When folks “talk turkey” about holiday dinners, they, in fact, don’t talk much about turkey. Or ham. (Though they might if it’s roast beef.) They instead remember sides or desserts. Nonna’s baked ziti. Oma’s sauerkraut. Dad’s gravy. Aunt Susan’s pumpkin pie. Because of that, the menu is often a done deal. Who can fight history? As a longtime Thanksgiving cook (I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner at 24 hugely pregnant with my first child), I pore over each year’s November magazines and keep Thanksgiving cookbooks on my coffee table from September on–always interested in finding something new to dream about. You can well imagine it’s my favorite holiday.

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When cucumbers are plentiful, cheap, and the weather is sultry, it’s time to make chilled herby and spicy cucumber-yogurt soup.  Lebanese to start with (Kh’yaaf B’lubban) and very like the Indian Kheera Raita, Americans have made this creamy, cooling dish their own–and I’m making it yours.  Perfect to eat as a cold first course or for a light meal, it’s ready in the time it takes to whir a few things through the food processor. That’s right; there’s NO COOKING HERE!! Just pressing a button–well, maybe a few times!

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While Americans think mostly clam when the word chowder is mentioned, there is a plethora of chowders (soup with milk or cream, thickened with potatoes or crackers) from which to choose–even right here on More Time. Here are three favorites:

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I’m not a big football fan. It’s just not my thing. But like many others, I honor the American institution and for Super Bowl you’ll often find me stretched out on the couch with the Sunday New York Times scattered around me and a glass of wine on the easy-to-reach end table. I even occasionally glance up to check the score, look at uniforms (which team is which color?), or comment on the commercials. As a cook, my main interest is in the half-time spread and that’s as it should be. As a musician, I often really enjoy the half-time show, and that cook persona gets her work done early so her singer self can enjoy what is surely the best part of the day. I mean, think Blues Brothers, Paul McCartney, and Lady Gaga as earlier favorites. Maroon 5 this year promises to be spectacular!

Complete Super Bowl Watching Info Here.

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Be happy giving. Be happy in your thanks. Just as the first Americans shared their table and their abundance with the very first immigrants!

Just for fun, I thought I’d post today’s menu.  Enjoy the holiday! I’m off to make turkey stock.

Thanksgiving Menu, 2016  Chez Morgan

 STARTERS

Roasted shrimp, fresh vegetables, aioli

Gruet Sparkling Wine, New Mexico

FIRST COURSE

Curried Apple-Butternut Squash Soup

Sineann Gewurtztraminer, 2015 (Yamhill-Carlton, Oregon) OR Autumnal IPA (Local Relic, CSprings)

 ENTRÉE AND SIDES

Gas Grill-Roasted Turkey

Oyster dressing

Sausage dressing (George Hamamoto)

Mashed potatoes

Gravy

Cauliflower with Gruyere Cheese and Parsley

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Sherry and Walnuts

Brussels Sprouts Salad

Cranberry Relish     (Jan Keder)

Homemade Bread     (Jan Keder)

Pumpkin Bread with Dried Cherries and Walnuts

Butter 

Bethel Heights (Salem, Oregon) Pinot Noirs: West Block Vineyard and Casteel Vineyard, 2010

Seven Hills Dry Rose 2015 (Columbia Valley, Washington)

OR Oak Aged Belgium Strong Ale (Local Relic, Colorado Springs)

DESSERT

 Cranberry-Citrus Cheesecake, Pecan-Bourbon Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Mousse (Ann Campbell), Apple Pie (Jeanne Patalano), Shoofly Pie (Mary Pat Garman)

Coffee/Tea Brandy/Port

My nearly daily breakfast is an egg white omelet or frittata, which is just the Italian word for an open-faced omelet. It’s fast, luscious, nutritious, and maybe best of all uses up my odds and ends of raw or cooked vegetables, restaurant leftovers (pizza toppings, too), bits of meat, and even a grate or two of cheese.  I try and blog one of these a couple of times a year just to give a high five to

• eating healthy foods continually
• using up leftovers
• not throwing food out
• eating vegetables for breakfast
• getting a good start on the day.

There are times when I’m on a fresh fruit and Greek yogurt jag and even eat that with some of my homemade low-sugar granola, but this summer finds me working hard to lose weight and I’ve cut back both my fruit and my dairy in hopes of finding success. It seems to be working! I’m down a size or more and perhaps have taken off 20 pounds. No scale in the house; the clothes are the indicator.

Last Saturday, I made a brown and jasmine rice salad to take to my granddaughter’s birthday party (see below for opening presents through playing peek-a-boo, to eating cake and the very-necessary after cake sink bath–sorry for phone pics) mostly like any luscious summer pasta salad but with a combination of brown and jasmine rice added to a huge bowl of vegetables and a spicy mustard vinaigrette.
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My daughter-in-law Jami is home for a couple of months with a new baby. While this is a wondrous and incredible moment in time, she also has to come up with meals.  Just like many other people who talk to me about food, she says she simply has a hard time coming up with anything for dinner for her family.  Her husband, our son Sean, has often done the cooking in their household, but Sean is working nights and the dinner is, to coin a phrase, now on Jami’s plate.

I’m not sure why this is the case for so many people when the stores are full of food, the tv is even more full with its cooking or food shows, the internet is jammed with food blogs and magazines and recipes galore, but I can relate.  Here are a few thoughts followed by a group of recipes that might help solve the problem. Continue reading →