Happy Thanksgiving

Turkey Noodle Soup














Excuse the dark photo. The shadow is me hovering over my bowl. We enjoyed this comforting food last night, after picking up DD#2 from the airport. She's home after being away for thirteen weeks in Italy where she studied art, painting, drawing, and photography.

Recipe to follow. Yes, those are whole wheat spiral noodles :)

Collards


2 lbs, washed and cut

Place greens in large (8qt) stock pot with 1/2 Cup water. Drizzle with 2 tsp safflower oil, salt, and pepper. Cook on high heat, stirring often and adding water as needed, for about one hour.




Seasoning greens is highly controversial in the South....some cooks add sugar, some bacon grease, and some like 'em plain. Suffice it to say, I like mine with some seasoning....I'm still experimenting with which ones, so you'll have to email me privately, if you need further instructions :)


In the case of greens, I like mine well done, which means they pass their bright green stage and get darker and softer. There should not be a lot of water in the end, less than the 1/2 cup started out with. It should be full of nutrients and is often drunk by true Southerners. It's name it *pot liquer* Oh, and don't forget the pepper sauce!

Cornbread Dressing
















4 Cups Biscuit crumbs
4 Cups Cornbread crumbs
1 very large onion, finely chopped
1 bunch celery, (8stalks)finely chopped
5 Cups turkey broth
1/3 Cup butter
1 Cup milk
Salt and pepper



In a very large bowl combine crumbs, onion, celery, and seasonings. Combine liquid ingredients (and butter). Heat in microwave until butter melts. Pour over dry ingredients. Stir mixture. It should be soupy. If not, add more broth. Pour into an buttered, oblong casserole dish (3qt) and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Maybe longer until well browned and *set*.

The secret to this recipe is to have all the ingredients on hand. That means that there should be in one's freezer several large bags labeled: biscuit crumbs, cornbread crumbs, and chicken or turkey stock.

Finished product ~

Cranberry Sauce




16 oz fresh cranberries, washed

1 Cup honey

1 Cup orange juice






In a medium-sized (1.5 qt) saucepan, combine the three ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Scoop off foam. Reduce heat after all the berries have *popped*. Cook five more minutes. Cool before serving. Stores well in covered container. Freezes well also.

Cranberry sauce is probably my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. Amy over at Humble Musings cracks me up when she talks about cranberry sauce.

This recipe is too easy not to use :)

Edit: This particular batch was made with raw, unfiltered honey which accounts for the dark red color. If one were to use a light, clover honey, the color would be brighter :)

Cranberry Sauce - older photo

Thanksgiving Menu

Roasted Turkey (see below as well as 11/19/05 entry)
Cornbread Dressing
Cranberry Sauce
Turkey Gravy
Sweet Potato Souffle
Cauliflower
Pole Beans
Collards
Pearl Onions 'N Mushrooms

Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie

Tea/Coffee/Wine/Water

Don't mean to rush anyone with their dinner plans, but it's time to prepare the grocery list. Writing out the menu helps me organize. Over the course of the next week, I'll be posting recipes. Hope y'all will share your menus.

Addition:
Basics of Slow Roast method of cooking large cuts of meat.
See Adele Davis's book, Let's Cook It Right, for explicit instructions. The key to the oven temp setting AFTER the initial hour at 300 degrees is based on the desired internal temperature of the meat when it is completely cooked.

Prepare meat/turkey by rinsing, removing innards, sprinkling desired seasonings, and/or rubbing with oil. (FYI-I don't season mine.) Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place bird, breast-side down, on a rack in a large roasting pan. Roast turkey one hour at 300 degrees. Then turn oven temperature down to 190 degrees. Do not open the oven door! Roast turkey one hour per pound of weight. Remove from the oven at the end of the hours of cooking and the meat should just fall off the bone. I wear yellow kitchen gloves when I pull the meat off in chunks and arrange the legs, wings, breast, etc on the family platter in preparation for buffet-style serving.

And, yes, I have roasted a 24 lber this way!

Unique?

HowManyOfMe.com

There is: 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Found over at Laura's

Busy














I was at a standstill for a while when Quickbooks wouldnt load over the weekend. Thankfully it was just outdated and no data was lost or corrupted. The software update/installation went smoothly....and I did it all by myself! :) Cyber-buddy Carol's computer illness has prompted me to examine our back-up programs and make sure we're ready for the unexpected.

Do you know where you back-up disks are and have you ever tested them to see if they actually work?

Pole Beans

4 lbs, washed, steamed, and *strung* Steam in pressure cooker with 1 C water. When the top of the pressure cooker starts to jiggle, turn off the heat. Cool cooker under stream of cold water to stop the cooking process. Transfer to serving dish. These beans should retain their bright green coloring.

Cauliflower


3 large heads Break apart, discarding stem and leaves. Wash and trim into bite-sized flowerettes. Arrange in pyrex dish. Cover tightly with saran. Steam in the microwave on high in 5 min increments. It may take two sessions for this large quantity. Saran should puff into a *hot-air balloon* shape while the microwave is running. When it stops, the saran will sink down, creating a seal or suctioned-down effect over veggies. Release the saran to keep the veggies from becoming flattened :) I start cooking the cauliflower when I tell everyone it's time to wash their hands. It takes about ten minutes for a crowd to get to the serving line, which is just enough time for the cauliflower to be cooked and served steamingly hot.

Election Day Prayer

Father, I desire to vote intelligently in all elections. I pray that You will bring to light the things I need to know so I may vote in line with Your plan, will and purpose.

May things not only come to light for the Christian community, but may things be made clear to the unbelieving community as well. I pray that what is right would be so clear that even unbelievers would vote using wisdom and demanding honesty and uprightness from their politicians.

Dear Father, in the name of Jesus, may the citizens of our nation become so weary of sin and degradation in our nation's leaders that they will seek out godly leaders to represent them on every level of government. Give such leaders favor with the public and the media.

Father, make our nation a fragrance in the earth, a force to be reckoned with, and a hand extended to those in need.

AMEN.

Borrowed from a booklet entitled Pray for our Nation published by Harrison House. See their website.

Testimony

Today I heard the sweet, sincere testimony of a middle-aged women who was baptised for the first time and joined our church. The verse that *spoke* to her was Romans 10:9

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

She'd heard the gospel before, she said, since her father was a Baptist minister, and she'd bowed her head and *said the prayer* when she a teen, but at this time in her life, the hearing of the Word was different. And she knew she had to talk about it. She knew she had to open her mouth and be accountable.

That, dear readers, is faith in action. Praise the Lord!

Fall 1976














Can you find me in the photo?