DH and I were talking about whatever, which triggered a memory of when my mother talked me into trying some cracker pie she'd just made. One of her coworkers was talking about how surprisingly good it was with such a name, so Mama asked her what kind of crackers were in it - Saltines. So since Daddy worked at Nabisco and Saltines were fairly common at the commissary (broken product sold at a discount to employees), Mama figured she'd try it, since we usually had commissary crackers on hand.
After she tasted it, she tried talking me into trying it too, but I had no interest in trying "cracker" pie. But she kept trying to get me to try just a teensy piece, then she wouldn't try anymore. So I tried it, and it was actually quite good, so I did have a piece after all.
A few months later, my Girl Scouts group was having some kind of party or sleep-over and we were to have our mothers make something to bring. So I asked my mother if she'd make cracker pie for the scouts event. She said she would, but only if I came up with a new name for it, because according to Mama, it sounded like a poor, white-trash pie. So I said that could be the new name, white-trash pie, and Mama looked like I just hurled a glass of cold water on her ROFL!
We both came up with a suitable name (although not nearly as fun) - I can't remember the suitable name now though, only white-trash pie LOL. Here's a similar recipe to what she told me was in her version of cracker pie.
So listening to my white-trash pie story triggered DH to remember a story about a special request he made of his mother. They were having a school Christmas party, and his mother planned to make gingerbread men. But DH, being about six years old, said no, he wanted gingerbread DUCKS (he knew his mother had a duck-shaped cookie cutter). She just smiled and found the duck-shaped cookie cutter and made him gingerbread ducks for his school Christmas party. DH said they were a huge hit, and none were left. Sometimes reminiscing comes up with such cute memories ^_^
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Thanksgiving with Nesco Roaster and an old crockpot
My old stove is kaput, and DH has to do some serious electrical work in order to put in the stove our neighbors gave us. But with just the two of us, I do fine with a toaster oven, hot plate (electric, as well as butane, since living on the coast means having a few ways to cook without electric), and of course a microwave.
But turkey's don't fit in toaster ovens - well except for turkey breasts, which lately have been those gross piece-meal, turkey-parts glued together globs, gross! So I sacrificed crispy skin for cooking a real turkey in a Nesco Roaster. I also made the gravy in it, even though the Nesco Roaster didn't make brown bits on the bottom, but gravy still tasted good (Kitchen Bouquet to the rescue!) DH said the turkey was moister that oven-cooked turkeys, and the Nesco Roaster didn't heat up the house enough to kick in the AC (mid 60s F in Houston today).
I made mashed potatoes in the crockpot yesterday, and cornbread in the toaster oven. I boiled eggs in the crockpot this morning, but instead of covering my old-style crockpot with its usual lid, I put a sautee pan on the crockpot to slowly sautee onions and celery for the cornbread dressing. Now if you're in a hurry, this wouldn't work at all, but if you're multi-tasking and have plenty of time, it worked out great, giving me plenty of time to coordinate without the worry of over-cooking/burning things. I put the crumbled cornbread and a few slices of wheat bread in the toaster oven to dry, then put the turkey into the Nesco Roaster.
After approximately an hour, I lifted the sautee pan off the crockpot, spooned out a few eggs into a bowl with water, peeled the eggs, repeat until all the eggs were peeled and yolks removed for deviled eggs. Emptied the water from the crockpot, dumped in the sauteed onions and celery with the cornbread and sliced bread. Then made the creamy roux for the dressing (all the cornbread dressing I found called for Cream of X soup, so I made it from scratch with butter, flour, and Half and Half). Again, the roux took a long time on top of the crockpot, but when not cooking on a schedule, it was lovely not worrying about burning while multi-tasking. But I also put a bit of Half and Half into the crockpot with the breading, just to make sure nothing burned while waiting for the roux to smell like pie crust before adding in the Half and Half.
Finally the creamy roux (homemade Cream of X) was finished and dumped into the crockpot, which was spiced with Chicken Seasoning and extra sage. Then I finished the deviled eggs, arranged the relish tray, then a bit later, the turkey was done. I had DH help me transfer the turkey to a big disposable tin, then poured off about half the pan juices into the crockpot, then the rest into a 2 cup measuring cup for the gravy. The Nesco Roaster heats up to 450F, so making roux in it was much faster than on top of the crockpot. By the time the gravy was finished, the turkey had rested enough for the juices to settle (probably the main the turkey was juicier than usual haha).
Yesterday's potatoes were nuked at 70% power in a covered casserole, then I nuked frozen spinach with butter.
So not having an oven forced me to be creative with ancillary cooking appliances, but I learned a few fun tricks along the way. Hope everyone that celebrated Thanksgiving had a lovely one ^_^
But turkey's don't fit in toaster ovens - well except for turkey breasts, which lately have been those gross piece-meal, turkey-parts glued together globs, gross! So I sacrificed crispy skin for cooking a real turkey in a Nesco Roaster. I also made the gravy in it, even though the Nesco Roaster didn't make brown bits on the bottom, but gravy still tasted good (Kitchen Bouquet to the rescue!) DH said the turkey was moister that oven-cooked turkeys, and the Nesco Roaster didn't heat up the house enough to kick in the AC (mid 60s F in Houston today).
I made mashed potatoes in the crockpot yesterday, and cornbread in the toaster oven. I boiled eggs in the crockpot this morning, but instead of covering my old-style crockpot with its usual lid, I put a sautee pan on the crockpot to slowly sautee onions and celery for the cornbread dressing. Now if you're in a hurry, this wouldn't work at all, but if you're multi-tasking and have plenty of time, it worked out great, giving me plenty of time to coordinate without the worry of over-cooking/burning things. I put the crumbled cornbread and a few slices of wheat bread in the toaster oven to dry, then put the turkey into the Nesco Roaster.
After approximately an hour, I lifted the sautee pan off the crockpot, spooned out a few eggs into a bowl with water, peeled the eggs, repeat until all the eggs were peeled and yolks removed for deviled eggs. Emptied the water from the crockpot, dumped in the sauteed onions and celery with the cornbread and sliced bread. Then made the creamy roux for the dressing (all the cornbread dressing I found called for Cream of X soup, so I made it from scratch with butter, flour, and Half and Half). Again, the roux took a long time on top of the crockpot, but when not cooking on a schedule, it was lovely not worrying about burning while multi-tasking. But I also put a bit of Half and Half into the crockpot with the breading, just to make sure nothing burned while waiting for the roux to smell like pie crust before adding in the Half and Half.
Finally the creamy roux (homemade Cream of X) was finished and dumped into the crockpot, which was spiced with Chicken Seasoning and extra sage. Then I finished the deviled eggs, arranged the relish tray, then a bit later, the turkey was done. I had DH help me transfer the turkey to a big disposable tin, then poured off about half the pan juices into the crockpot, then the rest into a 2 cup measuring cup for the gravy. The Nesco Roaster heats up to 450F, so making roux in it was much faster than on top of the crockpot. By the time the gravy was finished, the turkey had rested enough for the juices to settle (probably the main the turkey was juicier than usual haha).
Yesterday's potatoes were nuked at 70% power in a covered casserole, then I nuked frozen spinach with butter.
So not having an oven forced me to be creative with ancillary cooking appliances, but I learned a few fun tricks along the way. Hope everyone that celebrated Thanksgiving had a lovely one ^_^
Corn Meal vs Polenta; Cornbread Leavened without Gums
Self-Reliant Living's Preparedness Radio had an awesome podcast interviewing Carol Deppe, author of The Resilient Gardener, and boy does this lady know a lot about corn! All this time I thought the biggest difference between cornmeal and polenta was that I thought polenta was nixtamalized. But after listening to this podcast, I've learned there's SO much more to learn about corn.
Carol explained why she was so driven to learn about corn is that she suffers from Celiac disease, and that because of all the sweetening, alternative baking mixes were acceptable, but she couldn't stand the taste of bread baked from alternative Gluten-Free flour, but did enjoy the taste of cornbread. She even stumbled on an older way of making cornbread that doesn't require adding gums to the cornflour and baking powder, yet is still leavened, which she explains in pretty good detail for a podcast.
She explained the corn anatomy (I'm not sure I'm using the correct term haha), so learning what she explained would help us to make better tasting polenta, as well as baked goods. So whether you're a foodie, gardener, or prepper, I think you'd really enjoy this podcast (first link above has the downloadable MP3).
Not only will I be listening to this long podcast again (it went overtime), but I'm also going to buy her book. The podcast host announced he'll be interviewing her again soon about potatoes, so I'll be waiting eagerly for that, since instead of a bumper crop of blue potatoes, I grew a handful of blue marbles. But at least that one meal of blue potatoes tasted pretty good ^_^
PS: I caught one of the neighbor's bunnies finally! I almost had another one, but he wiggled out of the cage bottom before I could close it and I was afraid of hurting him.
The bunny I caught today ate from my hand yesterday - she was still in the old neighbor's backyard (they travel back and forth between the yards through the dug up tree root along the fence - they know morning feed time too LOL!)
UPDATE: I went to check on her and bring her some lettuce and carrot, and she was running around the yard - I think she blew me a bunny-raspberry as she hopped past me.
Carol explained why she was so driven to learn about corn is that she suffers from Celiac disease, and that because of all the sweetening, alternative baking mixes were acceptable, but she couldn't stand the taste of bread baked from alternative Gluten-Free flour, but did enjoy the taste of cornbread. She even stumbled on an older way of making cornbread that doesn't require adding gums to the cornflour and baking powder, yet is still leavened, which she explains in pretty good detail for a podcast.
She explained the corn anatomy (I'm not sure I'm using the correct term haha), so learning what she explained would help us to make better tasting polenta, as well as baked goods. So whether you're a foodie, gardener, or prepper, I think you'd really enjoy this podcast (first link above has the downloadable MP3).
Not only will I be listening to this long podcast again (it went overtime), but I'm also going to buy her book. The podcast host announced he'll be interviewing her again soon about potatoes, so I'll be waiting eagerly for that, since instead of a bumper crop of blue potatoes, I grew a handful of blue marbles. But at least that one meal of blue potatoes tasted pretty good ^_^
PS: I caught one of the neighbor's bunnies finally! I almost had another one, but he wiggled out of the cage bottom before I could close it and I was afraid of hurting him. The bunny I caught today ate from my hand yesterday - she was still in the old neighbor's backyard (they travel back and forth between the yards through the dug up tree root along the fence - they know morning feed time too LOL!)
UPDATE: I went to check on her and bring her some lettuce and carrot, and she was running around the yard - I think she blew me a bunny-raspberry as she hopped past me.
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