Thanksgiving Dinner - My Favorite Day To Cook

NOTE: Originally written 11/23/11. I've had a terrible time getting pictures put on.

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year, but Thanksgiving is my favorite day to cook. I don't know if it's the foods or the table decorations or just the feel of the season.

I haven't made a Thanksgiving dinner in probably 5 years, so when my daughter asked if I was going to cook a Thanksgiving dinner I thought, "Well, I guess so", and I felt kind of excited. I ran out and found the biggest turkey I could find, 20 pounds. 20 pounds is quite a big turkey for just 5 people, but I thought a week's worth of sandwiches that could be made. And the soup stock that could be made from the carcass. Smells so so so good. If you think about it, it's actually bone soup. Thinking about that could turn one into a vegetarian.

I made out the menu: turkey, yukon gold mashed potatoes and gravy, Aunt Dorothy's sweet potatoes, green bean casserole (ick), corn dookey, homemade rolls, cinnamon apple rings, fresh cranberry relish, roasted root vegetables, green salad, stuffing, spinach balls, pumpkin AND pecan pies.

Oh, the pies! I planned on making 2 pies. I had invited our friends to come over Friday for leftovers, so I decided I would need to make 2 pumpkin and 1 pecan pies altogether. I knew the pie dish I used for the pecan was deep so I 1 1/2 the recipe. I got confused and doubled the sugar so I had to add make another 1/2 recipe of the other ingredients. Okay, so now I'm making 2 pecan pies. I made another pie crust. When I poured in the pecan filling I didn't have enough to fill 2 pies. Turns out BOTH dishes were deep. So I had to make ANOTHER 1/2 filling recipe to fill the remainder of the the 2 pies. HUH? When they baked they both puffed way above the top of the pie dish. Never had that happen before.

My friend said it was normal for a pecan pie to raise like
this. Never had that happen before.

This is the first time I got to use my pie holder.   



 This must be true love. I HATE that "famous" green bean casserole.

(Don't look too close at my messy oven. Baking soda is a
great thing to  reduce the smoke from  something boiling over.)

Corn Dookey, formerly known as Shahoskahavi. Corn, bell pepper, whole canned tomatoes
onions, chili powder. Pretty darn good.



Aunt Dorothy's sweet potatoes: To die for!

Emily is making the stuffing. Mmmm! I am a messy cook. Just look at that stove!

Mashed potato rolls. These are SOOO good. You really must try them.

Yukon gold potatoes. I did add a lot of butter, but not enough to change the color.
These potatoes really are yellow.

We served buffet style so we could enjoy some elbow room at the diningroom
 table. Emily also brought spinach balls and Maggie made the most wonderful
fresh garden salad.

I really enjoy setting a table for Thanksgiving. This isn't too elaborate as some I've
done, but I love finding leaves, sticks, acorns and flowers outside to decorate with
the pumpkins, gourds and candles.

How could this have gotten so out of hand?

Herb Infused Oils - Oh Man!

NOTE: This was originally written 12/10/11  Ignore the posting date.

I was shopping yesterday in a kitchen gadget store for Christmas gifts. I like to check out the fancy food items in stores like that, things like jams, vineagers, mustards and oils. I saw Blood Orange Olive Oil. What could be bad about that? I bought all they had - 2. I really needed one more. So I got to thinking about making my own for that "one last person who reallly needed one." I grow many kinds of herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Wow, that would make great lyrics for a song! Anyway, my most favorite herb to grow is BASIL. I usually grow sweet, lemon and purple ruffles, but have been known to grow more. One summer I grew six different kinds, but there are approximately 100+ types.

Okay, back to flavored oils - when I got home from shopping, I was on the hunt for instructions for making my own herb infused oil. I went to Google and found many websites with instructions, recipes and warnings. WARNINGS? Yes, warnings. Who would have thought you would need a warning when it came to cooking with olive oil? Isn't olive oil the food of the gods? Yes, but it's man who can mess it up, especiallsy when it comes to botulism. The moisture content of the herbs or other things added to flavor the oil can be BAD. I've been reading about the dangers of garlic infused oil. "They" all recommend keeping the oil refrigerated and using within a few days. if the oil is made with fresh garlic and fresh herbs. I don't do much daily cooking anymore so that wouldn't work too well for me. I would have to make it 2 or 3 tablespoons at a time. I want to be able to store it unrefrigerated in the cabinet or on the countertop.

I got to wondering about using minced dehydrated garlic. Hmm? I'm still waiting for an answer from casaveneracion.com.  Also on this website, in the comment section, someone named Cheri (post dated 11/20/09) took a course at Williams-Sonoma and gives directions how to cook the oil to give it a 2 month shelf life. I'm going to try that. I want to give these oils for Christmas gifts along with some homemade bread.

Who knows? This might be so fun, so good that it will be an annual food gift item, like my beef jerky and Conway corn.

Look and Learn From My Mistake!

     My husband brought wood up to the house. "Hey, bring some inside and make a fire. It's a fire building kind of day." I thought, "Okay."  

     I put some crumpled newspaper in the wood stove, added some bark and small pieces of wood, then lit the paper. It took off pretty well, so I added 3 or 4 nice sized pieces. The wood was nice and dry so it took off right away. I sat in my recliner, enjoying the warm, orange glow coming from the stove's window.

     The fire got pretty hot pretty fast. I could smell that hot smell. You know what I mean, when the metal stove pipe gets so hot it has that "smell", like an empty cast iron skillet left on the burner? I thought, "I'd better put down the damper to slow down the fire." I looked up and noticed the plastic window fan was still sitting on top of the stove, leaning a little on the stove pipe. AAAAAAAA. I pulled it away from the pipe. Strings of plastic, like a cheese pizza, strung across. I pulled it and pulled it. It just kept coming in fine threads. It wouldn't stop. I had a wad of what looked like a ball of thread. There was a lovely melted grid of white plastic on the pipe. I tried to wipe it off to no avail. Whoa is me! Eventually it melted and dripped down into the connection of the pipe and stove. I guess it dripped inside that connection into the firebox. It's about gone from the stove pipe now.

     The fan had been sitting there all summer and, I guess, just became another fixture in the room. Well next summer it will be an art fixture in the room.

I wonder if it still works?

                    

NOTE:  The fan was checked on 12/9/11. It still works. Hurray?

I Don't Want To Be Left Out

I just found out I'm the only one who hasn't posted this picture. I wasn't clued in.

There. I feel better.

The Ultimate In Laziness (Or Ingenuity?)

Sometimes laziness gives birth to ingenuity. Here's my latest example:

     I found JUMBO marshmallows at the store the other day. Jumbo? Yup, and to top if off they are SWIRL! Regular marshmallow flavor AND CHOCOLATE!! How can that be a bad thing?  

Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony,
side by side in my marshmallow, oh Lord, why don't we? 

     I've been hungry lately for roasted marshmallows, so when I saw these I HAD to have them. I didn't want to build a big ol' fire outside, and since my back has been bothering me lately I didn't want to stand at the stove, fork in hand.

Here's where laziness turned to ingenuity: 

Why not gather the necessary items and sit in the recliner in the livingroom and enjoy some TV and a gooey, melted marshmallow?

 

Let's see. What do you need?

1: Marshmallows - check!

2: A Fork - check!

 3: FIRE - check!

4: A Recliner - check!

5: A TV - check!  Judge Judy? Not required.

Also, not required are sweat socks on the table.

They have no affect on the final product.

Directions:

     Be sure your marshmallow is securly fastened to the fork. Believe me, cleaning molten marshmallow off the carpet is no fun. Don't question the wisdom of the blogger.

     Hold the marshmallow over the candle flame. As you can see, holding too far from the wick causes soot, rather than that lovely char.

     Get that marshmallow right down in the blue part of the flame and let the roasting commence. Just like any marshmallow roast, keep turning it to get roasted on all sides. Duh!

Mmmm! Goo!

     Get back in there and do it again. The great thing about these JUMBO marshmallows is that they can be roasted many times. That's one tall flame!

     Burn, baby, burn! That's so preeeetty.

Oooo, these are really good!

     After 4 of these, I was about sick. The rest of the bag is going to a bonfire and weenie roast tomorrow night.


     So, there you have it. Lazy doesn't always mean the brain is on hold. I wonder how Einstein would compare this to E=MC2. Hmm?

Couldn't resist leaving this picture on here.