What to Eat the Week After Thanksgiving

The problem with Thanksgiving this year was not overeating on the big day. I am usually able to eat moderately during the Thanksgiving meal, and this year, my sister-in-law made efforts to include delicious vegetable dishes that didn't break the calorie bank. And...no mashed potatoes. Rather, it was almost an entire week of parties and celebrations due to the visit of healthier son home from college for the first time as well as visits from other beloved out of town guests.

For his first night home, dinner was these delicious Hungarian meatballs, which I had made ahead so that I could have dinner ready easily after returning from the airport. Wednesday night found us taking meat boy to a steak house, where though we were somewhat careful in our ordering (I had a green salad with vinaigrette, no creamed spinach and baked instead of mashed potato), I did eat red meat for a second day in a row. For turkey day, we limited ourselves to a later breakfast in light of the earlier and bigger dinner, and did the same on Friday when we had a large buffet dinner at our house (see last post!). Saturday lunch was a crowd for dim sum.

Now that things have quieted down and it's just the three of us, we are craving some lighter, vegetarian meals. On Monday I made this kale pesto/pasta dish using whole wheat fusilli, and though made with kale, it went over quite well with the kale kvetches. Tuesday I returned to what has become a new staple, the curried roasted cauliflower I wrote about a few weeks ago. Last night, I used our smoked turkey leftovers in this Pozole using hominy. With the rest of the big pot of hominy, I plan to make this tortilla soup.

I highly recommend this kale pesto. It sounds so weird, but is a great way to incorporate some kale into your dinner. It works well for lunch the next day, but the pesto itself doesn't hold for too long so use it quickly! In this dish, you might not mind the whole wheat pasta either.

Thanksgiving 2010

As in the recent past, I am not hosting Thanksgiving dinner. I will be a very happy guest at my brother and sister-in-law's home, bringing only the stuffing (changed up a little bit of course!). However, I do host a large gaggle of my extended family on Friday afternoon for a more casual buffet. In the past, I've often made my butternut squash lasagna, which is a lightened up version of a Bon Appetit recipe that calls for a ridiculous amount of cheese. My version is still rich and delicous, but doesn't quite pack the same high fat punch. The last time I made it, I used sheets of fresh spinach pasta which was both delicious and attractive.

This year I've ordered a ham and a smoked turkey breast from Edwards of Virginia. Ham is always a fun and easy buffet option (and I get a bone for soup!) for the non-kosher and the smoked turkey, though repetitive, provides me with the turkey leftovers I otherwise wouldn't have. My plan is to provide pretty heavy hors d'oeuvres and then the turkey and ham with an assortment of condiments and light sides. I'll flesh that out with a large salad garnished with persimmon and pomegranate seeds and rolls and call it dinner. As a nod to the large number of kids in attendance, I'll also make this "beefaroni" type casserole, though I'll make tons as this tends to attract adults as well.

I've already made two cranberry dishes: a simple cardamom infused sauce and a more complex gingered cranberry fig chutney. I also cooked down this Tuscan onion confit for several hours until it was beautifully caramelized, and made a batch of this tapenade. On Friday morning I'll roast off a couple of butternut sqash and some parsnips for this delicious sounding puree.

Dessert will be simple after the two day eating frenzy. Vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce and a cranberry cake from a Dorie Greenspan recipe. If I'm feeling very ambitious, I'll also do some seasonal biscotti and cranberry oat squares.

If you need more side dish ideas, I encourage you to consult food52.com which has a wealth of great ideas. In addition, check out my comfort mash and fall farro salad for a slightly healthier bent.

Roasted Curried Cauliflower

I've been truly addicted to food52 lately, and testing many more recipes from that site than creating my own (though I rarely leave any recipe alone!), but here's one more "share." I thought I've roasted cauliflower to death, but this dish really caught my eye and proved to be a popular one with my tasters. I tested this for food52 several weeks ago during the contest for "your best cauliflower." This one, as well as one of mine, were selected as Editors' Picks, which means something but I'm not sure what. I guess it's like getting Honorable Mention.

If you like the flavor of curry, and have a decent powdered blend or a recipe to make one, I highly recommend you try this out soon! It is an easy, easy, recipe to prep - just cut up the cauliflower, open a can of chick peas, cut an onion and toss it all in a curry vinaigrette. Then just pour yourself a glass of wine and relax while your oven does the rest, roasting until the cauliflower mellows and starts to brown and the chickpeas get crispy and delicious. OK, maybe stir it up once or twice. It can be a vegetarian dinner for 3 or so with just some rice alongside, or can be a side dish for four with some protein, maybe shrimp or salmon roasted at the same time.

I cut the oil and vinegar back by half but kept the amounts for the spices the same. After tossing the veggies with the vinaigrette and arranging them on the baking sheet, I then added about one more tablespoon of olive oil to the bowl in which I made the vinaigrette to get out the rest of the spices stuck to the bowl, and then drizzled that over top of the cauliflower. I also set my oven at 425 instead of the 400 degrees specified.

Delicious!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies

I saw these cookies on my feed yesterday and made them today! These will be a part of the snack for Maddy's tennis team at their match today. I think these are really great - easy to make, delicious and pretty healthy to boot! Oatmeal and pumpkin puree instead of butter amp up the health factor, but some chocolate chips added in provide an extra treat.

I subbed in whole wheat pastry flour (you could probably also use white whole wheat as well) in a one-to-one exchange to make these even healthier. I did have to leave the cookies in the oven about 3 or 4 minutes more than the recipe states. I happened to have mini chips in the house, which worked fine, but I used a bit less than 6 oz. and they were plenty chocolatey. Make sure you use the parchment paper, though, as these are pretty sticky and it's much easier to peel them off the paper and have a clean pan.

Give these a try for a healthy fall treat!

Salmon for Two and a Half

Every once in a while, Costco has a piece of wild sockeye salmon. I can't resist the price which is quite a bit less than the price at Whole Foods but the drawback is the size of the package. They sell their salmon in really large packages and though the price might be what I would pay for a one pound section elsewhere, there are only three of us eating.

The last time I found wild salmon at Costco, I bought a package that was on the smaller side for them, two full fillets, together a little over two pounds. This time I had a plan: two meals from one package. For our first dinner we'd have the salmon roasted with a coating of mustard and bread crumbs and then I'd make salmon cakes a couple of days later. I was able to put both pieces in the oven in the same pan, at the same time, saving lots of effort. One had the mustard and crumbs, and the other I simply salted and peppered and coated with a little garlic and olive oil.

We enjoyed our mustard crumb salmon and then the plainly prepared piece provided both for a topping for my lunch (a small chunk over soba noodles) and then the basis for the salmon cakes. I served the cakes over a lightly dressed arugula salad alongside some whole wheat pasta with a light tomato pesto.

Salmon Cakes

(serves 3)

1 pound piece of wild salmon, poached or roasted and cooled. I have seen, but not tried, plain cooked and flaked salmon at Trader Joe's and I bet this would work too)
1/4 cup creme fraiche
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs, divided in two
2 tablespoons capers (I like the salt packed), soaked and rinsed several times, and then roughly chopped
zest from 1/2 lemon
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons fresh chives, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil for "frying"

1. If you don't have leftover salmon and want to roast a piece to use for this, preheat oven to 400 degrees and salt and pepper the salmon and coat with a little olive oil. Put in oven for about 20 minutes - you want to fully cook the salmon but not let it get too dry. Let cool and then flake.

2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Mix all ingredients except 1/4 cup bread crumbs and the olive oil in a medium bowl, careful not to break up the salmon pieces too much. Once fully incorporated, mold into six cakes. Dip both sides of each cake into the remaining bread crumbs and pan fry over medium heat in the olive oil. If you have a cast iron pan that would be fine, as would a nonstick. Once the salmon cakes are lightly browned on both sides, place on a cookie sheet in the oven for about 10 minutes to finish cooking.

Serve with a green salad - I like arugula with this!