Here’s what I say.  I say chicken fingers aren’t just for kids, despite the cute nomenclature.  I mean, yeah, we all know, chickens don’t have fingers.

And buffaloes don’t have wings either.

And yeah, most kids I know (large or small!) have gotten at least a little mileage out of that one.

Anyway, the cinnamon – honey chicken we did a few weeks ago kind of reminded me of another old favorite – completely different, yet just as addictive. In fact, a person could easily get hooked on the herby-cheesy-buttery coating!  It’s made from pantry staples (or at least they should be!), AND you can easily make a TON and freeze it – and enjoy lovely, lovely chicken tenders whenever you want them!

I went ahead and sliced up a couple more chicken breasts (while they were still slightly frozen – makes them easier to work with!) – altogether, about a pound or so.

In a shallow bowl, combine your breading ingredients:

• 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese – yeah, the stuff in the green can!
• 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. salt (I use kosher)
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Meanwhile, go ahead and melt a couple of tablespoons of butter (or margarine) (butter’s better) – you don’t need much, just enough to help the cheesy-herb mixture stick to your chicken.

And the rest is basic chicken-tender procedure – swish each piece of chicken around in the butter, then roll in the cheese-herb  mixture.

Oh, and if you’re using slighty-still-frosty chicken, your butter will solidify instantly.  Don’t let that bother you – just smear it on the chicken.

Lay them flat on a lined tray (raw chicken – ew!) and shove them in the freezer until they’re frozen.

Once frozen, you can just bag them up and keep them frozen for, oh, up to 3 or 4 months, I guess.  Probably longer, but really, why?

So.

When it’s time to cook dinner, you can go ahead and cook the chicken from frozen – how cool is that for a rushed dinner?  Or a midnight snack?

Yeah.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Lay the frozen tenders on a baking sheet – I’d line it with either foil or parchment – that just makes cleanup so much easier, doesn’t it?

Go ahead and bake 20-30 minutes, depending on how big you cut your chicken pieces.

Let me tell you, after half an hour of smelling that cheesy-herby-buttery chicken cooking (along with some sweet potato oven fries!), well, it was all we could do to get the plates to the table!

Go ahead and give this a try – meanwhile, as soon as I find a little room in the freezer, I am going to make a BOATLOAD of these to keep on hand.

And I’m not telling anyone where they are, either!

Busy week last week!  We got our second snow of the season . . . and don’t worry, I’m not going to keep you posted every time it snows!  I just really wish people could remember how to drive in the snow from one year to the next, that’s all.

Every year, Peeps and I have attended the Rochester Food & Wine Festival, and every year (until last year), we’ve enjoyed it a lot.  This year, though, we  decided to give it a pass.

Then Peeps suggested that we might want to go to the Rochester Wine & Chocolate Festival, and we checked out the information.  First, admission was a lot more reasonable, and it was perfectly clear that the event was highlighting local (NY State) wines.

We said “why not?” and spent a nice Saturday evening tasting a variety of wines and some awesome chocolates.

After the wine tasting, we thought it would be nice to stop for a bite to eat, so we headed home and decided to stop at Popeye’s on our way.

Here’s the thing with Popeye’s – the food is consistently very good.  And the service is consistently very bad.  We waited at least an hour for a couple of pieces of chicken and some biscuits.

There was a guy there picking up a takeout order, an older man.  He also was waiting and waiting and waiting. . . but he spent the time singing Christmas carols.  And, basically preaching to anyone who would listen (and some who wouldn’t!)

Peeps was stunned that I had never encountered someone like that before – evidently this experience was quite common in his old neighborhood. Here’s the thing.  When I grew up, we were always taught to “make a joyful noise” and “be not afraid to preach the gospel.”  And that’s what people did – within the safety of the sanctuary.  Out in the rest of the world?  Not so much.  (I’m pretty sure that’s where the phrase “preaching to the choir” come from, don’t you think?)

So to the gentleman at Popeye’s, I say good for you! I have nothing but respect for your willingness to share your faith.  I wish more of us could be more like you.

Still working on the cat-dog tolerance thing.  (sigh)

“Hey, Mama’s out there with the kitty cat!”

Everyone remained rather calm, for quite a while, though HE did keep kind of inching closer to the doorway.  SHE decided he’d come close enough and threw one of her kitty-hissy-fits.

After that, all bets were off, and we were done.

Progress.

Don’t forget this week is the Third Thursday of the month!  Please feel free to join us for November’s Third Thursday event – just “borrow” a recipe from someone – anyone- else’s blog and tell us about it!

Complete details are here, and remember, the more the merrier!

Peeps and I were out doing our grocery shopping and had the car radio on.  (Sometimes I like to listen to what passes for the oldies station.)  Anyway, they’ve been playing an awful lot of holiday music lately, and this time we just had to sing along.

Feliz Navidad ~ Feliz Navidad ~ Feliz Navidad.
Blah blah blah blah.
I WANNA WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS  from the bottom of my heart!

We, uh, don’t know all the words.  Just the main ones.

And once again, it’s time for the weekly menu plan.  The weather is more and more wintery every day, and, while we do love traditional winter fare, we still like something a little lighter, too.

Monday -  We’ll start our week out with a lighter tilapia dish.  What I’ve got in mind is either pan-frying or baking the fish with a chipotle-lime butter – light and full of flavor!  We’ll serve that with some brown basmati rice and maybe roasted beets.  How  can we go wrong?

Tuesday – Peeps loves this creamy garlic chicken – we’ll serve with some pasta and a tossed salad with some sort of vinagerette.

Wednesday -  I spent Sunday afternoon making the Hearty Minestrone from January’s Cook’s Illustrated to go in the slow cooker Wednesday afternoon – it will be just the thing after swim class, won’t it?

Thursday – Would you believe we’re still pulling tins of BBQ’d brisket out of the freezer?  Yeah, well, one of these days we just might actually be able to defrost it, huh?  So we’ll do some mashed potatoes and pureed butternut squash (that we found in the freezer too).

Friday – Yay, it’s pizza night!

Weekend – In the interest of getting those freezers emptied so we can defrost them and start filling them back up, we pulled a turkey out to defrost – not the one we just got at Thanksgiving, but one from last year!  I have no doubt, though, that once the bird has been roasted and sandwiches have been eaten, at least some of it will make its way back to the freezer.  Oh well.

Be sure to click on over to The Organizing Junkie’s Monday Menu Plan post for loads and loads of other ideas.

Our weather has taken a nasty turn (shocking, I know, in December in Rochester!), and Peeps has been running errands all afternoon and has had no chance to come up with one of his long-overdue cranky-guy posts, I offered to step in.

So here goes.  I got scraped.

The other day, some creep (whom I refuse to link to, so you’ll just have to take my word for it) stole my Beef & Barley Soup post and stuck it on his own site.  The only reason I knew was that it showed up in my comments as a “trackback.”  Which, actually, I tried to shut off, but I guess I did it wrong.  Which is just as well.

I mean, on the one hand, maybe I should feel flattered.  After all, he seemed to find my post worthy of scraping, didn’t he?

Yeah, well, that didn’t last long before a vague feeling of outrage set in.   I wrote that – not some stranger!  So I did what any civilized person would do – I sent him an email.

Please immediately remove all text and photos of my blog post from your site. This is original material, and you do not have my permission to republish.

Now that’s reasonable, isn’t it?

And off to work I went, never expecting a response, but knowing I’d at least made the effort.  Imagine my surprise when I got home and there was, in fact, a reply from one Andrei Vladimirovich:

Say me link on my site where I post you post and I delete this.

Um. . . what?  Clearly, English is not Andrei’s first language, so, in the interest of clarification:

I have no idea what you are trying to say.  Please remove our original content from your website immediately.

Polite, yet not wavering.  That’s me.

It seems that it’s also Andrei, only not the polite part so much.

Give me links at my website, and you original link and I delete this post.

OK, Andrei.  Sergei.  Gorbachev.  Whatever.  Do you even understand English?

You stole my original work. Why don’t you write your own posts?

Even guilt didn’t work on my own personal Yuri Andropov.

I write their own posts. If you do not like what I have copied your post, please send a link to your original post and a page of your post on my blog and I will remove your post on my blog. More is explained to you, I do not intend to.

Really?  More is about to be explained to YOU, buddy.  You’re a dirtbag, and that’s all there is to it.

I will not send any traffic to your blog. You are a thief.

And that was that.  I never heard back from Andrei.  IF that was his name.  I prefer to think of him as Vladimir but that’s just me.

And I didn’t post a link to his site.  And he didn’t take my stolen material down, either.  And the dude has been stealing and scraping from other sites too – like My Truant Pen – who also seems nice enough.

And that, friends, is called plagiarism.  And THAT is stealing.

Rotten, thieving commie.

Posted in Information, mirth & woe, random stuff ]]> http://darksideofthefridge.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/whats-mine-is-mine/feed/ 3 Toy Lady http://darksideofthefridge.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/crusted-pork-chops/ http://darksideofthefridge.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/crusted-pork-chops/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:20:00 +0000 Toy Lady http://darksideofthefridge.wordpress.com/?p=7184 ]]>

You know, while it may seem like we eat an awful lot of red meat, we don’t really.  And besides, if pork is the “other white meat” and all, does it really count as red meat anyway?

So today, I’m going to show you a breaded pork chop that’s got a couple of things going for it:

• it’s boneless pork loin, which is both cheap and lean,
• it’s easy to make ahead and freeze,
• it’s cheesy and herby, and
• and lemon zesty!

(I’m assuming the lemon zest part is a plus for you too.)

We start with some boneless pork loin chops – let’s  call it 2 or 3.  Since we’d frozen them previously, they were already in their zip-top bag – just add a Tablespoon or so each of mayonnaise (light) and mustard (Dijon) and smoosh them all together, then set the bag aside.  (If you’re doing this for the freezer, you can freeze the chops just like that.)

While the chops are sitting in their baggie, make the breading (make double and freeze half for next time).

Combine, either in a bowl (for now) or a second zip-top bag (to freeze):

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 2 Tbsp. grated parmesan
• 1 tsp. dried sage
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• zest of ½ lemon

And that’s the breading – simply mix together, and either freeze for later (we did) or continue as follows.  Or – and here’s a wild idea – do both!

Take the chops out of the mustardy mayo (discard any of the mayonnaise mixture left), then either dredge (in the bowl) or shake (in a bag) in the cheesy-crumb mixture.

See how flexible I am?

Set the breaded chops aside while you preheat a greased large skillet over a medium heat.  (Either use a Tablespoon or so of vegetable oil or spray thoroughly – it’s up to you.)

Once the pan is good and hot, place the chops in the pan, being careful not to crowd the pan of course,  and brown well.  Don’t turn them, don’t fuss with them, just let them get good and browned before you turn them – about 5-6 minutes, depending on how thick your chops are.

Then, um, turn them.  And continue cooking until the chops are done (if you’re inclined to check, the internal temp should be 165°) – be careful not to overcook, because overdone pork chops are not much better than overdone chicken breast, which is not good at all.

And that’s it.  We served out chops with some fresh asparagus that I couldn’t resist at the market (love asparagus!) and some sweet potato oven fries (sweet potatoes are good for you!).  All in all, a wonderful dish, full of bright, bold flavors thanks to the lemon, parmesan cheese and herbs.   (And, of course, the sweet potatoes and asparagus.)

Now, I’m not saying I’m “anti” Christmas – of COURSE not!   That would be wrong.  But I am kind of “anti” Christmas cookies.

People knock themselves out to build trays and trays of beautiful cookies, that, nine times out of ten, don’t taste nearly as good as they look.  And on top of that, everyone else is doing the exact same thing!

Or even worse, what about using one cookie recipe to make 27 different cookies that all taste exactly the same even though they try to fool you into thinking they’re different?   Yeah, where’s the individuality in that?

Now before you start to think I’m bashing Christmas cookie baking (that is kind of what it sounded like, isn’t it?) let me assure you, I’m not.   Even though I’m not fond of baking cookies, even in the best of circumstances (I loathe cookie-baking), I do understand that there’s more to it than just the cookies themselves.

• People get a chance to spend some quality time baking and decorating cookies together.
• It’s a chance to indulge in some once-a-year treats before the New Year diet kicks in.
• And a box or tin of special cookies is always a nice way to round out a Christmas gift, isn’t it?
• Plus, they’re pretty, too.

This year, though, we’re going a little different direction.  We’re baking our cookies all right (how can I not?), but I’m not doing the same-old same-old.  No piles of spritz cookies this year.  No thumbprint cookies rolled in nuts (or not).  No frosted stars.  You can get all that stuff anywhere.

Nope, this year, the cookie portion of our Christmas giving will consist of real, old-fashioned cookies – the kind Grandma used to make.  Cookie jar staples.  Lunch box favorites.  Cookies that mean business!

Don’t worry – I’m not spoiling any surprises or anything here.  No one in my family reads our blog anyway.

I decided to start with a cookie that has been a real challenge to me over the years – the sugar cookie.

All I want in a sugar cookie is for it to be nice and buttery, with a (big) hint of lemon, and soft and chewy, but a little crispy on the outside.

Is that too much to ask?

I can’t keep eating all these reject cookies!

And yes, I’ve read all the articles.  I know that bigger is better (do not say a word!) and that butter spreads.  I know that cold dough doesn’t get as flat as room-temperature dough (although it’s much harder to scoop!)

So here’s what I ended up with.

First, I whisked together the following in a bowl:

• 2 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (13.75 ounces by weight)
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• (scant) 1/4 tsp. table salt, and
• the zest of one lemon

Then just set the bowl aside.

Then, as much as I hated to do this, I used equal parts butter and vegetable shortening.

Remember the old days when shortening came in actual cans?  Metal cans?  That you needed a can opener for?  And when the can was empty, you’d fill it back up with hot grease?

Yeah, not anymore.  Man, I’m getting old.

You’ll probably want to preheat the oven now to 375°.   Place two oven racks in the  upper and lower middle positions.

So, where was I again?

Butter and shortening, softened, half a cup (4 ounces) of each.   Beat until creamy.  Then add 1½ cups (10.5 ounces) of sugar and keep beating until it’s all smooth.

Now you’re going to add 1 egg and the juice of one lemon.  (I used lemon juice in place of vanilla – I wanted a clean lemon flavor!)

Now beat until those liquids are incorporated, then gradually add the flour mixture.  I like to lift the paddle from the bowl and add about a third at a time – mixing on low speed (duh!) until each flour addition is incorporated.  That helps keep the puffs of flour to a minimum.

Once the oven comes up to temperature, it’s time to roll your cookie balls.  I used a #24 scoop, which is the perfect size for cookies, I think.

This isn’t rocket surgery – you scoop the dough, roll it into a ball, roll the ball in a bowl of sugar, then set it on a lined baking sheet.    I only put 6 on each sheet, though you might be able to squeeze 8 on.  But 6 is safer.

Just remember – you’re going to be putting sugar in the oven – you’re going to want to line each of your baking sheets with either parchment or a silicone mat.

If you’ve got it handy (or if you’re up for making a special trip to the store) I used turbinado sugar – raw cane sugar – for rolling the cookies in.  It does add that extra crispy sugary crunch that I wanted on the outside of the cookie.

Peeps says raw sugar is nasty in coffee, though.  I suppose you could use the rest of the box for, well, more cookies.  Or maybe a crème brûlée.

Bake your cookies for 14 minutes  until the cookies are almost set in the middle and not yet browned on the edges.  Be sure to swap and turn the trays halfway through.  Of course.

OK, these cookies are good.  Very good.  They’re not the soft, cakey cookies I had in mind, but they’re delightfully chewy – and quite a handful!

One cookie down, 5 to go!

We love homemade soup.   It’s soul-satisfying, in its way.  To take a bunch of stuff from the cupboards, garden, and fridge and combine into something, the sum of which is so much more than its parts.   And the best part is that, with a little thought and minimal effort, anyone can do it.

When Peeps took a Sunday to drive The Boy back to The Place after Thanksgiving, I was on my own to make soup.  I decided to rummage around a bit, see what I could come up with, and what I came up with was Beef & Barley.  There’s always barley in the cupboard, and back last summer when I smoked that bunch of beef ribs, we ended up chopping the leftover meat and freezing it.  On top of that, we’d recently canned a bunch of beef stock, so that pretty much sealed the deal, wouldn’t you say?

Beef and Barley soup, here we come.

I’m going to make a sort of confession here.  It’s common knowledge that neither Peeps nor I is a big fan of mushrooms.  For the most part, we’d both rather go hungry than let a mushroom pass either of our lips. Speaking for myself, it’s purely a texture issue.  They’re all . . . squishy and . . . fungus-y and . . . eew.   The flavor, however, of mushrooms can be wonderfully savory and meaty and. . . umami-y.  And that, I don’t really object to.   Additionally, one wonderfully tasty way to (ahem) beef up the flavor of soup is to add some mushrooms to the mix.  So I went to the bulk section of Wegman’s and bought about a dollar’s worth.

Just don’t mention it to anyone, OK?  Thanks. . .

And I diced up the ’shrooms, right alongside the onions and carrots.  Does anyone still call them ’shrooms? Or is that a holdover from my misspent youth?

In the small dutch oven, I heated a couple of Tablespoons of canola oil, then added first the onions, then the carrots.  Saute them gently for a little while, maybe 5-7 minutes, seasoning with a bit of salt and pepper.  Then, once the carrots, especially, have started to soften, add a Tablespoon or so of tomato paste.

Yeah, I know, where did THAT come from, right?  Again, browning a bit of tomato paste along with your veggies will help boost the beefiness.

I love Cook’s Illustrated – they teach me so much!

Anyway, give that a couple of minutes, continuing to stir, then toss in the ’shroom and let them cook down.    They’ll first release a bit of liquid – that’s okay.  You’ll want a bit of salt here, too, to help draw out the liquid.  Let that simmer until most of the juice has been absorbed (or evaporated – wherever it goes, just let it go), then add a glug (1/3 cup or so) of red wine, stirring to release any fond on the bottom of the pan.

Let the wine reduce a bit – it will concentrate that flavor – then add a couple of sprigs of de-stemmed fresh thyme (if it’s available – otherwise use maybe 1/4 teaspoon of dried).  Would you believe it’s DECEMBER and I’m still dashing out to the herb garden for fresh thyme?  How cool is that?

Gently pour in your beef stock (or broth) – I used a quart and a half (6 cups), which was what was leftover from canning.  If you’re using commercially-canned broth, use 3-4 cans, I guess, and go a little lighter on the salt as you’re cooking the vegetables.

Bring the soup to a light boil and stir in 1/2 cup of pearl barley.  If you’re going to be serving right away, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the barley is soft, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

If, however, you’re smart (and I know you are), you’ll know that soup is ALWAYS better the next day.  In that case, once you add the barley, just shut it off and walk away.  Let your soup cool a bit, then transfer to a sealable bowl (Tupperware) (or Rubbermaid) and shove it in the fridge until the next day (or, you know, whenever).  Then you can either reheat on low for 1/2 hour or so, or transfer the soup to a slow cooker and let it do its thing on “low” for 4 hours or so.

Mmm. . . warm soup belly.

So, you do know what today is, don’t you?  It’s the 68th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Remember:

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

We were out doing some shopping this weekend and found some fuzzy kitty toys, so we had to remind the Kitty that we didn’t forget that she loves her kitty toys.

She’s wrecked one already.  Not really wrecked it – she pulled it off the string that it dangled from, that’s all.

That’s a sign of happiness, right?

We finally had our first snow this winter – not that I’m glad or anything.  It was just, you know, waiting for something you know is going to happen any minute, but you just don’t know when, and you don’t know how bad it’s going to be.

This was not bad – notwithstanding all the Rochester drivers who were apparently SHOCKED to see snow on the first of December.  In Rochester.  Shocked, judging by their lack of winter driving skills.

Fortunately for all of us, the snow had all melted by the end of the same day.

Peeps and I have been tossing most of our spare change (except the pennies)  into an old tin; since we’ve started spending mostly cash instead of plastic (credit or debit), we have a lot more change weighing down or pockets and purse lately.

My purse is more than heavy enough as it is.

Since it’s a reasonably painless way to save money, we thought it would be kind of neat to cash in the change to use toward Christmas shopping.

Then we realized that we can cash in our change at a Coinstar machine, and if we opted for “gift certificates” rather than “cash” the coin sorting would be free.

And an Amazon gift certificate is almost exactly like cash.

And once again, it’s time for the weekly menu plan.  Between trying to get the freezers emptied (again!) and old recipes sorted and organized, we’ve been challenged to come up with some creative (and not too unhealthy!) meals.

Monday – I’ve been meaning to make this wonderful Skillet Chicken and Rice dish again for ages!  It’s been a couple of years, but, as I recall, we absolutely loved it!  Check back later on, or drop me an email, and I’ll tell you all about it!

Tuesday – We pulled a package of sauce for pork sugo from the freezer.  All we’ll need to do is cook some pasta, toss it with the sauce and plenty of parm, and bake until heated through. . . and, of course, make a salad!

Wednesday – Swim class again – so it’s crock pot night!  My brother asked if we could make some chili this week, so we’ll do that instead of soup.  Hmmm. . . I wonder if I’ll have time to make cornbread?

Thursday -  We enjoyed the cinnamon-honey chicken fingers so much a couple of weeks ago that we’re going to do another old favorite chicken finger recipe – this one has more a parmesan-herb coating.  Completely different, yes, but just as delightful!  Be sure to check back, probably next week, for more details about that dish, too!

Friday – Where would we be without pizza night?  It’s a great thing to just unwind on a Friday night with Peep’s fabulous sourdough crust topped by whatever toppings my little heart desires.  Plus there’s always a bit left for breakfast Saturday morning, which like a bonus!  This week, I’m going to start extra sourdough starter, so he can make extra dough, and, based on something I read over on Michael Ruhlman’s blog, I want to try a loaf of sourdough bread – using the same dough!  How cool will that be?

We don’t normally plan the weekend meals in advance – it all depends on what kind of week it’s been for us, or what’s going on (basically, what kind of mood we’re in!), we did dig a leg of lamb out that’s been in the freezer far too long, and we dug out a recipe that Peeps has been holding onto for, literally, years.   This should be interesting. . .

Be sure to click on over to The Organizing Junkie’s Monday Menu Plan post for loads and loads of other ideas.

So, the week before Thanksgiving, one of our local supermarkets was running a sale on chuck roasts.  Since there are tons of things to do with chuck, Toys got several of them towards the end of the week.

When I got home from work on Saturday totally exhausted, she suggested being lazy and making pot roast.  Not our normal weekday pot roast.  Nope, we were going to do it old school.  All afternoon in the Dutch oven.  And it was mighty good.  We had a little bit of meat left and a bunch of potatoes carrots and parsnips left.

Along comes Sunday.  We needed to get rid of as many of the containers in the fridge as we could, so we could make room for new containers of leftovers.  And then the idea started.

We had vegetables.  We had meat.  We had gravy.  And we had pasta sheets from work.  Pot roast lasagna!  It could be the ultimate in comfort food.  And we could make it happen.

First thing was the meat.

There wasn’t enough left to use as meat in the lasagna. But we could use it to make the gravy beefier. In the food processor it goes to be shredded fine.

It then gets stirred into the gravy and left to come to a gentle simmer.

Next, in batches, the vegetables get a few pulses in the food processor, just to make sure that everything is about the same size and consistency.

The vegetables all go into a bowl along with a little fresh thyme from the garden, some salt and pepper, a little Parmesan cheese, an egg and some ricotta. Not a lot of cheese, just enough to hold everything together.

The pasta sheets get cut to the right size.

A pizza cutter is the perfect tool for the job, by the way.
We’re all set to assemble. In the bottom of a deep disposable foil pan, goes some of the gravy.

Then however many pasta sheets you need to cover the bottom of the pan go down.

Next is a layer of the vegetable cheese mixture. Followed by more gravy.

And repeat until you have no more filling left. We got three layers. Before the last pasta sheets went down, Toys had one more idea. The last of the scallions in the fridge got a quick chop and went on the last layer.

To finish it off, we made a bechamel sauce for the top. Lots of people do that for lasagna. And we couldn’t think of a reason we shouldn’t either.

The finished lasagna got covered in foil and put into the freezer. It weighs a lot. And sometime soon, we will be too lazy or too tired to make dinner. And all we’ll have to do is put the frozen lasagna in the oven to be able to enjoy what could be the next hot culinary thing, fusion comfort food.

Having lived within 20 miles of Naples, New York for nearly 20 years, I have made a concord grape pie or two in my time.  Now this should come as no surprise to anyone, does it?  After all, I certainly made short work of the little basket of grapes I picked up at the farmers’ market last fall, didn’t I?

And since November is at the tail end of “harvest season,” well, it only makes sense that, along with the apple pie and (usually) pumpkin pie, a grape pie graces the Thanksgiving dessert table, doesn’t it?  And since “pie” was my food assignment, well, we know where I’m going with this, don’t we?

Grape pie is usually a very basic, simple undertaking – grapes, some sugar, thicken it with a bit of corn starch, and dump it in the crust.  But this year, I wanted to jazz it up a little.  So I borrowed from Nero Wolfe – you can’t go wrong there, can you?  One of our favorite recipes from the Nero Wolfe cookbook is grape-thyme jelly – since I don’t have the patience to strain it and make a proper jelly, I just make jam.

So I said to myself, “Self, if grapes and thyme work in jam, why not in pie too?”

So there you have it – grape-thyme pie.  I started with a quart of grape pulp, added some sugar (about 1/2 cup, or to taste), a couple of sprigs of thyme, leaves removed and chopped, a pinch of salt (always) and the zest and juice of a lemon.

In addition to the grapes, I also shredded one lone apple.  Grapes are very liquidy and can use all the help they can get to thicken.  Apples are high in natural pectin, which should help thicken the filling, and (in theory) lessen the amount of actual thickener I’d need.

Always thinking, that’s me.

Now, since I already had a package of tapioca flour, and since tapioca is an accepted pie-thickener (that’s what I used last summer when I tried Cook’s Illustrated’s blueberry pie) I added 2 Tablespoons of tapioca flour once the filling came up to a low boil.

Then I added another half tablespoon or so when that didn’t thicken it much.

As it turns out, I should have been a little more liberal with the tapioca – I was concerned about grape rubber, but I needn’t have been.  Next time, I’d start with 3 or 4 Tablespoons of thickener and go from there.

Anyway, pour the filling into a prepared pie shell, then cover with the top crust.

Oh, and just so you know, it’s not a great idea to roll out your top crust, then step OVER the dog (who chooses that moment to decide to sit up and see what’s going on) to lay it on top of the freshly filled pie.  I’m just saying.  Just consider that a friendly tip.

Now this pie tasted delicious – all grape-y and thyme-y.  A little firmer filling, and it will be perfect.

And a quart of grape pulp really is almost exactly the right amount for a pie.  A quart of grape pulp plus an apple left me with about half a cup left over.

Just about the right amount for, oh, say, a small batch of grape muffins.  Time to get the tapioca flour out and thicken a bit more, huh?

It seems like just yesterday that our Big Lug was just a fuzzy little puppy, doesn’t it?

Believe it or not, it was a year and a half ago when we brought home our wee, 76-pound bundle of joy!

Back then, he could lie comfortably in the back seat of my Accord – trips to the beach, to my parents’ house, to swim class – there was Jarly, crashed out across the back of the car.  It was the perfect fit for all of us!

Alas, as time went on, he grew and we noticed that he was getting restless – he’d try to shift around and find a comfortable spot.

Or he’d become impatient; 10 minutes into whatever ride we were taking, he’d start whining and barking and yipping.  Right in our ears.  Nice.

It became more and more obvious that we needed a bigger car.  The question (the main question, anyway) was what kind of car?

There’s the concern about Jarly’s hips – I’m not sure he could jump up into an SUV, even if he wanted to.  That, and the mileage?  After the last several years of driving a Honda?  Yeah, I’m not about to take the SUV kind of hit.

And I drew the line at driving a mini-van.  Although it would probably be ideal for the dog – easy to get in and out of, plenty of floor space for lounging – I just can’t do it.

So what does that leave us? There’s the Honda Fit – but the inside seems to be actually smaller than the Accord- that’s not what I’m going for.  Then there are the various “sport wagons“  – but honestly, I refuse to even consider a GM until the government gets its grubby hands out of the auto industry.  That, and they aren’t much bigger than the Fit.  I need something that will transport 110 pounds of whiny dog in comfort.

A station wagon, that’s what.  Talk about a mom car.  (I drove a station wagon back when Surly Boy was small – nearly 20 years ago!)  You know, these days, the station wagon selection is pretty small.  Basically, in the used market, you’ve got your Subaru and you’ve got your Volvo.

The dealer down the street from us had two Volvo wagons on his lot – so we stopped one afternoon and inquired.

And about a week later, we brought our new-to-us, all wheel drive Volvo wagon home.

It’s an automatic (I’m still trying to downshift!) with a leather interior and plenty of bells and whistles – and yes, this is what I drove to Vermont last week.  And it is suh-weet!

Peeps is driving my Accord now, and his Accord will be turned over to the The Boy shortly.

We believe in recycling in our house, you know.

You know why Jarly’s looking so pleased with himself here?  Not just because he’s got plenty of room to stretch out on the back seat (which he does), but because he can climb over the seat to get into the back seat.

Yeah, that’s not cool.  And it’s not safe – it wasn’t safe when Surly Boy used to climb into the back, and it’s not safe when the dog is climbing out of the back!

So the next day, I ordered a pet barrier to keep him in the back.

It took him a while to get used to puppy jail.

About the only issue I have with the car (besides the Invisible Clutch, of course!) is that it came with a cassette player.

A cassette deck?!  I don’t even know where my cassettes are – somewhere in the attic, I suppose!  The dealer is to replace it with a CD player – he’s just got to find a stereo that will work with the navigation system.

I have no idea.

Maybe I’ll just get the cassette adapter and an i-pod.  It’ll probably be easier in the long run, because I have a feeling I’m going to be driving this car for a good, long time.

After all, it’s Jarly Approved!