Easter Recipe Rundown

Happy Easter, all!  If I had my act more together, I would have posted Easter recipes over the last couple of weeks, so that people could feasibly recreate any recipes that seemed appealing.  But alas, I am not.  The good news, though, is that the recipes I'm sharing now are good any time of year, not just at Easter!

My husband and I were alone this Easter, which just means...more leftovers!  I only scaled back slightly on the food.  We had a small orange-glazed ham, twice-baked potatoes, honey and curry glazed carrots, and steamed asparagus.  The recipes for the ham glaze and the potatoes are worth trying for any special occasion!

The ham glaze was perhaps the best I've had.  I'm not the biggest fan of orange-flavored things, but the recipe got great reviews on the Food Network website, and I've had great luck with Ina Garten's recipes, so I decided to give it a try.  The twice-baked potatoes are a standby in our house. (Note: normally, I like to make them with smaller potatoes, but our grocery store only had these enormous Paul Bunyan-size russet potatoes; as a result, my husband and I shared one large potato.)

Here are links to the recipes, if you're interested.  I can't say enough about the ham--I'm actually looking forward to the leftovers this week!

Orange-baked ham: Ina Garten (Note: the recipe is for a very large ham; since I wasn't feeding 30 people, I got a much smaller--and boneless--ham.  As a result, I cut the glaze recipe in half.)

Sour cream and chive twiced baked potatoes: Everyday Food

New Year's Resolution: Help Me Help You

Happy New Year, all!  My apologies for my long absence from the blogosphere. My husband and I were in Kentucky over the holidays visiting my parents, and our trip was unexpectedly extended a couple of days when our flight home was canceled. When we were able to get home, we were swept up into work, New Year's events, and a sick cat.  Everything is okay for now, and I hope to be a better food blogger in 2011.  I'm not going to make that an official resolution, though, because that's a surefire way to make sure it doesn't happen! 

I received a totally adorable pink netbook computer as a Christmas gift from my dear husband, which should increase my ability to blog in the new year (allowing me to do so from any room in the house!).  Unfortunately, the screen is defective, and we're having to ship it back for a replacement. In the meanwhile, I thought I'd ask for some help from you, my dear readers (all three or four of you), and share a New Year's-themed recipe (sorry, no pictures!).

First, my request.  What do you want to see in this blog in 2011?  Recipes for specific dishes?  How-to's on specific things (the proper way to dice an onion, how I prefer to peel garlic quickly, etc.)?  Just pictures?  Please be specific if you can--I can keep going posting some of my favorite recipes, but I'd feel less self-indulgent if I knew my posts might be helpful for useful!

Now back to cooking.  Growing up in my family, it was a tradition to have a pork roast and sauerkraut on New Year's Day.  I never quite got into the southern tradition of black-eyed peas, despite all my years living in the south, so I needed to figure out my own pork and sauerkraut.  Last year I tried to the recipe from my edition of Joy of Cooking, and let me tell you--it was a winner.  I'm told this recipe only appears in the most recent edition, as my mom had never heard of it.  What makes this so yummy is that is pleases both those who like sauerkraut (me, in smallish doses) and those who don't!  The kraut in this case is made up of half fresh cabbage (which is braised along with the pork in broth and beer and herbs) and half rinsed sauerkraut.  It still has a tang, certainly, but it's much milder and not as vinegary as what many of us expect.  I made the same recipe again this year, and was once again very pleased (and so were my dinner guests!).

And so, here is the recipe.  Enjoy!  (Below the cut.)

Recipe Snapshots: Christmas Cookies

Because work and life have been very busy this December, I haven't had the opportunity yet to back any Christmas cookies.  This pains me.  But it will be remedied soon, when my husband and I head to Kentucky to visit my mom and step-dad for Christmas.  My mom and I plan to get our bake on!  Seeing that many of you may wish to do some baking this weekend, here are some of the recipes I used last year, most of which are likely to be repeated this year!

Peanut Butter Kisses:  We all remember these from childhood, right?  Well, I had to make them myself, and they were easy and delicious.  The recipe made about 93847587583 cookies, though, so keep that in mind.  I also made a slight upgrade to the basic recipe: I used the dark chocolate kisses.  Yum!

More recipes (and pictures!) below the cut!

Thanksgiving Tidbits

My apologies for being a neglectful food blogger.  My husband and I took a long weekend last weekend to visit my undergraduate alma mater and attend a football game.  There was no cooking to be done.  And since our return, I seem to have picked up a head cold, so the only cooking going on in our house has been microwaved soup.  I hope to pick things up again after Thanksgiving--so many Christmas recipes to dream about!

Nevertheless, Thanksgiving is next week.  My husband and I will be visiting his parents in New Jersey for the holiday, so I won't be cooking.  Part of me is relieved, but a bigger part is actually sad not to be hosting.  I've made Thanksgiving dinner a couple of times in years past, and with careful planning, it's actually been pretty fun!  And being the control freak that I am, I LOVE planning menus.  But such is life!

For those of you who have not yet planned out your Thanksgiving menu in full, I thought I'd share a couple of recipes I've really enjoyed--high on flavor, low on effort.  I can't share my favorite recipe (mashed potatoes), because it's a family secret.  Well, not really--mostly I don't follow a recipe.  I cook potatoes and mash them up with butter, milk, and sour cream.  And voila, mashed potatoes.  Anticlimactic, isn't it?

Fresh Herb Stuffing from Real Simple magazine: I also sauteed some sliced mushrooms and added those to the mix when I made this. I like this recipe because you can completely control how moist your stuffing is.  I prefer mine to be soft but not soggy (all the better to cover in gravy), but I know my husband likes his much drier.  (I give him the crustier edges.)  I like this recipe because it's easy, has a traditional flavor, and it shares many of the same ingredients as other dishes, so it's low stress.  I enjoy a fancy sausage stuffing as much as the next girl, but really, if you're making dinner by yourself, why make it more complicated than it needs to be?

Cranberry and Dried Cherry Relish from Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine: Could this be any easier???  No!  And that's why it's perfect.  You can spice it up with some cinnamon and/or ginger if you'd like, but this is also good as is.  And the fact that you could make it in your sleep doesn't hurt!

Please promise me that you'll make your own gravy.  Promise?  It's really quite easy, and it seems a shame to waste the juices from the gorgeous turkey you roasted.  If you've been to scared to try it in the past, just follow these steps.  Classic Gravy from Real Simple.  If you don't have wine on hand, you can just use more broth.

Also note that if you've got a smaller group to cook for, go ahead and roast a turkey breast rather than a whole turkey.  Because you're only cooking the breast meat, it will cook faster and more evenly, and it will be the juiciest turkey you've ever had.  Trust me!  Because the breast is leaner, you'll have fewer juices in the pan for gravy, FYI.

Best of luck, everyone!  Happy Thanksgiving!