"Guy Food" Christmas Eve

Mr. Big Food's Southern antipasto: It's Southern because it has pickled okra and chow-chow

Wednesday is "guy food" night. (Meatless Monday, Fancy Tuesday, etc. We are fans of order-- of a certain sort-- here at the Farm.) Southern antipasto was followed by fried barbecue-seasoned oysters and boiled shrimp.

What. A. Feast. 

Thursday is Heritage night. Tomorrow is Thursday and it is Christmas. Accordingly, we are having stuffed goose.

My Thoughts On Mac & Cheese

As I mentioned, we're having a contest: The Fall '14 Macaroni & Cheese Contest.

Some time ago Mr. Big Food made a Mac & Cheese dish and I asked how many Mac & Cheese recipes he had. He didn't know for sure but guessed about 70 or 80. What an exaggeration! He got to counting and only has 60 something. Along the way, we decided we should re-imagine our traditional Fall & Winter Soup Contest as a Macaroni & Cheese Contest. 

Here we are in week two of the contest and Daughter C for one couldn't be happier. She loves macaroni & cheese. 

The Fall '14 Macaroni & Cheese Contest does present some problems that the soup contests did not. Most glaring is the Recency problem. As in, "My God! This week's macaroni & cheese is really really good!"

The second problem is that macaroni and cheese casseroles have just two unchanging main ingredients. Look back at the variety of soup entries-- not often two soups had the same two main ingredients. 

THerefore, it is imperative that we take excellent notes. 

To that end, here are my thoughts (with visual aids) on the first two entries. Recipes to follow just as soon as I am able.

Fancy Night!

Mr. Big Food instituted something called "Fancy Night" a few weeks ago. It's a promise that one day we will again eat at the dining room table all fancy-like.

(I should update y'all on the progress we're making regarding recovery from the flood, et cetera. I'll get right on that.)

Tonight's Fancy Night dinner was out of this world.

Photos below the fold. Recipes to follow.

A. Leland's Chuckwagon

Left: Ribeye; Right: T-Bone? Plus grilled squash

A. Leland has claimed Wednesday as his night to cook supper. This evening he really out-did himself.

Mac & cheese

The steak was medium rare throughout. Here's how he accomplished that.

After what was apparently much research, he discovered an alternative to the classic streak-grilling paradigm. 

Subject to modification, and from memory:

• build a very hot fire on one end of the grill
• put the steak on the "cold" end of the grill and grill until it comes up to an internal temp of 115 °; might take 30 minutes or more
• when it reaches that internal temperature, move it to the hot end of the grill to sear-- I guess flipping it once or twice
• grill until the internal temp is medium rare-- whatever that temp is

When you think about it, it makes sense. 

It really was nice and pink throughout. And quite delicious.

Plus he made homemade rootbeer ice cream for dessert. Served in little waffle cones. 

Yesterday Mr. Big Food made chicken & pastry. 

"Good week of food," as Mr. Big Food often says. 

Sausage, Peach, Cherry, Pepper

Repeat.

Serve with 

potato salad.

One of the strangest potato salad recipes I've ever seen. You boil the potatoes in the skins, peal, and toss with 1/4 C apple cider vinegar. Separately, while the potatoes are soaking up the apple cider vinegar, you cut up celery, onion, etc. and toss them with mayo-based dressing. Mr. Big Food used the Thousand Island we've been having on our salads. 

And then you combine it all.

Delicious. 

I hear Thursday is

Throw Back Thursday. 

Mac & Cheeeeese. 

It's Comfort Food.

We planned on 50

including this one.

By my head count, there were 47 1/2. (Olive eats a lot but she just doesn't put it down the way the guys do.) 

I made a couple of things this morning.

Brandied fruit

Beer potato salad

By about 3pm were ready.

Daughter C had made menus.

We weren't quite sure about the weather, so the guys moved the grills up to the porch.

Meanwhile, we put on the finishing touches.

And iced down the beverages.

People started showing up.

And then my camera ran out of battery.

BUT! Everybody & his brother were taking photos. So if you just go look on the WorldWideWeb, I'm sure you will find a photo of yourself (haha) at the Farm.

Unless, of course, you were not here.

What you missed

if you didn't dine at the Farm last evening.

Homemade Cincinnati chili

5-way: spaghetti, chili, beans, onions & cheese. Yummy.

An Early Spring Saturday Supper

As Mr. Big Food was b-b-qing chicken over applewood, he dictated to me the recipe for this broccoli salad. I took it down as it was more than I could have remembered in my head.

The one on the right-- the one without the hardboiled eggs-- is Miss M's. 

I did not take a picture of the leftover slaw from last night's mini-fish-fry. Mr. Big Food thought it needed to be more Carolina style, so he spun them both-- the vegan and non-vegan versions, in that order-- through the food processor. It was good. Good slaw is always better leftover.

I did get a photograph of the chicken.

Miss & I spent a considerable amount of time today fussing about the table. I had bought a new tablecloth and napkins. I was in the process of setting the table right nice when I remembered we were having bar-b-qued chicken over applewood tonight. 

We explored some possibilities. We came up empty.

That's when we decided that maybe we should eat in the living room.

Oven Meals Are Awesome

An oven meal is a coordinated set of individual dishes which bake at the same temperature for the same length of time.

Thus... 

Oven Meal of Beef Patties, Broccoli, and Sweet Potatoes.

Oven meals always have a dessert-- this one would have had a peach crisp thing, but since we have leftover cake, Mr. Big Food opted to not include dessert.

We did include a freshly picked salad (roasted walnuts optional)

dressed with Italian Dressing II (crumbled Roquefort cheese optional).

I'd say it took us about 30 minutes to assemble the three dishes before we popped them in the oven-- and the lengthiest part of that was grinding the beef. If you use store-bought ground beef, cut that time in half.  The meal bakes for 40 minutes. And then bingo-bambo! Supper's ready!

I really have no sympathy for folks who claim they don't have enough time to cook healthy, homemade meals. (The beef patties have an apple slice in the middle!)

Can you believe we're still picking fresh lettuce? 

Fall and Winter Soup Recipes: Let The Games Begin!

This evening we enjoyed the second entrant in our 2nd Fall & Winter Soup Contest,

French Meatless Vegetable Soup.

Before I launch into a description of this soup-- necessary observations as it is a contest and all, and after two or three excellent soups, the particular excellencies of each fade-- I thought we might take a short stroll down soup lane. The first Fall& Winter Soup Contest began 11/8/2011 with Beer Cheese Broccoli Soup. Not every soup we had that Fall & Winter was a contestant. Soups we have every year were-- and are again-- disqualified (why can't I find the recipe for Across the Garden Soup?) as are favorite gumbos. (We make the rules up as we go along.)

Blogger's search function is being uncooperative, but based on keyword "soup," I've cobbled together this list of the nine soups that vied for winner, each with at least one link. (I've included dates because sometimes the recipes and the descriptions were in different posts. If you're interested in either, you should be able to find it if my links are messed up.)

In chronological order... [entrant #, date, name]

2011
1. 11/3: Beer Cheese Broccoli Soup (Includes recipe)
2. 11/18-19: Slow Cooker Potato Cheese Soup with Wieners (Winner for me until #7); Recipe
3. 12/7-8: Corn and Sausage Chowder; Recipe
4. 12/31: Chili Soup (includes recipe)

2012

5. 1/9: Tomato Rice Soup with Pesto (includes recipe; also has good links if I've messed them up above))
6. 1/23: Split Pea and Smoked Turkey Soup (includes recipe; second place for me until #2 was bumped by #7)
7. 1/30-31: Sausage Sauerkraut Soup in Slow Cooker (displaces #2 as winner); Recipe
8. 2/7: Sportsman's Lodge Lentil Soup (CONTEST WINNER); Recipe
9. 3/2: Rutabaga Soup Ha. Looks like I never posted the recipe for this one. I mention it, but cannot find it.

Thanks for bearing with me while I sorted that all out. 

And now to French Meatless Vegetable Soup.

What To Do With Leftover Mashed Potatoes?

Make French Potato Fritters!

Very good! A nice send off for Mike & Greg who both are now in their respective cities where they will do City Mouse things. (Mike loves that story.) 

Life is Big, isn't it? Oh. Speaking of Big... . Remember American Grouch? The guy whose blog I read who lives in Minnesota, takes fabulous outdoor photos, and won a place in the wolf-hunting lottery? He's off to hunt wolves. Check out his post from yesterday, the day he left for his five-day deep cold woods adventure.

What's in Your Oven?

Recipes to follow.

Break Fast

Sausage fondu

Made with home made hot sage sausage. The recipe is from The Pick of the Crop, a collection of recipes from members of the North Sunflower PTA, Drew, Mississippi (1978). I guess that's how they spell 'fondue' in Drew!

And Speaking of Math: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = What a Feast!

1

Sauerbraten I marinated for several days and then cooked in the Crockpot for 12 hours

+1

Drippings from the Crockpot thickened with crushed gingersnaps

+1

Tate's kindedliky (boiled, not steamed)

+1

Sauerkraut II-- bacon, shredded potatoes...

=

What a feast!

Rocky is Exhausted

As am I. Moments after I took this photo, Rocky hopped up on the bed with Mr Big Food and Missy. Hum. Not a bad idea.

I thought I might write tonight about the 19 books I got for $5.

But I think instead I'll just post photos of

Blackeyed Pea Soup

and jalapeno cornbread muffins

and the books I've cataloged but still need to find a home.

The Delicous Dish We Enjoyed This Evening

A Big Food Favorite

Old Fashioned Texas Style Chicken Pot Pie

Fresh parsley in the biscuits

Look What's for Supper Tonight!

Grilled Jamaican Jerked Chicken

A Big Food Classic

It will marinate all afternoon. Then be grilled and served with lime butter tortillas, homemade peach salsa & chips, and it will be good!