MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Time for the new installment of Making a Happy Home Monday.

The point of this blog carnival is to encourage and inspire women to chose something in their home to make it a happier home. This is easily done. You can sweep the cobwebs off the light-fixture, vacuum under the edge of the couch or do a paint touch-up on that wall that has been driving you crazy.

The fact is, it doesn't have to be a huge project. If it makes you feel better to have it done, then you have made a happier home.

I would love for you to join me, and some others, in doing this. Just leave a note on Mr. Linky. Then I, and hopefully the others, will pop on over and leave some comment love!

Won't you join me?

For my Make a Happy Home Monday, I focused on the dining room again.

Do you remember the dining room? I had some ugly walls....Hubby redid them and now I have pretty walls.

Well, Wednesday, Hubby took me to Garden Ridge and bought me some pretties for the wall.

Here they are!

THE DAY AFTER

Before I go too far, I wanted to share the turkey recipe that I did. It was good and moist. I did kind of freak though. It was done in 3 hours. I'm so used to roasting large turkeys...and taking 4-5 hours, that the 3 hour process was a bit disconcerting. I took the temp a few times before I was convinced that it was safe. HA HA!


So here is the recipe for:


APPLE-HERB ROASTED TURKEY


1 14-15 pound turkey
1/4 cup minced, fresh rosemary
1/4 cup minced, fresh sage
1 apple, cut into quarters (cored)
1 rib celery, cut in half
1 onion, cut in half
1/2 cup butter, very soft


I heated my oven to 350.


First, I removed the neck and the innards for gravy. I then rinsed the turkey, inside and out, and patted dry with paper towel.


I gently loosened the skin and put my herbs (which I had combined) under the skin. (My "gentleness" wasn't gentle enough. Where it tore, I just "sewed" it together with toothpicks.)


I stuffed the bird with the apple, celery and onion. Then, I used the entire 1/2 cup butter and spread it on the entire bird.


I put it in the oven....3 hours later, it was done. I let it rest for about 1-1/2 hours. It was perfect.







SO, after dinner, we got the kitchen cleaned up. It didn't really take that long, considering how much food we had. We sat down and listened to a guitar/piano concert that my 2 oldest boys had planned. It was really good. They played 4 solos each, then ended with a duet. (Really good, considering that I didn't really have anything to do with it.)


After, we settled for some dessert and football.


My folks left about 5:30. Then the work really started. We got everything out of the attic. We got our Christmas tree out. I got all my Christmas books and my Nativities. (I collect those.) My mother gave me a new one this year....saved my hubby from having to buy the new one ;)


Of course, I have been in the holiday spirit for about 2 months now, but I haven't totally planned my Christmas....NOW it is time. On the slate are: organizing 2 parties for school, planning a cookie swap, helping with an ornament exchange, finishing up my cards, wrapping all the gifts, finishing my shopping and planning/baking all the candies and cookies that I want to do this year. I can't believe the holidays are almost over and I still have so much to do.


Hmmmmmm......I should get busy. LATER!

TURKEY TROUBLES

Have you checked your turkey? Is it still frozen?

DON'T PANIC!

I checked my bird and there are parts that are still frozen enough that I know I will have an icy cavity in the morning. SO, I'm doing a water bath.

I have the turkey sitting in the sink in cold water. I will change the water every 1/2 hour or so until I go to bed. Do not use hot water, else bacteria will begin to spread. Just keep changing out the water (to keep it cold) and then put it back in the fridge. I will cook as normal in the morning.

I am doing an apple and herb roasted turkey. I will put up the recipe if I like it...this is a new one for me.

If you need to 411 on cooking your bird, read this.

Some other resources you can use: http://www.butterball.com/

or you can all 1-800-Butterball

Happy Roasting.

I hope you and your family have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.


Psalm 100

1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

STOLEN!!!

Ok....I stole this from a blogger-bud, Lisa, and I would normally, feel guilty....yeah, right....no I wouldn't. And I don't now, especially since she "borrowed" it from her blogger-bud.

I had never heard of these guys...but this video is so fun! Check it out!!!

TEMPT MY TUMMY TUESDAY

My blogger friend, Lisa, and her sister Lana, host this blog carnival. It is a lot of fun....pop on over and join us! Be sure to check out this week AND the last few weeks...people are pulling out their holiday best.

For today's TMTT, I'm going to do Deviled Eggs. I didn't have this on my menu. It is kind of an afterthought....it usually is.

First....let's talk about the hard-boiled egg. There is an art to it. If you don't boil them for the correct amount of time, you can end up with the grayish-green layer on the yolk. You can eat this....but it's just not as pretty as the creamy color of the yellow. (You do need to remember, though, that different yolks CAN have different colors, depending on how the hen was raised. These can range from a pale yellow to almost a greenish or blue-ish tint.....some are even orange, in comparison.)

To make hard-cooked eggs:

Put your eggs into a saucepan that is large enough to keep your eggs in one layer. Fill the pan with enough cool water so that it comes 1 inch over the eggs. Add about 1 tbsp. salt to water.* Cover and place over high heat.....bring to a full boil.

*salt does nothing to the outcome of the eggs, but if the eggs crack during boiling, the salt will prevent the white from running out a lot

Remove pan from heat, keep covered and set aside for 15 minutes. when time is up, pour off most of the water, add some ice and then run cold water into the pan. You need to cool the eggs quickly to room temperature.

Now this is where personal preference comes in. Some people crack and roll in their palms to break up the shell. I pour out the cool water and slosh the eggs around in the pan to crack them. I then peel them under running water. (The fresher the egg, the harder they are to peel. It's usually not a procedural issue, if you have "ugly" peeled eggs. These are great for a "quality check" when you are filling them. =) )

DEVILED EGGS

(this recipe is for the classic deviled egg....this recipe is EASILY multiplied)

Ingredients:

6 large, hard-cooked eggs - cut in half length-wise, yolks put into a bowl and white set aside for filling

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 Tbsp mayonnaise

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp salt

a few dashes of hot red pepper sauce (to taste)

Mix yolks, with all other ingredients, until smooth and creamy. Spoon filling into whites. If you want it pretty, you can use a pastry bag and star-shaped tip.

Personally, I just use:

yolks, a bit of miracle whip, a squirt of mustard, salt and pepper

Here are some other things you can do:

Ginger Eggs (shallot, mayo, minced fresh ginger, chili paste, salt)

Curried Eggs (mayo, dry mustard, curry powder, lemon juice salt)

Wasabi Eggs (mayo, wasabi paste, soy sauce)

French Onion Dip Eggs (sour cream, mayo, chives, onion powder, salt)

Cocktail Sauce Eggs (ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice, salt and some hot red pepper sauce)

Southwestern Eggs (mayo, chili powder, cumin, lime juice, salt)

Quiche Lorraine Eggs (bacon crumbles...tiny bits, sour cream, scallions....green part only, black pepper)

If you would like the actual break down for one of these other recipes, let me know and I'll post the measurements.

Hope y'all have a great Thanksgiving Feast! Thanks for reading!!!

ALMOST THERE....

OK, y'all. We are almost there for turkey-time! Are you excited? I sure am.

What did you do today? It doesn't really matter, as long as something was done to assist you for the day on Thursday.

Today, I looked at my menu to decide what I'll need to do tomorrow. The steam cleaning of the carpets didn't happen tonight. Tomorrow night, they won't happen because hubby and I are going to see Twilight. I'll steam on Wednesday.

Tomorrow, I have a list of things....that I will post tomorrow :)

A question came up today, from one of my dear friends (who happens to read). I thought I would address it here.

How do you cook a lot of dishes when you only have one oven?

Well, it takes thinking and planning, but it really isn't hard.

First off, when your turkey has reached temperature (about 165 in the thickest part of the thigh) then you can take it out of the oven. The residual heating will bring it up 5-10 degrees making it perfect. Also, the meat needs to rest so that the juices may redistribute throughout the meat. Put the turkey on the counter and tent with foil. Your bird can sit for 30-90 minutes. SO.....plan to have one hour of a turkey-free oven that you can use.

Also, plan your dishes/casseroles so that the items that need to be fresh, come out of the oven last. Bread is what I'm thinking of. My casseroles will be made ahead of time (cooked, but not baked). So, anytime the oven is free, I can heat these through, remove, cover with foil and leave on the stove top to catch the heat through the oven top.

The sides of the dishes can touch or have little space around if the food is already cooked. If you are baking something (like a cake, cookies or bread) you really need enough space around so that the air circulates evenly...otherwise, you have uneven baking.

Don't forget your crockpot! This is awesome for something like green beans, corn on the cob or mashed potatoes!

Also, you CAN microwave things without adversely affecting the outcome of the dish....as long as it is not able to get dry. Things like prepared mashed potatoes.....put a pat or 2 of butter on the top, cover with Saran and nuke away. (Yes, I've read what plastics in the microwave can do, but really? That's why I pray for my food. I don't worry about it.)

Shoot, it's close enough to to tomorrow. Let me go ahead and list what I PLAN to get done (before the movie, of course).

I need to set out pork chops for my red chili. I need to go ahead and bake my corn bread and biscuits to get them drying for my dressing. I need to consider and outline my bake/prep times of each dish so that I know when things need to be started and how long/what temp to bake.

I think I will buy some sweet tea from CFA! (In honor of some darn-good fowl.) I also need to get milk....not that I need it for Thursday's meal, but as we go through at least 1 gallon/day...I need to be sure we don't run out when the stores are closed.

I also need to clear out my own freezer to get ready for some leftovers.

I need to do laundry....badly. Our heating element in the dryer went out the other day....so I'm behind. Anyway, since DH will be leaving the morning after Thanksgiving, I need to be sure that he is flying around in clean BVD's. =)

Well, that's all for now. I'll be back soon.

DON'T PANIC!!!

IT'S GOING TO BE OK!!!

OVER THE RIVER.....AGAIN

It's Sunday night.....do YOU know where your turkey is?

Mine has been moved from the deep freeze to the refrigerator. Remember, you need 24 hours for every 5 pounds. Even if you have a small bird, I would go ahead and pull it out of the freezer by tomorrow.

I'll be steam cleaning the carpets either tomorrow or Tuesday. (Or I'll sweet talk my hubby to.) Time to pay attention to the ceiling fans and light fixtures, as well. I will also work on spot removal on my couch....gotta love microfiber!

Another good thing to do (especially if you have NOT gone shopping yet) is to clear out your fridge and freezer. You will have leftovers to deal with.

Speaking of leftovers: make sure you have the necessary containers for the leftovers. It is really nice to have some of the disposable containers that you can send home with guests...especially if you aren't big on leftovers.