What 18 Day of Rain Does for the Garden

It has been a very wet spring and early summer here in Jersey. Last I heard we have had 18 days of rain straight here in Ocean County. The sad part of that news is that I haven't been to the beach much. This past Sunday was a beautiful beach day though and Christine and I headed up there after church. The weather was beautiful, but the water was not great. There was a green algae bloom, the result of all the run off from the overflowing bay. That is kind of unusual for the Jersey Shore, because contrary to popular belief, excellent coastal water quality is one of the high priorities for our state. However, the result of all the rain was healthy vegetation in waters and the same has been true of the my garden.

We put lots of sweat equity into the garden this year and lots of compost, and it already starting to pay off. Here are a couple of photos of early garden results.



Fresh Sugar Snap Peas in abundance. We had them along side a nice chili that Christine cooked up along with a fresh arugula and leaf lettuce salad fresh picked from the garden.

Raspberries and blackberries galore.

The flowers love the rain. One of my hybrid day lilies.

Well, my chore for the day is to do the July bills. After that I have some church reading to do. It looks like another fine beach day, so I am headed out before supper, then I plan to grill a nice London broil for a supper on the deck.

Breakfast at Shut Up and Eat

Yesterday, Christine and I had a lovely breakfast at an interesting little joint called "Shut Up and Eat". Like the majority of restaurants in Northern Ocean County, "Shut Up and Eat" is located in a strip mall. Their strip mall is the K-Mart Plaza on route 37 in Toms River. The restaurant is a quirky little place. The theme is Mom's cluttered kitchen table--a decorating style that might be called "tacky chic" There is a diner counter that folk eat at, as well an eclectically furnished dining room. Nearly every inch of the wall are with pictures, photos, plaques, etc. The tables are set with mismatched thrift store mugs, dishes and salt and pepper shakers. The servers dress in pajamas and there is a standing special that gives you a 13% discount on your meal if you show up pajamas.

We had a nice breakfast that we constructed out of the breakfast specials that were posted on the door. I had two eggs over easy, hash browns, rye toast and coffee with a side of corn beef hash. The coffee was fresh, hot and full of flavor. The eggs were cooked just the way I like them. The hash browns were crunchy with a bit of a peppery kick. The star for me of my meal was the corn beef hash. It was homemade, with big chunks of corn beef, green peppers, potatoes and onions. Yum. Christien had the silver dollar with a side of bacon special. The bacon was nothing special, but the silver dollar pancakes were light and tender. What really impressed me about her meal was the the pancakes were served with a bottle of real maple syrup. Now that is something to write home about. What was especially exciting about breakfast at "Shut Up and Eat" was the bill. We got out of there for under $10. I really don't know when the last time was that I had such a nice breakfast for such a small amount of money.

"Shut Up and Eat" is trying to get themselves on Diners, Dives and Drive-ins and they are asking everyone to send an email to Guy Fieri about the place. If you live in the area or are on Rt 37 on your way to the beach, be sure to stop for breakfast at "Shut Up and Eat."

Shut Up And Eat - K-Mart Shopping Center, 213 Route 37 East, Toms River. 732.349.4544.

Enjoy!

Bria's Sweet Sixteen Cupcake Tower

My family celebrated my youngest daughter's sweet sixteen. I am feeling old. Bria wanted a special cake for the occasion and we brainstormed all kinds of ideas and finally decided to make cupcake tower. It came out pretty great. Her sister and her boyfriend spent a couple days before the event making cupcakes. They made carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing, devil's food cupcake with Mary Steven' famous white icing, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with fudgey chocalte icing, and my favorite, german chocolate cupcakes with pecan coconut icing.

Instead of buying the cupcake stand from the craft store, we build our own. It was pretty easy. In this picture you get a better idea of the structure.

We took 3 different size Wilton cardboard cake trays and the top was a plastic wilton cake tray, created styrofoam columns by gluing together styrofoam discs and covering them with ribbon. Then we glued them to the bottom of the top three trays. We glued a large styrofoam disc to the bottom tray and glued a dowel to the center of that disc. Finally we connected the tower together by pushing the dowel through the center of all three top trays. It really worked out well and was quite inexpensive. The great thing is that is breaks down for easy storage. The top of the tower was supposed to be topped by a fondant covered topsy truvy cake, but the heat that day caused us to have an "Ace of Cakes" moment so we had to improvise.

Enjoy!

My Original and Delicious Manhattan Clam Chowder Recipe

I grew up eating hot and steamy bowls of clam chowder when I was a kid spending my summers at the Jersey Shore. My very first summer job was working at the Sign of the Fish Restaurant on the southend boardwalk in Ocean Grove, NJ. Dave Shotwell and his lovely wife ran it for a couple of summers when he was taking his summer break from directing the marching band at Neptune High School. My official title my first year there was dishwasher, but Mr Shotwell would often use me to do the peeling and chopping for the soups that were a staple of the menu. This is where I learned to love the kitchen and cooking. Mr. Shotwell cooked up a very awesome clam chowder that would sell out in one day. My clam chowder recipe tries to recall the flavors from the Delicious steamy bowl I used to help make back in the day. Of course it's base is a tomato infused clam broth, enriched with bell peppers, potatoes and flavored with a good dose of black pepper and thyme. It is so simple to use fresh clams and so economical, at least in our area, that I can't imagine why anyone would use the canned stuff. Give my recipe a try and let me know what you think.

House Hubbie's Own Manhattan Clam Chowder

12 chowder clams (the size above cherrystones also called quahogs)
1 cup of water

Wash off clams, make sure they all alive, steam in a closed pot until clams are open. Remove clams from pot, when cool remove clam meat from shells, chop and set aside. Strain cooking liquid through paper towel or coffee filter in order to remove sand. Set aside.

4 strips of bacon, diced
1 medium onion
2 stalks celery
4 carrots
2 bell peppers
Salt

Cook bacon in bottom of pot until rendered. Drain off fat and return bacon and 2 T of bacon drippings to pot. Chop vegetables into about a 1/2 inch dice. Season with salt. Sweat veggies in bacon drippings over medium heat until onions are clear.

Clam steaming liquid plus enough bottled clam juice to make six cups.
2 12 oz cans of diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 t. thyme
freshly ground pepper to taste
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced.
chopped clams
salt, pepper
fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
oyster crackers

Add the clam broth and clam juice to the vegetables. Add the tomatoes, by leaves, thyme and pepper. Simmer for about an hour or so. Add the potatoes and cook until they are soft but not mushy and soup has begun to thicken (20 or 30 minutes). Add clams. Cook for another 10 minutes or so. Taste and correct for seasoning with salt and pepper.

Serve chowder in bowls garnished with parsley with oyster crackers on the side.

Enjoy!

Just What I Neeed on a Cold Winter Morning: Real Hot Cocoa

I made myself a cup of real hot cocoa this morning. Not the powdered stuff or the stuff made from chocolate syrup. It's simple.

Real Hot Cocoa

1 mug full of milk
3 rounded teaspoons of cocoa
3 rounded teaspoons of sugar
dash of salt

Heat the milk in a pan or in the microwave. In the bottom of the mug, mix together cocoa, sugar and salt. Pour a tiny bit of milk into the mug. Mix to form a paste. Pour in the rest of the hot milk. Beat with a spoon until blended and frothy.

Enjoy

Ahh! Puerto Rico

The Norwegian side of my wife's family and their spouses descended on San Juan, Puerto Rico for the wedding. One of her cousins was marrying a fellow a from Puerto Rico that she met while in medical school. The gathering took place over the New Year's holiday. It was a wonderful time. The image of staid Nordic types trying to learn to Salsa and getting into the Latino vibe caused more than one of us to comment on what a great "News From Lake Wobegon" segment it would make on "A Prairie Home Companion."

The picture above is the view from our hotel room at the Marriott Hotel on the beach in the Condado section of San Juan. This is a beautiful hotel right on beach. Great service, wonderful beds and amenities, a fantastic pool, perfect weather. It doesn't get much better than this.


The first evening the entire clan (more than 50 of us) gathered at Restaurant Barrachina in Old San Juan. This restaurant advertises that it is the birthplace of the "original pina colada", which it is not. I would advise that you stay away from this restaurant as it is a tourist trap.

Old San Juan is really beautiful. It is free and a must visit. Four cruise ships were in port the night of our visit to Barrachina, so the streets were crowded. We headed back the next day without the crowds and I spent some time getting some beautiful pictures of the streets, the vistas and the fort. Earlier that day, I was in the mood for some local Puerto Rican food. I asked a cab driver where he ate and he directed me to the pool grill in the Dutch Inn. This rundown hotel across the street from the Marriot is where the Greenhouse Restaurant is located, which gets a descent amount of the tourist trade. The grill in the pool area is great and local, local, local. Two women who speak no English give you menu with the food for the day. The menu has English translations. I had the roasted pork with rice and pink beans. My wife had the chicken in garlic sauce with rice and black beans. The senoritas ladled the food from large iron pots on the stove. The portions were generous and the the food was very tasty. Puerto Rican food is savory but not necessarily hot. I very much enjoyed it.

The last day were in Puerto Rico, we rented a car and traveled through the El Yungue Rain Forest. This about an hour drive from San Juan. We saw a little place called the Isamar Bakery on Route 26 right across the street from the turn off for the rain forest. We had a great inexpensive, home cooked meal there.

We met the owner, Cookie, who is from New York City. She returned to Puerto Rico and opened this bakery and has been doing very well. Cookie is a devout Christan lady and told us God told her to come back to Puerto Rico to help with the Baptist church that is just down the street from her bakery. Everything at the bakery is homemade and as you can see from the menu, very inexpensive.


Unfortunately the roast pork was sold out, so we had a Choripan and a Bistec Sandwich. Both were served on good homemade Puerto Rican bread. The Choripan was especially tasty. It is eggs scrambled and served with fried chorizo.


Since were were eating at a bakery we had to sample some of the tasty pastry. My wife had a a piece of flan. The folk we were with had guava cheesecake. I had a guava filled cheese danish. Yum.
Now that I am back in Jersey experiencing snow and nearly zero temperatures, remembering my few days in Puerto Rico are making warm all over. I can't wait to go back.

Enjoy!

Christmas Morning Brunch

Well, Christmas morning has come and gone. We are all hanging lounging around until we have to head up to Boonton for our gathering of Nordic hordes at my sister-in-laws house. We had the usually exchange of presents this morning. Rob is playing his new Wii music game and I am blogging on a new lap desk that Matt bought me. After exchanging presents Grandma and Grandpa Meyer along with Natalie and here Dad came over for Christmas brunch.

Here is the Menu for our Christmas Brunch:

Overnight Pecan Sticky Buns
Fruit Salad
Hash Browned Potatoes
Bacon
Baked Egg Cups

I used a recipe from Good Housekeeping for the Overnight Pecan Sticky Buns. I did the whole recipe in my Kitchen Aid mixer instead of hand kneading as the recipe suggests. It was the first time I had used this recipe and it was a winner.

Here is the recipe for the baked egg cups:

1 dozen slices of good quality white bread
1 stick of butter
1 dozen eggs
salt pepper

Cut the crusts off the bread and flatten each slice with a rolling pin. Butter both sides the bread. Gather together the four corners and place in a muffin tin. Bake at 375 degrees until toasty. Fill each toast cup with an egg, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees until egg is set, about 13 to 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

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Oly Kucken Day at G Ma's

Our holiday season keeps rolling on, along with all the great traditions our family has kept over the years. In honor of the Dutch heritage of my side of the family, Becca and Bria get together with my mother (who the girl's call G Ma), for their annual Oly Kucken day. Oly Kucken are deeped fried dough cakes with raisins, coated with powdered sugar. I believe that they actually are made for the season leading up to Lent in Dutch and German homes, but for some reason they have become associated with Christmas in our household. They are a special treat we look forward to this time of year.

The recipe is transcriped here exactly as it was written down by my mother, who wrote it down from her grandmother , Annie Dorn Stohl, who we knew as Mammie.

Oly Kucken

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. raisns, soaked while preparing.

Mix 1 egg with 1/2 c. milk - 3/4 c. sugar $ 2 tsp vanilla - add dry ingredients - fry @ 350 degrees until brown.

(Editor's note: I suggest that you fry in shortening. Vegetable oils can leave a taste behind and the Oly Kucken are more oily.)

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Holland Butter Cookies

My favorite of our family's holiday traditions is Christmas Baking. We make all kinds of delicious, sweet, spicy, and nutty carbohydrate concoctions. These items come from the recipe box of Christine's and my ethnic backgrounds. Christine's Norwegian heritage has the most food based holiday traditions of the two of us, but my Dutch and Irish heritage contribute a bit to the mix. Tonight the girls are heading up to North Jersey to gather with the aunts and female cousins of my wife's clan to make all sorts of Norwegian cookies. I will share some of the recipes and pictures of the tasty treats over the next few days. Last night however, the girls launched the baking extravaganza by making a cookie tin full of Holland Butter Cookies.

I have no idea where this recipe came from. It is has been in my family a long time. The cookies are very simple. The main flavoring comes from brown sugar and almond extract. It is essential that you stick to the proportions of butter and margarine. I am not a margarine fan, but the proportions in this recipe yield a thin and crispy cookie. Even though the recipe seems so simple, please give it a try. Once you do they just might become one your favorite cookies.

Holland Butter Cookies

1 stick butter
2 sticks margarine
1 t vanilla
1 t almond extract3 & 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 & 1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
2/3 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. white sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream butter, sugar & extracts together. Add dry ingredients. Mix well. Press through a cookie press or roll cookies into small balls and press flat with the tines of a fork or a cookie stamp. Bak 20-30 minutes.

As the original recipe notes--always double or triple the recipe!

Enjoy!

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Economy Leaves Americans with Empty Plates

More than 35 million Americans, including 12 million children, either live with or are on the verge of hunger. In New Jersey alone, an estimated 250,000 new clients will be seeking sustenance this year from the state's food banks. But recently, as requests for food assistance have risen, food donations are on the decline, leaving food bank shelves almost empty and hungry families waiting for something to eat.

The situation is dire, no more so than at the Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ), the largest food bank in the state, where requests for food have gone up 30 percent, but donations are down by 25 percent. Warehouse shelves that are typically stocked with food are bare and supplies have gotten so low that, for the first time in its 25 year history, the food bank is developing a rationing mechanism.

As the state's key distributor of food to local banks – serving more than 500,000 people a year and providing assistance to nearly 1,700 non-profits in the state – the stability of replenishment of the CFBNJ is essential to ensuring that individuals in need have access to food.

If everyone could just do a little, it would help those in need a lot. To help, people can:

1. Make a monetary contribution: Visit www.njfoodbank.org.
2. Donate food: Drop off a bag of food at your local food pantry.
3. Organize a food drive: We can help explain the logistics of starting a food drive. Just call 908-355-FOOD.
4. Help "Check Out Hunger:" Look for the "Check Out Hunger" coupons at your local supermarket and donate. No donation is too small!

One thing that people commonly confuse is the role of the food bank. The CFBNJ is similar to a wholesale distributor, as they provide food to more than 1,600 charities throughout the state, which then give food directly to the hungry (the food bank does not give food directly to individuals). The food bank also does not accept small amounts of food, such as a cart of groceries. They encourage those donations go directly to a local food pantry or soup kitchen. Rather, the food bank accepts large quantity food donations, such as a truck full of groceries, as well as monetary donations which they stretch to purchase food at wholesale prices, such as 300 lb. bags of rice, for example.



Participating Bloggers for “We Can’t Let This Bank Fail” campaign

1) JerseyBites.com

2) RedBankGreen.com

3) Jersey Girl Cooks

4) Simply Sable

5) John and Lisa are eating in South Jersey

6) Padma's Kitchen

7) Chefdruck

8) Life Lightly Salted

9) My Italian Grandmother

10) Cook Appeal

11) Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars

12) Mommy Vents

13) This Full House

14) Paper Bridges

15) Motherhood Avenue

16) The Kamienski Chronicles

17) Down the Shore with Jen

18) Fits and Giggles

19) House Hubbies Home Cooking

20) Nourish Ourselves

21) Partybluprints.com

22) Tommyeats.com

23) Off the broiler

24) Mrs. Mo’s New Jersey Baby

25) IamNotaChef.com

26) SimplyBeer.com

27) HistoryGeek.com

28) Savy Source Newark

29) Momlogic New Jersey

30) SurvivingNJ.com/blog

31) SurvivingNJ.blogspot.com

32) JerseyGirlGuide.com

33) Best of Roxy

34) Citizen Mom.net

35) Lynetteradio.com

36) Jersey Beat

37) Pop Vulture Phil

38) JerseySmarts.com

39) LongBeachIslandSummers.com

40) WildwoodSummers.com

41) Mike Halfacres Blog

42) Somerset08873

43) Family, Friends and Food

44) KateSpot.com

45) NewJerseyMomsBlog.com

46) JCRegister.com

47) New Jersey Real Estate Report

48) Riverviewobserver.com

49) More Monmouth Musings

50) Man of Infirmity

51) Another Delco Guy in South Jersey

52) SweetNicks.com

53) Average Noone

54) Cleary’s Notebook

55) Welcome to my Planet

56) The Center of New Jersey Life

57) Sharon’s Food Blog

58) Morristown, Chatham, Summit, and Madison NJ Real Estate

59) Midtown Direct Real Estate News

60) New Jersey Real Estate

61) BlowUpRadio.com

62) LazlosDen.com

63) The Ridgewood Blog

64) Book a Week with Jen

65) Banannie

66) Cartoongoddess.com

67) Matawan Advocate

68) Take Back the Kitchen

69) The Joy of Toast

70) Route 55

71) Montclair Kids.com

72) SaveJersey

73) Stompbox

74) Joe the Blogger

75) Environmental Republican

76) Stacey Snacks

77) Subversive Garden

78) New Jersey Pathfinder

79) Cooking With Friends Blog

80) Triple Venti

81) Read All About It

82) Rich Lee on Media

83) Likelihood of Success

84) Cape Cuisine

85) The Business At Hand

86) NewJerseyTaxRevolution

87) Figmentations

88) MiddletownMike

89) Caviar and Codfish

90) A Day in the Life

91) Mack’s Journey Through Life

92) Alice’s Restaurant

93) Tiger Hawk

94)Politics Patrol, The Bob Ingle Blog

95) The Food Chain

96) Henson’s Hell

97) Cranbury Conservative

98) Baristanet

99) New Jersey: Politics Unusual

100) Jersey Shore Blog

101) Plainfield Today

102) Beacon Bulletin

103) Journal Square Jersey City 07306

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Delicious Mac and Cheese

Delicious Mac and Cheese

1 lb elbow macaroni
1 and 1/2 stick of butter
1/4 medium onion, minced
4 T flour
1 can evaporated milk
4 c milk
1/4 t. white pepper
1/2 lb of american cheese grated
1/2 lb sharp cheddar grated
1/2 lb diced ham
1/2 fresh breadcrumbs
2 T melted butter

Cook macaroni in boiling water until just done. Melt butter in large sauce pan. Add onions and cook until clear. Add the flour and cook until bubbly. Add the evaporated milk and regular milk and cook until thick and bubbly. Add the pepper, and the cheeses. Add the cooked macaroni to the sauce. Fold in the ham. Put the macaroni into a casserole. Toss breadcrumbs in melted butter. Top macaroni with breadcrumbs. Bake in oven until the sauce is bubbly and the topping is crunchy and brown.

Enjoy!

My Quest for the World's Tastiest Meatloaf v. 1

I love meatloaf. A tender and savory slice of meatloaf napped in brown gravy beside a pile of buttery mashed potatoes is the ultimate comfort food. For years Christine has made the meatloaf recipe that is on the back of the Lipton Mushroom Onion Soup Mix box. I have to say that it is a pretty good recipes and great in a pinch. It is the one that i have been making for years. Lately though, I have wanted to put my own signature on our meatloaf so I have begun to experiment with different additions and subtractions in the quest for the world's tastiest meatloaf. My first attempt about a month ago was a disaster. I don't usually have out and out failures in my cooking but this one was. I used way to much bread and other wet ingredients so the meatloaf came out mushy. I also used to much Worcestershire sauce and the flavor was over powering. My next attempt which I served last night was much better. In fact my middle son with his highly developed pallet gave it a 9. On further thought he lowered the rating to 8.5. So it was a good meatloaf, but had room for improvement. My quest for the world's tastiest meatloaf will be an continuing series and I will report on my ongoing quest in future posts.

Worlds Tastiest Meatloaf v. 1

1.5 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 stalks of celery finely chopped
2 T. butter
1 stale roll or 3 slices of stale bread
enough milk to soak the bread
1/3 c. ketchup
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/3 c. milk
1 egg
1.5 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t. salt
1/2 t. ground pepper

Glaze

1/3 c ketchup
2 T. spicy brown mustard
1 T. brown sugar

Break up bread and soak in milk until soft. Squeeze out the milk and add enough milk to have 1/3 of a cup. Saute onions and celery in butter until soft. Add this to the rest of the ingredients, except the glaze ingredients and mix together well until blended and all ingredients are evenly distributed. Put into roasting pan and form into a loaf. Mix glaze ingredients together and spread this on top of the meatloaf. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Add about 3/4 c of water to pan about half way through cooking. Increase heat to 400 and bake another 15 minutes to get the glaze to be nice and crusty. Remove meatloaf from pan. Add additional water to pan and scrape up any brown bits. Add a flour and water slurry to make a gravy. Serve with meatloaf.

Enjoy!

House Hubbie's Joins "Blogging Out Hunger" Campaign

My fellow foodie and blogging buddy, Deborah of Jersey Bites is coordinating a bloging campaign on behalf of The Community Food Bank of New Jersey. The "This Bank Can't Fail" blogging campaign is scheduled to launch December 15th. The goal is to get 100 New Jersey bloggers spreading the word about the desperate need that The Community Food Bank of New Jersey is in due to the increased demands being put on New Jersey food pantries.

Some of you know that House Hubbie's is a little hobbie of mine. What my real life is all about is being a pastor of community church in Toms River, NJ. I can tell you from direct experience that the volume of calls I have from people looking for help has gone through the roof. The Community Food Bank of New Jersey provides much of the food that is on the shelves of the food pantries that I direct people toward who are in need. There are some alarming trends happening because of the increased need:

• At the Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ), requests for food have gone up 30 percent, but donations are down by 25 percent. - CFBNJ
  
  
• Warehouse shelves that are typically stocked with food are bare and supplies have gotten so low that, for the first time in its 25 year history, the food bank is developing a rationing mechanism. - CFBNJ

I am excited to be part of this effort to raise awareness of the need and hope you will get involved. If you want to participate you can e-mail Deborah at jerseybites (at) gmail (dot) com.

Sweet Treats for Finals Week

This week is finals week for our kids who are in college. My daughter is 6.5 hours away at Grove City College in the Pittsburgh area. She is feeling a bit blue, missing home and her boy friend, so my wife, being the good mommy that she is, sent her some early Christmas Cookies to cheer her up during finals week. She found a quick little recipe for some sweet treats called Black Tie Tartlets. She found the recipe on the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies site at Nestles Chocolate. She whipped them up in about 5 minutes. They were so pretty that I wanted to share them with you.

Enjoy!


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Hearty Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Soup

This soup doesn't have to be from a Thanksgiving leftover turkey . . . any turkey carcass will do, but for some reason it is especially tasty after Thanksgiving. I cook my turkey carcass the day after the feast and then put the whole pot in the fridge in order to let the fat harden so I can easily remove it. You don't need the leftover gravy and stuffing, but if you use it the especially rich and thick.

Hearty Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Soup

1 cooked turkey carcass broken up into pieces
1 large onion
2 ribs of celery
2 carrots
2 bay leaves
6 peppercorns
enough water to cover

Put the turkey carcass and other ingredients in a large stock pot or dutch oven. Cover with water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for several hours, adding more water if necessary. Cover and put pot in refrigerator. When stock is chilled remove hardened fat, set aside two T and discard the rest. Warm up the stock, strain it and remove meat from carcass and set aside.

2 T turkey fat
4 carrots peeled and diced
4 ribs of celery diced
2 turnips peeled and diced
2 parsnips peeled and diced
6-8 cups turkey stock (add water to stock to make at least 6 cups if necessary)
leftover stuffing
leftover turkey gravy
reserved turkey meat
1 lb cooked egg noodles
salt and pepper to taste
cranberry relish

Melt turkey fat in stock pot. Cook vegetables in the fat for a few minutes. Add the turkey stock, gravy and stuffing and cook until veggies are tender and soup is nice and thick. Add turkey meat and egg noodles. Adjust seasoning serve garnished with a dollop of cranberry relish, accompanied by fresh baked bread.

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Family, Food and Chestnuts Roasted On An Open Fire

We had a great Thanksgiving Day and are looking forward to a couple more days of relaxing with family and friends. We ended up having 22 which is a record, I believe. We had to be creative to get everyone a seat. The family is outgrowing the "kids table" phase, so we did the best we could.

We cooked a 21 lb turkey with onion, celery, sage and thyme stuffing. The crowd made light work of it, but thankfully I have cooked a turkey breast, so I have plenty of leftovers.

We did desert buffet style. We had pumpkin pie, three kinds of apple pie, lemon merange pie, cheescake and more. I think it was the biggest desert selection at our house so far.

After all the feasting was done, I made a fire in our fire pit and looked at the Jupiter and Venus which were next to each other in the early evening sky.

We capped off the night by roasting up some chestnuts in the fire.

Enjoy!

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Adam Sandler Sings the Thanksgiving Song

A little something to keep you entertained while I'm cooking.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I just finished the shopping for Thanksgiving. We are having 22 at our house, as my wife's tribe descends to the Shore from North Jersey and a few others show up for the feast. We have a pretty traditional meal. I have posted it here for you edification.

Thankgiving w/ the Meyer Family

Shrimp Cocktails
Assorted Relish Trays
Roast Turkey
Celery, Onion and Thyme Dressing
Mushroom Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Mashed Rutebega
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Corn Pudding
Green Bean Casserole
Brussle Sprouts Tossed with Brown Butter and Toasted Bread Crumbs
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Roll
Cheese Cake
Mixed Nuts
Roasted Chestnuts
Chocolate
Apple Cider
Coffee
Tea
Egg Nog
Soda

Several things I have learned to do over the years that you might be interested. First off, I brine the turkey. It makes a big different and is well worth the extra step. There are several recipes for brining turkey on the internet, however most of them are to complicated. If you want to read about the simple way I brine my turkey follow the link. Also, I do a make ahead gravy. You can learn about this following this link or the one link to gravy above.

This has been a challenging year for many people and I know that we still have some challenges ahead. However, when you consider the abundance we have been blessed with in this nation, even in tough times, we have much to be thankful for. More than that, we live in the free-est of lands, power transfers from presidents and party without a shot being fired or any blood being shed. Most importantly, each of us have people in our lives to love and be loved by, and just about anyplace in this land you can find a place to just pause and take in some beauty (for free). Have a great Thanksgiving Day everyone.

Enjoy!

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Make Ahead Turkey Gravy

two turkey wings
1 large onion quartered
2 large carrots
1 t. thyme
1 t. sage
8 cups of chicken stock
salt and pepper
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of wondra flour

Put the turkey wings and the onions in a dutch oven. Roast at 350 degrees until the turkey is dark brown. Move the dutch oven to the stove top. Add the carrots, the thyme and sage. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and scrape off all the browned bits from the pot. Reduce pot to a simmer, cover and cook for several hours. Remove the turkey wings and vegetables from the gravy. Put aside about 2 cups of the gravy for stuffing and for deglazing the turkey roasting pan. Mash together the butter and the wondra flour. Bring stock back to a boil, put in bits of the flour and butter mixture and cook until the gravy is quite thick (it will thin out when you add the juice from the roasted turkey). Taste and add salt and pepper. Put in the refrigerator and allow to chill. Remove the fat from the top of the gravy. On the day you are serving the turkey, pour off the juices from the roasting pan and de-fat if necessary. Deglaze the pan with the reserved gravy base. Add this and the poured off juice to the thickened gravy mix.

Enjoy!

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Easy Instructions on How to Brine a Turkey

Equipment Need

Large plastic garbage bag
Laundry Basket

Brine Ingredients
1 c. kosher salt and 1 c. brown sugar per gallon of water

Remove the package of the neck and giblets,etc. from the turkey and rinse the bird. Place the plastic bag in a laundry basket, place the bird in the plastic bag. Dissolve the salt and sugar in a gallon of water, pour over the bird. Repeat this till bird is just covered. Gather up the bag and tie it with a twisty tie. Put into a cool place overnight.

Before cooking, remove the bird from the brine and allow it to dry thoroughly before prepping it for cooking.

Enjoy!

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