Meal No. 3492: Juicy Burgers on the Grill

With the last few rolls left from a nice batch of homemade burger buns, and the inviting ambiance of brilliant sunshine (albeit with chilling breezy wintry temps!), a mid-day grilling adventure was mine for the taking on Monday: juicy burgers, along with the last dregs of the Thousand Island dressing I'd made, plus some kettle chips to heighten the indulgence. The burger patties were aggrandized to match the generous surface area of those buns, and cleaning my plate completely was a challenge I could not master.

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"Juicy Burgers," originally from Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks recipe magazine, July 2003, p. 52-53. After Pillsbury was purchased in 2001 by General Mills, home of Betty Crocker (founded in 1921, mind you!), it basically ceased to exist as a company and lives on just as a brand. I guess that's why a Pillsbury cookbook recipe from 2003 is now only found on the Betty Crocker website.

Meal No. 3491: Slow Cooker Cuban Lechón Asado

Thanksgiving weekend closed out with a Sunday night gathering of the delightful local regular suspects. As a shift from the turkey and stuffing and side casseroles, I tried to shake it up with a bit of Cuban spice and a touch of Mexican heat, with pork mojo sandwiches on homemade burger buns, with creamy lime sauce plus Mexican coleslaw. I could not help but also bring in a Mexican chipotle street taco barbecue sauce to boost the luscious drippiness of the whole enterprise. And I need to remember to divvy up the burger bun dough into 10 or 12 portions instead of eight, because I sure ended up with two or three that were simply too large to do anyone any good!

Given that Sunday was also National Cake Day, I had to bring out the last of the eggnog layer cake that I'd made for Thanksgiving. We were down to sliver-sized slices but that might have been a-plenty after the generous pork portions at supper.

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"Slow Cooker Cuban Lechón Asado," from Cory Fernandez of TheKitchn.com. [Published 10 December 2022]

"Beautiful Burger Buns," from Ellen "Moomie" Dorsey of King Arthur Baking. See also the accompanying blog post, "Burger Buns with a Beautiful Backstory," by PJ Hamel. [Published 28 June 2021]

"Mexican Chipotle Street Taco BBQ Sauce," a Roediger House original recipe. [First Made 08 May 2023]

"Cilantro Lime Sauce," from Alexa Blay of Key to My Lime. [Published 04 September 2019]

Mexican Coleslaw assembled using:

• Base Recipe: "Mexican Coleslaw," from Christin Mahrlig of SpicySouthernKitchen.com. [Published 08 August 2017]
• Seasoning Mix: "Homemade Chili and Taco Seasoning," from Jamie Lothridge of MyBakingAddiction.com. [Published 03 February 2011]
• Enhanced Sour Cream: "Easy Lime Crema," from Lisa Bryan of DownShiftology.com. [Published 22 April 2020]

Meal No. 3490: Linguine with Smoked Gouda & Wine Sauce

As Black Friday proceeded in this fully blessed household, with the rattle and hum of good company, I sorted through a list of dinner possibilities in search of one that might have universal appeal. Long ago, at a dinner gathering with graduates from my first group of masters students when I was teaching at Wake Forest University, I was turned on to a tasty vegetarian pasta recipe from the famous Grit Restaurant in Athens, Georgia. (The Grit, which I've never been to, closed back in 2022.) With two vegetarians and a non-red meat eater constituting half the crew, the Grit's cookbook came in handy, leading me to make linguine with smoked Gouda and wine sauce, with plant-based hot "sausage" plus mushrooms and diced sweet pepper. I figured a pan of garlic-rosemary focaccia wouldn't be too terrible of an idea. We also had chopped Romaine salad, with a choice of either of the homemade salad dressings: Thousand island or creamy Caesar.

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"Linguine with Smoked Gouda and Wine Sauce," from The Grit Restaurant Vegetarian Cookbook, by Jessica Greene and Ted Hafer. Athens, GA: Hill Street Press (2001), p. 64.

"Easy Rosemary Garlic Focaccia," from Adam and Joanne Gallagher of InspiredTaste.net.

Thanksgiving's Fun Foodstuffs

It's kind of terrific if the snackables brought out of the Roediger House kitchen are by demand, perhaps remembered and liked well enough to be specially requested. As guests came in from out of state over the Thanksgiving holiday, I tried to be ready with a couple of those. The South Carolina-style pimento cheese, pictured above, is a true staple (first made in 2011!) of the munchables inventory here; and Mexican restaurant white dipping sauce is a new staple in that same treasured list:

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

"Mexican Restaurant White Dipping Sauce," a recipe worked out by me, sampled by Spring Street, and approved of by all.

Eggnog Layer Cake and Brown Sugar Cinnamon Ice Cream

While perhaps the Thansgiving meal might have proven adequate for even the most robust appetites, the siren call of some sweet finisher could not be ignored. With advance effort Wednesday night, I tried out a new recipe for an eggnog layer cake, with its triple layers and an abundance of eggnog cream cheese buttercream frosting.

Ah, but cake brings forth a corresponding desire for ice cream, so Wednesday's kitchen shenanigans included making a batch of brown sugar cinnamon ice cream to churn and tuck away for serving Thursday night with that delicious cake. Not sure how we found room for it all, but dedication and fortitude were the merit badges earned by the assembled Thanksgiving throng.

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"Eggnog Layer Cake," from Lindsay Conchar of LifeLoveSugar.com. [Published 13 December 2022 / Updated 10 August 2023] Also took inspiration and ideas from "Eggnog Cake," by Olivia Bogacki of LivforCake.com. [Published 02 November 2020]

"Brown Sugar Cinnamon Ice Cream," from Heather Tullos of SugarDishMe.com. [Published 11 September 2015]

Meal No. 3489: Thanksgiving 2023

Thanksgiving: my favorite holiday, with its focus on food and friends and fellowship. At the Roediger House, it is very much a friendsgiving, a chance for whoever's available and interested to come and partake of a full afternoon and evening of hanging out, capped off by my best efforts to overwhelm us at dinnertime. For 2023, it was a nine-person confab, and the menu was slightly stripped down given that two among us were on the vegetarian train. A buttermilk-brined spatchcocked turkey was the centerpiece, but I still can't carve a turkey worth diddly. Exceptionally tasty layered green bean casserole and a dependable slow-cooker sweet potato casserole made their regular appearance. The stuffing recipe was an oldy but a goody, obtained 20 years ago from a woman in my hometown of Buies Creek, made with vegetable broth this time, and it was nearly gone by the end of supper. The turkey gravy was also on point, methinks. We had us a fine evening together, capped off with too much dessert, which will be the feature of tomorrow's blog post.

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Buttermilk-Brined Spatchcocked Whole Turkey based on:

• "Want to Make a Wonderful Flavorful Roast Turkey? Brine It in Dairy," by Nik Sharma (source article no longer available but consult "The Science of Wet Brining."). Also see "Golden Garlic Roast Turkey" and "Golden Turkey Gravy." Published in the former This Is a Cook Letter, 20 November 2021; Nik Sharma has moved his posts to Substack: "Welcome to the Flavor Files."
• "Samin Rosnat's Show-Stopping Buttermilk-Brined Turkey Breast Recipe," by Samin Rosnat in GoodFood: Autralia's Home of the Hats. [Published 30 November 2020]
• "Crisp-Skinned Spatchcocked Roast Turkey with Gravy," from J. Kenji López-Alt, former Culinary Director and current Culinary Consultant of SeriousEats.com. [Updated 21 October 2020]
• "This Thanksgiving, Let Science Help You Roast a Tastier Turkey," by Maria Godoy. From National Public Radio's Short Wave. [Published 21 November 2021]

"Layered Green Bean Casserole," a Jones Family favorite.

Adapted from "Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping," from Southern Living Slow-Cooker Cookbook,  (Oxmoor House, 2006), p. 234-235.

"Mary Margaret's Dressing," from Mary Margaret McKnight of Buies Creek, NC. Recipe obtained November 2002.

Meal No. 3488: Vegetable Plate & Southern Cornbread

I mean, I sometimes dig a vegetable plate meal. With Wednesday's dinner companions being of a vegetarian persuasion, a platter of roasted and variously spiced vegetables made good sense, and good eating...especially with a fresh batch of sweet southern cornbread to go with it all. This time around, the menu consisted of cubed Russet potatoes boosted with blackening spices, hoisin-and-garlic green beans, and roasted broccoli florets.

When I was at the kitchen sink that evening, I could see in the western sky some wonderful deep pink and gold hues from the setting sun, mixed with the darker more ominous clouds. I dashed around the corner to the nearby parking deck but was too late to capture the palette I'd witnessed. Still, here is the Roediger House, sturdy happy warm manse, in the northwest corner of the Holly Avenue Neighborhood, as a November evening headed into that good night:

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Sheet Pan Vegetables based on "One-Pan Pork Tenderloin with Green Beans and Potatoes," by Christie Morrison. In Cook's Country, October/November 2015, p. 27.

Adapted from "Sweet Southern Cornbread," adapted from "Golden Sweet Cornbread," from bluegirl on AllRecipes.com.

Eggnog Tres Leches Cake

Since I think I figured out the likely error I'd made last week with my first eggnog tres leches cake of the season, I was pumped to give it a second chance, just in time for the first night with this week's Thanksgiving guests from out of town. That's what appeared for dessert Tuesday night, once I'd made the sweetened whipped cream topping to spread fully out to the edges, and dusted it with fresh-ground nutmeg. This remains pretty high up on my slim list of reasons to like the seasonal shift into the cold and dark days.

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

Meal No. 3487: Tomato and Corn Pie

In the all-day rain and drear Tuesday, the Roediger House was brightened and warmed by the arrival of dear friends who'd traveled all the way from Oklahoma to be here for Thanksgiving. Always fun, remarkably entertaining, and undemanding, their presence here this week bolsters the duration of my favorite holiday. Of course, I did the usual scrambling after the obsessive list-making, getting linens and towels washed and snack foods and sweets prepped or prepared, but to satisfy their vegetarian proclivities, our dinner that evening was a terrific southern tomato and corn pie. Just a bit of salad with a choice of either Thousand Island or Caesar dressing gave it a touch of green, while leaving room for dessert a bit later that evening!

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Pulled together and based on the following evolving recipe history:

• "Tomato Pie," from the Swamp Rabbit Café in Greenville, SC.
• "Tomato and Corn Pie," from Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. [Published 27 August 2009]
• "Tomato and Corn Pie," by Maggie Ruggiero in Gourmet, August 2009, p. 42-43. [Published Online 15 July 2009]

"All-Butter Pie Crust," from King Arthur Test Kitchen of King Arthur Baking. See also "Butter vs. Shortening: The Great Pie Crust Bake-Off," by PJ Hamel of King Arthur Baking. [Published 23 November 2013]

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

"Thousand Island Dressing," which was based on a version from Graybert on GeniusKitchen.com.

Soft Eggnog Sugar Cookies

Well, last night I sure reached for the wrong recipe for eggnog sugar cookies, and ended up with puffy cakey bland-flavored concoctions. I've made notes befitting the result on that recipe print-out in my Cookies notebook so that this is not a repeated error.

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Based on "Soft Eggnog Sugar Cookies with Whipped Eggnog Frosting," from Mel Gunnell of Mel's Kitchen Cafe. [Published 14 December 2015]

Meal No. 3486: Cheddar Potato Soup

Once more my dinner efforts were minimized thanks to vacuum-sealed leftovers reheated via the sous vide. That’s how I could produce steaming bowls of cheddar potato soup last night without floundering for hours around the kitchen. And it was still quite delicious!

Meal No. 3485: Spaghetti Bolognese

Last night was a great chance to pull some saved bolognese from the freezer, drop it into the sous vide to reheat to the right temp, and cook up a pot of spaghetti to serve it all over. 'Twas tasty.

Meal No. 3484: Beef and Broccoli Braided Strudel

I spent my Friday over in Greensboro working in an elementary school with its instructional leadership team, so supper had to be easy and quick to throw together for the company that was coming. I still ran later than the standard RoHo dinnertime but it might have been worth the wait: beef and broccoli strudel in a puff pastry braid, with roasted cumin-coriander cauliflower florets, and homemade garlic cooking creme to top it off. It isn't so hard to pull off this dish but that finished product sure looks a bit fancy.

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Adapted to puff pastry from "Savory Garlic Beef & Broccoli Turnovers," by Kirsten Renee Shabaz of Minneapolis, MN. Taste of Home, November 2011, p. 31. (Go to food.com for a copy of the original recipe.)

Strudel version inspired by "Chicken Mushroom Strudel," from Chef John Mitzewich of FoodWishes.com and AllRecipes.com. [Published 28 October 2022[

Adapted from "Make Your Own Cooking Creme," from CKolden on epicurious.com. [Published 24 September 2015]

Meal No. 3483: Chicken Caesar Salad

With an evening virtual teaching session on the agenda yesterday, I depended on the convenience of the sous vide to help me pull off a mid-afternoon meal of chicken Caesar salad, on fresh chopped Romaine dressed with homemade creamy dressing. Some sunflower seeds as adornment, a tall glass of water to wash it down, and eggnog tres leches cake for a post-teaching dessert: Thursday was a good day at the Roediger House.

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

Eggnog Tres Leches Cake

With the holiday season rolling in, it's the perfect time to put some storebought eggnog to good use as a key ingredient of a much-loved version of tres leches cake. With nutmeg integrated into the sponge cake, and eggnog dominating among the three milks, and more fresh-grated nutmeg widely and wisely distributed atop the homemade sweetened whipped cream, this is a heady indulgence. That's what I brought out for dessert on Wednesday night, sad it was a nudge on the unexpectedly drier side, but happy that it still had all the sweet and spice I adore at this time of year.

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

Meal No. 3482: Salmon Croquettes with Chili-Lime Aïoli

After a good day of work next door in Guilford County Monday, I figured it wouldn't take long to throw together salmon croquettes using the leftover salmon from the weekend. A generous pan of roasted broccoli florets alongside made it a more than generous dinner.

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Adapted from "Salmon Burgers" (p. 396) and "Herb Sauce" (p. 395), from Denise Austin, Shrink Your Female Fat Zones, Rodale Books (2003).

"Chili-Lime Aïoli," from David Wald of Princeton, NJ, May 2009.

Meal No. 3481: Roasted Salmon Salad

Salmon on sale this weekend means I had to buy some, of course, which led to a sizable roasted portion sitting atop a bowl of Romaine...dressed with the last of some homemade Thousand Island dressing. That was the Sunday evening supper, with plenty left over with the hope of salmon croquettes to come in a day or so.

That Sunday afternoon had two particular highlights: "Voices from the Dwelling," sponsored by The Dwelling, a ministry devoted particularly to the unhoused; and running there into former neighbor and fellow educator Tryla.

Among the many passersby that Sumner helps the household connect with has been Marie, pictured below in the pinkish shirt in the middle, and who was the bringer of Scarlett to live here so happily with us. It was she who made a special effort to extend the invitation to this event at the Dwelling. It was moving and affecting to be there.

Once I was back in place at the house, though, I found myself drawn back to kitchen pursuits. With this past weekend’s shift in weather to a deeper feeling of autumn, accompanied by the return to standard time and its early darkness, plus the breezy rustle and soft crunch underfoot of the fallen leaves, I found nutmeggery on my mind.

Storebought eggnog from its early appearance at Trader Joe’s had been hanging out patiently in the fridge for me to get moving on something that foretold the holidays were coming, so Sunday I started slow and easy in the vein with a batch of eggnog sugar cookies. I like the way they turned out, although I wish not so much as to have so raised the tally of consumed cookies.

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"Soft & Chewy Eggnog Cookies," by Lindsay Conchar of LifeLoveandSugar.com. [Published 26 November 2019 / Updated 30 November 2021]

Meal No. 3480: Baked Chicken Quarters

Saturday was Veterans Day, all chilly and grey with an unfulfilled promise of light showers. I certainly missed the misplaced warmth from two days prior, when we tied a record of 82°F. A mid-day meal of comforting constitution was foremost on my mind, so seasoned baked chicken quarters with peas and stuffing were a plentiful portion on the plate.

Meal No. 3479: Vegetable Plate & Cornbread

Last Wednesday, when I did not make it to the store as I'd planned, I instead raided the larder for a dinner idea. What emerged was a vegetable plate, with spiced roasted sweet potatoes, roasted broccoli florets, and fresh warm sweet southern cornbread. It did not look like much on the plate but it sure tasted good.

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Adapted from "Sweet Southern Cornbread," adapted from "Golden Sweet Cornbread," from bluegirl on AllRecipes.com.

Update on the "Fire DeJoy" Sign

In the bright sunshine last Tuesday morning, around 10:30 am, some passerby walked right up the front steps, took my "Fire Louis DeJoy" sign off of its metal stakes, and absconded not with the sign, but with the stakes. Perhaps because it can be sold for recycling? Anyway, above is the video if you feel like watching it.

I must admit that this is a new one on me, given how many different political and election signs I've had in the yard over the years. The older security cameras do not capture images quite as clearly, so I've temporarily mounted one of my newer ones in a prime spot should the sign be molested again, as noted in the photo above.

And I took one other theft prevention step: way way back when we first got Cyprus, I'd picked up a yard stake that you can corkscrew into the ground to attach a leash or rope for play time. I found it on the back patio near the grill, spun it deeply into the soil in front of the porch, and dug a padlock out of a kitchen drawer. If it does not defeat a repeat thief, it will at least put him on camera for more footage of his attempted misdeeds. As a longtime educator, I'm willing to confess an appreciation both for the constructivist approach to learning, as well as a marked propensity to operate often very much as a behaviorist.

And look: speaking of wanting to support the hardworking employees of the postal service, the camera that day captured the mail hand-off from our excellent carrier that afternoon:

Cinnamon Crescent Rolls

During the spring I tried a new dessert recipe because it had a "National Day of..." attached to it and seemed worth experimenting with. These are cinnamon crescent rolls, so sinful and delicious that they caused an utter lack of restraint back in April. That's made me a little wary of bringing them back too soon. Alas, because they are so darned easy to make, and with nothing else up my sleeve to serve as dessert last Tuesday for the three of us at dinner, I decided all of that temptation would just have to be acceptable.

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"Cinnamon Crescent Rolls," from Julie Evink of Julie's Eats and Treats. [Published 27 February 2020 / Updated 08 September 2022]

Meal No. 3478: Braised Chicken and Brussels Sprouts

Just over a year has passed since I last made braised chicken and Brussels sprouts, a longtime favorite of the house after the recipe magazine it came from was shared with me by a dear friend and colleague named Donna. It's not a hard dinner to prepare but the results seem rather special nonetheless, even if the only other side is your basic stuffing steamed up on the cooktop.

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

Creamy No-Bake Cheesecake for the Crew

Following our baked ziti dinner last Sunday night, with six of us at the table, we returned after a brief hangtime break to partake of the evening's dessert option: creamy no-bake cheesecake. Not so very hard to put together, and light and delightful in its finished form, this sweet treat brought a fine evening to a close, just as our anticipation of the Monday icks began to settle on us.

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"Easy No-Bake Cheesecake," by Stella Parks, BraveTart and pastry wizard, and now an Editor Emeritus of SeriousEats.com. [Recipe Updated 30 October 2019 and 01 March 2023]

Meal No. 3477: Baked Ziti

Sunday night was a great evening at the Roediger House, with Amy and Gern and Kristen and Mookie over for dinner and visiting. They are good sports about my experimentations, so I thought we ought to try baked ziti, with the remainder of my homemade bolognese sauce plus a fresh batch of herbed tomato sauce I put together that afternoon.

We are all about the buffet style serving at the Roediger House, whether you're a regular diner or if you're a rare special visitor.

The simple salads were dressed with a burger-style "special sauce" riff, à la Thousand Island dressing, from a recipe I worked out a while back. I guess I got a little silly with all the ingredients, as the picture above might suggest.

I also thought I'd try chain-Italian restaurant-style breadsticks again, which turned out decent enough. I still need to practice these more, so that I can get a more consistent shape but also do a better job with the buttering and seasoning once they come out of the oven.

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"Baked Ziti," Nagi Maehashi of RecipeTinEats.com. [Published 07 March 2020 / Updated 10 January 2023]

"Beef & Cheddar Melts Sauce," a Roediger House creation.

"Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks," from Tessa Arias of HandletheHeat.com. [Published 13 December 2013]

Meal No. 3476: Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

The cold spell that hit us this week moved into a slow warm-up as last weekend came on, but Saturday morning was still mid-30s and it put a deep chill into me that also put me on a course for soup just after mid-day. I had potatoes and some ground beef I needed to use up, and bacon cheeseburger soup is pretty hard to beat. That steaming pot of hearty meat, tasty herbs, and creamy cheesed broth splashes temptingly into the bowls from the ladle, and then it's just a chorus of talkless slurping after that.

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"Bacon Cheeseburger Soup," from Catalina Castravet and Holly Nilsson of SpendwithPennies.com. [Published 01 March 2018]

The US Postal Service Is Suffering

The expansive churning and unending wake of destruction left by the "presidency" of the twice-impeached/four-time-indicted criminal defendent Donald J. Trump has far-ranging repercussions from which I don't think we will ever recover. From beginning to end, and from top to bottom, it played out like a criminal enterprise, with a grifter-in-chief attracting like-minded pickers of the public pocket, and today's blog post focuses on one of those in particular: Louis DeJoy, currently and inexplicably the Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service.

It's bad enough that, thus far, companies in which he has significant financial interests and/or companies that he owns or runs are being awarded sizable contracts from the USPS (see this from Forbes, or this from NBC News, and especially this article from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington).

It's not just dipping deeply into the public trough to line his own pockets and manipulate the awarding of contracts to maximize his companies' income and kneecap their competition. It's also the cynical and nefarious undercutting of the USPS service excellence especially in order to diminish the voting options via mail particularly for Democratic-leaning voters.

It is the larger and expansive impacting of the quality and timeliness of mail service that has become so very galling to me. Within the last year, when I made a concerted effort to be better about communicating with friends especially at birthdays and on special occasions or holidays, I quickly learned that there is no dependable timeframe for when to mail things. So I began attaching stickers of my own to mailed items, indicating when I actually put them into a post office box or dropped them off at a post office location. The first of those is above. Then, I modified it slightly for the Labor Day cards I sent out:

Regular blog readers are also probably among those who have received cards along the way, so some of you know how long it has taken for mail to reach you...

...or to wait in vain for mail that has never arrived. It took two-and-a-half weeks for a birthday card to get delivered to an address here in town, and mail to Oklahoma regularly takes 2-3 weeks. At least one card did not even receive a postmark until four days after I had mailed it. Recently, I had three pieces of mail returned to me with yellow USPS automated stickers saying they were unknown addressees and could not be forwarded.

Quite inexplicably, they had already received USPS barcoding and ZIP+4 codes that were correct for those addresses.

So now I'm just exceptionally angry about how the US Postal Service is being run. When Halloween cards went out, there was another date-stamp sticker to adorn the backs of the envelopes:

Update: Here's the label for the 2023 Christmas card envelope flaps:

And now I've made a yard sign:

All the US Postal Service employees I get to interact with are busting hump and are stretched incredibly thin. I hope they see in this my full support, as well as recognition that their jobs have become even more miserable, especially if a lot of customers are bitching and moaning at them instead of at the political crookedness of the leadership and those who appointed them. I lay it all at the feet of the Chief Enemy of the US Postal Service: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.