Thanksgiving 2008 Menu

We had a wonderful meal! It was a little tricky getting it ready since we all went to the parade in the morning and only returned home around 1:30. We ate at 5:30.

Turkey (a small 13 pound one so it would cook in 3 hours)
Dressing (not stuffed in, since that would slow down the cooking time of the bird)
Lion House Rolls (which I made ahead of time and froze right after shaping-- all I had to do was set them out to rise and bake!)
Green Bean Casserole (since my sister Carrie was here)
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Frog Eye Salad
Cranberry Sauce
Lingonberry Jam (from IKEA -- since Trent served a mission in Sweden, he loves the stuff)
Homemade strawberry jam and butter for the rolls

It wasn't the hugest of meals, but in a limited amount of time it was all we could do. On Sunday we had Thanksgiving round 2.

Ham
Rice Pilaf
Roasted asparagus
Sweet Potatoes
Rolls, jam and butter

It was kind of nice to spread some of the traditional foods out over 2 bigs meals rather than all at once.

The trouble with decorating . . . SOLVED

Most people I know love decorating cookies and cupcakes and love eating them that way. But no one likes making all the frosting, getting out all the piping bags and tips, and the mess involved. For several years now (as you can see in a previous post) I have only used freezer ziplock bags with the edge snipped to pipe icing. That way you can throw it all away, but it does limit your designs significantly. My aunt Kelli is a cupcake fanatic and hers always look so beautiful, but she uses a wilton 2D tip, which to me means, messing piping bags or specialty parchment paper ones that are not found at any of my local stores-- but yesterday I thought I would try using the 2D tip in a freezer ziplock and . . . it worked fabulously. I was a little worried it would leak due to the 90 degree angle of the bag and the 30 degree angle of the tip, but the freezer bag held up nicely. It was so easy and mess free. I just spooned one store bought tub of icing into the ziplock where the tip was waiting in the corner. I clipped the corner of the bag just enough to let the tip slide slightly into the hole. It worked like a charm. If ziplock really wanted my life to be easy they would make triangle shaped ziplock freezer bags.

Mini Meatloaf

This recipe is so easy and so quick and so tasty and so healthy.

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 box chicken stuffing mix (I usually use the store brand because it is cheaper and in this recipe it doesn't matter how fluffy the mix gets)

Put your hands inside plastic sandwich baggies and knead until well combined. Shape into small balls that will fit into a muffin pan. (this makes 12).

Bake at 350 for 20 - 30 minutes. They are crispy on the outside and moist in the middle. We each eat about 2 of them (which is only 2.66 ounces of meat) so if you are looking for portion control, this is perfect and filling. If you splurge and eat 4 of them you are looking at only 5.32 ounces -- still smaller than many burgers and most steaks. I usually serve them with baked potatoes or rice pilaf and brocolli (and of course ketchup for the kiddos).

Fondant cake decorating class

I love the look of fondant, but I hate the taste. I took a class at church this week to learn how to do it. It was fun I don't think it is very hard -- It is just time consuming. That is probably why the class was so fun. Someone bought all the supplies, made all the cakes, fillings, frostings, and fondants -- colored them all, placed them in decorating bags with the right tips -- all we had to do was decorate.

This is the "inspiration" photo.

Here is my version. Now the biggest difference is obviously the cake size -- the inspiration looks to be like 3 layers of 6 in cake rounds and mine was 2 layers of 10 inch. Also we did not have the little white dots on the roses, but all in all I thought it was pretty close. . . too bad it still tastes like fondant.

Apple Pie

My sister was here a couple weekends ago and we got very ambitious one Sunday afternoon and baked the following

• 8 pie crusts
• 3 apple pies
• 20 english muffins
• 24 rolls
• a whole sunday dinner -- roast, mashed potatoes -- the works

Here is the pie stuff -- other recipes to follow!

Pate Brise (I have no idea why Martha Stewart call the pie crust this???)

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 sticks cold butter (cut into small cubes and keep in fridge until needed)
1/4 cup ice water (maybe a little more or less)

In a food processor combine the flour and salt. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles coarse crumbs.

With the machine running add in the water just until the dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Do not process more that 30 seconds.

Divide in half and place on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into disks and refridgerate (at least 1 hr) (or you can freeze it for a month)

Apple Pie

1 recipe of the pate brise (1 disk for the crust, the other for the top)

Roll out the crust and place into a glass pie plate, Trim the overhang to about 1/2 inch.

In a large bowl toss together the filling
3 pounds peeled cored, sliced apples (1/4 in thick)
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
3 Tbs flour

Arrange in the chilled pie shell -- take 1 1Tbs of butter, cut into small pieces and place dots throughout the top of the apple filling.

Roll out the second pie crust and place on top. Push together the edges. Cut 3 slits in the top for venting. Brush the top of the crust with

1 large egg yolk and 1 Tbs heavy cream mixed together

Dust with sanding sugar.

Place in freezer for at least 30 minutes (up to a year probably)

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes then at 350 for 40 more.

Enjoy!

Sugar Cookies and Royal Icing

Sugar Cookies
4 sticks butter
3 cups sugar

Cream together for a while

2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix in well

5 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Add half the flour first and when it is all mixed well add the other half (I don't know why -- that is what the directions said, but be prepared for all that flour to fly at you!)

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes (but check often-- as soon as the edges are slightly gold take them out! )

Royal Icing
2 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar

Blend until stiff peaked

Add 1 cup powdered sugar

Mix for 10 minutes (use an electric mixer or go crazy)

Add 1 cup powdered sugar

Mix for another 10 minutes (see what I mean)

Use water to thin to the right consistency (a ribbon of it will absorb into the other in 5-7 seconds)

Divide and color. Put into FREEZER ziplocks (the storage ones just don't hold up.) When ready to decorate, snip the corner and use like a piping bag.

I did these over a couple of days lest I go nuts trying to help all the kids. When done, just put the ziplocks in the fridge and tackle the project again when your patience with small children has returned. (or do the rest later all by yourself and find that it is really fun)

Apples

We got this idea from a suggestion my Aunt Kellie left on facebook. We used a melon baller to make little mini apple balls and then dipped those in chocolate, caramel and sprinkles. They were just the right size for the kids -- and you really don't waste much apple!

For dinner we had Chicken salad.
1 can chicken breast
1 TBS mayo
1/2 a large apple
2 ribs of celery

We served it over a bed of lettuce and on english muffins. It was delicious.

Retro meal

My kids had home-made egg mcmuffins (toasted english muffins, bacon, cheese, and a poached egg) and for dessert Orange Julius. I hadn't had one in years. It was delicious and the perfect complement to a breakfasty dinner.

Orange Julius
1 can orange juice concentrate
2 cups milk (I used some half and half cuz I had it and I am sure it helped make it so creamy)
2 cups water
1 tsp vanilla
16 cubes of ice

BLEND.

Add more ice if necessary

Homemade Taquitos

Trent helping to plate them.

Here they are pan frying. (Can you guess who ran out of toothpicks and had to use skewers to hold the tortilla rolls closed?)

You can fill the flour tortillas with anything. This time I filled them with pulled Sweet pork and cheddar cheese. They were delicious!

Pulled Sweet pork is just a pork loin or tenderloin cooked all day in a crockpot until you can pull it apart. I cook it with Blended pace picante sauce and brown sugar.

Chicken Fried Steak

Here it is. Doesn't it look good? After watching "The next food network star" and seeing them plate a "beauty" plate. I decided to also. I think Trent will think we were all fancy when he gets home and goes to heat up his save plate . . . OH wait, because of the gold edging on the china if you stick it in the microwave it sparks . . . Oh well, I will show him this picture so that when he wonders why his food looks like I have scraped it off someone elses plate I can assure him he is not eating the kids food left on their plate (cuz I would NEVER do something like that, put the food my kids don't touch on his plate????)

• Buy the pre-tenderized cubed steak.
• Make a seasoned flour mixture (flour, Lawry's seasoning salt, onion powder, garlic powder, ranch dressing packet . . . anything you like)
• Dip the meat in the flour and then dip into a beaten egg and then back into the flour.
• Have a skillet with about 1/8 inch of oil hot. Place the meat in the skillet. Allow it to brown on one side for about a minute. Turn and do the same to the other.
• Once both sides are browned, remove from skillet (allow the oil to drip off) and place in an oven safe dish.
• Bake at 350 for 20-30 more minutes.Tips, don't crowd the meat in the oil or oven.
• When finished with the skillet, pour off the oil, but leave the drippings. Add more of the seasoned flour and 2 TBS of butter and stir with a wire whisk to make a roux. Add 2 cups of milk and whisk continually until thickend. Country Gravy!!!!

Now, here's reality. I get to "plate" 5 plates all at once -- not because I am on the next food network star, but because it is my only shot at being able to sit and eat with my kids for more that 2 minutes!!!!!

Friday Pizza

Every Friday, we have Pizza. I know it sounds boring, but we all love it.

It is always homemade, and it is absolutely the best pizza -- yes, better than delivery, take-out, frozen, or gourmet.

First, sometime around 3:30 in the afternoon I make the dough. It takes roughly 2 minutes. Here is the recipe.

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbs yeast (I always use the rapid rise, bread machine yeast)
1 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs vegetable oil
4 cups of flour (I often do slightly less -- like I just don't fill the 4th cup all the way since I know I will use 1/4 cup of flour when I roll out the dough)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder (this is optional, but I nearly always add it)

Add those things in that order as fast as you can. I put it in my Kitchen aid with the dough hook and let it run for about 2 minutes. Then you leave it alone. I am sure you could remove the dough hook and let it rise in a nice separate bowl covered nicely with a pretty dish towel, but I never bother. I turn off the kitchenaid and leave it in there (dough hook and all) until it has risen double in size. (In a rush I have let it rise for as little as 20 minutes without noticing any change in result).

When you return, divide the dough in half and flour the countertop. Roll it out and place onto a pizza pan (sprayed with cooking spray). This recipe makes 2 large pizza crusts. As you can see from the photos, I doubled it.

Then top with sauce (I always use Prego traditional). Add cheese and other toppings. Bake at 475 until the crust is done. (About 12-15 minutes)

What kind of weird angle is that????

Now, I must share my quick tip.

Often, as soon as I finish rolling out one pizza crust, I place it in the oven to start baking. Then I roll out the next and place it in the oven. If I am only making 2 pizzas I let them cook while I clean up and get out all the toppings. If I am making 4 pizzas I just keep rolling the dough and putting them in the oven and by the time the 4th one goes in, I pull the 1st one out to get all of its toppings.

I don't let the crusts cook all the way, just until they start to change color (slighlty golden). Then you add the toppings and finish in the oven for only about 5 more minutes. It really helps you get pizza on the table fast. Also, many times I add the toppings to the cooked crust and then freeze the whole pizza to be used at a later date or I take it to someone and let them pop it in their oven for just 5 minutes and they can enjoy oven fresh homemade pizza!

Baked Potatoes

Yes, I know that a recipe for baked potatoes is like a recipe for boiling water, but I do do it different.

Wash potatoes.
Place in a 500 degree oven. (Do not poke, pierce, or stab)
Remove an hour later.
Eat.

The insides will be soft and the skin will be crisp! This is how I love them. I have never had one burst this way (although I have had one burst when I did it the other way-- pricking and wrapping in foil and baking at 350 for an hour???)

Veggie Bars

2 cans of reduced fat crescent rolls
1 standard size bar of cream cheese
1 hidden valley ranch dressing packet (the powder mix)
1/2 cup mayo1 broccoli crown
1/2 cauliflower10 baby carrots
1/2 red pepper
1/2 orange pepper

Place the crescent rolls unrolled and flat on a baking sheet. Press the seams together to make one large rectangle. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes (until nice and golden). Remove from the oven and let cool completely.In a bowl combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, and ranch mix. Stir well. When the roll is completely cooled, spread this on top.The broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots are chopped finely in a food processor. The peppers are chopped finely by hand. Mix them all together and then pour onto the ranch spread.Cut and serve!

Pizza variation

I make pizza every Friday night. Last night we tried this variety. This time I tried the refrigerated pizza crusts (they were OK, but not great) and a fresh tomato topping. We rolled out the crust and then topped it with a thin layer of. . .

*2 Tbs mayo
*1 tsp chopped garlic
*1 tsp sugar
*1/2 tsp dried basil (although fresh would be better)

We place very thinly sliced tomatoes on next and then topped with mozzarella and parmesan. It was yummy!

Not as good as our regular pizza, but it is always fun to do things different!

Angel Food Cup Cakes!

I wanted to see if Angel Food cake would still be spongy and airy if I made them into cupcakes. And the result . . . YES, they are and they peel out of the cupcake paper shells easily, and they are perfect for making mini strawberry shortcakes.

Note, I made them out of a box and the batter easily made 24 cupcakes and then I had batter left over -- so it is a larger batch than a regular cake mix. Also I baked them for about 15 minutes.