Happy Thanksgiving!

It's the most wonderful time...of the year! (Are you singing along with me?)

Ok, so it's about Christmas, but I really love the kick off of Thanksgiving. I love to cook with my family, have everyone over, wait to see what the inevitable disaster will be, you know, all the good stuff.

The turkey is brining, the bread is cubed and toasted, the mini pumpkin cheesecakes are cooling, the mashed potatoes are made and ready to be heated up. Tomorrow we will finish up all the cleaning and setting up and roast the turkeys, make the gravy...have I mentioned I love this time of year?

Can't seem to find any posts about my dry brine method, I'll have to post that soon. Easiest method ever.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

New Year's Eve has come and gone, and somehow I never managed to get here to post my recipe. My apologies. Had the family home all week with no work (for them, anyways) or school and we tried to just enjoy. 

So, this was my first attempt at Stuffed Mushrooms. I think it could use some tweaking, but my family said to leave it alone. Hmmm. I shall post it as it was prepared. ;o)

Leni's Notes:
~These were great to make ahead and then refrigerate just before the baking step. Nice for a party, so you can get the work done a day or so ahead of time.
~This version did not have a lot of extra fluid (which I happen to think it could have used, but I digress.) They weren't sloppy to eat. Again, good for a party.
~I used mild sausage, feel free to kick it up with hot sausage.
~Ingredients I would consider adding next time: reconstituted dry onion, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 6 minced mushroom stems.

Ingredients:
4 links of Italian sausage, cooked and refrigerated until completely cooled.
32 oz package of baby bella mushrooms (I used Wegmans Food You Feel Good About)
10 oz (give or take) chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 Cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 - 3/4 Cup shredded parmesan
1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions:
~Place cooled sausage in food processor and mince until it has an even crumbly texture.
~Pour into a larger bowl, and add spinach, panko, parmesan, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
~Thoroughly mix ingredients.
~Wipe off mushrooms, and remove stems.  (save the stems to add to another recipe.;o)
~Grease baking dish.
~Place a mushroom cap in the palm of your hand, and pack the filling in until it resembles a golfball.

~Bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until browned.

Leftovers warm up well. ;o)

Blessings from my kitchen to yours, and Happy New Year!
Leni

Happy New Year!

I'm working on some appetizers for tonight, I'll post later after work. Currently working on stuffed mushrooms and crab appetizers.

Hope you all have safe plans for tonight. We'll be having our traditional BBC Marathon, with a twist. Since Doctor Who ran such a short season this year, we've also recorded some Top Gear. There will be food and board games. Can't wait to see what my son-in-law and daugther bring. Excellent cooks! As it is, we have a slew of desserts to add to the mix because they gave each of us a custom treat for Christmas. Yum!

Ring in the new year with people you love. If you're far from home and loved ones, go find someone's day to brighten up!

Easy Hot Fudge

Whether you're looking for a simple, yummy gift to give for Christmas, or just having a serious chocolate craving, this hot fudge will do the trick. 

Many years ago, when Steve and I were dating, he introduced me to the best holiday treat ever. Peppermint Stick Ice Cream with Hot Fudge. How I had never come across this before is beyond me, but now it brings about the happiest memories for me. I was grocery shopping recently, and to my delight came across the coveted ice cream! There was nothing to do but grab some hot fudge and head home for a feast. Then I saw the price of a jar of hot fudge! Crazy! Especially when it's full of nasty stuff that does not make chocolate taste better.

So I detoured to the baking aisle to grab a couple of ingredients, and high-tailed it home to whip up some fudge while dinner was finishing up. 

Leni's Notes:
~Easy to dress up with some peppermint extract.
~This recipe will fill a one quart canning jar, with left overs. For gift giving, use jelly jars and dress up with some ribbon. Warms well in a water bath.
~Use this for one of the layers of an ice cream cake. I think I need to post that recipe too. Haven't made it in years. Yum...

Ingredients:
2 cans of sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 - 2 bags of good quality chocolate chips

Instructions:
~Place the chips in a glass bowl.
~Warm the sweetened condensed milk over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
~When milk starts to steam (best not to let it boil) remove from heat, and pour over chips.
~Stir gently until chips are all melted.
~If you're going to add any extracts, now would be the time to do so.
~Ladle over ice cream or whatever your little heart desires.
~Pour extras into canning jars and cover.
~Store in fridge, warm in a water bath.

Blessings from my kitchen to yours,
Leni

A Day in the Kitchen Preparing for Christmas

The day has arrived. My self-imposed deadline for all Christmas cooking. The next three days are going to be back-to-back Christmas celebrations, and I don't want to be having to leave parties early to go home and get ready for the next party!

So, I made huge mountains of Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls on Thursday, and have already begun distributing them to teachers, pastors and other folks on our list.

Yesterday I made two super-secret gift desserts for my kids. (I'll fill you in later on those!)

Today's list:

5 Layer Mexican Dip for teen party tonight

Another couple dozen cinnamon rolls to take to my family's big Christmas bash Sunday afternoon.

Applesauce and Pumpkin Pies for Chirstmas Eve Brunch with the inlaws.

Zuppa Toscana for family gathering here at home after church on Christmas Eve.

Veggie Gratin and Scalloped Pineapple for Christmas Day at my mom's.

Orange cookies if I still feel up to it. So probably not. ;o)

It's going to be a long day, but when all is done I can just relax. Ooh, or I could wrap Christmas presents! oy. I used to do them Christmas Eve until the year I spent tilt he wee hours of Christmas morning in the ER checking for broken ribs. (An enthusiastic toddler and wrestling can end very badly sometimes.) When we finally got home with a diagnosis of badly bruised ribs and orders for me to rest and not lift anything for the next 48 hours, we still had all the presents to wrap! My poor husband. lol.

Off and running! Hope your holiday planning is coming along swimmingly, and that you enjoy this season with your family. When the chaos overtakes you, remember that we're celebrating the Savior's birth, and try to relax and love on your family!

Blessings from my chaotic kitchen to yours!
Leni

It's Not About the Food!

I have news for you about Thanksgiving that you might find shocking.

It's not all about the food.

Trust me, I wouldn't lie to you! On one level, it is, of course, all about the food. But really, it's about giving thanks and being grateful for all that we have. Bringing our family and friends together to remind us to be thankful for them, also.

I tell you this because things are bound to go wrong. Sometimes horribly wrong. Irreparably wrong. Please, don't let it ruin your holiday! For example, no matter how many times you have successfully roasted a turkey, there will be that one time that the bugger just won't cook, and you end up carving the meat 3 hours later than planned. Or your potatoes scorch and you've got to throw out the whole pot. Rolls hard as rocks, lumpy gravy, broken dishes, the list goes on and on. You've gotta laugh it off and make the best of it. It will make a great family story down the line. (Wait til you hear about the exploding cupboard!)

When I was a teenager, I used to watch a soap opera where every Thanksgiving (or was it Christmas?) the rich family's meal would be completely ruined and they'd have to order a stack of pizzas. What else are you going to do? Mope and throw a tantrum? Psh. Move on.

So here's hoping that you don't have the Davis curse, and there are no catastrophes on your big day. But if there are, take another page from the Davis play book and laugh it off. And then tell me about it. I'd hate to think I'm all alone out here in my disaster land!

Newest Thanksgiving Catastrophe '12?

It's not even Thanksgiving day yet, but I'm thinking maybe I've already had my catastrophe of the year. Last night, as the kids were working on their recipes for Thursday, I opened up my laptop to find details and heard a horrible cracking sound. And with that, my screen flopped over backward! Yup, the hinges broke.

So my computer is still working, but is now rigged up on my husband's desk so that I can put a book holder behind it to prop the screen up. A little red-neckish, but it will work until we can get it repaired. This is a good thing, as all of my recipes are stored online! Years ago, I set up a gmail account just for recipes. Gmail has so much storage, and a terrific search feature. Makes it so easy to find what I'm looking for and share recipes easily. I also set up a family gmail account that all of my kids have access to. Whenever we try a recipe that we all love, we send it to that account so they will be able to access 'Mom's Recipes' no matter where they live or how badly my memory fails. ;o)

Last night, Seth whipped up the Spinach Artichoke Dip, and Noelle did the Refrigerator Mashed Potatoes. Today's work list includes a pie or two (cherry and blueberry cream) and working up a recipe for a Cauliflower Gratin. Never made it before, so I think I'll do a test run to make sure it's edible before I feed our company. I'd like to think I'll have enough energy to do the stuffing also, but I'm not sure I'll even get through the preliminary list! We'll see how it goes.

I hope all of your Thanksgiving plans are coming along nicely, and whatever you do on Thursday, you take a moment to count the many blessings in your life.

Leni

Sunday Before Thanksgiving

The turkey is brining!

My friend Briggie reminded me to take my turkey out of the freezer days ago. I was so glad, because I never take it out soon enough! Well, today is brining day and that 27 pound gobbler is still frozen solid! This is where I get creative in ways that Butterball would never approve of. But I digress.

I went ahead and started the process while it's still frozen. I've done it before, it works just fine. We're hoping to roast it on Wednesday and save ourselves some work on Thanksgiving!

I think this is the biggest bird I have ever roasted!

The Great Thanksgiving Catastrophe of '07

As promised, here is one of my Thanksgiving Catastrophe stories. I offer this to you as something to reflect on during the holiday. Should things start to go wrong, you can comfort yourself that at least you're not in my house! Also, it can be a point of reference. How bad was your holiday? "About two step above Leni '07." ;o)

I do hope that your holiday planning is going well, and that you will all have a catastrophe free Thanksgiving!

Here's how a holiday goes in Leni Land. To give yourself the proper setting, pretend you're reading a new edition of the "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" series."

Thanksgiving Day (which also happens to be my husband's birthday, just so you have proper sympathy for him.)

Despite the fact that I am not a morning person, I am up at 6:30 to have turkey in roaster at 7am. *Yawn*
I ask Steve later in the morning if he will hang up my shadow box. We've been waiting for a free moment to do so, and our holiday planning is going so well, we actually have leisure time before dinner!

Wanting to do the job right, Steve gathers the children around and explains that he will need certain tools. Not only is he going to do the job, but we're going to get a homeschool lesson out of it!

So, he goes out to the shed to get the level. Of course, the key is nowhere to be found, so he goes to buy a new lock at the pharmacy, intending to break the old one off.  He comes out of the store, van won't start. Extra amusing, as we have not yet made the first payment on said van. Awesome. So, he walks home in very cold rain. I see him coming, and I can tell by the stomping through puddles that he is not a happy camper. He takes his frustration out on the lock since it was going to come off anyways. Ironically will not come off. It's a very sturdy lock! So sturdy that instead of the lock giving way, the hasp starts to break.

He gives up and comes in, calls the dealer, who of course will only honor the warranty if HE does the work. That means towing it 85 miles. Thank God for AAA, because the dealer was not going to pay for the towing...grrr... Steve makes the arrangements, and decides to still try to make something of the day. He'll  figure out why the vacuum is so loud. Takes the whole thing apart, can find nothing wrong with it! But while it's still spread all over the livning room, my mom arrives an hour early which we expected. No big deal that she's here, but the dogs get all excited because there's company, and they start prancing all over the place while Steve is trying to put the cleaner back together.

At this point, my oldest daughter reluctantly tells us that she just found water dripping into the laundry room from the bathroom that is right above it. Seriously?! Hubby quickly figures out that it is coming from the tub, so he goes to investigate. Upon pulling up the tiles by the corner of the tub, we find that the sub-flooring is totally rotted away, and there is apparently a leak inside the wall! Why not? Steve says (are you ready for this?) "I'm surprised the wall isn't rotting also." With that he gently pushes on the wall above the area, which totally gives under the pressure. ARGH! At that point I decided that we should just go back to bed and forget this day completely.

All this by noon, folks! We did, however, go on to have a lovely day. The birthday girls arrived (both grandmas) and the rest of our company. Dinner went off without a hitch, and then we played board games and watched movies til bed time. All in all, a nice day. That weekend we dealt with all the problems, and my kids got a lesson in patching drywall!

This is just so typical for us, it's almost laughable!

Blessings from my kitchen to yours,
Leni

Thanksgiving

As a food blogger, it feels somehow criminal that I have not even mentioned Thanksgiving. I mean, I hate to follow the crowd, but still, it's like National Food Day, so I've got to at least chime in, right?

I always host Thanksgiving, as we have a house big enough to fit our family. Well, not really, but we fit better than we'd fit anywhere else, so it works. Family holidays are supposed to be loud and crowded. Did I mention it's also a Birthday Extravaganza? My mother's birthday is the day before Thanksgiving, and my mother-in-law and husband are the day of! So we just mash it all together and have one big celebration.

I am blessed that everyone offers to help and bring stuff for the meal. That takes a lot of pressure off. With my daughter recently married, that adds another kitchen to the mix for prep. They are both great cooks, so whatever they bring will be great.

We'll start the day with the parade and the dog show while we're cooking and setting up the extra table. Some time during the dog show, people will start arriving with food. I'll share this year's menu with you, and confess that I am going to make the turkey the day before. I've been thinking about this for a couple of years, and I'm giving it a shot. Later this week, I'll share some Thanksgiving disaster stories just to make you feel better about how bad your day might be going. ;o)

Thanksgiving 2012

Appetizers
Cheese & Crackers
Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip

Meat
Dry Brine Turkey with gravy

Veggies
Possibly Roasted Chili Lime Corn
Sweet Potatoes
Squash
Cauliflower Gratin

Sides
Homemade Stuffing
Homemade Rolls
Refrigerator Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Salad
Broccoli Salad

Dessert
Cherry Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Cheesecake Cinnamon Roll concoction

Drinks
Sparkling Apple Punch
Iced Tea
Coffee