My Very First. Well not really. Of course I have had Thanks Giving before, every year of my life and sometimes twice depending on the family situations.
This is the first, however, that I am in charge; the only cook in the kitchen. Even though its just us, (husband and the 3 cats) of course I have a 12 pound turkey. I am going the distance.
I dance between complete comfort and total panic with the prospect of doing this on my own. I have been raised and been around great cooks my whole life. I have always been in the kitchen if not the right hand gal of many mothers on Roast Giving day. How could I not already have this in the bag? But a whole turkey, dressing, baby red potatoes, asparagus, bread, cranberry sauce, gravy and dessert?
Really? What am I thinking??!?!
I have drawn the line in the sand though; not stuffing but dressing and a store bought selection of cheesecake bites instead of my own pie. I am not going to try anything fancy, just straightforward recipes and stuff I am familiar with, like asparagus - easiest thing in the world. Now that I have said that, though, I know that will be my down fall.
I am going the leg work, I read Fannie Farmer this morning. Adam and I picked the menu together so we will both be happy. Grocery shopping is done. And no guests, which will ease the pressure.
All I can do is hope now. Hope for the best, and know that I have ravioli and a jar of sauce if it all goes down the pooper.
My one question: do I defrost the turkey first? I am going to just in case - it won't hurt, right?
Happy Thanks Giving everyone.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Nutbutters
I love nut butter. My passion for nut butter started with peanut butter. I think nothing is better than natural PB with my mom’s Raspberry Jam on whole gran bread or smothered on a ripe banana. But if i need a quick snack or a topping for ice cream I go for a spoonful of the more traditional PB like Jif or Skippy.
Back to nut butter; I love that different nuts have such different flavors and textures. I love how creative nut butters can be, just like their whole nut counterparts. It’s not uncommon to see candied walnuts or chocolate covered almonds but only recently can you find chocolate flavored peanut butter.
Every once and a while I will spoil myself and buy Almond butter or this amazing maple cashew butter from our local hippy co-op. At one of our recent grocery shopping trips I was having the ounces versus price debate with myself over fancy almond butter when my husband asked, “Are you suddenly allergic to normal peanut butter?” Considering that my two almond butter options were both more than twice the price of the peanut butter I usually get I cannot blame him.
As I grudgingly put the fancy stuff back and went to get the normal PB I decided it was time to take action and create the product I was looking for. I could make my own stinkin’ nut butter and I already had everything I needed!
My first two experiments were walnut butter and almond butter. The walnuts my mom bought me from Cost Co a while back and have been patiently waiting in my freezer. I am not a big walnut fan because they taste bitter to me but they have been donned as the latest “supper food” so I had to get on board. Almonds I had from making Chickpea burgers, which were awesome by the way.
From there it could not have been easier. I set the oven at 350 and spread the nuts out on my half-sheet baking pan. When the nuts looked toasted i took them out and threw them in the food processor. i didn’t both with pulsing but just set the processor to ‘ON’ and read my book for a while.
Every few pages I would give it a look. When everything looked like it was the same consistency I gave it a taste. I added some sea salt and brown sugar and let it go for a bit longer. When it reached the texture I wanted I poured/ scouped everything out into an empty glass PB jar. These amounts made around 6 to 8 oz of butter.
The walnuts took about 16 minutes in the own and the almonds about 13 minutes. For half of the half sheet I added a ½ tsp of salt and a tsp of sugar to both. The thing that surprised me was the end consistency. The walnut butter was very loose and runny but the almond butter was stiff so I added some light olive oil to the almond butter to loosen it up.
For my second experiment I did a whole sheet of walnuts. I toasted them at a slightly higher temperature, 375. instead of brown sugar I added some maple syrup and processed it for a longer period of time. The consistency is completely different, It was much more smooth, almost like it had been whipped.
Total success. Now I am having day dreams of my new business.... :)
Back to nut butter; I love that different nuts have such different flavors and textures. I love how creative nut butters can be, just like their whole nut counterparts. It’s not uncommon to see candied walnuts or chocolate covered almonds but only recently can you find chocolate flavored peanut butter.
Every once and a while I will spoil myself and buy Almond butter or this amazing maple cashew butter from our local hippy co-op. At one of our recent grocery shopping trips I was having the ounces versus price debate with myself over fancy almond butter when my husband asked, “Are you suddenly allergic to normal peanut butter?” Considering that my two almond butter options were both more than twice the price of the peanut butter I usually get I cannot blame him.
As I grudgingly put the fancy stuff back and went to get the normal PB I decided it was time to take action and create the product I was looking for. I could make my own stinkin’ nut butter and I already had everything I needed!
My first two experiments were walnut butter and almond butter. The walnuts my mom bought me from Cost Co a while back and have been patiently waiting in my freezer. I am not a big walnut fan because they taste bitter to me but they have been donned as the latest “supper food” so I had to get on board. Almonds I had from making Chickpea burgers, which were awesome by the way.
From there it could not have been easier. I set the oven at 350 and spread the nuts out on my half-sheet baking pan. When the nuts looked toasted i took them out and threw them in the food processor. i didn’t both with pulsing but just set the processor to ‘ON’ and read my book for a while.
Every few pages I would give it a look. When everything looked like it was the same consistency I gave it a taste. I added some sea salt and brown sugar and let it go for a bit longer. When it reached the texture I wanted I poured/ scouped everything out into an empty glass PB jar. These amounts made around 6 to 8 oz of butter.
The walnuts took about 16 minutes in the own and the almonds about 13 minutes. For half of the half sheet I added a ½ tsp of salt and a tsp of sugar to both. The thing that surprised me was the end consistency. The walnut butter was very loose and runny but the almond butter was stiff so I added some light olive oil to the almond butter to loosen it up.
For my second experiment I did a whole sheet of walnuts. I toasted them at a slightly higher temperature, 375. instead of brown sugar I added some maple syrup and processed it for a longer period of time. The consistency is completely different, It was much more smooth, almost like it had been whipped.
Total success. Now I am having day dreams of my new business.... :)
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