It's over.

You made it. You gained five pounds, but you survived cooking a bird that barely fit in your oven and making three hundred side dishes and trying to look utterly unfeathered (ha!) and refreshed while doing so.

Now that the big-T is over, what on earth are you going to do with all that cranberry sauce? My recommendation, especially if you made the Joy version (p. 64) and you can't stomach throwing it away: microwave some and put over vanilla ice cream. Delish! Did anyone see Sandra Lee put cranberry sauce in the middle of a spice cake? Let me be the first to say that Sandra Lee is one bad-ass lady; I watched every moment of her chef biography and I am truly fascinated by her. But don't go through the trouble of baking a cake so you can eat your cranberry sauce- that defeats the whole purpose of leftovers. Just put that tart goodness over your ice cream and call it a day.

As for the turkey, I made a combination of turkey casserole with green vegetables (p. 606) and turkey and rice casserole (p. 607). I turned the leftover turkey into creamed turkey, added rice and mushrooms as suggested in the latter; added broccoli and cheese from the former recipe. We're eating it tonight for dinner, and I'll let you know how this Joy-concoction worked out.

And the turkey? That is the best news. My wonderful parents made it!

The Battle of the Pork

There was a time not too long ago that I was really struggling with meat consumption. It is so contrary to my love of animals that I, well, love to eat animals. This is the perfect example of why I am too weak to be a vegetarian. We made Pulled Pork Sandwiches (p. 693) and we made them two ways: with barbecue sauce and North Carolina-Style (p. 693). I should say that the Joy barbecue sauce (p. 90) is truly heavenly. But the North Carolina vinegar and hot pepper sauce has a fabulous kick. First I started eating half of each, as this photo shows. But then I started mixing them together with some Cole Slaw (p. 222) in some kind of bohemian mess of yummy-ness. The debate is over between barbecue styles: they are best served together in my opinion, the sweetness of the barbecue tempered by the vinegar of the North Carolina makes it just so darn good. Everyday I get more Southern.

A Need for Something Stronger

I woke up needing, not just wanting, coffee. I put the grounds in our reusable coffee filter, added the water to the appropriate receptacle and hit start. The smell of burning coffee, as well as Ryan screaming, "What on earth are you doing!?!?" tipped me off that something was wrong. I had forgotten the coffee pot. Not ony had I forgotten the coffee pot, I had also forgotten the pot lid as well as a large plastic piece that the filter rests on. In short, I was making coffee with three fifths of the coffee maker missing--my precious nectar running all over the counter.

Clearly, I need something stronger than coffee.

Can You Spell Mulligatawny?

Mulligatawny Soup (p. 100-101) is as delicious as it is difficult to spell. Plus, you have the added bonus of being reminded of Seinfeld when you eat it as one wonders if the recipe might have been what the Soup Nazi kept in the armoire. This is a perfect fall soup—you won’t be disappointed!

Tin Foil is the New Duct Tape

When we descended on Paris for our honeymoon, full of jetlag but buzzing with excitement and hunger, we stumbled into a bar and ordered Croque Monsieurs and later, Ryan indulged in the Croque Madame-- the French ham-and-cheese with an egg on top. Why don’t our cafes sell these? Well, perhaps American shops have tried but have been foiled by the Joy’s rendition. In the Croque Madame recipe (p. 191), we are instructed to simply cut a round of bread out of the top of our sandwich and break an egg into it. Then, we are told to place it under the broiler until the egg is set, two to three minutes. Sounds reasonable, right? Well, the problem is, the egg doesn’t set, especially the bottom of the egg. And the rest of the sandwich burns, dreadfully, exposed to the broiler. We had to cover our sandwich with tinfoil so that it didn’t burn while our egg set (which, in fact, only happened after we flipped our egg over, not easy to do when it is embedded in a sandwich). The whole thing reminded me of the year that Ryan went to a Halloween party as the Tin Man. Our genius costume design was a roll of aluminum foil which meant that he couldn’t bend any of his limbs, couldn’t get into the car, and was as hot as anything. It was a disaster, much like the Croque Madame!

Life is Sweet

Life is sweet with friends like these. As promised, I made the cheesecake, but I added fresh raspberries (p. 981). And, Yaprak successfully defended her dissertation!!! Congrats, Dr. Yaprak!

Que pasa?

As many of you have noticed, I have not been the best blogger. Nor have I been the best cook. Ryan spent most of this summer in Chile on a research trip, and I lost most of my interest in cooking. Cooking, which has given me so much joy, turned on me. She seemed shallow and superfluous. That's not to say that I didn't treat myself occasionally. A perfectly cooked (med-rare) steak with sautéed mushrooms and mashed potatoes would perk me up quite a bit. You must pamper yourself of course. But the real joy of cooking for me comes in the sharing.

Tomorrow our dear friend Yaprak, with her husband Selman, are coming to dinner. They will be visiting from Turkey for Yaprak's dissertation defense. We'll be enjoying Hoisin-Glazed Steak with Scallion Ginger Slaw (p. 663), Thai Coconut Rice (p. 259) and Creamy Water-Bath Cheesecake (p. 980), assuming I can get organized.

And thank God Ryan is back! I have my husband, sous chef and dishwasher back to make my cooking all the more joyful.

Oh It's Soooo Good (say it like Mr. Food)

So, I’m Polish. If you’re from Michigan and Polish, you make an annual pilgrimage to Hamtramck, near Detroit, for all things calorically (did I just make that word up?) Polish. And if you are Polish, for some reason, you like butter made into the shape of a lamb for Easter. I don’t know why we want to eat a butter lamb, but we just do, ok?

I recently went home to visit my family and we went to Hamtramck, largely for the dill pickle soup (it’s seriously amazing) at the Polish Village Café. The Polish bakeries are my favorite. Check out this stuff.

And, I found myself a Lamb butter mold! You can get one online, but it won’t be quite as authentic as mine.

My Polish grandmother was an amazing cook and has been one of the most influential women in my life, and certainly the most influential person on my cooking. She taught me that food helps us remember where we came from, to feel a link to family we never knew, to bring back good memories. So, this year, when I make Easter butter, I’ll remember her, my mom, dad and brother, and my Polish roots.

Camping is a four letter word

So, I'm just going to cut to the chase: we had a disastrous camping experience. Disastrous. No sugar coating this one. It was terrible.

Speaking of sugar coating, part of the reason our camping trip was so bad is because I am so preoccupied with food. All I planned for, and packed, was food. And as good and necessary as food is, especially the honey-glazed baked beans (p. 285) at the end of the day, you can't sit on them (forgot the chairs), you can't dry off with them (forgot the towels- yes, you got it, that means no showers), you can't cook your food with them (forgot the grill, charcoal, wood), and you can't stay warm, at least for long, with them (didn't bring warm enough clothes).

We enjoyed the beans, the yummy sausages with the sauteed peepers and caramelized onions, we enjoyed the pre-baked potatoes and the hostess cupcakes I remembered. But we struggled through dinner; it was so windy we could hardly enjoy the food.

Then we surrendered to defeat and drove to Starbucks. How pathetic is that? But don't judge us- I swear you would have done the same thing.

That night we froze. It rained, no, POURED. We were dirty. The wind blew our tent in, and so we slept much of the night in our car (a not so roomy honda accord).

Somehow, though, it is the terrible trips that are the most fun. We had our moments of despair, but there were fits of laughter that outweighed the worst of it. And, of course, we had the beans.

i heart hokies

All of us at U.Va. are sending our most sincere condolences to our friends in Blacksburg.

U.Va. alumni can send donations to Tech through the alumni association website. To see English professor and author Nikki Giovanni's amazing speech, click here.

The Ethnic Paris Cookbook

I have recently had the pleasure of reading and cooking from The Ethnic Paris Cookbook: The French Melting Pot Into Your Kitchen by Charlotte Puckette and Olivia Kiang-Snaije (pp. 256, $30).

The first thing you notice as you pick up this substantial cookbook is the gorgeous illustrations that pop off the page. They are cheerful and cozy; bringing you into the book in the same way that you might walk into your favorite neighborhood restaurant.

Puckette is a chef and caterer who focuses on ethnic foods; Kiang-Snaije is a journalist mainly covering immigrant communities in Paris. They met at their children’s school and undertook the journey of writing this cookbook together.

This is a story of colonialism and immigration—a literal blending of cultures and food. This is a rather upbeat take on the rather painful legacy of colonialism and an uncomplicated look at immigration, but this is a cookbook after all. I think there is cause for optimism: food is a way for us to embrace what might be a foreign culture for us; it is an introduction to new people, new cultures and hopefully new friendships.

The book focuses on high-end cuisine and restaurants, so the recipes are on the complicated side. I made wonderful Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Ryan. They were well worth the hour and a half in the kitchen. While making them, we reminisced about our Paris honeymoon one of our favorite Paris snacks: Vietnamese egg rolls. Even though our honeymoon was three years ago, I can almost taste them.

We’re also planning on making Lamb Tagine, Banana Tart and Honey Almond Cigars. This is a fun book for those who like to try new (sometimes complicated) things, appreciate international and French cuisine, and have an international grocery store nearby. This book has been a welcome trip down memory lane for Ryan and I. We hope you enjoy this book as much as we have.

GUEST CHEF: Rita Goes Retro

The other day, I came across the recipe for Strawberry Cream Gelatin (p. 1037) in the Joy of Cooking. It stated, “Combining gelatin and ice cream was in fashion in the 1950’s. The idea may sound odd, but the dessert that results is surprisingly elegant”. Instantly, I became inspired to throw a 50's - 60's retro dinner party. I figured it would make nice conversation and I would have a good excuse if it turns out bad. My retro dinner menu came together easily. I served homemade whiskey sours, chicken tezzarini and Strawberry Cream Gelatin.

When I incorporated the ingredients, the gelatin started to turn pink. Wait. Not just pink. An unappetizing Pepto Bismo Pink. I started to panic. I actually considered making chocolate chip cookies as a back up. Those are retro. Finally, I decided to finish the recipe. I followed the directions precisely and lined a bundt cake mold with plastic wrap. Once I inverted the gelatin, the surface looked more like plastic wrap than the mold. It did not look “elegant” like the Joy of Cooking stated. Regardless, everyone loved it (especially the kids). My daughter gobbled it up. I served it with whip cream. It was such a hit that I've decided serve it on Easter. However, next time I am not going to wrap the mold in plastic wrap. I'm going to buy a nice mold and soak the mold in warm water before inverting it. Strawberry Cream Gelatin was different and fun to make. Thank you Tara for inspiring me to try something new.

Note from JoyfulCooking: if you would like to be a guest chef, email me! I would love to post your joyful adventure.

Dolmas and Carrot Salad

Last night I made Stuffed Grape Leaves (p. 163) and Carrot and Raisin Salad (p. 218) for dinner. The grape leaves were good-- they tasted like the sea, but in a good way. And they look like little green cigars... but in a good way. Beware of that carrot salad: it calls for a cup of mayo/sour cream for only four carrots! That's a lotta mayo. I put half the amount it and it was still too much. It's one of those bizarre salads that reminds you of stuff your grandma used to make. In a good way.

OP-ED from the New York Times

All of us meat eaters should read this article from the New York Times editorial page.

Salvation in a Pizza

Although I'm not particularly religious, I do think that God will strike me down if I make a promise and don't keep it. So Lent seemed like a good time to try to kick my sugar addiction—the penalty of cheating being eternal damnation. It's been, what, two weeks? And I just found out that Lent is not 40 days, but something like 46, which really makes me mad. I never thought of God as the tricky type. Obviously, I’m not coping that well. This embargo on sweets even led me to make broiled grapefruits (p. 460). I would only recommend these if you are experiencing total sugar withdrawal. They are strangely hot and bitter. The cherry on top did not, sadly, trick me into thinking I was eating a hot fudge sundae.

I have been keeping my distance from meats, trying to have them only when I purchase them from Whole Foods and have some type of “free range” commitment. Eating meat sparingly has felt good and a happy medium between total restriction and total consumption.

The very good news is that homemade pizza (p. 197-198) is both meat and sugar-free. Don't think I have restrained myself there!

GUEST CHEF: Melanie from North Carolina Cooks Joyfully

Allergy Free Joy

Tara asked me to be a guest cook. As an avid foodie and cookbook collector with hundreds of cookbooks, surprisingly I only recently acquired JOY (75th Edition) so I could be a guest cook on this blog; therefore, my recipes come from that edition. I have a 10 year old son with a laundry list of very serious, anaphylactic food allergies to peanuts, potato, green beans, lentils, garlic (!), peas, mustard, split pea, kidney bean, sweet potato, navy bean, and garbanzo. This makes cooking a challenge in that I usually have to modify recipes. I found a couple of recipes that did not have anything he would be allergic to.
Tomato and Goat Cheese Quiche (p. 109--75th ed) with
Pat-in-the Pan Butter Dough (p. 666)
Roasted Asparagus (p. 250)
Cranberry Collins (p. 64)
My husband, Dwayne, thought the quiche was delicious as did my 10 year old, Jack. I cooked the quiche in an Emile Henry pie plate in a new Electrolux Icon oven. The quiche recipe has a surprising amount of liquid in it and not that many eggs and thus needed to cook about 6 minutes more than the recipe stated to firm up. I used 2% milk with the 1/2 and 1/2, but I bet whole milk would make it richer. Also the dough is quite easy and speedy since I made it with a food processor. A good vegetarian but not vegan meal. The asparagus was straightforward, but it really does not need the extra fresh herbs it calls for.
Bon Appetit!
Melanie
Charlotte, NC