koko's corner

Stan's watching the Chargers so I thought I'd cook up the fresh green beans I have.
We are going out for Italian tonight so I hope it doesn't go into overtime. (as of now we aren't doing too good)

Gathered up the ingredients. Don't know what's up with the brown on the beans but they are snappy crisp and tasty so I used them. The players are toasted pine nuts, mint, parsley, pancetta and turkey stock.

That's some of my homemade turkey stock in the foreground. So freaking yummy.

Let's get the beans going...

I know there are as many ways to make a turkey sandwich as there are people. This is how I like mine, it's probably a carry over from childhood.

Take a slice of white bread. Yes, the one with absolutely no nutritional value.

Slather it with mayonnaise.

Lets go finish the sandwich.

Since we had our Thanksgiving meal at my sister's house, we had no leftover turkey for sandwiches. We were so hungry for a turkey sandwich today. I wanted my sandwich on plain ol' white bread with mayo and cranberry sauce. Stan wants his on lightly toasted white with mayo and cranberry sauce. None of which we had. So I decided to go grocery shopping so I could make some leftovers. I felt very fortunate to find not only a fresh turkey, but one small enough to fit into my oven, just barely.

My dad always made the best bread stuffing. I miss having it, so I decided to make his stuffing also.

What's stuffing without celery and onions.

Now to make leftovers.

This year was another special Thanksgiving. It's been two years that my 7 yr old Grandson has survived and thrived after open heart surgery. It's also been one year that St. Robert has lived with his new transplanted lung. We have a new baby in the family, a new fiancée, job changes, both for the better, cancer survivors, and a family that's loved and supported us through it all.

I made the salad, the cranberry sauce and the goat cheese dip that got demolished before I had a chance to get a photo of it.

More Thanksgiving day photos.

We love this relish. I'm asked to make it every year for Thanksgiving and I do so happily.

Let's get started by zesting an orange. I don't use a microplane for this, I like the orange curls.

Then, juice the orange.

Now lets assemble the ingredients.

Last Wednesday was the Thanksgiving pot luck at work. I woke up with a horrible scratchy throat that hurt up into my ears. Dang I hate missing out on good food. A co worker was kind enough to stop by and pick up my contribution to the meal. I prepared it the night before, all that was left to do was plug in the crockpot.

The day before I assembled all the ingredients.

Come see what I missed out on.

You have to love the tamale ladies. The ones that knock themselves out making dozens of tamales for the holidays. The ones that gather their aunts, grandmas, nieces and in laws into the kitchen to laugh, talk, gossip and work hard tending to steaming cauldrons of spicy meat, soaking and cleaning corn husks, and the most important task of all, mixing the perfect masa in which to envelope the meat.
The only marketing strategy you need is to mention the word tamale and the world beats a path to your door. 

I bought a dozen of these.

Unwrapping them and getting ready to eat. Heated for a few minutes in the microwave under a damp paper towel.

For me, the masa has to be very moist, this is just about as perfect as it gets.

Happy happy happy, joy, joy, joy.

And I have another dozen ordered for Monday YaHOoooo!!!!!!

I ran across this as I was looking for a recipe to take to the Thanksgiving pot luck at work.
I made it for dinner tonight and dang it, it's delicious.

Gathered all the ingredients. I missed the garlic in the photo but not in the dish.

Wow, 6 tablespoons of spices. Turn on the stove hood fan.

This is what I threw together when I was ready to run out the door and realized I am going grocery shopping on an empty stomach.

I fried an egg in a little Smart Balance.

As the white was beginning to set I put some thin slices of Jarlsberg Swiss cheese on top. Put the lid on the skillet, turned off the burner and let it set a few minutes.
When the cheese started to look a little melty, (Yes, no matter what your spell checker says, melty is a word, a cooking term to be exact.) it's ready.

Wiping egg yolk off my chin and off I go. 

My favorite of all pasta sauces. It's quick, easy and "sassy."

"It is not known whether the Italian ladies of the night (the puttane) who gave their name to this racy pasta sauce did so because they were short of time or cash or both. In any case, puttanesca is quick and cheap."

It'll take me longer to show you how to make it than it will take to actually make it.

Grab some olive oil, canned tomatoes, anchovies, oregano, Nicoise olives, (I only had Kalamata) red pepper flakes, capers, garlic and parsley.

Now, lets get cookin...