Blog Carnivals, Hops and Links...Oh My!

Ferris Wheel by Jeanette ONeil

I'll admit that I didn't really start reading blogs until I started my own (more on that here). When I would read "This post is part of XYZ blog hop" at the bottom of the page, I thought it was something the blogger had been invited to join. I finally learned that these blog hops were available to me too, and I'm so glad I did. I have loved learning about all sorts of new and interesting blogs out there by visiting blog hops.

A while back Alex at A Moderate Life did a post on all the the blog hops and carnivals that she participates in. I found this to be a great resource and bookmarked it and referred to it on a regular basis. But now some time has gone by, and many of the blog hops have changed. So I decided to create an updated list, and thought I would share it with all of you too. Many of these are cooking related, but not all. (* indicates general hop) Are there other blog hops that you participate in or host? Please add them in the comments and I will add them to the list.

Monday
Menu Planning Monday at I am an Organizing Junkie
My Meatless Mondays at My Sweet and Savory
Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist
Homemaker Monday at 11th Heaven's Homemakers Haven
Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou*
Delicious Recipes at A Southern Fairytale
Just Another Meatless Monday at Hey What's for Dinner Mom?
Midnight Maniac Meatless Mondays
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative*

Tuesday
Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers
Traditional Tuesday at Cooking Traditional Food
Tuesday Glam Party at Giggles, Glitz and Glam
Tempt my Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
Tasty Tuesdays at 33 Shades of Green
Tasty Tuesday at IBlog4Me
Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free
Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff
Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
Hearth and Soul Hop at Premeditated Leftovers

Wednesday
Gluten Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker
Works-for-me-Wednesday at We Are That Family*
Welcome Wednesdays at Take It From Me*
Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Allergy Free Wednesdays at Tessa the Domestic Diva

Thursday
Simple Lives Thursday at A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa*
Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet
Frugal Food Thursday at Frugal Follies
Alpabe-Thursdays at Jenny Matlock*
Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom
Catch as Catch Can at My Repurposed Life*

Friday
Foodie Friday Cafe at Rattlebridge Farm
Friday Food and Recipe Linky at Mom Trends
I'm Lovin' It at Tidy Mom*
Recipe Link Party at Remodelaholic
Food on Fridays at Ann Kroeker
Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food and Whole Health

Saturday
Sweets for Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies

Sunday
Cookbook Sundays at Couscous and Consciousness

Sunday Night Soup Night at Easy Natural Food

Best of the Web at Nighlon*

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday and Welcome Wednesday.

A Downton Abbey Dinner of Roast and Root Vegetables

Have you been watching Downton Abbey? We have become totally addicted. I had never heard of it until it got so many Golden Globe nominations. We decided to check it out on Netflix, and we were immediately hooked. We finished season 1 just in time to watch season 2 on PBS. The only problem is that it's 9:00-11:00 airtime doesn't really jive with my new mother sleep schedule (for me that means a 9:30 bedtime). So the last few episodes we watched on-line on Monday nights from 7:30-9:30 - perfect for my schedule.



When we think of British food, one dish that comes to mind is a roast and root vegetables all smothered in gravy (this perception is at least partly shaped by our trip to England last year). So each week for Sunday supper (sometimes on Monday) we have been having some type of roast and vegetables.

This week we enjoyed a bottom round roast with onions, potatoes, turnips and parsnips and onion gravy. Mmm, mmm good. I love gravy (it's my second post on it in two days), but what sets this gravy apart is that it is pretty sweet. The onions become very sweet after roasting for so long and impart their flavor on the rest of the dish.Now that Downton Abbey has come to an end, I guess we are on the hunt for a new show (and some new dinner inspiration). Any Suggestions?

Bottom Round Roast with Root Vegetables
2 T olive
2.5 lb bottom round roast
3 large onions, cut into thick slices
2 T apple cider vinegar
6 potatoes, chopped
6 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 turnips, chopped
2 parsnips, chopped

Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place a roasting pan over medium high heat, and add some oil. Brown the roast on all sides (about 4 minutes per side). Add the onions and vinegar, and put in the oven. Bake for 2 hours. Add the rest of the vegetables and cook for 2 more hours, or until the meat and vegetables and tender. Let meat rest for 10 minutes before carving. Slice into thin slices and enjoy.

Onion Gravy
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 C of juice released from the onions, meat and vegetables

Method
Heat the butter in a skillet and slowly stir in the flour. Cook the butter and flour for 5 minutes over medium heat. Slowly add the liquid and stir constantly. Cook until the gravy reaches the desired consistency.

We have been avoiding grains, but I still use flour in the gravy (it's my little cheat). I like the thickness from the flour, and it reheats nicely.

This post is part of Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Tuesdays at the Table, Beauty and Bedlam, Allergy Free Wednesday, and Real Food Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday.

For the love of gravy

We had planned a basic dinner of baked chicken breasts, squash and broccoli. I wasn't too thrilled about the bland and basic meal, but then I remembered something special waiting in the freezer. We had baked a couple of lemon, garlic chickens for company a month or so ago, and for that dinner it didn't really make sense to make gravy (the side dishes all had sauces of their own), so I just stuck the dripping in the freezer to save for another day. The other day had arrived! I defrosted them, and made gravy. Yum! Gravy can really change the whole meal. We slathered it over everything and it was fabulous. My tip: keep the fat - it adds so much flavor. See below for gravy prepared three different ways.

The car still isn't up and running because we are still waiting for parts, but this week we were able to make it to the Cambridge farmers market via the bus. Looking forward to a week full of farmers market finds.

Meal Plan

Monday - Bottom Round Roast with onion gravy and roasted root vegetables
Tuesday - Knockwurst with sauerkraut and sauteed red chard
Wednesday - Lentils with cauliflower and acorn squash
Thursday - Paprika pork chops with celriac and green beans
Friday - Fish (whatever looks good at the fish market)
Saturday - Hamburgers and salad


1 - Pan Gravy

Drippings

Method - Bring the drippings to a simmer and cook until they thicken.


2 - Gravy thickened with flour

2 T fat skimmed off the drippings (supplement with butter if necessary)
2 T flour
1 C drippings (supplement with broth if necessary)

Method - Place the fat in a skillet over medium heat, and add the flour. Cook for at least 5 minutes. Slowly add in the drippings while stirring constantly. Keep stirring and bring to a simmer. Cook until it reaches the desired thickness.


3 - Gravy thickened with Cornstarch or Arrowroot

1 C drippings (supplement with broth if necessary)
2 T cornstarch or arrowroot
2 T warm water

Method - Bring the drippings to a simmer over medium heat. Mix the cornstarch or arrowroot with warm water. Slowly add the mixture to the hot drippings while constantly stirring. Serve right away.*

*It is possible to overcook, so remove from heat as soon as it thickens, and serve right away.

This post is part of Monday Mania and Menu Plan Monday.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Back before we had a baby, we used to love to go out for happy hour. We always liked being out in the early evening, and getting home before people started flooding into New York City for their big night out. (we both got "staying out all night" out of our systems back in our single days) We liked to order some buffalo wings with blue cheese dressing, and sometimes we'd get enough to make those our dinner.

These days we aren't making it to happy hour, so we brought the happy hour to us... or at least the buffalo sauce. Tonight we enjoyed a Buffalo Chicken Salad - if I add the word salad to it, it makes me feel like it is a reasonable dinner.

We used chicken legs and thighs to make it more substantial. We accompanied the chicken with the traditional celery and carrot sticks, plus some salad with a generous dollop of blue cheese dressing.

Baked Buffalo Chicken Legs and Thighs
Coconut oil
Chicken Legs
Chicken Thighs
1/2 C Hot Sauce (we used Frank's Red Hot)
1/3 C Butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a baking sheet with coconut oil. Place the chicken on the baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes (or until the chicken is done). Melt the butter and combine with the hot sauce. Toss the chicken in the sauce. Reserve the extra sauce for dipping.

Blue Cheese Dressing
1/4 C Mayonnaise
1/4 C Yogurt
1/4 C Blue Cheese
generous squeeze of lemon (1 T)
dash of cayenne

Mix all of the ingredients and chill.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday, The Foodie Friday Cafe, Friday Food, I'm Lovin' It, Food on Fridays, and Frugal Friday.

One Smoked Pork Shoulder and Six Meals

A bowl of split pea soup garnished with crispy bacon.

Last Saturday, we bought a smoked pork shoulder. We were told that a great way to prepare it was to boil it for 2.5 - 3 hours to draw out the excess salt. So we gave it a go, and boiled it all afternoon. We have proceeded to eat off that one piece of meat ever since. It has inspired us to look for other cuts of meats that we can stretch just as far in future weeks. Do you have any suggestions?

Something we noticed shopping at the grocery store was that it was really hard to tell what season it was. They had artichokes and plantains on sale in February! We decided to go for it since all of the vegetables came from somewhere else anyways. Hopefully this week, we will be able to make it to the farmers market and get back on track with our seasonal foods.

Meal 1 - We were inspired by our trip to England to have some ham and eggs for dinner with a side of plantains and a big salad (it didn't make the photo).


Meal 2 - Ham with artichoke and salad. I know it looks more like an Easter dinner than one in February, but all the vegetables came from another quadrant of the world, and the artichokes were on sale...


Meal 3 - Breakfast of eggs, ham and plantains. I had never had plantains before living in NYC and this week was my first time making them at home. They are pretty low on the glycemic index and inexpensive.


Meal 4 and 5 - Split pea soup is such a satisfying winter meal. Please see below for the recipe.

Meal 6 - Some ham and swiss sandwiches with salad. I didn't take a photo.


Split Pea Soup Inspired by Burnt Offerings' on Food 52

Ingredients
1/2 lb bacon, sliced into lardons
4 carrots, diced
4 ribs of celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
1/2 t sage
1/2 t thyme
1 t rosemary
3 bay leaves
1 lb dried split peas
2 lb smoked ham hock (or this time I used the shoulder joint and the remaining meat)
8 C water or chicken stock

Method
Place a Dutch oven over medium low heat, and add the bacon. Once the bacon is crispy, remove from the pan and set aside for garnish. Add the carrots, celery and onion to the pan and cook for 15 minutes (or until tender). Add the sage, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves and stir to combine. Spread the peas out on a cookie sheet and check for stones. Remove any stones and add to the pot. Nestle the ham hock or pork shoulder into the peas and vegetables, and add the water or chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and lower heat. Cook for about 2.5 hours. Remove the ham hock or pork shoulder, let cool, remove the meat and chop into bite size pieces. Add the meat back into the pot. It is ready to enjoy. Dish up and garnish with the bacon.

* I only have 1 cup glass measuring cups and I didn't want to have to measure out 8 cups of water with them, so I thought of using our coffee pot carafe. Each "cup" on the coffee maker is 6 ounces, so just under 11 cups= 64 ounces, or 8 cups. Thought I'd pass my tip along.



This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Frugal Food Thursday, Alphabe-Thursday, and Sunday Night Soup Night.

Quick Roasted Cauliflower

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. I am one of those cynics that thinks Valentine's Day is a "holiday" invented by Hallmark, but I still had fun giving treats to family and friends this year. I mailed some chocolates to mommy friends in Brooklyn, my husband and I each picked out a small toy for Baby Girl, my husband got me flowers (all I ever ask for - I love to have something blooming in the middle of winter), and I got my husband a Kombucha starter (more on that in future posts).


We realized last night that we have unknowingly created an annual tradition of a homemade steak dinner on Valentines Day. Last night the menu was rib steak, Indian style roasted cauliflower, green beans with herb butter and Caesar salad plus we cheated and had dessert.

We recently have discovered a way to make quick roasted cauliflower. I have always prepared cauliflower by cutting it up into florets (the little trees). I don't know why it never occurred to me to cut it into slices until a few weeks ago. I was looking up some ideas online (can't remember where I got the idea - sorry I that can't give credit), and saw someone just sliced the cauliflower. Brilliant! It was one of those aha moments. It is quicker to cut up and it cooks so much faster too!

Slice the cauliflower in half, place the flat edge down on the cutting board, and cut the cauliflower into 1/4 inch slices. Generously oil the pan, and place the slices on the pan.(my husband broke up the slices, but I have kept them as large slices before too)

Sprinkle your seasonings over the cauliflower. We used turmeric, cumin, red pepper flakes, and garlic to imitate our favorite Indian style roasted cauliflower.
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Enjoy!

Quick Roasted Cauliflower
1 head of cauliflower
oil
Seasonings (we used turmeric, cumin, red pepper flakes and garlic)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the head of cauliflower in half. Place the cut edge flat on the cutting board, and cut the cauliflower into 1/4 inch think slices. Generously oil a sheet pan, and place the slices on the pan. We liberally sprinkled turmeric and lightly sprinkled cumin and red pepper flakes, and added 8 chopped cloves of garlic. Bake until browned 10-15 minutes.

*Traditionally we have toasted a whole variety of Indian spices in oil in a hot skillet, added the cauliflower, and then placed in the oven for 45 minutes. We will still do that technique on occasion for a more complex flavor, but this is a great substitute for a quick dinner.

This post is part of Works for me Wednesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Welcome Wednesday, and Real Food Wednesdays.

A Revised Menu Plan and Falafel

Have you ever seen the show Portlandia? (the first season is available on Netflix instant) I'm not always a huge fan of sketch comedy, but some of the pieces really had us laughing. In the first episode, there is a couple that goes to great lengths to make sure their chicken was ethically raised. That sketch hit close to home for us...

Yesterday, I wrote about how I was so excited about going to the farmers' market and dairy farm... Well, that plan didn't pan out. It turns out that while Mother Nature was cooperative, our car was not. When we moved to Massachusetts, we made an unorthodox choice of vehicle. We decided to purchase a 1985 diesel Mercedes. It's a great car - they run forever, they're safe and you never have to worry about finding it in a parking lot. The one downside is that they can have trouble in the cold. Under 20 degrees the diesel fuel tends to gel up and requires some special treatment. We thought we had covered all of our bases by using a cold weather fuel additive and plugging in the engine block, but it still didn't start. So our food shopping will all take place at the neighborhood grocery stores and the fish mart.

Menu Plan

Monday - Ham and Eggs, Plantains and Salad
Tuesday - Rib Steak, Cauliflower, Green beans and Salad
Wednesday - Split Pea Soup
Thursday - Buffalo Chicken Salad
Friday - Fish (whatever looks best at the fish market that day), kale salad and mashed butternut squash



The other night we made some falafel that turned out really well. I realized that I had never made it from scratch, and I don't know why not. It is so easy! And it tastes so much better than falafel from a boxed mix! We served it over spinach salad, with avocado and tzatziki sauce.

Falafel inspired by Moosewood Cookbook and The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook

4 C chickpeas
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/3 C onion, chopped
1 t cumin
1 t turmeric
1 t coriander
1/4 t cayenne
1 1/2 t salt
2 eggs
3 T tahini
2 T flour (I used chickpea flour)
olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Chill for 1 hour. Form small balls or patties.*

Stove Top: Gently heat 1/4 inch of oil in a cast iron pan, and add the falafel in small batches. Cook until crispy (about 5 minutes), and flip to the other side. Remove and cool on a wire rack or paper towels.

Oven: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Generously coat a large sheet pan with the oil, and arrange the falafel. Cook until crispy on the first side (about 30 minutes), and flip to the second side (cook an additional 15 minutes). Remove and cool on a wire rack or paper towels.

*I made them too big and it made it difficult to flip them and preserve the crunchy crust. You want the crust!

Tzatziki Sauce
1 C yogurt
1/2 cucumber, finely chopped
1/4 C onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 t salt

Place the yogurt, cucumber and onion in a bowl. Sprinkle the salt on the minced garlic on a cutting board. Use the side of a knife to smear the salt and garlic to create a paste. Add the garlic paste to the rest of the dressing. Let sit for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.

This post is part of My Meatless Mondays, Delicious Dishes, Made by You Monday, Just Another Meatless Monday, and Midnight Madness Meatless Monday, and Menu Plan Monday.