Meal No. 2521: Carrot Cake Oatmeal

After trying out my new recipe for carrot cake oatmeal a few days before, and finding it to be quite good, I figured a bigger pot of it was called for on the Saturday morning of the recent visit to the Roediger House by my friends the Huneycutts. With those warm spices and a nice mix of textures, with just enough sweetness, it was all too easy to operate with a heavy hand when spooning up the bowls of hearty goodness that morning.

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"Carrot Cake Oatmeal," from Molly Watson of TheSpruceEats.com. [Updated 02 July 2019]

Meal No. 2520: Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup

The weekend before last, dear friends Barbara and Jim Huneycutt drove down from Crozet, VA, for an overnight getaway. The sting of winter had returned to Winston-Salem by this point and I wanted to be prepared to offer up late-evening grub in case they arrived with appetites...so I made an extra big pot of cream of tomato soup. They weren't offered the grilled cheese sandwiches that were part of the regular dinner time but it made them all the more deserving of their second helpings of soup.

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"Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup," from Cook's Illustrated, November 1999. Recipe can also be found online at Cookography.com.

Meal No. 2519: Herb-Roasted Whole Chicken with Savory Pan Gravy

As the weather turned here in Winston-Salem back on Thursday, January 16th, from our wonderful warm spell into cold winds bringing a spate of below-normal temps, I found myself deep in dinner prep for a welcoming feast for two: herb-roasted whole chicken, with the savory pan gravy that is perfect both for the chicken and the homemade mashed potatoes I made with it. And with all that, so what if the plate was rounded out by canned peas? I like 'em too.

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"Herb-Roasted Whole Chicken with Savory Pan Gravy," in Tupelo Honey Cafe: Spirited Recipes from Asheville's New South Kitchen, by Elizabeth Sims with Chef Brian Sonoskus. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC (2011), p. 136-137.

Meal No. 2518: Carrot Cake Oatmeal

My regular six-month check-up with my doctor occurred Thursday a week ago, and all my bloodwork came back pretty great. Since I was "fasting" going in, so that the lab could take blood for the lipid and metabolic panels, I returned home fairly hungry. I guess that's why I dove head-first into a sexy sweet recipe for Carrot Cake Oatmeal, which turned out quite fantastic. I limited myself to a pretty small portion, though, which filled me with enduring morning regret.

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"Carrot Cake Oatmeal," from Molly Watson of TheSpruceEats.com. [Updated 02 July 2019]

Meal No. 2517: Roasted Salmon on Caesar-Dressed Greens

Wednesday a week ago was a nice opportunity to return to salmon Caesar salad, with yet another perfectly-roasted filet on power greens dressed with my homemade Caesar dressing. It proved to be a delicious supper of ideal proportions.

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Based on "Easy Lemon Caesar Salad Dressing," by Kim of lowcarbmaven.com.

White Chocolate Toffee Browned Butter Cookies

The week before last, I was due to report for duty with the High Point University Leadership Academy, as part of our clinical instructional rounds for some of the aspiring principals in the current cohort. Our destination was North Forsyth High School, and I knew better than to show up without cookies in hand. It was a good excuse to give a quick second go at a recent recipe discovery: white chocolate toffee cookies made with browned butter. They went over well with the folks I shared them with!

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"White Chocolate Toffee Brown Butter Cookies," by Ashley Manila of BakerByNature.com. [Published 07 May 2014]

A Spot of Warmth and Sunshine

My neighbor Rick across the street has given me some helpful advice regarding winter yard tasks, with top of that list being to cut back all of my monkey grass and liriope right around the start of the new year. Given that this is North Carolina, I can usually count on there being some random sunny somewhat warm day either before or after January 1st, although sometimes that day will inconveniently coincide with work or travel.

Such was not the case on January 12th, when it was sunny and an absolutely glorious 71°F, with just the lightest of breezes. We have had so doggone much rain and wet weather this fall and winter that it was pretty awesome for the sunshine and the warm temps to coalesce around a Sunday afternoon when I was free to hit the landscaping task list. Not only did all the monkey grass get trimmed down but I also was able to gather up all the sticks and branches from the previous evening's storms, as well as cut back a lot of last summer's growth from shrubs like the mallow hibiscus bushes and such. The yard cart was full as dusk came on...and just as it began sprinkling again!

Chocolate Mousse in Deep-Dark Fudge Brownie Bowls

Although I felt mostly responsible and restrained over the Christmas holidays, I was not completely devoid of some impulse shopping. I got intrigued by the idea of brownie bowls for serving mousse, pudding, or ice cream, and I snagged a special pan from Amazon accordingly. Timing is everything, of course, so it was fortuitous that the latest issue of Cook's Country had a dark chocolate mousse that was ripe for trial. Put it all together and you'll see that dessert back on January 11th was a somewhat remarkable display of kitchen chicanery: dark chocolate mousse served in fudgy brownie bowls with a homemade whipped topping. None of us could eat it all. All of us tried. No one expressed regrets.

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"No-Fail Dark Chocolate Mousse," from Cook's Country, February/March 2020, p. 16.

"Deep-Dark Fudgy Brownies," from King Arthur Flour.

Meal No. 2516: Pork Medallions with Ginger-Soy-Shiitake Cream Sauce

A Sunday evening gathering for four the week before last allowed me to bring back one of the Roediger House special specialties: pan-seared pork medallions with a ginger-shiitake-soy cream sauce. This incredibly flavorful and savory dish pairs well with the homemade mashed potatoes and especially with Brussels sprouts gratin. We might all have overdone it but that didn't prevent us from journeying back for seconds.

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Cream Sauce based on "Pan-Seared Tuna with Ginger-Shiitake Cream Sauce," from The Bon Appétit Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild, 2006, p. 398-399.

"Brussels Sprouts Gratin," by Alison Roman. From Cooking on newyorktimes.com.

Meal No. 2515: Chicken with Coronation Sauce

A long-time favorite one-dish meal in the Roediger House has been chicken with coronation sauce, but it hasn't made an appearance here since May 2018. But I brought it back out for a simple meal that could be taken up to the 3rd floor back on January 9th, after my first day of work following the holidays.

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"Coronation Sauce for Chicken," from 400 Sauces, by Catherine Atkinson, Christine France, and Maggie Mayhew. Hermes House (2006, 2008), p. 155.

The Famous Buies Creek White Wine Coffee Cake

I reckon it's okay if sentiment and nostalgia worm their way into the Christmas holidays. It brings back good memories whenever I turn my kitchen attentions to making my hometown version of white wine coffee cake, a recipe that my mother got from Lib Tripp and Barbara Taylor all those years ago in the quiet hamlet of Buies Creek. It causes a recurring chuckle in me when I think back to those ladies not liking having to go buy wine but loving the cake that they could make with it. I also love the cake that we're talking about, even though I seem to make it rarely. It was quite a delicious treat after supper back on January 7th...and for a smattering of mornings thereafter!

Meal No. 2514: Roasted Salmon and Broccoli

Salmon is a real favorite here at the Roediger House and I've certainly depended on it while I've leaned into making healthier choices for meals. After a holiday of so many heavy and goopy meals and a wide smattering of various sweets and confections, it was a welcome change back on January 7th to have perfectly-roasted salmon and an accompanying heap of roasted broccoli for dinner, jazzed up ever so slightly with a puddle of chilled rosemary-dijon cream sauce so that it wasn't completely ordinary.

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Chilled Rosemary Dijon Cream Sauce, from "Poached Salmon," in The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, compiled and edited by Julie Fisher Gunter. Birmingham, AL: Oxmoor House (1999), p. 216.

Meal No. 2513: Well-Dressed Chicken Salad

When you've got some leftover rotisserie-style chicken from a previous evening's meal, seems like a good excuse to make a batch of homemade chicken salad for a simple Monday evening supper snack. Fresh-snipped chives that are still prospering outside the back door, plus dill and tarragon, and a bit too much Duke's mayo, but it served me well on the first Monday of January when the rest of the household made do with the other abundant leftovers options.

White Chocolate Toffee Browned Butter Cookies

My spring work schedule commenced back on January 7th, with a day long visit to a middle school just up the street from the house, with a particular focus on some math instruction issues. The instructional coaches I was spending my day with are fans of my cookies so I used a little time on my last day of Christmas vacation to make a new recipe: white chocolate toffee browned butter cookies. And my gracious -- they were wonderfully delicious. This'll be a keeper and a repeater.

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"White Chocolate Toffee Brown Butter Cookies," by Ashley Manila of BakerByNature.com. [Published 07 May 2014]

Banana Pudding Cake

When we had the crew over for a fun game night, featuring our homemade Collins Against Humanity game, I offered up a new dessert option: banana pudding cake. I'd come across this recipe while I was doing some aimless food site exploring and thought it ought to be piloted here at the Roediger House. Admittedly, I feel about banana confections similar to my stance on peanut butter confections: I like bananas but I'm not fond of most treats we make with them. (Notable exceptions: regular ol' banana pudding, bananas foster).

The crew seemed to really like this one! And I partook of a sizable slice as well, given that it was there for the taking. It's sort of hard to see in the above picture, but the middle layer not only has the homemade whipped cream but also diced banana and crushed vanilla wafers.

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"Easy Banana Pudding Cake," by Jesse Szewczyk of TheKitchn.com. [Published 19 December 2019]

Meal No. 2512: Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork

Too much time had passed since the last game night at the Roediger House, but we corrected that back on Sunday January 5th. The evening started with supper for the six of us: slow cooker Texas pulled pork, homemade barbecue sauce, and a big batch of sweet southern coleslaw that I adapted from the recipe my mother always used.

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Pulled Pork based on a Review with Modifications by jenleighd, made in response to "Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork," from cmccreight on AllRecipes.com.

Barbecue Sauce heavily adapted from "Tangy Carolina Barbecue Sauce," from Karly Campbell of BunsinmyOven.com. [Published 10 May 2013]

"Southern Succor Pork Rub." In Smoke & Spice, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. Boston: The Harvard Common Press (2003), p. 27.

Sweet Southern Coleslaw based on recipe from Allison M. Jones.

The WORST Chocolate Chip Cookies

Back on January 4th, I figured it was about time to come out of the kitchen with another sweet treat, and that involved trying out a new (to me) recipe for basic chocolate chip cookies. And they were pretty smashing. Sam Merritt gives them the tongue-in-cheek title of the WORST EVER, given how addicting they are, suggesting that they'll ruin your relationships and cause you to basically fall apart while you obsess over when you'll get your next bite of one of these cookies. I think one thing I liked a lot about them was how close they were to a homemade/from scratch version of the Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough log that was a staple of my childhood. Gracious. I ate four that day.

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"The WORST EVER Chocolate Chip Cookies," from Sam Merritt of SugarSpunRun.com. [Published 28 November 2018; Updated 13 November 2019]

Meal No. 2511: Lamb Köfte-Style Flatbreads with Yogurt Sauce

Saturday afternoon a week ago it was a solid opportunity to overeat and be limited in the accompanying regrets. Basing my concoction on the flavor and ingredient combinations that normally would result in lamb meatballs, I took a taco meat approach and browned the ground lamb, mixed it with spices and onion, added in harissa sauce, and finished it out with soft goat cheese. This served as the base atop flatbreads, and caramelized onions and roasted red pepper strips became the middle layer, and the topping was a tangy tahini yogurt sauce. It all deserved the "wow" utterances that tumbled out at mealtime.

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Inspired by "Lamb Köfte with Yogurt Sauce and Muhammara," from Bon Appétit, January 2010. [clipping]

Meal No. 2510: Rotisserie-Style Whole Chicken

On January's first Friday, with a fridge full of pretty decent leftover sides from previous meals, I figured we all oughta partake of a fresh-cooked rotisserie-style whole chicken from the Instant Pot, along with the tasty and tempting Alabama great white sauce, and then pick and choose from the Tupperware and Gladware containers to fill out our plates. Turns out that foraging was a fine idea.

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"How to Cook Instant Pot Whole Chicken - Rotisserie Style," by Sheena from GlutenFreePressureCooker.com.

"Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning," by Judith Hanneman, The Midnight Baker.

"Alabama Great White Sauce" (p. 362), in Smoke & Spice, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. Boston: The Harvard Common Press, 2003.

Christmas Holiday Breakfasts

As the new day, new year, and new decade dawned on January 1st, I tried to be ready for my guests as they came downstairs that Wednesday morning...

...so there was some fresh-baked party ham biscuits to help us start it all off right.

Then, on Thursday morning, I also managed to offer up slices of buttered rum cake, together with some pimento cheese sausage balls that had been squirreled away in the freezer.

The buttered rum cake may be superior in appearance but it is definitely a distant runner-up to the more favored white wine coffee cake that I often make during the holidays.

Also, I'd like to note that sometimes you're sitting fat and happy making the most of an undeserved bounty:

...and then next thing you know, you're Squirrel Kill Number 7 for Sumner, the house pooch, who once again has made me a proud papa.

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"Party Ham Biscuits," a recipe shared with our family by Susan Brown, who was my sister Allison's college chum at the University of North Carolina. I recorded Susan's in my recipe collection in 1988. There are various versions of this recipe, of course. Pretty popular is the "caramelized" version, such as this one: "Caramelized Ham & Swiss Buns," by Iris Weihemuller of Baxter, MN, in Taste of Home, December 2013, p. 59.

"Spicy Horseradish Sauce" from "Beef Tenderloin in Wine Sauce," from The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. Compiled and Edited by Julie Fisher Gunter. Oxmoor Press (2006), p. 295, 296.

"Buttered Rum Cake," from Melissa Sperka of Melissa's Southern Style Kitchen blog. [Published 29 December 2019]

Meal No. 2509: New Year's Day Meatballs

What better choice for dinner on New Year's Day than what the Jones Family calls New Year's Day Meatballs? That's what we named them after my sister Allison fixed them for us on that noteworthy holiday quite a few years ago. For the sides, I stuck with the faithful favorite of company mashed potatoes and the classic green bean casserole...but I didn't go with Campbell's condensed soups this time. Instead, I did a from-scratch version with fresher ingredients, including sautéed onions and diced mushrooms, with thyme and white wine...and then couldn't really taste the difference from the traditional canned soup version!

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"New Year's Day Meatballs," from Carol Fultz and shared with me by my sister Allison Jones Holden of Rossville, IN (2001).

"Company Mashed Potatoes," a Jones family favorite.

New Year's Eve Eggnog Tres Leches Cake

Even if the dinner was simple, at least there was a celebratory dessert to enjoy while we all sat around waiting for the midnight hour on New Year's Eve: eggnog tres leches cake, which is always amazing and rewarding. The delicious homemade eggnog I'd made just before Christmas was just right for making this special treat that seems to only show up at year's end. And no store-bought whipped topping this time around...I chilled those beaters and the bowl and topped it with homemade whipped cream, just to preserve our decadence trajectory.

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"Eggnog Tres Leches Cake," from Michele at FlavorMosaic.com. [Published 13 December 2015]

Meal No. 2508: Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

I'm not sure what your New Year's Eve involved, but at the Roediger House it was pretty low-key. For the three at the dinner table, I offered biscuits and sausage gravy, which was something I could pull together pretty quickly while also playing dog-sitter for my visiting brother-in-law, whose celebratory plans were more exciting than mine!

As shown above, I had to be a bit creative about managing the visiting pooch while I attended to supper.

Meal No. 2507: Sheet Pan Beef Nachos

On the Monday evening leading up to New Year's Day, the supper was simple for the five of us gathered around the table: sheet pan beef nachos. Nicely flavored, gooey with lots of cheese, the satisfying crunch of the underlayer of tortilla chips...a decent repast for dinner. Or so I was told. I was still protecting my recently surgeried gums and partook of none of it.

I realize I make no secret of the fact that the colder months are miserable to me. It got colder faster this fall, and I'll make note of the fact that the high temps on 23 days in November were below average. In the first three weeks of December, 13 of 21 days were below average high temps. Fortunately, we entered a nice warm-up as we headed into the two weeks surrounding Christmas. The Monday afterwards was a gloriously sunny and wonderfully warm day:

I could only feel bad for my sister at that same time, hunkered down against the snow flurries and cold winds up in northwestern Indiana:

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Taco-Style Meat Based on "Crispy Beef Tacos," by Hilah Johnson. From HilahCooking.com.

Meal No. 2506: Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin

Over the Christmas holiday, things stayed pretty low-key at the Roediger House, without a ton of muss and fuss or big deals or grand productions. As noted on the blog of late, I ended up making a variety of sweets and desserts but I didn't really go all out on meals (meaning there was not another go at the grand Thanksgiving meal like there often is around the end of December). Still, on the Sunday evening between Christmas Day and New Year's Day, it was a treat to have five at the table to partake of a slow-roasted beef tenderloin, together with creamy mashed potatoes and layered green bean casserole.

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"Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin," from J. Kenji López-Alt, Managing Culinary Director of SeriousEats.com.

"Sauce Poivrade alla Marsala or Madeira," from More Than Gourmet.

"Creamy Mashed Potatoes," from Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. Published online 03 November 2007.

"Layered Green Bean Casserole," from my sister Allison in Rossville, Indiana.

Meal No. 2505: Braised Chicken and Brussels Spouts

On the Saturday between Christmas and New Year's, it was a great happenstance that my best friend from childhood was passing through Winston-Salem and was able to stop off for a visit. Jay Brown and I grew up across the street from one another in Buies Creek, so it's a friendship that has lasted for over half a century. I served us up some supper: braised chicken over Brussels sprouts and shallots, plus a smattering of basic stuffing. Then we retreated to the third floor where Jay soundly defeated me 9-11 over a long night of pool playing.

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"Braised Chicken and Brussels Sprouts," in Everyday Food, Issue 97, November 2012, p. 22.

Meal No. 2504: Chili-Spiced Mac and Cheese

On Christmas night, with my oral surgery "recovery" at the end of its first full week, I was still trying to keep foods on the softer side. So I tried out a new recipe I'd found for chili-spiced mac and cheese. But I didn't use macaroni. I made it with pasta shells (conchiglie, I guess it's called?) so that the pasta could scoop up great puddles of the cheese sauce. Made with Gruyère, pepper jack, and sharp cheddar, as well as chili spices, it was a change of pace. And it still took a small toll on my stitched gum hole, but I think I'll live.

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"Chili Spiced Macaroni and Cheese," by Julie Resnick of TheFeedFeed.com.

Meal No. 2503: Christmas Morning Small Plates

Ah, back on Christmas morning as folks began to stir, I was ready with a light breakfast: pimento cheese sausage balls (made with my own homemade pimento cheese!) and French yogurt cake. Both were pretty darned good, along with the fresh coffee and good conversation.

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"Pimento Cheese Sausage Balls," by Kate Robertson Parrish of the ScratchMade Southern blog. [Published 20 March 2019]

"South Carolina-Style Pimento Cheese." Recipe worked out by me, based on Sharon's Palmetto Pimento Cheese.

"French Yogurt Cake," by Andrew Knowlton. In Bon Appétit, May 2012, p. 30.

Meal No. 2502: Cream of Tomato Soup

Christmas was an unquestionably low-key event at the Roediger House this year. There were no decorations and I failed to get Christmas cards done, so the only tribute to the holiday season, really, was perhaps a bump in the baking activity in the kitchen. The Christmas Eve meal, following sort of a warm and sunny day, was cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. The soup was uncommonly good this time, I might add, and it made enough to share a container with neighbors down the street.

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"Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup," from Cook's Illustrated, November 1999. Recipe can also be found online at Cookography.com.

Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Coffee Cake

The hankering has been strong to get busy in the ol' Roediger House kitchen, with a mix of recipes I've been itching to try out. On the Monday before Christmas, it was a new take on sour cream coffee cake that I decided to pilot. It was particularly outstanding, if I may say so. I haven't tried a strudel-layered coffee cake in a good long while, but it all came together pretty perfectly. It was another kitchen goodie that I'm glad was easy to share, because I distributed some pieces of it to some of our favorite friends and neighbors.

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"Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Coffee Cake," from Marzia Aziz of the Little Spice Jar blog. [Published 11 April 2019]

A Collection of Christmas Holiday Treats

As we enter the very first day of this fine New Year, let me offer a glimpse back into my Christmas holiday kitchen activity, especially regarding various sweets and treats I made. It all kicked off in full gear when I set about making a full batch of homemade eggnog using a faithful recipe that I snagged from Deborah and Pembroke Pettit's recipe collection on one of my many trips to work in Louisa County, Virginia. I had this prepped and in a huge pitcher in the fridge by the start of Christmas week. It was thick, luscious, sweet, creamy, and irresistible...and possibly the best batch I'd ever managed to make.

At mid-day on Christmas Day, I got busy in the kitchen, this time to make a fresh batch of those amazing chewy sugar cookies. I wanted to be able to take some to the hard-working staff at a/perture cinema on Fourth Street, given that they were very much slammed with the opening of Little Women as well as Uncut Gems. It's rare to see the auditorium as full as it was that Wednesday afternoon, when I caught the former in an early afternoon screening.

The next day, I reached for my mother's recipe for date nut balls and put together a nice batch of them, putting some aside for home and letting the rest go into a container for sharing with the staff across the street at Quanto Basta. The recipe for date nut balls at the bottom of this blog post is very similar to Mother's, although I use dark brown sugar instead of light brown.

On the Friday between Christmas and New Year's, I moved on to the next holiday treat item: chocolate-butterscotch scotcheroos. This recipe (from a box of Rice Krispies, back in the 80s!) was always a holiday staple in the Jones household in Buies Creek. I can't claim to have made it as consistently here at the Roediger House but I do think of it as a Christmas regularity.

I had more treats up my sleeve the next day: chocolate crinkle cookies. I'd never made them before and they turned out pretty smashing, really. They were deeply chocolatey and, as is supposed to be the case with crinkle cookies, pretty cool to look at.

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"Homemade Eggnog," by Beverly Sims. In Cuckoo Cooks from Gilboa Christian Church in Cuckoo, Virginia.

"Chewy Sugar Cookies," by Katie Leaird. In Cook's Country, December/January 2018, p. 24-25.

"Date Nut Balls," from Allison M. Jones (recipe provided by my sister Allison). Similar to "Mama Rosa's Date Nut Balls," from Debbie Spivey of TheMountainKitchen.com.

"Chocolate-Butterscotch Scotcheroos," from the Rice Krispies cereal box.  I first noted and recorded this recipe in 1988.

"Chocolate Crinkle Cookies," from Jaclyn Bell of CookingClassy.com. [Published 04 December 2017]