Let's Talk Turkey

 Do you want a stress-free Thanksgiving Day?  Read on......

I remember a Thanksgiving 30+ years ago.  Scott's sister and their family pulled up as I was taking our Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven.  As I went to carve the meat, a bunch of pink juice came out from the pink meat.  Obviously, the meat wasn't done.  Back into the oven the turkey went, and we ate our meal quite a bit later. 

Fast forward 30+ years and what I've learned from that Thanksgiving Day Disaster. 

The answer to the question:  Do you want a stress-free Thanksgiving Day?  Cook your turkey a day or two before Thanksgiving.  These are pictures of Scott and I yesterday (two days before Thanksgiving).  

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Pour chicken broth over the turkey, then cover the pan with tin foil, and into the fridge it goes until Thanksgiving day.  Warm it in the oven just before your holiday feast.  

Now the best part...Enjoy your clean kitchen Thanksgiving morning.   

....that is until you start making the potatoes, stuffing, etc. 

Can Anything Good Come Out of Having a Broken Microwave?

Humanity has lived without microwaves for 200,000 years.  Why, then, was it soooooo hard for us to live without a microwave for one week when our microwave broke a couple of weeks ago? How were we to defrost our frozen food?   How could we heat up our leftovers?  Was there anything good that could come out of having a broken microwave for a week?????

Surprising, something good did come out of having a broken microwave.  What was that, you ask?  It was the discovery of the air fryer.  Months ago, I had heard that an air frier was a must have.  So, an air frier I bought.  After I bought it, I tried cooking broccoli in it.  I wasn’t impressed.  I heard I could make french fries out of cut-up potatoes in my air fryer.  Once again, I wasn’t impressed.  So, in the back of my pantry shelf it sat for months. 

Now enter, my broken microwave.  After a failed attempt to heat up my leftover frozen enchiladas in a ziplock bag in boiling water, I remembered my air frier.  I took my soggy enchiladas out of the ziplock bag and stuck them into my air fryer.  It was love at first bite.  The enchiladas were crispy and delicious. The next night we heated up our leftover chicken tortilla casserole.  Once again, we were elated.  Another night we heated up our leftover homemade macaroni and cheese. Our mac and cheese never tasted better. We cooked some yummy butternut squash in our air fryer.

Let’s just say that now our air fryer has a new position on my pantry shelf.  

Front and center.

Here we are installing our new microwave after a week without one.

It's good to have a microwave back in our lives...

...along with our air fryer discovery that has revolutionized our cooking at the Magpad. 

Instant Pot Refried Beans

 Ingredients

• 3 cups dry pinto beans
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar, or lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

Instructions

How to cook pinto beans in a pressure cooker

1. Put dry beans in the reservoir of your Instant Pot and add enough water to cover the beans by 4-5″ or so. Soak eight hours or overnight. Drain beans then add onions, garlic, and 4-1/2 cups water to the pot. (If you just need cooked pinto beans, leave out the onions and garlic.) Be sure that the ingredients don't exceed the halfway mark in the cooker as mentioned in the Instant Pot manual.
2. Close and lock the lid, turning the steam valve to "sealed." Using the manual setting, enter 28 minutes and walk away. When the cycle completes, use the natural release method. Simply let the pressure come down on its own until the lid unlocks. (About 20 minutes.)

Instant Pot refried beans

1. use a slotted spoon to remove beans from cooking liquid, retaining the cooking liquid. Transfer to a bowl to use an immersion blender or the bowl of a food processor. Process until beans are a creamy consistency, adding cooking liquid as necessary to reach desired consistency. 
2. If you don’t have either of these tools, get out your potato masher – that’ll work, too.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients.
4. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to a week.

Notes

Makes approximately the equivalent of 5 – 16oz cans of refried beans.

With the Instant Pot, you can easily go from hard, dry pinto beans to fully cooked beans in an hour. But soaking beans before cooking them can make them more digestible. And for many people that means fewer...side effects.

If you opt not to soak your beans you'll need to use more water. In that case, I'd cover the beans by 3" of water. Just be sure that you don't exceed the halfway mark in the cooker.

You can get more details and tips about the recipe by clicking onto the website here.  (attainable-sustainable.net)

For my birthday this year, Rachel had me over for dinner and taught me how to make these as we prepared them together.  It was super easy.  We used an immersion blender to "mash up" the beans.  I've never used an immersion blender before.  I don't know how I've lived without one.  Rachel also taught me everything I need to know about an Instant Pot.   

Broccoli Salad Recipe

2 bunches broccoli flowerets

1 lb bacon cooked and diced

1/2-1 cup raisins 

1 diced apple

1 1/2 c grated Jack cheese

1 1/2 c sunflower seeds (If desired) 

1/2 c purple onion diced 

Dressing:

1 1/2 c mayonnaise 

3 Tbs sugar

3Tbsp red wine vinegar

I attended a family luncheon after my Sister-in-law's funeral service.  It was so nice to gather as a family and enjoy having a meal together. We appreciate the service that was for our family.  As I thanked the ladies who served us, I asked for the recipe for the broccoli salad that was served.  It was soooo good.  

Banana Muffins (my favorite banana recipe)

 

I have lots of banana muffin/bread/bar recipes on this blog, and this, by far, is my favorite!  I found it on my Facebook feed and it came from this website:  

 https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/banana-muffins/

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 4 medium or 3 large ripe bananas)
• 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted (or melted coconut oil)
• 2/3 cup (135g) packed light or dark brown sugar (or coconut sugar)*
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk*
• optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, or chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, mash the bananas. On medium speed, beat or whisk in the melted butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and milk. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then beat or whisk until combined. If adding nuts or chocolate chips, fold them in now. Batter will be thick.
3. Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 21–23 minutes, give or take. (For mini muffins, bake 12–14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C).) Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
4. Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

5. Notes

• Make Ahead Instructions: For longer storage, freeze muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or warm up in the microwave if desired.
• Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Handheld Mixer | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | 12-Count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners
• Why the initial high temperature? The hot burst of air will spring up the top of the muffin quickly, then the inside of the muffin can bake for the remainder of the time. This helps the muffins rise nice and tall.
• Whole Wheat Flour: Feel free to substitute whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour or use a mix of both as long as you use 1 and 1/2 cups total. If using all whole wheat flour, add another Tablespoon (15ml) of milk.
• Frozen Bananas: You can use frozen bananas here. Thaw the frozen bananas. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
• Sugar: You can use 2/3 cup of packed brown sugar or coconut sugar. Or a mixture of these to yield 2/3 cup. If using 2/3 cup coconut sugar, the muffins won’t be as sweet. I find they taste best with 2/3 cup brown sugar or 1/3 cup of each. 2/3 cup of honey or pure maple syrup works too, though the muffins will taste a little more moist in the centers. I’m unsure about sugar substitutes, but let me know if you try any.
• Milk: Use your favorite variety of dairy or nondairy milk.
• Banana Bread: Here’s my favorite banana bread recipe. 🙂

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter softened
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar light or dark
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 package instant vanilla pudding mix (3.5 ounce)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375˚F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. 
3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing in between. 
4. Then stir in vanilla extract
5. In another bowl, combine the flour, pudding mix, baking soda and salt. 
6. Mix into the wet ingredients a little at time until completely incorporated.
7. Fold in the chocolate chips. 
8. Then use a medium cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons) to place onto a cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are golden brown and center is just set.

This is my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.   It popped up on my Facebook page and I decided to try it.  Yummy!  

After I made this for the first time, they were a little bit flat.  Because I live at a high elevation (Utah) I decided to add an extra 1/4 cup of flour.  I also put the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour before I cooked it.  It seemed to help the cookies not be so flat.  

Click here or on the link below to read it off the webpage:  

https://easyfamilyrecipes.com/chocolate-chip-pudding-cookies/ 

2 Ingredient Lemon Cake Bars

Angel food cake mix + lemon pie filling. These are sooo easy and very yummy

Ingredients:

◦1 box angel food cake mix

◦1 (22 ounce) can lemon pie filling

◦Powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, stir together angel food cake mix and lemon pie filling. Once fully mixed, add to the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes until fully cooked and the top is lightly browned.

Let the cake cool, cut into bars and, if desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Yield- 9x13 pan full of love

The recipe popped up on my fb page under "Recipes and More With Lisa K ".  It sounded so simple, I just had to try it.