Monday, November 22, 2010

This is not the end

So the last week of the CSA came and went. We got a variety of root vegetables including turnips and parsnips. Knowing that we'd be outdoing ourselves with poultry later this week, I decided to make my first pot roast and use all of our wintry veggies at once.

Well...at least the meat was good. Maybe they were in the pot too long, or they weren't cut to the right thickness, or they just weren't meant for this kind of dish, but the veggies didn't pick up the flavor I'd hoped they would and there was too wide of a difference in texture and "done-ness." The meat on the other hand was tasty and done just medium enough to satisfy my pregnant lady requirements. (Normally, I would have preferred it to be a little more red and bloody.)

In a few weeks, our winter CSA should be starting. Our summer CSA was great, but we chose it because we couldn't get a summer share at the place closest to us, where we managed to get ourselves into this year's winter program. Henry Got Crops is a little to far from home for us to do it again next summer, and we had a few snafus with their sort-of-disorganized billing system for staggered payments, but we had bountiful shares each week and there is something very fun about going to the actual farm to pick up our stuff. We won't get that experience with Greensgrow but we WILL get to be just a few blocks from our house, and we'll get the extra goodies like cheeses, dairy, and meats that come with each week's share.

Please feel free to pass on your most exciting potato and cabbage recipes in advance, since I have a feeling we will need them in a few weeks.

And so, I must find ways to pass the time until new CSA adventures pop up. Last year, I baked a loaf of bread every Sunday, so I might start that up again. We also have a room to clean out and make into a nursery. And before any of that, there is the greatest food holiday of all time: Thanksgiving. I'm throwing the "go local" thing out the window in favor of tradition. I'm making the age-old spinach dip, using Knorr's vegetable soup mix. I almost had to use the Lipton brand, this year, and was relieved to find the good stuff in my back-up grocery store. I'm also reviving a custom that my grandmother used to carry out each year - homemade chex mix. My grandmother is still around, but at 86, she finds it tedious to stand over the stove to toss the mix when it needs tossing. I figured I'd take it over for her. These are just "pre-game" contributions to a meal at my aunt's house which will be feeding about 20 people. All the Thanksgiving favorites will be on that table and I (along with my 2nd trimester appetite) can't wait! Oh, and of course, I'm psyched to see the family as well. Here's a list of how I imagine the meal will be:

Appetizers
Onion dip and ridged potato chips (my dad's standard)
Cheese and crackers (ritz and wheat stones, of course)
Shrimp cocktail
Spinach dip (I will bring veggies to dip, but everyone else will stick to the triscuits)
Chex mix

Dinner
Turkey
Homemade traditional stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Green bean casserole with the onion crispies on top (we don't always have this but my brother's girlfriend is making it and I'm HAPPY!!!)
Garden salad (with about 50 dressings options since everyone likes something different)
Candied yams
Some other vegetable
Cranberry sauce (probably the canned version, but I LOVE that stuff)

Dessert
Ritz pie (another grandma specialty - I hate it, everyone else looooves it)
Apple pie
Pumpkin pie
Chocolates
Ice box cake (I hope - this is the greatest dessert ever)
Cheesecake

What's going to be on your Thanksgiving table?

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