Teas and T's: 11-18-2018 VECC at Mim's

Thoughts and Quotes: Let us be grateful for people who make us happy – they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

Marcel Proust

And so, during this Thanksgiving season, I am grateful to all of you who make me happy by reading my ramblings and sharing my life.

I know you have a turkey to cook, so I'll be brief.

Tasting: This was cooking club week, and Mim prepared a beautiful and delicious meal. Bev was suffering with a cold, and said the next day that Mim's good food made her feel much better.

VERY EXCLUSIVE COOKING CLUB

Saturday, November 17, 2018 at Mim’s

Table

Menu

Tossed Salad

Pork Roast with Apples and Onions

Sweet Potato Casserole

Steamed Asparagus

Buttered Green Beans

Apple-Cranberry-Walnut Pie

Sister Shubert Rolls

Hot Tea

Food

Recipes

EVERYDAY SALAD

5 ounces spring greens mix (or whatever greens you have on hand)

1 English cucumber, very thinly sliced

Small red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced

1/2 cup tiny cubes of Monterey Jack, Swiss, or Havarti cheese

1/2 cup pepitas or toasted pine nuts (or whatever nuts you have on hand)

1 batch Everyday Salad Dressing

Salad Dressing

3 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs sugar

1 Tbs freshly-squeezed lemon juice (or white wine vinegar)

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 small clove garlic, finely-minced (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1/4 tsp freshly-cracked black pepper

Whisk all salad ingredients together in a bowl (or shake together in a mason jar) until combined. Use immediately or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 days.

Combine all salad ingredients in a large salad bowl and toss until evenly combined. Serve immediately.

PORK ROAST WITH APPLES AND ONIONS

1 whole pork shoulder or pork butt roast

3 Tbs oil

Salt and pepper

4 cups apple juice

1 cup beef stock

3 apples, cored and cut into wedges

3 medium onions, sliced

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper the roast and then sauté it in oil over high heat to brown all sides.

Reduce heat to low and add apple juice, apples, onions, and bay leaf.

Cover and simmer for three hours.

Slice and serve with apples and onions.

Note: Can also be baked at 300°.

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

5-6 medium sweet potatoes

1 cup sugar

8 Tbs butter, softened

1-1/2 tsps vanilla

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

Topping

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 cup chopped pecans

4 Tbs butter, softened

1/2 cup mini marshmallows (optional)

Scrub the sweet potatoes and boil or bake them until tender.

While potatoes cool, heat oven to 350°. Peel and mash the potatoes.

Add the sugar, butter, vanilla, milk, and eggs.

Mix all topping ingredients except marshmallows and spread evenly over the sweet potatoes.

Bake for 30 minutes. If using marshmallows, add them the final 10 minutes.

APPLE-CRANBERRY-WALNUT PIE

1 cup chopped walnut, toasted

1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped

2 Tbs flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 Tbs salted butter

6 cups peeled, cored, and sliced apples

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 unbaked pie crusts

Milk

In a mixing bowl, combine nuts, cranberries, and flour. Set aside.

Caramelize the sugar and butter for about 2 minutes.

Add the apples and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly.

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Add the nut mixture and stir to combine.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Heat the oven to 400° while assembling pie.

Place one crust in the pie pan and add the apple filling. Brush the edges with milk.

Add the second crust and seal and crimp. Brush with milk.

Place pie on a baking sheet and bake on the lowest oven shelf for about 40 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm or cold.

Party Favors

Thrifting: You knew I'd buy more dishes sooner or later. I just couldn't help myself.

Service for six plus covered casserole, cream and sugar, covered butter dish - $10

The Pepper and Pals Report: Nothing new here. Some cold days, so the kitties have been hunkered down somewhere, and only coming for meals. Flower is excluded, of course, because he's working on becoming a house kitty and hangs around in the screened patio.

No one likes the hillybilly dog houses, so I put the carrier back out and bought a new heated A-frame. It has a fleece-covered pad which plugs in and only heats up when kitty is on it; otherwise, goes to sleep. I bought the two-kitty house, but no one wants to join Flower. Ginger sleeps in the carrier sometimes, but we'll see what happens when it gets really cold. I might need to buy another heated house or two. Sometimes I find one of them snuggled in the nests I fixed on the bench. Oh, the joys of motherhood.