I know it’s just the beginning of November, and Thanksgiving comes late this year: November 28th. But time flies, and these next posts will be about how make the most of that most excellent holiday.
First, Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. All that’s expected is a fully flavorful meal with good friends and family. Great – unless you’re the host AND you’re stressed about how to put that meal together.
Breathe easy – no problem!
To make any of the standard Thanksgiving dishes you see above – and more – as stress-free as possible, just click any picture on this page or this link to the Gotta’ Eat, Can’t Cook Thanksgiving Help page for step-by-step picture directions that will show how how to make any of the fully flavorful Thanksgiving dishes you see above – and more – as easily as possible.
In following posts, I’ll highlight some of those recipes along with other recipes and tips to help you make your Thanksgiving as fun and flavorful as possible.
Good friend, Shane Stuart, rolled into Hickory with his Suttle’s Nut Farm truck 2 weekends ago with my favorite fresh chestnuts, South Carolina grown North American chestnuts.
“How’re things looking this year, Shane?”
“Great! Last year we harvested 6000 pounds. This year we have 9000 pounds.”
I picked up a 2 pound bag and have been loving them for evening dessert, especially as the nights get cooler.
Roasted chestnuts have been a warm, richly flavorful rite of winter all my life. And though I’ve seen and used different methods of roasting, the easiest, most practical way I’ve found to roast chestnuts is with a toaster oven.
As shown in the step-by-step picture book conventional oven/toaster oven chestnut roasting directions you can get by clicking this link or any picture below, here are four tips before actually getting to the roasting:
I like using a toaster oven for convenience and power savings, but if you don’t have a toaster oven, a conventional kitchen oven will work just as well. Also note: if you’re using American chestnuts, which are half the size of Italian chestnuts, cut roasting time in half.
When buying fresh chestnuts, select those that are firm to the touch – the shell should not give when squeezed with your thumb as shown in the picture below. Also, choose those chestnuts that are heavier rather than lighter in weight and don’t have any signs of mold or small round wormholes in their shells.
3. To prevent chestnuts from exploding while roasting and avoid a nasty mess to clean up (you bet, I know this from experience), make sure to cut into the shells before roasting chestnuts.
4. If you’re not roasting fresh chestnuts the same day you bought them, put them in a plastic bag and store them in the refrigerator for at least 1 week. Just beware that the meat of the chestnut inside the shell dries out steadily over time.
If you live in the Hickory area, check out the Suttle’s Farm Fresh Nut truck loaded with nuts grown in South Carolina and parked at 2231 N. Center St. (Rt. 127).
Last post showed how to make fully flavorful (non-dairy) banana ice cream using only 3 ingredients: frozen bananas, vanilla extract and ground cinnamon. (Please also see Bananas Are Good Food! if you haven’t seen that post before or have been informed incorrectly by other sources that bananas are not good for you.)
This post show how you can easily use some of the commonly found ingredients in your kitchen to take that simple banana ice cream to full-on exciting. Here’s an example of what I used recently to help kick your imagination in gear.
When you download the recipe, you’ll see I point out that I added a fresh peach not shown in the above ingredients. That’s exactly what I mean about improvising on the fly to suit your taste and/or dietary needs.
Please click this link or any picture on this page for complete step-by-step picture book Banana Ice Cream Full-On! directions.
Last post focused on the health benefits of bananas, which, as one of the world’s most consumed foods, are often given a bad rap, as shown in the popup ad below, for no good reason at all.
As a lifelong avid cyclist, I always have bananas on hand, either at room temperature or frozen, as shown in the shot below of the top of my fridge and inside my freezer today. Those two more darkly patched bananas are actually plantains, part of the banana family, that I use to make sweet & savory dishes.
Of course, there are many ways to enjoy bananas, and here’s one of my favorites: banana ice cream. To start as easily as possible, I’m showing just the base recipe here that requires only 3 ingredients: ripe bananas, vanilla extract and ground cinnamon – no cream or sugar at all. And though those ingredients, when blended together, taste killer good, I’ll show you in future posts how to take that base recipe from “simple to exciting” with added easy-to-find, fully flavorful ingredients.
The only kicker: you’ll need a sturdy food processor, like the one shown below, to make this recipe. If you don’t have one, either click this link for mash and freeze banana ice cream, which doesn’t require a food processor, or borrow a food processor from a friend or relative and make enough banana ice cream to share with them.
Click this link or any picture on this page for easy-to-follow 3 ingredient banana ice cream picture book directions.
February 15th, 2024 Blog, DessertComments Off on Easy-to-Make, Explosively Flavorful Chocolate Pudding
Explosively flavorful fresh chocolate pudding – with added chocolate chips (absolutely add them!): It’s far better than anything you can buy in a store and about as close to chocolate heaven as you can get – and still be on this Earth.
Here are the needed ingredients – all real, nothing fake.
2 tips regarding this recipe – or any pudding recipe:
1. Cook using low-medium heat and stir the pot often making sure to scrape the pot bottom surface to keep the milk, as it warms, and cooking pudding from sticking to the pot, which both keeps the pudding from burning and makes cleaning the pot a lot easier.
2. Although they’re optional, I like adding rich dark chocolate chips to the pudding for an added punch of chocolate flavor and like adding those chocolate chips after the pudding has cooled to just warmer than room temperature so that they also add comfortably chewy texture to the pudding.
Click this link or any picture on this page for picture book directions that show how to make this fresh chocolate pudding – and enjoy!
These potently flavorful, easy to make banana nut butter power bars work great for dessert or as an on-the-go sport power bar. As you see in the picture above, I prefer making them in the toaster oven for ease and speed, though the picture book directions linked to this post also show how to bake them in a standard kitchen oven.
Regarding the ingredients shown above and below, I know it looks like a lot – but don’t panic. The spices (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg) along with vanilla extract are the cornerstones of the full flavor of these bars. If you don’t have some of those spices, just use a little more of what you do have. You can also use juice (apple cider works great) instead of coffee and substitute ground flaxseeds, chia seeds, and whole grain cereal with any other ground similar type of ingredient, like ground nuts or your favorite cereal. The bottom line: imagination and available ingredients are your only limits.
Click this link or any picture on this page for a complete, easy-to-follow step-by-step picture book recipe.
The best of Thanksgiving pie flavors – and freedom of choice
As I’ve mentioned here before – and you probably know yourself – pie is the most popular Thanksgiving dessert. But, you might ask, what kind of pie should I make for my Thanksgiving dinner?
Freedom of choice is key. Here are 3 fully flavorful pies that work great as traditional Thanksgiving desserts: Quick & Easy Apple Pie, Pumpkin Pie Made with Fresh Pumpkin and Apple-Pumpkin Pie.
Apple, Pumpkin and Apple-Pumpkin Pie
Fresh & Easy Apple Pie: Fresh, crisp apples, the fruit flavor of fall, are the key to this recipe that’s fully flavorful and easy to make. Just click this link or the picture below for a complete picture book recipe.
Fresh & Easy Apple Pie Ingredients
Pumpkin Pie Made with Fresh Pumpkin: Yes, the fresh pumpkin adds flavor and texture to the finished pie, but you can always substitute canned pumpkin for fresh pumpkin if you’re short on time or for “please get me out of the kitchen NOW!” convenience sake. Click this link or the picture below for a complete picture book recipe.
Pumpkin Pie Made with Fresh Pumpkin (that can be substituted with canned pumpkin)
Apple-Pumpkin Pie: This recipe, which you can get by clicking this link or the picture below, makes for a full-on fall flavor powerhouse that combines the rich flavors of apple and pumpkin pie and is just as easy to make as either of those pies on their own.
Apple Pumpkin Pie is an explosion of flavor that combines everything you love in both apple and pumpkin pie on their own
These two recipes are designed to inspire your imagination to meet your taste
There’s a line you might’ve heard: “You can improvise with cooking, but you have to stick to the recipe with baking”. I’m not a fan of sticking to the letter of recipes and very quickly learned that you can improvise with baking, at least somewhat, especially when it comes to making pie crust.
Last post showed how to make a quick and easy pie crust from scratch, which tastes way better than any pre-made store bought pie shell. This post provides two recipes that are intended to inspire your imagination. Sure, both recipes work fine as is, but the best thing about preparing anything to eat is making it just the way you want to suit your personal taste.
The first recipe for Banana Nut Pie Crust, which you can get by clicking this link or the picture directly below, uses banana both to add flavor and replace the need for oil or butter in the pie crust dough.
The second recipe, Fully Flavorful Nut, Quinoa and Flaxseed Pie Crust, which you can get by clicking this link or the picture below, shows how to use a variety of optional ingredients to pump up flavor across the board.
Next post: picture book recipes showing how to make Apple Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Apple-Pumpkin Pie
Making your own pie crust from scratch is quick, easy and far more flavorful than store-bought pie shells
Pie is the most popular Thanksgiving dessert, and you know the deal here: flavor rules! I’ve never been a big baker, but years ago I made my first pie crust from scratch that was both incredibly easy to do and was nothing like the pre-made pie shells you get at the store that are really just flavorless containers for a much more flavorful filling.
Here are the ingredients you need to make a quick and easy pie crust from scratch.
Click this link or any picture above for a complete step-by-step picture book recipe. you can also click this link or the picture below for a link to the Gotta’ Eat, Can’t Cook “Thanksgiving Help” page with easy to follow helpful step-by-step picture book Thanksgiving dinner planning and cooking tips.
Next post: 2 full-on flavorful pie crust variations.
What doesn’t go great with fresh whipped cream? I often have the vat-sized measuring cup you see below in the fridge good to go whenever I need it: in coffee, on pancakes, French toast or with fresh fruit – and it’s incredibly easy to make!
The secret to whipping cream as quickly as possible is using cold ingredients: fresh heavy whipped cream straight from the refrigerator and, if you have time, even using a freezer-chilled mixing bowl or measuring cup, as shown below.
Here are the only 3 ingredients and pieces of kitchen equipment you need.
Click this link or any picture on this page for a complete step-by-step picture book recipe.
November 4th, 2024 
