Corn meal muffins

Ready to bake....

Have a ham left from Xmas or New Year's?

For a good meal of leftovers, take a ham bone with meat still on it and add water; simmer for an hour. Add some wild rice, green beans and pepper. Cook together for another hour. Serve with corn meal muffins. Mmmmmmmm, good.

Lots of activity today and tomorrow centered around these few square feet of our house. It is a wonder I haven't worn out the floor boards in this part of the house. : )

Cranberry Relish

What would Thanksgiving dinner be like without cranberry relish?

I like the fresh, non-cooked kind, but I also like to cook the berries and add the orange peel. Sometimes fresh ginger is added as in this one to the right. This calls for one orange (only the peel) chopped in a food processor and 4 cups of fresh or frozen cranberries (thawed), 2/3 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup chopped pecans and 2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. When chopping the cranberries, process just until they are coarsely chopped.

Carrots and Turkeys...

So here is what Thursday this week will be all about. The experts say we should never stuff a turkey because of bacteria. Interesting that our mothers and grandmothers have done that for decades. That being said, I will likely try something different this year; crockpot dressing. Several ladies have told me how good and moist dressing is when it is cooked in a crockpot. Then to be sure it is browned nicely on top, just put it in the oven for a few minutes or under the broiler for a minute or two.

The carrots should be a nice addition as one of our dishes. You will find this recipe in the Sunset recipes section. This one is a side dish of tender carrots and crunchy pecans tossed in a sweet brown sugar and ginger glaze.

This is just a start for the food section for this week!!

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

My poor husband has the swine flu, so I am hoping that I won't get it as I am the main cook for next Thursday. But we have no control over those things, so I am charging ahead with cooking plans. Today I bought the bulk of my groceries.

An interesting question was answered for me by a friend when I asked her which she prefers: A frozen turkey or a fresh one for Thanksgiving (or any time, of course). She is a gourmet cook, so I figured she was a good one to ask. She said that a couple years ago, Consumer Report published the answer to that after their research. One would think fresh is always best, but not so in this case. Frozen turkeys will be your best bet and the reason is right after they are slaughtered (what a thought, eh?), they are 'flash frozen' and then put in deep freezers. The fresh turkeys can lay around awhile before packaged for sale and actually, in the store they are stored at 32 degree temperatures so they have to be thawed to a certain degree also.

I made my pie crusts this evening and put them in the freezer, thanks to The Pioneer Woman's friend, Sylvia, I hope to have perfect pie crusts this year. Click on the green words (pie crusts) and you can see the recipe. This recipe has also been used in my in-laws' family for years and I know it is very good!

So groceries bought and pie crusts ready to roll out is enough today for Thanksgiving. Four days until I really need to get seriously cooking.