Thanksgiving Bounty

Steve, Lian and Geoffrey came from Columbus OH to share our Thanksgiving. Sue had to work and her Mom just had surgery. We miss you Sue! We jhope your Mom is doing great!

Thursday morning the sun was killing off the fog and the temps rose quickly to 40 degrees. It would be 65 by the time we sat down at the feast table.

I went off to the garden to harvest our veggies for dinner.

Purple Cauliflower, beets, carrots, leeks, radishes, lettuce and swiss chard all were covered with cold dewy drops.

The menu:

Bourbon Maple Turkey with cornbread, mushrooms, apple and sauasage stuffing.

Potato and leek gratin

Candied sweet potatoes with maple bourbon sauce (we definitely didn't make enough of these)

Roasted Cauliflower, turnip and beets with balsamic reduction glaze

Green sald with our last two summer tomatoes, lettuce, beet greens and radishes with a classic french vinaigrette.

Pies for dessert:

Maple Bourbon Pecan with whipped cream

Apple Pie with maple

Sweet Potato Pie with marshmellows on top (thank you mama Johnson)

You can see a theme here! Real Maple Syrup. We love it. And this feast could not have happened with out receiving a box from Louisette just in time with cans of Canadian maple syrup!

Blessing to share and enjoy for days. Today, turkey soup and turkey sandwiches! Yummy!!!!!

Animal Tales. You can't make this stuff up!

We have two female ducks, a khaki and a mallard. So, last week the mallard flies to the next door pond. They have 12 ducks or so. Our Khaki duck quacks all day long with the mallard quacking back but she doesn't come home. Next morning, the mallard come back to our pond for a visit, swims around with our khaki for a bit and flies off. Now our khaki quacks and quacks, with the mallard quacking back occassionally but she is not comeinf home. Next door, they have male crested mallards. She has found a mate! Now we have a lonely little khaki duck swimming around and gets excited when we come to visit or the cat hangs out at the pond. Hussy mallard!

Today I went out to the garden to thin out the radishes and cut some lettuce for dinner. I see over at Sue's (our neighbor to the south) and her puppy great pyreneese puppy running after a grey chicken, or so I thought. NO, he's chasing my grey silkie rooster, up and down along the fence. Now I have no idea how he got there since he does not fly like the hens but I had to get him out of there. The dog will eat him since he is not part of their flock. I went in to the bramble and spent a half hour trying to grab him, but no success. I lifted the chain link fence so he could go through, no, too easy. I gave up! Be eaten you stupid bird. I went inside and cleaned the house.

Two hours later, I came out to view the hens and he was standing right below the deck! Stupid bird! Can you get poison ivy in the fall?

Easy Comfort Food to Keep You Warm

With temps dipping down to 29 degrees, burrr!!!, I'm always concocting low calorie, inexpensive comfort food.
Here are a couple of recent dinners:
The first one I can not take credit for, I got it on Guy Fieri's show, DD& D. Then I did it my way. It's Haluski, a dish after my half-polish heart!
Lori's version of Haluski
1 head of cabbage, boiled in water for 5 minutes, then juliened.
1 stcik of butter (I susbstituted 4 TBSP butter and 4 tables olive oil
2 lg onions julienned
1 lb bacon, cooked drained and crumbled (I used just 3 slices)
1 TBSP garlic salt divided
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 lb lasagna noodles or wide egg noodles (cooked to el dente)
Boil Cabbage in a large stock or pasta pot, then remove to drain and add noodles to the same boiling water until cooked, drain and set aside.
cook the onions in the butter and oil on medium heat. Let them sweat but don't brown them. Then add the cabbage and sprinkle with 1/2 the garlic salt. Add crumbled bacon, white wine, noodles and rest of the garlic salt. Saute until everything is glazed, about 3-5 minutes. Serve with steamed Keilbasa and mustard! Yummy!

The next dinner was a pantry whip up. I had everything in the pantry.
Pink Penne
1 lb penne pasta
1 can salmon- skin and bones removed, then break up into bite size pieces
2 cloved minced garlic
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 jar lite alfredo sauce
1 jar (about 6-8 oz roasted red peppers, break up peppers into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese
Cook pasta according to directions, drain and set aside.
In a very large skillet or saute pan, add 1 tbsp oilive oil and two cloves of minced garlic. saute for 2 minutes, add salmon chunks, white wine, roasted red pepper and alfredo sauce, mix until smooth. Add Penne and saute until pasta is heated through, then sprinkle cheese and serve. I served it with garden greens in a vinaigrette.

Fluffy Rooster

Watch out, he may look cute but he hates red! If you wear red clothing, he will chase you down and fly at you with his talons high. He's usually very sweet to me because I feed them every morning. But if the guys are out in the farm yard or anyone wears red, he's a crazed maniac! Today I am working from home, went to the kitchen for a cup of tea, turned around to the back door and Mr. Rooster was at the door, looking in (full paned glass) and checking out the kitchen. Ha! He actually had to come up on the deck, cross the 15 feet or so to the back door. Crazy little dude!

This one is a Crested Polish Hen. I call her Phyllis Diller. She has a huge mop of feathers on the top of her head, just like the feathery hats Phyllis Diller used to wear. I am showing my age!

75 degrees and sunny!

Another week of Indian Summer. I picked the last two eggplants and a couple of poblano peppers. Greens and brussel sprouts are still thriving. Beets, carrots and lettuce are doing well too. Dinner was the cover recipe of Cooking Light, mac & cheese. It was awesome. Instead of bechamel sauce, you make a puree of butternut squash cooked in milk and herbs.
It was one of the best Mac & Cheese recipes I've tried!
To go with it I made a green bean salad that will defintiely become a regular side at our table:

1lb fresh green beans, blanched and cooled
1 large beefsteak tomato, fresh from the garden, cut in chunks
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1TBSP capers with 1 TBSP juice of capers
1 TBSP red wine vinegar
1/4 cup french vinaigrette

Place sliced shallot, capers, caper juice and vinegar in small bowl. Marinate the shallots for 30 minutes.
Place cooled beans and tomato chuncks in salad bowl. Add marinated shallots and juices. Add French vinaigrette and toss to coat. Serve with fresh ground black pepper. Yummy!

Burrrr! Time To Cover Up!

What a shock! A week in Palm Springs with over 100 degree temps each day and coming home to 32 degrees at night! I headed out to my garden with my harvest baskets. I picked 32 peppers (sweetgreen, poblano and hunan)two cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, green onions, swiss chard, collard greens and radishes and green beans. Enough to last me a month!
Now it's time to cover all the plants with plastic, especially my herbs, swiss chard and lettuce. I want to keep them growing for as long as I can.
The chickens are doing fine. Time to set up their heater in the coop though. I want them nice and warm so they will keep laying those lovely eggs.

Melt-in-your-mouth Oriental Pot Roast

I had to try my new Presto 23 quart Pressure Cooker. I couldn't wait. I had fresh pak choy picked from my garden so I decided to try an Oriental pot roast. Melt in your mouth, soak up the last of the juice, yummy, in just 45 total minutes! I'm in comfort food heaven!

Lori's Oriental Pot Roast
4lb chuck roast
1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2tbsp minced fresh ginger
2 tbsp hoison sauce
1 cup teryaki sauce (I made my own)
1/2 cup mushroom broth
1/4 cup beef broth
2 bunches pak choy, cleaned, separated but left leaves whole
1/2 lb carrots (I picked mine from the garden)
Optional :1 hunan dried chile, crumbled

Heat oil in clean pressure cooker, add roast and sear until each side is brown. Remove roast and set aside. Add Garlic and onions and saute for 1 minute. Place roast back in cooker, pile onions ginger, carrots and pak choy on top of roast.
In small bowl add rest of ingredients and wisk to combine. Add to cooker, seal with lid and heat to 15 PSI. Cook at 15 PSI for 30 minutes. Turn off heat and let pressure reduce on it's own. When it is finished, open lid and serve on a bed of udon noodles. Finger licking good!
I served a Syrah wine with it and a green salad.
Now I am in Palm Springs enjoying light fish meals! But I can't wait to come up with more recipes for my new cooker when I get back. Rabbit stew I think! I just have to get Derek out there to bag a few for me!