Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving.  Surrounding oneself with friends, family, roasting a massive turkey, covering the table and counters with all manner of desserts and side dishes, and eating until so full you resemble Garfield after a pan of lasagna!

So, I surrounded myself with my beloved - well, we spent the day together, doing things we enjoyed, together, quietly ... practiced some music, played some games, watched some football and other favorite shows.

I have to say it was a wonderfully restful Thanksgiving!

So Thanksgiving was on Thursday as always, but it didn't start there.  The week before, I picked up the turkey; a frozen, 23# hunk of gamebird that was on sale at a local market for .029/lb!  Therefore I got the BIGGEST bird I could find ... yup, all for 2 people ... (I want leftovers!)

Sunday I put the frozen bird in the refrigerator to thaw.  How I managed to fit it in there, I haven't a clue!  My fridge isn't exactly big.

Bob's Red Mill
Gluten Free
Cornbread Mix

I baked a Gluten Free Cornbread using a Bob's Red Mill Mix, on Monday as well as used my breadmaker to bake up a loaf of Gluten Free Brioche (sandwich Bread); both were used in the making of the stuffing.

Tuesday I checked the turkey, still frozen.  I made the Green-Bean Casserole w/Homemade Mushroom Gravy by Guy Fieri of Food Network fame.  Why homemade?  Well, primarily because I LOVE Green Bean Casserole, and condensed soup has flour in it.  Wheat flour.  Mine was from scratch, and though it had cream in it, it did NOT have gluten or wheat - and it was oh, so lovely and mushroomy!  I split it into two 8x8" aluminum pans, and froze one.  Stuck the other in the fridge to await Thursday.

So the Turkey has to come out, today, despite it's still 85% frozen state.  Dang!  I take it out, set it in the sink, and start peeling off the plastic; I have to use the sprayer to thaw around the neck, and gizzard bag to remove them so I can roast them up, and some veggies to make some lovely stock.  Into the oven they go, with a bunch of veggies - onions, carrots, celery, leeks, apples, and garlic - all at 450F for 45 minutes.  Seems overkill, right?  Well everything was toasted and roasted nicely, barring a couple leeks from the edges that got a little singed, tossed them.  Everything into a pan, cover with water, and simmer for a while.

Back to the turkey.  The Frozen Turkey.  23# of semi-solid meat.  So today I planned to start it brining.  It doesn't fit in my cooler, but I have a clean 5 gallon bucket ... I make the brine with salt, lemons, pepper corns, thyme, bay (fresh from my tree!), sage, rosemary, brown sugar, and some lemon-marmalade I made a couple weeks back, that has been sitting in my fridge, and dang if I just didn't have room for it.  The Brine was based loosely on a few recipes I found around the internet Anne Burrell's Brined-Herb Crusted Roast turkey,  and 3-Secrets to a Great Roast Turkey - Revisited.  I boiled together the brine, cooled it with some tap water to luke-warm, put the turkey into the bucked tail-up, poured in the brine, and filled the remainder of the bucket until the turkey was submerged.  Covered it, and set it in the laundry-room utility sink.  The bucket was filled to 1/2" from the top, and I didn't have room in my fridge.  I figured since the turkey was still mostly frozen it would double as  it's own chill, while thawing the rest of the way AND brining while thawing!!

Wednesday I make the stuffing, using the stock I'd made the day before. A combination of recipes, Cornbread, sausage, and chestnut stuffing, A Julia and Jacques recipe (link below for the deconstructed turkey), Cornbread Dressing with Chestnuts, and Sausage, Chestnut, and Cornbread stuffing.  My modifications, I added leeks with the onions; used granny smith apples; Italian sweet sausage in place of the country style listed in the recipe; added dried cranberries and cherries to the mix).  I placed it all in a large casserole dish and baked it for 35 minutes at 350F, allowed it to cool on the counter, then stuck it outside in the garage where the temp is equivalent to my refrigerator right now!  (40s)

I then turned to care of the turkey.  Per the instructions for Anne Burrell's Brined-Herb crusted Roast Turkey, I made a herb butter.  Pulled the turkey out of the brine, draining it well, then popped it onto a half-sheet pan, patting it dry with paper towels.  I massaged about half the herb butter under the skin, and the rest all over the outside of the bird.  Once the turkey-massage was over, I popped it into a turkey roasting bag (it was big enough!), leaving it open for air to circulate, I then popped it back into the fridge, on a clean half-sheet pan to wait until the following morning.

I also baked a sweet potato, slightly cooled it, scooped out the innards, leaving the skin intact, mixed the innards with a little salt, pepper, and brown sugar, scooped the mixture back into the skins then topped them with marshmallows.  Once topped, they got popped into the fridge to wait for the turkey's exit from the oven the following day.

Thursday morning ... Happy Thanksgiving! ... I figured 4 hours for a 23# bird ... so I stuffed the body cavity with an apple, a lemon, a half a HUGE onion (probably equal to two medium onions), a carrot, and two celery stalks.  Closed the bag, cut slits into it, and popped it into the oven.  450F for 30min, then dropped the temp to 350F for the remaining 3.5 hours.  While it was roasting I finished stuff around the house, and prep for the meal.

Potatoes boiling in salted water, cubed, skin-on, while the turkey is cooking.  When ready I smash them, add some cream cheese, butter, and a little buttermilk.  I put them in a pan and waited for the oven to be open.  (Serious Hubby Approval!)

At noon the turkey exited the oven, golden, steaming, and crisp.  Onto the stovetop it went to rest for an hour while I finished cooking.  I drained the drippings from the bag into a pan.  Carefully.  Then got rid of as much of the fat layer as I could; there was almost two cups!  I made gravy using the drippings, a drop of gravy-maker, cornstarch and a little cream.

The stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and smashed potatoes, all went into the oven to reheat for 20 minutes.  I had forgotten to pull a couple frozen rolls from the freezer, so I microwaved them thawed, popped them into the oven and hoped for the best.

Green salad chopped and on the table.  Canned Cranberry sauce (jelly, not chunks - with the can ridges still attached, LOL).  Herby, roasted Turkey, falling off the bone and juicy, breast, leg, and thigh cut and plated. Sides out of the oven, and tabled.

We ate. Well.  And barely made a dent in it all.  But oh, the glorious leftovers!

GF Banana Bread

GF Banana Bread
Originally uploaded by UnrelentingTruth

GF Banana Bread

My search for the perfect Gluten Free Lasagna Recipe

Ok, so I've said in the past that I've discovered that Gluten and I are not friends.  Be it because of the genetic changes made in wheat to make it stronger, disease resistant, and drought tolerant, or my body simply decided wheat, and other gluten containing grains are the enemy, I am not sure.  I simply know that avoiding those grains that contain wheat equates to clear head and minimal-to-no joint pain.

No pain? That is definitely a reason to NOT eat wheat!  So no wheat ... no bread ... no thick gravy's or roux ... no pies or pastries ... Right?  NOT!

Besides removing the grains all together, there are substitutes.  There are ways to create delicious, family-friendly, non-GF friendly foods that everyone can enjoy.  The past couple weeks I've determined to eat right.  I've made Fried Rice with battered Orange Chicken -- GF, Zuppa Tuscona (e.g. Creamy Potato & Sausage soup), pork chops, crepes, tortillas, even PIZZA!

I have a hundred recipes I want to make, perfect, and share, all GF that encompass the flavors I loved in wheat based foods.  I don't really want to reinvent the wheel, there are tens, if not hundreds, of very talented bloggers and cooks out there that have done this job for me already.  Skillfully.  Now if I find something that isn't available online to try, or perhaps improve upon or tweak to my own satisfaction, I will gladly do my best to create a recipe and share it with all.

I am now on a mission to find the perfect Lasagna recipe.  The doughy, chewy noodles layered with meat, sauce, cheeses, steaming from the oven.  So satisfying, comforting, and something I've not had in ages.

I'm thinking homemade noodles (GF of course), and I found about a hundred GF pasta recipes online just with a google search, and believe the recipe on eHow.com is where I'll start.  As for the layers?  My mom always did a meat and tomato sauce layered with cottage cheese, mozzarella, parmesan cheeses.  I've done veggie lasagnas with the same as mom's only adding zucchini to the layers.  I think I am going to do a veggie lasagna with the GF noodles, in a cream sauce ... in individual portions so I can freeze the extras for quick meals during the weeks ahead!

Some notable Sites with recipes:

• Gluten Free with Aunt Jayne - Lasagna
• The Gluten Free Wife - Lasagna
• Boston.com Article Collection
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck's GF Lasagna
• Triumph Dining - links here for numerous variations on the theme
• About.com
• Potato Variation (no noodles)

I'll post my discoveries and perhaps pictures as well!

Gardening in 2011- Update and more!

This year's garden succumbed to neglect.  Of all the cuttings the houseplant cuttings did well, and were donated to this year's family reunion Chinese auction table.  Only one of the Bay Laurel cuttings survived, and is happily sending up new leaves in the care of my mother; will try again next spring for more cuttings.

New Job, New Location:
In July my DH changed positions.  He went from doing splendidly in insurance, working rediculous hours and being paid squat to being fought over by three different aviation companies.  He has a choice of where to go, FL, MI, or OH.  The OH job was close to family and familiarity and all other things being equal (literally) he decided close was preferable to distance.  He is now working again in aviation and despite only having two weeks to find housing and move, the Lord had our backs and we not only found housing to rent (very nice landlords only 11 minutes from the new job), we were also able to go on a much needed vacation to the EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, WI after having wanted to go now since we were married 8 years ago!

Our new location has 10 feet between houses, but is so quiet it is hard to believe that we're so urban.  The neighborhood has a private beach (just gorgeous), and park which comes in very handy to run the dogs' energy down.

Themove took several trips, and two 'big' waves.  Our main-living needs (bed, couch, basic cookware) moved with the first wave and we spent the week between moves at the new house.  The 'anchor' (e.g. Gulbransen Baby Grand Piano) was moved in this first 'wave' as well.  The junk came in the second wave, which took TWO trailer loads.  I will never understand how quickly JUNK can accumulate.

A good friend has a dump truck and the Tuesday following our final move I returned to the previous home to get rid of the junk.  It filled the dump truck!  I am so thankful for that dump truck and the driver - despite the drizzly rain and the gushy, mushy, nasty dump-mud he didn't get stuck!!

Two weeks after the move I'd consolidated and thrown out about another 40 large bags of various junk, and emptied innumerable boxes.  It felt really good to clear out so much.

Hubby is loving his new job, being back in a field that uses his passion for airplanes, talent for problem-solving and troublshooting, and training in avionics.  How quickly our home has de-stressed with him being in a position that both pays for time worked, but is a little more scheduled.  You know when you're working, and when you're not.  The previous position in insurance really was a 24/7/365 job, and that gets old. Fast.


Gardening:
Our new home has a 3-seasons room in the back of the house, a side of which gets light most of the day.  This is where my sensitive plants will live this winter.  It is surrounded by sliding glass doors which have screens and the whole of them can be opened giving the room a screen-porch feel.

My African violets are doing splendidly, despite needing re-potting (three pots of AVs I probably have seven or eight plants!).

My garbage garden is growing happily and consists right now of two mango trees, and four pineapples.  A piece of my mom's Meyer Lemon tree broke off, and she popped it into some soil; it took off and is putting up lovely new leaves now, so I traded her my happy little Bay for the lemon.  She also potted up some fig-tree cuttings for me which have really taken off, and has some hibiscus cuttings for me as well that I'll be collecting before too long.  In addition the coffee plant (arabica), diffenbachia, monster-momma Christmas cactus, mother's day rose (large yellow blooms with a hint of pink and a fragrance that is intensely fruity), the knock-out rose cutting (the one that I thought wasn't going to survive and has since grown a ton and has bloomed as well!), big Bay, and the white Mandevilla are doing phenomenally.  They're still outside but will be brought in soon.

The new house has limited garden space, mostly filled with hostas, over-grown black-eyed susans, Echinacia, (a couple wild/hardy geraniums popped up through the mess and bloomed which I thought was pretty cool), and Chinese Iris.  Along the one side though our landlord's wife planted some ever-bearing raspberries which are divine.  There is also a hydrangea, three rose bushes (red, yellow, and pink), and some amazing dark red-orange daylilies.  The bed behind the house, North side, and no sun is empty.  Next year I'd like to put some things in there!


Pictures (or lack thereof):
I am sorry there aren't any pictures, I'm still holding out for a 7D and hesitate to spend money on anything less than what I want as I make due all too often, and I am holding out for the real deal rather than settling for a P&S that will 'get me through'.  This sadly means phone-camera or nothing and many opportunities have been lost because of my stubbornness.

This isn't saying that I haven't expanded the pictures hanging on my walls.  Dogs, family, friends, landscapes and so much more adorn our walls, and there is room for more!  I can't wait to get that new camera so I can update and expand what covers my walls!

Cooking:
Moving, traveling, upheaval is never good for being good diet-wise.  My three shouldn't-eat because my body will revolt foods; e.g. wheat/gluten, dairy, and refined sugars, seem to be the easiest and most readily available foods when you're in a crunch.  My body screams at me when I've eaten the wrong things, but when pizza and soda are cheap, easy, available and you're hungry? Trust me, it's food.  So a month after the move, I'm getting back on track.  Haven't had wheat/gluten in a week (kudos!), can't say the same about the sugar and dairy though.  The latter two are definitely on the list, but not as big a deal when I eat them (in small doses they don't seem to cause a problem unlike the wheat which I can tell very shortly after I've eaten it).

Dilemma: I haven't been able to find condensed cream of mushroom soup in the grocery store that doesn't use wheat flour to thicken it so [solution:] I made homemade mushroom soup to put into a Chicken Broccoli Rice casserole last weekend.  Delightful.  The casserole was all plopped into a crockpot, cooked, and let to sit overnight. The flavors only got better, and leftovers the third day were amazing.  I initially wasn't sure about the flavors as they initially seemed too bland, but time cured the problem.

I made GF doughnut holes (loosely) based on the Amazing Gluten Free Buttermilk Doughnuts, a recipe I found at food.com.  I say loosely because I ran out of GF AP flour mix, and had to substitute coconut flour and almond meal for almost half the flour.  It worked, lovely lightly spiced cakey-donuts that really hit the spot!

I also made Cornmeal Corn Tortillas from Cooks.com.  These were more pancak-ey than tortilla-textured, but they cooked up nicely, and had decent flavor (if more delicate than masa tortillas).  I spread one with apple butter, which was lovely.  Today's lunch used them as wraps around a mix of black beans, onions, jalapenos, bell pepper, seasoned with cumin and taco seasoning, slightly mashed.  Warmed tortilla and lightly melted cheddar, a hint of ranch dressing, and lettuce.  Semi-vegetarian lunch which really tasted great after a morning of cleaning, exercising, and errands!

Health:
Still on track, or so I believe.  Back to eating right, and finishing up my first week back to exercising daily (using my Slim-in-6 video).  Already feeling and seeing results!  The first couple days I could barely move, my body revolted and I suffered, but other than having to stretch at regular intervals throughout the day, the pain has subsided.

In addition to the 40-60 minutes of exercise video daily, I've been biking with the dogs as well at least 2 miles each as often as I can and the weather allows.  The dogs are much calmer after being worked even that little bit, and I am so much happier that they're not pestering me constantly!

I'd like to get a Fluidity Bar to enhance my exercise routine, and work towards that 'dancer's body' I've always wanted, the Bar is based on a ballet Barre and after using several different videos that use similar mehtods, I've become very fond of the various exercises using this, and similar methods.

Anyhow, lots going on, and I am hoping to keep this a little more up-to-date in the coming weeks, months, and beyond as I have a few extra minutes here and there to share, and post.  Thanks for reading!

Gardening in 2011

Oh, last year's garden was for the most part a success.  Though the plants I wanted to keep alive over the winter faired poorly and I lost most of them.  I learned some lessons this past winter!  I guess that sometimes failure is the greatest teacher.

I am happy to say though that a few survived.  My geraniums, the larger Bay Laurel, a couple of the orchids, a Diffenbachia I was given, saved from certain destruction.  My Mandevilla survived the winter by the back door as did my monster Christmas Cactus - which bloomed profusely as always throughout the winter.

The Hardy Kiwi I bought, discounted, are now planted snugly at my parent's home under a trellis thriving.

My garbage garden got hit, the mangos didn't make it (sigh) - my fault, they got too cold and dry.  Three of the four pineapple tops are happy, though they did suffer a bit, all have new growth on them.  I set another top in soil about a month ago, and it is happy happy too!

The African Violets I started are all taken off.  The one pot probably has 5 or 6 in it that need separated and repotted.  The one leaf just kept growing, and growing, but didn't want to put off any new shoots until about May, when it started to add some little leaves.  That was interesting!!

I found a place online that encourages cuttings to be rooted with nothing, or with honey in place of hormone.  I am ALL FOR Honey!!  The plants barely wilted!!

I have taken more cuttings of the purple plum, my greatest challenge for the season as it inevitably succumbs to powdery mold.
Cuttings of the black currant (that smells of cat urine) which rooted within days of cutting them.
Dipped and set some stems from my roses after trimming, and all are already budding!
Dipped and set 9 Diffenbachia stems only a couple days ago, but all are looking good.
Trimmed my Bay Laurel and set all trimmings into soil, without honey, all are looking SUPERB! A little wilty initially, but I think that was my fault as I set them outside where they got squished a little and too warm I'm sure.  Brought them in and changed how they were covered and wha-la, perked right up and are looking wonderful.
Have a low-growing yew out front, and I took a couple stems and dipped them, they're not wilty, and are seeming to be ok, don't know how though they're fairing as they don't wilt, there is no molds or other funguses on them, and they do take some time to root as they're slower-growing than other plants.

I have christmas cactus cuttings that are a year old now and thriving, I'd like to sell them, but no one seems interested.

I got my mom to take cuttings of the butterfly bush, the varigated boxwood, and her hybiscus, which are all doing well - am excited to bring them home when they're rooted!

I also planted several Miracle Fruit plants, and goji berries and await their germination and breaking the soil.


Just seem to keep trying, and trying and hoping!  Eventually I'll get it right and then watch out!

Snow ...

Wow! I am amazed at how a little snow and a lot of wind can make driving terribly dangerous. We have a great deal to be thankful for despite the insane weather.

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Gone Droid

New smart phone in hand amd having fun with the connectivity. Got a Droid2. Pretty sweet phone.

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