Leftovers no more, hello pizza!

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leftovers, pizza, postaday2014, turkey

We did the leftovers justice, nothing got thrown away and I can comfortably say that our turkey and all of the fixings were well honored this year. But all good things must come to an end and pizza was such a welcome relief after all things turkey and turkey inspired.

I made my usual pizza dough which includes whole wheat flour mixed in with the unbleached flour; 2 cups and 1/4 unbleached and 1 and 1/4 whole wheat flour is the ratio that I use. All of the usual suspects were used; the Cento Pizza Sauce, fresh mozzarella, shredded mozzarella, sliced onion and fresh basil. I had extra bacon left over from breakfast that morning and that went on top because as everyone knows; everything tastes better with bacon. 😀

I made two pizzas and of course that means leftovers, but I never mind leftover pizza.

The perfect Turkey!

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homeless, postaday2014, turkey

Since we might get hit with out first snowstorm tomorrow; my husband suggested that we go food shopping today just in case. I had a coupon for 7 dollars off from the Big Y for the turkey of your choice, so I was prepared to maybe have to fight over a prospective bird, but I lucked out. Everyone and their brother were politely vying for the big birds while I was hovering in the background, quietly scoping something smaller in size and there it was, hiding on the outskirts, right next to a huge organic, heritage breed from D’Artagnan. This was the perfect bird; about 13 pounds, antibiotic free and hormone free, just what I had hoped for and it was the only one. No one else seemed interested in my bird so I picked it up very , very happily. I went to the other supermarket in our area, just down the road, to pick up other things that I needed on my list and thank goodness I got the turkey when I did because Stop-n-Shop only carried big birds, nothing smaller than 18 pounds so I did very well. 🙂

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I laugh at myself for getting so proud and excited over picking a turkey, but while I was driving home, I became somber and reflective when I was thinking of all those who aren’t going to have a chance at being as happy over a turkey. I made a point of donating enough to feed 19 people at the Springfield Rescue Mission and at Stop-n-Shop we made sure to donate ten dollars to the food bank for the past two weeks whenever we shopped there. It is the least that we can do to help those who aren’t able to provide for themselves this Thanksgiving. I wish that we had better political and economic policies in place for those in need. As a society we should be trying harder to help everyone get a seat at the table.

The day after turkey day

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feast, hard work, postaday2012, relaxation, rest, turkey

The infamous day after Thanksgiving. To some Americans, it’s back to work as usual, for others it is still a vacation day, but for so many die hard shoppers, it is Black Friday. The day of the ultimate sales for the upcoming holidays, I have never gone shopping on Black Friday specifically, on purpose, to take advantage of sales. I dislike shopping on a good day so I am definitely not going to go when you are guaranteed mob-like settings and scenario’s.

The baby girl had a doctor’s appointment today, because with her being away at college, these little school breaks are the only opportunity to squeeze in health maintenance, so this had the three of us out of the house. On our way back from the doctor’s, someone asked for a stop into T.J Max. That store I didn’t mind, because they do not abuse their employees as far as I know. On the other hand, I signed a petition supporting the Walmart workers who went on strike today due to poor working conditions, forcing them to take on larger percentage’s of their health care coverage thus making their take home pay even closer to poverty level, all this while the company is reporting sky high profits. Moreover, a large percentage of Walmart employees have to depend on food stamps to make ends meet. We were not going to Walmart today or in the future if we can help it.

I’ll get off my soap box, I am suffering from a Thanksgiving preparing, baking and cooking hangover. I woke up this morning feeling really slow and headachy. I think that it was the adrenaline of being in the kitchen for hours and coordinating everything to the minute and even the day before Thanksgiving was packed full of chores and activity, so I am pooped, but in a good way. I spent time doing something that I love to do, cooking and baking, it makes for a very good tiredness.

Thanksgiving and the bird

Tags

family, feast, postaday2012, spinach gratin, Thanksgiving, turkey

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Can you believe that a turkey takes fours hours to cook. This bird came in weighing 16 lbs, I know that there are many families that go even larger, such as twenty-two pounds or even higher than that, those birds must take all of six or seven hours in the oven. The kitchen in those houses must be steam baths by the end of the day.

I was feeling the heat myself in my kitchen, but it has been very mild outside for the past two days, of which I am not complaining. I think that I lost an ounce or so between all the chopping, peeling, stuffing, sauteeing and basting.

The meal for our family of four was fairly simple. The baby girl made a request for the first course; smoked salmon with a dill cream sauce layered between potato pancakes and the main course was the turkey with wild rice, long grain rice and sausage stuffing both inside the bird and the extra was baked in a casserole dish, and the baby boy asked for spinach gratin. We had salad just in case for any who wanted it after the main course (no one had any) and there is the pumpkin pie for dessert. For the moment we are still too full from the smoked salmon and the turkey and its fixings to think about dessert for the moment.

All in all I am very happy with how everything turned out, Martha Stewart’s technique for the perfect turkey has not failed me in the four years that I have been following her directions. It’s actually very simple; you pour a bottle of good dry white wine in a pot, melt three sticks of butter in the wine, let it cool and put a big section of cheesecloth in the buttery wine so that it is completely drenched and after you have prepared your turkey for the oven, you drape the cheesecloth over the entire breast and if it covers the legs, that’s fine. The oven has been preheated at 450 in the meantime and you put the turkey legs in first, in that hot oven for 30 minutes, at the 30 minute mark you lower the temperature to 350 while you are basting the cheesecloth with the buttery wine. Every half hour, you baste it until the last hour, when you discard the cheesecloth and you flip the bird and point the breast towards the back of the oven. When the juices run clear at the thigh, you know it is done. This will give you a wonderful turkey each and every time.

The spinach gratin was easy also, I got the recipe from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten and it is basically creamed spinach with grated Swiss cheese on top and put in a hot oven 425 for 25 minutes or until the Swiss cheese turns golden brown on top.

We gave thanks at the table for each other and for everything in our lives. It was a very nice and quiet family time, just the four of us.

Gearing up for Thanksgiving

Tags

cooking, family, postaday2012, pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving, turkey

Today I was busy, busy, busy. I was non stop until 6:00 this evening. Jack and I woke up at 7:00, I had my oatmeal and my pot of coffee while reading all of the publications that I receive on my e-mail and then I wrote a comment on Huffington Post regarding Grover Norquist and his anti-tax pledges and the impact that has on negotiations in Washington D.C related to the “fiscal cliff” and I cross posted the comment to my political blog A Progressive’s Thoughts. I then answered a prompt from Plinkie and published it on WordPress. After finishing my writing for the day, I took Jack for his mile walk and emptied out the fireplace, reloaded the living room, the library and the garage with wood. The front yard needed some sprucing up so I trimmed back the wild grasses and the spent chrysanthemums. I took Jack back out for his second walk, prepared his dog food bowl for later and made the long list of groceries needed for the feast for tomorrow. I also made enough pastry dough for two pies and put it in the refrigerator to rest for later this afternoon.

This got me to 11:30 which meant that I was running almost late. I ate lunch fairly quickly because I wanted to leave before twelve, I had quite a bit of food shopping to do besides other errands and I wanted to have everything done before my doctor’s appointment at 2:30 this afternoon. My pumpkin pies were going to be baked this afternoon after my doctor’s visit so I didn’t want to dilly-dally after the doctor’s, I wanted to get home and bake. The house needed some good smells, especially the ones that start drifting out of the oven door; cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ginger and pumpkin. It’s a mixture of fall, warmth, home and family; all the things that mean Thanksgiving.

Right now writing this, I am happy to report that the pies came out wonderfully. I got all of my errands done with more than enough time to be punctual for the dermatologist, who was on time himself. My visit lasted all of five minutes, he took a picture of a troublesome mole with the plan to revisit it in six months. I got home unloaded the groceries, fed Jack, walked him again, made the pies, stripped the beds, did the laundry and kept an eye on the pies and welcomed my hubby and the baby girl home. Like I said busy, busy, busy and tomorrow will be no different.