Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Here come the holidays

Hello! It's been quiet around here, hasn't it? Too busy to try new recipes or work on crafts? I don't really have any excuse. I'm just lazy. But if there is any time of year that calls for recipes and crafts, it's this time of year! Tomorrow my office is holding a Thanksgiving potluck at lunch time. I'm going to bring some home made mashed potatoes, but what's mashed potatoes without gravy, right? (Personally, I don't need gravy on my potatoes, but this isn't about me.) Not wanting to cave and buy gravy or a mix at the supermarket, I decided to try making gravy from scratch. And because I didn't have any extra pan drippings laying around, I had to find a recipe that substituted drippings with oil or butter. So I kind of melded a bunch of gravy recipes together and came up with something resembling gravy. Since I'm not a big gravy fan, I can't really say for sure if it is good or not, but I'll find out tomorrow!

Since I pretty much winged it, I don't have a real recipe for the gravy, but I'm sure I used at least the following:

Basic roux:
2 tbsp unsalted butter (melt in pot first)
2 tbsp all-purpose flour (add to melted butter)
1 cup broth (I used mushroom broth)

Flavor (stir in as desired):
2 cloves freshly chopped garlic
half onion, chopped
splash of soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

My office is also holding a cookie exchange and crafts fair in a few weeks. I can't participate in the crafts fair because, well, I don't actually "craft" much, but I am thinking of getting in on the cookie exchange with the Oatmeal Butterscotch. According to the rules, I have to make one dozen cookies per participant. There will be 8 to 12 participants. Yikes. Better make them bite-sized cookies.

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Posted by greeeenwithenv to Bumbling Bees - Food at 11/15/2006 07:03:00 PM