Happy New Year!

We ate leftovers from our tenderloin for most of the week, with one day of chicken wild rice soup from the freezer. My brother sent us a reuben kit from Zingerman's (in the past he's sent us just bread - sending coals to New Castle). We had gone out for lunch to Mom's favorite cafe before her service on December 15th (two years later) where Will and my brother had Reubens - really good ones. Will subtly made sure that my brother knew not to send us bread again. Sadly, Zingerman's is one of those companies that is living off it's reputation. Both this year and last, the bread was stale and we had put it in the freezer as soon as it arrived. The dill pickles are soft, not crisp and the dressing was so-so. The corned beef was OK, but then was tough in the sandwich. I had marked a Reuben casserole at some point, so Will used what was left to make it yesterday. It was pretty good, considering the ingredients, and we would probably make it again with better ones. So, we will have more of that tonight.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

We will be having roast turkey, which my husband has wrestled into thawdom, in spite of six days in the refrigerator. I will make Pepperidge Farm Blue Bag Dressing. (Is there really any other kind?) and make some gravy from the turkey drippings. I plan to pull out some frozen green beans that came from our garden for the vegetable. We will have more apple cake for dessert.

I've made seafood salad, cauliflower salad, and a green salad for our dinner. It feels almost like spring here, 41* with temps in the 40s predicted for the next week or more. The 20 inches of snow we got 2 weeks ago is almost gone.

Because of the relatively warm weather (45*) we grilled 8 burgers ,6 for future meals. I also sauted onions to go on top with sliced grape tomatoes. Time to clean out freezer in preparation for Florida!

One of my spaghetti squashes was showing signs of going bad, so on Monday, I baked my considerably lightened up version of Ken Haedrich's Spaghetti Squash and Parmesan Cheese Quiche. I use a 10 1//2-inch quiche dish, having had an unhappy experience with the size recommended. I use my oil-buttermilk crust (have olive oil and half canola). I cook the onions, mushrooms, and garlic in olive oil rather than butter, and I use a 12 oz. can of 2% evaporated milk in place of a cup of half and half or milk and 1/3 cup of heavy cream. His recipe states 2 1//2 cups spaghetti squash, but if I'm going to roast a squash, I plan to use it all. The squash was 2 lbs. 14 oz, and I cut out a couple of bad spots before roasting. I probably had somewhat over 3 cups. I use 8 oz. mushrooms (recipe states 1 ½ cups). I used pre-grated 2% mozzarella on the top as I do not have cheddar or fontina. The only drawback to this recipe is that it takes about two hours of prep and another 45 minutes to bake. I started it after 10 a.m., so lunch will be late today, but on time for the rest of the week when I warm it up.

We had pasta with a sausage, onions, and peppers marinara (from the freezer, so just needed to cook the cavitappi) and a green salad.