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mamakay

managing a household of 10 by the grace of God

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30 Minutes

Thanksgiving 2011

November 24, 2011 by mamakay Leave a Comment

This year I am so thankful that my girls are getting big enough to be a great help preparing our Thanksgiving Feast!

 

Here is this year’s menu (partially for my own reference):

Roasted Turkey from Smockity Frocks

This is similar to the Alton Brown version I usually make except you cook it at 500 degrees the whole time but put water in the pan underneath. I put an onion, apple and fresh herbs (sage, thyme, & rosemary) in the cavity. We roasted a 23 pound bird in 1 1/2 hours & it was so yummy! Crispy skin on the outside & juicy but cooked on the inside!

Cranberry Apple Sausage Dressing from Allrecipes.com

Everyone enjoyed this but it was a little dry. I think next time I will double the broth.

 

Mashed Potatoes (10lbs)

Sweet Potatoes with Roasted Marshmallows

I cook the sweet potatoes then mash them with butter, a little orange juice and pumpkin pie spices. We then put the mixture in a 9 x 13 pan and top with mini marshmallows. Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Green Bean Casserole

1potato made this recipe this year. We made our own white sauce instead of using cream soup and added some sour cream to thicken it up. Then we mixed in greens beans that we boiled for 5 minutes and some fried onions. Baked for 30 minutes at 350.

 

Butterhorn Rolls from Balancing Bedlam and Beauty

These are a family favorite. We baked 4 dozen rolls and saved the rest to make cinnamon rolls  later.

Grandma brought the applesauce and cranberry sauce.

Pumpkin Pie

We roasted a pumpkin we grew this year but it didn’t taste very pumpkiny.

Apple Pie

I’ll have to post this recipe separately sometime. It is a wonderful recipe that uses 4 pounds of apples in 1 pie. It’s a little extra effort but so worth it!

Apple Cider from my uncle’s apples and my cousin’s apple cider press. YUM!

 

 

We had a wonderful day as a family and enjoying the fruits of our labor. We were able to incorporate many things that we grew ourselves and made ourselves!

Thank you Lord for the abundance you have provided for us and the time we had to spend as a family working and enjoying the day together!

Filed Under: Holidays, recipe Tagged With: 30 Minutes, Alton Brown, Amp, Apple Cider Press, Apple Pie, Apple Sausage, Applesauce, Butterhorn Rolls, Cavity, Cinnamon Rolls, Cream Soup, Fresh Herbs, Fried Onions, Green Bean Casserole, Mash, Mini Marshmallows, Mixture, Onion, Orange Juice, Pound Bird, Pumpkin Pie, Rosemary, Sausage Dressing, Smockity Frocks, Spices, Sweet P, Sweet Potatoes, Thanksgiving Feast, Whole Time, Wonderful Day

The Crock-pot: The Investment Cook’s Best Friend

October 23, 2009 by mamakay Leave a Comment

One of the best tools for investment cooking is a crock-pot. With this simple appliance you can get lots of work done with very little effort. It usually takes 15 minutes of prep time to prepare a meal for the crockpot and you can choose when the best time is for you. I usually prepare dinner just after lunch. It is amazing how much better the evening goes when dinner is all ready. Crockpots are especially useful for making beans, cooking whole chickens, a roast or soups. They are an inexpensive tool especially when you consider what a difference they can make in the time it takes to prepare a meal. Almost every time I use my crockpot I have enough for 2 to 3 meals which is even better!

If you do not already own a crockpot may I suggest you look for one that has a removable crock. This makes it so much easier to clean! I see that they now have ones with timers which would be wonderful! I would make sure and get a larger version so you can have plenty for additional meals. Mine is a 5 quart and I love it!

General Tips for using a Crockpot:

Fill it 2/3 full for the best results. More than that and it won’t cook properly; less it will cook too fast.

Add dairy products and frozen vegetables in the last 30 minutes of cooking.

Don’t lift the lid! You lose 30 minutes of cooking time each time you lift the lid to check on the food.

When cooking vegetables with a large piece of meat make sure to put the veggies on the bottom so they will cook faster. They generally take longer to cook than meat does.

Browning meats before adding them to the crockpot adds to the flavor and look of the meal.

Reduce the liquid of recipes you are adapting to about 1 cup. Because of the way crockpots work less liquid is evaporated during cooking and it captures the juices from the foods you are cooking.

I hope you will take your crockpot out of the cupboard and put it to work for you.

Following are some recipes to get you started.

Recipes:

Whole Chicken

This is a great way to have cooked chicken for other recipes.

1 roasting chicken (thawed or frozen)
1 onion
1 celery rib
4 cloves garlic
Salt & Pepper

Rinse and dry the chicken. Cut up the onion and put half of it on the bottom of the crockpot. Put the rest of the onion, the celery and garlic cloves inside the cavity of the chicken. Salt & pepper the outside to taste. Put it in the crockpot. (If the chicken is frozen put a 1/2 cup of water in the bottom of the crockpot to act as a buffer.) Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8-9 hours.

Basic Bean Preparation

5 cups (aprox. 2 pounds) of Northern, navy, pinto or black beans
3 quarts Warm filtered water
4 tablespoons of whey (the clear liquid that separates from plain yogurt or raw milk) or lemon juice

Rinse the beans and put them in a bowl. Cover with warm water & add whey or lemon juice. Cover the bowl and leave overnight. Drain and rinse. Place in the crock-pot on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours until desired consistency.

Cool and bag for the freezer.

White Chicken Chili

5 cups white beans, cooked
2 cups chicken, cooked and cut into bite sized pieces
1 onion, chopped and sautéed
2 cloves, minced garlic
1 can chopped green chilies
2 t cumin
1 t white pepper
1 t salt
1 quart of chicken broth

Garnishes:

Sour Cream
Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded
Tortilla Chips

Throw all of the ingredients (except the garnishes) in the crockpot. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Serve with a nice green salad and garnishes. Everyone in my family loves this recipe (especially with the cheese and sour cream)!

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Filed Under: Investment Cooking, recipe Tagged With: 15 Minutes, 30 Minutes, Array, Best Time, Best Tools, Chickens, Cooking Pot, Cooking Vegetables, Crock Pot, Crockpot, Crockpots, Cupboard, Dairy Products, Frozen Vegetables, Inexpensive Tool, Juices, Piece Of Meat, Prep Time, Soups, Timers, Veggies, Whole Chicken

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So glad you stopped by. I am a Christian wife and mother of 8 in the middle years. My kids are aged 4 to 20 and just about every 2 years in between. I write about our life as a big family, what God is personally doing in my life, food and books.

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