For many, many years my friend Kathy has been trying to talk me into making a brined turkey.  I was hesitant to do so because I already had a tried-and-true turkey recipe that I loved, and rarely make a whole turkey on any occasion other than Thanksgiving.  Last year before Thanksgiving I purchased a turkey when they were practically giving them away, and decided to pull it out of the freezer last week - just the right occasion for trying the brining method.

Since its cold here, the garage gives me the perfect place to both thaw and brine the turkey.  I researched a few brine recipes and decided to make up a simple version that would leave me with a well-seasoned, but basic sort of bird.

The resulting recipe and method produced the tastiest, moistest turkey I have ever had.  It was so good that now I have a new/old standby recipe for turkey.

Print it: Brined Turkey

I woke up this morning with football on my mind.  More specifically, I had FOOTBALL FOOD on my mind.  After searching through the freezer and cupboards, I realized my best option for football food (without having to go to the store) was chili.  However, I didn't have any beans, diced tomatoes, or ground beef.  But I did have plenty of venison steak in the freezer, which I'd been trying to figure out a way to cook for quite some time.

Awhile ago someone recommended to me that I try cooking the venison steak in coke - that it added some sweetness and took away the gamey flavor responsible for its lack of popularity at our house.  It sounded like a good idea, but maybe not quite enough.  I wasn't sure if it would be good with the venison, but I know that its good with coke (and on its own) - and decided to marinate the venison in Red Stag Bourbon (its a cherry-flavored bourbon by Jim Beam, recommended by my brother) to add some extra flavor.  To add deeper flavor to the sauce, I borrowed the caramelizing idea from French Onion soup.  It seems like there are a lot of steps to this chili - but in reality it goes pretty quickly and doesn't require much actual effort.

The resulting chili was terrific - the flavor was great, and the meat was tender without being gamey.  I'll definitely make this one again.

Print it: Venison Red Stag Cola Chili

I really love French Onion soup, especially when its topped with a toasted slice of bread and a whole pile of melted gruyere.  The bad part about making a non-dairy version is that there is no reasonable substitute for the goodness of gruyere.  So, when making a non-dairy version of this soup, it usually lacks some of the richness I enjoy from the cheese-topped version.

I made a recipe yesterday that is so delicious and rich-tasting (thanks to the addition of some brandy) that I didn't even miss the melty-gruyere topping.  Sure, I think it would be BETTER with some cheese, but it was darn good without it.

Side note for those who eat dairy: You can substitute butter for the non-dairy version in the recipe.  And of course, you could also consider the addition of gruyere. 

Print it: French Onion Soup

There are two good reasons to make this pie:
1. you have an abundance of apples
2. you are trying to make someone fall in love with you



This pie is delicious, and you should make it.  You should also take care to really seal up the edges of the crust and maybe put a cookie sheet on the bottom rack, because if you don't - you may end up with a gooey, caramel mess on the bottom of your oven.  If you take those simple precautions, you will be on the fast-track to winning hearts in no time.

Print it: Caramel Apple Pie

I've made the turn from summer foods into winter comfort foods.  Menus featuring grilled foods have been replaced with all things slow-cooked.  My crock pot has again taken its place on the countertop.  And tonight, we had our first pot roast of the season.  Since Sophie is refusing to eat anything with onions, I decided to try a version that includes a mild tomato-based sauce.  It was very easy to make, tender, moist, and really delicious.

The original recipe suggested serving it with squash and hominy.  Although it sounded good, I decided to skip those options and instead served brown rice, corn, and red peppers (for those who wanted it - which meant mom and me).  It was delicious, and a much lighter meal than a traditional gravy-based pot roast. 

Print it: Pot Roast with Red Sauce

Last Spring, my friend Jessy came to visit and brought me a few pizzas as a gift.  I was so excited to eat them, I barely waited until she was out the door before I started warming the oven.  For days after her visit, I daydreamed about the delicious pesto topping, the mixture of caramelized onions and sun-dried tomatoes, the rich goat cheese.  I wanted more, and Moose & Sadie's, the restaurant where she works, is too far for me to just stop on in to get some.  So, with the memory of delicious pizza firmly in my memory, I set out to recreate the pizza.



The Crust
I started out with a whole-wheat pizza recipe by Martha.  It was very easy to make, and freezes well for use at a later time.  I've tried the recipe twice - once with instant yeast, once with active yeast - both with great results.  The crusts were just as great when made fresh as they were frozen.  Its a great crust to have on hand.

The Sauce
I set out to make a pesto using primarily a dark, leafy green.  I tried the recipe twice - once with kale, and the second time with spinach.  I thought they were both good, but the kale version was my favorite.  Using regular garlic in the sauce gave it a strong, spicy flavor - the version I made with garlic scapes was even better.  I'll use those whenever I can find them.  Since Sophie is allergic to dairy I left out the traditional parmesan.  I'm not sure if she's allergic to pine nuts, so I left those out just in case.

The Toppings
Jessy's pizza featured caramelized onions, sundried tomatoes, and goat cheese - so mine did too.  I didn't quite get the temperature down right to keep everything coming out cooked properly, so on the second batch of pizzas I omitted the sundried tomatoes.  It was still awfully good. 

The Verdict
I think I came pretty close to the original, especially in making the crust and sauce non-dairy.  If Sophie were to have this pizza, I would have made hers without the goat cheese.  And that's the beauty of individual pizzas - each pizza can match the tastes of an individual.  In reality - it didn't matter that I made this non-dairy because she didn't want to eat anything green, hates onions, and only wanted red sauce with black olives.  That's just the way it goes. 

Print it: Deep Green Pesto
Print it: Whole-Wheat Pizza Crust (by Martha Stewart)

My parents were recently going to be out of town for two weeks, right around the time that the tomatoes in my mom's garden were likely to ripen.  "I'll keep an eye on the tomatoes" I told my mom.  Every few days we went to the house and picked tomatoes - at first they could all fit in a basket, later we needed a bucket.  That was okay by me - I had my new tomato press on hand, a canning pot that I'd purchased years ago at a family auction, and was armed with jars purchased at the fleet farm. 

Fifty pounds of tomatoes later, I was thankful that the garden was as small as it was, and doubly-thankful that I wasn't planning on putting up a whole years worth of vegetables.  Home-canned goods are delicious, but it is no small effort to prepare all of the food and do the actual canning.  And that doesn't even count all the effort that goes into raising the vegetables (thanks momma!).


I made three kinds of sauce.  The original is based on a recipe I found in a canning cookbook and turned out to be a touch spicy, meaning that my kids wouldn't eat it.  And only seven jars of that on hand!


The next batch I skipped the crushed red pepper, omitted the onion and garlic, added some red wine.  Then, when I made the third batch, I decided to go ahead and add some onion and garlic, but I'll pretend that it isn't in there if the kids ever ask.


For that last batch, I put half of the mild into jars then threw a handful of quartered green olives into each jar.  Who knows how it will taste.  My guess is tasty and salty.  Well, for sure it will be salty.


I thought it was great fun making the sauce, and the kids are quite good at operating the tomato press.  By the time we finished processing all fifty pounds of tomatoes, we were like a well-oiled machine.  A machine that was covered in pulp and seed bits, but a machine none-the-less.

After a year and a half of making fancy-pants cupcakes, it turns out that what my kids really crave are oatmeal chocolate chip bars.  If I could ignore the two sticks of non-dairy butter and the sugar and the chocolate chips, I guess one could call this a "healthy treat".  Okay, not-so-healthy, but certainly delicious.

I found a great recipe on Quaker's website.  As usual, I made a few changes:
- substituted non-dairy margarine for butter
- used vanilla soy milk instead of cow's milk
- added one bag of non-dairy chocolate chips instead of the 2 c. of the regular variety
- reduced the cooking time from 30-35 minutes down to 20-25

This recipe is delicious and I'll definitely make it again.  In fact, I think I've made it three times this summer, and it's only the beginning of July.

Print it: Chewy Choc-Oat-Chip Bars

A few weeks ago, I found a recipe for a salad using wheat berries and read that they are loaded with iron.  I had never had wheat berries, but decided to give it a try.  It contained a lot of our family favorites - corn, spinach, cherry tomatoes, and has an orange-honey flavored dressing - so I figured that maybe my family wouldn't totally notice the wheat berries if they spotted some of their favorites in the bowl.

My thoughts were too optimistic as far as my family is concerned.  I thought it tasted great, but no one else would even eat it.  Martin and Sophie wouldn't even try it.  I was disappointed, especially since a little bit of wheat berries makes a really giant batch.

Not wanting to waste the salad, I started bringing it to work for lunch.  There was so much of it, that I think I ate it for five days in a row.  But the thing is, that as each day passed, I started to like it more.  It was chewy, flavorful, and satisfying.  I'll definitely make it again, but this time just for myself.  Maybe if it is "forbidden" it will have a whole new appeal for the rest of my family.

I made the following changes to the recipe:
- This recipe is fine made ahead, and actually gets better each day.
- I doubled the dressing portion of the recipe.
- I used 2 green onions instead of the 1/4 c. called for
- I used 1/2 pint grape tomatoes instead of 1 c. cherry tomatoes
- I added a lot more spinach each day, placing a handful of spinach leaves at the bottom of a bowl and spooning the salad on top - I thought it really improved the salad.

Print it: Wheat Berry, Roasted Corn and Spinach Salad (from Betty Crocker)

In my continuous effort to clear out our freezer in order to make room for this season's vegetables, I've been trying to make our meals out of whatever meats are left in the bottom.  Our options are slim at this point, and many of the foods are better suited for things like slow-cooking rather than grilling.  Last week I thawed a pork sirloin roast which I usually roast in the oven, this time deciding that I'd give it a shot on the grill.  A pork sirloin roast is not too big (this one just under 4 lbs), but it is round, sort of like a small soccer ball.  Not knowing how I'd grill something of that shape, I decided to cut the roast into 2" cubes and place them on skewers to guarantee more evenly cooked meat.

I searched all over for a good recipe for pork kabobs, but didn't find any that really sounded great to me.  So I decided to use a marinade recipe for pork tenderloin that is my mom's old standby.  Filled with flavors of orange, soy sauce, and rosemary - It is light, flavorful, and always tastes great.  To add a little variety to the kabobs, I alternated the pork with orange wedges. 



The result was delicious - the kids loved the sweetness of the orange wedges, the pork was tender and flavorful, and the skewers made the meal more fun.  I'll definitely make these again.

Print it: Pork Kabobs with Oranges and Rosemary