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Arm Wrestling for Donuts, Starch Therapy and Roasted Red and Sweet Potato Salad with Bacon and Green Onions

11/28/2017

I am a starch queen.
I would totally arm wrestle/hair pull you for the last
glazed donut.

12tomatoes.com

Am not even kidding.
I'd do the same with chips and dip.

altonbrown.com

Don't test me.

I'm one of 5 siblings growing up in the 70s.
I was the middle child.

You do NOT want to mess with a
middle child and starch issues.

In fact Tim asked to share MY french fries when we were at a pub Saturday.

We do not even talk about sharing unless we know for sure other fries are definitely coming out. And by we, I mean ME!

Don't worry.

We're still married.

I mean it's taken lots of therapy since Saturday but that and this
Roasted Red and Sweet Potato Salad with
Bacon and Green Onions
has helped my starch issues greatly.

This is a tasty, affordable roasted potato dish that is so easy to make.
Not overcooking the bacon is going to be key here.

This recipe is
from the
November 2017 BH&G
magazine.

Here's the fixins for this easy peasy dish.
Note: I ended up NOT using the miso and sherry, the potatoes were perfect without it.

Miso: Even after researching, I haven't been able to really understand what it exactly is other than it provides a unique umami elemant and apparently there is no substitute.
Regardless, I left that and the sherry out.

Cut up the potatoes, cook the bacon
and slice the dark parts of the scallions,
leaving the white and light green onions intact to roast.

.	See that bacon up there? If you get it that crispy, eat it and make another batch of less crispy bacon. Softer bacon is crucial to this dish.

Olive oil and salt and pepper these babies up.

Spread out on the sheet pan and roast 30-40 minutes or until tender. Don't crowd them and be sure to stir them halfway through.

See, my camera fell into some olive oil (don't ask) and my lens is oily,
hence blurry pictures. Anyway, these are the roasted potatoes.

Slice up the roasted onions.

Now let me tell you, these were delicious and lend an incredible layer to the potatoes.

Next time I'm doubling the amount, yum.

I packed up and refrigerated these potatoes overnight. Next day I assembled and reheated in oven.

They came out perfect!

Having the bacon be perfectly cooked and left rather chunky is key.

The combination of the sweet potato and red potato really is delicious.
The roasted green onions and freshness of scallions create a profile both adults and kiddos would love.
Deceptively delicious is what this potato dish is.

Next time I might try the miso/sherry vinegar dressing but they were so good just as they are, I didn't want to mess with the profile.

Because there is NOT a link to this specific recipe on the Better Homes & Gardens website,
I scanned the recipe from the magazine page.

Okay, I gotta get back to work putting a cute
2004 Pontiac Grand Am SE with 145k miles,
economy priced, on the Inventory page but Ima tell you,
I AM making a cinnamon roll apple cobbler tonight no matter what.
A cobbler topped with cinnamon rolls. Weird.
Hmmmm, we'll see how this turns out!
You know I'll be sharing it with ya, ha!
:)

Oh, one other thing!
Saw this house in Cedarburg, Wisconsin over Thanksgiving and decided I want it.

It's talking to me,
telling me even though it's not for sale, it should be
mine, mine, MINE!!!

Oh well, I hate to clean so it's probably best I don't have that house.
See, life has a way of working out sometimes, heeeeeeee.

Okay guys, thanks for checking in, have a great day and we'll talk at ya soon!!
I still want that house.

Today.

11/23/2017

Soul.

Mornings.

Neighbors.

Sureties.

Contrasts.

Evenings.

Each day.

Memories.

Messiness.

Inspiration.

Gratitude.

Heart.

You.

Talk to ya soon!

A Turkey Roasted With 2 lbs. Butter And A Cheesecloth! Butter. Butter. Butter.

11/21/2017

I was intrigued.
A turkey roasted with 2 lbs. of butter!!!

Who wouldn't be intrigued??

It was the moistest turkey I've ever made.

The recipe is
from the
November 2017 Better Homes
& Garden
magazine.

There are no herbs spread on or under the skin other than salt and pepper.
This is a subtle turkey. There are no huge flavors to make you go KAPOW!

This makes just a nice, subtle, buttery flavor with a
silky texture.

Salt and pepper this baby up
inside and out and stuff the turkey with the orange halves and rosemary and thyme.

Throw it in the oven for
half an hour.

Melt the butter and lemon.

I just had to show this picture twice,

because,

2 lbs. butter.

After a half hour, bring the turkey out of the oven and soak the cheesecloth into the butter and
spread over the breasts.

Throw back in the oven and cook according to poundage.
Every half hour ladle the butter generously over the cheesecloth.

Remove cheesecloth for the final 30 minutes and then throw back in oven.

Thirty minutes later, this is what you have.
Flavored crusty skin on the outside....

...and buttery turkey flavor on the inside.

Apparently I was multi-tasking the night I made this turkey.

I plated the turkey slices up with Pecan-Cranberry Relish out of the same magazine.

These are the fixins for the Pecan-Cranberry Relish.
This is not a traditional saucy relish, this is really quite different, pairs very nicely with this buttery turkey and is just as good five days later as the day you made it up.
However, this is not a traditional saucy cranberry relish.

Okay, pay attention, this just takes a few minutes to whip up. Cook pecans in butter for a couple minutes.

Throw the leeks and cranberries and salt & pepper in and cook and stir a couple minutes.

Bingo! That's it!

Sweet and salty and buttery and nutty, that leek really brings ties in all the flavors, do not leave it out!
This is deeee-licious and it keeps for many days in the fridge without losing it's texture of flavor. Fantastic!

The recipe for Chef Vivian Howard's
Butter-Roasted Turkey
is here.

By the way, I made the sorghum sauce listed at the link too, ummmmm, didn't care for it but you may like it.

This is the recipe for the
Pecan-Cranberry Relish
from BH&G November 2017 issue.
This is Chef Vivian Howard's recipe but there are so many variations of this all over internet, I am posting the recipe exactly as it is listed in the magazine.

Pecan-Cranberry Relish
Chef Vivian Howard’s recipe out of the November 2017 Better Homes & Garden magazine

In a 10-inch skillet, melt 2 Tbsp. butter.
Add 1 cup chopped pecans, cook 3-4 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning.
Add 2/3 cup dried cranberries, 2/3 cup cup sliced leeks, ¼ tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. black pepper.
Cook and stir for 2 minutes.
Cover. Keep warm. Makes about 2 cups.

Angie’s note: Do not overcook this relish, just cook and stir 2 minutes max.
This doesn’t make a ton, keep that in mind.
Also, this is not a typical saucy relish.

pecan-cranberry_relish_vivian_howard_bhg.docx
File Size:	13 kb
File Type:	docx

Download File

Okay y'all, thanks for checking in!!
Have a glorious Thanksgiving
full of food, family, friends
and great memories.

And may the day be filled with the wonder of pillow forts and the comfort of snuggy jammies and a good book.

Oh! Just a quick one, here's a link to a post I did a few years ago on Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs but at the end of the post, there is some interesting historical pictures and info on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Take care, folks!
Check back in sometime, and we'll talk at
ya soon!!

Tortilla Chip-Crusted Chicken Tenders, Tiger Beat Magazine & Nostalgia At The Old Five-and-Dimes.

11/11/2017

I stole something the other day.

countryliving.co.uk

No, not food.

Per se.

Let me try to explain.

I was at a doctor's office Wednesday.
A real nice one where they had a million gazillion cool magazines and not old ugly wrinkly ones that were four years old.

These were current magazines with shiny covers and nary a blob of
spaghetti sauce or coffee runs on them, unlike like the magazines at my house.

Remember when you were a kid and being mesmerized by the shinynessness
(that's a word, look it up,
in the Pretend Word dictionary)
of the magazine departments in five-and-dimes or
grocery stores or Woolworths?

Remember when you couldn't wait to buy the newest issue of Tiger Beat magazine??

My boyfrahhhn was Lance Kerwin up there.
Which one is he, you ask? Top right corner, FOOL!

Lance starred in James at 15. Remember that show??

No?
You don't remember that show??
Well it was only on for one season, I think.

Well just in case you need to brush up on what you were watching on Friday nights in 1970 while lounging on the couch in your footie jammies after eating mom's goulash and a couple slices of Wonder bread...

Anyway, back to what I stole.
I didn't necessarily "steal" this magazine,
I'm no convict, man!

I stole a page from the magazine. A page.
SHUT UP!!! I'm planning on returning it.
At next year's physical.

Just so you know, this magazine was from summer of this year.
It's not like it was a collectible issue or anything like the fall and holiday issue,
your honor.

Now do you want to hear about these
Tortilla Chip-Crusted Chicken Tenders
or not?

These tenders are super easy
and taste like a chicken tender in a taco shell, ha!
The dipping sauces are fantastic!

Here's the fixins.

This recipe is straight outta the Jul.Aug.2017 Midwest Living Magazine

Chip-Crusted Chicken Tenders

Makes: 4 servings
Hands On 20 mins
Total Time 35 mins

Tortilla chips provide the crispy coating for these kid-friendly (and kid-at-heart-friendly) chicken tenders. The easy dipping sauce can be flavored with Sriracha or honey mustard.

Ingredients

1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 1/3 cups finely crushed yellow corn tortilla chips*
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound chicken breast tenderloins
2 tablespoons sriracha or 3 tablespoons honey mustard

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees . Whisk together the mayonnaise and buttermilk; transfer half the mixture to a shallow dish. Set aside the rest for sauce. In another dish, combine finely crushed tortilla chips, garlic powder and black pepper.
Dip chicken tenderloins in the mayo mixture, then the chip mixture, to coat. Bake on a foil-lined baking sheet for 15 minutes or until golden. For dipping sauce, stir Sriracha sauce or honey mustard into the reserved mayo mixture.

Tip

* You will need 5 ounces (or 4 1/2 cups) of chips to get 1 1/3 cups finely crushed tortilla chips.

Click HERE to go straight to the recipe on the
Midwest Living website so you can print it off or save it!

We start by crushing up the tortilla strips.

The recipe calls for yellow corn tortillas.

White corn would have a much milder flavor, which is fine.
Ima try that next time.

Prepare the mayo and buttermilk and the crushed tortilla chips and garlic powder and pepper.
You're only going to use half the buttermilk mixture, the other half you pour into separate dishes for the dipping sauces.

I used chicken breasts and just cut them into strips.
Dredging and coating station ready here, Houston.

Dredge the chicken strips in the buttermilk/mayo and coat in the crushed chip mixture and set on tray.

While the chicken tenders are cooking in the 450 degree oven (they cook QUICK!), whip up your honey mustard and
sriracha dipping sauces.

The tenders come out of the oven nicely coated,
slightly browned and crispy.

The yellow corn tortilla chips I used had a
strong corn taste.
The dipping sauces were delicious to cut some of the intensity of the corn.

I also made (or burned, ha!) sweet potatoes fries and the sweetness of the fries was a nice complement to the
corn-chipped tenders and the tangy sauces.

Sweet potato fries always look weird but they do be delicious!!

Okay kids, that's all I
got for today.

Closing out today's magazine-themed post are covers from a couple magazines I have laying 'round the ponderosa here.

Speed Age magazine
1955

Popular Mechanics
1983

Oh.
By the way, the Bay City Rollers would like to say from the cover of 1977's 16 Magazine:
"Have a great S-S-S-Saturday Niiiiiiight,
S-S-S-Saturday Niiiiiiiight!!"

Thanks for checking in, y'all!
I appreciate it!
I've been cookin' up a storm and will be posting several recipes this week including another Thanksgiving quick menu.
I can sense your eye roll, SHUT UP IT WILL BE EXCITING no it won't but hey it's new recipes....wait for it, wait for it...from a MAGAZINE!!!
Take care,
don't hold my 70s geekiness love against me, heeeeeeee
and we'll talk at ya soon!!!

1 Day Prep-Ahead Small Thanksgiving Time Saver Meal

11/5/2017

Greetings, All!!!

*Thanksgiving*
A day of food, family & friends or just hanging out in your pajamas! AmIRight :)
So I was on a mission to find time saver recipes for traditional Thanksgiving dishes,
when it occurred to me it's really the prep work that takes the most time, NOT the actual cooking.

So I found recipes that could be made up (rolls, pie, cranberries!) or prepped up
(stuffing, turkey, carrots, potatoes!) the day before and assembled and cooked quite nicely
and efficiently the following day.

Now this menu is for a small gathering: 2-6 people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angie's 1 Day Prep-Ahead
Thanksgiving Menu
Links to ALL recipes at the bottom of this page!
Herb-Roasted Turnkey Breast with Basic Gravy
Cheddar and Jalapeno Stufing
The Best Damn Vegan Mashed Potatoes
Honeyed Carrots and Oranges
Bourbon-Cranberry Compote
Homemade Butter Flake Pull Apart Rolls
Chocolate Cream Pie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll take you through some steps here with some brief commentary on each dish.

Herb-Roasted
Turnkey Breast
Ina Garten's recipe

Let's start with the 7.3 lb turkey breast that cooked in two hours.
TWO hours!

Prep Day Ahead!
I made the herby olive oil paste up the night before, coated the turkey and put it back in fridge.

Cooks up beautifully and slices up nicely.
The herbed paste rubbed directly on the meat and on top of skin was fantastic!!
Juices were added to the Basic Gravy.

Let's move along to the Basic Gravy.
No prep-ahead of this. Day of only.
I made a roux.

Add the drippings from the turkey roasting pan into the chicken broth.

I used
homemade chicken broth.

Whisk the broth and drippings into the skillet and bring to boil then simmer until thickened.

This gravy was hands down the star of the show.
*STAR OF THE SHOW*
I think the key is homemade chicken broth but I don't know that for sure. If you don't have homemade, buy the absolute best kind of broth you can.

Let's move along to the PREP AHEAD
Cheddar and
Jalapeno Stuffing.
By the way, I believe this recipe could be assembled and cooked day ahead and just add some extra chicken broth when heating up next day.
Note: I could not taste the jalapeno really, add more jalapeno if you like heat.

The recipe called for Italian bread so that's what I got was Italian bread.

By the way y'all, I do not know how to cook without a recipe.

Completely serious. So I tend to stay true to the recipe ingredients and amounts.

The day before...
cut or tear the bread up and bake in a 375 oven for 12 minutes, until dried out.

Cut up all the vegetables, grate up the cheese and deposit all ingredients into the pan you will use to bake the stuffing in tomorrow and
stick in the fridge.

Day of, melt butter and saute the vegetables.

This recipe calls for a half cup beer.

It can also be left out completely.

Cook until beer evaporates, then transfer mixture to a large bowl.

Add scallions, broth, eggs and cheddar to mixture and and toss in bread crumbs.

Okay,
I have this super exciting picture of buttered up aluminum foil to remind you to, you know, butter up your aluminum foil.

Cause if you don't,
all the good browned bits of stuffing will stick to the foil and you'll be sad.

Pour stuffing into prepared pan and bake covered with foil, then remove foil and continue baking. I let mine stay in 10-15 minutes longer to get more browned.

This stuffing dish really could be prepped, assembled and cooked the day before and just reheated day of with some extra chicken broth. I made this up in the morning, stuck it in fridge until dinner and then just reheated it in oven. This is why I used a metal pan too.

Another note with this dish: You can NOT taste the heat from the jalapenos. I used two seeded jalapenos just as the recipe states and there was no heat. Probably added flavor but there was no heat so it's safe for little kiddies.

Okay, let's get these
Best Damn Vegan
Mashed Potatoes made.
Disclaimer: I had full intentions of using vegan butter but I didn't, I used real butter.
Note: I wanted a mashed potato recipe that was different than the same old, same old, that's why I made these.
Also, Yukon gold potatoes are so naturally delicious buttery anyway.

By the way, these CAN BE MADE DAY AHEAD but I just prepped everything the night before and made day of.
I washed all the potatoes and set them aside. I then roasted the garlic by cutting off the top third, rubbed the cloves with olive oil, wrapped up in foil and roasted for 50 minutes. Mmmmmmm, always smells awesome. Also, chop up those chives and store everything but potatoes in the fridge until next day.

Before the meal, I threw the cut Yukon golds into boiling salted water and cooked until soft.

I mixed in butter, salt and pepper and the deeeelicious roasted garlic. I ate spoonfuls and then transferred the remaining into a bowl and topped with those chives. Yum!
These potatoes are awesome with or without gravy!!

Now, y'all, let's get to these super easy peasy
Honeyed Carrots
and Oranges.
I prepped everything night before and cooked them day of.
(I liked these so much I went out and bought more carrots to make this exact recipe again this week.)

Please do NOT cut the carrots in half lengthwise like I did, just buy thin carrots, don't use thick ones. If you do use thick carrots, then okay, you can cut them in half lenghtwise. Mine were thin already. Also, dudes, don't be like me and leave the freaking top on. Just don't.

The night before, I peeled the carrots and sliced the orange and had the honey/oil all measured out.

I had chopped up some dill but decided not to use the dill on the finished dish, these were just too darn good on their own.

This was super easy to prepare as well as to assemble and cook.

Day of, pull out the carrots and oranges, toss in olive oil and honey, salt and pepper, arrange on cookie sheet.
By the way, the aroma of the oranges and honey is fantastic!

Cook until soft. So easy.
Again, cut off the tops of the carrots. I did not do that cause I am a fool.
Don't be a fool like your pal Angie, just do the right thing.

These carrots were absolutely delicious, just make sure to follow the directions exactly!

Y'all. These Butter Flake Pull Apart Rolls
are delicious!!
This is Alton Brown's recipe and I always get PTSD from baking cause I am horrible at it.
I actually was able to make these without using too many swear words. Maybe three.
Four. Five at the most. Okay, six. SHUT UP!

So these are the fixins for these pull apart rolls.
I did NOT make these up a day ahead of time. I do think they would be fine made up 24 hours ahead and then just reheated shortly before the meal the next day.
Also I do not own a stand mixer. I old-school used my hand mixer. Worked fine.

Now this recipe calls for some ingredients to be weighed.

Don't fight it, just do it.

These are baked items.
You want to use correct measurements even if you have to bring out the scale.

So mix the stuff according to directions.
I love how I am so technical with my language. Seriously dudes, I can not bake so I am just trying to get through this as quick as I can.

Dough before rising and dough after rising.
Now if *I* can do this correctly, anyone can!!!

Okay, let's slow this down a bit.....let me explain...so roll the dough out to a 12" x 12"...

Cut 12 - 1" strips. Now I don't own a pizza cutter, so I pulled out this vintage pastry cutter I paid 50 cents for at a consignment store last year. Aaaaand this pastry cutter is broke and wobbly and doesn't make straight lines.

So I bring out my pizza cutter, also known as a plain ordinary knife, and cut 12 - 1" strips.

Okay, so this is my first try at the strips and stacking them.

And this is my second try at the other half of the dough, I got much better, especially after I figured out I need to GENTLY pull up the strips
and not stretch them.

My initial attempt is at the bottom...Second try at the top.

Set each section in a sprayed muffin cup.
Let rise until double.

Then bake 8-10 minutes. Or overbake like I did but then brush a ton of melted butter on the tops. They were still delicious!!

Okay, only TWO more recipes left!!!!
This one is so easy and delicious! Make it same day or day ahead, doesn't matter, it's delicious both days!
Bourbon-Cranberry Compote!

Combine and simmer.

Okay Friends, last item on the menu is a
Chocolate Cream Pie!
Tim doesn't eat pumpkin pie so I made a Chocolate Cream Pie with a
store-bought whole wheat crust.
This can TOTALLY be made up a day ahead of time!!!

Okay, the piece on the right up there looks a little wonky but trust me, deeeelicious!!

These are the fixins.

First,

chop up the semi sweet chocolate.

Whisk the dry ingredients together then add the heavy cream and eggs.
Don't forget the espresso powder!

Whisk in the cream and milk over medium heat.

Pour that lusciousness over the chopped chocolate & butter and stir...

Mmmmm, lookin' good!

Pour into a pie shell...

Buy whipped cream OR make this super easy whipped topping...remember, chill the bowl AND the beaters!!
Homemade Whipped Cream:
In a chilled bowl (very important, a CHILLED bowl, meaning chill that sucker in the freezer), combine 1 cup whipping cream, 2 Tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Beat with a mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form.
Or continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Here's the deal on this Chocolate Pie...it is really rich!
This Chocolate Cream Pie is not for people who do not appreciate
deep layers of chocolate.
If you want a boring, bland chocolate pie, do not make this!
Oh, make a strong pot of coffee cause it will go wonderfully with this dessert!

Okay guys, I will come clean here.
I was planning on making this menu for just
Tim and me as a trial run.

But then friends of ours called and wanted
to pop out Friday night.

heeeeeeeeeeeeeee....

I said fine...

just come hungry.

Once they got here, I bamboozled them that they were going to participate in my
1 Day Prep-Ahead Small Thanksgiving
Time Saver Meal blog post.

They didn't seem to mind :) :) :)
and we had a fantastic time!!!

Okay, so that's all the recipes, friends!

Below are all the links to
the recipes!!

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast with Basic Gravy
Cheddar and Jalapeno Stuffing
The Best Damn Vegan Mashed Potatoes
Honeyed Carrots and Oranges
Bourbon-Cranberry Compote
Homemade Butter Flake Rolls
Chocolate Cream Pie

If you have any questions at all,
contact me at the phone number or email address on the contact page or just ask away here in the comments!

Thanks for checking in!! I appreciate it!!
Have a great early holiday season!
Stay warm, have fun, eat delicious food,
and we'll be talking soon!!
:)

Arm Wrestling for Donuts, Starch Therapy and Roasted Red and Sweet Potato Salad with Bacon and Green Onions

Today.

A Turkey Roasted With 2 lbs. Butter And A Cheesecloth! Butter. Butter. Butter.

Tortilla Chip-Crusted Chicken Tenders, Tiger Beat Magazine & Nostalgia At The Old Five-and-Dimes.

1 Day Prep-Ahead Small Thanksgiving Time Saver Meal

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