STUFFED, AND I DON'T MEAN THE BIRD...

I would just like to post some final pics before I drift into a food coma.

Here is the turkey right before I took the cheesecloth off of it.

After the cloth is taken off the turkey does not have much color.


As the turkey was finishing cooking I made the mashed potatoes and Brian got out our Martha Stewart Collection turkey platter that I got on sale at Macy's last year. I am looking forward for this platter becoming an heirloom.


Here is the turkey on the platter. I had sliced apples, bunches of parsley, sage, and pears all ready to garnish the platter, but there was no time! The turkey was swooped down upon and this was the only picture that I got of it.


Here is Judy carving the turkey.


I normally only like to post pictures of beautiful food, but I just had to post this picture of the turkey carcass. This turkey is exactly how I feel right now as I type this blog...


GOODNIGHT AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN THE BLOGOSPHERE!!!!

Blogging Break from Cooking....

This year we are not hosting Thanksgiving, but as Brian says we are "Thanksgiving on Wheels." We are taking the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and cranberries to his brother and sister's house. I am relieved that we are not doing it here this year because this has been a busy/stressful Fall semester at school. I have to give two presentations on Monday.

This morning I got up and took our turkey out of the brining solution.


It always looks a bit blue when it is taken out. I suppose I would too if I spent a night in a cold refrigerator submerged in water.


I asked Nicole to make Pomtinis. These should be good!


As Nicole was mixing drinks like she was Tom Cruise in Cocktail. I was sautéing onions and celery in butter for stuffing. By the time I was done cutting onions both Nicole and I were in tears.


I love all of the herbs that go into stuffing. Sage and parsley...



I have a blister from pulverizing this huge pile of parsley...



Here is the huge turkey ready to be stuffed and trussed.


Ina Garten said that trussing a turkey is like putting it in bondage! haha...


Here he is all stuffed, buttered up, and ready to be covered.


Instead of putting the turkey in a bag or covering it with foil I use the Martha method of soaking a piece of cheesecloth in 2 sticks of melted butter and a bottle of wine. You put the cheesecloth in the wine mixture and then drape it over the turkey. You then baste the turkey with the left over wine and butter mixture.


Here is the turkey after 30 minutes and ready to be basted for the 1st time. By the end of the baking the cheesecloth will look so brown. My friend Susan told me that her kids use to fight over who got to suck on the cheesecloth once the turkey was done baking. HAHAHA!


Here is a picture of our bird from last year...

Lucille's New Coat...

Every time we take our puppy Lucy outside she shivers from the cold. I suppose only weighing about 7 pounds would make me cold too.

I just thought that this sight was too cute cute not to post.



The flash made Lucy squint...

Let Thanksgiving Cooking Commence...

A lot of you have probably already begun prepping your Thanksgiving feast. I went shopping last weekend and have officially begun cooking today. I brine our turkey using the method from Martha Stewart's Perfect Roast Turkey for 24 hours prior to baking so I had to make the brining solution. Brining the turkey is soaking the bird in a flavorful liquid that will result in a moist and tender meat.

I also made Cranberry & Grape compote. I was reluctant to try this dish because canned gelled cranberry sauce was the tradition, but after trying this I will never go back. The recipe is super easy too. Of course from Everyday Food.

Well here are some pictures of what I did today. Not much to look at, but when I am hungry for Thanksgiving in March I will have this blog post to look at...

I decided to double this recipe since I love cranberries so much.


If you think about it (which I often do) us Martha fanatics are quite crazy! Here is a Martha Stewart recipe, in a Martha Stewart Pot, using a Martha Stewart rubber scraper (which my friend Claudine sent to me).


This recipe is so simple! Cranberries, grapes, sugar, and a pinch of salt.


Here is my brine solution composed of flavorful herbs and vegetables.


I also figured that I had better get my bread all cut up and drying out for stuffing.



Here is the compote after most of the cranberries have popped. I just love the color, this served in a nice white or silver dish really makes the color stand out.


I never have a container large enough to accommodate the size turkey that we buy. I had to go and get a large tub and clean it. I poured my brine in here and I will refrigerate it so it is cold tomorrow when I submerge the turkey in it.


Happy prepping!

Gigunda Calzone...

So for the past few Sunday evenings I have been making Sunday Supper and we watch Desperate Housewives. This Sunday was no different except for the fact that we have to wait TWO WEEKS to watch those shows to come back on again.

Last week on Martha Jamie Oliver made calzone, the dough recipe looked super easy and it was. Since Brian is very picky I used pepperoni and cheese on his and pepperoni and onion on mine and Nicole's.

Have a look....

Here is the dough after it has risen for an hour. It is so easy to make, just pop everything into the food processor and let that do the work.


After the dough has risen it needs to be punched down, divided into four portions and then rolled out.


I usually buy bread dough from the grocery store. I don't know if it is the amount of yeast that they use but it sometimes rises too much and causes my pizza to look like a huge 1 foot thick pizza. I also usually have to wrestle the dough while rolling it out to keep it from shrinking back to a small round. This dough rolled out so easy and beautifully.


After rolling out the dough I filled each calzone.


It took a minute for me to get the finger over thumb movement to make the pretty edge on the calzone but in the end it looked and tasted delicious.


Now the recipe did not call for this, but I drizzled each with some olive oil and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.


They are then slid onto a pizza stone that has been warming for 1/2 an hour in a 500 degree oven.


After 15 minutes they come out looking like this!


If you have picky eaters like me it is a good idea to put a bit of the topping that is on the inside of each calzone on top. In this picture you can see Brian's calzone has a pepperoni on top.


To guild the lilly I brushed each calzone with garlic butter.


I would definately make this again. We were only able to eat about 1/3 of each of our own calzone so we have plenty of left overs.

The Snow Stuck

I am one of those people that the locals of Ohio hate. I like the snow. Being from Arizona snow is still a new experience to me and I get excited when the white flakes drift down from the sky and cover the yard and trees. The first day that I saw snow this year was on October 27th (I marked it on my calendar). Here are some pictures of the snow that came overnight and covered everything.

These were the roads this morning on my way to drop Brian off at work.


Here is our front yard all covered with snow!


Here are the pups running at top speed into the backyard to play in the snow.

Christmas Decorating Already?: Proactive or Crazy??

Brian and I have decided to break from the tradition of decorating the day after Thanksgiving. We started putting up decorations on Veteran's Day. It has actually been nice to get an early start on things I am proud to say that our Christmas cards are 99.8% done, our tree is up, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care (HAHA!), and I have submitted my cookies to the Second Annual Fellenger/Patitucci Cookie exchange super extravaganza. Here are some pictures of what has been going on at our house since my last post...

Our pup Lucy is full of life, kisses, and happiness. Here is an artful picture I took of her cute little face.


It snowed about 3 inches, I am still one of the people who love the snow. When winter rolls around I feel like the clouds block the sky for a while and it feels like I am in a snow-globe, here are some pictures that I took while taking the pups out. Lucy is adjusting well to her first snowfall.




Here are some various pictures of our decorations...

I got these GIGANTIC Martha Stewart Kugel ornaments from Macy's after Christmas last year. They were originally $50.00 each but I paid only $13.00. WHAT A STEAL they are literally the size of basketballs.


Here are the Kugels nestled among poinsettias and pine garland on our mantle and the stocking holders that spell out "Peace"... I got the idea of poinsettia filled garland from this article in Martha Stewart Living. The ones in the story are live, mine are fancy ones from Michael's and I have been using them for a few years. I absolutely love the look. Above the mantle is a gold ornament wreath that I made a few years ago, I used it on one of our Christmas cards one year.


This glass ornament was purchased for more than 1/2 off at K-Mart after Christmas one year. I believe we paid about 2 dollars or so for it, it is the size of a grapefruit, Martha Stewart of course.


Another Martha Stewart idea for filling all kinds of glass containers with glittered ornaments. These are very inexpensive from K-Mart, both Martha Stewart and on sale of course.


In front of the television we placed pine garland and some glass ornaments from the Martha Stewart Collection at Macys. Glass balls, acorns and leaves.



As usual, Brian did an outstanding job on the Christmas tree. It is filled with new ornaments and ornaments from our youth. I love sitting in the living room with the lights dimmed and a colorful tree.


JEEZ I SOUND LIKE A MARTHA STEWART COMMERCIAL! This tree skirt is from the Martha Stewart Collection at Macys, I got it last year on sale it was originally $60.00, but I got it for $4.00 there was actually another style there too that was not rick rack that I could not pass up either, we liked this one so we used it this year.


As I previosly mentioned our cards are 99.8% done and I must say I am quite please with how they turned out. I am going to do an upcoming post about previous cards and this year's card soon. This year I used Martha ideas and Martha Stewart Craft products to produce a cute card!
Here are all of our cards laid out in rows letting the "Handmade by" stamp on the back dry...


Now this next item I must say has been a labor of love and hate. I have always wanted a feather type tree, I know that retro trees had a feather tree structure, but some were made out of aluminum. For the past two years I have tried to devise a way of recreating one of those trees and this year I deemed my frankenstein project ready to be displayed. I used a dowel which I screwed holes into to support the branches. For the branches I used heavy wire which I wrapped with burgundy floral tape and then used Martha Stewart Everyday red tinsel to wrap around the wire and create the needles of the branch. The branches were then glued onto the dowel trunk and then trunk was painted red and covered with red tinsel also. I am definitely going to put this in another container, possibly an urn. Let me know what you think. It looks about 500 times more beautiful in person, the pictures do not do it justice at all. I will try and take a better picture in better lighting later.


The branches are adorned with red and gold glass ornaments including acorns, walnuts, pine cones and glittered balls hung on burgundy ribbons which compliment the red tree well. All were purchased at K-Mart last year on sale.



I am excited to see how all of my blogging friends use their creative talents to beautify their homes for the holidays!

Sunday Supper....

After a busy Sunday I was excited to come home and start Sunday supper. Every Sunday we watch Desperate Housewives, Brother's and Sisters and have dinner. As I blog this post I am am soooooo full! After watching last week's cooking lesson on brazing featured on Martha I decided to try the braised pork shoulder recipe. Since I do not eat meat I am not sure how it tasted but it went real quick and there were rave reviews. Have a look at the pics...

Here is a mix of parsnips, leeks and celery sautéing away.


After the meat has been browned I added cider and a sachet of herbs..


Here is the finished pork roast with braised leeks and parsnips...


Here is the dinner table ready to eat!


Here are some green beans with shallots, garlic, and lemon.


Since I do not eat meat I made haluski, it made a great side for everyone else and a great main dish for me. This polish meal is made of onions, cabbage, butter and egg noodles. I also add parmesan cheese and garlic... Nicole loved it!


And what would dinner be without dessert. I taught nicole how to make banana cream pie . We started by making the pie crust, when it was done I sprinkled chocolate chips over the warm crust and then let them melt.


Sliced bananas top the layer of chocolate...


Then a homemade vanilla custard (which was soooo delicious!)


YUM!!!


Here is a slice of pie topped with freshly whipped cream...


I AM SOOOOO FULL!!!

Making Christmas Cards...

Every year I hand-make our Christmas cards, usually I wait till the last minute and then get stressed out. This year I wanted to be a bit proactive and now with my new "crafting command center" it was much easier to get the task started.

I first started out by designing the card. Being a Martha fanatic I have been influenced by by her style, I designed the card to be on red card stock with a faux bois white and blue background. For those of you who do not know faux bois is translated into false wood.

Every year I try and paint a snowman for our Christmas card, this year is no different. I will post later to show you our last 5 years of Christmas cards. I could not find the type and color of faux bois paper that I wanted so I decided to make it! Have a look...

I picked out card stock in a few shades of blue (for variation between the cards)...


I used a watered down iridescent pearl white paint to cover the entire surface of the paper...



Once covered I used the faux bois tool to achieve the perfect pattern...


Here are a few shots of the finished paper. I LOVE HOW IT CAME OUT!!!


The pearl white paint looks almost silver in this photo...



Here is the card with the faux bois background in place ready for the snowman. I will post that once I have made a bit more progress...


I am not a card maker, but I think that hey came out well.

Gary's Cake...

Tomorrow is the first Friday of every month. The first friday of every month is when I make the birthday cakes for the employees of the CSP who have a birthday in that month. This month the only one there having a birthday will be my friend/co-worker Gary. Gary requested a chocolate cake, this cake is DEATH BY CHOCOLATE. I should give it to them with a gallon of milk to wash it down because it is that type of cake. Have a look....

I first defrosted the cake, which I baked last week, and then brushed it with an almond syrup to ensure that it is moist.


I then made a chocolate ganache, I whipped up 1/2 of the ganache which made a fluffy filling and layer all over the cake.


The fluffy chocolate ganache cake then had to be chilled for about 1/2 an hour. After that it was drizzled with the other 1/2 of the un-whipped chocolate ganache...


A steady stream of chocolate!


I did this three times chilling for about 1/2 and hour in between drizzlings. I reused the chocolate that I captured on the parchment paper and tray underneath.


After I was happy with the ganache coverage I made chocolate shavings by melting chocolate, spreading it on a baking sheet, letting it cool and then scraping it up with a spatula in long strokes to make the curls.


This cake really is death by chocolate!


I finished the cake with a hand made label and signature Martha blue silk ribbon...


Here is the cake ready to be delivered tomorrow morning.


And as any proud parent would boast about I AM SO EXCITED that Lucy has learned to "Sit Pretty" she is so good at it. She just learned it yesterday and she has perfected it! SHE IS SOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!

Ugly Betty or Pre-Op (Bypass) Carnie Wilson?? You Decide...

Haha that title is ridiculous and if you personally knew me you would know that I am ridiculous.

So I did it I made my costume to be Ugly Betty for Halloween. I think the costume came out good, haha but in pics I turned out looking like a pre-op Carnie Wilson. Haha.

I am so sad that I had to shave my goatee off, but it is growing back well. I am glad that Halloween is over, next comes Christmas. I have started to design the layout for our Christmas cards and I will probably start on them this weekend. Anyhow here are pics of me as Carnie Wilson, oh and I am going to include a pic of what I regularly look like so you kids are not traumatized by my rendition of Ugly Betty!

Here I am with Nicole. She is in what I referred to as her "cop out" costume. She was going to take a piece of paper and write "GO CEILING!!" on it because she was a.... wait for it.... wait for it.... a ceiling fan.... So being the Martha/glitter fanatic I am I whipped together this little sign for her.


I personally like my wig like this... those beasts and the Pride center thought that they were some type of Tyra/Project runway consultants and ratted my hair out. This is the before picture and above is what it looked like after they got their grubby filthy mitts on it..


Here is a picture of Brian and I. He didn't know what to wear so I told him just to wear one of my chef's uniforms...


Okay so here is me normal with a sleepy Lucy. I think from now on I need to hire Mariah Carey's retouchers...

Relaxing Weekend...Updated

I had a wonderful and relaxing weekend. Brian and I started it off on the right foot by going to vote, to dinner, and to see a WONDERFUL movie called The Secret Life of Bees I would recommend this movie to everyone. Before the movie started the trailer for Marley & Me was played. Brian and I were crying by the end of the preview. If you are a dog lover watch this movie, or at lease watch the preview and then you will want to watch the movie.


We have had our dog Charlie for over seven years. When I took Charlie in for his last vet appointment they informed me that he is considered a senior, this made both Brian and I so sad. Charlie has been such a bad dog, but he has a wonderful heart and is a loving brother to his little sisters.


I also received the order for the monthly cake that I make for the CSP. I consider it quite the compliment that there was no input or request for type of cake. They trust me enough to know that what I make will be good, I hope that I can live up to their expectations. I asked one of the birthday boys what he would like and he said chocolate cake. To make it easier on myself I baked the cake today and froze it for next Friday. Here are some pictures...

This will be filled with a whipped chocolate ganache and then frosted with chocolate ganache. I think that this cake recipe may become my favorite chocolate cake recipe and used for cupcakes!

Sunday night at our house has become Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters night. I made dinner the past few Sundays and tonight was no different. Last week during Martha Stewart's Cooking School they demonstrated how to cut up a whole chicken. I have always wanted to try this and it is quite economical. It was easy so after I cut up the chicken I decided to make fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans with garlic and shallots.

Mise en place.


Here is my cut up chicken. It was not hard with a sharp knife and a little bit of time, it only took about 5 minutes.


Now this next step is something I learned from Paula Deen. I once saw her marinate her chicken in an entire bottle of hot sauce. I used a combination of hot sauce and buttermilk. 1 part hot sauce to 3 parts buttermilk. UPDATED PORTION OF POST! The hot sauce does not make the chicken spicy it just gives it the flavor of the sauce. I have made fried chicken like this for a while and have had nothing but rave reviews...


I cover the chicken with the mixture and then refrigerate for a few hours up to over night.


You have to make sure your oil is hot enough to cook the chicken (360˚F - 375˚F).


While I was in culinary school one piece of advise my chef instructor told me was flour does not come seasoned, so you have to season your flour. I use LOTS of pepper, garlic powder or salt, and salt.


I like to double bread my chicken, once out of the buttermilk mixture I dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour.


Then into egg...


Then back into flour...

Look at my hand! No wonder they say keep one hand clean to answer the door or phone.

The chicken has to fry for about 18 minutes or until it has a nice brown mahogany color...


Here is my peppery battered chicken...


Here is dinner with sides...


Mashed potatoes with sour cream and a river of butter...


Green beans which I blanched for a minute, then shocked in ice water, then sauteed with shallots, olive oil, a bit of butter, garlic, and salt and pepper...


Here is Lucy with her new Christmas shirt, she is waiting for me to drop a crumb...