Happy Thanksgiving!

In the excitement of hosting my first Thanksgiving, I completely neglected to take any pictures, oops!! I worked on my menu, grocery list, and day-of schedule for several weeks, and still managed to have a few bumps in the road, but in the end we had a wonderful, tasty Thanksgiving with my husband's family.

As for the bumps in the road, here are a few things I learned:
1) Reynolds cooking bags, while BIG enough for a turkey are certainly not STRONG enough for a turkey. After putting 2 gallons of brine and an 11 lb turkey into the bag, I attempted to pick it up. Before my husband could get the words out of his mouth to tell me what a bad idea that was, my entire body and my entire kitchen were covered in garlicy brine, not to mention salmonella poisoning, as the bag busted and the turkey splashed back into the sink. I just stood there and laughed, what else can you do?? On the second attempt, we put a large glass bowl under the bag.
2) You don't need a large house with an island kitchen and a dining table that seats 20 to have a home. I've been a little house crazy lately and looking around our small apartment filled with family I realized that for now, this is our home. We have an open door policy,we want our friends and family to feel welcome any time. Come over for lunch, come over for dinner, come over for coffee and pie. We're so blessed, and so thankful, for all the wonderful people we're surrounded with.




Anyway, sap aside, here is the menu!





Roasted Turkey
Sausage Dressing
Sweet Potato Casserole
Mashed Potatos
Macaroni and Cheese
Challah
Cranberry Applesauce
Apple Pie

Roasted Turkey Brine:
Adapted from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS
2 gallons water
1 1/2 cups kosher salt
6-8 peeled whole garlic cloves
1/4 cup whole black peppercorns
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar



DIRECTIONS
In a saucepan, boil 2 quarts of water and salt, garlic, peppercorns, worcestershire sauce, and sugar until salt and sugar are dissolved. Add remaining cold water and cool brine, then add to turkey. I used a Reynolds cooking bag set inside a really big glass bowl to contain my 11 lb turkey. Soak turkey in brine for 12-24 hours.



Roasting Turkey
I used Kidd Kraddick's brown bag turkey instructions!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 large onion, cut in large chunks
Several stalks of celery (I use the leafy inside stalks that I usually throw away for veggie trays)
1 whole head of garlic, with the top cut off
Olive Oil
Turkey



DIRECTIONS
Rinse turkey after brining, both inside and out to remove any remaining salt. Place turkey in a roasting pan on a rack breast side up and put the vegetables inside the large neck cavity. Rub the entire outside of the turkey with olive oil, be sure to get inbetween the wings and legs and the breasts. Place a probe thermometer into the turkey breast, make sure it does not touch the bone. Slide the roasting pan with the turkey inside into a brown paper grocery sack. (If the sack has a logo on it, be sure the logo is on the bottom or the ink will bleed onto your turkey.) Sprinkle water over the top of the bag so the moisture can get out. Roast at 375 degrees for approximately 15 minutes per lb, or until the thermometer reads 170 degrees. At the end, I tore the top off of the bag and allowed to the top of the turkey to brown a little more for 15 minutes.





It turned out really great! Every single scrap of turkey was eaten. There was SO much flavor from the brine and the turkey was really moist.





I put the whole carcass, with the vegetables still inside, into the crockpot to make broth after dinner.



That's all for now, I may post more of the recipes later.

Pie Crust Success!

Along the road to becoming my own little Suzy Homemaker I've had a few things I count among my most proud moments. After tackling homemade bread, I decided I had to try a pie crust. I knew I could do better than what comes in the box from the store, but my first attempt was one of my biggest cooking disasters of all time. Picture a wet, gloppy mess shrunk down into the center of the pie pan. Not good!

So I called in the expert. My mom set up pie making class for me in her kitchen one Saturday and she put together the essentials I didn't have: a dough blender and a gorgeous wooden rolling pin (previous wet gloppy pie crust was rolled out with a coke can. Christmas cookies last year? A wine bottle.) She taught me how to blend the fat into the flour until I see small peas, how to roll it out without killing all the fat pockets, fold and transfer it to a plate, and flute or score the edges. After a few practices on my own, I had pretty good success last night. I decided to venture a little from my mom's recipe and use Martha Stewart's pate brisee recipe, but the technique--it's all from mom :)

Salmon Cakes

We had crab cakes Saturday night at a restaurant in Austin and to my surprise, James loved them! Maybe he's not nearly as picky of an eater as I think he is. Well I had been considering making them, then I logged on to the Whats For Dinner board on the nest and someone had posted this amazing salmon cake recipe. To my delight, farm raised salmon filets were also on sale at my grocery store--bonus! These turned out great. They're worth the little bit of work they take, and I followed the recipe exactly except I added a little salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to the flour before dredging. Definitely use the panko, so crunchy and yummy!

Pan-Fried Fresh Salmon Cakes

from Flymanswife's blog, adapted from Cooks Illustrated

1 1/4 lb salmon fillets, skinned, any bones removed

1 slice high-quality white sandwich bread, such as Pepperidge Farm, crusts removed & finely chopped

1/4 cup grated onion

2 Tbsp fresh parsley leaves

2 Tbsp mayonnaise

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

3-4 Tbsp olive oil

3/4 cup panko, or plain dry bread crumbs

Chop salmon into 1/2-inch pieces and mix with chopped bread, onion, parsley, mayonnaise, salt & lemon juice in medium bowl. Scoop a generous 1/4 cup portion and use your hands to form into a patty measuring roughly 2 1/2 inches in diameter and 3/4 inch thick. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining mixture, making 6-8 patties. Freeze the patties until the surface moisture has evaporated, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, spread the flour in a shallow dish. Beat the eggs in a second shallow dish. Spread the bread crumbs in a third. Dip the chilled salmon patties in the flour to cover and shake off the excess. Transfer to the beaten egg and with a slotted spatula, turn to coat; let the excess drip off. Transfer to the panko, shaking the dish to coat the patties completely. Return breaded patties to baking sheet.

Heat olive oil in large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until simmering, about 3 minutes. Add salmon patties and cook until medium golden brown on the bottoms. Flip cakes and cook until medium golden brown on the other side.

Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and allow to drain for a minute. Serve hot.