ThanksCooking

For Thanksgiving this year I was assigned to make three things…only three, no big deal…or so I thought.  I volunteered to make Ruth’s rolls and Grandma Butch’s noodles, then last minute someone requested deviled eggs so of course I jumped on that!  These three things all hold a very special place in my heart when it comes to food.  When I said I would make these things I forgot to take in to account my tiny little kitchen and the fact that all I have to bake with is a toaster oven that barely fits one 9x13 cake pan….I was cooking for 20 people!!!  Not only was I cooking for 20 people but, I was cooking Thanksgiving food for 20 people…. Leftovers are essential!  Also, I had promised my Khmer teacher I would make a pumpkin pie for him.  (Pumpkins are popular here but not pumpkin pie.)

So, I started my day…

Waking up at normal school time on Wednesday, I helped Micah get the girls ready for school and off we headed on our bikes.   I wasn’t going to teach that day because I needed all day to cook but it was the end of the month and our funds were dwindling…. We had about $15 left for the next two weeks. (I don’t want you to worry, we were fine and we had freezer meals stocked up, we just didn’t have extra money for tuk tuks and the like)  I also needed to get some flour.  So after dropping the girls and Micah off at school I headed to our handy local convenience store for some flour and eggs.  I knew we would be alright because flour is only about $1.50 and eggs are only $1.20… or so I thought… When I got there the only flour they had was $3.15 a bag!!!  I needed at least 3 bags!  So I got 2 and vowed never to go there for flour again!  And back home I went. 

First things first I started my eggs boiling and put my pumpkin in the oven to cook.   Now, the trick to perfect boiled eggs without the green ring is to put them in the water first then as soon as the water boils turn it off and let them sit for about 8-10 minutes.  Also, putting a spoonful of baking soda in the water makes taking the shells off a breeze!  (Thanks Pinterest!)  Well, the pan I put them in doesn’t boil water well and I 

forgot to put baking soda in…. my eggs ended up cooked but getting the shells off was a nightmare!  I think, out of 30 eggs, I had one half that was perfect.  ONE!  The rest of the egg process was normal and despite them looking a little funny, they were yummy and we even had enough for leftovers! 

While the eggs were still boiling I got started on the noodles.  I knew they needed time to dry before I could boil them but I am still pretty new at this art.  The whole time I was making them I was thinking “Man, I wish I would have watched Grandma a little closer.”   This is the only recipe I had:

3 eggs

generous half eggshell water per egg

flour

salt and pepper to taste

                                                 

Put the eggs, water, salt, pepper in a bowl and mix well.

Start adding flour until it is as thick as you can stir.

Dump it out on floured surface and kneed until ready to

roll out and cut up for noodles.

(I use a pizza cutter for this - fast and easy)

When ready to cook, make sure your broth is boiling and

stir when putting in broth to keep them from sticking together.

I get the eggs, I get the water, I even get the salt and pepper, but the flour?  How much flour?  I had already measured out how much flour I needed for my rolls and was only left with about two cups… That was NOT enough for noodles and pie crust!  So, after praying several times that God would multiply my flour I spotted my handy dandy tortilla mix!  That should work!  It only has a little bit of salt, baking soda, and Crisco in it… shouldn’t hurt the noodles at all!  So, I just started pouring flour in a little at a time until I thought I had it about the right thickness…. Then I started to knead it… and it stuck to everything!  So I added more…. And it still stuck… and again, and again… finally. It was ready to roll out.  So I rolled and rolled and rolled… It took up my entire kitchen table!  Our table isn’t very big to begin with but that left me with one square foot of counter space for the rest of my cooking!  But at this point I couldn’t move the noodles, nor did I have a place to put them if I could move them.

While the noodles were drying I started my first batch of rolls to rising.  Not only was I making Ruth’s rolls but I had also been asked to make herb rolls.  I need something familiar so Ruth’s rolls were up first. 

While the rolls were rising I needed to get my pumpkin out of the oven so I could make sure I had enough for a pie… I didn’t… What I thought would be about a 2 cup pumpkin only gave me about ¾ a cup.  Just my luck though, it was time to go pick up Micah and the girls for lunch.   Rhonda to the rescue!  She had extra pumpkin!!! While I prepped this pumpkin to go into the oven, Micah fed the girls picnic style on the living room floor.  

Time for a break!

After lunch, the girls went down for a nap and Micah went back to school.  It was time for me to finish my pumpkin pie and get the first batch of rolls formed to rise again.  Like I said, the rolls are familiar… no problem.  The pie on the other hand was not.  I had only made pumpkin pie one other time and that time it was from a can-o-pumpkin.  But I was excited to make this one completely from scratch…until I found that I was out of milk.  Normally I would just run across  the street to our neighbor lady’s store front and grab some but we were now down to about $5 so that wasn’t going to happen.  I started contemplating ways to make this work.  I had already cooked the pumpkin and made the pie crust so I couldn’t just stop.  Then I saw it!  Some chocolate soy milk I had made for the girls… hmmm… chocolate and pumpkin go together!  So I made a chocolate pumpkin pie and threw in some chocolate chips as well….. IT WAS SO GOOD!!!  I will never make a normal pumpkin pie again!  Seriously you need to try this!

By the time I had my pie, all of Ruth’s rolls made, and the noodles cooling to be put in the fridge I was pretty worn out and still needed to cook dinner before Khmer lessons.  Thankfully I did have those freezer meals so meat loaf it was!  The herb rolls would have to wait until morning.

So, the next morning I woke up ready to make the herb rolls.  I got them all prepped and ready to go in the oven while Micah took the crocpot of noodles over to Rhonda’s.  (Transporting all this food on our bikes was quite the puzzle.  But we got it!)  When the first batch was ready to go in I found that our extension cord for the oven was shorted out... It is the only thing that the oven plug fits in!  Thankfully Micah was still at the Benz’s house so I asked him to bring another one with him.  By the time he got back though I only had time to bake one batch.  The other batch had to bake at the Benz’s while we were getting everything on the table. 

WHEW!  What an experience!  I definitely learned a lot.

1.)    Don’t buy your flour last minute.

2.)    Chocolate Pumpkin Pie is the BEST!

3.)    Noodles are a day-of thing.  They are just not quite as good the second day.

4.)    Take into account the size of your kitchen when volunteering to cook Thanksgiving food!

Although my ThanksCooking day was quite eventful, I made it through with no tears and Thankgiving day was wonderful.  We ate lots of yummy food, watched the 2012 Macy’s Thanksgiving parade from youtube, and played games with friends.  J

I want to hear your ThanksCooking stories!