Thanksgiving food

This Thanksgiving I was very grateful for . . .

1. A roof over my head

2. Good family and friends

3. Kitchen to cook

4. So much awesome food.

Zero, turtle and I took over the kitchen and cooked so much.

We had so many sweet potatoes.. .we baked some as wedges and made sweet potatoes fried with cinammon glaze. We also made sweet potato skins.

We made two stuffed turkeys

We made dark forest and punkin cakes.

We had a huge spread.

Turkey
Stuffing
Awesome gravy
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes in three different ways
Green bean casserole with bacon
Cream corn casserole with bacon
Baked beans
Cranberry sauce
Rolls

It was a very nice holiday.

Coffee Banana Cake

I made a mixture of a coffee cake idea with a banana bread idea.

I took a yellow cake mix adding made coffee, a package of hot cocoa mix, and several bananas. I put the mixture in the crockpot for three hours.

It smelled so good while cooking.

Then I added whipped cream. It was sweet, moist, and comforting.

Another Huge Feast

Turtle, Zeroman and I take advantage when we can get access to the kitchen. We had access yesterday and we made a feast.

Zeroman made . . .

two type of meatloaf (Plain and BBQ Candied Bacon with a mountain of cheeses),
seafood pasta salad,
BBQ and Mayo chicken,
mashed potatoes
Potato salad

I made . . .

Lasagna: two sauces, seven types of cheese and layer of meatballs.
Cheese rolled Lasagna with a cheese sauce
Soured beans
glazed and roasted carrots
chopped Mac N cheese

Turtle helped with both.

We also baked. . . chocolate pudding cake and very chewy brownies.

The lasagna and the lasagna cheesy rolls.

Here is the plain and candied bacon BBQ meatloaf.

Roasted and glazed carrots

The soured beans had bacon and were sour and yet tangy. It was grandma’s recipe and my mom had asked for them, so we made them just for her.

The brownies were chewy.

The cake was soft with the creamy pudding on top. . . yum.

It was a nice way for us to celebrate Mother’s day as Turtle, Zeroman, and I got to cook for our mothers.

We had three days worth of food as we also have leftover for tomorrow as well.

Cooking Pet Peeves

I love to cook! I like being in a kitchen, turning on the radio and just making something yummy and awesome.

I enjoy making food. I really like it when I have people enjoying the food that I made. I appreciate feedback.

However, I have some pet peeves . . . (I talked this over with Turtle and Zeroman, and they agree.)

I hate cooking with people who do not know their way around food or the kitchen. (They can’t even wash a simple dish. I don’t mind serving them, but they can stay out of the kitchen if they do NOT want to learn.)
Or people who think they know it all, because they have watched two cooking shows, but try to serve raw chicken. (The Food Network is amazing, I have so many show I love on there, but you need to know the basics first because imitating someone else’s cooking style.)
Picky eaters. . . (I hate cooking for hours at a time for someone to nick-pick my food. I think you should learn to cook for yourself)

Cooking is an exploring science. (Yes, most who know the kitchen, may not measure, but I always suggest taste as you cook, especially herbs, seasons, and sauces. Even the most studied chef will experiment with seasons, meats, veggies, and flavors.)
Baking to me is precise science. (You really need a recipe and to measure to get the brownies, cookies, cakes, or pastry exactly the way you need them. Measuring cups and spoons are baker best friends.)

If you don’t like to cook, then find friends who do.

If you are picky on your food, find people who are just ask picky.

Baking: cookies and cakes

I love to cook, and I usually cook at least one meal 5-6 days out of the week on average.

However I also love to bake. Usually those around me have to exercise or they end up gaining weight.
I used to make a joke if I can’t lose weight, I will just make everyone else around me weight more.

Seriously I enjoy baking cookies. My favorite cookie to make and eat are my chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. (I’ll give you a secret, I use the “The Joy of Cooking” Oatmeal cookie recipe. I just add a lot of chocolate chips. ) They are soft, chewy, and or course have chocolate.

I also love to bake cakes. I prefer chocolate, but I have made layered cakes and even pineapple upside down cake.

I will be honest though I’m not that great at decorating cakes, but family are just happy that is edible, not burnt, and tastes good.