Bad Turkey Juice, Bad!!!

Would it be ok to hate a dead turkey??? Seeing I've never actually had a turkey that hasn't been frozen (yes, I've cooked a frozen turkey before...our company was able to stay a long time!!). You could say, I was quite surprised to notice turkey juice meandering around and socializing with the other refrigerator tenants. The produce got especially close to the turkey juice. In other words, I had to clean the bottom of my fridge out and throw out all my produce I had bought for the week! Which meant: I had nothing to eat!! My cucumbers, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, ginger, apples, pico de galo!! the whole shabang! Our kitchen was cleared and then sanitized after the cleaning expo. Lesson learned, I will always put the bird in a pan, just in case the Turkey juices get lonely and dare to mingle with the dinner guests residing in my fridge.

Committed, disposable no longer

I bought my very first roasting pan the other day. This may seem strange to some but I have gone 13 yrs now of cooking for myself and my family without a roasting pan. I've always bought the foil pans that can be thrown away. Yeah, its worked but I feel as though now I'm committed. Now I can buy an extra large turkey or ham for the holidays and not fear the pan will bend or disintegrate from the 7 extra hours it takes to cook the turkey because it didn't thaw all the way and its Thanksgiving morning and you have company coming that will not leave until they have a full meal in their belly! With the pan, I also bought a turkey. We're not having Thanksgiving here at the house this year, so that means no left over turkey sandwiches with cranberry and gravy for supper and lunch the day after!! I plan to make the turkey and sides the day before thanksgiving then when we come home we'll have plenty to choose from, maybe even make some soup!!

No ordinary nugget

Nuggets, one of the forbidden foods of a dieter, dietitian, health nut, purist, or whatever you'd call someone who's watching what they eat for whatever reason they might choose! I must give special thanks to a friend, who will remain anonymous (you know who you are!). This friend made dinner for me and my children one night. She made turkey nuggets. The kids loved them, so about a year later, I decided to make them! Right, I know...it only took me that long to make something the kids liked that was easy!? I must preface the rest of this with "after last nights chicken nuggets, I never want to willingly eat frozen-processed-even minimally processed-chicken nuggets ever again!" So last night, I took some frozen rosemary olive oil bread out of the freezer, thawed it then threw it in the food processor to make bread crumbs. Then I cubed some chicken breast meat then coated it with the bread crumbs. I Sprayed a baking sheet with some oil, then threw them in the oven at 400 degrees, turned them over after 20 minutes then let them bake a little longer on that side. I made some brown wild rice and green beans with cranberry sauce on the side. MmmMmmmMMMM! I was so very glad we had leftovers so I could have some for lunch today. If you ever get the chance, try it...you may never want to see the frozen chicken section ever again!

A time to...

There is a season, a time, a dawning, an age, a moment....to....eat or not to eat. Of course we should eat...but what are we eating? Something that's been sitting in a box for 13 months before it comes home to sit on our shelf for another 3 months? I've had to recently reboot my eating...the boxes and cans slither their way into your life, they slip through the stress fractures and seep into your grocery cart, then they multiply. They devour your pantry space and fill you with guilt for not eating them because why waste money on stuff that will go bad in 5 days because something will happen that will somehow prevent you from eating that fresh food? There is a time for the packaged-processed stuff, there is a season for it, a moment of desperation or utter pity we allow ourselves. A moments, a season, an age don't last forever or they are a short span in the long view in the order of life. I'd like to be an eater of the herb of the fields...you know, the stuff that grows, not the stuff that's packaged? However, when desperation calls from its miry quagmire, don't be surprised to hear, from my kitchen, the crackling of plastic or the hum of the can opener....