I love everything about Thanksgiving- from the decorating, to the cooking, to the eating (ok, maybe not the clean-up)- but one thing I don’t love is the idea of chemicals and “manufactured food products” masquerading as my favorite foods.
When you’re planning your meal, I’m sure you’re not planning on cooking with and serving “Sodium Bisulfite”, “Partially Hydrogenated Oil”, “Pyrophosphate”, “Disodium Guanylate”, “Disodium Inosinate”, “Propyl Gallate”, and a slew of other unknown items. However, if you’re using one of these boxed options you’re serving all of this and more.
One of the things I hear most often from other moms is that it’s time consuming to eat real food all the time. It’s so much easier to grab a pre-packaged mix. Well, here’s a little secret: You don’t need to buy packaged mixes! You can make your own in 5 minutes. Here’s a “pre-made mix” I created that you can use any time you want to make things like pancakes, muffins, and biscuits. Trust me, take 5 minutes to mix this together and it’ll save you lots of time later. Continue reading
One of the best things about a nor’easter is that it’s a perfect time to make fish chowder (assuming the storm doesn’t shut down your electricity!). This weekend we had our second – or maybe it’s the third – storm so far this season and it’s looking like we’re in for a bad winter, so we officially welcomed the cold weather by chowing down on chowder. This dish is a blend of two authentic New England recipes – my husband’s grandmother’s recipe and John F. Kennedy’s recipe that was published in a newspaper years ago. It’s definitely a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs meal that will warm and fill you up with delicious, real, ingredients. Enjoy!
New England Fish Chowder
Author: Carrie Saunders
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
2 lbs firm white fish (Pollock, haddock, etc.)
2 cups fish stock
4 large potatoes – peeled and cubed (Yukon Gold are good)
1 vidalia onion – chopped
1 celery stalk – finely diced
4 slices bacon cut into 1/4″ pieces
2 1/2 T flour (I use white whole wheat)
1/4 c white wine
1 t salt
1 bay leaf
black pepper to taste
3 cups half and half
2 T butter
Instructions
In a large pot simmer the fish in the fish stock for about 15 minutes, or until just under done.
Remove fish to a plate and cut into bite sized pieces, removing any bones at the same time.
Transfer stock to a separate bowl.
In the same pot add the bacon and cook until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve.
Add diced onion to the bacon grease in the pot and sauté until translucent – about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour over the onion mixture and stir to make a roux. Stir constantly to slightly cook, but not burn, the flour.
Stir the stock back into the pot, stirring constantly until the flour mixture and stock are well combined.
Add the celery, salt, pepper and bay leaf.
Bring to a boil and add the wine.
Reduce heat to medium and add the potatoes.
Cook at a low boil for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.
Add half and half and stir to combine.
Add butter and stir while melting.
Add fish and slowly heat until all is warm.
Crumble reserved bacon on top and serve with crusty bread and salad.
I love everything about Thanksgiving- from the decorating, to the cooking, to the eating (ok, maybe not the clean-up)- but one thing I don’t love is the idea of chemicals and “manufactured food products” masquerading as my favorite foods.
