Sorta Wordless Wednesday- It's Autumn, y'all!

I love Autumn, it's my favorite time of the year. The clean-ish crisp air, the beautiful auburn leaves, the chilly breezes, wearing jackets again (well we were wearing coats this summer, but let's not get into that we're talking about fall!), pumpkins, sweet potatoes,  women walking around in cleavage revealing dirndls and men in leather overalls, beer and wine fests and a shit load of orange stuff! I freaking love this time of year! We have 3 birthdays in this house from Sept-Nov, we have Halloween where the children work.....erm go trick or treating so mommy and daddy can pig out on their hard earned candy, and my favorite holiday THANKSGIVING! The last few autumns we had some hard times, but for whatever reason, we never let it get us down. From September to December 31st I am pretty much happy most of the time. Anyway, this is supposed to be wordless Wednesday. Please forgive me, I don't have my dSLR right now, this summer along with a bunch of other electronics in my house, it suddenly stopped working. So we're working on that, in the meantime, check out our fall decor. It's not really looking like autumn outside, so be bought it in, plus I am not creative enough to go out and make  real sticks and leaves looks nice.

 I should be posting more regularly! I have so much to share. I may do a Deployment Sunday so I can share stories and photos from our eventful 6 months without the husband. The children and I traveled all over Germany so look out for that :)


OK I'll shut-up!

Starting School is a sign Fall's a'coming! My son started Kindergarten at the DOD school here. He is so ecstatic. His father is German and he is fluent in the language, but he didn't like the German kindergarten he went to. He complained that no one spoke English, I told him that you can speak German and we live in Germany! Oh, well. He is a lot happier in the Elementary school on base and he has a little girlfriend. She'd always give him hugs which he "hated" and now he loves her to chase and she's his 'favorite' best friend. So sweet. Anywho, here's his first day off the bus.

It's not really looking like Fall yet....yeah I know today is the first day. But we've been buying autumn stuff for the house since August when they were first on display. I have issues. I really freaking love Fall.

 Yes a Mass (beer glass) is totally fall decor :) Who am I fooling, it's there year around- #lazy.

We used to keep a pumpkin outside our door, but every year someone steals it after Halloween. I was thinking about putting some kind of firecrackers inside and they'd get a bit surprise, but I think keeping it inside would result in significantly less jail time. :D

This is from the parade preceding the Wine fest in my town. We didn't go because we had other plans and the days following it was rainy and cold. I have photos from when I went last year on this blog:)

Blocked street! Yeah, lets go the other way.

I hope to post more frequently soon. Thank you for reading! Next up, check out my fall recipes! I've only been blogging little over a year so it's not totally overwhelming. A lot of sweet potatoes, though! Tschuess!!!

Still have some leftovers? Try these Turkey Dinner "Pasties"

So yesterday was my 27th birthday! A friend told me that since my age and birth date are the same it's my Golden Birthday! Never heard of that, but I thought I'd  try to make it special.

The night before I was brainstorming what to do with the leftovers. Turkey salad, turkey soup, turkey pot pie, turkey sandwiches, etc etc ran through my mind. All sounded amazing, but I wanted something different. So remembering back to a post I read on an online expat forum I visit, a girl asked about how to make the perfect cornish pasty (the 'a' sounds like the 'a' in cat). Cornish Pasties orginates from Cornwall, England and is also known in Michigan, USA. It's an amazing dough typically made with lard or suet as the fat and filled with steak and vegetables, and the pastry is crimped all pretty-like. I did not have any lard as I planned this last minute. I thought maybe I could do butter and shortening, but I was all out of shortening as well. Luckily I had 4 stick of butter in the freezer! Instead of using steak and veg, I used some leftover Thanksgiving sides and turkey and thought I combine those and made a bacon gravy, and leftover compound butter.  I also SUCK at crimping. Something I will continue to practice at, but for now,  pinching and a fork will do!! So these are not traditional pasties hence the quotation marks! It was fun making my first meat pie, though!



They tasted amazing I only wish I had made mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes to complete it!!!

If you don't have time to make the pastry, use puff pastry dough. This dough can also be used for pot pies!!! If Santa buys me pots I will use this dough recipe. It's so delicious, buttery, and flaky! nomnom

Turkey Dinner "Pasties"
Pasty Dough adapted from Emeril Lagasse
 
For the Short-crust Pastry:


2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon salt

7 ounces cold butter ( shredded frozen butter)

1 egg yolk

12 tablespoons cold water (more as needed)

Filling
3 cups worth of leftovers- i used turkey (white and dark meat) stuffing, cranberry chutney, and vichy carrots

About 3/4 cup of gravy of choice- I made bacony-herb gravy. Recipe follows

Herbs of your choice- i used fresh thyme, sage, and chives

Compound butter- optional

Bacony Sage Gravy
2 tablespoons bacon fat

4 tablespoons flour

1 cup hot chicken/turkey stock

salt & pepper

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon dried sage

Directions

Sift the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl

Add the butter. Using your fingers, 2 knives, or a pastry blender, cut the butter and lard into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

 In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and water together

Add to the flour mixture

 Mix quickly, but thoroughly, until mixture just comes together to form a dough.

 Knead briefly until pastry is smooth with no cracks; the trick to making this delicate pastry easy to work with is kneading it just enough so that it can be rolled out and manipulated without breaking but yet retains its lovely crumbly texture. Press into a flattened disk shape and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight before proceeding.

Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and unwrap. Allow to soften slightly, then place on a lightly floured work surface and roll the pastry to a thickness of 1/4-inch. Using a small plate or saucer as a guide, cut out 6 (6-inch) rounds. (Scraps may be combined and reformed if you cannot get 6 rounds out of the first batch.)

 Stack the pastry rounds onto pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper (with pieces between each round to keep them from sticking together) and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

Filling & Gravy

First prepare gravy by mixing fat and flour in a small saucepan. Cook over medium low until mixed well and a little browned. Add hot stock slowly whisking vigourously until smooth. Mixture will thicken as it cooks. Add salt and pepper, heavy cream and sage. Allow to cool.

 

Make filling using whatever herbs, sides, and meat you want. Make sure its about 3 cups worth!

Add gravy and mix

 

Assemble

Remove the pastry circles from the refrigerator.Place the pastry circles on a clean work surface and place about 1/2 cup of the filling in the center of 1 side of the pastry. Add a knob of butter if you like!

Using the beaten egg, brush the edges of the pastry and then bring the unfilled side over the filled side so that edges meet.Press edges together to seal and then crimp using your fingers or a fork.

 Repeat with the remaining turnovers and then transfer to a baking sheet. Brush the tops of the turnovers with the remaining egg and then cut several slits into the top of each pastry.

 Bake for 20 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown around the edges. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake until the pasties are golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

The Husband enjoying. He says he looks goofy here hehe

Of course I made myself cake. Well more like Peanut Buttery Chocolatey Cupcakes with....a Peanut Buttery Chocolatey Drizzle...

Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie and Leftover Thanksgiving Grub Sliders

Happy Black Friday Everyone!!! I, myself, have never been out there, but I know some hardcore shoppers. You all be safe out there. Every year, I remind everyone to wear extra padding and a slingshot just incase folks get a little crazy.

So, there was this big American holiday yesterday. We ate so much food and my children decided to use ME as a trampoline afterwards:


I've been preparing for this meal all month as my husband has been away so I wanted to be prepared and not skimp on anything! And for the most part, everything went smoothly. My first virtual stress-free Thanksgiving since my first one. This year, everything but the pound cake and cookie topping used in the Pumpkin Tiramisu was from scratch!


If you follow me on Twitter you've seen all my annoying informative turkey day prep tweets! It was nice, because I was communicating others what I was doing it kept me on track! Especially my husband was awayand most days there were no one to talk to. I talked Thanksgiving to death with my friend Becca- poor thing hehe.  Anywho, my husband arrived home early this Monday morning. He was pleasantly surprised and suddenly very hungry after seeing all the preliminary work I did!


This year I am also proud to say I got my first organic, free-range turkey. It was 5kg of awesomeness! It was also a pretty penny, so an early birthday present for me (it's tomorrow!). I also butterflied this massive bird by removing its backbone and breast bone! This mofo did NOT want to give up that breast bone, but I needed to remove it to ensure a flat bird! I also brined it the night before, then rinsed and dried it, made a butter/spice mixture and massage the lovely bird all over and under its skin. I then covered it, let it sit and dry, outside as it was COLDER than my fridge and there was no room left in my fridge (Thank goodness we do not live next door to The Bumpasses' hounds, heh), then brought it to room temp, grilled it over indirect heat for about 2 hours. The most difficult part was flipping the bird, and I was pretty sure I was an expert at that (i hate traffic). This resulted in a perfectly cooked bird, tend er juicy, amazing flavor and I would most certainly do this again!!!



Finished


After reading all the POMs posts, I decided to to try something using pomegranate. I made a pomegranate glaze using pomegranate molasses, soy sauce, dijon mustard, and dash of salt and a lil dark brown sugar. My daughter could have ate the glaze alone!  It was amazing! And it complimented the turkey very well!

Dinner was delicious! The menu I ended up going with was:
Grilled and Butterflied Pomegranate Glazed Turkey
Apple-Sausage Cornbread Stuffing - I made my own sausage!!!
Green Bean Casserole with Herbed Onion Ring Topping
Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon and Potato Chip Topping
Vichy Carrots
Sweet Potato-Thyme Rolls from scratch
Pear-Ginger-Cranberry Chutney
Pumpkin Tiramisu
Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie with Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream



I have to say my faaaaaaave of everything was the Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie. I usually make pecan pie and leave it for the hubby. He's a southern  boy who loves pecans and pie. However, after seeing him eat 5 slices, I asked for one. OH MY GOSH. The flavors were incredible together and I just needed more. I woke up thinking about PIE. I ate the last slice...how lady like!  So here is the recipe, by my main man, Tyler Florence. This man never steers me wrong, I tells ya.

I made the crust two weeks in advance and froze, thawed overnight, then let sit at room temp about 20 minutes so it wouldnt crack when I rolled it out.

I am making this again next week!



Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
Tyler Florence

Ingredients:
For Pie Pastry
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup finely ground pecans
1 T sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small chunks
2 T ice water, plus more if needed

For Filling:
1/4 cup butter
2 oz unsweetened chocolate--i used 72% cocoa
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 t vanilla extract
3 T bourbon
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 cups pecan halves

To make the pastry: combine the flour, ground pecans, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix with a pastry blender or your hands until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour in the ice water and work it in to bind the dough until it holds together without being too wet or sticky. Squeeze a small amount together, if it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle. Carefully roll the dough up onto the pin (this may take a little practice) and lay it inside a 9-inch pie pan. Press the dough into the pan so it fits tightly and trim the excess around the rim. Place the pie pan on a sturdy cookie sheet so it will be easy to move in and out of the oven.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
To make the filling: melt the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, remove from heat and let cool. Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl until frothy and then blend in the sugar. Stir in the syrup, vanilla, bourbon, salt, and the melted butter mixture until well blended.
Arrange the pecans on the bottom of the pie crust and carefully pour the egg mixture over them. Bake until the filling is set and slightly puffed, about 45 minutes. Test for doneness by sticking a thin knife in the center of the pie, if it comes out pretty clean, you're good to go. Transfer the pie to rack and cool completely before cutting.

I served this glorious pie with homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Recipe here or just purchase some nice stuff.



Post Turkey Day Sliders

NOW a quick idea for those leftovers. You all know I love sliders from previous posts, they're mini with a big bite! I made sure I had just enough rolls leftover to make these. I basically used my compund flavored butter to spread across the tops of the rolls, warmed turkey, chutney, stuffing and rolls in the oven, split the rolls in half crosswise, chucked in the goods and added some fresh sage. UH-MAZING!!! This will be a post huge dinner tradition!!!



Thank you for reading this!!!

Ghosts of Thanksgiving Past

Is it me or is Thanksgiving Dinner the "What I've learned about cooking this year' test? If so, I've failed. Miserably. I am sure I am the only one who feels its a test because the menu is large, expectations are high, and hell, it's Thanksgiving the most important cooking day for us Americans!

 I've been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my own little family for 4 years now. I remember the first time I was so nervous! I even wrote down emergency Turkey day phone numbers! We cleared our fridge, and made sure we had enough room for the mass amounts of food thawing and eventually leftovers. The meal was only for me, my husband, and 2 little ones (at the time was 2 months old and 2 years old). I baked all the pies in advance and cooked everything else the day of. I took A LOT of shortcuts. My focus mainly was having a juicy turkey and not those dry turkeys you usually have. Having such a small oven, I only roasted the breast. I also roasted it in those bags. I really didn't want a dry turkey!

That year I made:

Roast Turkey breast

Glazed Spiral Ham

Stove-top Stuffing

Canned Collard Greens

Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

Mashed Potatoes (from scratch)

Macaroni and Cheese (from scratch)

Canned Cranberry Sauce

Sweet Potato and Pecan Pie (with store bought crusts and homemade fillings)

Candied Yams with Marshmallows and Pineapple

My really lowcut housewife dress, husband, and then 2 y/o and 2 month old 

FOOD

Though I did take a lot of shortcuts, it was all delicious and made with love. It was also the least stressful Thanksgiving I've ever had!

My second home cooked Thanksgiving took place on my birthday. Great day, yeah? Er no. I broke our 'good' plates, our landlord cut off the hot water and oh yeah I was 5 months pregnant cooking up a mostly from scratch Turkey day menu. Stressed out? HELL YEA I was. I planned everything so it would be easy for my pregnant self, but it all backfired from the time hot water went out. Luckily I cooked a lot of food in advance! All that was left to do was assemble salads, make toppings, Turkey (bagless yet VERY MOIST!) gravy and veggie sides. Sounds easy, but my small kitchen, small oven, not hot water, 5 inch heel wearing when I am already 6'2 AND pregnant did not make it easy. I was so stressed by the end of it all that could not eat. I cried actually. I got over it, and happily ate leftovers for days afterwards.

The menu that year was....

Roasted Herbed Turkey with Mushroom Gravy

Roasted Broccoli and Tomatoes

Stuffing- homemade!

Hawaiian rolls

Green Bean Casserole

Apple Salad

Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Potato Pie with Marshmallow Meringue Topping

Pecan Pie

Five months pregnant with my 3rd. I hated that stupid roof. I slanted down and me feel even more like a giant. 

Now last year. Last year was uber stressful. We were going through so much personally and financially (always around the holidays!!!) that Thanksgiving almost never happened. I had a huge breakdown, a lot of tears were shed. That was probably one of the toughest times in our marriage. So bad that I refused to cook the day of. Even after I prepped a lot through the week. Sigh. In fact, I did not cook on Thanksgiving.  My husband scraped up every piece of cash we had and went to the commissary and bought all the food from my mass amount of lists. How could I let him down? I cooked my ass off even brined my turkey for the first with excellent results. 

My menu 

Bacon Wrapped Turkey

Homemade Stuffing - same as previous year

Green Bean Casserole- same as previous year

Macaroni and cheese

Candied Baby Carrots- boiled in 7up!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pecan and Pineapples

Sweet Potato Pie with marshmallow meringue

Pecan Tart

Day after Turkey Day

This year, I plan and hope to plan, plan, plan a lot better. This time of year I have my holiday notebook. I write in detail every single thing we're doing it. It's much more detailed at Christmas time, and I plan to do the same with Thanksgiving. Especially as my husband comes back the week of Thanksgiving. So I must be prepared! I've made my menu and I am hoping for the best. It's a mix of our favorites, and new dishes! Here's that menu.

Deep Fried Turkey---Heard nothing but raves. Plan B. If there is a problem I will cut up the Turkey and grill. Gotta have a plan b!

Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage- Who doesn't love pork and cornbread?

Green Bean Casserole- I am putting my own spin on my husband's favorite Turkey Day side dishes from the past 2 years. 

Macaroni and Cheese with Topping- Deliciousness we ate this summer must be incorporated in our menu

Cranberry Chutney- I made my own cranberry sauce for the first time last Christmas. I've always loved canned, but fresh is best!!!

Mashed Sweet Potato with topping- I love sweet potatoes

Sweet Potato Rolls- I love sweet potatoes and bread together hehe

 Pecan Pie- with a lil this and that

And something special with pumpkin!

I sort of left out some details, because I want it to be a surprise. Plus I am even more nervous after revealing my plans. This dinner, again, is for me and my family. I just go all out for my babies :) 

Also, the great news is my husband will be home with us until March after he comes home in 3 weeks! But that also means he will be away until September. But I am happy he won't be leaving so soon!!