FFFF: Thanksgiving Aftermath

Hey everybuddy! How was your Thanksgiving? I thoroughly enjoyed mine. I did almost NOTHING! lol! It was quiet. All I had to do was prepare the turkey, and the kids helped with everything else. It was wonderful having all of us together, sharing the blessings and the chores, and just relaxing for a whole day.

Ah, but now comes the aftermath! I’m a day late with the Four Foods For Friday, as usual.

Here’s this week’s questions.

1. What do you do with turkey leftovers?
2. How do you make split pea soup?
3. What do you like on top of your pie?
4. What kind of turkey do you usually buy?

1. I *sometimes* save the turkey carcass for soup when I have time, but that hasn’t been in a while. After the turkey cools, I pick off the meat and skin. I save the meat for us, and give skin and scraps to the animals. We eat Thanksgiving dinner a few times over. I rarely make a soup or casserole for leftovers because, well, I don’t like soups or casseroles!

2. I DO NOT make split pea soup. *shudder* That stuff looks and smells like the experiments you get in medical assistant training school. YUK!! However, I do make Black Bean Soup– I’ll have to post a recipe of it. It’s so good, even the children eat it.

3. A little bit of ice cream is very nice. But I usually end up buying whipped topping, because the family likes it, and it’s easy to spray on. I never had the stuff as a kid; I remember always being fascinated with the curly stuff that sprayed out!

4. Anything on sale. I do get a free one every year, but I always try to scarf up sales because we love turkey, and I have a big freezer. I love turkey. I’m glad it’s not our national bird, as Benjamin Franklin suggested, because then we’d all be eating eagle for Thanksgiving….

I hope your weekend is a blessed one! Thanks for reading!

Food Pantries Needing Donations

For quite a number of years now, food pantries across the country have been needing more donations. This year has been especially trying for food pantries.

Demand at food pantries and soup kitchens continues to increase even as financial experts predict the economy is turning around. WNYC’s Cindy Rodriguez visited a food program in Brooklyn and has this report.

REPORTER: St. John’s Bread and Life serves mostly the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bed Stuy and Bushwick. Anthony Butler runs the programs and says demand at the soup kitchen, which serves many homeless adults, increased 19 percent while demand at the food pantry increased 50 percent:

BUTLER: With the downturn in the economy that’s what hit the food pantry folks, because those were people formerly working or their social security isn’t going as far as it did.

I have been involved with various pantries over the years (both as a donor and a recipient), and food pantries are one of the blessings of living in this country. Americans are so generous; our country is very prosperous– so prosperous that we feed a good portion of the world from our abundance, as well as provide everything from freedom of speech to online life insurance in this nation! America is a blessed country and I am so grateful to be an American.

While I am not against state-run government help programs, I think the best kind of program is that which is run by churches and small groups. So I ask you to please consider those who have needs, especially at this time of the year. Please donate food or goods out of your abundance; or if you have abundant time or energy, donate your skills or visit a senior citizen’s home or something. And God bless you for it!

Looking For Thanksgiving Day Recipes

I can’t say I’ve been very active with my search for new Thanksgiving recipes. :-p It’s been CRAZY busy here, and I guess I’m not terribly motivated (yet). I know, once Wednesday rolls around, I’ll suddenly get inspired, ha! If any of you have some stupendous, amazing recipe to share, please let me know!!

I did see a new turkey stuffing recipe on The Road Goes Ever On blog that looked sooo good that it made my mouth water. (I’m going to really have to get some appetite suppressants for Thursday, or I will look like a blimp by Saturday, I tell ya). It’s from the Food Network and looks soooo good. I copied it. I just may do it this year, if I can find Rosemary sprigs!

Turkey with Herbes de Provence and Citrus
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentis
Food Network

1 14-15 pound turkey, neck and giblets reserved
1 orange cut into wedges
1 lemon cut into wedges
1 onion cut into wedges
6 fresh rosemary sprigs
6 fresh sage sprigs
6 fresh oregano sprigs
7 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons herbs de provence
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
6 cups canned chicken broth
1/3 cup all purpose flour

To make the turkey: Position the rack in the lowest third of the oven and preheat to 400* F

Rinse the turkey and pat it dry with paper towels. Place the turkey on a rack set inside a large roasting pan. Place the orange and lemon wedges, onion, and 2 sprigs of each fresh herb in the main turkey cavity. Tie the legs together to hold the shape of the turkey. Stir 2 tablespoons of butter, the herbes de Provence, oil, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of each the salt and pepper in a small saucepan over medium heat just until the butter melts. Rub the butter mixture all over the turkey and between the turkey breast meat and skin. Place the turkey neck and giblets in roasting pan. (Recipe can be prepared up to this point 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before roasting.)

Cover the turkey breast with foil. Roast for 20 minutes. Pour 3 cups of broth into the pan and stir to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the remaining sprigs of fresh herbs to the pan. Roast the turkey for 40 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Remove the foil from the turkey; pour 1 more cup of broth into the pan. Continue roasting the turkey until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees F to 175 degrees F or until the juices run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a skewer, basting occasionally with pan juices, about 1 hour and 30 minutes longer. Transfer the turkey to a platter and tent with foil. Let stand 30 minutes while preparing the gravy.

To make the gravy: Strain the turkey pan juices from the roasting pan through a sieve and into a 4-cup glass measuring cup; discard the solids. Spoon off the fat from atop the pan juices. Add enough chicken broth, about 1 to 2 cups, to the pan juices to measure 4 cups total. Melt the remaining butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the broth. Simmer until the gravy thickens slightly, whisking often, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the turkey with the gravy.

I’m looking for simple and easy vegetable dishes, which are always difficult to find. I don’t want to plunk a dish of canned corn or beets down this year… it would be lovely to have something a little fancy for the veggies, but I am at a loss right now. Please let me know if you have any ideas.

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