Stuffing vs Dressing

It's that time of year again when the scent of sage and poultry seasoning fills the air with a hint of pumpkin pie spice in the background. I love this particular week of the year because I spend so much time researching recipes and thinking of ways to spice up traditional favorites. This year we are spending Thanksgiving Day with my family and I am making the stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, and pumpkin pie (and if I get crazy a pecan pie too). I have decided to steer away from my family tradition of dressing this year and make a stuffing to go along side our turkey. I have always been confused on stuffing vs dressing, but I think my definition now is pretty good. I know technically stuffing should be cooked inside the bird, but really that is just setting you up for disaster. Either your turkey is going to be overdone with great stuffing or you are going to have a great turkey with underdone stuffing meaning salmonella may be lurking in there...not good. So, I have moved towards defining the two not by the way they are cooked, but by the ingredients involved and how they are used. To me, stuffing is a little dryer and the bread stays cubed and defined with a little bit of broth for moisture and any other ingredients you desire. Dressing on the other hand is a lot more moist and dense. The bread, whether it be cornbread or biscuits or a combination of both, absorbs a lot of broth and is packed tight with other ingredients. Anyway, Brian grew up on stuffing and I grew up on dressing, so it is a discussion each year as to which is better. Naturally, I vote for dressing and Brian votes for stuffing, but maybe if I make a moist stuffing this year it will be a new tradition in our family, a combination of each of our traditions if you will. More to come once I start cooking next week...I have taken off Wednesday to begin a full day of baking and getting things ready for cooking on Thursday.

Bischoff's in the Bay Area

We are back from Napa and San Francisco! We had such a great time on our much needed vacation and spent time seeing every inch of the city and drinking every sip of wine in the valley. We flew into Oakland to stay with Brian's family for a few days while we toured San Fran. We got some great views of the city and ate at some great restaurants. Here we are at the Golden Gate Bridge! We were too lazy to ride bikes across it, but we were still able to get an amazing picture. Awe...

Here we are waiting in a very long line to ride the famous cable car. We finally got on the 4th one that came by and paid $5.00 each...Brian was not near as impressed as I was, but he rode it anyway. Thanks babe!

On to Napa!! We did not want to come home...being in Napa was just incredible and I know we could spend forever there if we had too. Great food, great wine, and great company. Luckily we brought enough wine back with us to be able to enjoy Napa in Dallas for quite some time.

One of the many beautiful views of the Napa Valley. No matter what angle you stand or which way you look you are surrounded by absolute beauty. If only I could wake up to this everyday.

This was one of the cutest little places to eat. It had such a great deli with all kinds of meats and cheeses. They also sell all kinds of olive oils and vinegars...I loved just looking around. One of my other favorite lunch spots was at the winery V.Sattui. It had the most amazing deli counter with all kinds of sandwich choices as well as prepared pasta salads, potato salads, olives, cheeses, crackers, spreads...the list goes on and on. And their wine wasn't bad either. We knocked out a full bottle during our very first lunch here in Napa. What about dinner you ask? The first night we ate at Market where we had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed some good ole mac and cheese. The next night we went to dinner at Bottega, Michael Chiarello's new restaurant. Where do I begin with this one? AMAZING. We started with bread and a dip consisting of garlic, parmesan, scallions, olive oil, lemon and maybe some other stuff that was delicious. We then moved on to our appetizer of a fried dough ball wrapped in prosciutto and dipped in a sweet wine sauce. Next up, the Rabbit Ragu over pasta followed by Lamb Rib Chops with Figs over polenta. Brian had to roll me back to the hotel. (I am still dreaming of that Rabbit Ragu by the way...it was delightful) And finally, we finished our trip in Napa with dinner at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen where we brought our own wine and got free corkage. Here we had some of the best Oysters I have ever had and definitely one of the best Caesar salad's I have ever had. I just need to make a little more money so next time we can wine and dine ourselves at the French Laundry where it costs only $250 a person and doesn't include wine, just a glass of champagne. I wonder if I would even be able to appreciate and understand the complexity of the 9 courses? I am willing to try...

Me at the winery of Brian's favorite Cabernet, Silver Oak. I don't know why it's me and not him in the picture though...I was in a hurry to get to the wine I guess.

Great view at the top of Sterling. Not award wining wine, but great views.

The new Castle, built by V.Sattui was incredible. The tour was great and extremely interesting. They actually have space to barrel all the wine under the hill in a cave format to keep the wine at a constant 55 degrees year round. The place goes on forever...

Here is Brian in the torture chamber sitting on a chair with 100s of iron spikes that are heated internally from a fire beneath. It looks more like he is on his throne.

Here we are enjoying our final tasting of the week...

We had to stop by the Culinary Art Institute in Napa! I had to see if there were any unique gadgets or gizmos I needed. Didn't find any, but it was still fun. I did learn a lot about the local ingredients and how to better pair my wine with my meal choices at home.

Happy Birthday turns to Business Proposition

This week I was asked to bake a cake for my friend/co-worker's husbands birthday. At first I was flattered, then I was nervous, then excited, then nervous again, and now I am relieved. I love to bake and everytime I do bake I am very pleased with the results, so I don't know why I get so nervous, especially for this one. She asked for a German Chocolate Cake which I am extremely familar with and completely comfortable with. I think it is the whole concept of not being able to taste the end result before someone else dives in. And I also have the memory of one night going in the kitchen to whip up some oatmeal raisen cookies for Brian and me. I just threw stuff together as usual and started dolloping out my cookies. When I was done, there was still a small amout of batter left in the bowl so I snuck a sampling only to gag at my use of salt instead of sugar. Ooops.



Anyway, so this week during my episodes of mixed emotions, I got to imagining myself as a baker. I like the image in my head of me baking away, alternating my cute aprons, and using all my fun pans and colored spatulas. I know that is not reality, but reality has not sunk in yet. The girls at work also encouraged the idea by promising to give me business for birthdays and holidays. What a great job, bake a few cakes a month and bake a ton around the holidays which is when I get the itch to bake the most. There I would be, using my 2 ovens to bake everything from Chess Pie, to Cream Cheese Brownines, to Red Velvet Cake, to Peppermint Scones, to Lemon Pound Cake, to 100 different types of cookies (if you can't tell, my preference is cookies...love them!) with Dutch sitting quietly by my side, licking up anything that falls to the floor. I know...Dream On

I miss my Nana

My apologies once again for it being so long since my last post. Unfortunately, my life has taken a chaotic turn and blogging was pushed off the priority list. I have been traveling quite a bit with work and my grandmother passed away last week who I was extremly close to. I called my grandmother "Nana", and I grew up cooking next to her and baking with pecans from her backyard. Every year we collect all the pecans and have several pounds shelled which we would divvy between us and freeze for use throughout the year and we bushel the rest to sell. My mom and I have been going through her things and I keep collecting box fulls of cookware and bakeware that I just cannot part with. I have adopted several of her cast iron skillets, her glass pie plates, some very unique and old kitchen utensils, and the list goes on and on. Nana taught me so much about cooking and baking. To her it was no challenge...she never measured and hardly ever looked at a recipe. She was famous for her pecan pies, coconut pies, mac and cheese, fried okra, pork chops, pear preserves (made with pears from her pear tree), and sweet pickles. It is so sad to me how her generation is slowly leaving us...it is that generation that possesses the skills to grow their own vegetables, raise their own chickens for eggs, can jelly, can preserves, can pickles, and truly make everything from scrath. I love you Nana, and I will truly miss you!

Is it un-American to not like American Cheese?

Well, I just got back in town last night, so I apologize for not posting for so long. I was in Orlando. Not too exciting and even less appetizing. I did manage to go to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville twice which does have some great food. The volcano nachos loaded up with chili, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, jalapenos, tomatoes, and scallions were a great finish to such a long day. I also tried the crab, shrimp, and mushroom dip which I will have to try to make at home because it was that good (just in case you want more details on that it was jumbo lump crab meat, shrimp and mushrooms simmered in a Cajun cream sauce that was severed with some toasted garlic bread.) Awesome.

Considering the two wonderful appetizers we had had and knowing that the "bar food" was pretty great here, I thought for sure my choice for the "Cheeseburger in Paradise" was going to be spot on. I mean that is one of the most famous songs my Jimmy Buffet, it would almost be a sin not to get the burger right. I got my burger, ordered cooked medium of course, and I cut into it to see that it had indeed been cooked to just medium. Great, I am about to go to Paradise with my burger. I had barely glanced over the description of the burger, but I did notice it stated American cheese. I have never been American Cheese's number one fan or even a fan at all really because there are just too many better choices out there. Why use a processed cheese EVER when there are infinite natural cheeses to choose from? I kinda ignored my intuition to ask for a different cheese because I thought for sure they know what they are doing by putting American Cheese on this famous burger. My first bite was so disappointing. That fake American Cheese flavor really stood out. I don't consider myself to be extremely picky or particular, but a natural Colby or Cheddar would have upped the burger into greatness. Unfortunately, just because of the cheese it wasn't very good, but the onion rings...now those helped make it all ok.

So, is it un-American not to like American Cheese? I don't like it, my husband can't stand it, so why do people even use it. The cost of a burger is cheap enough for me to use a different cheese. You will never catch me putting American Cheese on a burger, in my grilled cheese or in my Mac and Cheese, so you shouldn't either, unless of course you like that unnatural flavor...to each his own I guess. I will make the exception for Velveeta used for queso, I manage to like that just fine.

Rain, Rain...Not Going Away

Today I woke up and I was ready for fall. For the past few weeks I have been anxiously awaiting a drop in temperature, but not quite ready to let go of summer. There is just something about summer that is freeing, the days are longer and for me there seems to be a little more free time. This morning however, I was ready for a change. I think all the rain this weekend made me feel all cozy and lazy and ready for fall. I am ready to begin a new season of cooking and baking. I am ready to slow cook a stew or chili all day to serve with some warm cornbread from my cast iron skillet. I am ready to bake fall pies, cookies, and cakes that will fill my kitchen with the smell of cinnamon. I am ready to sit out on the patio with a glass of wine and not sweat to death. I am ready to wake up to early morning daylight for my morning runs, (but today I slept in until around 11am and didn't even get out of my pajamas until around 4pm, oh well). I am ready to tailgate every Saturday of SMU home football games. I am ready to watch football with Brian every night of the week... (Well, not really quite ready for that yet, but I am working on it.) If only I had overcome the lazy bug and armed myself with some hearty ingredients this weekend, we could have sat down to a classic Sunday comfort meal to watch football and listen to the rain. That didn't happen because I was way too lazy and didn't make it to the grocery store. I am leaving town on Wednesday and will be gone for 10 days, so I did not feel the need to stock up on groceries, however I was able to whip up a comforting stroganoff that I made with ground turkey to lighten it up and that really hit the spot. (No, I don't mean the kind from the box...GROSS!) By the way, I made just enough to serve the 2 of us, but feel free to double this if you want to make enough for 4 servings.

Turkey Stroganoff Kasey's way (2 Servings)

Ingredients

1/2 lb egg noodles

1 Tbls unsalted butter

1/2 lb ground extra lean turkey

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 cup chicken stock

1 1/2 tbls ketchup

1 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper, to taste

1/2 onion, finely diced

3 oz mushrooms, sliced (you can use either white button mushrooms or baby bellas)

2 tbls flour

4 oz sour cream

shredded cheddar cheese for topping

Directions

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add some salt to the water and toss in egg noodles. Cook until noodles are al dente.

Melt butter in non-stick skillet until melted. Add turkey and break up with a wooded spoon. Cook until the turkey is browned and cooked through. Add garlic, 3/4 cup of chicken stock, ketchup, salt, pepper and onion. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook covered for about 8-10 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook another 5 minutes or so. Whisk flour into remaining 1/4 cup of chicken stock and add to skillet. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and stir until sauce has thickened. Gently stir in sour cream. Add egg noodles and toss to coat them completely with the sauce. Serve hot and top with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.

Blondies...the non-traditional brownie

I think it was just a week and a half ago that I vowed to take a break from baking. To give Brian and I a break from sweets. Oops, I forgot. This week I was craving Blondies. Many people call these special treats "light colored (or chocolate free) brownies" which I do not really agree with at all. I feel that they stand alone as a dessert and should be considered completely separate. Plus, I love adding chocolate chips to mine which I guess technically breaks the rule of a traditional blondie. Anyway, blondies rely heavily on brown sugar, so make sure yours is fresh. (Don't use the old brown sugar that is hard as a rock that's been hanging out in the back of your pantry.)

The goal for making blondies this week was to take them to the taligate on Saturday to kick-off football season. Well, to kick-off the first SMU game really... So, I planned ahead and made a special batch on Friday cause I knew the morning would get away from me on Saturday since my husband requires a good 6 hour tailgate. Blondies, beer, fajitas, and Texas heat for 6 hours, it was going to be a great day. Well, unfortunately the blondies didn't quite make it. Just as Brian was lifting my dessert travel carrier, I remembered that not all of the handles were completely locked. (That's because I kept sneaking samples just to make sure they were edible.) Yep, you guessed it, all my beautiful blondies landed on the kitchen floor. I was so sad, but about 6 were saved because they didn't hit the floor. The rest...trash.

Blondies (makes about 36 squares)

Ingredients

Pam for baking

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup toasted pecans

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup toffee chips

Milk (for serving)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 13x9 baking dish with Pam spray.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add both types of brown sugar and whisk until fully incorporated and sugar is melted. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and let cool slightly. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually add the flour mixture and whisk until combined. Fold in the chocolate, white chocolate, toffee and pecans. Pour the mixture into your prepared baking dish.

Bake for about 25 minutes. (The top will crack slightly). Let baking dish cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, cut the blondies into small squares for serving. (Serve with milk!)