Here we are 3 days to Thanksgiving and I most of you have followed my lead and analyzed all the local sales so you could make your dinner without breaking the bank. I was disappointed by this years price on Turkeys but I was able to find some really good sales on the other items I needed for sides. I use almost the identical menu each year which not only makes purchasing for dinner easy but I know that my recipes are tried and true and will be loved by all. This is my traditional Thanksgiving menu and the recipes that make it so special.

Deep Fried Turkey
Deep Fried Smoked Turkey - This is the same as my regular fried turkey recipe just using a smoked turkey.

Sage Turkey Dressing - This is the most popular side.
Sweet Potato Casserole With Praline Topping - I don't need pie after eating this! Yumm

Mashed Potatoes
Giblet Cream Gravy
Buttered Corn - Frozen from my garden
Cranberry & Mandarin Orange blend - A can of whole cranberries and a can of Mandarin oranges mixed together and chilled.
Rolls

Pecan Pie
Sour Cream Apple Pie

Hot Mulled Cider - This is a must for all my holiday get-to-gethers

I have the preparation of this meal down to a science after making it for 10 years. I bake all the pies the day before and I also make my turkey stock the day before. The turkeys need to be placed in their brine the day before also so that gives me access to my giblets for the stock. Once the stock is made I separate out the meat and giblets and refrigerate everything. I almost forgot about baking my sweet potatoes. I have tried boiling them and I don't think the end recipe has the same flavor or texture. I bake the sweet potatoes then skin them and throw them in the refrigerator until the next day. That leaves throwing together the sides on Thanksgiving morning and popping them in the oven just before you fry your turkeys. I can almost relax as long as I have my recipe check list on hand to see what has been done and what needs to be done. If I don't keep my checklist with my silly things like forgetting the rolls or mashed potatoes tend to happen.

My suggests to make Thanksgiving a no stress day for you is -
1. Plan your menu well in advance
2. Use tried and true recipes
3. Make a list of what needs to be done
4. Start the day before and do all the preparation you can
5. Sit back and enjoy your dinner

Enjoy Life!

My husbands aunt was an angel and let us borrow her steam juicer and I am in love and want to find one of my own. We had about 100 lb pounds of concord grapes to get processed. In the past we just boiled them and then milled them to separate the juice but it was an long, arm breaking weekend. This year I asked to borrow the steam juicer to see if it really was as easy as I had always heard and it really was. It is still time consuming but you can relax while the steamer does the work. The 100 pounds of grapes became 28 quarts of pretty concentrated juice. I still plan to make a bunch of grape jelly but now I can do that at any time.

The process is so easy you fill the bottom of the unit with water and get it boiling. You fill the top with clean grapes but you can leave them on the stem so it was way quicker to clean and have them ready for processing. Then you sit and wait and after about an hour you drain off 4 quarts of boiling grape juice. I just put sterile lids on them and then let them cool and I am done. It couldn't have been easier and I couldn't be happier.

I was curious to see how well the juicer did with other fruit because I have a few apple trees and our neighbors have a couple pear trees but they hate pears which I think is rather funny. This morning I was going to head over and check the pear trees and see how ripe they were and see if there would be some to run through the juicer. Well I opened the front door to go take a look and I found a big box of pears. I will have to take over several jars of juice as a thanks.

I decided to try a recipe from the juicers cookbook and make Spiced Apple Juice using pears instead. I modified it a bit by using my mulling spices instead of just allspice, cloves and cinnamon. The mulling spices really just adds orange peal but I have found that it makes a world of difference in the flavor of the end product. Here is the simple Recipe.


Spiced Apple Juice

10 pounds apples, hard, ripe, juicy varieties (may be windfalls)
1 cup sugar (optional), omit if apples are to be used for jelly
10 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
4 whole allspice

Wash the apples and remove leaves or other debris. Apples need not be cut up, however, you get more juice from cut fruit and you fit more into the steamer basket, too. Sprinkle with sugar if used, add the cloves, cinnamon sticks and allspice. Top with second half of apples. Cover and steam over rapidly boiling water for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until apples have turned into a tasteless, colorless mush. Extract juice into sterilized bottles or jars and top with bottle caps or two-part lids.

Well the pears were not ripe yet. T hey must have been windfalls but we did get some juice and though it wasn't what I would call full flavored it was definitively not bad. I also learned that cutting the pears into more pieces lets me get more in the basket and in turn I got more juice in that batch. I am looking forward to trying it again with some ripe pears and taste what we get!

Enjoy Life!

The last few days was all about Edamame and Tomatoes. It is that time of year again when I spend my entire weekend picking and preserving. Whether it is green beans, tomatoes, corn, or edamame my late summer is always busy. I have two pressure canners, a vacuum sealer and thank goodness a large kitchen which I utilize fully during this time of the year. My collection of jars is also quite large thanks to friends and family that decided they were never going to can again and donated them to me. In thanks I share my harvest happily with those individuals and really anyone else I think would enjoy my home grown goodies. Sunday I spent 4 hours picking and sorting my Edamame or maybe better known as soy beans around here. Yes they are different from the soybeans we see in fields all over the Midwest. I like to compare edamame beans to sweet corn and normal soybeans to field corn. You could eat them the same way but they would taste very different. I blanch them and then vacuum seal and freeze them so we can just pop a package of them in the microwave when we feel like a nice healthy snack. A nice benefit to eating them while you drink is that the protein in the beans will keep you from having a hangover in the morning if you should happen to drink a little to much. The Japanese serve this in bars like we serve peanuts but the edamame are much better for you. They also great used in dishes that you would normally use a pea or a fava bean. I have about a bushel to put away this year which is a significantly higher yield than I have had in the past so I believe I have found my new favorite soybean aptly named Beer Friend.





Edamame technically is the preparation of immature soy beans so I always be sure to pick them as soon as the pod appears to be fully filled out. Picking them is the hardest part of preserving them because they cling stubbornly to the plant. This year we decided it was easier to pull the entire plant and pick at our leisure someone where in the shade and throw the discarded plants straight into the compost bin. After picking all the beans you will want to sort and wash them. While your sorting you will want to start a large pan of salted water on the stove top. You will want to blanch your soy beans by placing them in boiling water for 6 minutes and then submerge them in ice water to stop the cooking process. Once this is done I try to get as much water as I can off the pods and vacuum seal them for later use. When I feel snacky I love to pull one of these packets out and throw the beans in boiling water like 10 minutes and I have a very healthy snack.





Tomatoes are something I always do in a big way because I use them in things I cook each day and I tend to go through 4-5 jars a week. I only chop and pressure can my tomatoes that way they can be used to make anything. If I need puree I drain them and use the blender or food processor to give them a whirl and they are ready to go. Even Tomato paste is easier just drain a couple large jars and throw them in the crock pot with 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp salt and 2 garlic cloves peeled and smashed. Cook on high for around an hour. The more moisture in your tomatoes the longer you will need to cook them. Once they have become nice and thick you can freeze or can your past for future use. A new process I am going to try this year is to stem and freeze your tomatoes and when your ready take them out of the freezer and let them defrost a bit. The skin should pull off easily and I personally like to chop the tomatoes when they are still partially frozen and then place them in a colander to strain while they thaw. I am freezing my tomatoes until I have all the tomatoes out of the garden that way I can do them all in one batch.





I now have all the edamame processed and frozen. I have two bushels of tomatoes in the freezer waiting further processing. I have brought in a few spaghetti squash and pie pumpkins that were ready and I have corn begging to be picked. My grapes are a few weeks out and those will be turned into concord grape juice and jelly. I am anxiously waiting for my apples to ripen and my chestnuts to pop open. I am so looking forward to roasted chestnuts and homemade apple sauce. While thinking of all this upcoming work I am also slowly making decisions about the CSA. I have chose where the garden extensions are going next spring and what work will need to be done this fall. I have also decided on many of the plants and a round about number that I will need to plant next spring. I will need to find a large quantity of manure for fall preparation of some of the new areas. Anyone in the Syracuse, Indiana area that needs a barn mucked out or just a pile of poo that needs a new home let me know. I will have a farmers stand put up either this fall yet or early next spring where the pickups will take place each week and any surplus from the boxes will be sold. I slowly making contacts which will allow me to provide extra goodies such as honey, bake goods, and other locally made or grown products.


Enjoy Life!

Last night the temperatures dropped into the 50’s. I was shocked we haven’t had a night below 80 in months. I knew fall was coming but I did not expect it to come and tease me with its looming presents. I also had the last bit of back to school preparation to finish up so my poor son got 3 shots and I had to take all 3 to get their school supplies. Buying 6 pairs of shoes is painful enough but then add the rest of the necessities and I find myself begging for mercy. I was so happy to get back home to a big mug of tea on the deck. I must admit the days have been beautiful lately so they make my attempts to relax and forget my day to day stress that much easier. But as I sit there and look out on my backyard and gardens I see all the work that is yet to come. A local paper heard that I was starting a CSA next year and they promptly featured me on the front page so I am already taking reservations for next springs shares. I was in debate on whether I would be able to find enough people interested but now I firmly believe I can easily sell all next years shares before spring gets here. That means I need to get organized and start the ball rolling. I have been trying to find building plans for my farm stand so I can get my husband and father in law started on it but I haven't found anything I love yet. I might just have to settle and make due with what I can find. I also found plans for a neat chicken tractor (a mobile free range chicken coop)that I want built for next spring. There is land to clear and cover in poo so it will be ready to plant next spring. I have found suppliers for most of the seeds I want but I need to make decisions on everything I want to plant and try to work it out on my garden planner to make sure I have room. There is so much work to do but I am actually looking forward to it. The thing I am not looking forward to is the canning and other food preservation I have coming up in the next few weeks. I am thankful afterwards for all the delicious food I have stored away but actually doing it gets awfully tiresome quickly. I guess I will just have to make a party of it so I can get get some helpers to come over and help with the promise of food and our hand crafted beer.


Anyone interested in joining our CSA can find out all about it and how to contact me at our site Culinary Gardens.

Enjoy Life!

The last few years I have been slowly increasing the size of my gardens and my collection of fruits. I went from an asparagus patch and small garden to a large main vegetable garden, a squash and pumpkin patch, large strawberry garden, herb garden, monstrous rhubarb patch, grape vines, raspberries, cherries, apples, blueberries, apricots and chestnuts. I personally feel that I should try to eat as much personally and locally grown produce, meats and other food products as I can. In this day and age when kids think their meat is grown at the grocery store and they don’t know the difference between a parsnip and a carrot, I think we need to all get back to the basics of local and home grown food. It is a wonderful eduction for kids to be taken out to the garden and let them help you plant an you teach them about all the plants around them.

I just happened to be reading a local paper and found an article on about a local CSA and what they grew and how much they charged per membership. Their description sounded like a slightly larger version of what I was doing personally. I was very surprised at the high cost of membership but from what I read the extra funds help with eduction programs and classes. For one summer they charge $500 for one small box of produce with maybe an extra goody or two. In addition to the veggies you might get a featured product of some type like cheese, bread or honey from another local provider. All I could think was I want to do this!

So far my research into my expanding my current gardening space looks very promising. I am getting more than a little hesitation from my husband who knows he will be enlisted to help if I should go forward. Fortunately I think I would have a whole host of individuals that I think would love to assist me in this venture as they already eagerly await my over abundance each year and have told me on numerous occasions that I somehow make everything I grow addictive. I think I have found the structure to handle the day to day management through the Farmigo program. I plan to use the GrowVeg.com software to manage my planting, planting history and harvest success. I have also realized that Craigslist is an amazing place to find things I need cheaply.

I am currently putting together my plans for for next year and as soon as I get a thumbs up from my husband I will begin offing shares for next year. If you are in the Syracuse, Indiana area and would be interested you can drop me a line. I have started the Culinary Gardens site and a twitter feed for it to document my progress.


Love your Food!
Candie