimes kindergarten can be a real butt-kicker.

Well, I heard ya, partner. Last night I didn't have all the ingredients for these magical morsels, but today after work I had to stop by the store for some almost-the-end-of-the-week staples anyway, so I was prepared for some cookie madness when we got home.

These treasures are from an old version of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, my old reliable, checkered friend. The "Ranger Cookies" page is dog-eared and stained with vanilla. It's an oldie but a goodie. Kinda like me. The coconut adds the moist and chewy factor, and the Rice Krispies lighten the whole thing up. The M&M's are my own addition---they add a splash of color and an even bigger after-school appeal. But this ingredient can be toyed with---dark chocolate chunks can be substituted, or butterscotch chips or whatever else makes your skirt fly up!

Ranger Cookies

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1 and 1/4 cup Rice Krispies

1 cup chocolate chips (or 1/2 cup plain M&M's)

1 cup Bakers flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds with electric mixer. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda and baking powder and cream together with butter for about one minute, then beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in one cup flour.

Turn off mixer and stir in remaining 1/4 cup flour by hand, then fold in cereal, coconut and M&M's (or choc chips). Drop by rounded tablespoons on a cookie sheet, about two inches apart and bake for around 8-9 minutes or until you notice the coconut browning a bit on top and around the edges.

dang tracy, these look evil...but in a good way :)   yummy-ola.

what i did this week

dawn

when it's fall, the house gets dressed for the season.  i made this wreath out of fresh eucalyptus that i bought at the farmer's market and last year's dried bittersweet.

this cute little guy also gets to come out again

i got these branches in the woods behind the house and placed them in a terra cotta pot.  heavy rocks helped to anchor and place them and the leftover dried bittersweet dresses it up.

What Keeps Me Sane and Satisfied on Weight Watchers-What I'm Munching This Week (and right this minute)

-Tracy

I first discovered WW's point system about 11 years ago. I was newly married, and my hubby and I had discovered that our cohabitation + tight work schedules + eating out nearly every night = a need for a wider, sturdier couch.

When we weren't eating out or grabbing food on the run, we were gleefully snacking before bed. Nighttime munching had always been my downfall, and now having a husband, in addition to staying up waaay past my usual bedtime to greet him each night after his bar and grill closed made me feel just so grown-up. We'd watch old reruns of Cheers or NYPD Blue while nuking some nachos made with that Cheez-Whiz stuff from a jar, or scoop up some coffee-flavored Haagen Daaz. Sure, we could've had some air-popped popcorn or carrot sticks instead, but they just didn't have the late-night, ass-building appeal of things covered in neon-orange cheese and/or butterfat.

My wake-up call came when I glanced through some photos we'd taken on our first trip to New York together right before Thanksgiving. It had been unseasonably cold, even for New York, and H, my sister-in-law, her husband and I all huddled together and walked bent against the bitter winds each day we were there. But I had worn this new, long leather jacket that I'd purchased just for the trip. It was sleek and double-breasted and I'd accessorized it with a red scarf and matching hat. If I was going to have to bundle up, by God, I was gonna do it with real NYC flair.

As I flicked through the pictures, I smiled remembering all the highlights of the trip, but I winced when I saw image after image of me in what I'd thought was my "slimming" jacket. I looked like a lifesize, overdressed version of the stuffed sausages we'd enjoyed in Little Italy. The buttons were clearly straining and the shots from behind that H took while we were looking up at the Empire State Building? You don't wanna know about those. As my gal Chrissy from the Pretenders would say , don't get me wrong. I certainly don't think being super-skinny is the only way to go, and I don't advocate one body shape or style over another. But I was bordering on unhealthy at the time and the sting of disappointment that I felt when I looked at those pictures was just the kick in the nacho-enhanced butt that I needed.

Trend-setter that she is, Dawn had already achieved success with Weight Watchers back then, so I just followed her lead and the weight came off, a bit too slowly at first. When I hit a wall, I whined to her that I didn't get it since I was staying within my daily point values. "Are you getting your water in?" she reminded me. That was it---the rest of the weight came off almost magically within a few months.

Over the years some of those pounds have crept back, so recently I turned to two old friends--
Weight Watchers and Dawn--for inspiration. Oh, and there've been some new developments in the snack world since I first joined WW; for one thing, instead of having to measure out individual servings and figuring the point value, many treats now come in individual 100-calorie packs, making it a lot easier to toss one in my purse in preparation for the 3 o'clock munchies.

Right now I'm currently loving these snacks, sweets and low-cal drinks that are helping me ensure that I'll never go out in public as a leather-bound sausage again:

100-cal packs of Sunchips

Laughing Cow Light cheese wedges (the garlic and herb are awesome)

A cup of 1% milk with a tablespoon of Hershey's light syrup

A handful of Snyders pretzels with a tablespoon of Skippy Natural peanut-butter

Gala apple slices dipped in Stoneyfield vanilla yogurt

A big mug of tea with a couple of Snackwells Lemon Creme cookies

Cherry Coke Zero

Baby carrots with hummus

South Beach Diet snack bars

Weight Watchers 1-point snack cakes---I love the lemon ones and the devil's food

Okay, Dawn--what are the little noshes that keep you going? Oh, and also, what are some foods that you simply won't give up, no matter how decadent? For me, it's really good cheese, even in salad dressing. I must have real blue cheese dressing with big chunks of the stuff mixed in, no lo-fat chalky stuff on my romaine, thank you. Oh, and I will not be restrained at all this weekend when we go out with y'all to celebrate MY BIRTHDAY! I plan to inhale all the fried oysters rockefeller at CT! You didn't want one anyway, right? Hmmm?

in looking at your snack list Trace, i have to say that nuts have been my main staple that have really kept me on track. they satisfy my hunger and keep me from hitting the cheez doodles. i have also discovered the spreadable brie that allouette puts out and it is super good with apple slices. peanut butter and apple or banana is also a favorite of mine. when i snack, i tend to stay away from any kind of sweet things or processed foods in any way just because i do better without them. i eat things that i want, i just try to eat very small portions of them. so far, it's worked and i pray that it continues to! you've done so well at keeping your weight off, Trace and you continue to inspire me to do the same. and btw, you better let me have at least one of those oyster rockefellers....i don't care if it IS your birthday!