Christmas Turkey

Hey, who hasn't seen a turkey before. I am so pleased, this 10 pound turkey just fit into our little toaster-convection oven. The turkey was placed into double tin foil pans, for support. I had to bend the foil pan a bit to squeeze it into the oven.

First, I bleached the sink, then washed the turkey. Once the turkey was put into the foil pan, I bleached the sink again for germ control.

I basted the turkey with olive oil to make it a golden brown. I covered the turkey with tin foil. Cooked at 350F for 5 hours, about every hour I basted the turkey with it's own juice.

I couldn't find the giblets.............Tom did when he was cutting it, they were in the neck part. Yuk! If I had seen them earlier, I would have considered cooking them, then make gravy. My Mom use to cook them using the juice for gravy, then feed the giblets to the dogs. No dog here...........

Also we had cauliflower with cheese sauce, turnip, mashed potatoes, cranberries, and gravy. For dessert pumpkin pie and whip cream.

A lot of the food preparation can be done the day before. I made the cranberries, and the pumpkin pie. Also I cut up the cauliflower all day before. If I had a bigger fridge and stove, I could have done most of the cooking the day before, and only have to warm things up in the oven. Can't do that here my oven is tiny.

Everything had to be made one at a time, then wash all the dishes each time. There is no room for dirty dishes, in a small space you have to clean up everything as soon as you make the mess or there will be no room to make the next thing. I felt like I washed dishes all day.

Tom helped me get the turkey out of the pan, onto the platter. He mashed the potatoes, and the turnip, then cut the turkey. Also he helped me put everything into small containers and back into the fridge.

The best part..........no cooking for a few days!!!!

Chocolate-Cherry Bonbons

1 c icing sugar
1/2 c cocoa
1/2 c butter or margarine
1 c finely chopped toasted blanched almonds (I didn't toast them)
1/4 t almond extract
24 well drained maraschino cherries

Sift cocoa & icing sugar together.

In a saucepan melt butter, continue cooking until hot and bubbly. Remove from heat.

Blend cocoa mixture, nuts, and almond extract into hot mixture. Take a spoonful of mixture, flatten it in the palm of your hand, place cherry in the center, then roll mixture around the cherry. Roll in toasted almond pieces. Chill until set.
Makes 24

Quiche

Ingredients:

1 - 9" pie shell
4 beaten eggs
Approx. one cup of half & half or milk
one onion chopped
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 cup chicken, or meat, or bacon (optional)
1 cup of Swiss cheese



You can either make your pie crust or cheat like I did and buy a frozen one. Bake the empty pie shell, follow directions on the package. Don't forget to take a fork and prick the empty pie crust before you bake it. If you don't you will have air bubbles in the pie shell.

Cook the broccoli and onions first, add them to the baked pie shell. Next cut the cheese into little tiny bits, add to the pie crust. In my little chopper I mixed the eggs plus the half and half, add the spices. Watch you may not need as much half and half as the recipe calls for. I used 1/2 pint, but with the ingredients in the pie shell.......there just isn't room. Of course I always spill....on the way to the oven, to top it off I just washed the floor. See, I filled it too full, I even spilled it in the oven. Great, now I have to clean that too!

You know making a quiche, is kind of like cleaning out the fridge. You don't need a lot in volume, just a little bit of everything.

I baked the quiche at 350F for 50 minutes. Served with a salad.

Broccoli Salad

1 fresh broccoli
1 can of sliced oranges
1/3 c of toasted almond slices
1 sweet onion
Poppy Seed Dressing

You do not have to be exact with the amounts.
Cut broccoli into bite size pieces, and place into salad bowl. Drain orange slices, add to bowl. Dice onion, in food processor, and add. Toast almonds under broiler approximately 5 minutes. Keep an eye on them or they will burn. Toss onto salad. Add Poppy Seed Dressing and mix into salad.

You can also add cheddar cheese and bacon bits.

Chili

1 1b of ground chuck
1 can of chili beans
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
1 onion
1 t of chili powder, careful a little goes a long way!

Add the following ingredients to the crock pot:
Chop onion and brown in frying pan - throw into crock pot.
Fry ground chuck and drain off grease - throw into crock pot.
Open a can of chili beans, drain and rinse with water - throw into crock pot.
Add one can of chopped tomatoes, and tomato sauce -- throw into crock pot.
I also added, salt, pepper,chili powder..........do it to taste, basil, and oregano -guess what? - throw into crock pot.

Cook in crock pot on low, until you are ready for dinner. I left the crock pot on about 6 hours.

Key Lime Pie

The great thing about having a storm is the key limes blow off of the trees onto the ground, then you can make pie!!!! Normally I use Key Lime Juice.

There ain't nothing like the real thing, this tastes totally different than key lime juice in a bottle.........so good.

Wish you were here for a slice!! So creamy smooth.



Key Lime Pie

1 - 9" pie crust....make it or buy it frozen
1 - 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
1/3 c of key lime juice or other lime juice
1 tsp. of vanilla extract..... I use almond extract

Mix cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in condensed milk until smooth. Stir in lime juice. Add vanilla or almond extract. I used a couple more key limes than 1/3 cup. However if you use key lime juice, only use 1/3 cup! Anymore will give you a pucker power attack..........not in a good way either!

Chicken with Breadcrumbs and Cheese

This was easy to make and really good.

Chicken Fillets
3 T of butter
1 cup of bread crumbs
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup of flour

Spray baking dish with cooking spray. Put flour into a plastic bag. Wash chicken adding it to the plastic bag, shake the flour onto the chicken. Then put the chicken into the baking dish.

In a dish mix cream of chicken soup with the mayonnaise. Pour over chicken.

Melt the butter, mix with bread crumbs and cheddar cheese.

Cover with foil, and bake at 450 for 10 minutes, then remove foil, continue to bake an addition 20 minutes. The top should be golden brown, and chicken should be cooked. The internal temperature should be 165F.

If you insert a knife, there will be no pink in the chicken. Chicken is cooked when it is white on the inside.