Tasting Spoons

Lemon and regular thyme soaking in the rain

What is it about rain that’s so soothing? Whenever it rains here (which isn’t often during most winters), I always hope I get to spend the day IN. In the warmth of my house. In my comfortable kitchen. And most times when I have a day like this, my thoughts turn to baking. In some ways I wish it didn’t, because I then eat whatever it is I bake. When we got up this morning (this is Friday) it was drizzling. It continued drizzling for several hours, then it turned to rain. Not pelting. Not a downpour. Just solid, steady rain. We so badly need the rain. After all the wildfires this Fall, we desperately need the rain. But the worry, always, is that after such a dry summer, houses on hills are subject to mud, runoff and in some areas, mudslides. We don’t live in a mudslide area, but we do live on a hill. Because of problems with our sprinkler system, some of the vegetation on our hill is sparse or dead. And we always have problems with our drains.

I didn’t know all about this stuff when we moved into this house on the hill. We have outside drains, on all sides of our house (a total of 13), that help funnel any water or rain runoff down the hill and into the sewer. Over the 5 years we’ve been here, we’ve had several floods in our house, in a guest bedroom that had a vulnerable wall. Not like Katrina or anything. Just water that backs up and leaks into the house. We hope all those pesky problems are repaired, so even if the drains back up, it wouldn’t ever get IN the house again.

But whenever we get our first real rain of the winter - that would be today - my DH is out surveying the property, scraping leaves out of the outside drains, making sure we don’t have a problem. During the 8-9 months of the year when we don’t have rain, the little bit of water that goes through those outside drains (they start in the rear of our house, the uphill part) and route water underground to the main drains (the slope on the far downhill part of our property) is not a problem. It’s the heavier rains that could cause us grief. Periodically tree roots wriggle their way into the joints, so we must have a Roto-rooter guy over to clear things out. Our house is about 35 years old, and those drain pipes likely have settled, perhaps, maybe even broken in places. We are, supposedly, on a regular schedule of having the drain lines cleared out. No waiting until after the rains begin. We need it done regularly, so we DON’T have a problem. Just another budget item that we didn’t know about when we bought the house on the hill.

So, I’m here in the kitchen. It’s chilly outside, though not stormy. It’s not a thundering kind of rain, just that lovely, gentle type that usually doesn’t cause problems. Maybe our slope plants will enjoy the long, steady gulp of water today. My herbs certainly will, those that have survived (Italian parsley, rosemary and thyme).

Sometimes a stay-home-to-watch-the-rain kind of day calls for soup. But we’re going out to dinner (2 hours away, without traffic issues, which we likely will have) tonight. Californians generally don’t know how to drive in rain, so our streets and highways become clogged with super-cautious people, or those who think the opposite - that they can still drive 75 with not a care in the world, until somebody veers, slides or has an accident. We’re going to Fallbrook to celebrate our good friend Tony’s birthday at his home. He didn’t want any gifts, so about an hour ago I just decided to bake cookies for him instead. He’s a widower, and although he cooks, I doubt he does much baking. Actually he’s a very good cook (Italian by blood), but I only know that he makes big pots of soup or stews, pasta sauces, etc.

My house smells so wonderful, and the rain continues to pitter-pat outside. I’m content. Thankful for my happy life. My home. My family. Friends. And all of you, a few I know, most I don’t, who read my blog. Bless you, my online friends.

Sometimes my DH doesn’t give me much notice that the guys are coming to our home the next morning for Bible Study. He knew two weeks ago but neglected to tell me. So, yesterday afternoon about 3:00 he just happened to mention it in passing. I said, when were you going to tell me about this, dearest? He said, well, I just did [big, apologetic grin].

So, wanting to do something new (the guys have had all of my regular repertoire of morning coffee cakes more than once) I swiftly turned to my latest favorite baking book, Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My House to Yours. I do love that book. Not wanting to make a trip to the grocery store, I actually found several “Morning Cakes” I could make, but settled on this one.

Out came all the ingredients and this pulled together fairly quickly. I liked the crumb topping - it’s a bit different - well, similar to others - but different because of the orange zest - and the espresso powder in it. Oops, I opened my jar of espresso powder that’s been languishing in the pantry for at least a year without any use, and uh, it’s a solid mass. Oh, da–! Usually I’ll just make some very strong espresso instead to substitute in a recipe, but this was in a dry topping, so I couldn’t do that. What to do? I had no instant coffee (we don’t drink the stuff). So, out came the Dutch-process cocoa. It worked just fine, although I suppose Dorie might not like my substitution. She obviously was going for a cardamom and coffee pairing here. The batter is hand mixed, which gives the finished cake a little bit of irregular texture - not a bad thing. It’s not like a dessert cake that’s beat with a mixer until totally smooth.

The coffeecake/crumb cake was very nice. This isn’t a wow kind of cake - just good home made flavors, perfect with a hot cup of coffee. Luckily there were leftovers, so when the boys come next week I’ll pop it in the oven for a little re-heat.

Cardamom Crumb Cake
Recipe By Dorie Greenspan - Baking: From My House to Yours
Servings: 9

CRUMB TOPPING:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup walnuts — coarsely chopped
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest — finely grated
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules — preferably espresso [or cocoa]
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
4 tablespoons unsalted butter — at room temperature
CAKE BATTER DRY INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules — preferably espresso [or cocoa]
2/3 cup sugar
CAKE BATTER WET INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons orange zest — finely grated
8 tablespoons unsalted butter — melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup espresso coffee — cooled
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 400 and arrange rack in center of oven. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Put the pan on a baking sheet.
2. CRUMBS: Put all the ingredients except butter in a bowl and toss them together with a spatula just to blend. Add the butter, in small little pieces, and using your fingers or spatula, mix everything together until you’ve got crumbs of different sizes. It’s nice to have a few big pieces, so don’t overdo it. Set the crumbs aside (up to 3 days ahead).
3. CAKE: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom and espresso powder in a large bowl. Turn the dry ingredients out onto a sheet of waxed paper, and put the sugar and zest in the bowl. Rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong, then return the dry ingredients to the bowl and whisk to blend.
4. Put the remaining ingredients in another bowl and whisk them to blend. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir - DON’T BEAT - to mix. Stir ONLY until you’ve got an evenly moistened batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and top with a thick, even layer of the crumbs. Pat the crumbs ever so gently into the top of the batter.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cake has risen (it will crown the pan), the crumbs are golden brown and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Transfer to a rack to cool in the pan, before serving warm or at room temperature.
7. You can unmold the cake if you want to, but you’ll lose some of the crumbs when you turn it over. I prefer to cut the cake in the pan, taking care not to nick the surface of the pan with my knife. Use a silicone spatula if possible.
NOTES : This cake is best served warm the day it’s baked. If you must make it ahead, freeze it. Defrost and reheat in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes to warm it.
Per Serving: 422 Calories; 21g Fat (44.6% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 52g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 90mg Cholesterol; 195mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 4 Fat; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
To print a PDF recipe, click HERE.

While our whole family was here over last week, there were a lot of meals and snacks being prepared at all hours. Our grandchildren spent many, many hours in and out of our large, heated jacuzzi, and would beg for snacks like apples and cheese, soft drinks, juice (and towels, oh my, the towels). The refrigerator was bursting at the seams with leftovers and other stuff for a variety of meal types. And early on Saturday morning, our daughter Sara was already baking. She loves to bake. I mean it. SHE. LOVES. TO. BAKE. Sara usually prefers to bring desserts or baked items when we have a potluck meal. She’s a very good cook in general, and her daughter Sabrina, aged 11, is already a very good baker too. She’s been helping her mom since she stood next to her mom’s elbow on a stool at the kitchen counter.

My standby Buttermilk Scones are more like a very rich biscuit. The ingredients, however, are very, very similar. Mine have less sugar, less butter (which surprised me), but more buttermilk. Amazing what a little addition of buttermilk can make to a baked good. Sara’s have a little drier crumb (guess that’s the buttermilk at work there), but they were absolutely delicious. I may try her recipe next time I bake scones. There are a precious few of these in the freezer, which we’ll dole out for special occasions in the next couple of weeks. Thank you, Sara.

Sara’s Cranberry Orange Scones
3 c flour
1/3 c sugar
2 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
½ t salt
3/4 c cold butter
½ c dried cranberries
zest from 1 orange
1 c buttermilk
milk
a little cinnamon and sugar
Preheat oven to 425. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then add the cold butter. Blend with knives or a pastry blender. Then add in the cranberries and orange zest. Pour in the cold buttermilk and gently stir dough until it holds together. Pour out onto a floured surface and press dough to about a 12 inch round and cut into shapes and place on a large baking sheet. Brush tops with milk and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Remove to cool for about one minutes. Serve immediately.
Per Serving: 247 Calories; 12g Fat (43.8% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 32mg Cholesterol; 389mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates. The nutrition count depends on how large you make the scones. This recipe makes about 14 or 15 large scones.
To print a PDF recipe, click HERE.

Our friends, Russ & Stacey, who live in the Bay Area, did two turkeys for their Thanksgiving crowd. One was smoked, the other baked. With lots of family and children around, Stacey wanted to make it easy on herself and prepared this all-purpose gravy that came from Cook’s Illustrated. She emailed to tell me this gravy was just wonderful, and she liked it because it could be made ahead. We all know what it’s like in the kitchen during the last hour before Thanksgiving dinner is ready to eat. Great idea, Stacey, and thanks for the suggestion. I’m going to add this to my Thanksgiving repertoire for next year.

With my posting yesterday about Kosher turkeys (and sometimes they’re too salty to use the drippings for anything) this gravy would be a great make-ahead dish. One more menu item ticked off the list early. Here’s what C.I. has to say about it:

• This gravy can be served with almost any type of meat or poultry or with mashed potatoes. If you would like to double the recipe, use a Dutch oven to give the vegetables ample space for browning and increase the cooking times by roughly 50 percent. The finished gravy can be frozen. To thaw either a single or double recipe, place the gravy and 1 tablespoon of water in a saucepan over low heat and bring slowly to a simmer. The gravy may appear broken or curdled as it thaws, but a vigorous whisking will recombine it.

Cook’s Illustrated’s All-Purpose Gravy

1 small carrot, peeled and chopped
1 small rib celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 whole bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
5 whole peppercorns
Salt and ground black pepper
1. In food processor, pulse carrot until broken into rough 1/4-inch pieces, about five 1-second pulses. Add celery and onion; pulse until all vegetables are broken into 1/8-inch pieces, about five 1-second pulses.
2. Heat butter in large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat; when foaming subsides, add vegetables and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and well browned, about 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly browned and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Whisking constantly, gradually add broths; bring to boil, skimming off any foam that forms on surface. Reduce heat to medium-low and add bay leaf, thyme, and peppercorns; simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced to 3 cups, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Strain gravy through fine-mesh strainer into clean saucepan, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Serve hot. Make approximately 4 cups.
Per 1/2 cup serving: 82 Calories; 5g Fat (47.4% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 12mg Cholesterol; 29mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Fat.
To print a PDF recipe, click HERE.

• Jews do not eat blood because the life of the animal (literally, the soul of the animal) is contained in the blood. This applies only to the blood of birds and mammals, not to fish blood. Thus, it is necessary to remove all blood from the flesh of kosher animals.

Even after slaughtering, the animal still has some blood contained within, so they must perform a second process:

• The remaining blood must be removed, either by broiling or soaking and salting. Liver may only be kashered by the broiling method, because it has so much blood in it and such complex blood vessels.

Since I’m a huge convert to the brining of lots of different meats, but particularly chicken and turkeys, I am relieved of having to DO the brining. The Kosher process does it for me. And since I’ve not perfected the ratio of water, sugar and salt so that a turkey doesn’t come out too salty, I’m happy to let the Kosher butcher do all the work for me.

I will say, buying Kosher is more expensive. This year I went to Trader Joe’s, who usually has them at Thanksgiving and Christmas, to buy my turkeys on Monday, the 19th. They were already sold out. I was absolutely devastated. I stood there in the middle of the store, with lots of people trying to get by me, and nearly cried. I talked to any clerk I could find. Nope, no Kosher turkeys. I went to the customer service desk. And very nearly cried. They shrugged. They told me all of the TJ’s stores in Orange County were sold out by 10 am that morning.

The last 2 years I’ve relied on TJ’s Kosher turkeys. They’re certainly not carried at any of my local grocery stores. Thank goodness for Whole Foods. Yes, they had Kosher turkeys, but each 14 pound bird was about $75.00. A whole lot more money than TJ’s. But, these two were the most moist turkeys we’d ever eaten. And the brining was absolutely perfect - I could use the juice in the bottom of the pan - it wasn’t too salty at all. Some of our guests were blown away by how juicy the breast meat was. I may have converted several people to buying Kosher next year.

So, your challenge is to find a Kosher market (or a TJ’s) and try a Kosher chicken or turkey. you’ll be amazed, I do believe! As a little aside, I notice that all of the Kosher chickens and turkeys I’ve purchased have still had some feathers attached. And the only organ meat included is the liver - no heart of gizard. That’s part of the Kosher law. So, there’s your little lesson today in Kosher!

Note: my Kosher info and facts for this posting came from Judaism 101.

Do you run out of oven space on holidays? Especially Thanksgiving? Fortunately, I have 2 regular ovens AND a microwave/convection oven too. When we remomdeled our kitchen a year ago we put in 2 ovens. They are just 27″ wide, so the two turkeys took up both regular ovens with no room to spare for side dishes. We baked yeast bread in the small convection oven an hour or so before dinner, and heated up one of the vegetable dishes in the microwave.

Making mashed potatoes at the last minute is not my idea of fun cooking on Thanksgiving. Recently a friend mentioned that she keeps mashed potatoes in her crockpot for holiday dinners. What a great idea, I thought. She said, as long as your potato recipe has a goodly amount of fat (butter, sour cream or something), the potatoes will hold for hours. I’m here to tell you the technique works like a charm. I’ll be doing this year after year after year.

Again, I turned to Rick Rodgers’ book, Thanksgiving 101, and he has a “Make Ahead Mashed Potato Casserole” in the 1998 edition. His are baked, but I used the recipe with just one substitution, then piled the 10 pounds of mashed potato mixture into the large crockpot. [I made a double batch.] The recipe below is for 5 pounds of potatoes. I have a very old crockpot - with a ceramic insert. It has the high, low and auto settings, but it’s big. Good thing since we filled the pot to the brim with potatoes. These can’t be called healthy in any way, but this was Thanksgiving, after all. I didn’t skimp - I used full fat cream cheese, and full fat sour cream. Were they good? Abso-posi-tutely, as my dad used to say. I’m looking forward to all the leftovers for tonight’s dinner. The pumpkin pie is gone and the broccoli with Hollandaise is gone, but we have lots of the other stuff: the super-moist kosher turkey, dressing, green beans, broccoli/leek puree, gravy AND mashed potatoes!

Make-Ahead Mashed Potato Casserole/Crockpot Method

Source: mostly based on a recipe from Thanksgiving 101 by Rick Rodgers

Servings: 8

5 pounds russet potatoes, peeled

8 ounces cream cheese, cut in chunks

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup buttermilk (original recipe used milk)

Salt and pepper to taste

About 1 T. butter

1. Fill a large pot with water and cut up the potatoes in quarters (or more, depending on the size of the potatoes). Simmer until potatoes are tender, but not falling apart. Drain.

2. Using a hand masher or a hand mixer, puree the potatoes until smooth, then add the cream cheese, sour cream and buttermilk. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Pour potatoes into crock pot and dot the top with about a tablespoon or butter. Put lid on and set crock pot at lowest setting. Will hold for several hours.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 391 Calories; 16g Fat (36.8% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 54g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 44mg Cholesterol; 132mg Sodium. Exchanges: 3 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 3 Fat.

For Thanksgving, we had 3 vegetable side dishes, plus dressing and mashed potatoes. This was one of the three vegetables. A recipe I hadn’t made before, and I loved it. Very simple. And fairly low in fat besides. I wouldn’t exactly call it purely healthy, but there are only 11 grams of fat per serving. Not too bad.

I’ve mentioned before that I use MasterCook 9 for my recipe software. It was developed by Sierra products, but now is owned by a company that doesn’t provide much customer service or support. So, a couple of years ago when I was working toward printing my own cookbook, I needed more help than the help screens were offering. I found a message board kind of place, a Yahoo group, where I could post questions and get really helpful answers for some of my complicated cookbook problems. (FYI: I never did print the cookbook, having decided to start this blog instead.) In reading the boards I discovered a site that offers recipes already formatted in MasterCook (another Yahoo group called MC Taste_Tested), so it’s a very easy thing to import them into my program. People from all over the country load recipes there every day. It got to be too much reading, though, so have since stopped receiving the compilation every day. But this recipe came from that source, and I have no idea to whom I owe the credit. Doing a Google search provided nothing with the same or similar name. So, I tip my hat to some unknown person who uploaded this recipe.

This can be made ahead with no difficulty, and heated up in the microwave if you’re short on time. The original recipe is just warmed on the stovetop, but I didn’t want to do that for our Thanksgiving dinner. So I just put it into a oil-sprayed baking dish, refrigerated it overnight, then heated in the microwave for about 4-5 minutes, with platic wrap intact. DH liked this vegetable the best.

Dilled Broccoli and Leek Puree
Servings: 8
4 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 pounds leeks — halved, washed, sliced
1 large russet potato — peeled, quartered
1 pound broccoli — stems and florets
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon fresh dill — minced

Salt and pepper to taste
1. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks and cook until very soft, about 20 minutes. Stir often to prevent burning. You do not want the leeks to brown.
2. Cook potato in boiling water until almost tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in broccoli stems and cook for 5 minutes. Add broccoli florets and cook an additional 5 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Drain. Puree leeks, potato and broccoli in a food processor. Add cream and dill, then season with salt and pepper.
3. Transfer mixture to a saucepan to keep warm, or pour into an oil-sprayed baking dish. May be refrigerated at this point and kept up to 2 days. Bring to room temp before continuing.
4. Heat in microwave for 4-5 minutes, until heated through. Sprinkle top with additional dill, if desired.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 132 Calories; 11g Fat (70.4% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 33mg Cholesterol; 86mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1 Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 Fat.

To print a PDF recipe, HERE.

I do believe, if I say so myself, that this was far and away the best dressing I’ve ever made. I used to buy Pepperidge Farms package cubes, and started from that relatively mild slate and made it my own with additions, etc., but this time I decided to veer way off the traditional path. Last Thanksgiving I made Rachel Ray’s apple and onion stuffin’ muffins. They were good. Very good, actually, but the taste didn’t wow me. I didn’t want apples this time, which gives dressing a real sweet taste. I did like the convenience of baking them in a muffin tin - they can be heated up in a jiffy, so you pop them into the oven when you take the turkey out to rest before you slice it up to serve. And by the time you are ready to serve, the stuffin’ muffins are done.

I could have used the same muffin style, I suppose, even with this version, but it seemed easier to just make it in a big pan because of serving 16 people. (FYI: I made a double batch, so baked it in a 9×13 pan.) For the last few years I’ve been buying kosher turkeys. And generally they are too salty to put dressing in the bird itself. So since I discovered this super-wonderful-juicy turkey preparation, I’ve been baking the dressing outside the bird.

I wanted dressing with Italian sausage this year. So I turned to my favorite Thanksgiving cookbook, Thanksgiving 101 by Rick Rodgers. (As a side note, the photo at left is of Rodgers’ new 2007 revised edition - I have a 1998 edition). Sure enough, I found a recipe titled Italian Stuffing with Sausage and Parmesan Cheese. I took some liberties with Rodgers’ recipe, so I can’t exactly give him full credit. Part of it is mine, and part thanks to Trader Joe’s. I bought Trader Joe’s boxed dry stuffing/dressing mix. I added many of the ingredients in Rodgers’ recipe, then I added my own minor changes. So here’s what it is: onion, celery (lots), bell peppers, garlic, hot Italian sausage, thyme, oregano, Trader Joe’s seasoning packet, some Parmesan cheese, butter and chicken stock. We have some left over, along with some gravy. Delish that will be.

Italian Spicy Sausage Dressing

Source: loosely based on Rick Rodgers’ recipe from Thanksgiving 101

Servings: 10

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

6 ribs celery, diced (including leaves)

2 bell peppers, chopped, red, orange or yellow, not greet

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 pound hot Italian sausage

2 t. oregano

2 t. thyme

1 package Trader Joe’s stuffing mix

1 package seasoning mix, from the stuffing mix

1/3 cup grated Parmegiano-Reggiano cheese

1 cube butter, unsalted

3 1/2 cups chicken broth

1. Saute the onion and celery until they are translucent. Add bell peppers and garlic, and continue to cook for about 2 minutes. Remove to a bowl and set aside. Add Italian sausage to the pan and cook, breaking up the meat into small pieces as it cooks. Add seasonings and dry herb packet. Drain of any fat and add to the vegetables. (At this point you can refrigerate for a day or two. When ready to complete the dressing, bring to room temp, or heat the mixture in a pan.)

2. Bring the chicken broth to a boil and add the butter. Once butter is melted, turn off the heat.

3. Preheat oven to 325. In a very large bowl place the Trader Joe’s cubes. Add the onion, Italian sausage, pepper mixture and 2 spoons, fluff and mix this thoroughly.

4. Have ready a 9×9 ovenproof pan or glass dish. Gradually stir the broth/butter mixture into the bread cubes, tossing as you add. It helps to have somebody else do the pouring.

5. Pour into the 9×9 pan, cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes, removing the foil for the last 5 minutes (if you remember). Serve immediately.

Per Serving: 286 Calories; 19g Fat (61.2% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 20g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 42mg Cholesterol; 720mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 3 1/2 Fat.

To print a PDF recipe, click HERE.

L-R: Sliced (kosher) turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and pearl onions, one mounded plate of food.

L-R: broccoli/leek puree, Italian sausage dressing, broccoli hollandaise, grilled orange slices.

Awesome pumpkin pie and DH and I in the kitchen just before the dinner bell.
I’ll be sharing the recipes for the dressing, the mashed potatoes and the broccoli/leek puree in the next couple of days. The pumpkin pies (all 3 of them) were Libby’s recipe, still considered one of the best there is.