Nine: You Can Find Me on the Sidesline

Friends, we've made it to Thanksgiving week. I'm not sure how we got here, but we're here. Somewhere along the line we went from summer straight to winter (and now kind of back to fall for today only). Since last week, I've celebrated Friendsgiving and started a new family tradition of trial-running Thanksgiving sides with the siblings I won't be eating dinner with; instead we will be celebrating together in the morning with our traditional Thanksgiving street hockey game before going our separate ways for turkey time. Long before I was clued in on the tradition, my brother-in-law's family started playing street hockey in their cul-de-sac after dinner. Eventually the game moved to the morning, they passed out invites to neighbors and friends, started singing the National Anthem over a bullhorn and churning out fried dough for the fans. This year is the 10th Annual big group game and the fifth time I've gone out to show my support and participate. It's easily become one of my favorite Turkey Day traditions

Realistically, I don't offer much to the game other than sitting on the sidelines, adding my commentary and catching up with high school friends over a cocktail. While there are a handful of people at my ability level (read: competitive but not a anywhere near a NHL star), there are many, many high school and collegiate athletes who play for reals. Seeing as dance was my jam my entire life, I'm more likely tap dancing with my hockey stick like it's a cane than actually doing anything at all hockey related. People get pretty serious. Blood has been spilled in past years. I mostly stay away from the ball and the action unless it's necessary. I'm pretty sure I announce to the crowd any time I do touch the ball - just looking for a little positive reinforcement from the stands. Could this be the year I score a goal? No. But will I play more and spend less time on the sidelines with a mimosa? Also no. Who's the real winner here? Only time will tell for the game, but when it comes to dinner, I've got a few favorite sides to add to the equation.

Recipe Fifteen: Mashed Potatoes courtesy of Tyler Florence

Looking for a new way to make mashed potatoes? I found a new favorite recipe from a Food Network all-star. Serves 6-8 people and takes about 35 minutes. Tyler's recipe says unpeeled potatoes. To be honest, I wasn't paying enough attention to the actual recipe and started peeling before I noticed I'd made a mistake. I'd be interested to see how the recipe tasted unpeeled though I probably won't try that out for the first time on Thanksgiving.

8 medium sized Yukon gold potatoes, quartered and peeled (or unpeeled)

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole milk

4 cloves garlic, peeled and gently smashed

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

Extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon, whole grain mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Add potatoes, cream, milk, garlic, thyme and bay leaf into a large saucepan and gently oil for 15 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Strain the potatoes over a bowl to reserve the cream mixture but throw out the bay leaf and thyme stems.

Mash the potatoes and fold in the cream mixture until the potatoes are smooth and creamy or the consistency of your choice. 

Fold in butter, a tablespoon of olive oil and the grainy mustard. Season with salt and pepper and serve. Didn't even need any gravy, unless it's a must-have for ya.

Recipe Sixteen: Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta courtesy of Ina Garten

This is my favorite side dish right now and has been for a long time since a friend's housewarming party back in the summer of 2014. It never gets old. Brussels sprouts don't get enough credit. If you aren't down with pancetta, grab some bacon. If you're struggle-bussing trying to cut raw meat, throw it in the freezer for 15ish minutes and the chop job will be much easier. Serves 6.

1.5 lbs of Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in half through the core

4 oz. of pancetta, 1/4 in. diced

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon syrupy balsamic vinegar (they sell balsamic glaze at the grocery store - go for it)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the Brussels sprouts on a cookie sheet, including some of the loose leaves, which get crispy when they are roasted.

Add the pancetta, olive, oil, and season with salt and pepper. Toss and spread out in a single layer.

Roast the Brussels sprouts for 20 to 30 minutes, until they're tender and nicely browned and the pancetta is cooked. Toss once during roasting.

Remove from the oven and drizzle immediately with the balsamic vinegar, and toss again. Season again with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Recipe Seventeen: Green Bean Casserole 

This is such a cheap and easy side, plus a Thanksgiving classic. 

1 can (10.5 oz.) Cream of Mushroom soup

1/2 cup milk

Black Pepper

4 cups cooked green beans (you can do fresh green beans - my choice, canned, or frozen)

1 1/3 cups French's French Fried Onions

1 teaspoon soy sauce (we've got a soy allergy over here so I used Worcestershire sauce instead and will continue to do so)

Preheat oven to 350.

Stir the soup, milk, soy or Worcestershire sauce, dash of black pepper, beans, and 2/3 cups onions in a casserole dish.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the bean mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining onions.

Bake for 5 more minutes until the onions are golden brown. Enjoy!

And that's it! Crack open a can of jellied cranberry sauce and have a helluva Thanksgiving! I am thankful for all of y'all for reading this and I hope you have a great day with your family and friends. And if you're out and about in Evergreen on Black Friday - I'll take a medium iced pumpkin coffee with one cream.

Peace and love,

Kela

Eight: Should've Said B-R-BBQ

It has been 14 months since my last blog post. 14 months since I've sat down at my computer, figuratively put pen to paper and shared my thoughts and a recipe with those of you who were avid followers of all seven posts that came before this. I can't really explain the hiatus; the best I've got is that I got caught up in work and in life and the idea of sitting back down to write overwhelmed me, especially as more time went by. Eventually I got to a place of "it's been too long and why start up again now" and the blog became a thing of time's past... until today. Why start up now?  I think I'm craving a bit more control in my life, honestly in all aspects of my life - I'm turning 30 four months from tomorrow and I'm starting to freak out a little about not being where I thought I'd be at 30. I'm sure my life is one step away from turning into a romantic comedy, but until then, this is me giving myself something to take ownership of and pride in; perhaps that will ease the transition into the impending decade. Until then, let's all cross our fingers for Julia Roberts.

Earlier in September I went 10 days without a stove. I'd come home from work and was probably mid binge watching Grace and Frankie (highly recommend!) when I decided I should make brownies. Did I need brownies? No. Did I want brownies? Yes. Did the want win out? Yes. I totally broke out the boxed brownie mix, a hand mixer, and some walnuts and got them in the oven, set the microwave timer and went back to my show. (Quick side note - don't love chocolate on it's own but add in another flavor profile and I'm all in - if you want to argue about it, I'm ready). The buzzer goes off, I hit pause, get up and test the center to make sure they are the perfect fudgy to cakey ratio before taking them out and letting them rest on the counter. I shut off the oven and I go back to my girls Grace and Frankie. It isn't more than a minute or two when I hear the oven beeping which is weird because I have an actual memory of turning the stove off and using the microwave timer (this hasn't always been the case - I'm the queen of panicking about whether or not I've turned off the stove, straightener, curling iron; I turn around in my car on the regular). The stove is beeping and the tiny little screen where the time usually glows is flashing "F1". I find this odd, obviously have no idea what that means, so I hit the off button and again return to my besties. 60 seconds later, it happens again. I press the off button again and this time notice that I can see that the coils are still orange inside the stove. I open the stove door and am immediately hit with a wall of heat that's so strong that my eyes start burning and has set off the smoke detector in the hallway. I am now running back and forth between the stove's off button to rapidly fanning the smoke detector with a towel all while trying to figure out how I'm going to keep my house from burning to the ground. This continues for a few minutes and after calling a few people who live close by to troubleshoot this escalating fire hazard, I realize that I can unplug the oven and stop participating in the gym class beep test being conducted in my own home.

Miraculously, the home's previous owners had saved the stove's manual where I find out that it's a control panel issue and that my two options are to either try shutting it off and turning it back on (why is this the universal way to fix any technology issue?) or to get a technician to come fix it. Hard pass on both of those options so we get a new one and I wait ten days to cook. You know me. You know I love to cook and that cooking is a giant stress reliever for me so this is a bit brutal but I survive on a solid amount of take out. It's been just over a week with the new stove and I've made sure to test all its features and have been back in the kitchen in my happy place. And now I'm sharing that happy with you!

Recipe Fourteen: BBQ Chicken Sandwich with Pickled Carrots and Red Cabbage and Cucumber Slaw

Back when I lived in California post college graduation, one of my roommate's fathers taught us how to make pulled pork in a crock pot - actually just put a pork tenderloin and a bottle of BBQ sauce in a crock pot on high for 3-4 hours or low for 7-8 hours, pull it apart with a fork and there you have it. That lesson, plus a recipe from Blue Apron (which I've tried out periodically and will review for you at a later date) is what inspired today's dinner.

BBQ Chicken in a Crock Pot

2 lbs. chicken breasts

1 bottle of BBQ sauce of your choice

I put the chicken and the sauce in the crock pot on low for 4 hours and went about my day. Came home, shredded the chicken with a fork, stirred it all up, and continued cooking on high for an hour. That's it. That's all it takes. Don't hurt yourself trying to make it harder.

Honestly you could google a BBQ sauce recipe and make it yourself but I felt like cutting corners today. Embrace the cheats when you can. 

During that last hour, I created the fixings.

Pickled Carrots (Blue Apron)

2-3 carrots

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. white wine vinegar

1/3 cup water

Pinch of salt

Peel the carrots and grate on large side of box grater. If you don't have a box grater, use the peeler to keep peeling off layers of carrots (not quite the same but it will work). 

In a small pot, combine all ingredients, and heat until boiling on high.

Once boiling, cook, stirring frequently, 30 seconds to 1 minute or until sugar has dissolved. Turn off the heat. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally, for at least 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Red Cabbage and Cucumber Slaw

1/2 lb. red cabbage

2 small cucumbers

2 tbsp. white wine vinegar

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut out and discard of cabbage core. Largely dice the leaves. (You can also buy precut cabbage so again, save yourself the trouble if you want).

Cut cucumber into halves the long way then thinly slice into half rounds.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside to marinate, at least 10 minutes. Salt and peper to taste prior to serving. I put the slaw in the fridge to chill/marinate until the chicken was ready.

Once everything was cooked, marinated, and chilled, I put it all on top of a potato bun and devoured it. This will be breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next few days (not actually breakfast) and I can't wait! 

Well, that's all I've got for this first time back. I don't know how frequently I will blog (I'm not putting a time restraint on myself this time around but I know you'll hear from me again). Let me know what you think of the recipe! 

Kela