Mom's Christmas Turkey and Gravy

1 Turkey breast
1/4 c olive oil
1.5 tsp Fleur de Sel with herbs (or salt, oregano, basil, thyme)

1) Remove turkey from fridge 2 hours before cooking
2) Mix olive oil and Fleur de Sel with Herbs to create marinade
3) Rub marinade on top of and inside turkey breast
3) Bring marinated turkey to room temperature
4) Put in 350 oven to roast until internal temperature is 165 degrees
5) Remove turkey from oven and let rest
6) Use turkey juices to make gravy

GRAVY:
2 Tbs turkey fat from roasting pan
2 Tbs flour
Juices from roasting pan
1/2 c water

1) Heat turkey fat in hot pan
2) Add flour and mix to make roux
3) Add juices
4) Thin with water


NOTES:
Use turkey scraps (bones, skin, etc) to make broth

1) Put in pot of water
2) Cook on low for a couple of hours
3) Strain out bones, etc
4) use turkey broth to make soup

Winter Squash Gratin

Adapted from NYTimes

1 package frozen squash (about 2 cups)
1 tsp minced, fresh sage
1 tsp fresh thyme
3 eggs
1/2 c low fat milk
2 oz Gruyere cheese grated (1/2 c)
1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated (1/4 c)
Salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 350
2) Heat squash in microwave
3) Oil a 2 quart baking dish (a cake pan works well too)
4) Mix squash puree, sage and thyme together
5) Beat eggs and whisk milk in a bowl.
6) Add squash mixture and Gruyere
7) Add salt and pepper to taste
8) Place in baking dish and sprinkle parmesan on top
9) Bake for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned on top

Notes: This is a quiche like dish. It also has a very pumpkin-like flavor. It reheats well.

Mom's homemade stuffing

1 loaf of French or Italian Bread
1 Tsp Fleur de Sel with Herbs
2 TB Tarragon (dried)
1 (8 oz) melted butter
1 c broth or water

1) Cut bread into chunks. Let air dry for 2 days. (To speed up the process, you can put it in the oven on low heat for 20 minutes or until dry but NOT brown)
2) In mixing bowl, add herbs and salt
3) Shortly before cooking, stir in melted butter and water. Mix well
4) Press stuffing into pyrex dish (either 7x11 or 9 inch round)
5) Bake at 350 for 35 minutes until golden brown.

Chocolate Lace Cookies

Very rich, thin chocolate cookies.

8 TBS butter
4 oz unsweetened baker's chocolate
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c sugar

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2) Melt butter and chocolate together in double boiler
3) Combine all other ingredients in a bowl
4) When smooth and completely melted, add chocolate/butter mixture to bowl with other ingredients
5) Mix together briefly. Mixture will be somewhere between solid and liquid. It should have lumps in it.
6) Spoon in scant teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet. Put only 5 or 6 on a sheet. Cookies expand when cooked!
7) Bake for 10 minutes. Watch closely to avoid burning!
8) Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 8 - 10 minutes before moving to cooling rack. They should be firm (not gooey) when you move them. Otherwise they will break.

Yield: About 30 cookies

Note: These cookies cook much better if you use a silpat instead of greasing the cookie sheet. They have a significantly lower chance of burning.

Stuffed mushrooms with sausage and feta cheese

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

12 medium mushrooms
1 pkg Jones all natural golden brown fully cooked sausage
1/2 c panko bread crumbs
1/2 Tb butter
1 Tsp Olive oil (+ extra to brush mushrooms)
1/3 c crumbled feta cheese

1) Wash mushrooms and take stems out
2) Gently cut tops of mushrooms in cross-cross pattern to drain
3) Brush with olive oil
4) Bake stem side up at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Turn over and bake for another 8 minutes until dry and golden brown
5) Chop mushroom stems
6) Melt butter and olive oil in frying pan
7) Add bread crumbs and stir constantly until very light brown
8) Set bread crumbs aside
9) Crumble sausage and add to frying pan (use same pan as with bread crumbs)
10) Add chopped mushroom stems and cheese. Mix until cheese starts to melt and mixture is hot
11) Take mushrooms out of oven and stuff with sausage mixture
12) Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of stuffed mushrooms
13) Broil stuffed mushrooms on LOW for 1 minute or until bread are golden brown

NOTE: Step 13 happens very fast. It's easy to burn the bread crumbs so you might want to have the oven light on and watch them. Also, you need a strong tasting cheese. I think feta would be the best, but the original called for goat cheese. Maybe worth a try?

Tuna and whole wheat pasta

Adapted from a recipe from Mary

1 cup whole wheat pasta (I like rotini)
1 can tuna (I prefer chunk white, but understand that chunk light is significantly better for you due to mercury content)
1 TB lemon juice
Hot sauce to taste


1) Cook pasta and drain
2) Whisk lemon juice and hot sauce together until mixed
3) Add tuna and lemon juice/hot sauce mixture to pasta and serve

Note: This is also good with olive oil and thyme or oregano instead of lemon juice and hot sauce. Whole wheat pasta tastes way better than it used to.

Wok seared Ginger Chicken

Adapted from "Healthy in a hurry"

1 TB sesame oil
1 LB cut veggies (asparagus, broccoli, spinach or mixed frozen veggies would all work)
1 LB boneless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
4 scallions (or 1/8 red onion)
1 TB oyster sauce
1/2 Tsp chili-garlic sauce
1 TB minced ginger
1/4 diced almonds (or pistachios)

1. Heat oil in wok.
2. Add vegetables and stir
3. Add chicken and stir
4. Stir in scallions, ginger, oyster sauce, and chili-garlic sauce. Stir until chicken is cooked through.
5. Add almonds and stir briefly. Serve.

NOTE: This is really good served with sticky rice (white or brown). I cut back on the ginger since it's not my favorite flavor. I also actually found that this chicken tasted better cold the next day in a salad with vinaigrette dressing.

Garlic salad dressing

Adapted from "Healthy in a Hurry"

1 part minced garlic
1 part olive oil
1 part white wine vinegar

This was delicious on spinach salad with rotisserie chicken. I seriously recommend against eating this and then going into a meeting where you have to be in close proximity to others :)

Bacony Barley Salad with Marinated Shrimp

Adapted from "Healthy in a hurry" (Eating well)

3 strips bacon
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup quick cooking barley
1 lb peeled, cooked shrimp coarsely chopped
1/3 c lime juice
2 c cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup diced red onion
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 avocado, peeled and diced

1. Cook bacon in a small saucepan until crispy. Remove from pan.
2. Add water and salt to saucepan and bring to a boil. Add barley and return to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed.
3. Combine shrimp, tomatoes and lime juice in a large bowl. Add the barley and toss to coat. Let stand for a few minutes so barley can soak up some of the lime juice.
4. Add onion, olive oil and bacon to the bowl. Toss to coat.
5. Add avocado and serve

Note: I didn't have any bacon defrosted so I used breakfast sausage (actually, they were the Morning Star breakfast "sausage") and that was also really good. It definitely added some flavor to the dish. The original recipe also called for cilantro, but we know how I feel about that. I also went easy on the tomatoes (because I forgot to buy cherry tomatoes and so I used the innerds of the tomatoes I gutted for the other shrimp dish of the weekend). I followed the recipe and added the tomatoes in step 4, but they would have tasted more like they belonged in the dish if they had marinated a bit longer, so I suggest adding them to the lime juice with the shrimp. Also, the recipe called for 1/2 cup of onions, but I thought that was overkill so I recommend 1/3 cup or use shallots or something milder. Very yummy dish and also very filling.

Moroccan Lamb

Adapted from Chrissy's recipe (that she adapted from a David Kirsh book)

Lamb dish
4 T minced shallots
1/2 t cinnamon
2 t ground coriander
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t ground cumin
1 t turmeric
Salt and pepper
1lb lamb (cut into stew-sized chunks)
4 zucchini
Fresh mint (for garnish)

1. Brown lamb, shallots, and spices in pan on the stove
2. Chop zucchini and place in baking dish
3. Add lamb mixture to zucchini
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
4. Garnish with mint

Youghert sauce recipe:

16oz plain youghert
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 Tb lemon juice
salt to taste

1. Mix together and serve. Use for up to 5 days.

Note: They didn't have any chopped lamb at the store, so I asked if they would trim and
cut up a leg of lamb for me if I got that and they did. They cut it as small as they could (smaller than stew meat) and then I used that instead. I served the dish with rice pilaf (the Near East brand) and youghert sauce (I got a recipe from allrecipes.com). It was delicious!

Chicken soup with spinach

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
4 cubes chicken bullion
8 cups water
1 onion
carrots
mushrooms
1 package frozen spinach

1. Measure water into a large pot, and add chicken and chicken bouillon. Boil until chicken is fully cooked.
2. Remove chicken from the broth. Chop into small pieces, and return meat to the pot.
3. Add veggies and cook until tender.

Note: Blending the soup with a hand blender or in a food processor makes the soup thick and brings out a lot of flavors. You could probably add any vegetables you like. The spinach made it really hearty and filling. I also added some feta cheese to the blended soup. It was yummy!

Shrimp Salad Stuffed Tomatoes

Adapted from "Healthy in a hurry" (Eating Well)

1 lb peeled, cooked shrimp, tails removed, chopped
2 T dried Basil
13 Kalamata olives, pitted, finely chopped
1 /4 red onion (or 1 shallot)
2 T mayonnaise
1 T white wine vinegar
ground pepper to taste
hot sauce to taste
4 large, ripe tomatoes

1. Combine all ingredients except tomatoes in a bowl. Stir until throughly mixed
2. Hollow out tomatoes. Spoon salad into hollow tomato.

Yield 4 servings (1 tomato is PLENTY for 1 person)
Prep time: 20 minutes

NOTES: The original recipe called for 1 stalk of celery, fresh basil, and cilantro. I don't like celery much, forgot to get the fresh basil and dislike cilantro in large doses. I added the touch of hot sauce because it needed a little punch. The amount I added of hot sauce was barely audible (though that word doesn't really apply here -- but you know what I mean) but added the desired flair. I also added more olives (the original called for 10) cause I like olives.

This would be good for a light dinner. It's too heavy for an appetizer. Just the salad, without being stuffed into the tomatoes, would make a good appetizer if served with some crackers (melba toast or pita chips for example)

I also cut my finger while making this dish. sob. I will live. It was worth it!

Brownies with Cinnamon

My colleague, Lily, brought in brownies today. She made them from a mix, but added cinnamon. They are excellent. I'm definitely going to have to try that next time I make brownies.

Recipes

I've decided to use this blog to post recipes that I find and make (and, most importantly, LIKE!). If you have suggestions about how to improve the recipes or some new ideas to try, please let me know!

Today I breathed

This morning I breathed. For the first time in many years, I could fully exhale. When I inhaled again, I breathed the air of freedom and change. I breathed the air of strength and community. I breathed the air of renewed faith in America and Americans that when faced with a challenge they will rise up, come together and change the wheels of fate.
For the last 8 years, I have listened to Americans from every walk of life complain about President Bush, the war, the economy, gas prices, FEMA, the school system, and the environment. But year after year, people didn’t vote for new candidates. They didn’t grab hold of the right that citizens of so many other countries still don’t have. Many Americans believed that by not saying anything they were saying something. But, if you are silent, how can anyone hear you?
This election was not just about one man. It was about Americans coming back to their roots. This county was built on the lives of men and women who sacrificed everything they had to form a better life. These people were not scared to cry out when an injustice was done. They fought and died for the right to vote. Soldiers today are still fighting and dying to protect that right.
No, this election was not simply about one man. This was about all Americans gathering together and crying out in their most powerful voice. And they cried, ”no more”.

--November 5th, 2008