Having Fun In The Kitchen

About a year and a half ago my mom got a new food processor and gave me her old one. A few months later I got 50 lbs of potatoes from my farmer brother and wanted to use the processor to make some chips. Unfortunately, in the time between receiving it and wanting to use it, I had hid it on myself. I looked everywhere at least three times, even checking at mom's thinking maybe I left it there. Nope. I had lost it. :(

Mom's old food processor. It's from the 80s.

This past weekend we cleaned out the garage and stored a number of things in the attic. We moved some boxes around up there to make space, and I just happened to open the box that had my food processor in it! John said the look on my face was pure delight. I also just got my annual 50 lb bag of potatoes from my farmer bro, so the timing of finding it was perfect.

My Bro grew some pretty amazing potatoes this year

I spent much of the next day just fooling around in the kitchen. Potatoes were sliced. Chips were made. French fries were baked. I spent a year waiting to use it, so I had a lot of fun. We don't have a deep fryer, so I baked the chips in the microwave and the oven. Both versions tasted great, but they took soooooo long in the microwave (I have a small one so could only cook a few at a time).

Food processor equipped with the ripple chip slicer

Putting a potato in the feeder

One potato turned into a whole lotta slices

Chips prepared in microwave (took six minutes and two flips)

Chips prepared in the oven (about 20 minutes, checking often)

Baking some fries made with the french fry slicer blade

A bowl of french fries

Excited to have loads of fun with this food processor. Can't wait to try recipes with sweet potatoes too. Also going to pick up some peanuts and try homemade peanut butter. There are really a million and one things I can do with this and I love that I can finally make use of it.

Thanks Mom!! :)

Everything is a Photo Opportunity #21

Went for a nice walk last week before all the rain hit. A neighbour was having a small fire in their yard (brush and leaves I think) and the sun was shining through the smoke beautifully. It could be because I'm currently reading The Lord of the Rings, but sometimes I feel like I live in a fantastical land (but with paved roads and cars).

Cat Sits On All The Things

Gary either really likes sleeping on my stuff, or I have a habit of leaving my things where she likes to sleep. It is a chicken or the egg type question, and a reminder that maybe I shouldn't leave my things lying around. Still learning that good habit.

Gary with my iPod: "I'm waiting for an important text"

"How do I get to my Twitter, again?"

Gary using The Hobbit as a pillow

Emergency Peanut Butter Cups

I was craving peanut butter cups but didn't want to go to the store or make a giant batch of them. So I asked Google if there was a single serving recipe and of course there was. So now I can have a peanut butter cup at a moments notice (with just a little bit of waiting for chocolate to harden). It is too easy. If you don't want to know how to do this, please click away, I totally get it!

Recipe was slightly adapted from Maple Spice.

The recipe will make two (in case you need two or feel like sharing).

Ingredients:
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp margerine
sprinkle salt
4 tsp icing sugar
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Method:
1. Mix peanut butter, margarine, and salt in bowl until smooth. Add icing sugar and stir until incorporated. Set aside.

2. Line a muffin tin with two muffin liners.

3. Melt 1/4 cup of chocolate with oil in microwave, checking every 15 seconds until melted.

4. Spoon a layer of chocolate into each muffin cup, spread out with knife to ensure bottom is covered. Spoon half of peanut butter filling onto chocolate, spreading out with knife or finger so it covers chocolate. Spoon remaining chocolate over peanut butter layer.

5. Place in freezer and wait at least 20 minutes. Wait longer if you are able (we were not).

6. Enjoy!

The cups probably didn't set long enough and broke slightly when bitten into. Still tasted amazing, but I couldn't get an attractive photo. I imagine chilling longer would help with that. I'm sure I will make them again soon, so I will find out (if I can wait for them to chill longer, that is...).

Celebrating a Love of Turkey on Thanksgiving

My favourite meal to cook is a big turkey dinner. There is so much I love about it beyond the wonderful food I get to eat when it's done. I love having the house smell amazing all day. I love preparing all the sides. I love impressing people with my turkey making skills. I also love 2-3 days of leftovers and the option of making turkey soup. There is so much to enjoy.

For some people, a turkey is just served on holidays. In my family, we throw a turkey in the oven whenever there is an excuse to do so. When I was away at school, any weekend I came home was a reason to have a turkey. Now most birthdays or family get togethers are accented with a turkey. I often make one on my own birthday, as I like making them so much (but this year mom has volunteered).

I have a method for making a turkey that works for me (and works for mom, as I mostly copy her method). We cook the turkey for a long time, but somehow we don't overcook it. We stuff the bird. We make tonnes of sides. And we have a relaxing and enjoyable time preparing it. If you've never made a turkey before, there are some safe food handling concerns regarding preparation and ensuring the meat and stuffing are cooked to the proper internal temperature. For a good overview of how to make a turkey safely, please check out Butterball's Turkey Safety Tips and Turkey Ontario's How to Prepare a Turkey.
 
I will let the pros provide a step by step guide for cooking turkey, but the following are some of the things I do to have an awesome turkey dinner - every time.

An important aspect of cooking a turkey is getting a turkey deal. For me, a turkey deal is when the price is $0.99/lb or less. I love getting a turkey for $10, and a 10 pound turkey is my favourite size to prepare. There's enough for dinner with guests with the perfect amount of leftovers (too many turkey leftovers can be too much of a good thing). With Thanksgiving sales this past week, I got two 11 pounders at the $0.99 price point. Gotta love the turkey deal!

On the day of cooking, with a completely thawed turkey, I make my stuffing. I like a simple stuffing: bread, onion, garlic, mushrooms, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, and butter. 

I use a turkey rack (when I remember) which makes removing the cooked turkey from the pan so much easier. Because I like to cook my turkey for a long time, it has a tendency to fall to pieces when taking it out of the pan, but the turkey rack helps keep it intact.

I stuff the bird right before it goes into the oven, stuffing the cavity and the neck. I sprinkle the turkey with salt, pepper, and some melted butter, and into the oven it goes at 325°F.

The turkey cooks throughout the day and I relax. I baste it periodically, but mostly I just let the oven do all the work. I do spend some time preparing sides, but I find that relaxing. Early in the day I peel potatoes, prepare and mash a sweet potato, and chop broccoli and carrots. 

I usually aim to have my turkey done at 5:30pm and then it is Go Time. The turkey comes out of the oven and settles for half an hour while I hop around the kitchen. The potatoes get on and boiling then mashed, the veggies get steamed, the gravy gets prepared, and the sweet potato gets reheated. Finally the stuffing comes out and the bird is carved.

And the beautiful dance that is turkey dinner is complete and is ready for consumption!

After dinner is done and (most likely) pie is consumed, I head back to the kitchen and de-bone the turkey. All the meat gets stored in a convenient tupperware for the next few days of leftovers, and the bones are frozen and saved for some fantastic turkey soup.

Best. Meal. Ever.