Brined Turkey!

Just in time for Thanksgiving.... brined turkey! I made this for the first time last year and can't wait to do it again. It was the best turkey (and later the best broth) I'd ever had! I modified Alton Brown's brined turkey recipe (which as of this minute has 2426 5 star reviews!) to include spices I like and remove the fruit (I am NOT a fan of fruit/meat combos). It isn't a hard process, but the steps take a couple days.

2-3 Days before Thanksgiving

Thaw 14-16 lb turkey in fridge

Make brine - then cool and refrigerate.

Night before Thanksgiving

Combine brine and cleaned turkey (breast down) and 1 gallon of heavily iced water in a large stock pot or bucket. (I used a large stock pot lined with a Reynold's Turkey-Sized Cooking Bag). Weigh down turkey, if needed, to make sure it is covered. Refrigerate 8-16 hours.

Thanksgiving Day

Rinse off turkey, inside and out, with cool water and dry with paper towels. Brush skin with canola oil. You can add onion and celery to cavity if desired - but cook any dressing separately.

Bake on lowest rack of 500 degree oven for 30 min, reduce heat to 350 degrees, cover breast with foil, and roast 1 1/2-2 hours more.

The Brine Recipe

1 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup brown sugar (this does NOT make the turkey sweet, like I was worried about)

1 gallon chicken stock

2 Tbsp peppercorns

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp sage

Better get started making the brine today! You will be glad you did!

Swiss Chard

So my garden is done for the year - so I thought - but when I went out there I found some Swiss Chard and dill that I forgot I planted! I've never tried swiss chard before - I just planted it because it looked interesting. I needed a veggie for dinner - so I sautéed the swiss chard with 2 cloves of fresh garlic and a couple sprigs of the fresh dill in a little olive oil. I then added a little lemon juice, sea salt, and black pepper. It was really good - rather intensely flavored - but good. My husband couldn't get enough of it! I was worried he wouldn't even like it because he isn't a big fan of cooked spinach - but he said he could have eaten two or three times as much as I cooked. I have a little bit of chard left in the garden - so we'll be having the rest of it very soon.

Bread

Here are two new books I'm reading:

and

They are both great - but the pictures in My Bread are really pretty.

I'm having a hard time staying away from carbs.

:(

Tomatoes

Well - my 20 tomato plants have finally yielded their crops the past couple weeks. Thanks to my grandmother's gift of a water bath canner - and my Mom, Dad, and Grandma coming down to can for me - I now have several quarts of tomatoes and spaghetti sauce ready for the cold winter to come. But, since I dislocated my ankle 3 weeks ago and am in a cast and not very mobile - I've been looking for easier ways to preserve all my tomatoes. So here is what I've done. It is easy and I can do it sitting down with my foot propped up!

Throw the tomatoes into the blender, have my two year old son press the "liquify" button, and pour the resulting tomato juice into freezer bags labeled by my 5 year old. Then have my husband carry the bags downstairs to the freezer.

So far, using this unconventional method - we've used the juice to make chili and spaghetti sauce. Both have turned out great! I just hope it freezes well! I'll find out in 3-5 weeks when I can easily navigate stairs again :)

I need to dry some tomatoes too - I love they way they taste and they don't take up much room!

As far as the types of tomatoes I grew this year - I was going to go all heirloom variety - but at the last minute bought a 4 pack of "Better Boy" hybrid - which is the tomato I've always grown and that my husband LOVES. And... out of all the varieties I grew - the Better Boy was the best tasting. So disappoininting. I really was expecting the heirloom to somehow be more "tomato-y." The "Mortgage Lifter" I got from Burpee was the most disappointing. According to the catalog, it is supposed to be "Legendary, huge beefsteak consistently wins taste-tests." They were a beautiful dark pink color and pretty shape - but had just average flavor and this annoying green ring of stem throughout the whole middle that you had to cut around and destroyed the nice shape. And they were sooooo late to ripen! It was Labor Day before I had one!

The rest of the ones I got from Victory Seed. The "Sausage" roma-type was just ok. Kind of hollow inside (which maybe roma's are??) and almost fell off the vine if you looked at it funny. It produced a lot and they were a neat shape, but I won't grow them again. Then the "Bloody Butcher" was supposed to be early-yielding - but I didn't get any until mid-August (but that could have been our crazy weather this summer). They were pretty, small, red, salad-sized tomatoes. Again, just average flavor and I probably won't grow them again. I also had some yellow tomatoes "Golden Jubilee" that I saved from seed last year. They don't have any outstanding flavor - but are so pretty I can't help but grow them.

Anyone have any good suggestions for a very "tomato-y" flavored heirloom to grow next year??

The Real Cost of Cheap Food

I read this article in Time magazine in a doctor's office waiting room. I wouldn't read it if you have a weak stomach.... but very eye opening. We already get locally grown beef and pork butchered.... but this makes me want to fence my 14 acres and get a couple head of cattle....

Simple Summer Sangria

I had never tried Sangria until about 2 months ago when my sister-in-law had some at a big family party.  Her's was good - but very sweet and made from a mix.  I liked the concept, looked up some recipes, and made some using ingredients I had on hand.  I was really happy with the results!  It is a light drink perfect for hot summer evenings when you don't want a full-bodied red wine with dinner.

Simple Summer Sangria

6 oz can pineapple juice OR 8 oz can pineapple tidbits, undrained)

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup fresh or frozen berries (raspberries, strawberries, and/or blueberries)

1 bottle inexpensive sweet red wine (I used homemade blackberry wine - but I've read that Carlo Rossi Paisano works well - just measure out 750 ml)

--Combine all ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Chill in refrigerator 6-24 hours before serving.  (Longer is better because the berries release more flavor.)  And of course, eat the fruit when you are done!

Updates... and Cafe au Lait

1.    This one is mainly for my Mom (because she is such a big fan of the Fish Tacos!).  I made the fish tacos the other day and didn't want to heat up my oven - so I did the fish on the stove.  It worked just fine!  I used a non stick pan sprayed with a little Pam, cooked the fish fillets on one side, flipped, then flaked it with my spatula.  It was so easy - I might do it this way from now on.

2.    In this post, I said I was thinking about trying water kefir.  Well... I did break down and get some grains.  My kids call the resulting drink "juice pop" and do drink it better than they eat yogurt - so I can get some probiotics in them this way.  We like it best flavored with lemon and lime juice.  I even convinced my Mom to try some - and she liked the effect she got from the probiotics - so I gave her some of my grains because they multiplied so much.

3.    My husband found a new use for the frozen coffee cubes.  He recently got an espresso machine (only $30 at Walmart and it works just fine!)  His new favorite summer coffee drink is a double shot of cold espresso, 1/2 tsp sugar, 3 frozen coffee cubes, and 6-8 oz milk.  He doesn't blend it, but just lets the coffee cubes melt.  It is really, really good!

And speaking of coffee.... thanks to our new espresso machine - I have found a new hot coffee that I love!  I call it Cafe au Lait (coffee with milk) - something I've wanted to try since high school french class.  This is pretty strongly coffee flavored - my husband only likes it with double the milk.

Cafe Au Lait

double shot espresso

1/2 cup hot milk (I use skim and heat it in the microwave for 45 seconds - I don't care for steamed milk from the espresso machine)

1/2-1 tsp sugar

--Stir together and serve warm.