My Best Thanksgiving Cooking Tip

Your turkey will cook a lot faster if you remove its spine first (a technique known as "butterflying").  It will also leave the legs and wings juicier since they won't be in the oven as long. 

It can be a bit of a struggle to do, but the work is made easier with a very sharp knife and some kitchen shears.  Don't know how to sharpen a knife?  Watch this.

Here's a good video to learn how to butterfly that turkey (or chicken).

Once the spine is removed, cook as usual but keep checking the turkey's temperature.  It's done when the thickest part of the thigh or breast is 165 degrees F.

If you need a refresher on how to cook a turkey, please read my entry from Thanksgiving last year:

A Simple Thanksgiving Dinner

And a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys

This past year, a good friend of mine sent me this cookbook.  I was really excited to try the recipes given I'm the only female in my house.  I need to know how to feed men and boys! 

This book taught me some excellent techniques.  Such as... a fantastically delicious way to quickly cook a whole chicken.  As in, savory, falling off the bones, gorgeousness.  So good you might dream about eating it, as I did the night after I first made it.  Also... an awesome and quick(!) beef stew.  And many, many more great tips and recipes. 

I plan to try just about everything in this book.

Check it out!

And thank you, Kathleen W.

Bernando LaPallo, 109 And Going Strong On Raw Foods

A friend pointed out this news clip today about a 109 year old man named Bernando LaPallo. He's been living a raw diet for 30 years and wrote a book called Age Less, Live More - Achieving Health and Vitality at 107 And Beyond.

I haven't read it yet but the synopsis is fascinating.  Check out the video.

Costco - A Great Store For Organics

People are often surprised to hear that I do the majority of my shopping at Costco.  But I really do.  It's amazing how much organic food they sell now.

We live on a budget just like everyone else, so I try to buy in bulk and freeze things to save money.  The fact that I can do this at Costco with organics makes me very happy.

Take yesterday's shopping trip, for instance.  Here's a list of the organic food I picked up:

• Bunny-Luv organic carrots
• TreeTop organic applesauce
• Kirkland organic apple juice
• Alpine Valley organic whole grain bread (we LOVE this bread)
• Sun-Maid organic raisins
• Kirkland organic extra virgin olive oil
• Ruta Maya organic coffee
• Daisy Fresh organic eggs
• Kirkland organic butter
• Kirkland lowfat milk

I also bought a few great all-natural (but not organic) products, such as:

• Coleman hot dogs
• gala apples
• lovely, sweet cantaloupes
• watermelon
• Tilamook mild cheddar cheese

Other organic items I saw but didn't need that day:

• organic quinoa
• organic baby spinach
• organic pasta (various kinds and shapes)
• organic pasta sauce
• organic cereal
• organic hummus
• organic bean and cheese burritos

I also saw a number of great green products such as:

• HydroRight dual-flush kits
• solar Halloween decorations
• solar landscape lights

Chocolate Brownies

My boys love brownies.  I don't love all of the nonsense that's typically found in brownie mixes (but I have one organic favorite: Arrowhead Mills Brownie Mix.) 

I enjoy making my own.  Here is my recipe.  It's quick and easy and goes great with my homemade vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) organic butter, melted

6 tablespoons powdered cocoa

1 cup organic sugar

2 organic eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup organic flour

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

note: 1/2 cup halved walnuts optional. (If you only want them on part of the brownie batch - as my family does -  just sprinkle them on when the batter is in the pan.)

Directions:

1. In a stand mixer, combine melted butter, cocoa and sugar (I melt the butter in a Pyrex dish in the microwave).  Blend well.
2. With mixer on low, add eggs one at a time, then vanilla.
3. Add flour and mix until blended. 
4. Add walnuts (if you wish) and chocolate morsels. 
5. Pour into greased 9 x 9 inch baking dish. 
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Healthy, Quick Steak Marinade

A good New York strip steak on the right night and I'm a very happy person.  I like to pair mine with a spinach salad with walnuts and a light dijon vinaigrette (or lemon vinaigrette - or even a favorite organic brand, Annie's Shitake & Sesame Vinaigrette).

I insist on making my own marinade to avoid the high fructose corn syrup found in most store-bought marinades.

Here's what I do.  It's quick, easy, tasty and healthy.  And best of all: I don't have to stock special ingredients to whip it up in seconds.

• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of orange juice
• salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

(note: you can also add ketchup or soy sauce for interesting variations on the taste)

Whisk it together and coat the steaks before cooking.

Homemade Lemonade

Lemonade is one of the only beverages my older son will drink.  He likes the tartness.

He prefers one particular brand.  This past week, the store was sold out of it so I offered to make him some homemade lemonade.  "The beauty of it," I told him, "is that I can adjust it if you think it's too tart, or too weak, or too sweet.  We can tinker until it's just the way you like it."

Well, he liked it. And the nice fringe benefit? It's very inexpensive.  I just went to Costco and bought a big bag of lemons and a bag of organic sugar.

Here's my recipe:

• the juice of four lemons, strained to remove all pulp and seeds
• eight cups of filtered water
• one half cup of organic granulated sugar

The result is somewhat strong, so we then water it down to suit the taste of the various members of the household. I think it's easier to start with something strong and dilute it than to work in the opposite direction.

Enjoy!

Cherry Vanilla Muffins

Every Friday afternoon during the summer, I host a playgroup at our house for my sons and all of their Montessori classmates (they're in the same class). It's really not as crazy as it sounds. Not every child attends every playgroup, and I encourage the parents to stay and attend, too, so there is lots of supervision.

Today I decided to make some muffins for the playgroup's afternoon snack. I didn't have any fresh fruit left but I had plenty of frozen fruit. So I selected some lovely cherries from our freezer and modified my blueberry muffin recipe to accommodate the different fruit.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup sifted white whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup thawed, pitted, quartered cherries (plus the juice from the thawing process)

Directions:
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar over the cherries and toss them so they are covered, then let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

I use a stand mixer for all of my baking, which makes very quick work of it. Cream the butter and sugar. Add milk and egg and beat until smooth. While the mixer is running, add baking powder, vanilla and salt. Add the flour. Mix until moistened. Fold the cherries (with juice) into the batter. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 375F degrees for 15 minutes. Don’t overcook!

Tip:
You can tuck a 1/4 cup of ground flaxseed into each batch of muffins to add fiber and Omega-3 - add an additional 1/4 cup milk to balance it out.

Chocolate Ice Cream

Chocolate ice cream.  Big yawn, right?  Well, not if you've got a Cuisinart ice cream maker.  I started this chocolate ice cream (recipe courtesy of the Cuisinart website) while I was making dinner and it was ready by the time we were ready for dessert.  And it was SO good.  Creamy, chocolaty but not too sweet.  Serve yourself a scoop and don't think about the fat content.  Just enjoy.

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process preferred)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1-1/2 cups whole milk
3-1/4 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Place the cocoa and sugars in a medium bowl; stir to combine. Add the whole milk and use a hand mixer on low speed or whisk to combine until the cocoa and sugars are dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. If not freezing immediately, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Turn machine on; pour mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 25 to 35 minutes (it's a fun show for the kids).

The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture (see left). 

If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving. (The photo, right, is of tonight's batch just before I popped it in the freezer to firm up.)

Everyone in the family devoured it.

Oatmeal Spice Cookies

Fresh baked cookies are one of my kids' favorite treats.  Today I whipped up this batch of Oatmeal Spice cookies.   Note: raisins and chopped walnuts are optional.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 stick butter, softened (to speed this up, I remove the wrapper, put it in a microwave-safe dish and nuke it for 30 seconds)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup uncooked rolled oats
• 3/4 cup softened, drained raisins (put them in a microwave-safe dish and nuke for 1 minute, then drain)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Microwave your raisins, if you choose to use them, drain and set them aside to cool.
3. In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar.
4. One by one while still mixing, add the egg, vanilla, milk, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
5. Add the flour.  Once that is completely blended in, add the rolled oats, then the raisins and walnuts (if you choose to add them).
6. Using a teaspoon, slide spoonfuls of the dough onto your cookie sheet.  Bake until golden brown - remove them from the cookie sheet immediately so they don't overcook.
7. This recipe made 36 cookies and the cook time was about 10 minutes (I have a convection oven).  The key is to keep checking them so they don't overcook.

Enjoy!

Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

Last night, my older son asked if we could make some homemade ice cream in our Cuisinart ice cream maker.  I asked him what flavor he'd enjoy and he said "cherry.  and watermelon."  So tonight I made cherry vanilla ice cream.  I'll make the watermelon ice cream in a few days, once I've mulled my approach.

Ingredients (not as high fat as your typical ice cream since I don't usually have heavy cream in my fridge)

• 2-1/2 cups 1% milk
• 1-1/8 cups (plus 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
• 2 cups half & half
• 1-1/2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup thawed, pitted, quartered cherries (I bought the organic frozen variety since they aren't in season for us)

Instructions

• In a medium mixing bowl, combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the half & half and vanilla.
• Sautee the cherries with 2 tablespoons of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar until soft.
• Drain and combine cherries with the contents of the mixing bowl.
  Turn the machine on; pour the mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20 to 25 minutes. 
• The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving. (I froze ours)

Seriously delicious!

Baby Spinach Tahini Salad

While traveling this weekend to my high school reunion, my sister and I stopped for a quick lunch at a really good salad shop called SweetGreen in Georgetown.  I ordered the Chic P because of my intense love of tahini.  Whether in hummus or in tahini dressing, tahini just hits the spot for me. 

Now home again in Texas, I had a big urge for a nice salad for lunch - with tahini dressing, of course.  So I improvised the tahini dressing, with excellent results:


Tahini Salad Dressing:
1/2 tablespoon tahini paste
3/4 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 tablespoon lemon juice
garlic powder and salt to taste

serving size: 2 tablespoons (you might not need this much)
approx calories: 155
approx fat grams: 16

I put this dressing on baby spinach and added some avocado and a few walnut halves. 

Delicious!  I'd have included a photo but I couldn't wait to eat it.

Easter Dinner

Well, the Easter baskets have been dismantled and mostly consumed, the egg hunt is over and now my attention turns to preparing dinner.

This is the first year I'm actually making a fuss over Easter dinner.  The first of many, I hope.  Today I'll serve a roasted chicken (prepared in a similar manner to my Thanksgiving turkey), gorgeous steamed green beans, a spiral ham (Easter is the only time of year I serve this) and stuffing.  We'll follow that with some lovely green grapes, strawberries picked from my garden, and fresh baked sugar cookies that my kids will decorate (this will no doubt be their favorite part of the meal).

I wish you peace, hope and grace this season.

Quick, Healthy and Filling Food

I overheard a woman say today that she doesn't have time to eat healthfully.  Respectfully, I must say that that's utter nonsense.   You just have to think outside the box.  Healthy food can also be "fast food."

Here's one example of a super quick, healthy and filling breakfast or lunch:

1 cup of lowfat organic strawberry yogurt (I love Stonyfield)
1 cup of GoLean Crunch! cereal (by Kashi)
1 cup of  raw blueberries

Nutritional content:
480 calories
7.5 grams of fat
19 grams of protein
12 grams of fiber
35% the US RDA of calcium

Yum!

What are your favorite healthy, fast meals?

Strawberry Banana Nut Muffins

Mid-morning and I looked at my son and said, "muffins?"  "Yes!" he replied.  So I went to see what odds and ends I could throw in.  Turns out I had one browning banana and a handful of slightly over the hill strawberries in the refrigerator that would otherwise have been headed for the composter.  Perfect! 

I decided to use my zucchini bread recipe as the backdrop - the ingredients just seemed right.  But I then discovered that I only had one cup of brown sugar.  No problem - I just substituted regular organic granular sugar for the required balance.  Oops.  I only had two large eggs, not three.  Again, no problem.  I just substituted a 1/4 cup of water for the missing egg.  Lesson: go with the flow.

My son had a warm muffin with a touch of vanilla ice cream for dessert after lunch.  My husband ate his warm with a touch of butter.  I had mine plain. Scrumptious!

Ingredients/Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Mix the following until completely blended (I use a stand mixer):
2 large eggs
1/4 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granular sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

2. Fold in:
1 cup mashed banana
1 cup finely chopped strawberries

3. Add the following and mix well:
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour

4. Fold in:
1 cup chopped walnuts

5. Bake in a muffin tin using liners or small loaf pans until springy on top.  Do not overcook!  My muffins took about 15-20 minutes.  This recipe made 12 muffins and one small loaf.

The Tofu Switcheroo (And He Only Gagged Once)

I've been married for almost 9 years to a confirmed carnivore.  When we met, I was an ovo-lacto-vegetarian (i.e., I ate eggs and dairy but no meat/poultry/fish).  Within a year, I was back to meat.

I've never really been comfortable eating meat, fish and poultry.  No way would I buy non-organic versions given all of the growth hormones and antibiotics in them, organic meat and poultry isn't sold everywhere, and organic fish is, well, I don't really know what that is.  But I do my best serving my family nutritious and almost-always organic food.

Last week, I got on the scale and noticed that without realizing it, I'd gained five pounds.  I could blame it on the shipment of girl scout cookies, or on my broken toe making it hard to exercise.  Whatever.  The bottom line was, those pounds had to go.  I mentioned this to my husband and he voiced interest in eating a bit healthier.  So I resolved to exercise more and spruce up our diet a bit - get back to basics.  Less sugar, less butter, less starch, more vegetables, more protein.

We started consuming a lot more baby spinach salads with walnuts or almonds, more stir fry with bok choy and brown rice, more grilled lean meats, more fruit, etc.  We also eliminated dessert, reduced our bread and pasta intake and agreed not to eat after 8pm.  I'm happy to say that it's working!

My husband even let me take some liberties with serving a few vegetarian meals.  Last night, however, I tried to pull a fast one.  I bought a lovely roasted chicken and some firm tofu and hatched a plan.  I was sure he'd resist the tofu if he knew it was in the dinner, so I tried to pull a switcheroo.  I allowed the aroma of the roasted chicken to waft through the house but then diced the tofu and put THAT into the stir fry instead.  My kids were tough customers (which they are even with chicken) but both of them ate it (with the promise of some ZenSoy pudding to follow).

My husband took one look and was not fooled.  But like the man that he is, he ate the whole thing and only gagged once.  When I asked him this morning if he'd be home for dinner, he smiled and told me he would call first and ask me what I was making.

Another Way to Get Your Kids to Eat Veggies: Juicing!

I am constantly trying new ways to get my kids to eat their vegetables (I've written a few posts on the subject: see here).  My older son is pretty good about it but my younger son is one tough customer.  Among other methods, I've tried:

• pureeing cooked carrots, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and squash and hiding them in marinara (not all of them at once), mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches or hamburgers
  
• adding spinach to fruit smoothies
• making cute faces with them (green bean as mouth, carrot as nose, zucchini slice as eyes)
• bribery (I'm not proud).  

But until recently, I hadn't tried juicing.  Juicing has many health benefits - I encourage you to read more about them here.  I was astonished at what I'd been missing by not incorporating this "delivery mode" into my diet.

So here is how it unfolded: I picked my older son up from school and told him about the exciting activity I had planned: he could make his own juice!  We could try all sorts of vegetables and fruits!  We could combine them and see how they tasted together!  (I used a lot of exclamation points in my pitch.)  He was very excited by the time we got home.  My two sons and I made our own fresh apple, pineapple, mandarin orange, carrot, spinach/carrot, and apple/orange juices.  It was really fun.  I had made fresh squeezed orange juice before but had no idea how great other fresh juices can taste.  Tonight, before dinner, my younger son asked for carrot juice.  Now that is success!

The juicer I bought is powerful, quiet and easy to clean.  It does not do as good a job with green leafies as a really high-end juicer, but it serves my needs quite well.  It's the Jack Lalanne PJP Power Juicer Pro Stainless-Steel Electric Juicer.

Costco Is Now My Primary Source of Organic Food and Products

Costco finally became the primary place where I shop for food.  It displaced other retailers once it started carrying most of my organic/all natural/environmentally-friendly basics.  Here is a sampling of the products I typically see there these days:

• Marcal recycled toilet tissue
• Kirkland environmentally-friendly laundry detergent and dish soap
• Coleman Natural Beef Hot Dogs
• Apple & Eve organic juice boxes
• Dakota organic ground beef
• Lundburg organic short grain brown rice
• Treetop organic applesauce
• organic raisins
• Ruta Maya organic coffee
  
• Kirkland lowfat organic milk (they carry chocolate milk boxes, too)
  
• Kirkland organic butter
• Earthbound Farm organic baby spinach
• Earthbound Farm organic gala apples
• Bunny-Luv organic baby carrots
• Daisy Fresh organic brown eggs
• Kirkland Filippo Berio Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1.32 gallon jugs of Heinz all natural distilled white vinegar (my primary cleaning agent)
• 12 lb bags of Arm & Hammer baking soda (my second most-used cleaning agent)
• Garofalo organic pasta
• Simply Natural organic pasta sauce
• Wholesome organic sugar
• Amy's organic bean & cheese frozen burritos
• Kirkland organic orange juice
• Kashi cereals and waffles
  
• all purpose organic flour
• Coleman's organic chicken
• Kirkland organic strawberry jam
• Pacific Natural Foods organic free-range chicken broth
• fresh salmon
• Kirkland organic peanut butter
• Oroweat double fiber bread
  

Check it out!

EcoMeg's Thanksgiving Menu

I'm looking forward to a low-key Thanksgiving on Thursday.  Am I cooking anything tomorrow?  No.  I'm taking my little boys to the library and the park.  So, what's on the menu for Thursday?

• organic free-range turkey with chestnut and sausage stuffing, gravy
• warm ciabatta rolls with organic butter
• organic string beans with slivered almonds
• sliced organic red delicious apples
  
• organic pumpkin pie with fresh organic whipped cream (Have I mentioned how simple fresh whipped cream is?  Put heavy whipping cream into your food processor with powdered sugar.  Blend.  To. Die. For.)

Oh, and let's not forget the football. 

Simple Thanksgiving Dinner

My five year old's Montessori class held its annual Thanksgiving celebration feast this morning. I signed up to bring the turkey, stuffing, gravy and vegetables. Did I start cooking yesterday? No. I started cooking at 6:15am and delivered everything to the school by 10am. No sweat.

Preparing Thanksgiving dinner does not need to be stressful.  I've outlined, below, a simple menu that can be thrown together very easily in a matter of a few hours.

The Perfect Turkey

Cooking a turkey is not hard, but for some reason, people have heart palpitations about it. Maybe it's because the only time each year that they make one is on Thanksgiving Day. Or maybe it's because they haven't discovered the secret to it all: A THERMOMETER.

1. Start with a really great thawed turkey (we enjoy Mary's Free Range Organic Turkey - delicious!). Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Remove the turkey from its wrappings. Unclasp the legs and remove the neck from the "abdominal cavity" (anyone else think of mobsters when you see something's neck shoved up its abdominal cavity?).  Remove the giblets from the neck cavity. Rinse the entire turkey, including both cavities, then pat dry (cavities, too) with a paper towel.
3. Re-clasp the legs. Place the turkey breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Rub the turkey with olive oil. Pour 3-4 cups of water into the roasting pan (until the water almost touches the turkey).
4. Place the turkey into the oven.  Rinse the neck and giblets, place them in a pot and cover them with water.  Bring to a boil, add a bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper, then simmer the entire time the turkey is cooking and you'll have great additional stock for the gravy.
   
5. 1 hour later, check the fluid level in the pan - add some water if it gets low. Baste the turkey with the juices in the roasting pan. A baster is really key here. 
6. 30 minutes later, baste the turkey again. 
   
7. Once the top of the turkey turns golden brown, tent some aluminum foil over it.  Don't wrap the aluminum foil over the pan - the point is just to keep the top from burning, not to restrict air circulation.
   
8. Start checking the turkey's temperature and basting it every 15 minutes.  Use a meat thermometer and check the breast at its thickest point.  The turkey is done when it is 165F.  Also check the temperature at the thickest point on the thigh.  DO NOT COOK THE TURKEY PAST THIS TEMPERATURE OR YOU WILL DRY IT OUT.
   
9. Once the turkey has reached 165F, remove it and let it rest for 30 minutes.  The purpose of letting it rest is to let the juices settle into it.  If you cut it too soon, the juices will run out, leaving it dry.  While it's resting, you can make your stuffing, green beans and gravy.
   
10. Serve.

Notes: 

• I don't recommend cooking a turkey with stuffing inside.  It takes 30 minutes longer to cook and it's harder to get it to cook evenly.  Better to prepare your stuffing on the stove top, then bake it in the oven for a crispy top.  
• A convection oven can cook your turkey 25-40% faster than a conventional oven.  So check that temperature often!  Using a convection oven this morning, my unstuffed 16 pound turkey took 2.5 hours to cook.
  

Stuffing

Arrowhead Mills makes an awesome organic stuffing.  Add mild italian pork sausage (remove the casing, crumble and sautee), crumbled chestnuts and sauteed minced onion to make it extra special.

Gravy

Strain the neck/giblet stock into a pan and add the drippings from the roasting pan.  Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Add a quarter of a stick of butter and whisk in flour until it's thickened to your desired consistency.  To eliminate lumps, you may want to put it in the food processor for 30 seconds.

Green beans

Rinse green beans and pinch off one end to facilitate cooking.  Put in a covered Pyrex dish and add an inch of water.  Microwave on high 4 minutes.  Strain and toss in a bit of butter.  If you want to get fancy, add some slivered almonds.

Dessert  

Check out my favorite pumpkin pie recipe.  You can make this the day before and refrigerate it until you're ready to eat it.