The T Doesn't Stand for Timely

You might remember that I put in a request to have our cable disconnected on November 6.  I was told by the phone rep at our cable company (which shall remain nameless, but whose initials are TWC) that they would "disconnect at the pole" on November 9.

I just got a knock on the door from the technician who said he's here to "disconnect cable but leave internet".  Yep.  Just what we ordered...three weeks ago.  By the way, the pole you're looking for isn't in our yard...go around to the house behind us.

We knew the cable was still on, but we haven't been using it.  In fact, when we lost power for a short time on Saturday or Sunday, we didn't even bother to re-scan for channels; we figured we'd get to that if/when we wanted to watch something.  We've been caught up in Netflix discs of Doctor Who instead.

I wonder if we'll be charged for those three weeks?  I do know we won't be paying for them.

Old-Fashioned Decorating

Here's a tableau I saw once in a flea market
and recreated here at home.

It's an old step-ladder adorned with kitchen utensils and other household items that are old or made to look old.  Keeping
ribbons and greenery to a minimum enhances this simple look.

Simple Decorative Table Covering for Any Season

Look at me!  I actually did a craft!  This project is SEW simple to make with a machine, and would even work up quickly by hand if that's your style.  All you need is a yard of woven cotton fabric in any color or design you like and at least 1/2 yard of any coordinating fabric.

Square up your cuts of fabric.  I do it by pulling a thread, but maybe you know of a different way.

Cut the larger piece of fabric in as big a square as you can.  Because of crooked bolting and uneven cutting, it will almost certainly be less than a 36-inch square.  Fold and press edges in 1/4-inch, then fold them over another 1/4-inch and press again.  Then top stitch all the way around.

Do the same thing with the smaller fabric, making a square as close to 18 inches as possible, and hem it all the way around as well.

Depending on your table, you may want to adjust these sizes.

Place larger cloth on table with points toward table ends and sides.  Place smaller cloth on top at a 45° angle (with points toward table corners).  Place centerpiece as desired.  Or, you know, you can put it on the table any way you like.

These are simple and inexpensive to make, so why not have some for every holiday or season?  I find that in our house, a full table cloth is likely to shift or get pulled on by our unruly cats, but these smaller table toppers work great.  When the table is pretty, we're much less likely to use it as catch all surface, too.

Monday Meal Plan

I haven't done a weekly dinner menu on the blog in a long time, so I thought I'd do that this morning.  All the turkey leftovers are gone, and I now have several jars of canned turkey stock in the pantry for future meals.  It's time to start eating some of the venison and pork in our freezer.


Sunday:  Copycat of Macaroni Grill's Penne Rustica. 

This was actually a leftover makeover, but not from Thanksgiving.  We went out last Wednesday night for a belated birthday dinner for Shane.  Without getting into much detail, we were all disappointed with our meals from a well-known chain steak house.  Kat ordered a Parmesan-crusted chicken dish, but brought most of it home as leftovers, which eventually found their way into this dinner. 

I made a few changes to the recipe.  I subbed in a cup of turkey stock for a cup of the cream (and used half-and-half instead of cream to begin with), I added quite a bit more garlic, and omitted the shrimp since we didn't have any in the freezer.  This turned out to be a nice baked pasta dish and quite the improvement over the original chicken dish from the restaurant.  We served it with a green salad and bacon-cheddar scones.

Monday:  Venison chili with corn chips, sour cream and shredded cheddar; peanut butter sandwiches; celery/carrot sticks. 

I call this one of my school lunch dinners, because we always had peanut butter sandwiches and celery/carrot sticks at school whenever we had chili.  I need to get a chili recipe posted on the blog.  My chili used to be ultra-simple:  ground meat, tomato soup, packaged chili seasoning, chili beans.  Lately, though, I've been using tomato sauce and pinto beans grown and canned from our garden, as well as chili seasoning I put together myself.  I need to get those changes on paper -- or on blog, as it were.

Tuesday:  Pork Chops with Onion-Mushroom Gravy

Here's another recipe that used both canned soup and dry soup mix, but that I've changed to include homemade versions instead.  I should probably get those changes recorded, too.  This dish will be served with potatoes and Brussels sprouts, but I haven't yet decided on the recipes for those.

Wednesday:  Texas Chili Cheese Bake

This is a fun dish using leftover chili layered over toast and shredded cheese, then broiled quickly to heat it through.  We'll probably have leftover Brussels sprouts and some home-canned peaches or apples to go with it.

Thursday:  Chinese Steamed Pork Dumplings, Egg Drop Soup, Garlic Green Beans, Almond Cookies

I'll be trying my hand at Chinese steamed dumplings.  If they turn out alright, I'll post the recipe.

Friday:  Kansas City Steak Soup with Venison, Cornbread, Home-canned Fruit

This is a family favorite but I'm trying something new this time:  I'm going to make a HUGE batch and pressure can it.  I've done a lot of pressure canning this year (pinto beans, green beans, chicken stock, even fish), but it will be my first time canning something like this with so many ingredients.  I can't wait to try it!

Saturday:  C.O.R.N. (Clean Out Refrigerator Night)

In other words, I'm taking a night off!

Nowadays, Even Sandwiches Are Controversial

I hope all of you had a very nice Thanksgiving.  Ours was wonderful, if very un-traditional.  I made most of the dishes ahead of time, so yesterday all that needed to be made was turkey and stuffing.

Kat went to a midday feast with her mom and step-dad, which left Shane and I with several hours of free time.  I spent mine in the RV, sewing.  Shane spent his in, out, and under the RV, getting it winterized for the off-season.  Around 4:00, we came in and started working on our Thanksgiving supper.  Shane deep-fried the turkey while I heated the side dishes.  By the time everything was ready, Kat was home to eat with us.  We enjoyed our meal while watching a movie.  Eating in front of the TV made it as much a holiday as anything else did; that's not something we do often.

We really enjoyed our casual, quiet holiday.  I think making side dishes ahead of time is the way I'll "do" holidays from now on.  Although we ate late in the day, we weren't tired from cooking all day, so cleaning up was a breeze.

So now, what to do with the leftovers?  Enter the controversy.  I plan on making Kentucky Hot Brown sandwiches.  I have never had one, have never been to the Brown Hotel, and in fact, have never been to Louisville at all.  I just thought the sandwich I saw in a magazine looked tasty.

Apparently, though, some folks get a little "tetchy" if the sandwich isn't made exactly according to The Brown Hotel's original recipe.  And, OMG, if you accidentally (or intentionally) call it a Hot Browns instead of Hot Brown, watch out!  Bobby Flay uses white cheddar and gives the bread a French toast treatment, both of which are apparently no-nos.  My Recipes' version calls for Parmesan (Mornay sauce), but is otherwise similar to the original.

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Buffy Hargett, via My Recipes

My version will probably include white cheddar (which I have on hand) and Parmesan (which I have on hand), and will probably not include the egg-dipped bread.  It will probably have double the bacon.  And for that reason alone, it will probably be the best recipe of the bunch.

Grinding Away

I know I haven't been around much.  Here's why:


- Between Thursday of last week and yesterday, we processed and froze 84 pounds of venison.

- We killed our meat grinder.

- I made Shane a cake for his birthday, which was yesterday.  I used this recipe, but made some changes to include cocoa and little molasses.

- I set up some Spicy Cranberry Relish to lacto-ferment.  It should be done by Thursday.

- I made Make-Ahead Gravy for Thursday's feast.

- After using what I needed for the gravy, I canned 4 pints of perpetual chicken bone broth.

- I zested and juiced some lemons and limes for future recipes.

- I'm making these French fries to go with tonight's supper.  I'm trying the twice-fried or double-fried method this time.  These are between fryings.  If you are interested, do a Google search.  There are WAY too many results to link just one.

- I managed to work in a little bit of laundry and housework between other jobs.

- Somehow, I managed to find time to plan meals until the end of the year.  Mostly just the main dishes, but it's a good starting point for more busy days ahead.

- And just for fun, we had dinner with some friends on Saturday evening.


I'm on a roll!  If you don't hear from me by Black Friday, send a search party.

Busy Days

Just "popping' in to say hello and let you know I haven't abandoned the blog.  Shane's birthday is Sunday...Thanksgiving is right around the corner...and it's deer season here right now (we process our own meat when we get it).  As you can imagine,  I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by my kitchen to-do lists right now.

I do manage comment once in a while on Facebook, so if you haven't already, you might want to "Like" me there to keep up with what's going on at the Haphazard Homestead FB page.

Have a great weekend, and I'll be back as soon!