Trying to get back to normal

Whole Grain Spaghetti with Wild mushrooms, Bacon and Rosemary
Steam Roasted Roots with Maple, Sriracha and Thyme
Tom Douglas Tomato Soup
Mincemeat!

 Sometime in the future I will look back at this blog and wonder why I wasn't cooking very much, particularly two weeks ago. Then I will remember the day that I wrote my last entry was Election Day and hopefully the emotions that I and may I say a good portion of Seattle felt with the result of this 2016 Presidential election will have faded.  I have pulled myself up and I can thank the Seattle Seahawks for starting it with a great game and win over the Patriots on the 13th and another win over the Eagles this past weekend.  Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I may just pull out some turkey from the freezer, but will have to let you know the result later

I did find some great recipes again in the October/November 2016 Fine Cooking to try.  They have a section called, Learn to Love Whole-Grain Pastas.  It totally made sense when they said, just using whole grain spaghetti with sauce..... "only to find the result, shall I say, underwhelming"  That says our experience in a nutshell.  We tried the spaghetti with wild mushrooms, bacon and rosemary, throwing in a bit of leftover steak to be absolutely delicious. Mixing the more assertive flavour and texture of the pasta with more earthy, bold flavours was brilliant.  I need to try a couple more!

Another section was about  steam roasted vegetables.  We were really happy with the cauliflower dish from the the previous post, that we tried the steam roasted roots with maple sriracha and thyme.  I used carrots and rutabaga.  Love it!  Maybe with turkey tomorrow we should try the butternut squash with crispy sage.

For lunch on Sunday, Stewart and I thought that we would like tomato soup.  No Campbells in the the cupboard, so pulled out  the Central Market recipe.  Stewart looked up Tom Douglas's version that we had at the Dahlia Lounge a few weeks back  So working from both recipes made a very nice soup.  I didn't have celery seed, but had celery salt.  I thought it ended up too salty but Stewart liked it very much.  All my notes are on Tom's soup recipe.

For a quick dinner I finally used the last of the Al Pastor marinade that kept really well in the fridge.  I used it first with pork, next with steak and finally used it up on BBQ chicken thighs.  It again was great and something that I will do all over again in the new year.  Another quick dinner was pork chops with Penzey's Bavarian spice and apples.  Simple and delicious. A couple of other standbys this past week.  Lamb Kebabs from the New York Times cook book, my stir fried bok choy with garlic, ginger and scallions from Fine Cooking and the Sunday morning favourite of whole wheat crepes.  

Talking with Sheila and Mom on my birthday I was inspired.  Sheila was in the process of making a new patch of mincemeat.  So looked up the recipe and got all her pointers and Stewart and I went shopping on Sunday to get all the special ingredients.  I started it last week and on Monday did the final cooking and was able to package 6 pie's worth.  That was half a batch of my Great, Great Grandmother Jordan's recipe.  Stewart is anxious for me to make some tarts so that he can take them to work.  They should be fine and I will make them just before Christmas.

Girls will be arriving in less than a month so I will have to start thinking about cookie baking, but not quite yet.