Thanksgiving Meal: in parts

Since it was voted on my home blog that people still wanted to know what we did for the holidays, I figured I would post our menu and recipes for Thanksgiving dinner.

This Thanksgiving I really wanted to go all out. {At the time} I thought it was going to be our last Thanksgiving here in Provo with our cousins and friends. And since we had extra grocery money, I really wanted to try to cook it all from scratch!

And I did!

[minus the pie crust]

Here is what was on the menu:

Salad

Corn Bread Stuffing

Garlic & Herb Mashed Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole*

Corn*

Sweet Potato Casserole*

Jello Salad*

Turkey

Ham

Rolls

Pumpkin Pie

Key Lime Pie*

*made by guests

Hope you enjoy it!

Chicken with Mustard Gravy

 

Taste of Home, gotta love it!

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, divided
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 teaspoons honey mustard
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

• Rub chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook chicken in butter for 6-8 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 170°. Remove and keep warm.
• In the same skillet, combine the mustard, milk, basil, parsley, and remaining salt and pepper. Cook and stir over low heat until heated through. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream. Serve with chicken. Yield: 4 servings.

{my two cents:} This recipe was really tasty but a little too salty for my taste. It could be because I was in a hurry and didn’t measure exactly…. But I would probably still cut down a little on the salt next time. Adam loves  salt and I’m sure it will kill him someday. But I figure if he wants it to be more salty he can put it on himself instead of tainting the whole meal. :)

Grilled Pork Chops

 

This is another Taste of Home recipe. (I love that cookbook!) I changed a couple of things but it still tasted yummy!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 6 bone-in pork loin or rib chops (about 1-1/2 inches thick)

Directions

• In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the first five ingredients; set aside 1/3 cup for basting. Add pork chops. Seal bag and refrigerate overnight.
• Drain and discard marinade. Grill chops, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 in. from the heat for 12-16 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160°, turning once. Brush occasionally with reserved marinade. Yield: 6 servings.

{my two cents:} I’m pretty sure I didn’t use chili sauce because I didn’t have any on hand. Instead I just added some chili powder to the marinade. Also, I am pretty sure I used the cheapest pork loins from the store which were small and didn’t have the bone. I don’t know if would make a difference with the bone.. but it tasted great to me!

Linguine with Garlic Sauce

I lovelovelove this recipe! It is so good. I love everything about it really. The sauce, the bacon, the way you get to saute stuff. I love sauteing. It makes me feel legit. Is that weird? Do yourself a favor and make this wonderful recipe. I got it from a Taste of Home cookbook we got for our wedding. This recipe is taken directly from their website so I give them all props. Enjoy!

12 ounces uncooked linguine

1/2 pound sliced bacon, diced

5 cups fresh baby spinach

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1-1/4 cups 2% milk

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cubed

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted (for me, optional. Adam doesn’t like nuts… he’s nuts)

Cook linguine according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels; drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings.

In the drippings, sauté spinach and onion until spinach is wilted and onion is tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the milk, cream cheese, butter, salt, nutmeg and pepper; stir until smooth. Stir in pine nuts and bacon; heat through. Drain pasta; toss with sauce. Yield: 4-6 servings.

{my two cents:} Like I said earlier, we didn’t serve it with pine nuts. I don’t know if that would make it totally different but it was just perfect to us without it. Also, the second time I made it, I realized I should’ve ripped the stems off of the spinach. I didn’t notice them the first time but the second time they really bugged me. So I would recommend doing that. And one more thing. I would cut off the fat from the bacon while I was cutting it up. It a. made it easier to just cut the meat instead of trying to saw through the fat, b. seemed quicker to cook and not have to wait for the gross fat and c. fat is disgusting and bubbly.

Dijon-marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts

Adam loves Dijon mustard. Which I didn’t know until I used it for some steak. So this recipe worked out great for us!

2 Tablespoons of Green Onions, chopped

2 Tablespoons of Dijon Mustard

1/2 Cup of Oil

1 Clove of Garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons White Wine Vinegar

2 Whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

In large plastic re-sealable freezer bag combine all marinade ingredients; mix well. Add chicken and turn to coat. Seal bag; refrigerate 2-6 hours, turning occasionally. Cook chicken on grill brushing with marinade frequently. Discard any remaining marinade.

{my two cents:} I’m pretty sure I didn’t keep turning it occasionally and it turned out great. And we don’t have a grill so just broiled them instead until they were done. Also, we didn’t have any green onions on hand (and Adam claims he doesn’t like them anyways…) so I just used a regular yellow onion and it also turned out great.

So try it and add your own touches to it! It is an easy recipe to experiment with and add to your own cookbook.

New Direction

What started out as my goal to get through the “Robinson Family Cookbook” has now faced reality.

Though I am proud to say I have managed to get through almost all the Main Dish recipes in the cookbook, I am now left with a little under 2 months til the year is over and I still have 6 different chocolate cookies recipes, salad dressing  mixes and a play-doh concoction left.

So, I decided that was okay.

[Though am ashamed look like I’m backing away from my goal.]

However,

My real purpose was to learn different meals to make for my growing family.

And I feel I have accomplished that even if I didn’t make play-doh.

In fact, I could say I went beyond my original goal. I looked up and mastered many other recipes outside of the “Robinson Family Cookbook” which have been deemed successes by my husband.

And so I decided this blog needed a new direction.

“Robinson Family Cookbook” now doesn’t mean the previous generations book of recipes anymore. It is now, “MY Robinson Family Cookbook.” As in me and Adam’s little family.

And so. I will take recipes and create my own compilation of yummy foods that I can incorporate into my family’s daily meals.

I hope you continue to follow. Because I got some good stuff in store.

Taco Salad

I used to hate Taco Salad. When my mom made it, I would get so frustrated because I didn’t know how to eat it. You can’t poke a fork through corn chips! And I couldn’t scoop it up in my fork because it would fall through. I just couldn’t do it!! So so frustrating.

Then we had Taco Salad over Christmas break at Adam’s house I realized if I focused more on the salad and meat part and then added the crunched chips as extra it was more manageable. And I grew to love it. I felt like I was eating some awesome Costa Vida salad.

How did I not think of this before?!

So when I saw this recipe, I was really excited to try it because

a. I love salads in general

b. I had a new found love for taco salads

c. This was a totally different way to make it and it seemed so intriguing.

Here it is:

Taco Salad

[I didn’t feel like my picture was pretty enough, so I thought I’d share this one first. It’s look more impressive.]

1 Head of Lettuce, broken into bite size pieces

4 Tomatoes, cut in wedges

4 oz. Cheddar Cheese, coarsely grated

Toss together with Thousand Island dressing*

Add Salsa to taste

 

1 Pound of Ground Beef, browned

1 Taco Seasoning packet

1 Can of Kidney Beans (drained)

1 Onion

Simmer for 10 minutes

 

When ready to serve, add meat and bean mixture to salad with 1 sliced avocado and 1 ounce bag of Tortilla Chips, crunched. Toss gently. Serve immediately.

*Thousand Island dressing can be made with mayonnaise, salsa or chili sauce, ketchup and hot sauce. {I actually didn’t do this… explained later}

{my two cents:} So I did a couple of things differently. I don’t know if that’s against the rules, but I figured it’s my project so I can do it how I want.

I didn’t have Thousand Island dressing and mixing salsa with mayonnaise sounded good but I got too nervous to try it. Which isn’t good for this project, I know. But I figured I’d just take it slow. So instead, I mixed salsa with sour cream and used that to mix into the salad. It was good! It gave it a good zing and spice that I enjoyed.

With the meat, the original recipe actually doesn’t call to mix the meat with Taco Seasoning or brown the meat with onions. It only said to season the meat with salt and to cut the onion straight into the salad. But I’m a fan of browned onions and I think it gives lots of flavor. Also, I think Taco Seasoning is essential for Taco Salad. Which really did add a lot to it. We like spice. We love it actually. And it packed a lot of it.

Also, my avocados weren’t ripe yet so that was a bummer. We love avocados. So that would’ve been an awesome addition. And I would strongly encourage serving immediately [which is why it’s bolded, underlined, and italicized]. Adam came home from school late after I made the salad and the chips were really soggy. He said it was still really good and liked it. But I know he would’ve been more impressed with the crunchiness of the chips. So don’t forget to do that!

{here’s my picture}

 

See you can’t see the pretty green of the lettuce or the bright red of the tomatoes. I need to work on presentation…. but whatever. It was awesome!

Enjoy!