DECEMBER.. DINNER MEALS

Dane's been asking for sausage stuffed acorn squash.  He seems to remember my father making them with just breakfast sausage fried and then put into the baked squash cavity and baked for a few minutes to heat through.  I know my father.  He didn't just use plain sausage....he put stuff in with it.

So, I checked for any recipes....came up with only 1, sausage, mushrooms & onion & held together with some sour cream.  Don't have any mushrooms.  So, I browned up some sausage with onion & celery, added a chopped apple and then I'll stir in some sour cream when it cools before spooning into the cooked squash.

We'll see.

If he doesn't like it, well, then maybe HE should have volunteered to cook.

Just sayin'......

LOL

Gosh, this got me thinking about my dad. He and my mom's mother, Grandma Emch, taught me my love of cooking. My mom was an 'OK' cook, but not at all inventive. She had a few standards and rarely ventured away from them, at least until she got much older and was cooking for just herself or friends. But at home, it was the same old - same old, for the most part. But my dad liked to read cookbooks and try new things. He was the one who taught me to experiment with combining recipes and making up our own. And if it didn't come out the way we thought it should, we would play around until we got something we liked.

I think the first thing we made together was bread pudding. Oh, and pies. My mom couldn't make a pie crust to save her soul but, from the time I was 12, I made all the pie crusts in the house. I just did what Grandma did and they came out tender every time. Dad and I would go over to the apple orchard and pick apples from all the different trees to combine into the best pie ever! We had a Northern Spy tree that was especially delicous. I can remember making rhubarb sauce with him ~ gotta add sugar or, man, you'd pucker for sure!

Dad had a heart attack in his early fifties - passed away when I was 30. I think he'd love to cook with me today. I know he'd not complain about any meal on the table.

Supper was a sucess (as far as I was concerned....). Mr. Amazing would have preferred 'no apples'. Guess he should have cooked.....Hahahahaha, like THAT is going to happen any time in the near future ~



I could only eat half of mine....so, lunch for another day!

OK the end of leftovers...


Gosh that looks great Beth..Seems like I need to do that next..

I thought of you when I was eating.....thinking to myself, 'gee, I'll bet Barb would love this'

But I didn't make it because it was a low-carb meal. I made it because Dane asked for Sausage Stuffed Squash. The combination of breakfast sausage, onion, celery & apple was good with the squash. The sour cream did help give it some moisture and hold it together a bit.

I made tuna melts on grilled sourdough. It is an interesting recipe: tuna mixed with celery, green onions, parsley, S&P, mayo and apple cider vinegar. The bread is smeared with a mix of mayo, whole grain mustard, horseradish. The tuna is topped with Havarti, the tomato, more Havarti, then another piece of sourdough. The whole mess is then grilled. I just had the plain tuna, cheese and tomato. I can't tolerate horseradish. Wish I could 'cause it tastes so good. Funny, I wouldn't touch the stuff with a 10 foot pole when I was young.

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:The acorn stuffed squash looked good to me. I had the same thought about the apples as Dane did.

The difference being YOU would cook it and eliminate the apples.  He just says he'd leave 'em out.....but wouldn't consider making the dish for us.  

I suppose I shouldn't even mention it.  Good Gawd ~ can you imagine how I would bi7ch and complain if he was in my way in my kitchen??

LOL

But back to subject.....it was a good meal.  I could imagine making a regular 'stuffing' mix, heavy on the sausage, with bread cubes, chopped vegetables, etc. and packing it into the squash.  The sour cream did add a nice 'tang' and works well as a sort of glaze when it bakes.

The acorn squash I had came from Aldi's. The store here near The Villages is unlike any Aldi's....well, no, it's like the new store that was just built near our Ohio house. I know people think the stores aren't clean but if the traffic is as busy as the two I've been in then the product moves fast and the stores are kept very clean and tidy. The prices are so much less than the nationals like Publix, Winn Dixie & Walmart. I paid $.99 each for the acorn squash (on special) at Aldi. The price of squash at Publix & Winn Dixie is $1.00/lb. On a 2 1/2 lb. squash, that's a huge difference. You can imagine how far your grocery dollar goes when you pick up a couple 4 lb. butternut squash.

There are some things I don't like. I just bought Dane (his request) a bag of Cheeze Curlz & Crunchy Cheeze Curlz to compare with his Cheetos. They were $.79 and $.99 compared with $2.49 + for the name brand. But they were not tasty to him. I tried them and the cheeze flavor was off. So, I wasted $1.78 and now I'll go and buy the Cheetos. Lesson learned. Sometimes store brands are good, sometimes they're not ~ not any different than taking a chance with the national stores brand offerings. Sometimes you hit a winner, sometimes it's 'yuck'.

But you can't beat the price on other stuff, especially if you know your prices. Christmas cookie decorations - colored sugars, sprinkles, etc. are about 25% of the price at the other stores. The selection isn't as great, but there is enough to put a dent in your grocery list.

OK, off my soapbox.....
(I do get carried away, don't I?)

Aw, come on, Barb....Deviled Ham is a throwback from a different era! LOL

I think I remember my mom making some sort of holiday dip with deviled ham....but I know for a fact it's not something I've ever purchased.

Right up there with those nasty little sausages in a can. Vienna?  Gross.......

One opened right by me. I went once..I am not in the mood to bag my own stuff.Or have someone to carry it to my car lol..

I have one of those wheeled carts that was my moms .. brand new ,she never used it.. I took it around front and hide it behind the fence,so it does not get taken. I now use it to haul my grocerys and shopping in..

Not only do Vienna sausages in the can look obscene, but the taste worse.

As far as the brand loyalty: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose when trying something new.
Here is a small list (Hey! This is a good idea!) of off brands that are just fine.

Eagle Brand regular sweetened condensed milk: Magnolia (Nestlé's), Walmart's Great Buy are half the price of EB and taste just the same
Carnation evaporated milk: any other brand tastes the same
Granulated sugar: any store brand is fine
Brown and powdered sugar: Walmart's is good. Target's is not great. Something about the texture is off with the brown sugar.
All purpose flour
Homemade salad dressings are better than just about anything you can buy.
Olive oil: some brands are better than others
Vinegars: I am very picky about those. I prefer Maille apple cider vinegar. There is a huge difference between a $40 bottle of balsamic vs an inexpensive brand but my budget dictates that I use the cheap. Right now I think I have Whole Foods 365 balsamic
I prefer Best Foods mayo

This is just a short list

All purpose flour


I am a flour snob lol..King A for me.. And I would thrown out of the south if I did not use White Lily Self Rising.I buy Stone Ground Grits ,however I will use White Lily..

My go to pickles are Wickles..OMG good...

Maille for me too.

Blue plate /best foods/hellmens if I buy it.

Goya beans..canned.and dry..

Italian oil packed tuna..unless I go to Costco/Kirkland..

I have 4 kinds of Olive oil and about 6 balsamic V lol. If I can find Chocolate BV I will be happy.

I make my own salsa for the most part but I bought Rick Bal,,. really good for jarred.


Picky with my canned tomatos too

I just can't find any difference in the outcome by using Gold Medal vs KA. We really don't have White Lily out here but one of the local gourmet stores has it for $10 bag. Maybe someday I will give it a try.

Last month I tried Walmart's brand of diced green chilies and they were mush. I will stick to the Ortega brand for now.
I don't like Contadina tomato sauce: it is too sweet. Some grocery store brands are ok.

Gold Medal vs KA


To me there is. Well in making bread. KA is higher in glutton and just makes dough and other stuff good. I do not buy their mixes,WHY overpriced..

Sorry I do buy spices online either..

We're going back to Aldi today to pick up a few more 3# bags of Gala apples for $1.79, on special. Publix has Gala apples 'on sale' for $1.49/lb. That means I can go to Aldi or spend an additional $2.68 for the same 3# of apples. No brainer for me. And I don't mind taking my own bags, etc. I don't have any physical limitations so it's not an issue. It might be different if I did.

I also purchase their eggs, especially if I'm planning to use a lot. $1.23/doz. for large eggs ~ the yolks stood up high in the bowl when I broke them so I know they were fresh. $2.50+ at the other stores.

That is way not why. I am on my phone.
I buy eggs at Harris teeter for 18ct @ $1.87.

and for your Harris Teeter.....I'm jealous.

Boy, I miss my Kroger & Meijer stores.  I cannot find anything close here.

I did go to Fresh Market for some ground chuck yesterday (Tuesday - $2.99/lb fresh ground in store).  I had looked for Brussel sprouts to make for tonight's Villa Holiday Party potluck at both Winn Dixie & Publix ~ NONE.  WTH.  Now is when they are always available.  I found the nicest ones I've seen in a long time at Fresh Market - cheap.  I paid twice as much at Publix for the ones I bought for Thanksgiving and they were sandy and dirty.

BTW - I'm making your Brussel sprouts w/grapes to take tonight.  They were such a big hit at Thanksgiving I thought I'd keep going to see if anyone else is surprised about the combination.  Thanks so much for the recipe / idea.

I paid twice as much at Publix

I have not shopped there in a long time. They have the Fla market and they are so overpriced I will not shop there.Their brand is not good and the baked stuff is just gross.

The one to the left of me is like maybe 5minute drive. The new one that has a starbucks is about 10 minutes away.Funny,aldies is at the end of my street at the light and they took over a bowling alley. right next to a Big Lots.

HT has BS on the stalk..

I don't buy junk food anymore. The money I save goes for food I eat on my diet.

They are raping us on the price of eggs out here. A dozen goes for $3.50 and 18 goes for over $5. Butter is nearly $5 a pound. It makes no sense to me. How and why do we have the highest food prices? The state is now over 50% immigrant and most of those are poor. You would think there would be some kind of break on prices. And double the coupons.
I saw where Zuckerburg, the 27-year old founder of Facebook is planning on giving away 99% of his Facebook stock over his lifetime. 45 billion. I wish he would give some of it away in my direction.LOL.