Adieu NaBloPoMo

Still sad I couldn't make it this year. I did it last year, though!

Friends are suggesting I make another month my own private NaBloPoMo -- like a DeBloPoMo. I just might do it.

Top 10 Foods to Buy Organic

If, like me, you are working hard to trim down your expenses as much as possible, and you have looked at your food bills and gasped, then you're probably trying to figure out what kind of produce is most critical to buy organic.

Because even though I wish I could buy everything organic, the fact is that it is just cost-prohibitive right now. Sad but true.

So.... without further ado, I present the Top 10 Foods to Buy Organic:

RANK	FRUIT OR VEGGIE	SCORE
1 (worst)	Peaches	100 (highest pesticide load)
2	Apples	96
3	Sweet Bell Peppers	86
4	Celery	85
5	Nectarines	84
6	Strawberries	83
7	Cherries	75
8	Lettuce	69
9	Grapes - Imported	68
10	Pears	65

Keep in mind, there are 33 other items on this list of foods it's important to buy organic (spinach, potatoes, and carrots are items 11, 12, and 13), but these are the 10 most important ones. I am never touching a non-organic peach ever again!

You can print out a handy little wallet guide here.

New Thanksgiving Plans

Well, as it turns out, hubby and I got invited over to a friend's house for Thanksgiving. So.... I won't be making the menu I had planned. Which is kind of sad, but also totally fine!

I will, however, be making my beloved green beans and cranberry sauce to bring over. And I'm making extra cranberry sauce so I can make the Morning-After Muffins.

Speaking of green beans, my mom is making them this year, too -- except she's serving hers warm. Which will still be totally delicious.

What are you doing this year?

Thanksgiving Planning

As I get ready for a week from today (!), my first step is to plan our menu for Thanksgiving. Keep in mind this is meant to be a simple dinner for two.

And here are my thoughts so far:

• Turkey Roulade with Wild Mushroom Stuffing (I am looking for the recipe for this specific dish online; currently it only lives in my November Everyday Food magazine.)
• Some sort of potato dish -- trying to decide between creamy mashed potatoes or something more like the Pioneer Woman's creamy herbed potatoes (like scalloped potatoes).
• French Green Beans with Crispy Shallots and Mustard Sauce
• Cranberry Relish
  
• Winston's Peppermint Brownies with Straus Vanilla Ice Cream

And, of course, for Black Friday:

• Cranberry Sauce Morning-After Muffins
  

What am I missing/forgetting? Do you have any recipes that I simply cannot miss this year?

Learn How To Make Challah...For Free!

Okay I know this sounds like one of those crazy, annoying, low-budget TV commercials, but in this case, it's actually true.

Aish.com has partnered with Jewish Software to make this DVD with step by step instructions on how to make challah bread free. You just need to pay shipping and handling.

Mmmm....what is better than french toast made with challah?

My Favorite Thanksgiving Food Network Special

Hands-down, it is Paula Deen's Southern Thanksgiving episode from 2005.

And apparently the people over at the Food Network know how special this Special is, because they re-play it every year.

I've already set our DVR to record it -- run out and set yours now, too! (Only two more showings left, my friends! Nov 20, 2008 @ 3:00 AM ET and Nov 23, 2008 @ 4:00 PM ET!)

You do NOT want to miss Paula and the boys cooking up the most insanely un-healthy-looking meal of all time. How does this family not have diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart attacks every day?!?

And you really, really do not want to miss hearing Paula say "sweet potato balls!" over and over. That line is a classic in our house, no matter the season.

Plus you get to see her make a turducken, which...holy moly has there ever been a weirder and yet awesomer idea for a dish? I thought it was an urban myth until not too long ago. And then I saw Paula make hers and WOW. Just wow. It is real. Very real. If any of you out there have ever made one, I want to know: does it really turn out like hers does? Can you really just carve into it and get a helping of tur, duc, and ken all in one?

My brother has been obsessed with turducken for quite some time. Maybe this is your year to GO FOR IT, bro. Seriously. If you make one, I want pictures!

I also love how she sneaks bites from all her dishes, including her pies, and covers it up with icing or a strategically placed garnish. That is so me.

Caption This

The good folks at Serious Eats have posted about the New Yorker's Turkey Cartoon Captioning Contest. Looks like a great opportunity for a little stardom for someone with a little wit. (Dan Tobin, I'm lookin' at you.)

Finalists for this week's cartoon will appear online Monday, December 1 and in the December 8 print issue.

So get a-captionin'! And please, put your ideas/entries in the comments here, too!

So here's what my (lame) attempt would be:

I thought for sure the prize for most sales this quarter would be something not so fowl.

Wah wah wah. I know, I know.

Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes

There really are so many different authorities and recipes for the "perfect" mashed potatoes.

I really appreciated this article from last year's New York Times which breaks it all down and tells you what the really important components are, and which variables don't matter.*

And that really, perfect mashed potatoes don't have to be difficult or time-consuming to make.

*(Hint: you can use whichever kind of potato you prefer, but you can't use whichever kind of masher you prefer.)

Funny Squash Soup

My best friend's sister's husband -- also known as her brother-in-law, I guess -- has a blog. (Well, he actually has two, but you don't even want to know about that second one. Unless you're my husband and you think it is awesome and hilarious. Sigh.)

Anyway, best friend's brother-in-law is pretty funny. And today, he posted a funny recipe! About squash. Couldn't believe it. Although I think if there was a contest for funniest vegetable, squash would be in the running. It just is funny. Even its name is funny.

You should check it out.

Michael Pollan for Secretary of Agriculture!

Holy moly I daren't even dream of it.

Sign the petition!

And after today's editorial in The New York Times about our country's own problem with melamine (nevermind China's), someone like Pollan in the cabinet seems more critical than ever.

"For all the outrage about Chinese melamine, what American consumers and government agencies have studiously failed to scrutinize is how much melamine has pervaded our own food system. In casting stones, we’ve forgotten that our own house has more than its share of exposed glass."

Basically reading that editorial makes me want to never have to eat again. There's just too much scary stuff happening in our food chain to be able to be sure you're safe from it.

Sadly, not eating again is not an option. So hubby and I are re-devoting ourselves to being very careful about the meat we eat and the produce we buy. Local, non-industrial organic (ie, not Earthbound Farms and not Horizon Organic Dairy) is as safe as we can get, for now.

Can you imagine if someone like Pollan were in charge to help us get out of this royal food mess we're in?

Thinking Thanksgiving

Speaking of Thanksgiving, it is now officially 2 weeks away, and I am feeling the pressure of needing to figure out what the F we're going to do around here at Casa Dena.

I am lucky enough to get the week of Thanksgiving off from work this year, so I am torn between wanting to cook up an amazing feast that takes me all week to prepare and wanting to keep it simple and to one day of cooking, making something new instead of the traditional old bird.

As I find great-sounding recipes for The Big Day, I will post them here. For now, here's a roundup of some great recipes I've seen so far, including some I am pondering cooking up myself this year:

• Turkey Roulade (the recipe I've got my eye on is from Everyday Food with a wild mushroom stuffing, but the one from Gourmet linked to here also looks delicious.)
• Cranberry Sauce Morning-After Muffins (um okay you know how cranberry sauce is my most favorite of Thanksgiving dishes.... these muffins are so genius!)
• The awesome Pioneer Woman has a GREAT round-up of her amazingly rich and buttery Thanksgiving recipes... I am seriously considering making her Creamy Herbed Potatoes.
• And what list of recipes would be complete without something from Martha?

What are you making this year? Are you going traditional or new? Any favorite recipes you'd care to share?

A Turkey A Day...

Keeps Thanksgiving away? Or something....

Anyway, the great folks over at Serious Eats have teamed up with D'Artagnan and they are giving away one organic turkey a day!

All you have to do is visit here, peruse their Thanksgiving recipes, then leave a comment here about which recipe "sounds the yummiest." Easy!

And you can enter every day!

Thanksgiving Recipe Contest

The awesome Organic Valley co-op is having a recipe contest for best Thanksgiving recipe. I will definitely be entering (currently deciding which recipe to feature...my new fave, Butternut-Chanterelle Bisque, is in the running for sure), and I urge you to do the same!

And if you win, you have to let me know!

(I only buy Organic Valley milk, cream, and butter anymore, after finding out about the very sketchy integrity of organic dairy. They're a great co-op.)

Thinking of Brisket

Okay so I've never had brisket, much less cooked it. But it looks so appealing -- delicious beef, braised with delicious ingredients, all hearty and rich-seeming.

So I am thinking of giving it a try this winter.

I have two recipes to guide me -- one from MyJewishLearning.com and one from my recent copy of my beloved Martha Stewart Everyday Food.

I will likely go with the Martha recipe -- for many reasons, not the least of which is that it includes cranberries, one of my very favorite fruits of all time -- with some tweaks that I get from the MJL recipe.

Have any of you ever made brisket? Do you have any tips? I won't be using a slow cooker (I don't have one); I'll be using my beloved Le Creuset dutch oven. (Who needs a slow cooker when you have a dutch oven?)

Adieu NaBloPoMo Aspirations

Sadly, Election Day just kicked my butt and I failed on the posting-every-day NaBloPoMo phenomenon like right out of the park. :-(

Sorry, everyone. Hope I haven't let you down.

But this doesn't mean I won't be posting this November! It's kind of a pressure release, actually.

Anyway, I am thinking of putting some ads up on Dena's Recipe Exchange. Which is something I never thought I'd do, but well -- let's just say, if it generates any extra income at all, it will be most welcome here at Casa Dena.

I hope you don't mind them too much, and I hope you'll still read this blog. Let me know of your thoughts either way!

Election Day Deliciousness

If you know, helping to decide our nation's future isn't enough of an incentive to vote today, here are 3 more that should lure your tummy into wanting to vote:

1. Free coffee at Starbucks. Starbucks locations nation-wide will be giving out free cups of regular coffee (tall, of course) to patrons who have voted. I got mine this morning, in fact.

2. Krispy Kreme is preparing special star-shaped Election Day donuts for each customer sporting an "I Voted" sticker.

3. And what Election Day would be complete without a free scoop of Ben & Jerry's ice cream? Of course, good old Ben and Jerry don't want to "bribe" you to vote. They're celebrating democracy by giving free ice cream to all (but only between the hours of 5 and 8 p.m.).

h/t to the Weekly Standard.

10 Ways To Improve Cooking

Yes, this is old. But it is still so relevant!

My favorite is #1 -- hubby grows me rosemary and thyme on our front porch in a little planter. I love that!

And I know my husband's favorite will be #4. Definitely.

Mark Bittman's Kasha Varnishkes

The New York Times' Mark Bittman is making kasha varnishkes today. It looks DELISH. I am so in the mood for comfort food -- pasta is definitely it.

And I'm expanding my Jewish food repertoire!

P.S. Love his blog, Bitten. Check it out.

Butternut Squash & Chanterelle Bisque

OMG so remember I went to a "Wild About Oregon Mushrooms" cooking class a couple of weeks ago?

Well, it was delicious. As expected. And I got some great tips and interesting facts about mushrooms. And delicious recipes, all of which I hope to make on my own and post here.

The teacher was the head chef and owner of a cute little local Eugene restaurant called Three Square Cafe. (I'd link to their website if they had one.) He was joined by a very knowledgeable guy from MycoLogical Natural Products of Eugene. They are awesome. They supply all the mushrooms to markets and restaurants in this area, as well as throughout and outside of Oregon. What is amazing is that they source most of their mushrooms from the wild; few of their mushrooms are cultivated.



First, a couple of fun facts:

• Fall is Chanterelle season. And oh is it ever, here in Oregon! Chanterelles are popping up all over. Friends have gone out foraging and come back with 5-lb buckets full! Mmm mmm mmmm.
• Did you know chanterelles need a relationship with a tree to grow? And the best circumstances for their successful growth is old trees -- so Oregon's old-growth forests are KEY to their proliferation in Oregon. So if you can't care about protecting old-growth forests for the many reasons that exist, then please -- care about them FOR THE CHANTERELLES!
• The smaller a chanterelle mushroom, the creamier and more flavorful it will be.
• Did you know shiitake mushrooms have cancer-fighting properties?

Now, onto the recipe. A word of warning: this soup is FREAKING DELICIOUS. And very rich. You might become a little addicted to it. Don't say I didn't warn you.



Three Square Cafe's Butternut Squash & Chanterelle Bisque

This insanely delicious and autumnal soup would be a GREAT Thanksgiving dish. It can be made up to a day in advance. On the day of serving, warm it and then you can hold the soup in a 140F oven, and it will wait til serving time. It is also very pretty, and would be a great crowd-pleaser -- it's very impressive.

• 1 3lb. butternut squash
• 1 cup yellow onions, diced very small
• 1/2 cup carrots, diced very small
• 1/2 cup sweet potatoes, diced very small
  
• 3 cloves garlic (I used 6, because we're crazy garlic fiends), smashed and then roughly chopped
• 1 cup chanterelle mushrooms, chopped (use the whole thing, stem included!)
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 2 cups good quality chicken stock
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup heavy cream (DO NOT forego the cream or replace with half-and-half. It is simply not the same.)
• 1 tbsp. rosemary (from your garden or front porch planter, if possible!)
  
• 1 tsp. cinnamon (I halved this)
  
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar (I used just 1 tbsp.)

Split (length-wise) and de-seed the butternut squash, then brush the innards with olive oil. Roast at 375F for 1 hour or until flesh is soft. Remove flesh with spoon and discard the rest.

Saute onions, sweet potatoes, and carrots in a saucepan with not too much olive oil. Let the pan get nice and hot before adding them. Then let them really get translucent before adding anything to them.

Add chanterelles and rosemary to mix, cook until tender.

Add garlic and honey, stir.

Add stock, then cream and milk. Stir to combine and take a whiff of the heavenly scents you've got going on.

Add cinnamon and brown sugar, then add squash.

At this point, you can either puree in a Cuisinart or blender, OR do what I did when I realized my hand-held blender went on the fritz and died: use your potato masher to mash and stir, mash and stir. This actually wasn't a pain at all, and I would do it again. Totally worked.

Simmer on low for 10-15 more minutes to let the flavors meld.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

ENJOY. Makes fantastic leftovers.