Deception

My mom gave me a new cook book for Christmas! "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfield.

I made the french toast in it this morning with bananas in it! My kids, neither of whom like bananas very much, didn't even notice any difference. I bought my veggies today, and will be pureeing away tonight! It involves chopping up veggies, so you know I'll be having a good time!

Tonight's dinner is leftover soup that I made last night. I cooked an 18lb turkey, so I would have leftovers, and boy do I! I put 12 cups of chopped turkey in the freezer, and about 2 gallons of broth from boiling the meat off the bones! So, I made turkey soup.

Jenn's Turkey Soup -
1 onion, diced and sauted
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/2 can black beans, rinsed
2 cans mixed veggies
1/2 cup dry lentils
1-2 cups chopped cooked turkey, according to your desired meatiness.
2 tsps or so italian seasoning
1 tsp or so oregano
1/tsp or so tarragon
a little celery salt, garlic powder, and white pepper to taste
1/2 cup or so orzo pasta
4 or more cups of water. I kept adding as it was cooking.

Simmer until lentils are tender, then add the orzo and simmer until done. Taste about 10 min before serving and adjust seasoning accordingly. The orzo soaks up some of the flavor and salt, so, a little more may be needed.

The day after

We had a wonderful Christmas! This was the first time that we didn't have to rush around all day. We had a relaxed morning, made a big mess with all the new toys, and then headed to my parents around 1. I did the turkey, and it was delicious. I think the trick is the brine that it soaks in overnight, the butter, and the smokey flavor the grill gives it. For the brine - 1 cup salt, 1 cup apple cider, 2 bay leaves, rosemary, cloves, nutmeg, all-spice, a little water. Boil in a small sauce pan until the salt is dissolved. Pour into a clean 5 gallon bucket, cool down with some cold water. Rinse thawed turkey. Put it in the bucket and add more cold water till turkey is covered. Refrigerate over night. Rinse. Loosen the skin over the breast and smoosh 1 stick of soft butter between breast and skin. You can also smoosh herbs into the butter before you put it in the turkey. Put a quartered apple and onion in the cavity. Rub olive oil all over the outside, and cover generously with grill seasoning of your choice. We have a Holland Grill, that cooks similar to an oven, so we grill ours with apple cider and water in the reservoir, and I pour cider over it every hour. You could also cook it in your oven, and baste with cider. When done, cover with aluminum foil and let rest at least 15 minutes so the juices will soak back in.

Home-made Spaghetti

I made spaghetti tonight, always a big hit in our house! I started making my own sauce a few months ago after realizing there is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and preservatives in the jar sauce from the store. I try not to buy things with HFCS in it because it's really bad for you, so are preservatives.

Jenn's Spaghetti Sauce -

1/2 to 1 bell pepper diced (depends on size)
1/2 to 1 onion, diced (again, size)
2-3 carrots, almost pureed in the processor (Alli won't eat them if she can see them), or diced
1 pkg mushrooms, chopped (optional)
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

Saute all of the above in EVOO as you get it chopped. You could use frozen pre-diced veggies, I just really like to chop and dice. Weird I know, but it makes me feel like Giada!

1 lb ground meat (I use turkey) brown then add the following:
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
a little pepper
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp sugar or more to taste. This takes that sharp tomato taste away. Don't put too much, add a little, taste, then add a little more then taste, etc.
add more seasoning, pepper, or salt to taste.

Simmer on low heat for at least 20 minutes while you cook the noodles. It can be made well ahead of time as well, the longer the better with sauce! If it gets to thick, you can add a little of the pasta water, it has starches in it from the noodles that help keep the sauce from getting to runny.

It never tastes exactly the same every time I make it, but it has never tasted bad! Enjoy!

Black Beans and Rice

Last night I made Black Beans and Rice. It's just like traditional Southern Red Beans and Rice, only I didn't have any red beans, so I used black ones!

Jenn's Red (or Black) Beans and Rice -

First get your water started for your rice. I use brown rice that has to soak for 15 minutes and then takes about 20-25 minutes to cook. So I get this process started first.

1 bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
3-5 cloves garlic (to your liking), minced
3 stalks celery, chopped however you like it.
Saute all the above in a big skillet.
Add 1 lb smoked sausage. I have taken to using little cocktail smoked sausages cut into 3rds, because we like little bites.
2 cans red beans not drained (if you use black beans, drain and rinse them, and add about a cup of water and a teaspoon of sugar to the pan)
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp parsley
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 splashes hot sauce
Simmer for a while till liquids condense a little. Taste to see if more pepper or salt needs to be added.

MMMMMMM!

Crumpets

My mom took me to a tea room called Crumpets, for my birthday, last week. It was great! The food was scrumptious, very gourmet. The presentation was beautiful, with shredded rose petals sprinkled around the edge of the plate. The portion sizes were perfect, the prices appropriate. We weren't even made to feel rushed out, which is a miracle at restaurants in this town! They serve yummy little biscuits with some kind of special butter. I had a quiche-like thing for my entree, served with a small salad and a fruit compote. Mom had something sort of like meat loaf wrapped in a puff pastry with roasted potatoes We had a pot of tea and a delicious cranberry scones for desert. I will definitely go there again

The Majestic Grill in Memphis

Saturday night we went to the Majestic Grill downtown for a family gathering. It was an overpriced letdown. I guess you're paying extra for ambiance and location, because the food wasn't that different from what you could get at any other Americana restaurant in town. I also don't understand why they can't charge less and cut the portion size in half. I had enough food for about 3 meals! If restaurants only knew they could sell me more items if the items weren't so big. As they are, I only order an entree, because I know I can't eat even all of that.

Picadillo

Tonight I made Picadillo. This is an easy favorite of mine.

Jenn's Picadillo -
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic,pressed, or a little garlic powder
1 lb. ground meat (I use turkey)
14 oz can crushed tomatoes (you can also use diced)
1/2 can black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup raisins
season salt, cumin, chili powder to taste

Serve over rice or chips, or both!

Christmas Treats

My friend, Joanna, and her kids came over yesterday, and we made treats for our kids Sunday school teachers. We made Southern Spiced Tea, and Palmiers. The kids had fun dumping the ingredients together for the tea, and they each got to cut some cookies with a real knife (with supervision, of course).
I got the Palmiers recipe from the Gourmet magazine. They weren't very difficult, just time consuming, because of the chill 30 min, then roll, then chill 30 min then roll again, about 5 times. I did that part the day before, so, it still wasn't too bad. They were incredibly yummy!
We finally had our TMNT birthday party last night for my 5 y/o. It went great! I'm glad it's finally done!

Tonight's Dinner

Since Reece is sick, I thought chicken noodle soup would be good.

Jenn's Chicken Noodle Soup -
diced onion sauted in EVOO
diced carrots (I keep these in the freezer)
minced garlic
celery I made almost pureed in the food processor and keep in the freezer
frozen whole kernel corn
frozen green peas
chicken broth (I reserve mine from cooking the whole bag of boneless, skinless breasts in the Crock-pot at time of purchase and keep it in the freezer)
Greek seasoning (just a little)
white pepper
any spices that smell like yummy soup
noodles

I did a little different take on the noodle part and used orzo pasta (it looks kinda like rice).
Oh, wow! This was the first time I've made chicken soup, and it was unbelievably good!

Poor Kid

Well, today, Reece was supposed to have his TMNT birthday party. Yesterday I made a chocolate cake from scratch (because I forgot to get cake mix when I went to the grocery), green Jello Jigglers, and green Kool-aid. Last night, I spent about 2 hours icing the cake to look like Raphael's head. 3 hours later, he threw up and had fever, and we had to post-pone the party till next week! Poor kid, I feel so sorry for him.

Tonight's Dinner

Tonight we will be having roasted pork tenderloin with roasted green beans, and maybe some rice or potatoes. I'll use frozen green beans drizzled with olive oil and a little salt, wrapped up in a foil packet. I will also line the pan for the tenderloin with foil for easy cleanup. I plan to do a roasted head of garlic on that pan, too. I've always wanted to try that. The tenderloin leftovers make a great lunch tucked into a whole wheat pita pocket with mayo and steak sauce. Mmmm...I think I look forward to the leftovers more than the dinner!

Bah Humbug!

It's not that I don't like Christmas, it's the gluttony of the holidays that I just don't care for. As I think about what to get for who, and all the shopping that involves, the more I really would like to just donate all we spend to the starving children in Africa.

I used to love to find that perfect gift for each person. It is quite self-serving even when you're giving, when it makes you feel good to know they won't be returning your gift. Sad isn't it?

Well, I've come along way in the past few years, and God has taught me alot about wasted time, wood, hay, and stubble. I want to spend my time, money, effort and energy on things that matter, and things eternal.

I love the part about Christmas that brings family and friends together for food, fun, and fellowship (doesn't that sound baptist - lol). I think it would be more fun and less stressful, and more eternal to donate, instead of sit around in a circle swapping unneeded gifts we got each other at the last minute. We might as well just swap $20 bills, and not feel obligated to pretend we love what we got! I'd rather eat, play games, and go serve at the soup kitchen.

Mountain View, AR

Mountain View is the small town near Blanchard Springs. It is known as the folk music capitol of the world. This lends to curious entertainment on the weekend. Hundreds of people, mostly grey hairs, invade the town square with their lawn chairs to listen to many different folk groups playing all around it. The photos do not do this scene justice. They mostly just play their various instruments, and many of the instruments are home-made, but some groups do have singers. It's weirdly quiet, not much clapping, toe tapping, or dancing, much less talking. Then we realized what it was... its a dry county! We aren't drinkers, but we are from Memphis, where public events are loud, drunk, and rowdy! You definitely don't want to miss this experience if you ever go to Blanchard Springs.
In my hand is fried apples bought from one of the street vendors. They were pretty good! Ice cream is the most popular treat to eat while enjoying the music.

There is a great old-fashioned soda fountain pharmacy right off the square, but you'll want to check their hours, as they aren't open very late. We had a great rootbeer float, and mixed Dr. Pepper!

Blanchard Springs Caverns

We went on the Wild Cave Tour at Blanchard Springs Caverns. We managed to convince some of our friends that this would be great fun, and not scary at all. Do you know how hard it is to convince people to go into a dark cave? We thought it might be kind of lame on our adventure meter, because it is guided and all. We hoped for more, but really all we expected was a walk off the path through some caverns that you don't get to see on the regular tour. Well, were we surprised! It was awesome. Who knew caving would be "indoor" mountain climbing! You start right off sliding down a steep hillside on your bottom, and if you don't do it right, you could fall right off the edge to your death!!! This sliding had to be done several times on the trip. We crawled through very tight spaces, edged along cliffs, climbed up and around through holes from one level of cave to the next, and climbed many hillsides, always with the fall to death right there! We had a blast, at least most of us did! (Notice the guy with the torn pants.)