How was it?

Are you all in one piece?

We had a lovely Thanksgiving feast. The turducken was a lot of fun and easy as heck. Here's the bird (birds?) hot out of the oven:


This is what it looked like after cutting down the center. Quite a crowd gathered for that moment:


The skin was lovely and crisp.

Here's what the servings looked like. I can only tell Turkey and Not Turkey. I couldn't tell you which was duck or chicken:


Here's my Thanksgiving plate. Yum!


We've continued to talk about the turducken for a few days. Everyone liked it a lot. I was a little bewildered by it, to tell the truth. I had expected more stuffing and to be able to tell everything apart a little better. I'm looking forward to making my own. Thanksgiving 2009?

Public Service Announcement

For those about to rock, we salute you.

And for those about to cook, tie your hair back and cover it. Hair in food = unhappiness, all around.

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

I've posted this recipe before but it bears repeating. This is the first dish I've made for Thanksgiving so far and it's a very satisfying to listen to those cranberries "pop".

Ingredients
1 bag fresh, raw cranberries
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon Triple Sec
the zest of 1 orange (I always use an organic orange for this)

How To
Simmer all ingredients together until the cranberries start to "pop" and the sauce turns thick and bright red.

Before:

After:

Serve hot or cold.

I can't wait to smear this on a big slice of gravy-soaked turkey.

Thanksgiving Menu Redux

How is your Thanksgiving menu shaping up? A few weeks ago, I posted a preliminary menu but have continued to fiddle with what will actually show up on the table. Today is the last day I'm willing to fool with it (and the last day I am willing to set foot in a grocery store-- from now on, Patrick will be my emissary (love you, honey!))

Thanksgiving 2008 Menu

Appetizers
Crudites
Carrot Ginger Rosemary Soup
Beet Salad
Goat Cheese & Honey Bites

Main
Turducken
Traditional Gravy (My father-in-law jumps in and makes the gravy while I fuss with everything else. It's awesome to have a gravy guru in the wings.)
Mashed Potatoes (My mom makes these. Mmm...)
Close-to-Stuffing Dressing (my mom's dressing recipe baked with turkey wings on top.)
Cranberry Sauce
Creamed Spinach
Sweet Potato Soufflé (My mother-in-law makes this-- people are obsessed with it.)
Haricots Verts with Almonds
Rolls & Butter

Dessert
Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread
Pumpkin Pie with Graham Cracker Crust
Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce (Patrick makes this and it's amazing.)

Does this sounds like enough food for ten people? :-) I asked Patrick that this morning, and he looked at me like I was crazy. Which I am, just a little bit. You know, for flavor.

It's here! It's here!

Oh boy! Look what the postperson brought! Turducken!


It was shipped with dry ice but that was all gone by the time it arrived. Still, the box was frosty and the bird was ice cold and rock hard. Great shipping!


For your own peace of mind, don't read the nutrition info. After all, it's not like turducken is an every day food.

A perfect Saturday at the Farmer's Market...

The weather in Southern California has finally calmed down a bit. We could do with some rain to wash away the ash and clear the air, but I'm not going to complain about the soft sunshine and 70 degree weather. Perfect farmer's market weather.

Mountains of green beans:


Super cheap tomatoes ($1 a pound!)


Buckets of flowers, just waiting for Thanksgiving tables:


Jack-Be-Little Pumpkins and other gourds:


Broccoli:


I filled up with gas on the way home. I don't think I've seen gas for under $2.25 for about four years. I filled up my tank for under $30. I haven't done that since grad school.

Incredible Meatballs

When Patrick and I first moved in together, I made A16 meatballs. They were so fussy but very delicious, and Patrick has been asking for them since then, two years ago. I never had the time to devote to them again, but I wanted meatballs, damn it. I like to think of these as being informed by A16 meatballs, but nowhere near as fussy.

These gorgeous little food bombs had us on our backs the other night. They were ridiculously juicy meatballs that just collapsed in our mouths. Not everyday food, or even every month food (that's for sure) but when the time is right, oh, these are so good!

Ingredients
Meatballs
3/4 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1 cup panko
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 diced onion (I wish I was better at mincing my onions.)
6 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 egg
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Braising Liquid
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon oregano
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 crushed garlic cloves
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 cup beer

Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs, using your hands to mush everything together. Form the mixture into balls. I used an ice cream scoop to keep them relatively the same size. Refrigerate the meatballs for at least two hours.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and take the meatballs out of the fridge. You might want to reform your meatballs a little at this point if they've flattened out at all while chilling.

Pop the meatballs in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until they're browned.

While they brown, put all the ingredients for the braising liquid in a blender and blend well. Once the meatballs are ready, pour the braising liquid over the meatballs and turn the oven down to 350 degrees. Let bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover with foil for 20 minutes. Serve very hot.

Hold onto your hats-- there's no meat in this lunch!

Can you believe that I used to be a vegetarian? No? Well, I was, but now I am a gal who enjoys her meat. However, I am actually capable of taking a break from it. Today I have grapes, cottage cheese and frozen blueberries, a little bean and cheese burrito, some sesame sticks, a fun-sized Snickers and my lolly pop. I have a feeling I won't finish all of this but it's always nice to have more rather than less-- I love not having to buy anything from work anymore!

Lip Balm Fail

I was extremely pleased with my cocoa balm (my lips are soooo soft today) and wanted to make a beeswax-based balm to follow up. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my fail.

I turned this gorgeous stuff:


Into this awful mess:


I was so disappointed. The cocoa balm had me brimming with happiness and I wanted this to be a similar experience but the honey and oils and wax just never came together, not even when stirred while cooling.

I know I could fiddle and fool with this more to get it to work but this isn't fitting my plans for easy holiday gifts, so I'm going to shelve this project and move on to making other things. Maybe I'll revisit this in spring.

Here's a prettier picture to get that last yucky image out of your mind. Instead of a label, I used a cupcake sticker to decorate one of my lip balm tins. The cute is killer:

I didn't finish my lunch...

It's hard to judge what will be enough when making these lunches sometimes. I pretty much only ate a square of chocolate and the pasta, which was left over from last night's dinner (which was fabulous-- roasted garlic, asparagus, tomatoes and turkey sausage on Barilla Plus spaghetti.)

The grapes, peanut butter filled pretzels, Tootsie Pop and chocolate square will have to wait for another day. I feel like I've really improved my work life by packing these lunches. I haven't had to seek out a sandwich shop or search for change for a vending machine in months.

Gifts Made By Hand: Cocoa Balm

As I labeled these little tins, I kept thinking to myself "ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!" Only this is cocoa balm, another in my series of easy yet impressive gifts you can make.

Ingredients
3.5 ounces cocoa butter (this is the amount of cocoa butter in a jar of Palmers Cocoa Butter, which you can find in most drug stores.)
½ ounce dark chocolate
1 ounce caster oil
½ ounce honey

How To
In a double boiler, melt the cocoa butter and chocolate slowly. I made a double-boiler using wads of aluminum on the edges of a pot

Isn't this fancy?

My camera was starting to get steamy, so I had to stop taking pictures over the pot:

Once the cocoa butter and chocolate are melted, add the honey and caster oil. You'll probably find caster oil in the old timey medicine section of the drug store. Caster oil is great for your skin and makes your lip balm very shiny.

If you decide not to use Palmer's Cocoa Butter, check if the brand you are using has vitamin E in it. If it doesn't, I recommend squirting three or four vitamin E capsules into the mix. Vitamin E is a natural preservative.

Mix very well and let everything continue to melt. It will go through a lumpy phase-- wait it out. The mixture will become very smooth and shiny and that's when you know it is ready.

Pour into containers. This recipe filled eight one-ounce containers quite nicely.

Look how shiny they are!


Even Patrick likes this lip balm. It smells fantastic and is slightly sweet. It is so dang easy to make. If you'd like the labels for this, again, just email me! I'd love to share with you.

25 pounds of fun!

Well, what do we have here?


It's my yearly shipment from Specialty Bottle!


I remember sniffing a little at paying $17 dollars in shipping and handling. That was before I learned I was being sent 25 pounds of containers. Seems like a deal now!


Here are my new treasures! Everything arrived safe and sound:


The small glass bottles are for vanilla extract. The large tins are for body scrub. But what are those big bottles for? What are the little tins for? Good things come to those who wait-- more hand made gift ideas are coming soon!

A better way to make bacon...

I am unrepentant about my love of bacon. Patrick and I eat a pretty healthy diet-- lots of whole grains, lean protein, and big servings of fruits and vegetables. But everything in moderation, especially moderation, right?

If you've been frying your bacon or microwaving it, you know the limits of those methods. Frying bacon in a pan requires constant monitoring. Pieces of bacon can curl, leaving you with overcooked spots and rubbery areas in the same slice. Microwaving is quick and easy but unsuitable for high-quality bacon. You also lose all that good bacon fat that could be used for other cooking projects.

The solution? Bake your bacon. It's easy, tidy, and results in evenly cooked bacon and very clean bacon fat for use later.

All you need is a baking sheet with a raised edge and a pound of good bacon. Heat your oven to 350 degrees while you lay your bacon out on the pan in a single layer.


Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the slices over and bake for another 15 minutes. Keep turning the bacon in 5 minute intervals until it reaches your preferred level of crispness. This is just right for us:


Drain the bacon on paper towels and then chomp, chomp, chomp. Let the bacon fat cool, then scrap into a container and refrigerate for later.

This is a fantastic way to prepare bacon for a crowd. If you don't have a crowd, consider doing all your bacon at once and then saving the cooked bacon for later use (note: this is dangerous if you have no self-control when it comes to bacon.) The next time you make bacon, try this method and see how you like it. I'm betting you will be a convert.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

Ladies and gentleman, I just ordered a Turducken for Thanksgiving. For the uninitiated, that's a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken, stuffed with stuffing.

God bless the USA.

Today at work, I am going to be THAT girl.

You know the one. The one with fish in her lunch. But I swear, I will not microwave it!

Today, I have a grain medley, roasted brussel sprouts, teriyaki salmon, an avocado-tomato salad, peanut butter filled pretzels, two fun-sized Kit Kats and a Tootsie Pop. Sorta calorie dense but fairly healthy.

Rarely do I sit down and eat lunch all at once. I usually sneak a few bites between my first two classes as I run from place to place, then have most during my lunch break at 2:30, though I save a little something to nosh on between my third and fourth class. By the time I get home at 7:30, I'm starving again!

Thanksgiving is on the horizon...

...It's only 14 days away! Do you know where you're going? Do you know what you're making? Now is the time to start planning!

Last year, our apartment was packed tighter than a clown car. This year, we're anticipating a much smaller crowd (maybe 10 people) and a smaller menu as a result. So far, this is what we're planning:

Thanksgiving 2008 Menu

Appetizers
Butternut Soup
Goat Cheese & Honey Bites

Main
Herb & Salt Rubbed Turkey (from Bon Appetit)
Traditional Gravy (My father-in-law is the gravy guy round these parts.)
Mashed Potatoes
Close-to-Stuffing Dressing
Cranberry Sauce
Creamed Spinach
Sweet Potato Soufflé (My mother-in-law makes this and it's scrape-the-serving-dish good)
Rolls & Butter

Dessert
Apple & Cheddar Tart
Traditional Pumpkin Pie
Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce (Patrick's contribution. Amazingly yummy.)

What's on your Thanksgiving menu this year? What food is it just not Thanksgiving without? (I'm a gravy addict.) What Thanksgiving food makes your stomach turn over? (I can't stand sweet potatoes with the mini-marshmallows on top.)

You can tell when I need to go to the store...

Look at those sad little grapes. They still taste fine and it's not right to waste them, so they're here. Autumn is a hard time for fruit for me-- I'm allergic to raw apples and pears, so my options are limited. I need to find some Fuyu persimmons. The rest of my lunch is hodge-podge: a couple of gyoza, a high-protein grain medley, two mini Ritter Sport bars, a Tootsie Pop and some peanut butter filled pretzels. The hustle across campus will be cold today, so I'll need my tea too.

Gifts Made By Hand: Java Mamma Body Scrub

Vanilla extract was stupid easy, right? Body scrub? This is so easy to make, someone in a very light coma could throw it together.

You'll need an unbreakable container (this is going in the bathroom, after all.) I bought this one from Specialty Bottle (they should totally be paying me for all the plugs I've been giving them!) Next, you'll need cheap coffee, sugar, and oil. Sweet almond oil is a great choice, but mineral oil is much more affordable, easier to find, and works great.

Take the container you plan to use and fill it with equal amounts of coffee and sugar. I used a French vanilla coffee from Target-- nothing I would ever choose to drink but perfect for this purpose.

Add oil and stir carefully until you've reach a point of pleasing saturation. All of this depends on the size of your container. For the tin above, I used a little less than a cup of coffee grounds, a cup of sugar, and a half cup of oil. It smells really wonderful and will make your recipients skin smooth and soft. I made a label using sticker paper. If you'd like a copy of the file I used, please email me! I'd love to share it with you.

Gifts Made By Hand: Vanilla Extract

Hey, family and friends-- if you don't want to know what you're getting for holiday gifts, it's time to take a sabbatical from the blog. Work on holiday gifts began in earnest this weekend and I'm excited to share all we're doing round these parts.

There are lots of gifts from the kitchen that can be made later in the season and I'll be sharing those, but some things absolutely need to be started right away. Vanilla extract is one of those things. You'll want to have this assembled at least a month before you plan to give this out.

Understand this: homemade vanilla extract is stupid easy. Seriously. It requires forethought and little else. Though it's easy, it's still impressive and fantastic. I'll never go back to store-bought vanilla. This stuff is heartbreakingly good.

You'll need a bottle, vanilla beans, and a decent-quality vodka. Smirnoff is ideal here. It's a waste to use more expensive brands and cheaper brands tend to have a harsh, rubbing-alcohol quality.

I purchased square 8.5 ounce bottles from Specialty Bottles for $1.15 each, then covered the exterior with pretty origami paper. Light and heat are the enemies of pretty much everything that tastes good.

For each cup of vodka you plan to use, you'll need 1 ounce of vanilla beans (6-8 vanilla beans, depending on the size.) There are lots of places to buy vanilla online, and that is your best bet if you plan on doing several of bottles of extract. World Market, Whole Foods, and fancy-pants grocery stores also carry beans, though the prices are much higher.

Once you have your supplies, it's quick and easy to throw everything together. Split your beans down the middle using a sharp knife:


Open the beans and scrape the soft center with your knife. The fragrant, sandy-looking result is called the caviar. (Isn't that fantastic? I love that it's called the caviar.) Place it in the bottle.

Chop the remaining vanilla bean. There's plenty of flavor left over there. How'd you like my leftover nail polish from Halloween? Classy.

Add the chopped vanilla bean to the caviar in the bottle:

Pour vodka to the top of the bottle and cap. You're done! Stick it away in a cupboard and forget about it. If you're dying to play with it, give it a shake every once and a while. Here's a bottle I made today (on the left, caviar still clinging to the cork) next to a bottle I made about two months ago. Note the lovely color that develops. Now imagine how wonderful it tastes:

Now, let's say you put off putting your extract together until the last minute. You can cheat and add a tablespoon or so of store-bought vanilla to cut the scent of the vodka and to deepen the color. Our little secret. Just instruct your recipients not to use it until 2009.