When Turkey Attacks! Or.. For the Love of God, No More Tetrazzini



Norman Rockwell Holiday.



Soon the American Thanksgiving will have come and gone and in a week anything that remotely resembles turkey anything is going to look as appetizing as your best friend’s sweat socks.

But when did the fact that you had a large turkey dinner force you and your family to eat turkey for the next two weeks? Who made those rules? I mean, sure, no one wants to spend that kind of money on one meal and only get one meal… but just because you had it today, doesn’t mean you need to have it all week…

So, how to stretch this bird to get every last penny invested out of it? Here is how I handle the turkey to get every bit out of it and to make my life easier in the upcoming month(s). Make freezer meals. After all, while it may not sounds appetizing after the umpteenth turkey sandwich this week, well, in a month, it will sound darn appealing, especially when all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season kicks in and the last thing you have time for is cooking…

  So… soon as it’s cooled and before the tryptophan turkey coma sets in, remove all the meat from the bones separating into light and dark meat if you like.  Then make stock:

                                                                                                          

Turkey Stock

1 Turkey carcass

1 cut up onion (loosely cut, nothing fancy)

½ to 1 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp rosemary

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp parsley

2 bay leaves

Water to cover

Put on the stove and simmer for about 1 ½- 2 hours. Cool if you can to handle. This is very important. Remember hot liquid scalds. Last  year some of my stock splashed back on my chest and gave me 2^nd degree burns. I still have a light outline of the scar. So if you can, definitely cool.

Once cool enough to handle, strain the solids out and discard. Put the entire stock in the fridge and cool overnight so that the fat solidifies on the top of the broth. Next morning, remove the fat and place into freezer safe bags or containers and place in freezer. Now you have homemade turkey stock that you can use for any recipe that calls for chicken stock and you basically made something from nothing. Store or freeze.



Turkey Divan



Granted this isn’t the healthiest meal available but it is so delicious so why this fell out of style is beyond me. This is simple and when you have a lot of turkey meat it is an excellent use up. I make several pans of this and put in the freezer. It’s simply a quick trip to the freezer to put this in the fridge to thaw while I work. When I get home, simply pop this into a 350 oven to cook. This is a modified version from my 1980’s Betty Crocker cookbook:



That 50's favorite....here made with chicken... but perfect
use up for turkey.

 

Turkey Divan

Several large chunks of turkey

Frozen broccoli

½  tsp salt

¼ cup both butter and flour to make rue

2 cups stock

2 Tbsp dry white wine

nutmeg (optional, to taste)

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese



Make rue and add stock.



Make a rue by melting the butter and once melted, put in the flour and salt and cook until thickened. Once thickened and cooked so that the flour taste is out (a min or so, shouldn’t be dark), remove from heat and slowly incorporate liquids. Put back on heat and cook until boiling. Remove and cool a bit.

Add wine.



Add broccoli and cheese.



Arrange your pans (I use foil for freezing)  Place a layer of frozen broccoli down. ( I break mine into chunks while in the plastic bag if frozen together), top with your chunks of turkey and cover with sauce. Top with cheese and wrap in foil. Put 350 degrees Fahrenheit and the name of the dish on the foil and pop into the freezer for an easy meal sometime in the future.

Turkey Enchiladas

I’ve used this recipe so many times it is literally disappearing from my homemade cookbook.. I modified this version from one I found on some website that was obviously a chicken recipe. This is the perfect recipe for those last bits of meat no one is going to eat. You know the ones. They are the last ones in you bag of meat that, well, just look unappetizing although they are perfectly fine. (No pictures here as I haven’t made my turkey yet.) The funny thing is, these always get eaten up and they always ask for more..

Here is how I finish my entire turkey.

Turkey Enchiladas

Left over turkey cut into small, shredded pieces.

Olive oil

¾ cup chopped onion

¼ cup chopped green bell pepper

(you can also add jarred or fresh jalapeno pepper if you are so inclined).

¾ cup sour cream

¾ cup cheddar cheese (or whatever you like)

¼ tsp salt

2 ¼ tsp dried parsley

15 oz can tomato sauce

1/3 tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp black pepper

¾ clove garlic minced

6-10 inch flour tortillas

½ c to 1 cup shredded cheese

Jarred taco sauce (I can this every year for the best cost savings).

Put a couple of tsp of oil in a pan to coat the bottom of the pan. Sauté your onion and green pepper until soft. Add garlic and sauté for a minute more, add all remaining ingredients with the exception of the tortillas, taco sauce and ½ cup to 1 cup of cheese. Place filling in one portion of the tortillas and roll up. Place in an oven/freezer safe container(s) seam side down and divide taco sauce and reserved cheese between pans and sprinkle over each. Wrap in foil and freeze.

When ready to eat, put in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 mins. (from frozen).

Chicken & Dumplings with a Side of Nostalgia Please....



Grandma Wren and that handsome little guy is my dad.



Much to the delight of my father and the chagrin of my mother (who already had a refrigerator full of food for Christmas), Christmas when I was young included Grandma Wren bringing over a big stockpot full of chicken and dumplins. Chicken and dumplings is a soul satisfying dish of hot broth with big chunky floury dumplings in and mouth satisfying pieces of chicken. This is a perfect week dish to put in the fridge for lunches and a wonderful use up for your holiday turkey.

 

Grandma Wren’s Chicken & Dumpling’s

(with a little modification)                      

Flavorful broth (my recipe)                   

Serve up piping hot with a big soup spoon!

1 chicken

1 chunked up onion

1 bouillon cube

2-3 bay leaves

2-3 Tbsp rosemary

1-2 tsp of thyme

2 Tbsp parsley

water to cover

Put all in a pot and cover chicken with water until covered completely. Bring to almost a boil on medium and then simmer for 1 ½-2 hours. Cool and strain out solids. Put in refrigerator
a few hours or overnight to allow fat to solidify and remove.

Dumplings



Roll out to about 1/8" or so.
Dumplins puff up when cooked.



Dumplings are so easy and so open to additions. The original recipe is version has no herbs in it but I put in a couple of tsps of dill and parsley. Feel free to improvise.

2 cups flour                                                     

½ tsp of salt (to taste)

chicken broth from the above recipe

Herbs as desired (optional)

Mix flour, salt and herbs (if desired) together. Slowly add broth (maybe a ladleful at a time) to produce a dough. Roll out on a floured surface and cut into strips. Brush off any additional flour with a pastry brush. Cut strips into 1-2 inch pieces.

Drop dumplins a couple at a time to prevent them sticking into
a large globby mess.

 

 The Soup

Chunk up chicken and add to soup. Slowly dropping a few at a time so they don’t stick, drop dumplings into boiling soup. Dumplings only take a few mins to cook through. Season soup with salt and pepper. If desired, add a can of cream of chicken soup to make it creamier. Serve piping hot with a great big side of nostalgia for good old fashioned, stick to your ribs food.

Coziness, Comfort and Everything that Means Home





Appliqued Scottie Dog pattern.





I love quilts. Quilts denote family, home, coziness and comfort. When our pioneer ancestors headed west, many of those women would gather bits and pieces of cloth from their loved ones clothing in which to sew into a quilt. This was often the last time they may ever see their loved ones alive so these bits and pieces meant everything to them. In the last century, young girls were expected to complete anywhere from one to three quilts prior to marriage so that they would have some necessary items prepared to start their future homes. In These Happy Golden Years, one of the first things Laura Ingalls Wilder notices when her new husband brings her to her new home, is her "Dove-in-the-Window quilt spread upon the wide bed , and her two feather pillows stood plumply at the head of it." 



Log Cabin set in star pattern.



As they traveled, many of the quilt patterns took on different names and that is why a Star of Bethlehem in one place is a Texas Star in another. Quilting bees were the “Facebook” of their day, allowing women to gather and share the news of the town. The gift of a quilt from these ‘bees helped to gift a new bride, console a widow or may even have been used to raise money for social causes. They were often the only chance for busy pioneer women to take some much needed time away from home.



Large 4 patch.

While I don’t particularly like to quilt, I do love to patch. I love to choose the colors and see them come together in pattern of my choosing. Like the pioneers, I’ve often used quilts to mark the special occasions in my life. When I married, I had a wedding ring quilt made my by quilting teacher. I chose the fabrics but had her put it together as I knew that I didn’t have the acumen to even attempt it at that point. I use this quilt every day.



My Wedding Ring Quilt.



When my son was born, I created a Star of Bethlehem quilt which still graces his wall. A local quilt shop was having a wall hanging competition and I asked him if I could enter his quilt in it (It was his quilt after all.) and he told me, “I wish you wouldn’t, that is special to me.” That, coming from my now teenage boy, really brought home what that quilt meant to him. He knew that quilt was made for him out of love and will probably have it with him the rest of his life.

Dixon's Star

I’d like to think that when I pass away all these quilts will be cherished my future grandchildren yet unborn. I still have an embroidered coverlet that my grandmother made me when I was a child and know how dear that is to me especially since her passing. I truly hope that my quilts become threadbare with use and love. That would be a fantastic legacy.

Wintermint Fresh.....




Cleaning up for a cozy winter!



Wintermint Fresh…..
       .... Yum, that's good Clean....



While spring cleaning gets loads of attention, I think for my money, the big winter cleaning is much more important. Those last few days that you can actually open the windows and clear out all the dust and debris just prior to locking yourself up tight for six months make all the difference between feeling ready to face the upcoming dreary winter days and just trudging through it.

Big confession here, I hate cleaning. I have to put some spin on it and tell myself that I’m not actually cleaning but cleansing (sounds so much more Zen), not organizing but reclaiming forgotten treasures. Sometimes it takes everything I can think of to get motivated. But knowing that cleaning the windows, washing the rugs all lead to a winter of cozy family life makes it worthwhile.

Having only two days each week to really clean my house, here is my Winter Hit List.

Winter Hit List

1. If nice open windows.
2. Wash the windows, outside first, then inside.
3. Clean the wood stove (if you got it).




Time to pull out the quilts!


4. Wash all bedding and if you have a feather bed, take it to the laundry and wash and dry it on the big washers. Put on bed after Febreezing it.
5. Dust or wash all surfaces, then vacuum rugs and deep clean with a wet mop
6. Do a deep clean on the refrigerator and throw out anything that has taken on a life of its own. Do the same for the freezer.
7. Clean the vent pipe on the dryer.
8. Clean out all cat pans and clean with dish soap and water.
9. Wash out all indoor trash cans.
10. Clean up the stoop and the garage.

Now again, I HATE CLEANING. So one way I psych myself out to do it is play mad scientist. I like to make some of my own cleaning products. These aren’t necessary all natural but they do the job and utilize things you already have in your kitchen. I’m going to share with you one that I got out of The Flint Journal years ago that I make all the time. It is essentially the same ingredients you’ll find in your name brand window cleaner you just bought in the store.

Window Cleaner

(Remember a part can be any measurement you want as long as you are consistent. … i.e. ½ cup, 1 cup, etc.)

1 part ammonia

1 part water

1 part rubbing alcohol

Food coloring if desired

Mix and place in a clearly marked container. Keep out of reach of children. Used black and white newspaper with this mixture to keep your windows sparkling.

XOXOXO FOR LOVE & GHOSTS

The Family Ghosts

In honor of Halloween, I thought I would share with you three ghost stories. I love ghost stories and I guess I'm not alone with the number of ghost programs that are on TV these days. I swear if there was a channell devoted just to those, I'd watch. Just counting some what is available (and I'm sure I've missed several):

Dead Files (personal fav)

Paranormal State

The Ghost Inside My Child

Stalked By a Ghost

Attacked By a Ghost

The Haunted

The Haunting of

Ghost Hunters

Ghost Hunters International

My Celebrity Ghost Stories

Ghost Stories Caught on Camera

...and a lot more.

I'd like to share with you three of my family's ghost stories. Probably most in my extended family don't even know them. Some in my immediate family may not know them. I share them  because one of my pet peeves about so many of the above mentioned shows is that everything is very black or white. The fact of the matter is, we are all spirits. We are spirits incarnate (in the body) and those that have past out of the physical realm (or maybe never entered the physical realm) are disembodied (out of the physical body). Just like people we meet everyday, not everyone is good and not everyone is bad. I firmly believe that "spirits" are simply on a different plane and that it is probably a blessing we don't see them. There are plenty of people in the body I don't want to see everyday, let alone those that are dead.

Additionally in sharing this narrative, this is in no way trying to convince anyone who is a skeptic that ghosts exist. If that is where you are in your personal journey than far be it from me to change your perspective although I've always felt that the skeptic's path is a cowardly one. It's far easier to say something doesn't exist and walk away then to open one's mind to the possiblility. After all, I know that ultraviolet and infrared light exists. I know air exists. I can't see either with my naked eye.

The first story involves my grandmother (see Jenny's Homefront Strategy) when she was in her 20's. This was smack dab in the middle of WWII and like many of that time, her older brother was fighting in Europe. One night she woke up and felt his presence at the end of her bed. She didn't see him nor did she hear him, but she knew he was there. The next day, the family got the notice that her older brother Bill had been killed.

Fast forward to 1981. I was very lucky to have not only grandparents on both sides but great-grandparents. Great Grandma and Grandpa H were very much the center of our extended family and had been married for well over 60+ years. Great Grandpa H passed from this world. He lived a good long life, especially when you realized he was born in 1898. A year passed. My grandfather, the above Jenny's husband and GG H's eldest son had a second heart attack that landed him in the hospital. As we were told by my grandmother at the kitchen table up at the farm, Great Grandma H had been awaken by her dog Bengy barking in the middle of the night. GG H got up to turn on the light and when she did, she saw the ghost of her husband staring out the window. Now, keep in mind my Great Grandma H was a farmer's wife and not prone to flights of fancy and additionally, it was initially the dog that awoke her. But sure as you and I are on this planet at this moment, there was Great Grandpa H,  who had passed away a year ago, staring out the window. 

Missy



Now fast forward to a year ago, this is my own personal ghost story. My beloved cat Missy simply disappeared from sight for a week. This was totally unlike her. Missy was a wonderful cat and we had a very special bond. I always said that if Missy was a human she'd be me and if I were a cat, I'd be Missy. I found Missy hiding behind my bed. It was clear something was wrong so I took her to the vet. Two vets and an operation later, I had to make the horrible choice to have my much loved cat put to sleep. She had gotten to the point where she couldn't eat and breathe at the same time. We discovered that my furry baby had brain cancer and the tumour was actually pushing the palate of her mouth over her throat making her choose between eating and breathing. I was heartbroken. I still greive for this cat.

A year goes by. In addition to Missy, we had two other cats at this time, Tux and Tribble. We raised Tux from a kitten and she and my husband had a special bond. When we were choosing kittens, she walked right up to my husband as though to say, you're mine. Tux was very much a lady, who crossed her front paws when she walked. We loved her dearly. One day she came up to me and I was shocked to see how thin she had become. A vet trip and tests came back with a dire diagnosis, she had kidney disease. Kidney disease in cats doesn't get better. We bought her special food and thought for a while that she was doing fine. Then it became apparent that her kidneys were shutting down. It was horrible to watch and we felt like we were on a death watch but we had made the decision that, unlike poor Missy, Tux would die at home where her loved ones where and she felt comfortable. At least that was the plan. It finally became apparent that she was really suffering when she couldn't even jump on the bed and sleep with us like she used to or just sit without falling over. We made the horrible decision to take her to the vet and put her to sleep. She was 16 years old. (About 80-90 years old human years). 



Tux



I don't mind telling you that night I sobbed like a baby. My cats are my furry children. They are part of our family. In the middle of the night, I felt a cat walk up on my body and then proceed to walk between the bodies of my husband and myself. Now there are only two cats that walk between my husband and myself, Missy, who had been dead a year and Tux. Tribble sleeps at the head of the bed and will literally jump over my head to get to my husband. So, I assumed this was Tux and that somehow she made it on the bed from the floor where I had seen her lay. I reached down to comfort her and pet her, only.... there was no cat there. Then I felt my husband's hand come down to pet the cat. He had felt the cat too. The cat had bumped her head into his side just as both Tux and Missy did. I sat up. There was no cat there. I got up and turned on the light. Poor Tux was lying at the floor, really pretty much unable to move. She  just where she was when I went to bed. It was then I knew that it had been Missy.

So what is the lesson from these stories? Simply this; our loved ones want us to know that they are ok and that simply because they are out of the body doesn't mean that they ceased to exist. Additionally, the lesson of Great Grandpa H and Missy was that our loved ones come back for us at the end of our lives to take us to the next world. Missy came back for Tux. Her message to me was, "Mom, I'm ok. It's time for Tux to leave this world and I came back to take her back with me. It's ok, I'm here for her, you can let go." Great Grandpa H's and Jenny's brother was the same. Physical death hadn't ended their existence. They were still in existence and they were coming back to let their loved ones know this and with GG H's case, to help his son cross. To me, there is nothing "para" normal about this. It's very normal. It's called LOVE. I'm very comforted to know that when my time comes, those I've loved that have passed will meet me to take me to my next journey. And I think this is beautiful. Have a blessed Halloween.

Fall on the Erie Canal

 

The canal is richly painted.

 Fall on the Erie Canal

Fall is my favorite time of year. It's like mother nature decided to get our her crayons and color each tree a different color. The trees haven't been that spectacular this year, but I thought I'd share some of the prettier views.

On the home front side, Fall also means crunch time. Fall reminds us with it's crisp air and falling leaves that winter is just around the corner. When I was a new homeowner, many moons ago, I had to real clue how to winterize my house and belonging for the winter so I thought I'd create a list for any newbie.





My neighbor's farm so pretty with all the trees!



1. Make sure to schedule a heating inspection early.I typically schedule mine in July or August. Last year our life just got too crazy and I didn't call until September which netted me a heating inspection in December! The later you call, the more competition you are going to run into for premo spots. Call early so you'll have piece of mind when the temperatures plummet.
   
   
   
2. Test out all your snowplowing equipment and make sure your car is ready to go.It is far easier to do this when it is warm than when it is cold. Make sure that you get your snow tires on the car, the car is clean and all the fluids are filled. 

3. Put away your summer garden, wrap trees in burlap, cover delicate crops, and put up the snow fence.It is much more rewarding to put away the garden in the fall than to deal with slimy, rotten plants in the spring. You'll thank yourself for your due diligence. Small trees (1-3 years) should be wrapped in burlap and tied with twine. Ironically, trees die in the winter not because of the cold but rather because they dehydrate. Frozen water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Covering your crops with straw or hay will help them make it through the winter and the snow fence helps to break up the driving snow which can obliterate a driveway in no time fast.
4. Drain outside hoses, close off faucets and drain them. Frozen water expands and if left inside the hose or God forbid the spout, you can be dealing with a broken pipe when the temperature outside is bitter. Not fun.
5. Wash all your outside windows.You are going to be stuck inside for five to six months dealing with gray skies. Make those windows sparkling to let in as much light as possible.
6. If you can't afford new windows and your windows are drafty, get a window plastic kit.Before we replaced many of the windows, our windows were horribly drafty. One window in particular had about a 1/4 of an inch of space between the two windows. If you can't replace a plastic kit that you attach to the window with adhesive tape and blow dry it taunt will help some.
7. Now is the time to buy and plant winter hardy perennials. Now the growers are trying to get rid of them and its a great time to put them in the ground to get them acclimated before the cold. Be sure to wrap them as well in burlap before snow comes.
8. Use all those fall leaves for compost. Put on your garden.
9. Finish all painting projects and do fall cleaning.While its still warm enough to open the windows, finish all those painting projects and clean your house. I think it is so much more important to do a fall cleaning than a spring cleaning any day. Again, you're going to be stuck in this house for five to six months so you may as well make it clean while you can still air it out.
10. Finally, enjoy the season. Towards that end, here is my carmel apples I made yesterday. 
    
    
    
    CARMEL APPLE DUMPLINGS

Large baking apples like Granny Smith or 20 oz. for    

 

each person

2 TBSP carmel powder from carmel apple kit

2 crust Pie crust (see recipe in PIE entry)

Sliced almonds or walnuts (opt)

Butter

2 TBSP brown sugar

1 TBSP cinnamon

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

Core apples. In a small bowl, mix carmel apple powder, brown sugar and cinnamon. Place in the hole where the core was removed.

Roll out the pie dough and cut large squares to fit around your apple and wrap apple.

Place in a glass pan with high sides.

Meanwhile heat 1 cup of brown sugar with the 1/2 cup water in a saucepan until boiling. Once the sugar becomes dissolved and liquidity, gently pour over the pie encrusted apples.

Bake at 425 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 45 mins. Serve with ice cream

Wood, Warmth and For The Love of Things That Burn....

        

Laying In The Wood for Winter    

     Even though the days are still warm, the nights are beginning to hint that winter is around the corner so get prepared. Everything must be put to bed or put away before that first snowflake falls.

This week we lay in our wood for winter. Switching to woodstove heat over our oil burner is one of the biggest things we did in our homefront strategy. Heating with primarily the woodstove cut our heating bill almost in half. We typically go through four to five facecord of wood each season.

     I grew up with a woodstove. My father was brilliant enough to actually run the water through it to heat water in the winter. When the woodstove was going, we could make tea from the tap!  It was located in our basement and many a day after school my brother and I would discover that we had wood to stack. Don't tell anyone, but stacking wood is one of the chores I never disliked doing. I find the process a little like fitting a puzzle together and it affords a lot of meditative time.

Nothing like a quiet night in front of a warming woodstove!



     A woodstove heat is different than many others you may have encountered. It's a lot warmer in many regards.

We actually began our journey with the woodstove by getting a fireplace insert (LOPI, Liberty)  that not only provided heat during the winter, but actually juts out enough to be able to cook on the surface should the power or furnace go out. I chose a woodstove over a pellet stove for that very reason. A pellet stove, it was explained to me, requires an electronic start to get going. A woodstove is completely manual so should all electricty go out, you are still in good shape. The inital woodstove was supposed to heat the entire house, but we discovered it only heated about half way. So when some money came our way, we invested it in a second woodstove (Osburne) which is, admittedly, more decorative, but it's a focal point in a room we spend a lot of time in so it's justified. This is our primary stove and during the winter, we can get that thing up to 80 degrees! There is nothing better than turning out the lights after a long day of work and fighting the snow than to turn out all the lights and tv and simply watch the fire burn. The concept of keeping the homefire burning becomes instantaneously clear and comforting.

     To lay a good fire, you need to start with firestarters. Firestarters can be bought but they can be expensive. If you have some basic ingredients though, you can make yours anytime you need them. Here is how I do it:

SIMPLE, HOMEMADE FIRESTARTERS

Newspaper

Old muffin tin

Paper cupcake liners

Woodshaving (pet supplies) or sawdust

(Opt) drier lint

Canning wax and/or the remains of old candles.

A wax pitcher (available in any craft store)

A medium size pot and water



Watch Your Wax!



Lay down several layers of newspaper to protect your work surface.

Put you muffin tin on the paper and fill each slot with a paper muffin tin liner.

Fill with woodshavings, saw dust and optional drier lint if desired.

Meanwhile, get your water boiling in the pot. Once boiling reduce heat to med or med-high. Put in your wax pitcher (I bought mine at AC Moore with a 40% off coupon available on their website most weeks) and put in your canning wax or the base of your cancel jar to melt the wax. Keep an eye on your wax and be very careful. Some candle wax, especially the cheap ones, can ignite quickly. If this happens. DO NOT THROW WATER ON IT! Rather, smother the flame with a pot lid. I haven't had this happen while making firestarters but I used to put old candle jars on the woodstove and did have one of the cheap ones ignite so I speak from experience.

 

As it melts, carefully pour the melted wax into your prepared firestarters. I don't wait for the entire thing to melt because it would simply take to long. Fill each muffin tin so that all the woodshavings/sawdust/drier lint has been captured or imbedded in the wax. It's ok if it's not completely covered but it needs to be held in place by the wax. Let harden a couple of hours and pop out. Place in a convenient place.