OMG the wind blew our swing set over (mind you it was staked into the ground!!!!!)
The whole thing landed on my garden fence! I can’t believe this, my kids are going to be devastated! Damn Pineapple Express Storm — I hate you and your 80 mph winds!!! MY Garden fence is TOAST!!! My kids swings and fort is shambles. AGHHHHH I want to cry!!
This past Saturday, my daughter and I walked in our town’s Annual Christmas Lights Parade with our Girl Scouts Troop. It was so much fun. And believe it or not our float won for Best Youth Float!! I walked the entire 1.3 miles. And even though it was like a 1.5 hr walk it went by really fast — must had been because it was so entertaining. My daughter walked and handed out candy as well as rode in on the float to give the other girls a chance to switch off handing out the goodies!
Yesterday, my husband and his friend Mark put up our Christmas tree. It sat there until the kids got home so the 4 of us could place all the ornaments on. Of course nothing went smoothly and a couple of ornaments got broken but nothing some glue couldn’t fix.
The stockings have been hung. And yes, I LOVE SNOWMEN! Everyone has a snowman stocking that I have collected over the years.
So i guess I am finally in the Christmas Spirit!!
Joy to the World!
Thanksgiving all over again….
Being out of town for Thanksgiving is great and bad all rolled into one. Great because I get to see family and relax more. Bad because I don’t get to have leftovers in my fridge. Sooooooooo, I decided to make a Roasted Turkey with all the fixings for our Sunday dinner. And it literally felt like I was putting on a Thanksgiving. I over indulged on the dark meat. The sink was filled with dirty dishes and everyone at my table was stuffed from the wonderful spread.
After I picked all the meat off the bones… I cracked the bones open and am making Bone Broth to can and store in the freezer for later use. Yes, I have been busy in the kitchen today!
Menu
Roasted Turkey
Green Jello Salad
Brown Sugar Carrots
Mashed Potatoes
Caesar Salad
The turkey came out extremely moist!! It was perfect – plain and simple. I preheated the oven to 325º F placed my Raw 10.5 pound Turkey in a Turkey Roaster with a dome lid for an hour and 15 minutes, then removed the lid and baked the turkey for another 1.5 hours. I basted the turkey twice in the 2-3/4 hours I baked it.
Take your butter stick and cut in half. Throw 1/2 a stick of butter into the cavity of the bird with a good, liberal sprinkle of sage and rosemary. Take the other 1/2 of the butter and place into a microwave safe bowl with more sage and rosemary. Place in the microwave for 45 seconds or until melted. Stir to combine and brush all over the top of your turkey.
Put the turkey on a rack in a large covered roasting pan, and into the oven and bake at 325° for 2-3/4 hrs or until a meat thermometer reads 170° for the turkey. After 1 hr remove the lid, baste the turkey, return to the oven leaving the lid off to let the heat crisp the skin for the next 1.5 hours.
I love all things Disney. I can no longer tell you how many actual times I have been to Disneyland in the last 30 years… but I think it is around 11 or 12 times. And there are always different foods that remind you of Disneyland as well… like Dole Whips and Monte Cristo Sandwiches.
I am lucky enough to have scored the actual Disneyland Monte Cristo recipe years ago off the Disney website – I don’t make them that often because it is time consuming — but when I do, it is well worth the wait!
Today — is the first time I converted my recipe to Gluten Free and have to say, the sandwich tastes just a yummy as it did from its original recipe!
This aromatic soup is rich with coconut milk and tastes just as wonderful. I love Coconut Soup!
Unfortunately, I can’t order it out since it is always made with chicken broth and Chicken chunks. So here is a turkey broth version with cooked ground turkey (since I didn’t have Turkey Tenderloin).
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Lemon Grass Paste
2 (14 oz) cans of Coconut Milk
2 cups Turkey Broth
3 1″ strips of ginger, peeled
Dash of Cracked Pepper
Dash of Salt
1/2 lb Ground Turkey or Turkey Tenderloin, Cooked
1 (15 oz) can Asian Straw Mushrooms
1/2 cup Asian Baby Corn Cobs, quartered lengthwise
3 Tablespoons Lime Juice
3 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Bring Coconut Milk and Broth to a boil in a large pot over medium heat. Turn down heat to low. Add remaining ingredients except turkey. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add turkey and simmer gently for 3 minutes.
Ladle into bowls and serve.
Last night I put together my labels and it looks like I have 90 holiday cards to mail out! Let the envelope sealing begin!
Yes, I am in a mood where I just want to stuff my face with chocolate and yummy salted food. And what better combo then with Chocolate Drizzled Popcorn!!
Chocolate Drizzled Popcorn
Ingredients
Popcorn, popped, salted and buttered
Dried Cranberries
Roasted Salted Peanuts
Bag of Chocolate Chips
Line a baking sheets with parchment paper. Fill the baking sheet with popcorn. Sprinkle with desired amount of dried cranberries and peanuts.
Melt the chocolate in the top half of a double boiler, stirring till smooth and melted. If chocolate is too thick add a little butter to thin it out.
Drizzle chocolate over your popcorn mixture. Place baking sheet in freezer for 5 minutes until chocolate is set.
Store in container with tight-fitting lid or resealable plastic food bag.
I love piccata sauce — but my kids think it is a little too lemony so I have come up with a mild lemon sauce that even the kids like. I say that is a win-win situation in my household! AND of course I love garlic and mushrooms, too, so I have added that to the sauce as well for a beautiful flavor!
My aunt invited my husband and I over to her home for dinner one night eons ago — and for dessert she made a pumpkin roll cake. My husband loved it sooooooooooo much I was demanded to get the recipe. I had made the roll cake for his birthday one year and for every Thanksgiving since our first encounter with this yummy cake. My aunt is 100% Italian (me only being 50%)…. had made the roll cake Italian style. Instead of using cream cheese for the filling it has mascarpone Italian cheese instead. Anyhow, this pumpkin roll cake was 7 months in the making. I grew the pumpkins used in my recipe — cooked them up, pureed them then made the roll cake for Thanksgiving.
Small Town Living in Maryland 