Thanksgiving Weekend

I love holiday weekends, being able to sleep late and eat a lot, friends coming over for dinner. I wish there were more of them.

This year was the first time ever that Richard and I were spending Thanksgiving day alone. It was quiet but also nice that I did not have to get out of my pajamas the entire day.

I had been craving some old fashioned ginger-molasses cookies. After some digging I found the recipe I wanted. It was from the great-grandmother of one of my Girl Scouts and our troop had won a cookie bake-off with this recipe a long time ago. We munched on these babies all weekend.


Our table was set for Thanksgiving dinner for only the two of us.


We had our standard brined turkey, stuffed with onions, carrots, celery and thyme, all tossed together with butter. Adds some nice flavor to the soup we usually make with the carcass.


Friday morning I finished switching out all the regular glasses for our Christmas ones. It takes me the entire weekend to decorate the house for Christmas.


Here are our "kids", dozing and wondering what mom is up to.


Friday morning Richard had built a fire to take the chill out of the house and decided to take Morgan out with him to get a load of firewood off the front porch. Gives new meaning to taking out the dog.


Later on Friday morning we heading over to the tree farm where we choose and they cut our Christmas tree. Here is Richard and Floyd, the farm owner, following me as I hike through the trees looking for this year's tree.


Once we got the tree home and I had decorated it while Richard watched TV and napped (standard operating procedure)Richard got out the vacuum and cleaned up the needles that had fallen off. I love a man who knows how to use a vacuum.


Our Christmas tree, all decorated for the holidays.


On Saturday Fred, Iris and Felicia all stopped by on their way back to Louisisana. We invited our neighbors Doug and Wanda to join us for a dinner gathering. Left to right is Wanda, Fred and Iris.


I also snapped a picture of Doug engrossed in a conversation with Richard. (Sorry Wanda, bad timing on my part)


On Sunday I worked on finishing my son in-laws Christmas and birthday gift. I had been working on this stocking off and on for the better part of this year. My daughter said he was amazed when he opened it and couldn't believe that I had made it.


By Sunday night we were relaxing in front of the fire, watching TV and enjoying a martini. I had Morgan snuggled next to me and Kele was right up against my feet. What a great weekend we had.

Another Chapter of Life in The Mountains

To start off, our heroine wishes to extend her regrets that it has been so long since she has last posted anything. Such things happen as the holiday season draws near.

On this beautiful, brisk November weekend her friend Angie drove up from Jacksonville, FL for a quick visit.

Since the weather was so beautiful a hike a Linville Falls was in order. Here is a view of the upper falls.


Angie was enjoying the weather and the time away from Jacksonville.


Here is Angie and our heroine at the upper falls overlook. Everybody was asking every one else to take photos.


The lower falls are beautiful any time of the year.


Kelekona was camera shy and did not want to be hounded by the paparazzi.


Angie brought our heroine a wonderful gift. A cookbook from the Charleston Junior League. There are lots of wonderful recipes to be tried in this gem.

Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp

Angel Hair Past with Shrimp
(Capellini con Gamberetti)

1/4 cup olive oil
1 tblsp chopped garlic
1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup fresh cherry tomatoes, halved
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/2 pound angel hair pasta
1 1/2 tblsp chopped fresh basil

In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and saute the garlic until it is light brown. Add the shrimp and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper, and cook over low heat for 4-5 minutes.

While the sauce is cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil and add the pasta, cooking until al dente. Make sure to stir the pasta so that it does not stick together. Drain the pasta and add the sauce, toss well and garnish with fresh basil.

For best flavor do not use any grated cheese on this dish.

Serves 2

I did not have any cherry tomatoes so I chopped up a regular tomato. Whiel this dish was still very good the right tomatoes would have made it much better.

Salmon With Brown Sugar and Mustard Glaze

We love salmon and I really love smoked salmon, even have an entire cookbook on using smoked salmon. But again, I digress.

I have always loved this recipe and it does very well on the grill but since it is near Thanksgiving and I am not going outside to grill in the dark I made this under the broiler.

One thing I like about this cookbook is that it gives pairing suggestions with each meal whether it be beer or wine. In this case it said "a ripe Pinot Noir gives an impression of sweetness to complement the glaze on this salmon, yet it will stand up to the rich fish and spicy mustard". Not being one to disagree I opened a nice bottle of Pinot Noir to sip while preparing and eating my meal.




Salmon With Brown Sugar and Mustard Glaze

1 tblsp brown sugar
1 tsp honey
2 tsp unsalted butter (I use regular)
2 tblsp Dijon mustard
1 tblsp soy sauce
1 tblsp olive oil
2 tsp grated fresh ginger (I substitute dry ground ginger)
1 whole salmon fillet, skin on, about 2 1/2 pounds and 3/4 - 1 inch thick.

In a small saute pan over medium heat, melt the brown sugar with the honey and butter. Remove from the heat and whisk in the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil and ginger. Allow to cool.

Place the salmon, skin side down, on a large sheet of aluminium foil. Trim the foil to leave a border of 1/4-1/2 inch around the edge of the salmon. Coat the flesh of the salmon with the brown sugar mixture.

Grill the salmon indirectly over medium heat until the edges begin to brown and the center is opaque, 25-30 minutes. The internal temperature should be about 125 degrees. Turn off heat and serve fish directly from grill or, using a large baking sheet, carefully transfer the salmon with foil to a cutting board. Cut the salmon crosswise into 6-8 pieces, but do not cut through he skin. Slide a spatula between the ski and the flesh and remove the salmon pieces to a serving platter or individual plates. Serve immediately.

My salmon ready to go into the broiler.


Dinner time.

Life In The Mountains

Welcome to another episode of Life in The Mountains.

As we rejoin our fearless heroine we find her standing in her kitchen on a cold Sunday morning in November. (wait a minute here, she's always standing in her kitchen,,what the heck is going on?!?!)

I'm sorry, I digress. Anyway we find our fearless heroine standing in her kitchen, drinking a pot of coffee and wondering what she is going to do with a lot of leftover cooked chicken.


Realizing that she thinks better on a full stomach, she heats up a slice of homemade spinach and bacon quiche for her breakfast and starts to peruse an Emeril cookbook.


As our heroine ponders her options, her faithful watchdog dozes in the sun nearby.


Our heroine decides what she will do with the leftover chicken, two different types of chicken pies with homemade crusts. She gets out all the crust ingredients and gets them ready.


Our heroine gets all the filling ingredients together for her first recipe, a traditional New England style chicken pot pie. She then whips up the crust, following Emeril's directions and sets it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

That task done she turns her efforts to her second pie, a Moravian chicken pie. She makes the crust with her trusty, tried and true recipe. She mixes the filling and pours it into the pie shell.


Here is the Moravian chicken pie ready to be wrapped up and frozen. What a work of art.


Our heroine then makes the filling for Emeril's traditional New England style chicken pot pie. It has chicken (of course) onions, carrots, potatoes, peas, celery, chicken broth and half-and-half.


Our heroine is very upset when the crust made with the Emeril recipe keeps falling apart. The finished product is not what she had hoped. She vows she will not serve this pie to company.


It is now 2 hours after our heroine started her day in the kitchen. She has finished the two pies, wrapped them, placed them in the freezer and finished two loads of laundry. Now to tackle the outside while its warm.

She turns this,,,,,,,


Into this. Knowing her outside work is done she heads back inside to make yet another pie.


This one is an apple pie for her wonderful and beloved coworkers.


After making a wonderful dinner she relaxes with a glass of Pinot Noir,,,,


in front of the fire and thinks about how soon she can retire for the night.



Tune in next time for another episode of Life in The Mountains.

Apple Crisp

Many years ago a good friend gave me this Amish cookbook. I have made this apple crisp many times and it always gets rave reviews. I wrote the recipe as printed in the book. However when I make it I use more apples and only half the topping.



Apple Crisp

3/4 cup sugar
1 tblsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups apples, cored, peeled and sliced

1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup butter, melted

Sift together sugar, 1 tblsp flour, cinnamon and salt. Combine gently with apples. Spoon into a greased 8x12 baking pan.

Mix together well the oatmeal and remaining ingredients. Crumble over the apples.

Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm with or cold with milk.



Ready to go into the oven.


Baked, but you really can't tell from this photo.

Rolled, Stuffed Flank Steak

We were in the grocery store on Saturday when I spied a nice flank steak that was on sale. I grabbed it and promised Richard a great dinner that night. I told him about this recipe I had for a braised, stuffed flank steak. He looked at me a bit quizzical and nodded.

Once we got home I dug out this cookbook. It was first published in 1963. When my mother bought it the year was 1972 and I was a young thing of 13 years old. At some point she gave me this book but I cannot remember when.

Anyway this is a wonderful recipe and after having made it wondered why I had not made this dish in at least 8 years.




Rolled, Stuffed Flank Steak

1 1/2 lb. flank steak, U.S. Prime or Choice
3 tblsps butter
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 tblsp chopped onion
2 1/2 cups white bread cubes (I used a multi-grain bread)
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp dried marjoram leaves
1/8 tsp pepper
1 can (3 oz) sliced mushrooms, undrained
1 1/2 tblsp flour

Wipe steak with damp paper towels. With sharp knife, trim excess fat. Score surface in a diamond pattern, 1/8 inch deep on both sides.

Melt 2 tblsp butter in Dutch oven or stove-top casserole. Add celery and onion; saute until tender - about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Add bread cubes, parsley, salt, poultry seasoning, marjoram and pepper; tossing lightly with fork until well mixed.

Place stuffing lengthwise down center of steak. Starting at narrow end, roll up steak and secure with skewers (I used toothpicks)



Preheat oven to 350.

Melt remaining butter in Dutch oven. Brown steak in butter on all sides-8-10 minutes in all.

Spoon mushrooms and their liquid over steak; bake covered 1 1/2 hours or until steak is tender. Remove steak to heated platter and keep warm.

Pour mushrooms and liquid from Dutch oven into bowl; skim off fat from surface. Measure 1 cup liquid and return to Dutch oven.

Combine flour and 2 tblsps water, stirring to make a smooth paste. Then stir into liquid to combine well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

Slice steak crosswise and pour gravy over it.

Enjoy.

Blueberry Buckle

In continuing with the freezer diving cookbook theme I made some blueberry buckle.I had actually been looking for enough blueberries to make a pie for dessert. While I did not have enough for a pie I did have enough for this.

I have been making blueberry or apple buckle for years but this time I tried a new recipe and it was so very good!



Blueberry Buckle

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar, divided
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups flour, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter.

*Beat 1/2 cup butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating mixture well. Add egg and beat well.

*Combine 1 1/4 cups flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour, mixing well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

*Pour batter into a greased 8x8 inch pan. Top with blueberries.

*Combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar, remaining 1/4 cup flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1/4 cup butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly; sprinkle crumb topping evenly over blueberries.

*Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes.



I did not have fresh blueberries, but I did have frozen ones which I used for this.

Fall Stuff

October has been an interesting month. To start out the month, literally, we received the predicted snowfall on October 1st. But being the creatures of habit that we are, the day before we ran around like crazy stocking in some firewood and picking the very last of what the garden had to offer.

We wound up with a lot of cayenne peppers, several bell peppers, lots of little green tomatoes and some more jalapenos. I made stuffed pepper, pickled the jalapenos and dehydrated the cayenne peppers.


As the winterish weather settled in I went into the kitchen. We had a lot of garlic that we brought back from Florida which was not in the best of condition. I had a recipe for garlic confit so I figured "what the heck" and proceeded to peel 2 cups of garlic cloves. I placed them in a pot and added some seasonings.


Next I added some olive oil,


And then simmered it all for awhile,,,,,,however I got distracted and, according to the recipe, overcooked the garlic. If it tastes good I'll post the recipe.


A couple of days before I was due to leave for South Dakota, Richard called me outside and told me to grab my camera. We had a flock of wild hen turkeys in the backyard.


It was hard to get shots of them as they became aware of us and hustled through the bushes and down the hill.


Today after reading the weather which is calling for highs in the 30s with gusty winds and snow on Wednesday and Thursday we got highly motivated to bring in lots of firewood. Two snowfalls before Halloween? This is NOT how I wanted to start the season.