Replies

~Ping~
Happy Thanksgiving!

Recap of last week’s recipes:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2957983/posts?page=48#48

Beef _ Post#` 33 _ Steak Aphrodite

Breakfast _ Post#` 4 Chocolate Oatmeal
Breakfast _ Post#` 36 _ Mardi Gras Brunch (Hashbrown Pie)
Breakfast _ Post#` 46 _ Morning Breakfast Mix

Cakes _ Post#` 31 _ Molasses Gingerbread Cake

Chili _ Post#` 19 _ California Chili

Cookies _ Post#` 16 _ Cake Mix Cookies
Cookies _ Post#` 17 _ Chocolate Truffles
Cookies _ Post#` 27 _ Oatmeal, PB and Choc Chip Cookies
Cookies _ Post#` 29 _ Pumpkin, Carrot Cake Cookies

Drink _ Post#` 15 _ Keto Hot Cocoa

Eggs _ Post#` 41 _ Artichoke and Bacon Frittata
Eggs _ Post#` 46 _ Eggs and Veggies

Ice Cream _ Post#` 13 _ Chocolate Ice Cream

Pasta _ Post#` 10 _ Tortelloni Bolognese

Pudding _ Post#` 20 _ Best Bread Pudding

Soups _ Post#` 34 _ Chicken Soup with Loads of Vegetables

Vegetables _ Post#` 18 _ Pea and Peanut Salad
Vegetables _ Post#` 42 _ Italian Stuffed Jerusalem Artichokes

I just put in an order for a Heirloom turkey at my Whole Foods market. I have no idea what that means. LOL. But here’s the thing, my mother in law is in her last days - it’s okay - she’s 97 and has a tumor but is in no pain. She sleeps a lot but we have to be on call. My granddaughter is going to be with her dad, not us. My son and his fiancée want us to go with them to their friends on Thanksgiving day and I promised this same granddaughter a thanksgiving feast sometime over the weekend. So I need recipes that can travel and keep. No pies straight from the oven.

Hi, Lib27! Been a little too busy to play here (just moved to Panama). But here's a T-Day dish that's been in our family for at least 4 generations.

Grandma Dunbar's Mexican Salad (sort of Americano pico de gallo):

1 large bowl (or larger, if you're multiplying the recipe)
3 large tomatoes, fully ripe
2 medium-large white onions (not yellow, see note)
1-2 medium-large mild chiles (bells, Anaheims, anchos, etc.)
LOTS of salt
Tabasco or other hot sauce of choice
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2-3 TBSP well-chopped fresh cilantro
white or cider vinegar

Dice or fine chop all veggies (a food processor is OK, just don't overdo it!). Place in bowl. Add 2-5 TBSP (that is NOT a typo) of salt, according to your taste. Start with 2 -- you can always add more. Add black pepper, cilantro and 1 tsp hot sauce to the mix. Fill to covering with vinegar. Stir well, cover with plastic wrap (Grandma D used wax paper...but that was around the turn of the 20th century) and refrigerate at least overnight.

2 hrs before serving, taste the salad. If it seems to you that it needs more salt (it's supposed to be salty) or hot sauce, add what you like, stir well again, re-cover it, and replace in the fridge.

The extra or excess or whatever you want to call it salt actually adds some more "bite" to the dish.

This is a great garnish for veggies. My cousin Henry prefers putting the salad directly on a slice of turkey (INSTEAD, if you please, of gravy). I eat the salad straight or mixed with rice.

This recipe can be multiplied at will, without any harm to the flavour.

Eat it any way you like, and Happy T-Day!

Thanks much for the Ping, and for keeping me on your list. I don't weigh in all that often, but I'm an avid consumer of the tips. ;)

Last night I tried my hand at a Philippine dish called Beef Mechado, and while the flavor turned out great, the cubes of beef (used top round roast) are quite tough, despite simmering them for over an hour. Any tips on making/keeping the beef tender in this dish would be hugely appreciated.

FR n00b and cooking n00b. Sheesh!