Grilled Chicken, Basil Mashed Potatoes, and Greasy Beans

I have been on a self-imposed cooking hiatus, and it's about time to resume cooking again. I decided to get a little more creative in the kitchen today. Usually I follow recipes, but today I just looked at what I had and made things up as I went along, with a little help from the Joy of Cooking.

For the grilled chicken, I took two boneless skinless chicken breasts and sprinkled Penzey's Singapore Seasoning on it. I grilled them outside, and basted them with some Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce as they were cooking. The seasoning adds a little more depth to the flavor than just using barbecue sauce alone.

For the potatoes, I boiled six or seven russet potatoes until they were soft, coarsely mashed them, then added soy milk, a couple tablespoons of butter, a handful of chopped fresh basil leaves, salt, and pepper. They were tasty, and the basil was a nice addition to your standard mashed potatoes. I used soy milk because that's what we had (I was planning to use buttermilk, but realized we were out at the last minute).

I went to the Johnson City farmer's market this past weekend and picked up some fresh green beans. They had a few different varieties there, and I had no idea what the differences were between them. I had seen the greasy variety before (an heirloom variety), and decided to try those this time (they were fifty cents more a pound than the other ones, so they must be better, I thought). They take a little more work than regular green beans because you have to string them, but they are way better than your average grocery store bean. I boiled them in salted water for about 6-8 minutes. My husband said they taste like a cross between a green bean and edamame. Yum.

So, my home cooked meal tonight was nothing fancy, but I've come to realize that it doesn't have to be. It was yummy and we were happy.

Thanksgiving Dinner

I'm backtracking here, since I just started this blog. Since this was the very first Thanksgiving dinner I have ever made, I wanted to document it for posterity. :)



The bird
I bought a 15 pound turkey for the five of us, so that we could feast on leftovers for days to come. I should have taken it out of the freezer on Sunday. Alas, I took it out on Monday evening, and by Thursday morning it was still very frozen. I woke up at 5 am to defrost it in a big bucket of water. I used Alton Brown's Good Eats Roast Turkey recipe and brined the turkey before roasting it. I fortuitously discovered the giblet bag a few minutes before I put the turkey in the oven (like I was supposed to read the directions and know that there were two bags of icky parts inside the turkey and not just one?). The turkey took about an hour longer to cook than I thought it would, but the final product was fantastic. It was amazingly moist and got rave reviews from everyone at the table. It's sort of anticlimactic to make a great turkey the first time around - it can only be downhill from here!

The rest
Wild Rice, Apple, and Dried Cranberry Stuffing
This was good, but became excellent the next day. The cranberries softened, and the flavors melded together more.
Green Beans with Crushed Almonds
Okay. I tasted the garlic more than the almonds. I guess it's hard to make green beans very exciting.
Roasted Carrots
These are awesome and really easy. Who knew roasting carrots would make them so delicious?
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Always a treat. I use the recipe from the new Joy of Cooking. I add a little bit of fresh lemon juice. I used to not like sweet potatoes until I rediscovered them this year. My only previous experience with them were with candied yams, which were too sweet and sticky. When I want vegetables, give me vegetables. Not this candied stuff.
Cranberry Sauce
I will never use cranberry sauce out of a can again.
Quick Gravy
Also from the Joy of Cooking. I thought it was going to make way too much gravy but it turned out about right.
Pumpkin Pie with Spiced Whipped Cream
Yummy. The whipped cream was good, but not a whole lot better than plain ol' whipped cream.
Crunch Top Apple Pie
Too gooey and didn't keep its shape.

I didn't think I would, but I enjoyed being in the kitchen all day. My sister was helping me, and I had all the time in the world to prepare things. It was so relaxing. Cooking as therapy - who knew?