I started my googling towards this end on Thanksgiving Day itself.  I was stunned to find a recipe for Green Tomato Mincemeat and then further stunned to have my mother confirm that the mincemeat she had had as a girl was always of the green tomato variety.  Green tomato mincemeat??!! It turns out that there are dozens of internet recipes for this!  To go back a little, the reason Thanksgiving = Mincemeat for me is because my wonderful great aunt Joy served it at her Thanksgiving dinners that I attended each year as a child.  Those dinners were the stuff that tradition is made of.  Although some things have fallen away–Joy no longer hosts hundreds and I no longer play with Barbies on Thanksgiving–I haven’t stopped passing up the pumpkin and looking for the Mince pie.  Aunt Joy is from my Dad’s side of the family so I have always associated mincemeat with them.  Now I learn that my mother grew up eating it too–made out of green tomatoes!  This is tragic, because just a few weeks ago I had a lovely supply of green tomatoes and I could have tried it.  Now I will have to wait an entire year! 

Too late for a green tomato harvest here

My googling also led me to the information that Mincemeat is traditionally considered a Christmas pie.  Surprise # 2!  Again, my mother confirmed: “Oh yes, I always thought it was funny that they served mince pies at Thanksgiving.  It’s a Christmas pie!”  Oh.  I wondered if this was a Canadian thing (My mother is Canadian).  Further googling revealed that Mincemeat is definitely an English thing and that Mincemeat pie was long associated with Catholicism.  In fact, the Puritans refused to eat it because for them Mincemeat was tied up with idolatry.  I’m glad I’m not Puritan!      

I can’t help being drawn to the recipes that call for suet.  Something about suet screams authenticity (I’m not sure that I’m brave enough to go as far as the recipes that call for venison though!)  MinceMEAT, yeehah!  Apparently, it’s possible to substitute vegetable oil, although that doesn’t seem like a good substitute.  Any ideas on where I could get real suet anyone?  Have any of you ever made mincemeat–with or without green tomatoes, with or without suet?  How did it turn out? 

Meanwhile this resolving to make mincemeat post has reminded me that last year I resolved to do Advent and today is December1st!  I’d better get cracking, or there will be no reason to hold out hope for this year’s mincemeat resolutions!

The secret is the Mustard-Thyme Vinaigrette. It is so flavorful. Let me put it this way: I will never be without homegrown thyme again. Further, when whole grain mustard went on sale I bought eight bottles.

From the America’s Test Kitchen The Best 30-Minute Recipe

3 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1 shallot, peeled
1 small garlic clove, peeled [I always use 2 medium size cloves]
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
Salt and ground black pepper
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Process vinegar, mustard, shallot, garlic, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in blender [I use my food processor] until shallot and garlic are finely chopped, about 15 seconds. With blender running, add oil and continue to process until smooth and emulsified, about 15 seconds.

***
If there is a second secret to Bistro salad, it is the Boursin toast. Boursin is a soft spreadable cheese. The cheese parries the zing of the vinaigrette and adds its own garlic-herbiness to the mix. It is scrumptious. Do yourself a favor and do not read the nutrition facts. Also, note that Costco sells Boursin in three packs which makes it slightly less spendy.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees and cut a good baguette into thick slices (so that they’ll be soft on the inside and crunchy outside). Bake in a single layer on a cookie sheet for about ten minutes. Drizzle the tops with olive oil and then spread with Boursin.

Bacon & Eggs: You need 8 thick cut slices of bacon. Fry it crispy and cut into pieces. Toss with 8 ounces of mesclun (spring mix style lettuce) and 1/2 cup (ONLY HALF THE RECIPE) of the vinaigrette. The Best 30-Minute Recipe tops the salad with a fried egg. Although that presentation is more dramatic, I prefer just to go with hard boiled.

Assembly: Divide the mesclun/bacon mixture between 4 bowls. Arrange a sliced egg (fried or hard boiled) on top of each. Serve with the Boursin toast.

Yield: 4

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

A portion of my treasures

Bleach doth corrupt

I spent a few years accumulating a large collection of ice cream books. I scoured used book stores and I carefully watched for price fluctuations on Amazon.com. I didn’t end up owning every ice cream cookbook ever published, but I did own a lot of them. As is the way of accumulating mortals, I’ve gotten busy in the last year or two and haven’t made ice cream nearly as much. However, I continued to keep my treasures on a shelf in the laundry room by the ice cream maker and it gave me pleasure to know that if I wanted an obscure ice cream recipe, I could probably find it.

On Saturday, we noticed a strong chlorine smell in the house. I figured Amelia, who had been working to do an extra good job on the bathroom, had gotten over enthusiastic with the Scrubbing Bubbles again. Personally, I spent a good share of the day in the laundry room. Unfortunately, even when I noticed the tell-tale little spots on my pants, I didn’t connect them with the odor.  Later we discovered the bottle of bleach that had  tipped off the dryer on to the counter where the cookbooks were.

Silver lining: My two favorite ice cream cookbooks

Frozen Desserts: The definitive guide to making ice creams, ices, sorbets, gelati, and other frozen delights.

How to Make Ice Cream by Cook’s Illustrated

were safe in the living room upstairs:

I’ve been musing about my reasons for always being late and always being behind.  Two years ago I had a newborn and I was nursing constantly.  Yes, I was always late, yes, I was always behind, but observe: I am caring for an infant.  This will pass.  Well, infancy and nursing have passed, but lateness and behindness haven’t, not for me.  Now, I have a 2 yr old and I look at those with nursing infants (unfairly I know) and think, “Oh, that’s much easier.  If you put that baby down it will stay where you leave it.”  My baby no longer stays where I leave her.  She tears around the house doing destruction and requires an awful lot of attention.  In the past couple of months, trips to the potty (and yes, I almost always have the honor of being her companion) have often been more frequent than diaper changes were in the past.   And of course, she still eats many times a day, although tablefood now suits her just fine.

Something tells me, though, that when she hits kindergarten and 1st grade, I will probably still be late and behind. Because, let’s face it, it isn’t any particular stage my kids are going through, it’s me.    Comparisons aren’t wise, but they are human.  I noticed that my hostess had several children including a ~2 yr old (same age as Kate).  Not only did she host the recipe group, she also prepared two different recipes.  And she works.  I was home all day.  I can’t explain it.

Anyway, today I want to pretend to be like one of the grand bloggers, like Rocks in My Dryer, by responding to the searches that have landed random strangers on my blog.  So here it is: my first edition of Google questions and answers (answers not guaranteed):

GARDENING

1. When to prune garlic?

I don’t know.  I haven’t grown it.  But I would think it would be like growing onions.  Why do you need to prune it anyway?

2.  My gaura plant looks dead.

Mine too.  I’ve been meaning to do a post just on this.  I’m beginning to suspect that my pink gaura (appleblossom grass) were not as cold hardy as I’d hoped.

3. Mint varieties for sale.

Limitless.

4. Mint that tolerates full sun

Don’t they all? Or most of them?  Mint is a sunlover.  You shouldn’t have any problems.

5. Is Catmint and Hummingbird Mint the same?

No.  Catmint is Nepeta and Hummingbird Mint is a type of Agastache.  They are related, because they are both members of the Lamiaceae (mint) family, which is why they both have fragrant leaves.  My catmint is the “Walker’s Low” cultivar. It is shorter than the hummingbird mint (Agastache) and it gets going in the spring while the hummingbird mint is still asleep–it blooms in late summer. Catmint is a gorgeous purpley blue, where the hummingbird mint is dark hot pink. I have seen Walker’s Low Catmint recommended as a companion plant for agastache (of which Hummingbird Mint is one type).

6. Ava Hummingbird mint seeds.

Do not exist.  Ava is only available from High Country Gardens and it is cutting propagated.

MISCELLANEA

7.  Who am I to be brilliant?/ Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

A child of God?

8. What to say to someone when they win a spelling bee

There are numerous possibilities, but I think all good answers probably start with “Congratulations!”   Other ideas: You did great!  What poise under pressure.  You must have really studied.  Did you know all of those words, or did you have to guess on some of them?  How did you study?  What kind of books do you like to read?    You really had me on pins and needles, I could barely stand the suspense.  I was rooting for you.

9. What household products can I use in my Spotbot?

There are only two I can vouch for with certainty: a) hot water (works great for almost everything) and then b) the expensive proprietary Bissell products designed for compact cleaners.  c) Wait!  Pdad informs me that he has had good success through spraying the carpet with Spotshot (a product not made by Bissell and not designed for use with the Spotbot) and then using the Spotbot filled with warm water on that same spot.

I would be leery of using any other chemical or cleaner, especially one that might foam up too much.  I used my Spotbot on a friend’s carpet once, and she’d already sprayed something on it.  The machine was soon overwhelmed by lather.  I was afraid the motor would burn out and the foam made it much harder to use.

10. How much money are hummingbirds?

Wow, can you buy them?  How would you keep them?  A small cage seems inhumane.

11. Licorice gelato recipe

I have been searching the earth for this for the past fifteen years.  My ice cream/gelato cookbook collection is in two digits and I have seen only a couple of possible recipes.  Nothing like the ebony nirvana taste sensation of my memories.  My pledge: Someday I will visit Austria and eat it again.

12. hp dv5t trackpad, i like pmom

I like Pdad.  A man who designs search queries just to send surprise messages via google analytics is a man indeed.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bar

Ingredients:

Shortbread Crust:
5 Tbsp butter (softened, but still cool)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. allspice
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese (room temperature important for good whipping)
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 oz pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!)
1 egg (room temperature)
2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Crust: Cream butter and brown sugar, add flour and nuts and mix. Set aside 3/4 cup of the mixture for topping. Press remainder in bottom of 8 x 8 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Filling (prepare while crust is cooking):
1. Remove some of the moisture from the pumpkin. Do this by lining a large plate or baking sheet with a triple layer of paper towels. Spread the pumpkin on the towels and cover with another triple layer of paper towels. Press firmly until the towels are saturated. Fold the pumpkin on itself, peeling the towels off and throwing them away.  [Really!]

2. Whisk sugar and spices together.

3. Blend sugar mixture and cream cheese until smooth.

4. Add the pumpkin from step one, vanilla, and an egg. Beat well. Add the cream and combine until incorporated.

5. Pour the filling in to the crust, and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the reserved topping. Return to oven and bake 25 minutes more. Cool, then chill in the refrigerator.

Serve when fully chilled.

This recipe doubles well in a 9 x 13 pan.

The shortbread crust is delicious: buttery and nutty.  It also has the advantage of being stiff so that the bars can be picked up (although you still have to be careful of the soft pumpkin tops).  Another option is to make these with a spiced graham cracker crust.  The graham crackers and spices are the perfect complement to the pumpkin, but note that the graham crust is perhaps not as sturdy.  You may find it easier to eat these with a fork.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bar--Graham Crust closeup

Graham Cracker Crust

13 1/2 whole graham crackers (7.5 oz)

4 1/2 Tbsp sugar

3/4 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

3/8 tsp ground cloves

9 Tbsp (1 stick + 1 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted

Graham Crust instructions: Preheat oven to 325.  Spray the pan with Pam.  Food process the crackers, sugar and spices until “finely ground”.  In a different bowl, pour melted butter over the crumbs and mix together.  Press crumbs into an even layer in the pan.  ”Bake until fragrant and browned,” about 15 minutes.