Another Weight Loss Goal Met
December 12, 2010 – 7:52 pmI’m now down 29 pounds since September 1st. I’m proud of my progress 🙂 It’s not yet very visible, I don’t think, but I am feeling and moving so much better!
Christmas Socks
December 12, 2010 – 7:52 pmThese are the socks I wore Friday in honor of our big office holiday potluck. I’m part of the Rewards and Recognition Committee, and we planned this party on a very small budget. We got a lot of complements though, and the party went very well. For my food contribution, I brought in a triple batch of my cranberry sauce, made with the zest and juice from two large clementine mandarin oranges instead of the cointreau. It turned out quite well, and the bowl was scraped clean at the end 🙂
CSA Box Week 7
December 6, 2010 – 7:44 pmAnother beautiful box for our third to last week!
Winter Squash-Sweet Dumpling
Apples-Honeycrisp
Apples-Honeycrisp
Free-Range Eggs
Spinach-Cut Baby
Lettuce Mix
Lettuce Mix
Rutabaga
Carrots-Orange
Carrots-Orange
Beets-Red Ace
Beets-Red Ace
A Somewhat Random Dinner
November 29, 2010 – 6:15 pmUsing up bits and pieces of things that needed to be eaten in the fridge led to this eclectic meal of chicken sausage, scrambled eggs, sauteed mushrooms, and green salad.
The sausage is al fresco Roasted Garlic. We liked these pretty well, but we liked their Vermont Apple with Maple flavor even better. The low fat flavorful sausages are a nice quick source of protein 🙂 As always, this is just my opinion, and I am not compensated in any way for my reviews of products.
CSA Winter Box Week 6
November 29, 2010 – 6:06 pmWe missed week 5’s delivery and ordering for week 6 thanks to the snow and ice last week, so this week’s box was a surprise 🙂 I had look up some of what I got and I’ll get a bit more clarification when the ordering website goes live again, as they’re new to me, but I’m looking forward to trying some different things!
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Braising mix (swiss chard, kale, collard greens, etc.)
Salad mix (romaine, bibb, etc.)
Potatoes-Gold
Apples-Honeycrisp
Pears-Asian
Plums-Angelina
Free-Range Eggs
Winter Squash-Kabocha
Onions-Yellow Storage
Soft white flour
Wheat berries (not sure if they’re soft or hard – I’ll have to look this up; still not sure, but probably soft)
Turkey Noodles
November 28, 2010 – 6:12 pmTonight, we used up some more of our turkey leftovers to make turkey noodles, similar to the much beloved homemade chicken noodles, but on a much smaller scale 🙂
Turkey Noodles
Serves 4
For the noodles:
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
For the rest:
2 tsp butter
8 oz leftover turkey, cut into bite sized chunks
1 quart turkey stock
Knead together the egg and flour to form a stiff dough. If necessary add a little water, a tsp at a time, to incorporate the flour fully. After kneading well, let the dough rest for about 20 minutes to let the gluten relax. Roll out the dough to 1/16 inch thick, either with a pasta roller or with a rolling pin, and cut it into long strips about 1/2 inch wide. Dry the pasta for at least 2 hours on a drying rack or 3-4 hours on the counter.
When the pasta is ready, melt the butter in a small stock pot over medium and add the turkey. Brown the turkey for 1-2 minutes, then add the stock. Increase the heat to medium high. Bring the stock to a boil and gently lower the noodles into the pot. Reduce the heat to medium and gently boil the noodles for 7-8 minutes, or until tender and cooked through.
Serve warm.
Layered Turkey Enchiladas
November 28, 2010 – 5:56 pmLast night, we used up some of our leftover turkey in some layered enchiladas, easy, fast, and tasty.
Layered Enchiladas
Serves 4
1 20-oz can enchilada sauce
6 corn tortillas (8 inch diameter)
1 15-oz can non-fat refried beans
1 lb leftover turkey (or pork or beef), cut into 1/4 inch chunks
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Cut the tortillas in half and set aside.
Spoon enough enchilada sauce into the bottom of an 8×8 inch baking pan to coat it completely. Layer four tortilla halves in the bottom, cut sides along the sides of the pan, curved sides to the middle. Add half of the beans and half of the turkey, spreading evenly. Spoon 1/3 of the remaining enchilada sauce over the top. Add another layer of tortillas in the same manner as the first layer, then the rest of the beans and turkey, followed by another 1/3 of the enchilada sauce. Add the final layer of tortilla and pour over the last 1/3 of the enchilada sauce.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until bubbly and hot throughout.
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 25, 2010 – 4:22 pmI wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and a blessed holiday season!
Easy Cornbread Stuffing
November 25, 2010 – 4:16 pmThis is the stuffing that Shaun grew up with, so it holds a special place for him. We don’t make it every year, but we did this one 🙂 It was a bit too buttery for us after eating fairly healthy for so long, so next time I think I’ll cut down the butter and add a bit more broth.
Easy Cornbread Stuffing
Serves 10-12
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup sliced green onion
1 box (12 oz) Mrs. Cubbison’s Seasoned Cornbread Stuffin’
1 cup chicken broth or water
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the celery and onion and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the celery is just turning tender. Add the stuffing mix and gently stir to combine. Pour the broth evenly over the top and stir again to form a moist mixture. Add an additional half cup liquid if desired to make a moister stuffing
If using the stuffing to stuff a bird, gently spoon the mixture into the neck and body cavities, loosely packing it. Spoon any excess into a baking dish and cover with foil.
If baking the stuffing separately, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, spoon the stuffing into a large baking dish, and bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for a final 10 minutes to crisp the top.
Cider Brined Turkey
November 25, 2010 – 4:14 pmYet another recipe inspired by Central Market. I combined a couple of their recipes and my own stand-by recipe to get quite an impressive bird 🙂 We still prefer my stand-by, but this was a fun experiment. The cider led the skin to brown quite a bit darker, and the breast was just a little dry, but still very tasty. This year, we stuffed the bird with Shaun’s favorite stuffing recipe from his folks. To round out the meal, we had homemade cranberry sauce, baked yam, braised brussels sprouts, and pumpkin pie.
Cider Brined Turkey with Pan Gravy
Serves 8-12
1 8-12 lb fresh turkey
Canola oil
For the brine:
1 quart water or chicken or turkey stock
3/4 cups kosher salt
1 tsp whole allspice
1 tsp dried ground sage
2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
2 dried bay leaves
6 quarts apple cider
2 cups ice
For the gravy:
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter or 2 tbsp of turkey fat from the roasting pan
Pan drippings from the roasting pan, fat skimmed off
Turkey stock to make a quart of liquid when added to the pan drippings
Ground black pepper
Salt
Dried thyme
The day before you want to roast the turkey:
In a large pot combine the water and salt and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the all the salt completely, then remove the pot from the heat and cool to room temperature. Stir in the spices, cider, and ice. Refrigerate to chill thoroughly.
At least 10 hours before you want to eat (up to 24 hours):
Rinse the turkey and remove the neck and giblets. Put the neck in a medium pot and cover completely with water (about 3-4 cups). Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 30-45 minutes to make turkey stock. Cool to room temperature then refrigerate.
Put the turkey into a large clean container, such as a brining bag, a stock pot, a clean 5 gallon bucket, or a drink cooler, breast side down.
Pour the brine over the turkey and refrigerate or place in a cool place like a basement for 6-21 hours, turning the turkey over half way through the brining if doing a shorter brine, or with about 4-6 hours left in the brine time if doing a longer brine.
3 hours before you want to eat:
About ½ an hour before the brining time is done, preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Remove the bird from the brine and pat dry. Discard the brine.
Place the turkey on a roasting rack inside a wide, low sided pan. If desired, stuff the turkey with your favorite stuffing or add a quartered onion and a quartered apple to the cavity as aromatics. Tuck the wings under the turkey and drizzle the whole bird lightly with canola oil. Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and black pepper.
Roast on the lowest rack of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and cover the breast with a double layer of aluminum foil. Insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast and return the bird to the oven, reducing the temperature to 350 degrees. Set the thermometer alarm to 170 degrees. An 8 to 12 pound bird will take about 3 hours to roast.
When the alarm goes off, remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
15 minutes before eating:
While the turkey rests, melt the butter and stir it together with the flour to make a smooth roux. Add the pan drippings and the turkey broth you made last night, whisking together well. Bring to a boil. Season the gravy to taste with pepper, salt, and thyme to taste. Serve with the turkey.
