Recipes for cold weather
-
Trying what may become a new winter tradition. Head downstairs in Sunday morning, figure out what is the oldest thing in the freezer and make something with it for dinner.
This morning it was a pork roast from May and a ham bone I think was leftover from Easter.
Bean soup with ham cooking now.
@Steve-Miller said in Recipes for cold weather:
figure out what is the oldest thing in the freezer
I did that week before last. We ended up celebrating Thanksgiving 2025 somewhere between the Canadian and the American holiday.
I bought an extra turkey last Thanksgiving and froze it. And forgot about it. I was worried that it might be freezer burned or taste funky, but it was the best turkey I ever made. Just a plain old roast turkey, not even brined.
Turkey noodle soup!
Oh, happy belated Thanksgiving to @dolmansaxlil !!
-
@Steve-Miller said in Recipes for cold weather:
figure out what is the oldest thing in the freezer
I did that week before last. We ended up celebrating Thanksgiving 2025 somewhere between the Canadian and the American holiday.
I bought an extra turkey last Thanksgiving and froze it. And forgot about it. I was worried that it might be freezer burned or taste funky, but it was the best turkey I ever made. Just a plain old roast turkey, not even brined.
Turkey noodle soup!
Oh, happy belated Thanksgiving to @dolmansaxlil !!
@wtg Thanks! We had our typical small family gathering. It was lovely! In the past I have taken a day off at US Thanksgiving so Rob and I could do something but the last few years it has fallen on parent teacher conferences so I haven’t done that. I just checked and they don’t conflict this year so I might have to revive that tradition!
-
Trying what may become a new winter tradition. Head downstairs in Sunday morning, figure out what is the oldest thing in the freezer and make something with it for dinner.
This morning it was a pork roast from May and a ham bone I think was leftover from Easter.
Bean soup with ham cooking now.
@Steve-Miller said in Recipes for cold weather:
a ham bone I think was leftover from Easter
Thanks for the reminder. I'm pretty sure I have one or more ham bones buried in the freezer. In our house, ham bones go into split pea soup, Mr wtg's favorite.
-
The frozen ham bone was no longer usable, so we stopped at Mr Allison's to buy a fresh one. Mr A's ham is much better than what we had in the freezer anyway.
We've been cooking up our Mr. Allison's Ham since 1968 and still do it the same way! We hand select our ham from a local farm and only choose the best and freshest. Our hams are smoked using our own special blend of hardwoods and are baked in-house using a slow cooking method creating a tender and juicy ham. Each ham is then hand carved off the bone. Yes, it’s a long process but we will never take short cuts.
Over the years our customers have asked to take home our ham and have gained a following. During peak season we bake over 3 tons of ham in one week! We can accommodate any order just give us a call or stop on by.
Split pea soup tomorrow, FTW!
-
-
-
@jon-nyc That looks great. I have a kabocha squash that needs cooking; I wonder if I could use it instead of the butternut.
said in Recipes for cold weather:
I have a kabocha squash that needs cooking
I made @jon-nyc 's squash soup but with kabocha instead of butternut. It was very good, though I liked it more than Mr wtg did.
Someone commented on the blog that the recipe has no cream in it but you'd swear it does.
The black pepper is essential.
-
Tangy Braised Chickpeas from Smitten Kitchen. Like brisket without the brisket. Mushrooms and carrots star here!
-
This looks like a good possibility. Basically an egg and veggie pie, with the crust being made of grated potatoes. Video won't play here, but you can click on the Link to video.
Link to videoRECIPE AND INGREDIENTS:
Ingredients:
Potatoes — 1 kg
Butter — 3 tbsp (2 for the dish, 1 melted for brushing)
Eggs — 5 (1 white for crust, 4 for filling)
Salt — to taste
Cream — 300 ml
Feta — 100 g
Parmesan — 50 g
Spinach — 100 g
Red bell pepper — 1
Olives — 80 g
Flour — 2 tbsp
Dried garlic, oregano — to taste
Olive oil — for fryingPreparation:
Grate potatoes, salt, and let sit for 15 minutes.
Squeeze out the liquid, spread evenly in a buttered, parchment-lined form.
Brush with melted butter and bake for 20 minutes at 200°C.
Brush with whipped egg white and bake for 3 more minutes at 180°C.
Mix eggs, cream, feta, and parmesan.
Sauté spinach, add to the mixture.
Fry diced pepper and olives with garlic and oregano, combine with the filling.
Add flour, pour into the crust, and bake 25–35 minutes at 180°C.Result: A golden, crispy potato base with creamy, cheesy vegetable filling — comforting, flavorful, and truly homemade.
-
I have potatoes from my garden. I bought a huge leek. I went in search of recipes and found some possibilities.
-
Split pea soup tonight. I have been using a recipe for “Lebanese” split pea soup, involving celery, potatoes, cumin and za’atar. Today I’m adding carrots. Split pea soup is pretty flexible and indestructible. The tricky part will be puréeing it in the blender without scalding myself.
Also making croutons from some old, stale sourdough.
-
Sounds delish. Your Lebanese recipe sounds like the lentil soup they serve at the Pita Inn, one of our favorite lunch places. They do include carrots.
Vegetable Lentil Soup
Homemade vegetarian soup made with lentil, carrots, onions, celery and spices.
-
Sounds delish. Your Lebanese recipe sounds like the lentil soup they serve at the Pita Inn, one of our favorite lunch places. They do include carrots.
Vegetable Lentil Soup
Homemade vegetarian soup made with lentil, carrots, onions, celery and spices.
@wtg That lentil soup sounds great too!
-
Split pea soup tonight. I have been using a recipe for “Lebanese” split pea soup, involving celery, potatoes, cumin and za’atar. Today I’m adding carrots. Split pea soup is pretty flexible and indestructible. The tricky part will be puréeing it in the blender without scalding myself.
Also making croutons from some old, stale sourdough.
If you do a lot of purées in big batches you might like an immersion blender for. Christmas.
Much easier than transferring everything to a blender.
-
If you do a lot of purées in big batches you might like an immersion blender for. Christmas.
Much easier than transferring everything to a blender.
@Steve-Miller Hi, Steve. I have an immersion blender. I don’t know, maybe it’s not a very good one, but it doesn’t do what the KitchenAid can. The KitchenAid is a powerhouse…took me a while to master it (well, still not mastered). The buttons have flashing red lights as if to say, like the software prompts, “Are you sure?”
-
Dinner tonight. It’s just too easy to be this good. Chicken and bean chili. No recipe, Sharon made it up.
Sweat mirepoix in a big pot with a sliced green chili and a couple of cloves of garlic. Melt a block of cream cheese on top of it. Add one can each of white beans, black beans, pinto beans, corn, and diced tomatoes. Add shredded Costco rotisserie chicken. Heat up.
Season to taste - cumin, coriander, paprika, salt, pepper.
It’s way better than it should be with those ingredients. Even for a no UPF warrior with a Mediterranean diet mindset it’s hard to fault it other than maybe too much cream cheese
-
I bought a butternut squash for the first time just to make this recipe and this excerpt from the instructions has me stymied:
"1 large butternut squash (about 3 pounds), halved vertically* and seeds removed"
This baby is not only heavy and solid, but I absolutely can't imagine how the vertical halving is supposed to take place without a machete somehow held in place (large vise?) and halving part of a hand all the same.
Having recently read that many (most?) ER visits are precipitated by trying to halve avocados (I myself had to go to urgent care not long ago thanks to a deepish cut from inept use of a sharp kitchen knife), I do NOT want to repeat the experience - only much more seriously! (Cleaver?)
Someone please tell me the secret is to bake the squash in the oven first! Carving pumpkins is daring enough!
-
I've run into the same problem with butternut squash. When it's uncooked, it is a bitch to deal with.
Someone here suggested a brief cook in the microwave before starting any cutting; I don't remember for how long. I've used a very large chef's knife or a cleaver and....a rubber mallet. I put the squash on Mr wtg's workbench, position the knife/cleaver on the squash, and tap lightly to penetrate the very tough skin. I continue tapping until I'm all the way through. Peeling it and then cutting it into chunks is also a total pain.
I finally gave up buying them whole. I pay the extra and buy the cut up squash at Costco or the grocery store.
