Thanksgiving Deliciousness

It's that time of year again when we're all planning our Thanksgiving dinners, and I figured I'd share our plans with you.

For the past several years I make this turkey:

It is SO wonderful and juicy! Basically pepper the chicken and throw some onion chunks in the cavity and then coat it with bacon. Roast as normal and remove the bacon before serving.

The bacon keeps the turkey moister than you can believe! Your turkey doesn't taste like bacon (although the drippings are wonderfully bacony).

The one downside is it doesn't get brown and gorgeous, although we carve the turkey before dinner anyways so it doesn't matter to us. Presumably you could broil it for a couple minutes to make the skin golden and crispy.

We also don't do mashed potatoes (it's one of the few things that I can't cook well), so we make these awesome Four Cheese Scalloped Potatoes from Food Network, along with stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, roasted quash, and homemade rolls.

Of course for dessert we have pumpkin pie and pecan pie (this one is my all-time favorite!). I'm still looking for one more dessert recipe.

What are your family favorites? Any good recipes to share?

It's Christmas Baker's Edition Giveaway

It’s Christmas Baker's Edition Giveaway Event

Organized by: Mom Powered Media. Co-hosted by: Shannon's View from Here, My Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Life, Joans 5 Star Reviews, Sweetphi, Mommy Kat and Kids and Naturally Frugalicious.

I've loved my KitchenAid mixer for over 10 years now! It is the most used small kitchen appliance in my kitchen! You can use it to make many of the recipes in the linky, so check them out!

One lucky reader will receive a KitchenAid Tilt-head Stand Mixer + accessories!

Giveaway ends December 9th at 11:59pm, open to US & Canada, ages 18+. To enter please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck.

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Disclosure: Sanity is for those without children is not responsible for sponsor prize shipment. Please contact teri@mompoweredmedia.com with questions or to see your business or blog featured on the next big event!

Snowman Cupcakes Recipe

Here's the cute snowman cupcakes I made last winter for a Girl Scouts party. Sorry for the horrible picture but I had a group of girls waiting to eat them as I was decorating them (so you're lucky to see them at all, and the decorating is sketchy at best!)

They're easy to make, just make tiny balls of foil (you can use marbles, some people say to but I don't trust that they won't explode in the oven) and place them next to the cupcake wrapper in the shape you want and fill.

Once it's baked it looks like this and all you have to do is decorate it however you want! You can do the same thing (with one foil ball) at Valentine's Day to make heart shaped cupcakes!

Prep ahead freezer to Crockpot meals

Okay, so some of you may remember that in October I posted that I had started to conquer my fear of the Crockpot, by prepping and freezing 10 meals for it. And I promised that I'd come back to share recipes. But I wanted to try them first, so I wasn't passing on boring recipes (or ones that didn't work).

I've finally tried them all, and so here goes...

Here's how you take this pile (plus a lot of meat!) and make it into this...

12 meals made and put in your freezer, in 3 1/2 hours. With only a few dishes used. Honestly, I used fewer dishes for this prep than I normally do to cook 1 meal!

We're making:

Wolfgang's Goulash (2 batches)
Honey Rosemary Chicken
Chicken Pot Pie (3 pies, maybe 4)
No Peeking Peking Chicken (2 batches)
Savory Vegetable Beef Soup (2 batches)
Moroccan Lamb Stew  (2 batches)

I've included the links to where I found the original recipes, although I made changes to several of them.

Here's your shopping list (it seems scary, but a lot of it is already in your house!)

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Onions - 12-16

Garlic Cloves – 16

Carrots – 18-20 (I used about 2lb of baby carrots)

Celery Stalks – 10

Red Potatoes – 9

Scallions – 3/4c

Red Pepper – 1

Sliced Mushroom – 1 package

Beef – 1-1.5 lb

Beef Shank - 5lb

Chicken Breasts – 6-8 lb

Chicken Thighs – 8 (skinless, boneless would be nice)

Boneless Lamb – 4lb (don't use a boneless leg, it needs too much trimming!)

Bacon - .5 lb (optional, but divine!)

Green Beans (frozen) – 2c

Corn (frozen) – 1 bag

Snow Pea Pods (frozen) – 1 bag

Small Can V8

Diced Tomatoes – 28oz, 2 reg cans

Peas (14oz can) – 2

Tomato Paste - 6TB

Beef Broth – 1 c

Chicken Broth – 58 oz

Cream of chicken soup - 3 cans

3 foil pie pans (optional if you have a lot of pie pans!)

3 boxes of pie crusts

Worchestershire

Parsley

Basil

Thyme

Salt

Pepper

Sugar

Butter

Soy Sauce

Honey (about 2/3 cup)

Ginger

Sesame Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Fresh Rosemary

Sweet Paprika

Smoked Paprika

Spicy Paprika

Marjoram

Bay Leaf

Cumin

Turmeric

Red Pepper Flakes

Seasoning Salt

Chipotle powder
Gallon Freezer bags and lots of plastic wrap! 

Once you have all your food in the house, there are a couple of steps:

1. Label your bags:

(2 bags) Goulash - Add 1 can chicken stock. Cook on low 8 hours
(2 bags) Vegetable Beef Soup - Add 1 1/2 c water and 15 oz Beef Broth. Cook on low 8 hours.
(2 bags) Moroccan Lamb Stew - Add 1 can chicken broth. Cook on high for 4 hours (low for 6)
(1 bag) Honey Rosemary Chicken - Defrost completely in fridge. Add 1 cup water and cook on   high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-5. 10 min before serving add cornstarch to thicken sauce.
(2 bags) No Peeking Peking Chicken - Thaw on counter for 30 min. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

For the chicken pot pie you can write on the plastic wrap, but I used masking tape/painters tape and stuck it on top. Chicken Pot Pie - Thaw in fridge for 2 days. 350 degrees, 45 min or until golden.

2. Pull out your cutting board and start chopping! I chopped onions and measured them into all the bags, then all the carrots, celery, etc. Once the produce is done I prepped all the meat, then mixed up each of the sauces and added them to the bags. Flatten them out and stack in your freezer!

3. After you freeze everything, sit down with a margarita! I had a sore finger from how I hold the knife!

Here's the recipes and my notes on how I changed them/what I noticed about them.

Savory Vegetable Beef Soup
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• Chop 1 Onion
• Chop 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1-1.5 lb Beef (I used steak but ground beef will work). Brown all together.
  
  
• 4 whole carrots chopped
• 4 celery stalks chopped
• 6 Red Potatoes chopped
• 1 small can v8
• 28oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 cup frozen green beans
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire
• 1 cup Beef Broth
• 2 TBSP Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp Basil
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• ½ tsp Chipotle
• 2 TBSP sugar
  

Split into 2 bags.
*Place in Crockpot with 1 1/2 cups of water and 15 oz Beef Broth. Cook on LOW 8 Hours.
(This had a bit of a strange flavor to me, but it may be because I'm not used to tomatoes/V8 in my beef stew. Do not double! It won't fit in the Crockpot!)

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Chicken Pot Pie

--> --> 6 chicken breasts
3 onions
6 carrots
6 celery stalks
3 small potatoes
½ lb bacon
4 T butter
42 oz chicken stock
3 boxes of pie crusts
2 – 14 oz cans peas (drained)
3 – 10 oz cans cream of chicken soup
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp chipotle
2 tsp seasoning salt
1 package sliced mushrooms


Put chicken breasts in a pot of water on the stove and cook on med-med high heat for 30 min or until cooked through.
Chop onions, carrots, celery, potatoes.
Cook bacon. Crumble or chop into small pieces.
Melt butter in lg saucepan and add all veggies except potatoes. Shred chicken breast and set aside.
Add chicken broth and potatoes after 5 minutes and let simmer over med-med high heat until reduced by half.
Remove 3 boxes of pie crusts from fridge to warm up.
Stir chicken into stew. Add peas, cream of chicken soup, pepper, chipotle, seasoning salt, bacon and mushrooms.
Line each of 3 pie pans with crust. Evenly distribute mixture into each pan. Top with crust. Pinch sides together and cut 2-3 vents in top. Wrap well with plastic wrap. Using a permanent marker write “Chicken Pot Pie, the date, 350 degrees 45 minutes or until golden.” Place in freezer.
*This makes a lots of pot pie. If you're using the foil pans, you can probably make 4 pies (they're smaller than my 9 inch pans, and I had a serving or two left to eat :-)

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Moroccan Lamb Stew

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4 pounds boneless lamb
4 large onions chopped
2 can or 2 cup chopped tomato
4 cups carrots
4 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons salt

Divide everything into two, one gallon freezer bags and label.  When ready to cook, dump into slow cooker , add 1 can chicken broth and cook on high for 4 hours.  Serve with couscous.
 *This recipe was missing something for me, but I'm not sure what.

No Peeking Peking Chicken
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8 chicken thighs (definitely use skinless! Boneless might be good)
salt and pepper
3/4 cup chopped scallions
8 cloves garlic
½ cup soy sauce
6 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. ginger
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 bag frozen corn kernels
1 bag frozen snow pea pods
1 red pepper chopped

Divide meat and veggies evenly into two, 1 gallon sized freezer bags per recipe. Mix sauce and divide into both bags. Seal and freeze. On the day of, thaw the bag on the counter for about 30 minutes, dump into the Crockpot, and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
*Make sure you use skinless, otherwise it's way too greasy! If you use boneless, think about cutting it into 2 pieces for more flavor in the chicken.

Honey Rosemary Chicken

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2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into large pieces
1/3 c balsamic vinegar
1/3 c honey
1/3 c olive oil
3 T chopped fresh rosemary
1 t salt.

Let marinate for several hours in the refrigerator before freezing.
TO COOK- Let defrost completely in the fridge. Add 1 cup of water and the contents of the bag to the crockpot. Then cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-5 hours. Ten minutes before serving, add cornstarch to thicken the sauce.
TO SERVE- Serve over couscous (or rice). Be generous with the sauce as you ladle- it’s fabulous.
*The original recipe calls for the chicken to be cut into bite size pieces, and it overcooked quickly. Cut into larger pieces (or leave whole).

Goulash

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 8 cups onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoon hot paprika
• 4-6 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 4 teaspoons spicy paprika
• 4 teaspoons marjoram
• 2/3 teaspoon thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 5 pounds beef shank, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

In a large skillet, heat olive oil and saute onions and sugar until caramelized. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add paprikas, marjoram and thyme. Saute another minute. Add tomato paste. Deglaze with vinegar and stock. Add salt and pepper.
Split beef between 2 bags and put a bay leaf in each one. Split onion mixture between the two bags.
To cook, add 1 can chicken stock. Cook on low 8 hours. Serve over egg noodles or spaetzle.
*The onions should cook down to become part of the sauce. The first batch I made I let simmer on the stove for 1/2 hour to reduce and let the onions break down more (while the noodles were cooking).
*This is my favorite of all the meals! Of course, this was already a favorite of mine and I converted it to be a Crockpot/freezer recipe.

Winter Crafts and Treats

Just after Thanksgiving I discovered Pinterest (thanks to my fellow bloggers!) Since then I've spent WAY too much time doing crafts and cooking!

Here's a few of the fun things we did with winter themes... you still have time to enjoy them this year, or pin them for next year.

Use marbles (or foil balls) to make cupcake snowmen. This also works for hearts at Valentine's Day!

Sorry for the bad pic, but I was rushing to finish them before my Girl Scouts got there. The original pic (in a magazine) had coconut on them, which would cover up some of the flaws :-)

These sleighs are quick to make with a hot glue gun. I stuck money/gift cards in them and gave them as gifts so that people would have more as a gift than a gift card!

These snowflakes were popular with both grown ups and kids! Take a flour tortilla, fold it and cut a snowflake out of it. Lightly butter and cover with cinnamon sugar, then bake until crispy. Taste, edible snowflakes!

To finish it off, here's how San Francisco City Hall dresses up for the holidays:

and my dishwasher thinks it's Santa:

(it flashes Ho Ho Ho while it runs)!

The BEST way to roast a turkey...

I know it seems weird, but the bacon keeps the turkey SUPER moist! You only get a hint of bacon flavor, and only on the outermost meat, but it will be melt-in-your-mouth tender. I also cook it in an electric roasting pan, which helps a bunch and frees up oven space.

The downside is that if you use the drippings you have bacon flavored gravy (although the men in my family love it!) I just make another batch of gravy that doesn't have a bacon base, and everyone's happy. I love bacon, but bacon gravy is a bit much.

Whatever way you cook it, enjoy your Thanksgiving!

I did it!!

I conquered my fear of the Crockpot (at least step 1 of conquering it!) Last week I spent one day cooking 10 meals for my freezer. Most of them are Crockpot recipes, which is amazing!

 I took this (and a lot of meat!):

and made it into this!

7 Crockpot meals and 3 pot pies, all of which went straight into the freezer. All I have to do is dump the bag into the Crockpot along with whatever liquid the recipe requires, and I have dinner ready with literally no prep!

It took 3 1/2 hours of solid chopping and pre-cooking, but that's only about 20 minutes per meal! Plus it only dirtied 1 pot, 1 skillet, 2 cutting boards, 2 knives, 3 bowls and a handful of utensils. I normally make more dishes than that cooking one meal!

Once I taste them all I'll post the recipes and a shopping list (I saw several other blogs that had done this and later posted that the recipes were bland and I didn't want to do that to you.)

In the meantime, here's a yummy Crockpot breakfast recipe:

Breakfast Casserole

1 pkg bacon (or ham or sausage, the bacon got lost in the dish)

1 onion, chopped

1 red or green bell pepper, chopped

32 oz frozen hashbrowns

2 1/2 c shredded cheese

12 eggs

1c milk

Spices/seasoning as desired (I used seasoning salt, fresh ground pepper, onion and garlic powder and chipotle)

Cook bacon and chop.

Saute pepper, garlic and onion for 5 minutes.

Place 1/3 hashbrowns in Crockpot. Add 1/3 bacon, 1/3 garlic and onion mix and 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat. 

Mix egg, milk and spices (make sure to season heavily enough for the potatoes, I seasoned based on the quantity of eggs and it was bland because I forgot about the potatoes). Pour over layers in Crockpot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until 160 degrees. (Mine was done in less than 8 but my Crockpot runs hot).

I have a confession...

I'm afraid of my Crockpot!

I'm not afraid that it's going to become animated and eat me, or that it's going to burn my house down (although I do have that thought sometimes...).

I'm afraid because I don't use it enough. I haven't figured out how to convert recipes to work in it. My kids aren't big fans of one-pot meals, so often all that work is wasted. Plus, I'm a taster when I cook. I taste, mess with the seasoning, taste, etc... which you can't do with a Crockpot.

So I'm on a mission. I'm going to use my Crockpot at least once a week. I'll post the good, the bad and the ugly. Plus tomorrow I'm doing a massive food prep day (like cooking a whole month's worth of meals in one day), almost all of which are Crockpot meals. Chop everything in advance, bag it, freeze it an dump it in the Crockpot. So I'll share those recipes once we taste them.

Here's dinner from a few nights ago. It came out pretty well, although I'd much rather use it as taco filling than eating it over rice.

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)

2 cans Rotel tomatoes (or 1 lg jar salsa)

1/2 cup chopped onion (skip if using salsa)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can corn, drained and rinsed

1 can chopped green chiles

½ cup taco seasoning

1 TB garlic powder

2 t onion powder

2 t cumin

2 t chipotle powder (optional, unless you like heat!)

Put chicken in bottom of crockpot. Add all other ingredients and cook on low 6-8 hours. Shred chicken and add 1 c sour cream (optional). Serve over rice or use as taco filling.

 Before Cooking

 After Cooking

 After shredding and adding sour cream (possibly skip the sour cream and 

put it on separately, it makes it a little weird if you reheat it).

Let me know if you have any favorite Crockpot recipes! I need inspiration. Please!

Homemade Apple Butter Recipe

The weekend before last, even though it was 96 degrees outside (and mid-80s inside), my house smelled like fall. I spent Friday and Saturday making and canning apple butter. In hindsight, I'd look at the weather forecast better before I started, because it made my house hot AND muggy on Saturday with all the water boiling! I do NOT do humidity well... I've lived in the Bay Area in California my whole life and I'm used to pretty temperate weather.

This is a Crockpot Apple Butter recipe, adapted from Food Network.

Peel, core and chop 3.5 lbs of Granny Smith and Gala apples. The recipe calls for cutting into small chips, but I gave up quickly and ran them through my food processor on the grater mode. 

Add 2-47 ounce jars of unsweetened applesauce, 4 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 cups apple juice, 1 TB cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves and 3/4 tsp allspice. Stir well and turn Crockpot on low and cover overnight (or for 8-10 hours).

This is what it looks like after 

about 10 hours on Low.

 The recipe says to leave it chunky, but I like it smoother and ran it through my immersion blender. You could also do it in batches in a regular blender. Add the zest of 1/2 a lemon. Uncover and cook for about 12 more hours. It's best to prop it open or turn the lid sideways so it's partially uncovered, because it splatters.

When it's done, it's reduced by about half.

To see if it's done, put a spoonful on a plate. Let sit for a couple minutes. If it runs it's not done. Let it cook some more.

Once it's done it will not run along the plate and it will maintain its height when you put a spoonful down.

Sterilize your jars, lids and rings. Here's some info on canning apple butter, since I'm not an expert by any means!

Fill the jars, boil again and let them cool. The original recipe says it yields 12 pint jars, but it really makes about 9 or 10 half pint jars. 

Delicious on toast, peanut butter sandwiches, pancakes or waffles, scones, and tons of other things (and the kids love to eat if with a spoon, since it's basically thick and spicy applesauce.

Here's the recipe in one blurb, in case you want to print it:


Crockpot Apple Butter

3.5 pounds Gala and Granny Smith Apples (a mix of both types, totaling 3.5 lb)
2 - 47 oz jars unsweetened applesauce
4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups apple juice
1 TB ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp ground allspice
lemon zest of 1/2 lemon

Peel and core apples and grate them. Put all ingredients except lemon zest in into slow cooker and stir. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove cover, add lemon zest and blend apple butter smooth. Taste and add more spices or lemon if needed. Uncover and continue cooking for 10-12 more hours. Pour into sterilized jars and boil jars to seal. Enjoy!

Total time: about 24 hours
Yield: 9-10 8oz jars