“All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
Archive for November, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 27th, 2008Don’t Forget The Gravy . . .
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008Simple, unpretentious ingredients work synergistically to produce glorious golden gravy. Fat, flour and liquid. . . the combinations and variations of these three components are too numerous to mention. Creative culinarians have produced sumptuous rich gravies from this uncomplicated trio for generations.
The gravy that embellishes the feast at our home embodies the flavors that I relish - creamy butter and vibrant white wine. This is what works for me. Visit Works For Me Wednesday for other terrific ideas and tips.
Turkey neck
celery stalk
1 carrot
onion, peeled and quartered
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of wine or apple juice
Place the above ingredients is an medium sauce pan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour.
Strain the simmered liquid. Add chicken or turkey stock and 1/2 cup of white wine to the liquid to make 8 cups. Set this stock mixture aside. You can make this ahead time.
Once your turkey is roasted, remove the turkey from the pan drippings, pour the liquid drippings from the roasting pan into a bowl. Skim the fat from the liquid and reserve. It is easiest to separate the fat if you cool the drippings. Place the roasting pan over high heat and deglaze with white wine.
Add the stock mixture to the roasting pan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Combine butter and some of the reserved fat to make about 1/2 cup. I prefer butter and combine accordingly. Heat until melted and then slowly add 1/2 cup of flour whisking continually until you have a smooth paste or roux. I like to cook this paste to a golden brown as it imparts a lovelier color to the gravy.
Add the roux in small amounts to the gravy liquid to thicken the mixture. Once you have arrived at a desired consistency season with salt and pepper to taste.
Get Ready For Photographic Friday
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008I want to encourage others to capture the beauty of simple objects in their lives through photography. Consider the loveliness in a bowl of fruit, a basket of eggs, a table setting, snow laden branches or even a stack of wood.
Hopefully, this meme will inspire you to perceive charm and artistry in the routine. Here’s how it works:
1. Photograph an object, room, or person in keeping with the posted topic.
2. Post one picture on your blog.
3. Include a link to Bona Vita’s Photographic Friday in your post.
4. Through Bona Vita’s Mr. Linky, link to your Photographic Friday blog post (not your main site).
5. Be sure to leave a comment!
I will post the weekly topic or focus no later than 8:00 a.m. Eastern on Friday morning. Links will close at 10:00 Friday evening. Obviously, please choose your subject with discretion. I will delete inappropriate links. Have fun!
“The unthankful heart . . . discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!” – Henry Ward Beecher
Fresh and Bright
Friday, November 21st, 2008Fresh vegetables add a lovely touch to a Thanksgiving banquet. The colors will brighten your feast as you arrange carrots, peppers, grape tomatoes, and celery on a beautiful platter. This is an easy, nutritious way to enliven your table.
Utilize trimmed, crisp vegetables attractively sliced into manageble sizes. This inviting display of crudites is certain to please your family and guests.
Join me next week for the new Photographic Friday Meme. I hope I can inspire you to capture the beauty of simple objects and moments around your home. Watch for additional details next week.
“Sowe Carrets in your Gardens, and humbly praise God for them, as for a singular and great Blessing.” – Richard Gardiner
Click . . . Enter . . . Print
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008I stumbled across a fabulous online source for a variety of educational helps catering to all grade levels. It is Ed Helper. This online subscription service offers reproducible and customizable material covering math, language arts, reading, and social studies (to name a few).
They even provide thematic materials for each month. Once you subscribe to this terrific group, you will have access to a plethora of printable worksheets, games, and puzzles to supplement your children’s curriculum.
The annual fee is relatively low: $19.99 for the basic K -8 package and $39.98 for the package that includes high school and special needs materials. It is quite a value considering the abundance of resources available at this site. Armed with a printer, you could possibly print everything you would need for the academic portion of your child’s education at Ed helper.
For additional great tips visit Rocks in My Dryer’s Works for Me Wednesday.
“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts. “-C.S. Lewis
Going Green
Monday, November 17th, 2008The traditional Thanksgiving feast can be rather colorless. The turkey, dressing (or stuffing, if you must), potatoes, breads and even pies all remind me of the earth. Brown, beige, taupe . . . even the red tones of this banquet convey the colors of . . . dirt. This is precisely the reason why we must add lovely, rich green vegetables to the regale.
The apple, aquamarine, chartreuse, beryl, olive, moss and peacock of tasty herbaceous plants will add just the right touch to your celebration table.Traditionally, green arrives in the form of pearl-sized peas and steamed broccoli. Instead, here is a new twist on that petite vegetable that resembles a miniature cabbage – the Brussels sprout. I was originally drawn to a similar recipe in the November 2007 issue of Bon Appetit. This is my version.
Gingered Brussels Sprouts with Caramelized Onions
2 lbs. Brussels sprouts
2 large onions, thinly sliced
4 tbls. butter
4 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground ginger, or the equivalent crystallized ginger
1 tbl. olive oil
salt
pepper
Wash and trim the Brussels sprouts. Steam until tender (about 4 -5 minutes) and drain. Thinly slice the steamed Brussels sprouts and set aside.
Place the sliced onions in a large skillet. Sprinkle the sugar over the onions and saute in the butter. The onions will eventually soften and achieve a delicious golden brown color. Once caramelized, sprinkle the ginger over the onions and continue to saute for an additional minute. Add the olive oil and the sliced Brussels sprouts. Saute for 4 – 6 minutes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serves 8 – 10.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:9
Don’t Fence Me In
Friday, November 14th, 2008After the fractured fairy-tale weekend, the “boys” gated the road leading up to our home. It was bitter sweet. I love the look. It reminds me of Texas where everyone gates their roads, and I love Texas. However, it represents a new era in our lives. My dear neighbors (I only see some of these lovely people every 2 or 3 months) can no longer simply stop by for a visit. They must first phone us so that we can open the gate. So much for spontaneity.
So . . . do good fences, or gates for that matter, make good neighbors? I think not. Good neighbors are gifts, with or without the fences and gates.
Mending Wall
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors’.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
- Robert Frost
First Light
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008My favorite time of the day is the early morning. I treasure the peace, quiet and beauty that it delivers. Even more, I relish the idea of a fresh start, a new beginning – every day. How gracious of God to provide this opportunity every 24 hours.
It takes a little discipline and a bit of sacrifice to convince your weary body to rise before the sun is shining and the world is awake. But it’s worth it to enjoy the precious early moments of the day. This is what works for me. For other great tips visit Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.
Celebrate the morning with a delicious frittata . . .
Vegetable Frittata
15 eggs
3 cups heavy whipping cream
3 bell peppers
1 large onion finely diced
1 garlic clove
4 tbl. butter
1/2 teaspoon groud pepper
Salt
Whisk eggs and cream together in large mixing bowl. Add pepper and a pinch of salt. Whisk thoroughly. Meanwhile, saute bell peppers, onion, garlic,and butter in a 3-quart oven-proof sauteuse pan (a pan with short handles that will fit easily in the oven) until tender. Add egg mixture to saucepan. Place the pan in the oven and bake at 350° for 15-17 minutes. Slice into wedge shaped pieces and serve alone or topped with grated sharp cheddar cheese and salsa.
“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” – Psalm 143:8
Falling Into Winter
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008I looked outside this morning and realized that fall is morphing into winter. It was 28° here in Indiana and probably 18° up in northern Michigan.
To think I finally got around to fall decorating just yesterday – it was quickly tackled since I work best under the gun.
My mother made spur of the moment plans to visit us for Thanksgiving and my husband informed me that he was bringing a colleague over for dinner last night. So, I:
- quickly put a wreath together and hung it on the front door
- waded through my holiday decorations in the attic and came up with mantle decor
- arranged five small pumpkins on the front porch
- filled a bowl with gourds from Sam’s Club (stored for the last three weeks on the counter in my laundry room)
- sprayed Bath and Body Works “Cinnamon Clove Buds” throughout the house
This decorating experience accounted for about 20 minutes of my life yesterday. It’s a good thing it was short and sweet, considering I will need to change my motif in about 3 weeks . . . It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
“The place, with its gray sky and withered garlands, its bared spaces and scattered dead leaves, was like a theater after the performance–all strewn with crumpled playbills.” – Henry James, The Turn of the Screw
Dressing Up
Monday, November 10th, 2008Do you serve dressing or stuffing at your Thanksgiving feast? This is a controversial issue. After a bit of research I have found that historically stuffing was the preferred terminology. Wikipedia refers dressing inquiries to their stuffing definition. This leaves me to believe that they discount the notion of referring to the seasoned mixture of moist breads, fruit and nuts we serve with our dinner as ”dressing”. It appears that those who reside in the south and east prefer the term “stuffing” whether or not their delicious side dish is found inside or outside the bird.
So where does this leave me? I will hold fast to my opinion that what goes inside an entree is stuffing and what is baked outside is, and always will be, dressing.
Pomegranate-Pecan Dressing
1 lb. seasoned herb stuffing or equivalent homemade bread crumbs
1/2 cup Chardonnay or similar white wine
2 1/2 cup chicken broth or turkey broth
16 tbl of butter
1 finely chopped onion
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Seeds from 1 pomegranate
Bring Chardonnay, 12 tbl. butter, and chicken broth to a boil in large saucepan. Meanwhile, saute onion with 4 tbl butter. Remove broth from heat. Add breadcrumbs. Stir until evenly moistened. Add onions, pecans, and pomegranate seeds. Stir until evenly blended. Spread in 9″ x 13″ pan. Cover with foil and heat at 325° or until warm 30 minutes before serving. This dressing can be made up to 1 day ahead and stored in the refrigerator.
This recipe is easily customized. I have combined hazelnuts and dried cranberries in the place of the pecans and pomegranate seeds. Another flavorful combination is dried cherries and almonds.
One of the time saving short-cuts that I am guilty of is taking advantage of Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing. It is packaged in a large version that can be purchased at Costco and Sam’s Club. The key to successful dressing when working with this is to ignore the package’s directions. Past experience has led me to the conclusion that following the directions on the purchased stuffing will lead to dry, tasteless dressing that resembles the foam particles found inside antique pillows.
“Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.” ~Theodore Roosevelt