Notice: Function _load_textdomain_just_in_time was called incorrectly. Translation loading for the wp-ultimate-recipe domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/maryzahc/public_html/adultfoodallergies.com/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6121 November 2013 – surviving the food allergy apocalypse (archive)
So this will be our second Thanksgiving on this blog, and we’re really happy that you’re all here and reading our recipes and thoughts — we got online to share, and we’re thankful that some of you find it worthwhile to come read.
While this is pretty last minute, we thought we’d post what we’re planning for Thanksgiving — Denise and are are cooking together, for a full safe for both of us holiday of food. Some of the recipes are on the blog, some aren’t, and it’s likely things will change the day of. But maybe this will be of some interest to anyone who is still thinking about what to make or what to bring or eat.
It’s fall (I’m not discussing the “winter” word yet, although it snowed here yesterday) with all those yummy, carbohydrate-filled veggies available. This dish is pretty easy but seems complicated to those who aren’t in the know. Also, although this may seem like a lot, it’s great as leftovers. I even love it cold over a tossed salad a day or two later. Try it as a new side dish for Thanksgiving, or for other potlucks this winter.
Roasted Autumn Vegetables with a Balsamic Glaze
Serves at least 4 in generous portions.
Balsamic Glaze:
I cup of balsamic vinegar (be careful, get one without caramel color, which could be dairy, wheat or corn.)
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Italian Seasoning (or a bit of oregano, basil, marjoram, sage, rosemary, and thyme to add up to 1 1/2 Tablespoons)
2 Tablespoons of brown sugar
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
Vegetables:
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks
2 small onions, peeled, cut in half and then each half cut into quarters
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks
1 small turnip (about the size of a large tomato), peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks
1/2 of a butternut squash (or 1 20 oz bag of fresh peeled butternut squash), peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks
2-3 cups of brussel sprouts, outer leaves removed if necessary and stems trimmed, and cut in half
Preheat your oven to 400°F. Using an oil mister, or a bit of oil and a paper towel, grease a sheet pan.
Prepare all your vegetables as discussed above and put them in a large heat safe bowl. You’re going to be tossing them with the glaze, so make sure you have room to stir and work. Put the bowl aside.
Veggies in Bowl
Using a small non-reactive saucepan, add your balsamic vinegar, Italian seasoning or spices, and the brown sugar. Over medium high heat, simmer the glaze at a low boil until the vinegar has reduced down to a slightly thicker syrupy consistency, as shown:
Balsamic Glaze after reducing
Once the glaze has reduced down, remove it from the heat and add the olive oil. Stir thoroughly.
Pour the glaze over the vegetables, scraping down the sauce pan so that all the glaze ends up in the bowl. Mix the vegetables and glaze thoroughly so that all the vegetables are coated.
Mixing Veggies and Glaze to coat
Pour the coated vegetables on the sheet pan and distribute them evenly.
Veggies spread evenly on pan
Place them in the oven and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes to an hour depending on how large your pieces are. You might want to test them with a fork.
I made this recipe one day when I needed comfort food and then made it about 10 more times in the next month. Carrots and dill are just a great combination, and carrots lend themselves to sweetness. The maple is well-balanced by the garlic, and I find the combination rather addictive. I’ve tweaked the fine details of this recipe, but it’s really very forgiving, overall. It would make a good, crowd-pleasing side dish for Thanksgiving, and I have to think it might appeal to picky kids (but it has not been field tested on children, because generally people don’t offer their kids up for experimentation).
Maple Dill Carrots
Recipe makes ~3 servings if this is the only vegetable side dish.
1 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced (go organic here if you can — they are noticeable sweeter and more carrot-y, which makes a difference in this recipe)
1 teaspoon dill
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (adjust according to your audience)
1 Tablespoon Earth Balance (or butter or margarine of your choice)
1 Tablespoon real maple syrup
Place sliced carrots in a saucepan, with water enough to boil (should basically reach the bottom of the top layer of carrots, but not completely cover them). Add dill and garlic. Bring to a boil and then simmer until carrots are soft, 5-10 minutes.
Carrots and Spice
Drain the carrots — lots of the dill and garlic drain off, but the flavor is boiled in. Add the Earth Balance and maple syrup, and purée. I use a stick blender and do a bit of a half-assed job of it (Denise calls it “rustic”) so that there are some whole carrots and some chunks in the purée. That’s just how I like it. Feel free to purée more or less, as suits your tastes.
Homemade Cranberry Sauce – starting from upper left going clockwise, whole, jelled, orange, and apple
So, as some of you may remember from last year’s Turkey, Turkey Stock, and Turkey Rice Soup with Kale – Denise’s Annual Insanity, or if you know me in real life, I tend to be a lunatic about Thanksgiving. I make food in quantities and amounts that bear no rational relation to the number of people coming, and I go overboard about everything. One of those things is cranberry sauce. When I was growing up, my grandmother owned (still owns, actually) a farm which had a small lake and there were some cranberries growing in one end of it. She always made several kinds of cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving. Now the cranberry bog has been taken over by brush, but I still make multiple cranberry sauces every year. Also, it’s one of those things that looks really hard, but is a piece o’cake (if you’re not a crazed lunatic who is making 40 million other side dishes as well). I usually do the cranberry sauce a couple of days ahead, because you can, and because it needs to cool. If you want some cranberries on hand year round, buy a few bags and throw them in the freezer as is, and just use them frozen, i.e. don’t thaw them out first.
Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1 – 12 ounce bag of cranberries
Wash the cranberries and pick out the soft, crushed and/or bad ones. Put the water and sugar in an nonreactive sauce pan and bring it to a boil over high heat.
Cranberries in Sugar and Water
Once the water and sugar is boiling, add the cranberries and let it come back to a boil. Reduce to the heat to medium and boil gently for 10 minutes. Pour into a heat safe bowl and let cool in the fridge.
Jelled Cranberry Sauce
Jelled Cranberry Sauce
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1 – 12 ounce bag of cranberries
Do everything for the Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce above, except when you’ve finished boiling it gently for the 10 minutes, place a wire mesh strainer over a bowl, pour the sauce into the strainer, and use a spatula to press the sauce through it into the bowl, leaving the seeds and skin behind in the strainer.
Using Strainer to remove seeds and skin
Make sure you get as much of the sauce as you can through the strainer until there’s nothing left but seeds and skin. Frankly, I almost never make this because I don’t care, and not eating the skins and seeds seems like a colossal waste, but to each their own.
Apple Cranberry Sauce
Apple Cranberry Sauce
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1 – 12 ounce bag of cranberries
1 peeled, cored and chopped apple
Follow the directions for the Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce above, but just adding the apple at the same time as the cranberries.
Orange Cranberry Sauce
Orange Cranberry Sauce
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1 – 12 ounce bag of cranberries
1 orange, zested, and then peeled and sectioned
Wash and scrub your orange. Zest your orange, either with a micro-planer or use a vegetable peeler to take off very, very thin strips. Make sure there is NO white pith at all, as it will cause the sauce to be bitter. Peel your orange and then remove the outer skin from each of the sections.
Zest and Sectioned Orange Pieces
Follow the directions for the Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce above, but just adding the orange at the same time as the cranberries.
This soup is very much for the potato people, my people. If you merely “like” potatoes, you will probably like this soup, but if, in your world, the potato is the pinnacle of nature’s bounty, this soup is for you. It contains other ingredients, but these serve mainly to make the potato shine in all its earthy goodness.
If you really love the potato, make your chopped potatoes bigger — on the order of one-inch cubes, or mix larger and smaller cubes. The big chunks won’t break down as you reheat the soup. If you prefer your potatoes blend well with all the other ingredients, chop everything a little smaller. I opt for nice big chunks of all the vegetables, all of which then maintain their structural integrity and individual flavors and textures.
The original recipe on which this soup is based is lost to the many moves of my grad school years. One of my roommates picked it up at one of our local grocery stores, in the free recipes section up front, and it was cheap and hearty, which made it a winner in our house. It still is. It bears up to some messing with, mainly on quantities and sizes of ingredients, and is easily made vegetarian, but the way I’ve written it up for you is the way I like it best.
Best Potato Soup
6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped or crumbled *(optional — leave off or use a veg substitute to make this vegetarian)
2 teaspoons oil or fat, melted *(olive oil works great. I usually use bacon fat.)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 cups broth *(I prefer half vegetable broth, and half chicken broth, both homemade, but all of one or the other works fine.)
4 cups cubed potatoes
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt, to taste *(probably not necessary if you are using commercial broths)
shredded cheddar cheese or cheddar-style vegan cheese *(Daiya is my preference)
Heat oil in soup pot over medium heat until hot. Add onion. Cook until onion is translucent, 5 or so minutes. Add carrots, celery, broth, potatoes, and cayenne. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are done. Taste, add salt if needed. Serve topped with bacon and shredded cheese, if desired.
Best Potato Soup
It really is that easy, and this soup ages very well over the next 5 days or so. The recipe easily doubles to feed a crowd (or yourself all week).
