New England Boiled Dinner

One of the meals my Mom would make when I was a kid growing up in Massachusetts (nine out of 10 people in the West prounounce it 'Massatooshits') was a New England Boiled Dinner.

Pour yourself a glass of wine and pull up a chair. This meal will take about an hour-and-a-half from start to finish and it wants you to be there the whole time!

This stuff goes into the pot (and don't be starting out with a little itty bitty pot... you've got to have a big pot for this meal! )
Ingredients: potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, linguica.

Linguica is a spicy Portuguese sausage made from pork.

Linguica, much to my dismay, is not to be found in Havre, Montana, so I substituted Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage (because I like their TV commercials... Go Meat!)

Fill your pot about half-way with water and light a fire under it.

Peel the onions. Figure on one large onion per person. Put the onions into the water and bring to a boil and cook about 20 minutes at a medium boil.

Then peel the potatoes and cut them in half (again, figure on one potato per person). Add the potatoes to the pot, bring to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes.

Peel the carrots and cut in 2" chunks. Add them to the pot, bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes.

Now, peel the outer layer from the cabbage and cut the whole thing into quarters. You should have four wedges of cabbage. (If you don't, something went terribly wrong.)

Add the cabbage wedges to the pot, bring to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes.

Due to a memory card malfunction I didn't get a picture of the finished meal, but trust me, it was yummy, yummy, yummy!

Cut a piece of good sourdough bread to sop up the juices and enjoy with some Dijon mustard (which is good on the carrots, potatoes, cabbage and sausage). You'll be amazed at how flavorful this meal is and all because you just boiled some vegetables!

I wish my Mom was here to enjoy this meal with us. Here's to you Mom (heart)!

It Started out to be Shrimp Cocktail

B loves shrimp. I thought I'd surprise him with a shrimp cocktail last night. So, I thawed some shrimp...

... and gathered some spices: chopped garlic, parsley, garlic powder, Zatarain's powdered crab boil, red chili pepper flakes, rosemary, and a bay leaf. You can't see the bay leaf, because somebody forgot to put it on the counter when I took the picture. Okay, it was me.
I added the seasonings to a small pot of water (there's the bay leaf!). When the water boils, the shrimp go in for about 3 minutes. Then I drain them, put them in a Ziploc bag and put them in the refrigerator to get ice cold.

Except, B came home and I asked a simple question. "Would you rather have shrimp cocktail or shrimp and pasta?" He wanted the pasta. Okay, no problemo, but what am I going to do with all these yummy spices boiling away on the stove?

Onions. We have plenty of them.

Can't think of anything better to add to a roast beef sandwich than some crunchy, seasoned onions. So, an onion got sliced and put into the pot of seasonings. I let the simmer for a while, but not long enough to take the crunch out of them.

I drained them and put them in a container and into the fridge they went. They'll be a great addition to this weekend's lunch!

Toasted Squash Seeds

Remember when you were a kid and Mom or Dad helped you carve a jack-o-lantern? Did you toast the pumpkin seeds afterwards? We did! It's a fun thing to do - and yummy, too!

After I cut up the buttercup squash for dinner, I took the seeds and rinsed them with water to get most of the squash off of them. I tossed them with a little olive oil and spread them out on a cookie sheet. Then I salted them real good with regular table salt. You could also sprinkle them with garlic salt, or even chili powder, you devil, you! I put them in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes, and stirred them every 10 minutes. Toasty!
We'll be snacking on these for the next few days! Try some next time you cut up a squash or pumpkin-- which, afterall, is squash :)