Christmas Cookie Roundup

One of my favorite things about Christmas is making and eating Christmas cookies. In years past, my mom would have a cookie exchange with her co-workers, and we would end up with a large assortment. The best part of the cookie exchange is assembling a large plate of cookies and contemplating which ones to eat first. Now that she is retired, I usually would bring home a variety of cookies and my sister would make some too. This year I didn't contribute to our annual cookie tray, but I still made my usual five types to take to my in-laws. The selections for this year:

Classic Peanut Butter (Recipe from The Joy of Cooking)

First Federal Credit Union Holiday Cookies--This particular recipe came as an advertisement to join their credit union. There are pecans, chocolate chips and caramel chunks in the mix.

Classic chocolate chip (Recipe from The Joy of Cooking). These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made.

Christmas Spritz (Recipe from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book). These were not a hit--Too plain and too almondy. I thought they were delicious.

The fully assembled cookie selections. My mom sent coconut cookies (white cookies far left), mint chocolate chip (green cookies, center left), and chocolate caramel thumbprint (brown cookies, center)

Close-up Christmas Spritz

My mom's cookies

I also made chocolate truffle cookies (front, center).

Next year, I'm sticking to the classics (peanut butter, chocolate chip, sugar), and I may make a wild card. I may even try making cookies for dogs, especially since our pug seemed to enjoy her giant peanut butter bone from her stocking this year:

But that depends on if she's a good girl this year, Santa may already be planning to bring her a lump of coal...

Steamed Oysters

Oysters are in season! And we bought a bushel from a family member who catches and sells them.  We broke in our gigantic steam pot and single outdoor burner for the occasion. I forgot to take pictures of our set-up, but here is our set-up for eating:

This is one bushel steamed. Our steam pot has this bucket for easy lifting out of the larger pot.

Ours were a little undercooked, and this gigantic oyster was slightly raw. But still good.

I prefer oysters more cooked, and this smaller one was cooked through.

Oyster Shells!

Apple cider vinegar, melted butter, hot sauce, and cocktail sauce were used as accompaniments.

I needed a little leverage to find the right one.

Top view!

I definitely needed more newspaper on the table since there was still some liquid in the oysters and the newspaper laid down was soaked through. A very successful evening, and I can't wait to steam more stuff in our pot!

Joy of Cooking Tuna Noodle Casserole

Canned tuna is something I didn't always like. I eventually came to like it, and started making tuna noodle casserole. My dad always liked tuna noodle casserole with crumbled potato chips on top, but I think I prefer a Ritz Cracker top, which is what The Joy of Cooking  recommends in their recipe. After making The Joy of Cooking recipe for tuna noodle casserole, I think it is my favorite. This recipe does use cream of mushroom soup, but it works in this recipe. I like this particular recipe because of the Worcestershire sauce, the diced roasted red pepper, and the frozen peas added to the mix. I served mine with some baked zucchini. To make the zucchini, drizzle some olive oil over halved slices, and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper on top. Bake in a 350 degree oven for around 20 minutes.

Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta

I've gone a little overboard with the butternut squash this fall, but this particular recipe is great: Butternut squash and bacon pasta comes from Cooking Light. It is super cheesy and rich. I keep extra sharp white cheddar on hand, and I used that instead of the provolone recommended in the linked recipe. I also used skim milk instead of 2%, and the recipe was still full of flavor. I could eat cheese and noodle recipes like this time...

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chili

I noticed I was late on all of the pumpkin recipes this fall, but I did run across a pumpkin chili recipe that I modified slightly. I love the spicy notes from the chipotle chiles, but you really can't taste the pumpkin. I tend to prefer meaty chili instead of chili with lots of beans. I didn't save the link to the recipe that inspired me, but here is how I made mine:

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chili
Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb 90/10 ground beef
1 medium onion diced
1 can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 can cannellini beans
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup diced roasted red pepper
1/4 cup pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (around two peppers and 2 tbsp adobo sauce)
Shredded cheddar cheese for topping

1. Add olive oil to a skillet on medium heat to soften onion. Once onion is translucent, add ground beef and brown. Once the meat is no longer pink, drain the excess grease from the meat.
2. Combine the pumpkin, beans, spices, broth, red pepper, and chipotle peppers in a slow cooker. Add the onions and beef. Stir to combine.
3. Cook in the slow cooker on low for 4-5 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. Top with shredded cheese.

Baked Bean Quintet

Growing up, I didn't really like beans. As an adult, I have slowly grown a taste for them. I recently decided to try Better Homes and Gardens Baked Bean Quintet recipe, and I have a new fondness for beans.  The bean combo I used was a follows:

1 can baby lima
1 can butterbeans
1can great northern beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can garbanzo beans

Bacon, garlic, onion, catsup, Worcestershire sauce, molasses, brown sugar, and pepper were also added for the sauce. I made this particular recipe in my crockpot by cooking the mixture on high for 4-6 hours:

Steamed Blue Crabs

The blue crab season ended November 21 (the day I got married!), and before it ended, we purchased a bushel and steamed them Tangier Island style. When someone orders steamed blue crabs from a restaurant, they are steamed with the backs on and covered in Old Bay seasoning. When cooking crabs what I call Tangier Island style, the guts are cleaned out prior to steaming. Restaurants usually don't clean the crabs prior to steaming because it is time consuming.  To clean out the guts, the back is taken off first:

A bushel of crabs--best cleaned outside.

A close-up--notice the back on. These are still alive, and you have to work around their claws to avoid being pinched to get the back off while cleaning.

Once the back is removed, the eyes are cut off, and the lungs are removed. The cleaning process probably sounds really disgusting, but the meat tastes so much better with all of the guts and stuff removed prior to steaming.

The traditional Tangier Island way of steaming the crabs includes layering the crabs with onions and sprinkling them with Old Bay. Once the crabs are layered with onions, rendered fatback grease is poured over the top along with a cup of water (just enough to fill the first inch of the pot), and the strips of fatback are also laid on top. A healthier option is to steam the crabs with vinegar and water or beer and water.

We needed three pots to steam our bushel.

Set the table by covering it with newspaper and having rolls of paper towels available. Bowls are laid out for the muddy gravy. Saltines are also a necessary for consuming the crabs and sopping up the gravy.

Once the crabs are steamed, you pick the meat out of the body. On Tangier Island, the liquid in the pot is called muddy gravy and is poured into bowls. Once the meat is picked, it can be placed in a bowl to soak up the gravy. It can then be eaten by itself or eaten on top of a saltine. The crab meat is also excellent soaked in regular white vinegar.

Best enjoyed with a Pepsi.

Crabs and onions in the pot ready to be eaten.

Crabs are best steamed outside, especially if you cook them with fatback. The fatback smell lingers for quite awhile after they are cooked. Since it was November, it was a bit chilly to cook ours outside. We have an outdoor burner, and received a really big steam pot as an early Christmas gift. I can't wait until crabs are available in the spring. In the meantime, we have oysters to look forward to!

Ode to Tomatoes

I had to look up what an ode was as a type of poem, and it seems there isn't a general consensus as to what it is. What I did gather from the various definitions I found was that it is meant to address a person, place, or thing. Instead of writing an actual ode to tomatoes, I thought I would post three pictures of tomatoes to symbolize the three stanzas traditionally included in an ode:

Extreme close-up.

The stripped heirlooms aren't the most flavorful tomato, but still pretty!

The biggest and most strangely shaped tomatoes of the summer!

My tomato plants have finally been killed by the frost, and I have a container of store bought cherry tomatoes on the counter. I will definitely miss being able to go outside and pick a tomato when I need one. Until next year tomatoes!

Baked Trout

My brother-in-law is a fisherman, and recently gave us a bag of trout. I had a breakfast version of trout on a trip to Tangier Island, but I wasn't a fan of the flavors. The trout was boiled and then covered in the rendered fat from fatback. The fatback grease was too overwhelming to me, so I decided to bake our trout with breadcrumbs, Old Bay seasoning, and butter. I made the bread crumbs from a whole wheat hamburger bun, and I toasted them slightly. I then sprinkled them evenly over the fish, which I placed in a lightly greased glass baking dish with the skin side down. I then sprinkled the Old Bay over the fish, and evenly poured melted butter over it. The fish baked in a 350 degree oven for around 25 minutes.

I served the fish with some buttered bread and creamed peas and potatoes:

The pea and potato side dish wasn't the best accompaniment to the fish, but it worked. The Old Bay on the fish was the best! I don't know how I ate seafood without Old Bay before moving to Virginia.

Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Bundt Cake

I found this recipe for Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Cake from The Country Cook's Blog. I didn't have a large enough loaf pan to follow her directions exactly, so I used my bundt pan instead:

The cake was tangy and moist. The blueberries were from my blueberry picking adventure in August, and I was excited I could showcase them in this cake.

This would be an excellent cake to make in the spring--especially when Meyer lemons are in grocery stores...

Pan Roasted Pork Tenderloin

I purchased a pork tenderloin from the grocery store without a specific plan for it. I found instructions for pan roasted port tenderloin in my copy of The Joy of Cooking. I also created the herb pan sauce. The recipe gave a few sauce options, and the herb pan sauce didn't disappoint. For a more detailed description of how to make this particular recipe, check out Jessica's Blog detailing her way through The Joy of Cooking.

The pork smelled so good, that I couldn't help digging in before shooting this picture. I made acorn squash seasoned with herbes de Provence, but I realized that acorn squash isn't my favorite thing. Some Stovetop Stuffing was also consumed with the pork. I have since purchased another pork tenderloin, and I can't wait to make this again.

Blueberry Muffins

I learned a new trick from The Joy of Cooking. I really like muffins, but I can never eat a whole batch before they go bad. The Joy of Cooking suggested freezing the unbaked muffins, and then baking as many as you need frozen--all you have to do is extend the cooking time. This works quite well.

Line a muffin tin, and pour in the batter. Place the filled muffin tin in the freezer, and place the frozen, uncooked muffins in a plastic bag until ready to use.

Bake as many as you want at at time. You can add a little water to the unused parts of the pan. This protects the pan and offers additional moisture to the muffins.

I want to try this with other types of muffins even though I would think it wouldn't matter what type of muffin someone froze.

Polenta Pizza

I have made this particular polenta pizza from this recipe from the New York Times, and it is one of my favorites!

I use a coarse grind corn meal (Bob's Red Mill is usually the only one I can find--they did not pay me to plug their brand), and it provides a really great texture and flavor to the pizza. I will usually make the polenta crust the day before I make the pizza.

This is one of my favorite recipes, and I want to start experimenting with other flavor combinations.

Smith Island Hog Roast

This post is a long time coming, but better late than never! Over Columbus Day, weekend we went to Tangier Island, and we also spent the day at nearby Smith Island for a hog roast. The hog roast was organized by the Save the Bay Foundation as a thank you to Smith Island for their continued support of their work. Smith Island is actually composed of three islands, and the hog roast was on Tylerton:

A map of Tylerton.

Getting all of the food set-up.

The spread from top going clockwise: Roast pork, fried oysters, hush puppies, macaroni salad, and baked beans.

People from Smith Island made the desserts which included the famous multi-layer Smith Island cake. Apparently, Smith Island cakes started on Tangier Island, but Smith Island takes the credit for them (hopefully this claim doesn't start a fight!). Each layer is made one at a time. I had a slice of the yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but I also sampled all vanilla Smith Island cake and chocolate peanut butter Smith Island cake (the best of the three).

Until next time Smith Island!

Halloween Treats

Well, my Halloween weekend was spent editing and eating unhealthy Halloween treats including candy corn and peanuts:

The best combination ever!

And making donuts the Tangier Island way:

You use a can of biscuits, and cut a hole in the middle using a small round cutter. I used a spritz cookie tube attachment, but you can use the top from a bottle of soda. Then you deep fry them by turning once, and immediately dredge them in powdered sugar.

Not healthy, but delicious.