Maybe at last I am taking things to the extreme, but I have determined to wrap our Christmas presents in recycled materials. My 6 year old thought it was cool until she realized that recycled wrap is not shiny and covered in Santa Claus. It's just shiny.
Anyways, hoarded a stack of old magazines expressly for this purpose. The fun part was making the bows.
First, I cut skinny strips of magazine paper and folded them into a figure 8 pattern and stapled them in the middle. Then I crossed 3 or 4 of of the figure 8s, stapled again, and then made a loop and stapled to the top.
I loved the way they turned out. So I wrapped packages in magazines and topped with the bows. I used colored sharpies to write directly on the package in lieu of gift tags.
Although my daughter hates it, I think the gifts look even more colorful than normal, it recycled magazines I otherwise may not have had a use for, and it cost me nothing!
I love it when being green helps me save money! :-)
Yes, I know I am behind, and I really know it's December, but I have to share my Thanksgiving breakfast. Since my oldest was born, I have always tried to do a special breakfast for each holiday.
This was the easiest ever! When we make pancakes, we make 2 or 3 batches, and freeze the leftovers in a large ziploc. To eat, you just pop them in the toaster oven for a few.
Anyway, for the older child, I cut out a turkey shape using a steak knife, and arranged fruit around it. Voila. And it was quite cute (if I do say so, my ever-humble self!) Ingredients:
apple slices (red)
tangerine slices
1 raisin
1 pancake
Arrange as shown. Sure to delight an approximate 6 year old.
For the baby, I didn't want to feed a pancake, so I did the same arrangement with toast: He was delighted too, but he's at the age where he just likes to eat. Period. He did not care one bit that it was a turkey.
Now everyone, or most everyone I know, delights in turkey leftovers. My personal favorite is turkey with cranberry sauce on bread. But whatever floats your boat. What do you do with the not meat parts?
This year, I did not cook a turkey, but my parents did. Before it was even cut, I asked my dad for the carcass. Now, my dad thought I was crazy, but cheerfully ziplocked it up for me once the bird met its untimely end.
Word to the wise.. this is easier if you disassemble it. I, however, was stuffed and lazy on turkey, and did not. I took my larger crock pot and force-fed it the turkey carcass. Literally. I shoved the thing in there until it fit. I added enough water to cover it, threw in some garlic and chopped onion, both of which were already in the fridge, and turned it on low. A few hours later, I went back and added more water and went to bed. The next morning, I strained the broth and refrigerated it to cool off. Putting it in tupperware containers and labelling, I stuck it in the freezer. If you are freezing liquid, leave a 1/4 inch or so at the top of your container empty. Liquid expands with frozen and this will save you from a slushy mess.
Next, I dumped more water on the turkey carcass and did it all over again. I got, in all, about 30 cups of broth, absolutely free, minus the cost of water and electricity. And finally, I threw the leftover bones into the compost pile, where they will not take nearly as long to break down as they might've, since I have cooked them until they are like rubber.
And all that broth? I can add it to many things. Or heat it and drink it straight if I get sick.
Don't know how to make a roux? Well for some reason, it puzzled me for years. It's basically just a mixture of fat and flour which can be used to thicken soups, stews, and sauces (the three yummy s's of fall and winter cooking, in my humble opinion!)
Basically, you need to take equal parts. For some recipes, this could be 1/4 cup, for some a number of spoonfuls. Some recipes also have you season the roux. For best results, remember to ALWAYS season after cooking. I am using butter below, but you can also use lard, olive oil, or whatever your favorite fat may be.
Basic roux recipe:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
Over low heat, melt the butter in a skillet. Slowly. Slowly. Slowly, sprinkle the flour into the butter a bit at a time. Stirring constantly, you want to dissolve the flour as much as possible into the butter. Keep adding until it gets gloppy. If you need a darkened roux, you will then cook it some more while constantly stirring to get the appropriate flavor. Once you are finished, remove from heat and add the seasoning to your glop. Then, add your beautiful roux to one of your delicious S's (soups, stews, and sauces) and you are ready to go!
Otherwise known as, I got three pounds of broccoli florets (fresh!) on sale for 99 cents and had no idea what to do with it!
This was pretty easy and tasty, with absolutely zero complaints from the peanut gallery.
Recipe:
center of a bunch of celery (incl. leaves)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 lb. broccoli florets, chopped
4 tsp. non-bleached flour
4 tsp. organic butter
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 slices white american cheese
black pepper, to taste
seasoned salt, to taste
2 cups of milk
To answer your question about the first ingredient, yes the leaves are edible. And yes, I know noone likes the center of the celery. That's why you are putting it in the soup. Reducing waste, my friend. Other ways you could green it up, make it a bit healthier.. use a raw cheese, and/or raw milk (aka Amish milk), and get rid of the seasoned salt in favor of a good-quality sea salt.
In a large pot, saute celery, onion, and garlic with the nutmeg, black pepper, seasoned salt and ground mustard. Once the veggies are getting soft, add the broccoli. In a separate pan, you will need to start working on your roux. Don't know how to make a roux? Click here: http://mymemasway.blogspot.com/2009/12/roux-making.html Meanwhile, once the broccoli has sauteed enough to get a bit of extra flavor, add the milk. You may need to judge how much milk you like, I wanted my soup more filling and less soupy, but adjust to suit you. When your roux is done, add it to the soup along with the worcestershire. You want to cook this pretty low, with no risk of scalding the milk. Scalded milk is nasty in case you've never had the experience, I promise you can skip it. Stir occasionally and cook for about 20 minutes or until broccoli is pretty soft. Add cheese to the soup. I simply laid the slices on top and let them melt, then stirred them in really well.
For serving, I made this a family friendly meal to make everyone happy. For my six year old, I took a whole wheat bun and cut it out, breadbowl-style, which was a delight to her. For my husband, I topped it with salsa and gave him a bowl of leftover tortilla chips. Smiles all around.
The next morning, to go ahead and do away with the little bit of leftover I had (about 1 1/2 cups), I made a quiche.
Recipe:
1 1/2 cups broccoli soup 1/2 cup fresh broccoli florets, chopped 4 eggs 1 ready made crust shredded cheese
Break eggs and beat with soup. Add fresh broccoli. Pour all in ready made crust and top with about 1/2 cup of cheese, more or less to your taste. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 25 minutes or until top is "set" and doesn't jiggle too much when you shake it. Voila! Breakfast!
Morningtimes around my house are chaotic, to put it mildly. Two lunches to pack, two dogs to feed, 1 baby plus 3 other people to feed, homework to look over, people to dress, diaper to change, at least two arguments regarding cartoon watching, and one episode of "Where is my.....?"
So I have been trying to do more of the make ahead breakfast variety. We'll make homemade pancakes and freeze, or something. And quiche is a big winner. Here is the variety I made last night. It is good, but not my best. Anyway, something savory that will please the whole family and is quick.....
Sour Cream Chicken Quiche 2 shredded chicken thighs 1/2 c. chopped celery 1/2 c. chopped onion 1/2 c. chopped bell peppers 2 tsp. butter 1/2 tsp. ground mustard 1/2 tsp. sage 3 eggs 2 tbsp. sour cream 3/4 cup whole milk 1/2 cup shredded cheese a piecrust (homemade or store-bought)
I keep saying I will make my own piecrust. For some reason it sounds impossibly hard, though, so we'll see. I used a frozen one this time.
Preheat oven to 350. In a skillet, saute the celery, onion, and bell pepper in the butter. Season with sage and mustard. Once the veggies are soft, add the shredded chicken until well blended and seasoned. Pour the mixture in the bottom of the pie crust and spread out. In a bowl, beat 3 eggs with the whole milk and sour cream. Pour over the other mixture. Top with shredded cheese.
Quiche is a funny thing, and if you are using a store-bought crust (which I am primarily opposed to because of the disposable pie tin) you never know how even it is on the bottom. For this reason, I always put a cookie sheet on the bottom rack of my oven and then place the quiche on the top rack. This helps reduce cleanup if your quiche overflows like mine did.
Bake about 30 minutes or until the quiche sets up. Don't know what that means? Pull the quiche out of the oven and jiggle it. If the innards flow around like a river, it's not done. If the innards hang out like a solid.. you've got a winner. (Hmm.. maybe next time I should use this as a science lesson to demonstrate the difference between liquids and solids.)
Let it cool about five minutes before serving. If you are making it for a quick breakfast, let cool about 20 minutes and refrigerate. It can be served for breakfast hold or cold. (My family likes it hot. Me, personally, it's quiche. I'll eat it anyway it comes.) This particular quiche is heavy on the other stuff besides the eggs. I like a really eggy quiche, but if you don't.. this is a good one for you. At any rate, about half of it is gone this morning already. I think I need to make my own piecrust so I can make quiche in a rectangular baking dish.
I hear you can also freeze quiche, but I haven't tried it.
So it was wet, cold, and gray yesterday. I couldn't decide what to make for dinner, had completely forgotten to try to use the crockpot. I wanted soup. Or pasta. Soup and pasta are comforting on a blah cold dreary GA day. But soup makes my husband starve. The solution? I invented a chicken lasagna soup!
Chicken Lasagna soup 4 cups chicken broth (I made mine while cooking the chicken) 4 shredded chicken cooked chicken thighs 1/2 onion diced 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. crushed bay leaves 5 or 6 sliced mushrooms 2 tsp. minced garlic 1 bag homemade marinara 1/2 tsp. black pepper 2 stalks celery, chopped 1 cup frozen spinach 1 cup garbanzo beans, cooked (yes I still had some from previous post) 3 tomatoes, chopped 2 cups ricotta cheese 1/2 box lasagna noodles (I like whole wheat) fresh basil, for garnish
If you are making chicken and chicken broth, boil the chicken in about 12 cups of water with some onion, celery, garlic, etc. Shred chicken and reserve, return bones and skin to pot and let simmer for the duration of your cooking. Strain and freeze leftover broth.
Now, sautee onions & mushrooms with olive oil, garlic, bay leaves & black pepper. Once onions are about half cooked, add chicken & celery. Cook about 3 minutes and add the frozen spinach. Continue to cook until spinach is thawed, add marinara, 1 cup of broth, and the garbanzo beans. Simmer on low for about 20 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and 3 more cups of chicken broth. Simmer another 20 minutes or until you just can't resist any longer. Break up lasagna noodles into bite size pieces (this is a great job for a first grade or so child running around driving you nuts) and boil about 10 minutes in a seperate pot. Once the noodles or done, drain and stir into the soup.
To serve, fill bowls about 3/4 full with soup, and scoop 1-2 tbsp of ricotta cheese on top of each bowl. Garnish with chopped fresh basil. Serve with toast or other bread item.
My daughter declared it yummy and my husband waited about an hour after eating and decided to go for thirds INSTEAD OF raiding the Halloween candy.
I felt like it need some cayenne. If you are a spice lover, you may want to add this. You could also make this in the crock pot, if you planned ahead.
