Flat Turkey

My Stepson's wedding was Thanksgiving weekend, so we did a very simple Thanksgiving on Wednesday night. I didn't start cooking until about 4 and we ate at 7.

I spatchcocked our turkey, which means you cut out the backbone and break the breastbone so the turkey lays flat. Our 12 lb turkey cooked in 70 minutes! I know y'all have probably moved on and are getting ready for Christmas, but since it's all fairly non-traditional, this meal would be perfect for Christmas as well.

Menu:
High Roast Butterflied Turkey
Savory Butternut Squash Dressing
Mrs. Hoggle's Stuffed Cranberry Sauce
Roasted Brussels Sprouts (no recipe--just halve sprouts and toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and roast at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes and top with toasted almonds)
Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie

The Number Four

Two of my bloggy buddies, Wep and Heather, tagged me with this meme. I'm very slow with memes and awards, so don't be surprised if you tag me and it's been days and no response from me. I am just not a "deadline" sort of girl, m'kay?? I thought about adding some pictures to this post to make it lovely, but that would take me another few days.

4 things I did today:
1. Went to church--late--very, very late. But hey, I went! I love our church! If you are looking for a church that is not too formal, yet still very scripture-based, I urge you to visit Vineyard USA and see if there is a Vineyard Church in your community.
2. Booked a room for a resort in Wisconsin Dells next week! What could be more fun than an indoor waterpark in the fall? Although, I'm not looking forward to people's screams when my pasty-white thunder thighs enter the building...
3. Told my husband I thought he was the greatest for going over to mow the neighbor's lawn. The neighbor broke his leg two weeks ago and is still hopping around in a cast. Hubby had to mow our lawn today and decided to mow the neighbor's as well. What a sweet guy, huh?
4. Made an amazing cucumber salad for dinner. I can't take full credit--hubby suggested adding a few more ingredients other than just the cukes and onions. I cut large chunks of 2 cucumbers, 1 large tomato, 1 med onion, and 1/2 green pepper, poured a TON of pickling salt over it (1/3 cup), covered it with water and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. This crisps the cucumbers and takes the bite out of the onions (my Grammie Ella taught me this trick).
Dump out the salted water and lightly rinse the cucumbers and drain again. Then dump in 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup half & half, a 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar (I use splenda) and 4 ounces of feta cheese crumbles. Oh, how I loves me some feta cheese!!! Then add pepper to taste and mix. If it is too sharp from the vinegar, try adding a little more sugar, 1/4 teaspoon at a time. If it's too sweet, add more vinegar in tablespoon increments.

4 things on my to do list:
1. Make Tomato Preserves. The tomatoes in my CSA box were not very good, so I needed to do something with them. In fact, not much from my CSA was good this year. I will be finding a new farm next year. Preferably one that gives you vegetables instead of greens all year long. blech. By the way, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. You pay up front to buy a share of a local farm and each week you get a box of vegetables (or greens and corn in my case). To find a CSA near you for next year, check Local Harvest
2. Puree and freeze the pumpkin I roasted last night and roast the pumpkin seeds. Yummmm!!
3. Begin packing for our trip! The midget and I get to travel with her Daddy this week! Hubby has a work trip in Southern IL, so that gets us half-way to Oklahoma City, where my brother and his family live. His midget is six months older than mine, so we're taking them to get their pictures done together! I'm so excited! Then after we spend Sat-Mon there, we are headed to the Wisconsin Dells area! WA-HOOO!
4. Start and finish a sewing project for my niece. Hopefully, I'll finish before we leave on Thursday so I can bring it with instead of mailing it later. I don't have high hopes for this...

4 of my guiltiest pleasures
1. True Blood on HBO. This is a terrible show filled with vampires and lots of s-e-x. I can't believe I like watching such garbage! Maybe the vampires have mesmerized me and that's why I like it. Yeah, that's the ticket! I'm pretty sure I might go to h-e-double-hockey-sticks for watching it.
2. Swedish Fish. These are, hands down, my favorite candy of all time! If I could only pick one kind of candy to eat for the rest of my life, it would be Swedish Fish! I.....love....them....
3. Dancing at clubs. I love to shake my non-existent booty like a mad-woman! The year before I got pregnant, I spent a lot of time in clubs with work friends. Who cares if my belly jiggles and I look like a dork?? It's so fun, I could care less!! If only my husband loved to dance, he'd be the perfect man. But then everyone would want him and I'd have to spend all my time fighting off the adoring women instead of only half the time now.
4. Facebook. Let's just say I spend way too much time on there for my own good. But how fun is it reconnecting with old friends?

4 random facts about me
1. I was voted class clown in high school. Surprising, eh?
2. I drank coffee only occasionally until I got pregnant. Then it was a requirement every day. I had a hard time staying within my 8 oz of caffeine a day because I was SOOOO tired. Now I drink two cups a day. Two very,very large cups.
3. I still have the same email address I had when I first hopped on the internet twelve years ago. I don't plan on ever changing it. EVAH! In fact, I hate it when people switch emails frequently. It drives me bonkers trying to keep up with that!
4. I rarely get involved in anything that I'm not running in a few months. I guess I'm bossy, I'm the bi**h you all love to hate (bonus points for anyone that can name that artist).

4 bloggers I'm tagging
I'm tagging some new bloggy friends I've met recently!
Theresa R
Christian
Bridget
Coco

Crispy Kale

I think I've received a bunch of kale every week in my CSA box and I must say, it gets difficult to find ways to cook it after the eleventy-millionth time! Mommaof4wife2r, who blogs at A Thorn Among Roses agreed when she read my Asian Sauteed Kale recipe (oh noes, I forgot she gave me awards and I never posted about it), that it is hard to find ways to cook Kale.

My CSA newsletter had a recipe called Crispy Kale that looked intriguing. Kale getting crispy? It sounded a bit odd, so I thought I'd try it. But when I went to cook it, I realized I had thrown the newsletter away! Thankfully, I found this recipe when I googled crispy baked kale.

I promised Momma that I'd post the recipe if it was good, and you can probably guess that since there is a post, it was good! It was crispy and crumbly and the taste was unique. The midget had a little bit of trouble chewing this at first, but by the end of the meal, she was gobbling it down. I'd highly recommend you try this, as kale is PACKED with nutrition!

By the way, it is very easy to de-stem kale. I spent a bunch of time cutting out the stems before it dawned on me to just hold the stem in one hand and strip off the leaves with the other! Ziiiiip!













Crispy Baked Kale
measurements really aren't necessary for this recipe, but I will post them for you type A's who won't consider making a recipe without measurements

6-8 cups chopped fresh kale leaves
2 T olive oil
1 t apple cider vinegar
1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place a rack on the lowest setting in your oven. Spread kale out on cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and vinegar and sprinkle with salt. Toss to coat and spread out on cookie sheet.

Bake in oven for 10 minutes and check. Mine was done in 10 minutes, but you may need to stir and return to the oven until Kale is crispy, another 5-10 minutes, based on the original recipe.

Asian Sauteed Kale

Asian Sauteed Kale

1 T olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 bunches Kale, stems removed and washed thoroughly, about six cups
1/2 inch section fresh ginger with some flesh exposed
2 T soy sauce
1 c chicken stock
toasted sesame oil, optional

In a large pan with high sides, heat oil over medium-high heat. Sautee the onions until they begin to brown lightly and add garlic. Stir in the kale and fry for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the Kale begins to wilt. Cover for 2-3 minutes. Uncover and dump in soy sauce, stock, and ginger piece. Cover and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes or until Kale is tender and dark green. Remove from heat, remove ginger piece and drizzle with optional toasted sesame oil.

Greek Style Stuffed Peppers & Minted Cucumber Salad

Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY!!

Here are my HappyToBe@Home Day 1 dinner recipes. They will be posting about my kitchen beginning on Sunday. Be sure to catch me there!

Once a month, I buy 7-10 pounds of ground beef and brown it with onions, salt, pepper, and garlic. Then I freeze in 1 lb. portions. That is what I used for this recipe. I got my inspiration for the peppers from here and here. For the cucumbers, I took inspiration from basic tzatsiki sauce.













Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers

2 large Bell Peppers, halved, seeded, and membranes removed
1 lb lean ground beef, browned (or 1 1/2 lb raw ground beef)
1/4 c bulghur wheat, pre-soaked in 1/2 c boiling water for 1 hour
10 oz frozen chopped spinach thawed and water squeezed out
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 T fresh mint, chopped (or 1/2 t dried)
1 t dried oregano (or 2 T fresh)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 pint stewed tomatoes (or one 15 oz can)
crumbled feta cheese, to taste

Arrange peppers, cut side up, in a microwave AND oven-safe dish (I used pyrex).

Mix the ground beef, wheat, spinach, onion, egg, and spices in a separate bowl (you do not need to brown the ground beef if you are using raw, you will just increase your cooking time slightly).

Pile the stuffing inside the peppers (it's okay if some falls out), top with some canned tomato chunks and pour juice from tomatoes around the peppers. The juice will help cook the peppers. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 8-10 minutes for pre-cooked beef or 10-12 minutes for raw beef.

Remove plastic wrap carefully (watch for steam) and crumble feta on top of peppers. Place under broiler until feta browns slightly.


Minted Cucumber Salad

3 cucumbers, peeled and sliced into half moons
1 T salt
2 scallions, minced finely
2 T white wine vinegar
2 T olive oil
1 c plain yogurt, greek-style is the best!
1/2 t ground cumin
1/4 t turmeric
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 t black pepper

Place sliced cucumbers into a dish and cover with cold water and salt. Stir and let soak while preparing the yogurt sauce.

In your serving bowl, combine the remainder of ingredients.

Drain cucumbers thoroughly and do NOT rinse. Add to yogurt sauce and toss gently.