Nomsplosion!: Happy Thanksgiving!

In AMERICA! And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back at home in Canada as well. I spoke to my daddy yesterday and he informed me that he did indeed share the blog on facebook so there is a possibility that my beloved family will check it from time to time. If so, hello to all my family! I miss you guys very much, I hope you're all well!

Now, onto the foods!

Firstly, I got so excited while I made the jellied salad that I forgot to take pictures, sue me. Although pictures would have involved "boil water and then dump everything into pot then refrigerate", you didn't miss much. However, it was amazingly good and the texture was sooo nice. And it had diet dr pepper in it!

Diet Dr Pepper Jellied Salad (original recipe here)

1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple
½ cup water
2 packages (3 ounces each) cherry gelatin
1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling
¾ cup Diet Dr Pepper* (I used a can of diet dr pepper cherry because it was what I had on hand)

Drain pineapple, reserving the juice. Set aside. In a saucepan, bring pineapple juice and water to a boil. Add gelatin and stir until dissolved. Slowly stir in Diet Dr Pepper, Cherry pie filling and pineapple. Pour into mold or serving bowl. Refrigerate until firm. Serve cold.

OH MY GOD, THAT WAS SO DIFFICULT. You may now take the rest of the day off, you have earned it, people.

Ohhh. Yes. It was so good. So evil. It had to be destroyed. I imagine you could make it with any kind of soda or pop or carbonated beverage or whatever you call your fizzy drinks wherever you live.

Now, BEANS! I assembled the green bean casserole here at the apartment and baked it off at Sean's house just before dinner. I had to omit a few ingredients, some because I don't care for them (onion chunks) and some because of who would be at dinner (Sean's sister is a hater of anything that isn't chicken, so nooo bacon) but it still turned out quite tasty. I loved it.

Green Bean Casserole (adapted from Pioneer Woman's)

2 pounds of fresh green beans, ends cut off
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 tsp onion powder
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp All-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups Milk
1/2 cup half and half
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
1 cup Grated Sharp Chedder Cheese
Extra milk for thinning out sauce if necessary
1 cup of breadcrumbs

First off, you want to snap the ends off of your fresh green beans. Or do what I did and just cut them off.

You can cut them in half or leave them big. I cut mine in half to make it easier to spoon them.

Next, boil a pot of water, and add the beans. You want to only blanch them, so only let them cook for 3-4 minutes. If they are still a little too crunchy for you, remember they'll be baking in the oven a bit later so don't overdo it.

Now, as soon as they're done, drain them and dump the drained hot beans into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

Don't do what I do and assume there was a large amount of ice in your freezer since you made a bunch ages ago and never used it. IT WAS ALL GONE! Evaporated! Or something! SOMEONE BROKE INTO MY HOME AND STOLE MY ICE! Anyway there was a little ice in there but it melted before the beans made it in. The water was cold enough to do the job as it was.

And then grate your cheese.

I usually buy pre-shredded stuff but when you're using cheese to melt into something, it's better to grate it yourself. The stuff in the store is coated in cornstarch to keep it from sticking together and you just don't want that in your food all the time.

Next, melt your butter, add your garlic.

Work quickly here if your heat is higher, don't burn your garlic. Burning garlic is a horrible thing to do.

Add your flour, and be sure to obsess and fret over why it doesn't look like the roux in the other blog's pictures, even after adding a whole other tablespoon of butter. OH GOD WHAT DID I DO WRONG

Cook your roux for a few minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste.

Add your milk, slowly at first, stirring or whisking quickly to get the roux incorporated. Add the cream as well. Be sure to freak out because THE LUMPS WON'T DIE OH GOD WHY WON'T THEY DIE SEAN I RUINED IT WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN

*pant pant* Okay who wants a drink?

The lumps did eventually dissipate, just keep whisking the crap out of them. Let your sauce bubble and cook over medium heat while you add your salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste. Make SURE YOU SALT IT PROPERLY OR IT WILL BE BLAND. And don't go crazy with the cayenne right away. Taste as you go, you can always add more.

Oooh look at that bubble.

Mmm Mmm. Taste sauce again. Roll eyes back in head and fight off urge to just pour pasta in and eat it right there.

Then. Wait for it.. THEN. Add your cheese.

Hello, darling.

Ohhh yes. Stir it gently, melt it all and turn your heat down to low, or just off.

Then, put your beans into your casserole dish (I think mine was 2q?) and get your helper monkey to take pictures while you do all the heavy lifting!

And then you mix it all up!

Then you try a bean covered in sauce. Repeat eyes rolling back in head step.

Cover in breadcrumbs! The original recipe asks for Panko, which is a delicious and big japanese breadcrumb you can easily find in stores nowadays. It leaves things very crunchy. However, since I was shopping right before Thanksgiving, NOTHING WAS LEFT. So I used the italian style ones I had in my pantry.