You Roasted Your Turkey in What???!!!

What a lovely Thanksgiving we had here in Virginia. Our little nuclear family played host to no one this year and really enjoyed out time together. Waking slowly and unrushed. The boys and I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for a while, then because they are my sons, they went out to ride bikes in our back woods. Of course that ended when the younger somehow flattened his tire. I knew there was a reason that people usually ride bikes on dirt paths or roads. Ah, to be a kid again.

Because it was a special day for me personally (birthday), I was allowed to lounge about guilt-free whilst husband prepared an absolutely delicious traditional Thankgiving Dinner. The menu included - Waldorf Salad (my only homemade contribution - I used Craisins instead of grapes), green bean french fried onion casserole, fresh mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, collard greens, cornbread-french baguette-sausage stuffing, jellied cranberry sauce, parkerhouse rolls (I put the Sister Schubert's pan in the oven), giblet gravy and a perfectly seasonally seasoned Turkey cooked in a Schlemmertopf Classic Glazed Clay Cooker. It was INSANELY DELICIOUS! And, for dessert we had old-fashioned apple pie and a Mrs. Smith's Peach Cobbler. For beverages, we mixed Diet Ginger Ale with Diet Blueberry-Pomegranate Juice for one choice. Other choices included Water, Ocean Spray White-Cran & Peach Juice, Sprite, 1% Milk and TruMoo. I have to say again that it was soooooo good.

Now about the Schlemmertopf Classic Glazed Clay Cooker, we'd never used it before but instinctively knew that it would work for our family. Our bird was about 9 lbs and fit comfortably in the cooker. Husband had prepared it with fresh herbs, chopped onions, carrot and celery, and fresh lemon wedges all drizzled with olive oil. It was beautiful and tender and delicious - everything a turkey should be on Thanksgiving Day. 

So, if you ever come across one of these old fashioned clay cookers - which are not very expensive but are not so very common here in the good old U.S.A. - I recommend that you buy it and try it. We picked up ours second hand. It had never been used. Still I washed it, poured boiling water over it, baked it, and washed it again before using it.The food was so flavorful and pretty healthful. It is absolutely going to give my little honey of a Crock-pot a run for it's proverbial money.

I can't wait to do more experimenting with it in the coming weeks as we fully embrace the winter season. I wonder what Martha has to say about them.

Image of a Schlemmertopf Clay Baker courtesy of Wayfair.com.

If you love simple, flavorful, tender food that doesn't take tons of time to prepare, you still have time to acquire one for your family in time for the upcoming holiday season.

Today I'll pull out the Christmas decorations - Yay!

~ Sylvie

Note - As usual, I was not compensated in any way for this post.

Ready for Take Off

Aaaaaah. What a wonderfully clear and chilly day it is today. I think that this has been the mildest winter I have ever experienced since moving to Northern Virginia. It has been a wee bit disappointing as we just bought a Snow Joe and everyone in my family currently has puffy vests, coats, and snow boats that fit. Also, my current job allows me to bring my kids with if needed on Snow Days. Oh well, still good to know that I am prepared for next year.

I am now taking steps to a new and improved self:

1. Today I met with a trainer and have a fitness program on paper at the gym.

2. I have purchased some decent workout clothes that look like they were purchased in this century so that I don't look like this:
 I mean Olivia Newton-John is cute and all. It's just that the look wouldn't work for me. I would like to look more like the models in the Athleta catalogue.

3. I have a hair appointment for Friday to see what we can do to update and get this hair healthy again.

The only three outstanding action items are - annual visit to my doctor, a visit to set up a new dentist, and finding a church home. These are actually really important- if not the most important. That last item is the absolute hardest thing I've ever had to do - in the top 5 anyway. But, that's a post for a different day. I digress.

Now if only I could find someway to pay for Law School, oops. Again, I digress.

So back to me and my lifestyle improvement program. I have been making some really terrific (if I do say so myself) winter comfort meals from whole foods (not the store mind you). I am now taking notes whilst watching Emeril Green.  If you  haven't seen Emeril Lagasse's new show on Planet Green and you are trying to eat real food, you need to give it a watch. Honestly, I was not even a huge fan of his on any of his other shows. I mean he seems like a nice enough guy but the big "BAM!" and the habit of "kicking things up a notch" just didn't draw me in. OH, but this new one is Uh-mazing! I don't know if it's because he clearly is a certifiable CHEF by the way he wields a knife and throws off the fancy cooking terms; or, if it's because it seems to be filmed locally (somewhere within 100 miles of my house); or, if the sun always seems to be shining on the days he films. In any case, the show totally rocks. The information he shares on being green in the kitchen and on how to feed our bodies (and our families' bodies) better is just sooooo good.


I wonder if there are other chef's making little/no pre-processed meals accessible to the masses. Do you know of any?

Not Quite Soup - Crock-Pot Roast

We had snow - actual big authentic snowflakes - mixed in with our cold and rain over this past weekend. The children were delighted. Me, not so much. Again, with all this cold weather, my mind moved toward the idea of making homemade soup again.

Wearing my favorite cozy navy suede uppers, tan sherpa-lined slippers from Lands End, I headed into my kitchen to see if I had the ingredients for an impromptu soup supper. Firstly, I checked the freezer. I had a whole chicken, chicken drummettes, turkey burgers, ground turkey, chicken nuggets (What? I have kids!), and a stack of Lean Cuisines. Nextly, I checked the pantry. I had 33% less sodium Swanson's Chicken Broth, Lipton Dry Onion Soup Mix, cans of garbanzo beans and black beans. (I had some great coupons and they happened to be on some amazing sales so I had about 10 cans of various soup. I continued to focus on my goal of MAKING HOMEMADE soup - NOT heating "store bought" soup.) Lastly, I checked the refrigerator. I had baby carrots, a half of a yellow onion, and a container of Olivia's Spinach Salad.

"I should be able to make something great," I thought smiling to myself. "Oh, I should pull out my crock-pot." Mind you, my crock-pot was purchased back in college about 20 years ago. It's really made of electrified crockery. I store it in it's original box and I still have all the original paperwork, just in case there is a problem and I need to have it repaired. One of the sweetest things about it is the country-style multicoloured-ivy painting on it which seems to evoke images of the hot, savory, delicious comfort foods sure to be simmering inside. Someday, I'll get one of those fancy digital steel slow cookers with the removable liner and all; but, for now, my little brown & tan crock-pot will suits this tradly family just fine -thank you very much. And I rather love this "old faithful" and enjoy bringing her out for a spin every now and again.

Rival Crock-Pot Circa 1988
Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

I neglected to take pictures of the meal preparation process. I promise to do so next time.

In words, here's what I did -
Defrosted the chuck roast in the microwave almost fully.
Lightly salted and peppered the roast.
Heated a non-stick skillet and covered the bottom of the pan in a light Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Browned the roast in the pan.
Chopped half of a yellow onion.
Rinsed and patted dry about a cup of baby carrots.
Put the vegetables in the crock pot.
Put the hot browned roast on top of the vegetables.
Opened a pack of the dry onion soup mix.
Poured a cup of water over the top.
Gave it a quick stir.
Cooked it on high for about 3 hours. I know you're not supposed to do so; but, I"m my own woman and I actually stirred it a couple of times. Each time I lifted the lid, I lifted it straight up, just high enough to fit my little Pampered Chef stirrer in there for a quick stir and put the lid back on ASAP with a little twist of the lid to be sure that there were not air bubbles between the lid and the pot.
Cooked it on low for about 2 hours.

This is basically the recipe from the Lipton Dry Onion Soup Mix box without the potatoes. Still, the house smelled wonderful and the husband and I enjoyed it. There was little work and while it was a wee bit salty, the roast was flavorful and tender. With a small side of rice and a salad of baby spinach with chopped tomatoes with Ken's Lite Vidalia Onion Salad Dressing, we had a lovely hearty cold weather meal.

I ended up preparing beef franks for the lads.

What I need to do is to be proactive and actually have better soup items on hand as a stock item. Now, I need to find some good EASY homemade soup recipes that don't involve roast chuck and preferably no mix. I'm off to visit Allrecipes.com.

What I still haven't quite figured out is how one uses the crock pot on high without the need to stir and disturb the slow cooking process. There was definitely some sticking and had I not stirred, there would have been some unhappy faces on the parents as they joined the children and had to eat beef franks for dinner. Even after all these years, I'm still learning...life is good.