Yummy Smells

The house right now smells like warm garlicky goodness!

I'm making homemade stock from the carcasses of the two chickens I brined and roasted last week. I used a whole head of garlic, an onion, and a double handful of fresh thyme sprigs. My carcasses included lots of skin, bits of chicken, all four wings, and as much of the fatty goodness as I could save.

Tonight we will enjoy a delicious soup with chicken, noodles, zucchini, onion, celery, and carrots, along with warm buttered rolls. I'm planning to make it heavy on the garlic and spicyness, all for my poor sick hubby.

Hope you feel better soon, honey!

Homemade Rolls

Being snowed in this weekend forced me to be resourceful for meals. Last night I made vegetable soup, using the last of the homemade chicken stock and any vegetables I had around. I didn't have any sourdough or crescent rolls, but I remembered buying a pack of three envelopes of yeast for my daughter's biology experiment last week. I always have plenty of flour on hand, so I decided to make dinner rolls.

I'm not much of a bread maker - I used to have a bread machine and used it to death before it broke. Since then I've tried to make bread now and again, with no luck. I even bought myself a Kitchenaid to make bread making easier, only to discover from bread experts that I really need a Bosch and a Nutrimill to grind my own wheat. Oh well.

I simply followed the recipe on the back of the yeast packets and made this quick rising dough.


They turned out pretty good - not as fluffy as I would like. The yeast was fine, the dough rose well, so that's not the problem. They took longer to cook than the recipe called for. Not sure what that means. Everyone liked them.

Albondigas

Although I grew up in California, in a Mexican family (mom's side), we didn't eat much Mexican food at home. Of course my mom's family is eighth generation Californianos, having come to California from Mexico with the first Spanish missionaries, so we have become fully Americanized over the generations. It is only as an adult that I have come to explore and understand my culture, including its food.

I actually found this recipe while searching for easy, healthy recipes in a magazine. I copied down the recipe and have used it so often that I no longer use a written recipe - its all in my head. I love the bright colors and the savory, light flavor of this soup.

Turkey Albondigas Soup

2 48-ounce containers low salt chicken broth (or equivalent homemade light stock)
1 package ground turkey (about 1-1/4 pounds)
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp Mexican oregano
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 sliced carrots
2 cans golden hominy
1 small can tomato sauce
2 small cans diced green chilies
1 package (6 ounces) fresh baby spinach

Bring the broth to a simmer in a good-sized soup pot. Meanwhile, beat egg in a bowl, add bread crumbs, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix into ground turkey. Form into small meatballs, dropping into simmering soup as you form them. Add onion, carrots, hominy, tomato sauce, and chilies to soup and simmer for 10 minutes. Just before serving, add spinach. Let it wilt in hot soup for about 1 minute, then serve immediately. Pass around your favorite hot sauce so everyone can spice it up to their taste.

I usually serve this with hot buttered tortillas on the side.

Brining, Part Deux

Having had such success with my first brined turkey, I decided to try it again - with chicken!

I've really had to try to cut our food budget over the last few months. Our gas bill has been astronomical lately! Whole chickens are a frugal protein, so I decided to see if I could do as well brining these as I did with our Thanksgiving turkey. I did some research online, and then used a similar recipe as for the turkey to brine two whole roasters. Since our turkey was a bit on the salty side (although still delicious), I only brined them for 4 1/2 hours.

I then rinsed and dried them, stuffed them with onion, lemon, and fresh thyme sprigs, and brushed them with melted butter to which I added garlic, thyme, and pepper. I roasted them breast down at 450F for 15 minutes, then turned them and roasted them at 450F for another 10 minutes. I then turned down the oven to 350F and used my remote thermometer to track it to an internal temperature of 160F. I forgot to note how long this took, but it was less than one hour. I then covered the roaster with foil and let them sit while I cooked the sides.


Looks pretty good, doesn't it? I think next time I will give it more time at 450F to get a crispier skin - the breast was crispy, but in the center only. I will also brine it for just a little longer - it could have been a little saltier. Everyone loved it - we pretty much finished off one bird, and the other was stripped for stock later this week, some chicken set aside for chicken salad, and some frozen for later use.

My New Turkey Recipe

Last year was the first time I ever heard of such a thing as brined turkey. Yes, I am behind the times. Let me explain.

It has been about 12 years since I've cooked a turkey for any reason, including holidays. We have been potlucking Thanksgiving for years now, and my usual contribution has been Crown Roast of Lamb and my mom's giblet stuffing. And pies, of course.

For many different reasons we ended up celebrating Thanksgiving this year by ourselves. It was a nice change of pace - no place to rush off to, no food to try to keep warm or cook elsewhere, etc. We even stayed in our pajamas for about half the day.

Years ago, when I did attempt a turkey, it always ended up dry. This seems to be a common failing, as many of the turkeys we've eaten at various houses over the years were dry, as well. Smoking or barbecuing seems to help somewhat, but still not my favorite dish.

So, if I had my choice, I would have opted out of turkey this year, too - but Jim really wanted one. He didn't think it would seem like Thanksgiving without it.

Last year I saw Emeril demonstrate a brined turkey on Emeril Live. It sounded so interested I copied down the recipe. This was the perfect opportunity to try it out - no guests to be embarrassed if it failed (I love opportunities to experiment, and fortunately my family doesn't mind them either).

I brined the turkey for approximately 20 hours, using my large stockpot. This is what it looked like when I took it out of the fridge:


Per Emeril's recipe, I roasted it breast side down for one hour, then breast side up for 1 1/2 hours. I thought it would take much longer as this turkey was almost 13 pounds, but the thermometer was already registering 170F at 2 1/2 hours total. This is how it looked when I took it out of the oven:


I covered it with foil while I cooked the remaining dishes, which took approximately one hour. We carved it at the table, and it was still very warm. Jim remarked on how juicy it was when he carved it.

It was delicious! We all remarked that it tasted similar to those delicious rotisserie chickens from Costco that we love. It was definite the most juicy and tasty turkey I've ever had.

This recipe is definitely a keeper. I think at our next holiday potluck I'll be volunteering to bring the turkey!

$100 Grocery Challenge

Several ladies on the TOG Loose Threads yahoo group are working on trying to lower their food bills. We have decided to challenge ourselves to spend only $100 per week on groceries.

I used to have a much better handle on my food budget. Lately I haven't been paying much attention to the amount I spend. I believe I spend less than most, especially after conversations among this group. I think what helps is menu planning and organization. I have to admit that I have an advantage over most in that I can shop at military commissaries. Since they sell food at cost, plus 5% to cover administrative costs, all the food is generally cheaper than any grocery store.

Menu planning is a great way of keeping control over your food budget. I do it a little differently than most. I look at my calendar each pay period, see how many meals to plan, and make a list, but I do not strictly assign certain meals to certain days. I like flexibility. Most days I will not decide what to make until that morning; sometimes I don't decide until 5 pm. Of course I do make some meals that require more advance planning, and some meals I plan need to be eaten early in the pay period because certain foods go bad more quickly than others.

I also stock up on some things that I call "pantry meals." These are meals where all of the ingredients can be kept for a long period in the pantry and freezer, and can be made anytime, in case I don't plan enough meals on my menu, or something puts my plans in a fritz. These are things like chili and cornbread, spaghetti, and frozen pizza. I keep track of these items and keep them stocked and ready.

I've added back in some of the things that help keep my budget under control while menu planning. One is perusing the sales lists. I keep all the sale flyers from the local stores, so I will know about any great deals that come up. I must admit that most of the deep sales prices at regular stores still don't beat the commissary, but sometimes I'll get lucky. If you don't have the flyers handy, many stores post them online. The commissary has a list of sale items on their website. It helps reduce the budget when I can plan my meals around what's on sale.

I also get out my coupons while doing this planning. Now, I have some major cautions with coupon use - only use coupons for products you would buy already. I made this mistake as a young mom and ended up spending far more in groceries because I bought all these unnecessary items. Sometimes the coupon inserts won't have any coupons for me; other times there will be several. Another source for coupons is in the stores themselves. Have you ever seen those shelf coupons right next to the items? There is no rule that says you have to buy that item right now to use that coupon; many times that coupon has an expiration date months down the line. I'll grab several copies of these coupons for use later.

Sometimes I get very lucky and find that an item I have a coupon for is also on sale. This is a great time to stock up on nonperishable or freezable goods. I'm hoping to get a chest freezer soon to take even greater advantage of these deals.

Going back to these methods really paid off this payday. For 15 days worth of groceries I spent $186.59. I saved $8.35 in coupons. This also leaves me room later in the payday to get more milk and bananas.

This amount includes several items that I stocked up on for later, such as Cheez It crackers for $1.50/box, chicken breasts on sale for $1.19/pound, and canned chicken broth for $.50/can. This will work into greater savings down the line when I plan meals using these items that I already have.

So, will you join me in this challenge? How do you save on your grocery bill?

So now I know why people love them!

One of my favorite restaurants in the Eastern U.S. is Cracker Barrel. It's a great place for a homestyle, southern meal. I especially love their chicken and dumplings and their meatloaf. It is one less reason to miss Hawaii that we have them nearby us.

Several times now we have gone to the one in Williamsburg and enjoyed it so much. Unfortunately, the one in Chesapeake, so tantalizingly near our home, well - not so much.

I love the array of tempting side dishes available at this chain, and particularly the lima beans, which are usually a "vegetable of the day" selection at many of the restaurants. But, the Chesapeake one doesn't have a "vegetable of the day."

OK, so last time we were there I decided to try the fried okra. I love okra in soups and stews, and thought the fried variety would be good. What a sad disappointment. They were lukewarm, and tasted mostly of the cornmeal in the breading. I began to wonder why southerners like their fried okra and fried green tomatoes so much, because this was not appetizing.

We are currently on a road trip to New Hampshire, and stopped for dinner at the Cracker Barrel in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. I had been sitting in the car all day, and wanted to be sure to eat as many vegetables with my meal as possible. Fortunately for me they did have the "vegetable of the day," and it was my favorite lima beans. I got the platter which came with three side choices, and ended up choosing the okra again, figuring at least I would eat my lima beans and side salad and leave it at that.

The kids were curious to see and taste what okra was, and I tried to downplay it, figuring they would not enjoy it. But, I thought I should at least have a bite to show them that mommy will at least try everything, just like she expects them to.

And now I know why southerners really love these - when they are well cooked, they are delicious! They were crispy and light tasting on the outside, and hot and wonderful on the inside. They tasted very much like well-prepared fried zuchini, another favorite vegetable of mine. Between the kids and I we polished them off.

This Cracker Barrel must have an excellent cook staff, because the salad was fresh and well-prepared, the lima beans were the best yet, along with the wonderful okra. Of course, the entrees and the biscuits were great - but then every Cracker Barrel we've visited has always done these items right. It was a very memorable, homestyle meal. I wish I lived near here.

I'm now excited to find a restaurant nearby that does fried green tomatoes well. I have a feeling that, if cooked right, I will love these delicacies, as well.