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Sunday, November 16, 2025

Menu Plan: November 16 - 22

Our early Thanksgiving is this weekend, and I am super excited, but also a bit stressed about it. I have made this meal every year except for one in 29 years, but somehow making it a few days earlier is throwing me off a bit. I'm even having our guests bring most of the side dishes. We will have it and enjoy it.

This week, Jerome gets to eat soft food with chewing! I am so excited. He still can't eat crunchy foods yet, but is looking forward to eating more normally. I'm giving up my control on the meal and all the salads and vegetable side dishes are being handled by our guests. They are bringing the hors-d'oeuvres and sparkling cider, too. Someone may be making a gluten-free dessert, as well. This year's new pie experiment is the maple sugar pie. We really loved the pear mincemeat pies last year, but I'm not sure if I can get decent pears right now. I will have to think ahead a bit next year so we can have it again.

We are all looking forward to seeing our family this weekend. Dominic and Shawn are coming with Winifred, Alexander and Autumn will be here with their girls, and we will have some family friends and church family over to share in our feast. Winnie just started smiling, and we are thrilled to see her do it in person!

Our church family is really taking care of so much for us Sunday evenings, and will be doing all of it while I am gone so Rich can only worry about the kids and the service. This trip is the longest I have ever been away from Rich since we've been married, and this is the longest I've ever been away from the kids. I'm super excited for the things I will see and experience, but a little sad that they will be missing out on my adventures. I will take plenty of photos, but they aren't exactly the same. Please pray for them while they try to manage everything without me - especially for Rich!

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will try to follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 9:40 AM 0 comments

Sunday, November 24, 2024

Menu Plan: Christ the King and Thanksgiving Week!

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessed feast! Today we remember that Christ is King as the Church year ends. It is a Western, relatively new (instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925), feast that we love. Even the older liturgical calendars emphasize His kingship on this day, so it is really a celebration of what was already remembered. In our world today, that is more important than ever.

This is what Pope Pius XI had to say about its importance:

“If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by his precious blood, are by a new right subjected to his dominion; if this power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire. He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God.”

Pious tradition in the Catholic and Anglican worlds is to start preparations for your Christmas cake or pudding, too. Because the collect begins with "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord," and continues with "that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded," it serves both as a spiritual reminder and a fun one for Christmas preparations. We are plenteously rewarded when Christmas Day comes and our cake or pudding is ready. The fruits will be stirred up - we soak them in bourbon - and the cake itself will be mixed up and baked by the end of the week.

Advent in the West begins later than it does for the East. It is more a Saint Andrew's fast than a Saint Philip's fast. This year, it is even shorter because the Nativity is on a Wednesday, so the fourth Sunday of Advent is the day before Christmas Adam. Again, it is a grace from God that it is shorter. We have had so many challenges, so beginning the fasting season more easily, and with a shorter fast is a blessing. The Advent fast is a little lighter until the last week and a half of it, we are still permitted fish, wine and oil on most days, and we, as a family will be having dairy on the weekends to accomodate others and permit some shared hospitality with a culture that doesn't really observe any spiritual preparation or penitence before the Nativity.

Our meals this week are about clearing our fridge and making room in our freezers. The folks at church have graciously responded to my plea that they take over the meal today, so I can focus on Thanksgiving preparations and some preserving to make that room in our freezers. Because of our situation with church, we do not keep the fast as completely on Sundays, and so there will not only be fish on those days, but possibly meat. We will use the turkey carcass from this year to make a soup of our Thanksgiving leftovers next Sunday and that will wrap up Thanksgiving.

This is the first year in a long time that I have ceded some of my control over all of the Thanksgiving meal, and then two of the families that normally come won't be with us. However, we will have other families and friends, and that is exciting. So, our menu plan only reflects what I am making or know for sure is being brought by others. There will be more! For one more year, we will have all our kids around our table, which makes me rejoice. I know that will not always be the case.

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 7:17 AM 0 comments

Sunday, November 19, 2023

Menu Plan: Thanksgiving Week

Today is the preview of the good will of God,
Of the preaching of the salvation of mankind.
The Virgin appears in the temple of God,
In anticipation proclaiming Christ to all.
Let us rejoice and sing to her: Rejoice,
O Divine Fulfillment of the Creator's dispensation.

The most pure Temple of the Savior;
The precious Chamber and Virgin;
The sacred Treasure of the glory of God,
Is presented today to the house of the Lord.
She brings with her the grace of the Spirit,
Therefore, the angels of God praise her:
"Truly this woman is the abode of heaven."

Thanksgiving is almost here, and we are hustling! There is so much to do, and we have had other deadlines going on in the background.

Mostly our meals this week have had to do with making room in our fridge and freezers. It is going to be a big gathering this year, and there will be tons of food. Because of Thanksgiving, most jurisdictions give a special dispensation not to keep the fast over this weekend. Since Advent doesn't begin in the West for two weeks, we also have more time to eat up pies!

Dominic is going to be home for Thanksgiving, and he is bringing his fiancée with him. We all knew and expected that he would ask her to marry him, but a little over a month ago, he talked to us about it, and a couple weeks ago, he asked her. We are so excited to be welcoming another daughter into our family. We have so much to be thankful for, not least of which is the bounty we have to share with others. I pray that you will see God's goodness in your life and praise Him.

There are many feasts this week, including the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, and Yasmina's name saint, Saint Catherine. We are blessed by our brothers and sisters who have gone before us to pray for us and the world. Where would we be without them? Glory to God in His saints!

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 10:43 AM 0 comments

Sunday, November 20, 2022

Menu Plan: Christ the King and Thanksgiving Week!

Blessed feast! Today we remember that Christ is King as the Church year ends. It is another Western, relatively new, feast that we love. Even the older liturgical calendars emphasize His kingship on this day, so it is really a celebration of what was already remembered. It turns out this is the day to make your Christmas cake or pudding, too. Because the collect begins with "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord," and continues with "that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded," it serves both as a spiritual reminder and a fun one for Christmas preparations. They are plenteously rewarded when Christmas Day comes and their cake or pudding is ready. So, I have three pounds of dried fruit and candied orange peel soaking in brandy to make our cake Tuesday.

This past week we realized that we needed to do more garbage management, to clear our fridge and use what we had to make room for all the Thanksgiving dishes. So, some meals planned last week were moved to after Advent, and we made other things to eat. We did make the pasta Trapanese, and it was so delicious! It will definitely be making its way into our Advent menus; probably more than once.

Jerome is almost to trying gluten and wheat, and we are excited that by the first week of January, it looks like he will have almost all the foods back that he has been without for nearly two years. Our list of no-nos is short: Lima beans and bananas. We are praying that gluten/wheat goes well, because he misses real bread and pastries.

Our Thanksgiving includes Amelia, Alexander and Autumn's neighbor, a couple from our church, and a family we love who are traveling to visit us. This means 22 pies this year, but I think I will make some of them on the mini-scale in ramekins. The hors-d'ouevres and bread stuffing are coming with guests, as well as Martinelli's. I'm not sure what else will be coming. The recipes from last week and this week will probably be shared next week. We are a bit more lax about the Advent fast over Thanksgiving, both as a special dispensation here in the US, and as an accommodation to our friends and family who are not keeping the fast with us. So next week will start with a non-fasting day, then move into the fast. Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 1:45 PM 0 comments

Monday, November 22, 2021

Menu Plan: Thanksgiving Week

Please accept my apologies for my multiple week absence. Dominic came home from work with some serious illness and, while I had it easier than everyone else at first, my arrogance caught me, and they all got better and I got far, far worse. The silver lining is that I have lost about 20 pounds. I wouldn't recommend this method of weight loss, however. Please pray for my continual healing, and that we are spared serious illness through the rest of the winter.

Because I am still a little weak and get tired easily, we are cutting back a little on our Thanksgiving feast. Other people are bringing things and I have dropped about three or four things that we normally would have. Rich and the kids are doing the bulk of the cleaning and cooking, with my direction. A friend from my Bible study group offered to help cook some of it, too. We are blessed. We are making as many of the dishes safe for Jerome as we can, and a few with alternatives for him, but he is going to have to miss some of the feast. Also, Jerome gets to have eggs like a normal human being now, as he had no ill effects from reintroducing it over the past month, and he gets to start having chocolate introduced, which means he can have chocolate in his Saint Nicholas stocking! Glory to God!

It is also Nutcracker this weekend, so pray that my strength holds up for that. I help the girls with steaming their costumes and doing their makeup, and I usually end up sick on performance weekends. I am seeking assistance this time

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 6:43 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Recipe Round Up: Cranberry Horseradish Relish

I'm posting this a little early, so you have a chance to make it for your Thanksgiving tomorrow, if you wish. This is the erroneously named Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish, a little modified. This was not actually her recipe, but the one she used. It was Craig Claiburne's recipe, I believe. This is Pepto Bismol pink, Barbie pink, and it is delicious. You could cut this recipe in half, but I wouldn't. If you have leftovers, freeze them again, and pull them out to eat with your Christmas roast beef.

Cranberry Horseradish Relish

2 cups whole raw cranberries, washed and sorted, leaves removed
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup horseradish from a jar (you may use less, but not less than 2 tablespoons)

Grind the raw berries, onion and sugar together. I pulse them in my food processor. Add everything else and mix well. Do not add salt to it. I was tempted to do so one year, and it was awful. Put in a freezer container and freeze. Early Thanksgiving morning, move it from freezer to refrigerator compartment to thaw. It should still have little slivers of ice in it when you serve. Makes 1-1/2 pints.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 12:44 PM 0 comments

Sunday, November 22, 2020

Menu Plan: Thanksgiving Week!

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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and it is basically all that saves November from being the worst month of the year for me. January has that distinction now, because it is still winter, after the excitement of Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, and it is miserably cold and dark, with nothing fun or interesting to distract us. Rich and I have come up with a modified hibernation plan for humans: We sleep from November 1 to the Friday before Thanksgiving, do Thanksgiving and all of that, and stay awake through Saint Nicholas Day, then go back to sleep through the fourth Sunday of Advent, stay awake through Theophany, go back to sleep through February 13, stay awake for a couple days, then go back to sleep until Holy Week. Then we can be awake with a fair hope that we will not be entirely frozen.

My Thanksgiving dinner is pretty much the same from year to year. We sometimes skip part of it, or add something, but it is basically the same. I try to include foods from the Americas in it. So, we have turkey, potatoes, corn, peppers, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, pecans, cranberries, chocolate, bourbon, but I realized that we didn't have maple syrup included, so I am trying to find a way to incorporate that.

We still haven't found any fresh pressed cider to make apple cider doughnuts. This may not happen this year. However, we are getting ready to do our crazy pie per person for Thanksgiving, even if it is smaller this year.


What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday. Linking to Menu Plan Monday

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 12:31 PM 0 comments

Monday, November 23, 2015

Menu Plan: Thanksgiving Week


We are not having any school this week, with the exception of Alexander who has two days of it at the college, so all we are doing is preparing for Thanksgiving. This year, we are sort of hosting. We are doing most of the cooking, and our friends are providing a house that is both larger and cleaner than ours. Another family, and perhaps another friend, will be joining us there. One nice thing about this is that I am not in a frenzy of house cleaning. Also, the other families are providing the hors-d'ouevres, some of the side dishes, and the drinks. And, they are taking care of the dishes! One family was asking what to bring and I suggested that if they preferred a sweeter cranberry sauce to my sharp/spicy relish, that they could bring that, but I don't know if they will. I also don't know if anyone has decided to make dressing/stuffing yet, so it's not on our menu plan. I decided to drop those, since they are the least favorite Thanksgiving dishes of our family. Everyone likes them, but not as much as they like the other things, so we always have quite a bit of it left over. Rich asked if I was interested in still making the wild rice dressing, but as it required my buying wild rice at a somewhat expensive price for something that might leave us with more leftovers than not, I decided against it. If I find some wild rice in the house, I might make a small amount for him this weekend, since he really does like it. I figure the mashed potatoes and turnips will provide enough of a starchy base for our casserole with what we have left over of those, and if not, I'll make some plain rice to add to the mix. I'm cheating a little with my one pie per person ratio this year. I'm making about 13 mini pies for most of the kids to meet the head count. That still means 11 full or larger size pies. And the kids will be able to have slices of the other pies, too, but this way, I won't break my record. It will be 24 pies plus Alexander's gingerbread and our friend's ice cream, so that's 26 desserts for 23 - 24 people. I can live with that.

Yasmina's name day is this week, but I'm not sure how we will mark it. Rich wants to make it to the Thanksgiving mass at church this week, but that is also still up in the air, as it depends on how much we have accomplished in the kitchen. Actually, I may suggest that he take some of the younger kids, or all of the kids, so either I can have real help in the kitchen, or no distractions. Anyway, we have a couple repeats this week, but mostly my goal is to cook just enough so we eat it all and don't take up any more space in the fridge than necessary, now that we are down to one fridge. Lunches are all leftovers this week - clear it out!

Below, I include our daily Bible readings which we use to read through the entire Bible each year. We read through all of the Old Testament and New Testament, reading the Psalms and Proverbs twice. Remember that the Psalms are according to eastern numbering in our daily Bible reading, also I Kings is the original designation, it is I Samuel in western Bibles (II Kings is II Samuel in the west, III Kings is I Kings, and IV Kings is II Kings, I Ezra is also called I Esdras in other translations, II Ezra is often translated as Ezra or II Esdras, though this is complicated by it sometimes being I Esdras being Ezra in modern language and II Esdras being Nehemiah, and in that case, there is a III Esdras, it really depends on which translation you read).

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 11:59 PM 0 comments

Monday, November 24, 2014

Menu Plan: Thanksgiving Week


We are well into our preparations for Thanksgiving this year. Rich and I did our drive to the big city to do our grocery shopping and visit exotic places like Trader Joe's. I'm trying to keep most of the other meals pretty simple this week so I can focus on ahead of time prep. We're having only one couple and one family over this year. We also have Nutcracker dress rehearsal and two performances this weekend, which is really making me overwrought. I really hope we don't have this schedule again. Normally, my after Thanksgiving plans are to rest from cooking all week, and my day after Thanksgiving schedule is something like this: Sleep. Eat Pie.

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 3:27 PM 0 comments

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Menu Plan: Thanksgiving Week

Well, Thanksgiving week is upon us and I am excited! I love Thanksgiving and cannot wait to eat all the good food and spend time with our friends and family. I hope you will be able to enjoy Thanksgiving with those you love.

We have a repeat tonight. I was so busy yesterday that I shifted gears on dinner so we moved it to today.

This week is going to be cold. It is cold. Our low temperature forecast for Tuesday keeps dropping. It is -7 now. Our high for Wednesday is now looking like 14. Temperatures are supposed to rise the following week to closer to freezing and above freezing, but this week is frigid. We are working very hard to stay inside as much as possible.What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday (though this may be later this week).

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 6:47 PM 1 comments

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Menu Plan Monday: Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week is upon us, which means that there is a lot of bustle and cooking and cleaning going on here. Meals this week will be either quick to make or cooked in the crock pot and will be short on leftovers, so as not to have too much extra in the refrigerator for Thursday. Most of the recipes are or will be posted on the Thanksgiving menu post. I had a turkey in our freezer from the spring already, but picked up a free one from Fred Meyer on my last trip and bought two 20 pound turkeys from Safeway for $0.27 a pound for other meals. I may pick up another one if I can find another $20.00 to spend there. They had a deal where if your total bill was $25.00 or more, including the price of the turkey, you got a turkey at 16.01 pounds or above for $0.27 a pound, 16 pounds or lighter for $0.37 a pound. We like turkey here and it can certainly be used in all the same kinds of things that we normally use chicken for, and $0.27 a pound for meat can't be beat, even if it isn't pastured and has been injected with brine. One day we will be able to raise our own for our meat, but until then, this was a good deal. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, the Church's new year, and with it comes the first fast of the year. Our menus will reflect a bit more simplicity and abstinence. This has been a rough year, but we still have much for which to be thankful. We are in a new area which is a great place for children, which is fecund and abundant in good foods that are easily grown and readily available. I am thankful for my husband who loves without measure. He always puts our needs and desires before his own. I am thankful for a little more knitting time and for my new ballet class. Also, I am thankful that all of our family is doing well in the climate here, Dominic's eczema is almost gone, though it seems counter intuitive that such a dry place would help his dry, scaly skin. All of our health seems to be improved in the dry weather, though our skin needs lots more moisture here than it did in the damp of the west side. I am thankful for our well insulated house that barely lets any cold in, even on 20 degree mornings with the wind howling through the trees. I'm thankful for our little plot of land with its trees, in the midst of all the scrub brush and fields, and for a chance to try our hands at a small part of farm life. What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. Starred recipes will follow separately. Here is the list of foods from the freezer, fridge and pantry that I'm using this week. Anything from the freezer, pantry or fridge that was not bought specifically for this meal or this past week will be included in my lists. Freezer: Corned Beef Ground Pork Mixed Peppers Frozen Roasted Corn Turkey Fridge: Eggs Butter Milk (& Cream from the Top) Buttermilk Feta Cheddar Carrots Lemons Leftover Taco Soup (thrown into the breakfast skillet) Pantry: All Herbs & Spices Salts Potatoes Onions Garlic Olive Oil Wild Rice Basmati Rice Sushi Rice Hard White Wheat Berries Soft White Wheat Berries Corn Meal Rolled Oats Pastry Flour White Bread Flour Yeast Baking Powder Baking Soda Fetuccini Coffee Tea Vanilla Extract All Sugars Honey Molasses Mustard Pine Nuts Walnuts Pecans Chocolate Chips Dried Cherries Apples Bourbon Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 5:18 PM 5 comments

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Thanksgiving Menu and Recipes

Thanksgiving is my favorite non-Church holiday. We usually have a big brunch on Thanksgiving, then have to feed the children lunch anyway and get sidetracked dealing with that in the middle of all the cooking for dinner. So, this year, we are actually planning for lunch! Can you imagine?

I will be linking to or posting the recipes for most of these in the next week, so please keep checking back.

Breakfast:

Pepper & Sausage Brunch Strata
Satsumas
Steamers
Coffee
Tea

Lunch:

Cream of Onion Soup
Caesar Salad made by my MIL

Relish Tray:

Mixed Olives
Hot Italian Giardinera
Pickled Sweet Hot Peppers
Bread and Butter Pickles
Dill Pickles
Cheese
Crackers
Chex Mix
Deviled Eggs from my MIL


Dinner:

Herb Roasted Turkey
Bourbon Gravy (I'm making extra turkey stock from roasted turkey legs this weekend for the gravy and dressing)
Wild Rice Dressing
Bread & Cornbread Dressing
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Horseradish Relish made by our children's godparents
Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Pecans
Sweet Potato Rolls
Corn & Pepper Pudding

Martinelli's
Wine of various sorts
Mexican Coca Cola in glass bottles made with real sugar that you can get at Cash and Carry
We're not serving it this year, but this Eggnog is the best we've ever had and all we make now.

Flaky Butter Crust
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Cranberry Cherry Pie
Nantucket Cranberry Pie
Apple Pie
Gingerbread with Sweetened Whipped Vanilla Cream made by Alexander

I have a particular order in which I bake the pies. The pumpkin and cranberry cherry pies get baked first, as they require the highest oven temperature, then the Nantucket cranberry pies and apple pies, then the chocolate pecan pies. Alexander makes his gingerbread in the morning on Thanksgiving while we are doing other prep work.


Leftovers:

Turkey Sandwiches with Chipotle Mayonnaise and/or Celery Seed Dressing
Turkey Tetrazzini
Leftover Casserole
After Thanksgiving Soup



Pepper & Sausage Brunch Strata

Start preparing this at least a day before you want to serve it. I get the bread ready the morning before I make it and put it together the night before, then bake first thing in the morning. This is a good way to feed a lot of people. I make a pan that is 11" X 15" to feed everyone.

1 loaf bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and left out to dry
1 pound bulk breakfast sausage (see my recipe for making your own)
1 very large red onion, peeled and diced
1 pound mixed peppers, sliced (or a bag of frozen mixed sliced peppers)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
12 eggs
2 cups rich, whole milk
freshly ground pepper
hot sauce to serve

Grease baking pan and put bread cubes in it.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, cook and crumble the sausage until it is starting to brown and the fat renders. Add onions and cook until the onions are translucent, add peppers and garlic and cook until peppers are soft.

Layer the vegetables and sausage over the bread cubes. Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese.

Whisk together eggs, milk and ground pepper until completely blended and pour carefully over the bread and vegetables. Press down with a spatula or wooden spoon to make sure all the bread is soaked. Cover with foil and refrigerate until the morning.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake, covered for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes to brown a little. Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then cut and serve with hot sauce of your choice.



Cream of Onion Soup

1/2 cup unsalted butter
6 medium onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
8 cups of whole milk
1/2 cup dry sherry (optional)
chives (optional)

In a large saucepan, cook the onions in butter over medium low heat, until they are very limp and soft, but not brown. Add flour and stir to combine and brown the flour very slightly, 3-5 minutes. Stir in thyme, mustard, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Slowly add milk, making a thinner and thinner paste as you stir constantly to combine all the milk with the onion mixture. Stir well, add sherry and cover and cook another 10-15 minutes over lowest possible heat. Stir it from the bottom every few minutes. It will become thick and creamy. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Garnish with snipped chives if desired.


Herb Roasted Turkey

I like to dry brine my turkey ahead of time and keep it in the roasting pan in the fridge (or cooler, with cooler packs around it), so it is perfectly seasoned by the time I roast it. For a turkey that is 20 pounds or under, I do this three to five days ahead of time. For one that is over 20 pounds, it is best to do it four to six days ahead of time, but any time earlier than the day of roasting will improve it. Rather than give the recipe for a specific weight, I will give a ratio and a range of times. I like to roast my bird unstuffed, for more even cooking, which also means it takes less time in the oven.

1 turkey
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly minced herbs (I use a mixture of sage, rosemary, summer savory, and thyme) for every 5 pounds of turkey
1 tablespoon kosher salt for every 5 pounds of turkey
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper for every 5 pounds of turkey

1 onion, peeled and quartered
1/2 lemon
1/2 orange
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, thyme or sage

Remove any giblets from the cavity of your bird. Save to make a quick broth from the giblets to use in addition to any drippings or stock you have. Dry the turkey and place in your roasting pan.

Mix salt, herbs, and black pepper well. Rub entire turkey, inside and out, top and bottom, between the leg and body, wing and body, making sure to get the meat where the neck was, too, with seasoning mixture. Using your hand, loosen the skin over the breast and stuff with chopped rosemary, getting as far around the bird as you can, and under the skin of the legs a little, too. If you have extra sprinkle it over the bird. Cover the pan with the lid and place in the fridge for between three and six days, depending on the size of the bird.

On the day of roasting, remove the pan and toss the onion quarters into the cavity of the turkey, sprinkle the entire turkey with the juice from the lemon and orange and put both halves in the cavity as well, stuff the whole sprigs of rosemary, thyme or sage into the cavity. Note, I do not tend to stuff my turkey.

Let turkey rest an hour or so, to bring it closer to room temperature (they cook faster and more uniformly if you do so).

Roast in whatever manner makes you happy. I use a high heat method, putting the rack in the lowest position and placing the turkey in the oven legs first to cook the dark meat faster. For a 20 pound turkey, I will roast at 500 degrees and start checking the meat at one and a half hours. For a 25 pound turkey, I start checking at around two hours. For a 15 pound turkey, I start checking at about an hour, and tend to roast for an hour and a half or an hour and three quarters. When the juices run clear from the thigh and the skin is crisp and browned, it is finished.

Bourbon Gravy

We like gravy. We make a lot of it. We usually make about 12-16 cups of it. This recipe is a ratio and method, you can make as much or as little as you want.

For every cup of liquid you need one tablespoon of fat and one tablespoon of flour. I will list this recipe as though it were for four cups of liquid and let you do the math.

1 cup bourbon (or broth or water)
1/4 cup fat (some combination of turkey fat and butter is what I use)
1/4 cup flour
4 cups hot drippings and deglazing liquid from turkey (if you do not have enough drippings, augment with turkey stock you have made ahead of time or, failing that, chicken stock or broth)
thyme (dried or fresh)
salt
pepper

Remove your turkey from the roasting pan (you cannot use the foil pans to deglaze, so you may lose some of the yummy fond and pan juices if you use one) to a serving platter and loosely tent with foil. Pour out pan juices into a measuring cup, de-fat, reserving enough fat for the gravy.

Place the roasting pan across two burners (either the right side or the left side, not across the front, for instance), and turn the heat to medium. Pour in the bourbon and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the bits of skin and fat and loosen the caramelized juices from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the liquid reduces a bit and you have most of the stuff from the bottom. Pour liquid into the bowl with the pan juices and/or stock.

Place roasting pan back on the heat and pour in turkey fat, with additional butter to make enough fat if necessary, to melt and add flour, stirring constantly. Allow to brown slightly, then very slowly pour in pan drippings, deglazing liquid and any additional stock. You will essentially be making a thinner and thinner paste if you do this slowly enough.

Add thyme to your taste (I use a tablespoon or more for ours) and cook over medium to medium high heat, stirring constantly, until gravy thickens a little less than your liking, it will thicken a little more off the heat. Taste for salt and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour into gravy boats and serve.


Bread & Cornbread Dressing

12 tablespoons butter
3 large onions, finely diced
6 stalks celery, finely sliced
4 cups crumbled cornbread (I make some up the day before)
4 cups cubed stale bread that has been left to get dry (I use a mix of white, whole wheat and rye)
1 bunch parsley, finely minced
1 cup fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
leaves from 6 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
leaves from 6 sprigs of thyme
turkey or chicken broth to moisten lightly
salt and pepper to taste

Melt 1 stick of butter (8 tablespoons) in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and celery and cook until soft. Add cornbread and bread cubes and stir to distribute vegetables and butter evenly. Add 4 remaining tablespoons of butter to the pan, along with the parsley, sage, rosemary ad thyme. Mix well. Moisten with turkey broth until it is the consistency you like and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Put dressing in a buttered casserole dish and bake, covered, at 375 until well heated, about 20 - 25 minutes. Serve.


Garlic Mashed Potatoes

This is another general recipe. I make what looks like enough, keep adding things until they taste right.

at least 1 large potato per person plus about 5 more, if you have small potatoes, double this, scrubbed and peeled and quartered (honestly, I probably use 10 pounds of potatoes each year for this)
at least 1 large head of garlic, cloves separated, peeled and left whole
at least 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
at least 1 pint heavy cream
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
garlic granules (optional, if your garlic isn't strong enough for your liking)

Boil potatoes in salted water until fork tender, about 20-30 minutes, covered. Don't trust a knife, because it will pierce the potato much more easily. In the last 10-15 minutes, toss in the garlic cloves to cook and soften.

Drain potatoes and place pan of potatoes back on heat, at low to medium low, to dry them out a touch and start mashing them. Add the butter and mash that in. If it seems like you need more, add more. Pour in cream, little by little, and mash that in too. Most recipes say to warm the cream first, but I don't. I just keep the potatoes on low heat while I do it.

Taste for salt and season as desired. I add lots of pepper. Some people use white pepper so the color doesn't show, but none of us cares about that. If it doesn't taste garlicky enough for you, add some garlic granules. Taste again. Serve in a warmed bowl with a pat of butter on top.


Corn & Pepper Pudding

I've been tweaking this recipe a little, so if it is different than what you remember, that is why.

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups milk
1 pound corn kernels (I'm using the roasted corn from Trader Joe's)
1 pound mixed peppers, chopped
1/2 cup roasted, peeled green chiles, diced (canned is fine)
6 eggs
2 cups grated cheddar (or a mix of cheddar and pepper jack)
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. While oven is preheating, melt butter in the oven in a 4 quart casserole dish. Pull it out before it browns.

In a large bowl mix remaining ingredients well. Pour into casserole dish and bake 40 to 45 minutes, until just set and starting to brown around the edges.


Flaky Butter Crust

This makes two crusts. It is the best pie crust ever.

2 1/2 cups pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
16 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/3 cup ice cold water (add up to two tablespoons more, one at a time, if necessary)

You can whip this up really fast in the food processor, but since I make it in gigantic quantities for Thanksgiving, I mix it in a huge bowl by hand. Literally. I whisk up the flour, salt and baking powder, then rub in the butter with my fingers.

Mix flour, salt and baking powder either with a whisk or for about 20 seconds in the food processor. Add butter and rub through flour until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with pea sized pieces of butter dispersed through it. Alternatively, pulse 10 times in food processor, if you are making a small batch.

Add water and stir with a wooden spoon to mix (or pour into FP and pulse until mixture comes together) and knead a little with your hands (very lightly) to pull dough together. Add additional water, one tablespoon at a time, if the mixture is not cohesive enough to form a dough when pinched.

On a floured surface, cut dough into two pieces and flatten into 1/2 inch thick discs. Wrap well in plastic and refrigerate at least an hour or up to overnight. Roll out on a lightly floured surface as you normally would.


Pumpkin Pie

This started as my husband's maternal grandmother's recipe. He had already changed it by the time I met him, but we've changed it even more over the years.

1 1/2 cups cooked pumpkin, pureed and strained if necessary, or canned
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (up to 2 teaspoons if you are using standard grocery store spices, we use really strong Vietnamese cinnamon)
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (1 1/2 if you are using pre-ground)
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Combine ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour into prepared pie crust. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until center is set and crust is lightly browned.


Chocolate Pecan Pie

This is basically a candy bar in a crust. I used to use corn syrup in this, but have since found a way to make it with all brown sugar.

2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup bourbon
3 eggs, lightly beaten
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups pecan halves
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Mix all ingredients together and pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for 40-45 minutes or until center is set and crust is lightly browned.


Cranberry Cherry Pie

I picked up this recipe from some ad for canned cherry pie filling. I always wanted to make it with real cherries and not the canned junk, so I finally redid the recipe. We use frozen cherries that we thaw and the juice from them. I often make this with an almond crust, but usually at Thanksgiving, I make it with a standard pastry crust. You will need two crusts for this pie, a lattice crust on top is beautiful, but not necessary.

3 cups frozen cherries, thawed and juice reserved
2 cups cranberries, washed and picked over
1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons tapioca flour (also known as starch, or grind up instant tapioca)
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Mix cherries, cranberries, sugar, corn starch and almond extract. Whisk juice and tapioca together until tapioca dissolves. Mix into cherry cranberry mixture.

Pour into prepared pie crust. Cover with top crust, cut slits to vent crust (or make a lattice crust) and flute edges. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until crust is lightly browned and filling is bubbling and thick.


Apple Pie

This is what I have come up with as our idea of a perfect apple pie: It tastes more like apple than spice, with a clear flavor.

8 large apples (mix sweet and tart, softer cooking apples and those that retain their shape, if you can), peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn starch
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
unsalted butter to top filling
Double pastry crust

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Mix apples, sugar, corn starch, nutmeg and lemon zest in a large bowl. Pour into prepared pie crust and dot with butter. Cover with top crust, seal, flute edges and cut slashes to release steam.

Bake in center of oven for 40-45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly.


Gingerbread

I couldn't find the recipe that we normally use, so cobbled this together from various recipes online. We liked it better than our other recipe. Alexander did everything to do with making it and it was enjoyed by all of us.

1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup warm water
3/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup honey
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup tightly packed brown sugar
3 cups pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
powdered sugar
lightly sweetened cream, flavored with vanilla and whipped to serve

Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly grease a 9 X 13 inch baking pan.

Combine butter, water, molasses, honey and brown sugar in a large bowl and mix well to combine. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk and stir to combine.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Fold into liquid mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in the center of the oven for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until the cake feels finished. Cool, then sift powdered sugar over the top and serve with whipped cream. This is better after a day or two of being wrapped tightly and stored at room temperature.


Celery Seed Dressing & Chipotle Mayonnaise for Turkey Sandwiches

For the Celery Seed Dressing, mix together:

1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cultured buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed
salt and pepper to taste


For the Chipotle Mayonnaise, mix together:

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder or 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced


Turkey Tetrazzini

1 package fettucini
1/2 cup unsalted butter, divided
4 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
3 cups turkey or chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup dry sherry
3 cups chopped turkey
1 cup peas
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan, divided
salt to taste (very little, if at all, as the pasta, broth, cheese, and turkey are all salted)
freshly ground pepper to taste
a little freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (zest lemon and reserve for garnish)
1/2 cup panko or fresh bread crumbs
finely chopped parsley for garnish
reserved lemon zest for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a large casserole. Start a large pot of water, well salted, boiling.

In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 1/4 cup of butter over medium heat and cook celery and onions in it until wilted and just beginning to brown. Whisk in cream cheese quickly, so as not to burn, reducing heat if necessary. Sprinkle flour over mixture and whisk to combine. Cook a couple minutes to start to brown flour. Slowly whisk in broth, a little at a time, until completely combined. Stir in cream. Allow to cook and thicken, stirring occasionally, over medium low heat for about 8 - 10 minutes. Stir sherry and 1/2 a cup parmesan in and stir to combine and melt. Remove from heat. Taste to season with salt and pepper and add a little nutmeg.

While sauce cooks, add pasta (you may wish to break the pasta in half) to boiling water and cook until slightly undercooked, less than al dente. Drain pasta and pour into prepared casserole.

Pour sauce over pasta along with turkey and peas. Sprinkle lemon juice over mixture and mix in the casserole.

Melt remaining 1/4 cup butter and mix with panko and remaining 1/4 cup parmesan. Sprinkle over the top evenly and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until mixture is bubble and topping is lightly browned.

Mix chopped parsley and lemon zest and sprinkle over dish before serving.


Leftover Casserole

One year, Rich made up a casserole with the leftovers from our Thanksgiving meal, which turned out remarkably good. We now do it with the bits and pieces that are left over after the sandwiches, the one other turkey meal and the carcass has been made into soup.

Take all the last bits of brussels sprouts, wild rice dressing, mashed potatoes, turkey and gravy. Stir it all together in a baking dish and bake at 375 degrees until bubbly, about 25-30 minutes. Serve for your last Thanksgiving hurrah of the weekend. If you have any rolls left, serve them with this for a nice meal for your family once everyone else has gone home.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 12:56 PM 1 comments

Monday, November 16, 2009

Menu Plan: November 15 - November 21

This week is the second Bean Week Challenge I'm hosting. Please join up, leave a comment and link to Mr. Linky if you have a blog.

I'm deep in preparations for Thanksgiving. We are still hosting it, even though we are living in chaos, because chaos at home is still easier than chaos away. I'm excited to be doing it, because I love making Thanksgiving dinner and sharing it with our friends and family. Remember, if you have a frozen turkey, start thawing it early! I'm pulling ours out of the deep freeze this week. This week is also when I'll be cooking up all our sugar pumpkins for pies and breads and other things. The extra will get frozen. I'll also be roasting turkey legs and making extra stock for the gravy and dressing, making bread and cornbread for dressing. Next week, the serious cooking will begin: Cornbread, pie crusts, pies, soups, dressings, breads and all those good things. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.
What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. Starred recipes will follow separately.

Here is the list of foods from the freezer, fridge and pantry that I'm using this week. Anything from the freezer, pantry or fridge that was not bought specifically for this meal or this past week will be included in my lists.

Freezer:
Barbecue Beans
Shortribs
Peppers


Fridge:
Eggs
Butter
Milk (& Cream from the Top)
Feta
Carrots
Scallions
Split Pea Soup

Pantry:
All Herbs & Spices
Salts
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Olive Oil
Hard White Wheat Berries
Soft White Wheat Berries
Corn Meal
Steel Cut Oats
Garbanzo Beans
Black Beans
Flor de Junio Beans
Pastry Flour
Yeast
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Coffee
Tea
Vanilla Extract
All Sugars
Honey
Apples
Pears
Watermelon
Butternut Squash
Sugar Pumpkin

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 4:34 PM 0 comments

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thanksgiving Recap (Belated)

For the first time in my life I have poured boiling liquid onto my hand. I don't know how real burn victims cope. I only had a proto-blister and a reddened hand, but it hurt for at least six hours and was excruciating. I was trying to hurry up making the gravy and getting it on the table, because someone else needed the oven, and I was kind of taking up all the space on the stove and in the way of the oven. So, as I was ladling up the liquid, I poured boiling gravy, fat and all on the last two finders of my left hand. I kept the gravy boat steady, though, and got it filled for the table, so at least it was only my hand rather than having boiling gravy splashed all down the front of my body. So, the moral of the story is don't rush. And don't drop the dish.

We had a houseful this year. We were able to arrange bedrooms and sleeping bags, and get everyone settled in for the weekend, though. On Thanksgiving day proper, we had 20 people, our leftover day party ended up being around 52 people. My breakfast plans for Thanksgiving were modified, because we were up until 4:00 a.m. making pies. Rich was supposed to be available to help me with the children and cleaning so I could nurse the baby and cook, but he ended up working over 18 hours on his "vacation" days that week. So, Arthur made breakfast for us instead, which was quite nice.

My father in law and Arthur both brought wine, so I think we only ended up putting out one of our bottles. Maybe two. We had a nice relish tray that Rich put together, no deviled eggs this year. Arthur actually didn't bring the cranberry relish, but since we had everything to make it, he put it together for us. The turkey was perfect. After Friday, there was none left. We still have our extra turkey in the freezer, though, so we will be roasting that sometime this month, and Rich will get a roast turkey sandwich for the first time in probably three or four years. Except for the gravy mishap, the meal went well. I made both dressings, the sweet potato rolls, the brussels sprouts, directed the making of the mashed potatoes, our friends brought a Waldorf salad, cranberry-cherry sauce, two ducks, a sour cream apple pie.

Alexander did make the gingerbread, and it was very well received. He did a great job following the recipe himself, though we did have to rescue him from ruining a bowl of ingredients in the microwave. Somehow, Rich's job of cooking the pumpkin and making the pumpkin pie filling ended up my job this year. Along with those, I made two apple-quince pies (we used the remaining filling which wasn't enough for a pie in oatmeal), two cranberry-cherry pies, two Nantucket cranberry pies (cranberry walnut cake cooked in a pie pan), two chocolate pecan pies. We served all of this with sweetened whipped vanilla cream and ice cream.

There was lots of sparkling cider and sparkling apple-cranberry, but we discovered last week that Martinelli's makes an apple-pomegranate sparkling cider, which is wonderful. Buy lots so they keep making it. We are.

Our day after Thanksgiving party went well, lots of people came, lots of food was eaten, games were played, lively discussions were had, children were not too injured by the end of the night. Rich set up the foos ball table in the basement, we had Boggle playing in the living room and Scene It going on at the same time. Outside, there was a football game going, not to mention the general playing on the play structure and in the play house. We still have two pairs of children's socks and a size four, blue, child's jacket here. I think we have returned every thing else to its rightful home.

Funny thing. When Kim was leaving, she forgot her purse. When she returned for it, she said that she wanted to make sure she had it in case I asked her out to dinner again.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 2:44 PM 1 comments

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