Health food may be good for the conscience but Oreos taste a heck of a lot better.”
- Robert Redford

How to carve a whole Turkey

HOW TO CARVE A WHOLE TURKEY:

* Let it Sit
Once the bird is removed from the oven, it should stand for 20
to 35 minutes, depending on its size. This gives the juices a
chance to soak into the flesh, allowing for succulent cuts of
meat. Before you begin carving, have a warm serving platter
ready and waiting for all the juicy white and dark meat you'll
soon be slicing and digging into.

* Remove the Legs
Arrange the turkey, breast side up, on a cutting board. Steady
the turkey with a carving fork. Using a sharp knife, slice
through the meat between the breast and the leg. Next, using
a large knife as an aid, press the thigh outward to find the
hip joint. Slice down through the joint and remove the leg.
Cut between the thigh bone and drumstick bone to divide the
leg into one thigh piece and one drumstick.

To carve the drumstick, steady it with a carving fork and cut
a thick slice of meat from one side, along the bone. Next, turn
the drumstick over so that the cut side faces down. Cut off
another thick slice of meat. Repeat, turning the drumstick onto
a flat side and cutting off meat, carving a total of four thick
slices.

To slice the thigh, place it flat side down on a cutting board.
Steady the thigh with a carving fork. With a knife, cut parallel
to the bone and slice off the meat. Be sure to place all the
cuts on the warmed serving platter as you work.

* Remove the Wings
Before you carve the breast, the wings must be removed. Slice
diagonally down through the edge of the breast toward the wing.
Using a knife as an aid, press the wing out to find the shoulder
joint; cut through the joint and remove the wing. Place the wing
on the serving platter as is.

* Carve the Breast
To carve the breast meat, hold the back of the carving fork
against the breastbone. Starting parallel to the breastbone,
slice diagonally through the meat. Lift off each slice, holding
it between the knife and fork, and place on the warm serving
platter. Continue until you have carved all the meat on one side
of the breast. Repeat, carving the other side of breast.

Now just enjoy your feast!
from ezine@gophercentral.com

Chicken Cacciatore

This is such a classic dish which was designed to be made with rabbit meat but over the years we've changed our dietary habits in the US and now use it for chicken only. If you prefer rabbit meat, then use it as it is found greatly in Britain and all over Europe.

I've made Chicken Cacciatore dozens of times over the years from various recipes. But I think that I finally found one that I put my own twist on and it comes so delicious that I now feel comfortable to serve it to my friends. So here goes...

The original recipe calls for chicken thighs I hate using thighs as they are usually full of fat and gristle while yielding very little meat -basically a total waste of my time to cook them! I decided to go without the fresh basil and use dried, just using what I have on hand and saving a few dollars in the process.

I used the following ingredients;

• 4 to 6 chicken breasts
• salt and pepper-I use kosher salt in my cooking
• ½ cup flour for coating the chicken
• Olive oil
• no salt butter
• 1 large Red Bell Pepper- chopped
• 1 large Green Bell pepper-chopped
• 1 medium sized Red Onion- chopped
• 3 cloves garlic- minced
• ¾ cup dry white wine- make it's something that you would drink
• 28 ounces of chopped tomatoes with the liquid
• ¾ cup of reduced sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons of capers-drained
• 1½ teaspoons of dried Oregano
• 1Tablespoon of dried Basil (or a little more)

I used a large 5 quart skillet w/ lid to cook all of this in- bought it at Sam's Club about 5 years ago, it's one of the best things I ever bought as I use this skillet ALL of the time!

I find that it's best to have all of your ingredients already measured out and chopped as this will go fast!

*heat the oil and butter over a medium setting

*I cut the chicken breasts in half, sprinkle salt and pepper the raw chicken (both sides) and then drag it through the flour to lightly coat it. Put chicken in hot skillet that has oil and butter (I love combining the 2 as the flavor is so rich). Saute until just browned (about 5 minutes per side), it's okay if the pieces are not thoroughly cooked, they will go back in to the skillet later on to finish the cooking process. Don't crowd the skillet, having too much meat in there will cause the chicken to steam rather than to fry because of the excess moisture- so, you may have to do this is a couple of batches. Transfer chicken pieces to a plate and set aside.

*Add bell pepper and onion saute for 4 minutes, then add garlic continue to saute for one more minute. Cooking garlic too long can make it turn bitter. Season with salt and pepper.

*Add the wine, stir and let simmer for about 3 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half.

*Add the tomatoes with the juice, the chicken broth, capers, oregano and basil, place lid on skillet and let simmer over a medium heat for about 15 minutes. Be sure to stir occasionally so nothing sticks to the bottom of the skillet. The liquid will have reduced greatly, then place the chicken pieces in and cook another 15 minutes.

The chicken will be tender and delicious and the sauce delectable! I like to serve this with fettucine pasta, garlic bread and a side salad. My teenagers gobbled this up! I even took this recipe on a test drive made it for my lovely neighbors who just had a baby and another neighbor who is just a sweetheart who does a lot of volunteering with me. I will be making this recipe for a deployed spouses function later on this week to serve at least 20 people.

Side note...Now if you don't have capers don't sweat it! It does add a little bit of a zing to the recipe but it also won't fall flat if you don't have them.

Autumn cooking

To me, Autumn means progressively shorter days, the fall foliage turning brilliant shade of crimson red, flame orange and deep gold and of course it's also sweater weather! Autumn also means time for cooking comfort foods such as homemade macaroni and cheese, chili, chicken pie, and of course there's hearty beef stew (my favorite recipe is Parker's beef stew- it's one of Ina Garten's recipes) and cottage pie. Lets not forget dessert! Apple pie has to be one of my most favorite things to eat in the Autumn, the scent of apples and cinnamon swirling around in the air just sings happiness! Pumpkin pie and Pecan Pie (my dear friend René makes the BEST Pecan pie). Lets also think about the cakes...Gingerbread cake, Spice cake, coffee cake and of course carrot cake! Where do we begin to pick out our favorites? One of my childhood favorites was Acorn squash stuffed with...what else, stuffing! Yes, the stuff you would put into a turkey. You put the stuffing in when it was about ½ to ¾ of the way done, stuffing doesn't take as long to cook as the squash does. I remember thinking that this was the end all be all of enjoying Autumn veggies. You could also fill it with a meat filling made in the same manner as you would meat loaf or a Florentine meat filling for manicotti (I use ground chicken or turkey). Heck, you can do this same thing with zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers...the list is endless!

So go out there and cook up something fantastic tonight using the bounty of veggies from the Autumn harvest!

Le Creuset versus Tramontina Cookware

I've had more people write to me about this topic than any other. I have to say that in the end I did donate my Tramontina cook-pot to the local women's shelter. It was a heavy pot! It weighed a lot more than the Le Creuset pot of a similar size. When I would have it filled and put into the over to finish cooking the oven rack would have a very noticeable "sway" in the middle. That always made me very nervous.

One of the comments made on the original post (same topic headline as this one) there was a person who said that they had bought a Le Creuset pot at an outlet mall for a seriously discounted price. I too have bought a deeply discounted Le Creuset pot at TJ Maxx, paid about 1/3 of the cost if it had been first quality. You do need to be aware that at outlet malls and discount stores like TJ Maxx the Le Creuset pots and pans being sold there are seconds (they are discretely marked) and the warranty does not apply to them.

Oven BBQ Ribs

I love to cook and better yet I love to cook for others. We've been asked to help out with making dinner for the single Airmen (men and women) that live in the dorms at RAF Croughton. On the menu- Ribs! Many of us are making ribs and all of us are using our own recipes to create something delicious.

So here's what I've done...I use a recipe from All Recipes.com and found a recipe for oven baked BBQ ribs and I've changed it up a bit for my own personal tastes. Remember...recipes are only a starting point you can adjust anything in them to make it a bit more to your liking.

First off... what I've done is that I have changed the recipe from 6 to 12 servings, and I've changed the recipe measurements from metric to US.

I use Kosher Salt when cooking, it's lighter tasting and volume wise there's less of it (it's lighter weight) than regular granulated salt. So go ahead and use the 2 tablespoons, it's really not going to be a true 2 tablespoons of salt.

I use Colmans dry Mustard as I feel that it really does make a difference when I cook foods and especially when make BBQ sauce. Add an additional ½ teaspoon.

Being that I am living in England and I've been buying things on the economy and they come in metric- I've become accustomed to making slight adjustments. For instance the 2 bottles of generic brand ketchup that I used were 730 grams each and I used the entire bottle (times 2). I also filled said bottles up with water and put that into my huge mixing bowl.

Onions, when I cook with onions, I use RED onions. I think that they are the sweetest onions hence I use them in every recipe unless I'm making French Onion Soup...but that's another recipe. I put in 5 cups of onions instead of the "suggested" 4...red onions make everything taste YUMMY!

Dark Brown Sugar, I used an extra ½ cup.

White Vinegar- added and extra ½ cup

Again I'm in England and the containers are a little different I put in the entire 150 ml or 5.3 fl oz bottle of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce. Again I throw in a brand name because that's what I use.

Meat- I used Pork Ribs, and I cut them to serving portions before I browned them in canola oil (it makes them easier to handle). I sprinkled them lightly with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper while in the frying pan. That's why I only used the 2 tablespoons of kosher salt in the sauce recipe.

Stay tuned for pictures later...as I've been taking pictures as I cook today.

Any questions? Please don't hesitate to ask me!

Bamboo Cutting Boards

I've been using Bamboo cutting boards for over 4 years, and I just love them! They are long wearing and don't dull your knife the way some other types cutting boards can. I also own and use antimicrobial cutting boards, those I use just for raw meat. I use the bamboo cutting boards exclusively for breads, cheeses and of course fruits and veggies and cooked meats. I own two different brands of bamboo cutting boards TruBamboo and Totally Bamboo I love them both! They are easy to care for and long lasting!

And right now Totally Bamboo is having a sale- go check it out!

the many uses of olive oil

I've long been a user of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and have long wondered what elese can I do with this stuff? After some serching, I found these gems of information on the internet. Enjoy!

We're most familiar with olive oil in relation to cooking, but there's so many other ways it can be used; often avoiding the need to use chemicals, compounds and substances that aren't very environmentally friendly. For these tips, you don't need to use the best grade of olive oil.- After polishing copper or brass, rub it with a little olive oil to slow down the reocurrence of tarnish
- Can be used as a stainless steel cleaner; apply sparingly
- Rub olive oil into wooden cutting boards to help prevent cracking, repel staining and marking
- Remove paint from hair or skin by dabbing a cotton ball dipped in olive to the affected area
- Use it as an alternative for de-squeaking hinges
- Olive oil can help unjam zippers - use a cotton bud to apply
- Apply a little olive oil to your shoes to restore their shine
- Old leather can be made more supple by rubbing in olive oil (spot test first)
- Coat garden tool blades with a thin layer of olive oil to prevent dirt sticking to them and to help prevent rusting. This works really well!
- Mix one part lemon juice with 3 parts olive oil to make a wooden furniture polish
- Rub into to fingernails before and after manicuring
- A small amount of olive oil applied after shampooing can substitute hair conditioner.
- Extra light olive oil can be used as a massage oil
- Olive oil can replace shaving cream or shaving oil
- Dip a razor into olive oil after use to prevent the blade rusting
- Can be applied to chapped lips to to relieve the dryness
- Use as a makeup remover
A teaspoon of olive oil can help soothe a tickling or sore throat (I've just tried that out and it has provided some relief) and in some cases if taken just before bed, can alleviate snoring :).
What non-food uses have you found for olive oil?

Hoppin John with a twist!

It's a southern tradition to make and serve Hoppin John on New Years Eve. I was looking for a recipe for Hoppin John but was wanting something a little different and I found it over at Epicurious, it's Hoppin' John Risotto. Now I did change a few things from that original recipe...

This recipe serves 8 to 10 meal sized portions and the recipe can be cut in half to serve 4 or 6 people.

Bacon- fry more bacon! First off you will want more bacon for the topping trust me you will! The extra bacon fat is needed to add flavor to the onions while they are caramelizing. I personally felt that there was not enough bacon fat or butter in this recipe to properly caramelize the onions.

Pancetta and Garlic- if you make the full recipe use 4 ounces of pancetta and fry it with the red onions, celery and garlic as this will add more flavor, by drawing out the fat from the bacon and crisping it up. I do this when making pasta e fagioli and it adds a wonderful flavor! Garlic- the full recipe needs almost twice as much garlic then it calls for.

Parsley- I say forget the parsley, as it adds a grass like flavor that your kids will hate! And you want them to eat this as it takes a long time to prepare and make this dish!

I added freshly grated Parmesano Reggiano -that's Parmesan cheese that's from Parma Italy it is so seriously yummy and worth every penny! I buy mine at Sam's Club and save 50% on the cost per pound than it I were to buy it at the grocery store or even the commissary.

Do all of the prep work before you even think about starting this meal. At one point you will have 3 pots going at the same time on the stove- do not be frightened by this! I think that this is when I am most in my element. :-)

Freshly ground pepper- it calls for ¾ of a teaspoon, if you make the full sized recipe you will need more, a lot more!

Good luck and Happy Cooking!