My Thanksgiving Timetable

My sister asked about this post, and when I couldn't find it I realized I'd written it for the Co-op blog I contributed to for five years (from inception until we quit). Our last post was in 2015, but since the internet is forever you can still read our posts - mine under the byline Sadge - at the Simple Green Frugal Co-op.

So, from November 2010: I'm the oldest of five children, so learned early how to cook for a crowd (in fact, I had to learn to cook all over again, for one, when I moved out on my own). Although there are just the two of us now, Thanksgiving Dinner at my house is usually for at least six, and sometimes even more. Over time, I've developed a timetable schedule that lets me get everything ready and on the table at once, with a minimum of stress. The menu doesn't vary much - we pretty much stick with tradition for this meal.

Things get started the weekend before Thanksgiving. The turkey needs to be out of the freezer and into the refrigerator by Saturday to thaw - it will take at least 3-4 days. I use my timetable as a reminder when making out my shopping list that day too (should you wish to refer to mine, clicking on the picture below should bring it up in a more-legible size).

By Tuesday, the turkey has thawed enough that I can get the giblet bag and neck out (when my sister first cooked TG dinner for the family, she didn't realize that those extras were inside. Mom discovered them, cooked inside, when she went to carve the bird) to use for making stock for gravy and moistening the stuffing. I submerge the bird in a bucket of brine, in the refrigerator, until Wednesday, and then let it air-dry, also refrigerated until time to get it into the oven on Thursday.
With the brining bucket out of the refrigerator Wednesday, I can start getting some of the other items prepped and in. I'd rather cook from scratch instead of out of cans when possible. Although the timetable says pumpkin, I prefer either a pink banana or butternut squash for my pie. Any of them will work, but where pumpkin pie can have a greenish cast to it, Pink Banana Squash Pie tastes the same but with a nice brown color instead. Whole sweet potatoes cook at the same time, later to be peeled and sliced into a casserole dish. Bread for the dressing, either Cornbread or One-Hour French Bread, is baked, cut into cubes, and left out on the counter overnight to dry. I use the "day before" list pretty much in order for the most efficient use of my oven.

The "Make" list, I might leave until my sister arrives. I always have a "guest apron" or two available, and we enjoy the chance to talk, wait for the local radio station to play Alice's Restaurant, maybe drink a toast to the harvest, and work together preparing the dishes we've had for Thanksgiving since we were children.

For "The Day" I have two sets of serving times in the left margin. If my husband has the day off work, we can eat in the afternoon; if he's working (Nevada casinos are 24/7, so getting the day off is never a certainty), TG dinner becomes an evening meal. Since there is only enough room in my oven for the turkey, everything else goes in when the turkey comes out. The side dishes cook while the turkey rests; gravy is stirred and potatoes mashed; husband carves while everyone else gets their choice of beverage. Then everyone helps get the meal on the table. And then we all sit down together. I hope you and your families are similarly blessed this holiday season.

Steamed Corn Pudding

I belong to a Facebook Group, called Dinner Tonight. Our sole purpose is posting pictures of food. Tonight's dinner included steamed corn pudding, made with corn fresh from the garden. If you've ever eaten at a Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant, this is the same sweet pudding side dish they call tomalito.

STEAMED CORN PUDDING
5 tablespoons margarine, softened
1/4 cup dry Masa Harina
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cups corn kernels, fresh or thawed frozen, divided
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2½ tablespoons milk

In a small mixing bowl, mix the margarine, masa and sugar using an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. In a blender container, blend half the corn kernels with the water until smooth. Combine this mixture with the margarine mixture, stirring well. Add the remaining corn kernels, corn meal, baking powder, salt and milk and mix well. Pour the corn mixture into an 8-inch round cake pan. Cover tightly with foil or plastic wrap and steam by setting atop a medium saucepan half full of water on top of the stove. Bring water to a boil and steam corn mixture for 50 minutes to one hour (check to see whether you might need to add more water), until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. It should have a smooth, moist texture.
NOTE: The pan must be tightly wrapped at all times.
Makes 10 to 12 1/2 cup servings.

Drizzly Day

A steady drizzle of rain, starting last night and on into today, and the six inches of snow from two days ago is melting. Instead of shoveling, I'm out checking that my little drainage trenches keep the water flowing around the house instead of through my front door (we live at the mouth of a small canyon, on the downhill side of the street). So far, so good.

Outside, there are no birds to be seen around the feeders. However, a lone little sparrow hawk perches in a nearby tree, patiently waiting for his chance to get something to eat. For now, it's a standoff - they hide, he waits.

Dinner last night: a winter squash (the big one, that got a little too close to the wood stove while curing this fall - a patch on top sunk in and turned white, but the inside looked fine when I cut into it) from the bin in the bedroom, cut in half and into the oven for an hour. I had some raviolis ready to cook, a pint of tomato sauce ready to heat up, but wanted a little something more.

How about some eggplant? home-grown eggplant? in December, with snow outside on the ground? Ah, yes, with a bit of advance planning, entirely possible. Eggplants store quite well for a couple of months, if snugly wrapped in plastic, on a shelf in my kitchen pantry (the zucchini stored in the cellar are still in fine shape too - I love experimenting with my wintertime fresh food options). I unwrapped a couple of small eggplants harvested last October, just before the first killing freeze. Sliced, dipped in egg and crumbs, they joined the squash in the oven for the last 30 minutes baking time.

Microwave Broccoli Cheese Soup

Why open a can, when you can have homemade soup, with fresh ingredients, in less than 20 minutes? This is a good way to use up a little bit of leftover meat, and these veggies are at their best right now. Add a slice of rustic garlic bread, toasted and buttered, and we have a favorite autumn dinner. Tonight, I added a glass of Chardonnay; Aries had a glass of home-brewed dark beer. Hot food, warm tummies.

Microwave Broccoli Cheese Soup (serves 2)

1 cup thinly sliced carrot
1 cup chopped fresh broccoli (or a 10-oz pkg frozen broccoli; or substitute fresh or frozen cauliflower)
1 teaspoon instant chicken bouillon granules (optional)
1 cup milk
½ cup shredded cheese (I like cheddar or swiss)
½ cup finely chopped cooked meat (I like chicken, ham, or turkey ham)
2 tablespoons flour

In a 1-quart glass casserole dish, stir together the carrots and broccoli with ½ cup water and chicken granules if using (instead of the little bouillon jars in the soup section of my market, I buy the bigger, cheaper jars from the Mexican food section; if you happen to have some stock in the fridge, instead of the water, even better!). Microwave, covered, 5-7 minutes or until the veggies are tender, stirring once. Stir in the milk, cheese, and meat. Mix the flour into ½ cup cold water until smooth, and stir that in also. Season with a bit of black pepper. Microwave, uncovered, 5-6 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until thickened and bubbly. It's soup!

I just had to post a sunrise photo Aries took this morning, too.

First Snow

The herbed potato chunks and chicken in the oven were almost done. I needed a quick vegetable dish. Darkness had already fallen (so early now, with the switch back to Standard Time), but there was enough light from the back porch light to let me grab a handful of Tuscan kale out of the garden. It only took a few minutes to saute some garlic and chopped mushrooms, clean the kale, and dump the still-damp leaves into the skillet. Putting the lid on to let it steam-fry 'til done, I went about the house closing up the blinds and shades for the night.

And was genuinely surprised to see that during that little bit of time from when I'd just been out in the garden, our first snow flurry of the year was now coming down fast and furious. Ah well, it is the middle of November, after all.

Speaking of the garden, I love the Tuscan kale. This is the third year I've grown it, but the first time I've been able to eat any. The past two years Aries had pulled up the plants when he was gathering up spent plants to shred for the compost - his defense, "they didn't look like food." The first time, I figured it was an honest mistake. But twice!? I chewed him out last year, but the damage had been done. So this year, I made sure to set down the rules before he even set foot in the garden. "I don't care that you don't eat salads - don't you DARE touch these kales or those chards! I want them for fresh eating until it finally gets cold enough to kill them." He got the message. And I'm still eating fresh greens, despite temps in the low 20's :-)

I'm happy too, because I scored a sweet deal today. A friend gave me two cases of empty Grolsch beer bottles - the reusable kind that seal with a porcelain top, gasket, and metal bail. Aries had used up all we had when he made a batch of beer a couple of weeks ago, leaving me NONE for my kombucha. We do have the smaller tall-neck reusable beer bottles, but I don't like having to go out to the shed and get the equipment necessary to hand-crimp metal caps onto those (we'll use them for the hard cider when it's ready - 12-ounce bottles are the perfect size for cider). Plus, there were also four glass gallon jugs in the boxes she gave me. They need new stoppers, but will be nice to have for smaller experiments in home brewing and vinegar-making. Besides, I think things just taste better stored in glass.

Thanksgiving Orange Stuff

Our weekend company is gone, and the guest room bed changed and made up again. Having an extra set of flannel sheets for that bed means I can put the room back into crafts/office mode right away, without having to rush wet sheets out onto the clothesline in gale-force freezing winds. The turkey carcass was cooked into soup last night (with barley, carrots, and mushrooms), and the leftovers are slowly disappearing. The last of the Thanksgiving Orange Stuff made a great lunch today.

Orange Stuff is one of those really retro recipes. I first tasted it more than 20 years ago, as a regular dish at my mother-in-law's Thanksgiving table, and I'm sure she'd been making it since the 1950's at least. It never really even had a name - it was just that orange stuff she always made. It's a regular on my Thanksgiving table now too.

Thanksgiving Orange Stuff
16 oz cottage cheese
8 oz Cool-Whip (thawed)
3 oz box orange Jello (dry powder)
15 oz can mandarin oranges (drained)

Mix everything together and chill until serving time.

My Texas cousins gave me their church fundraising cookbook, and this type of "salad" appears in quite a few variations - drained pineapple with lemon Jello, or miniature marshmallows with pistachio instant pudding powder. It's good enough that I always think I should make it more often.

I tried something different this year, that really ended up being a hit. Wednesday before Thanksgiving, my sister's family is on the road from California, and I'm trying to decide what to do for dinner when they get here. I need something quick, easy, that everybody will like. The refrigerator is full of food for the next day, including the brined turkey air-chilling, so there's no room for leftovers either. So, how do I feed a vegetarian, two hard-core meat-loving men, two picky but hungry teenage boys, and an omnivore (me). How about make-your-own pizza? My pizza dough recipe makes enough for two 12" pizzas. Figuring half-a-pie per person, I increased amounts by half again to feed six people. That evening, the dough divided into six equal balls, we set up a dough-rolling station, opened up a jar of tomato sauce, shredded a mountain of cheese, and sliced up a variety of topping choices. We could cook two pizzas at one time, so everyone was in the kitchen. It turned mealtime into a fun event, everybody happy and well-fed, and no leftovers. Everyone agreed that ideas's definitely a keeper.

Chinese Pea Pods and Carrots

Friday evening, 6 p.m. We're both tired, and we're hungry. Aries brought home some fish fillets, so I put them over a bed of chopped shallots and mushroom stems, splash on a bit of dry sherry, salt & pepper, and get them into a 350º oven to bake for 15 minutes. Toss the mushroom caps, with a bit of butter, into the skillet for a sauce for the fish. Now for a quick veg side dish.

Shading the pea roots with lettuce plants alongside (and the netting over the entire bed) has worked very well. My pea plants are still going strong into the middle of July. Peas and carrots sounds good. But this ain't yo' mama's little cubes of boiled-to-death veggies. Adapted for the microwave, this is a fast, healthy version of that old staple side dish (and makes for a great lunch, all by itself).

So I stir up the soy sauce glaze, and sprinkle some flour over the mushrooms in the skillet. The carrot slices cooking, I string the pea pods (picked this morning). Add some milk, salt & pepper, and a dash of paprika powder to the mushroom skillet; add peas to the carrots. The fish cooked, I dump the base of chopped shallots and 'shrooms and fish juices into the simmering skillet and give it a few more stirs. Toss the veggies with the glaze, and dish up the plates. A loaf of bread, and a bottle of wine (from Murphys California, just the other side of scenic Ebbetts Pass to the south) - gourmet dinner, on the table, in less than half an hour!


Chinese Pea Pods and Carrots (serves two)
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 carrot, thinly sliced on the bias
1 cup of flat Chinese pea pods (fresh or frozen)
2 tablespoons walnut pieces
1 teaspoon butter or margarine

Stir together water, soy sauce and cornstarch in a small microwave-safe bowl. Micro-cook in 3 30-second increments, stirring after each time. It should be thickened, clear, and bubbly. Set aside.

Place carrots with a splash of water in covered casserole dish and micro-cook 2 minutes. Drain. Add pea pods, walnuts, and butter or margarine, cover and micro-cook another minute or two, until veggies are crisp-tender. Toss with the soy sauce mixture.

Fish and Sweet Pepper Hash

I made one of my favorite planned-leftovers dishes for dinner tonight. We're trying to eat less red meat and more fish nowadays. This time of year, I watch for any kind of white-fleshed fish on sale, and bake it or cook it outside on the grill. I often plan to have enough leftover for another night's meal (this recipe is also a favorite way to use the doggy-bagged half of my entree from eating out, and would probably be good even with canned tuna). In the summer it's even easier. We have a couple of fishing friends that don't eat fish, and they know we'll trade eggs or veggies for fresh-caught trout. Often, those lake trout are huge, and we find one will be enough for both of us plus leftovers (photo is from last summer - one of our nearby high-mountain lakes).

Fish and Sweet Pepper Hash (serves 2)

½ pound cooked fish (more or less)
1 pound thin-skinned potatoes (red-skinned or yellow-fleshed, or a combination - I had Yukon Golds in the cellar)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
large pinch of red pepper flakes
⅓ cup sliced green onions (I quartered and sliced a yellow onion from the pantry - added same time as red pepper flakes)
2 tablespoons water (or stock or fish juices)
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 large red or yellow peppers, roasted and peeled, with juices (I used ones from the freezer, prepped last fall the same way I do chile peppers)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley (I used dried from last summer, added same time as red pepper flakes)

Remove fish from refrigerator to allow it to warm slightly. Scrub, but do not peel potatoes, cut into ¾" pieces.

Heat the oil in skillet over medium heat. Add potatoes, garlic, and pepper flakes. Cook, turning occasionally until potatoes start to brown a bit - about 5 minutes. Add green onions, water, and salt, cover the pan, and cook until the potatoes are almost done - about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pull fish apart into flakes (remove any bones) and cut or tear sweet peppers into bite-size pieces. When potatoes are almost done, remove cover and stir in fish, peppers, and parsley. Cook until the liquid is gone and the potatoes nicely browned (turn hash gently to brown evenly, but try not to break up the fish or potatoes any more than necessary).

Soup & Bread for Christmas Eve

The traditional Christmas Eve supper at our house growing up was always Oyster Stew. Basically just canned oysters (we were in land-locked Colorado, after all), milk, and butter, served with round oyster crackers. It was ok, but I didn't really like eating the big oyster chunks. The hot, buttery milk was good, but not really enough. So I've adapted Dad's tradition to suit my own tastes. Sticking with the idea of a seafood soup, I make a red vegetable chowder using canned baby clams. Add a homemade artisan-style crusty loaf of bread and some champagne with a splash of peach brandy (a budget Bellini, and really dresses up cheap champagne) and we've got a wonderful Christmas Eve supper (candlelight optional).

Vegetable Clam Chowder (makes 4-6 supper-size servings)
1 cup clam juice
1 cup water
8 oz tomato sauce
16 oz canned whole tomatoes, cut into chunks
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 onions, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 tablespoon marjoram
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon sugar
10 oz canned baby clams
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
salt & pepper to taste

Combine clam juice (from canned clams too), water, tomato sauce, tomatoes, potatoes, green pepper, carrots, onion, celery, marjoram, thyme, salt, pepper, and sugar in large saucepan. Bring to boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Add clams and corn. Simmer soup for another 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste. Optional: garnish with chopped parsley when serving.

I'm starting the bread tonight - a very wet, no-knead dough that gets its flavor from sitting overnight on the counter; its crusty goodness from being baked inside a very hot dutch oven. The recipe is now many places on the Internet. I first came upon it a year ago in Mother Earth News and love how easy it is to turn out an artisan-style loaf, without any fancy equipment, and very little effort (read the article all the way through, and some of the comments - I love the suggestion to use your microwave as a bread box. I, too, have to reduce the heat a bit for my cast-iron dutch oven, but the amounts work well for me).

Enchilada Sauce (pressure canned)

Another annual tomato processing project around here is canning a batch of enchilada sauce. I grow and dry my own peppers (and the onions, garlic, and thyme), but if you have some extra tomatoes and a pressure canner/cooker it might be worth your while to shop for the dried chiles. Most of our grocery stores here have a Hispanic foods section, with a pegboard display of herbs, spices, and dried chiles in cellophane packets. I always check there for herbs - prices are a lot better than buying the little jars in the spice aisle (then just transfer them to the recycled glass jars of my spice rack). In my supermarket, more than enough dried chiles for this recipe were less than $3.

The big chiles are usually labeled California or New Mexico chiles. They're the pretty shiny chiles most often hung up as a decoration (if you're using ones from a decorative string, make sure they haven't been varnished or treated with any kind of preservative coating. If you use them from the bottom, you can keep the string looking nice, if just a bit shorter). Chipotle is really a generic term meaning any smoked chile. Jalapeños are the ones most commonly preserved this way, so here chipotle usually means a smoked jalapeño. But the cellophane packets are marketed to Spanish-speakers, so the smoked chiles you want for this recipe will more likely be labeled Morita (or maybe Tipico). They'll look like little wrinkled reddish-brown cigar butts.

Enchilada Sauce (8 pints)

2 onions + 3 bulbs garlic, drizzled with olive oil (no need to peel, just make sure root end is clean). Wrap in foil packet, roast 45 minutes at 375º.

8 dried California + 24 Chipotle chiles. Rinse with cool water, remove stems, cover with boiling water and soak 45 minutes. Drain before proceeding.

4 pounds tomatoes, cored and halved

Add veggies above to 6 quarts water with 8 sprigs thyme (about 3 tablespoons dried) and 4 teaspoons non-iodized salt. Simmer 45 minutes.

Discard half the cooking water (about 3 quarts - I ladle it out, pouring it through a wire sieve into a measuring bowl). Puree the veggies (I just run it all through my blender - I don't have a food mill, but that would probably work too) and press through wire sieve along with remaining cooking water. Discard the dry pulp remaining in the sieve. Fill sterilized pint jars to ½" headspace. Seal, pressure-can 50 minutes at 7-10 pounds pressure (depending on what type of pressure regulator you have). Let canner return to zero pressure on its own before opening.

Making Enchiladas
One pint of the sauce above makes a 9x13" pan of 12 enchiladas. This sauce is hot, a concentrate, and needs to be stretched and mellowed. Traditional recipes use cream (8 ounces sour or whipping), or you can use a can of evaporated milk, but I usually whisk one can of condensed cream of mushroom soup into the pint of sauce. Prepare approximately 2 cups of filling (beef, or shrimp & crab, or pork, or leftover turkey, or sauteed onion & mushroom with tofu, or eggs & potatoes, or whatever else you think might be good. I'm going to experiment with diced eggplant - don't tell Aries) binding it together with a bit of sauce. Soften corn tortillas according to package directions. Divide filling equally, roll up in the tortillas, and place in baking pan seam-side down. Pour sauce mixture over all, smooshing them down with your spatula to completely cover and soak edges of the tortillas. Top with shredded cheddar (optional - and I also sprinkle with chopped black olives). Bake uncovered 400º 20 minutes or until bubbling. Comer, beber, y reir (Eat, drink and laugh)!

What to Do With Green Tomatoes

Forecasted low for tomorrow night is 25 last I looked, so I was out in the garden again today trying to pick/dig/store most everything that a hard freeze will harm. One of my local readers emailed, asking what to do with all her green tomatoes (a very likely occurrence around here - forget growing Brandywine or Beefsteaks; we're lucky to get vine-ripened Early Girls). I picked just about all my tomatoes five days ago. I break away all the stems as I pick them, as those can puncture the other tomatoes, leaving holes and bruises that will rot instead of ripen. I leave the hard, little green ones, with an almost frosty white look to them - they won't ripen and aren't big enough to do much else with (don't really care to pickle them). But any green tomato close to full size, especially with darker green shadowing on the top part, is easy to ripen indoors.

The paste tomatoes I want to ripen quickly, so I can get them processed and out of my way. Some say to pull up entire plants and hang them upside down (say, in the garage) to ripen green tomatoes. That's too messy. When the tomatoes get ripe, they'll fall and splatter. And forget the old-timers advice to wrap each green tomato in newspaper - too time-consuming and too hard to see when they're ripe. The best way I've found is to spread out an old shower curtain or other piece of plastic, then spread the green and orangy ones out in one layer. Then, cover them all with a couple layers of newspapers. This traps the ethylene gas, same way the old-timers' wrapping method did, but it's so much easier to just lift the paper to pull out the ripe ones. Top photo shows my paste tomatoes five days ago, on the table that just fits over my guest room bed. Lower photo shows them today, after five days under the newspapers. The red ones, I'll can whole in a day or so; the orange ones will be ready for a batch of sauce in a few more days, and the ones green now will be ready for second batch of sauce not long after that. Within two weeks, I've got my sewing/crafting table back, and a full pantry!

The green Early Girls I want to ripen slowly, so I can have fresh slicing tomatoes as long as possible. I've got them on a tray down in the cooler cellar. It's about 50 degrees down there now - cooler than in the house, but not as cold as the refrigerator. Refrigerating fresh whole tomatoes wipes out just about all the taste, so I never do that, but the cellar is cool enough to let them ripen slowly. I can eat fresh tomatoes until early December. Maybe your house has a cooler closet, or a spot under the bed that would work for you.

Of course, you can always make Fried Green Tomatoes (firm red ones will work too). Slice tomatoes, 1/2" thick, and dredge them in flour with a bit of salt and sugar added. Brown the slices in a bit of butter or oil until crisp (to be authentically Southern about it, you'd use bacon grease), turning them only once. Keep cooked slices warm in a dish in a warm oven. When all the tomatoes are cooked, gradually pour some milk into the frying pan, stirring constantly to make "gravy". Add salt and pepper to taste, and pour over the cooked tomatoes. Serve right away, before the tomatoes get soggy.

Baked Zucchini Sticks

I just picked my first three zucchini, so it's time to make my favorite snack. If you like the deep-fried zucchini sticks appetizer in restaurants, you'll love this quick and healthier version. This is best made with small, young zucchini - a good excuse to make this frequently all summer long. I use my toaster oven to avoid heating up the kitchen.

Baked Zucchini Sticks
3 - 4 small zucchini, 1 - 1½" diameter, 6 - 8" long
1 egg, beaten (or a liquid egg substitute)
fine dry breadcrumbs (add seasonings to suit your mood, my favorite is salt, pepper, and dried oregano; when Aries is cooking, he likes pepper and parmesan cheese)
your favorite dipping sauce(s)

Trim ends of zucchini and cut in half lengthwise. Cut each half lengthwise into three wedge-shaped strips. Put egg in one plate, crumbs in another. Dip the cut sides of each strip in egg and then the bread crumbs, then place side-by-side, peel-side down, on a cookie sheet or the tray for your toaster oven. Bake 400º 10-15 minutes. The zucchini should be soft and the crumb coating golden brown. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce (I like ranch dressing or salsa, Aries prefers barbeque sauce). **an added note: this summer, Aries has been cooking the crumb-covered strips on the barbecue grill - turning to brown each side. Yum! and no heating up the kitchen.

Under Pressure - Beans in a Pressure Cooker

I grew up in Denver, Colorado, the mile-high city. One of our standard junior high science class experiments was measuring the temperature of boiling water. The higher in altitude, the lower the temperature at which water boils. So, when I grew up, I knew that things would take longer to cook than stated in recipes written for sea-level cooks. Then, I moved to Leadville, Colorado.

Leadville, at 10,250 feet, is the highest city in the U.S. - essentially two miles high. I had to learn to cook all over again. Quartered potatoes needed to boil for an hour! But there was a time-saving solution - with a pressure cooker, altitude ceases to be an issue. I could have tender potatoes, soups, or stews in less than 15 minutes time. That alone was worth learning to use this scary-sounding device.

My cooker is the type with a rocker-type weighted control with three different size holes for the differing pressures. It will hold 4 narrow-mouth pint canning jars, so can also be used for small-batch pressure canning. When it reaches pressure, regulated by which side of the pressure control is down, it rocks the weight and rattles and hisses as the steam escapes. I lower the heat until the hissing spurts are 1-2 times per minute. I can then set the timer and go about my business around the house, knowing to come check if the sound stops.

Where pressure cookers really shine is cooking beans. Dry beans are so economical, but the time involved in preparation leads a lot of busy women to buy canned beans instead. I'll sometimes soak my beans overnight if I'm making a crockpot recipe the next day, or I've also used the speed-soak method of bringing them to a boil for 10 minutes and letting them sit for an hour if I've got the time to then cook them for 3-4 hours. But with a pressure cooker I can make a soup or chili, from dry beans and scratch ingredients, in less than a hour (pre-soaking, if you have the extra hour, helps keep pressure-cooked beans intact as they cook).

Pick over and rinse your dry beans, then put them in the pressure cooker, without the inside rack, with 3-4 times as much water. In my pressure cooker, 2 cups beans and 6 cups water works out right. I just add water until it's at least an inch above the beans - as long as you fill the cooker only half-full. Seal the cooker, and bring to 15 pounds pressure. Most beans - pinto, red, white, black, and soy - take 30 minutes once the cooker is up to pressure (garbanzos take 45 minutes; do NOT cook split peas or pea soup in a pressure cooker - they can foam up and block the steam valve). When the time is up, cool the cooker under cold running water until the pressure drops, open it, and you've got cooked beans ready to eat, as is, or to add to the soup/chili ingredients you've prepared in the meantime. Tonight, I started some white beans in the cooker; cut up, then simmered butternut squash, carrots, and onions; and pureed them just in time to add the beans. Home-cooked bean soup for dinner in less than an hour.

Pizza! Pizza!

Friday night - I wanted pizza. Making your own pizza crust takes a couple of hours of advance planning, to give the dough time to rise, but it's really not very difficult (this recipe will also work in a bread machine on the dough setting). And it's a great way to put a whole new face on just about any kind of leftovers.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (makes 2 12" pizzas)

2¼ teaspoons (or 1 pkt) dry yeast
1 cup very warm water
3 cups flour (I use half whole wheat and half unbleached flour)
1 teaspoon salt

Sprinkle yeast over warm water, let set a couple of minutes to dissolve. Mix salt into 2 cups flour and stir into yeast mixture. Add third cup of flour, stir in as much as possible, then dump dough and excess flour onto cutting board and knead for 10 minutes (to knead dough: flatten and push the dough away from you with the heels of both hands, pull the farthest part to double it back over on itself, and spin the dough a quarter-turn; continue in a push/pull rocking motion), adding up to ¼ cup more flour until dough is smooth and doesn't stick to your hands or the board. Pour a few drops of oil into a clean bowl, use the ball of dough to spread it around the entire inside, and then turn the dough so the oiled side is up and cover with a clean cloth. Let rise 45-60 minutes, punch down (punch your fist into the ball of dough, and when it collapses push the edges into the center, dump it out and shape it back into a ball). Add a few more drops of oil to the bowl, smear it around and flip the dough ball oiled side up again and let rise another 45-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 475º. Prepare your toppings - chop or slice veggies, pre-cook meat, shred cheese. Lightly oil your pizza pan(s), and dust lightly with cornmeal. Divide dough in half. If you'd like to freeze half, roll it into a cylinder, place it in an oiled 1-pint freezer bag and press all air out before freezing (later, thaw in refrigerator without opening bag until ready to use). Let the dough rest 10 minutes before shaping, by rolling and pulling, to fit 12" pan. Add toppings (we like lots of home-canned tomato sauce, a sprinkle of oregano, shredded mozzarella cheese, and then whatever leftovers, bits and pieces I find in the refrigerator or pantry). Bake on lowest rack 15 - 20 minutes.

Tips: My oven isn't big enough to fit two pizzas on the bottom rack, so I cook them one at a time when making two. For some insight into tossing your pizza crust, practice the throwing and spinning motions with your dish cloth - it's an art.

Big Batch of Meatballs

I eat meat, but can just as easily do without it. I think of meat as a condiment to a meal - it adds flavor but it's not the main attraction. But Aries is an avowed carnivore. He'd make a meal of meat and bread if left to his own devices. He won't eat salads either, so I sneak veggies into his meals by making lots of soups and stews in the winter (out of the veggies stored in the cellar), and stir-fries in the summer (right out of the garden). I'll rarely buy meat when I make my twice-monthly trip to the market, unless it's some turkey ham to flavor a pot of beans.

But we also have a grocery store a block down the hill. Aries will walk down there a couple of times a week - because his bank is inside, or for me if we're out of milk, or to rent a DVD when there's nothing on TV (we never see movies in the theater - even newly released DVD's are only $1.50 for a 1-day rental). Usually, he'll check out the meat section for the must-sell-today specials. Yesterday, he came home with two pounds of country sausage, reduced to 99¢. When someone hands you that much ground meat, it's time to make meatballs. I had a pound of ground round in the freezer (also bought on sale, $2) - taken out to thaw yesterday, I made a big batch of meatballs today.

Big Batch of Meatballs (makes 75 1" meatballs)

3 pounds ground meat (I usually use a combination of beef and pork)
1½ cups fine bread crumbs
1½ cups finely chopped onion
3 eggs
2 tablespoons worchestershire sauce
¼ cup ketchup
salt & pepper

Mix everything together. Spray a broiler pan with non-stick spray. Roll mixture into 1" meatballs (the easiest way I've found to make equal portions is to dump the mixture out on my cutting board, shape it into a 1" high rectangle, and cut it into 1" cubes). Bake 400º 20-25 minutes (I'll usually take them out of the oven after 15 minutes, and using a fork, flip the meatballs over so they'll brown on the other side too, putting them back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes).

This recipe makes just enough to fill my broiler pan. After the meatballs have cooled, I move them to a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. After they're frozen hard, I transfer them to a gallon freezer bag to use as needed. Classically, I'll add them to a tomato and veggie sauce to serve over pasta, but they're also good in a brown sauce with mushrooms and yogurt as a meatball stroganoff, tucked in a pita pocket with lots of cucumber slices and a bit of ranch dressing, or Aries will sometimes make himself a meatball sandwich with cheese and barbecue sauce.

For a normal meal, Aries will have 4-5 meatballs as a serving, and I'll have maybe 3, so this $3 of meat will make 9-10 meals for the two of us. Today, I only had 1 tablespoon of worchestershire sauce, so I used 1 tablespoon soy sauce too, and didn't add any salt or pepper (also, because the sausage had seasoning already added). They turned out just fine.

Other notes: Sunday, we had 80º weather, yesterday 60 mph winds(!), and then it snowed for a while this morning. Also, Reno (25 miles away) had about 20 little 3.something earthquakes this morning. I didn't feel any of them.

On his motorcycle ride Sunday, Aries went with a buddy over Monitor Pass nearby. The road was dry, but snowbanks still lined both sides on top. Just as he was at the top of the pass, a long straight level stretch, he saw some roadkill in the road ahead. As he came up to it, he looked up and there was a golden eagle, flying head-on right at him, headed for the carrion. Aries laid on the brakes and the horn simultaneously, and it flew up right over him. He said the wingspan was wider than the travel lane, and he was close enough to see the wide-stretched talons glinting. Living in Nevada is so much fun!

Sausage-Stuffed Squash

Winter squash is great - in the garden and in the kitchen. During the growing season, I just put the seeds in the ground, and then don't do anything until just before our first frost. Nothing will bother a squash plant here, except for squash bugs, and I've found that planting a big storage radish like the heirloom chinese Watermelon Radish in between the plants gives season-long protection plus a tasty treat in the fall (and into the winter) as well.

After cutting and curing the squash in the fall, I store them in a crate in the corner of my somewhat cool bedroom. My Pink Banana squash are still in fine shape, and will easily last until June. The remaining Butternuts will be used next, but right now I'm using up the last of the Carnival (or Festival) acorn-type winter squash. Following is one of our favorite winter squash recipes. It originally was supposed to be made in a pumpkin, served at the table by dishing out scoops of filling and squash flesh to all, and still could be made that way for a family by doubling the amount of the filling.

But I like to make individual servings by using smaller squash, like those in the acorn family. Those type of squash have a rounded stem end and a pointy blossom end containing most of the seed cavity. I've found there's more squash and they'll stand better if I knock the stem off and then cut off the blossom end to hollow them out for the filling. Use whatever you have though - you can even make squash canoes out of the Delicata types.

Sausage-Stuffed Squash (stuffing enough for 2-3 acorn-sized squash)

winter squash, any type, one end cut off and seeds removed
½ pound bulk sausage (I used a couple of hot Italian sausage links)
1 cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup sliced mushrooms
1 egg
1 6-oz carton of plain non-fat yogurt (original recipe called for sour cream)
¼ cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese (I grate the entire piece at one time, then store it in the freezer to use as needed)

Place squash cavity-side down in a baking pan with 1 inch of water, bake 375º one hour or until tender. Meanwhile break up and fry sausage, then remove from pan and drain off grease. Saute veggies in same pan. When veggies are done, remove from heat, add cooked sausage. Mix egg and cheese into yogurt, then add to sausage/veggie mixture. When squash is tender, turn them cavity-side up in pan, fill with sausage mixture (can mound it up above the edge a bit) and pour in any extra yogurt liquid (if you have extra stuffing, place it in an oven-proof bowl and bake it too). Put stuffed squash back into oven for additional 25 minutes. When served, split open the squash and eat it with a spoon to scrape out every bit of the wonderful squash.

Island Pork

Dinner was another quick skillet meal, served over brown rice. Aries walked to the grocery store down the street, and came back with a family pack of boneless pork ribs, on sale. I keep plastic lined paper freezer paper and freezer tape for just such occasions. I trimmed the fat from the pork and divided it into thirds. Two of the portions I wrapped, labeled, and put into the freezer for a stir-fry or chile verde some other day. With carrots from the cellar, bell peppers from the freezer, plus an onion and some of the staples always on hand from my pantry, the other third would be tonight's dinner.

I started a batch of brown rice for the 45-minute cooking time, and shredded the carrots. This recipe originally used two pork chops and still could be made that way, but I like using smaller cubes of meat and lots of veggies to make it a healthy version of sweet and sour pork. Half an hour after starting the rice, I started browning the pork. Dinner was ready in another 15 minutes.

Island Pork (serves 3, 2 tonight and 1 lunch later)
8 oz. boneless pork, cut into 1" cubes
¾ cup coarsely shredded carrots (the largest holes on a box grater)
¾ cup 1" bell pepper pieces
1 small onion, quartered top to bottom, layers separated
1 8-oz can pineapple chunks in juice
1 6-oz can tomato juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Brown pork in a large skillet over medium heat. Add veggies, pineapple with juice, and tomato juice. Cover and simmer until veggies are tender, 5 - 10 minutes. Add sugar and soy sauce, simmer until pork is done. Dissolve cornstarch in vinegar, add to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Serve over rice.

Quick and Healthy Shrimp Creole

The magazine I was flipping through while waiting to leave the blood bank had shrimp recipes. I have some shrimp in the freezer, so decide to make my healthy version of Shrimp Creole for dinner. I start the rice: 2 1/2 cups water, 1 cup brown rice, some dried parsley (if I had any fresh, I'd add it just before serving), simmer 45 minutes; and put 1 Cup shrimp in cold water to thaw. Half hour later, I start the

Quick and Healthy Shrimp Creole (serves 3, 2 tonight and 1 lunch later)
8 ounces shrimp (can substitute cooked chicken or cubes of firm tofu)
1 cup chopped onion (from the pantry)
1 cup chopped bell pepper (from last summer's garden, chopped and frozen on a cookie sheet, then dumped into a gallon freezer bag - easy to grab just what is needed)
1 cup chopped celery (ok, this one I buy from the store down the street)
1 pint tomatoes (canned last summer, cut up inside the jar just before adding)
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
½ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon thyme (cut from the herb garden last fall, hung and dried, and stored in a jar)
several dashes hot pepper sauce (green jalapeno sauce, from the garden, made last summer)
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Cook raw shrimp in boiling water 1 - 3 minutes (my 8 oz. frozen shrimp are already cooked, so all I do is remove the tails and cut each in half)

Place onions, celery, and bell peppers in skillet with 1/4 cup water. Cover and simmer 3 -4 minutes, until veggies are crisp-tender.

Add tomatoes, bouillon granules, sugar, and thyme. Simmer together, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup cold water, and add to skillet. Cook and stir a couple of minutes, until thickened and bubbly. Add shrimp and cook a couple minutes more. Serve over parsley rice.