Cajun rice and sausage

I made rice and sausage the other day with kielbasa instead of ground sausage. I chopped up a bell pepper with the celery. I added some thyme and cayenne pepper (maybe 1/4 tsp) and a bay leaf to make it more cajun-y. We liked it a lot.

curry powder

I got a spice jar full of curry powder. It's awesome.  It turns every food into the mutant ninja version of itself. Lentil soup becomes lentil curry.  Macaroni and cheese becomes macaroni and cheese curry.  Mashed potatoes becomes potatoes curry. Plain rice becomes curried rice over rice. You can't lose!
Also, I have maple syrup of you want to try the Canadian version of various foods. And thyme if you want to try the Doctor Who version.

Nana's Turkey and Stuffing

Lay out 1 1/4 loaves of white bread on cookie sheets and let the slices dry overnight. Turn them over if you think about it.

Also the night before (to make things go faster in the morning) chop up two big onions and at least 6 stalks of celery. Saute both in about ½ cup of butter in a big pan. Add 2 cups of water and 1 heaping TBSP of chicken soup base (you can substitute chicken broth) and simmer 2-3 min. Let cool and then add 3 eggs and mix well. Pour this into a big pitcher and put in the fridge until morning.

Stack the bread 4 slices deep and slice into long ½ inch thick slices. Dump those in a bowl to be hand torn into pieces (to keep the kids busy and involved: you can also just cut them into cubes with a knife). Divide the bread between two big bowls (to give you room to stir and lift the bread). Sprinkle the bread very generously with sage, generously with thyme and dried parsley, less generously with black pepper. If the bread is so dry the spices won’t stick, you can spritz it with a bit of water.

Slowly pour about ¼ of the celery/onion/egg/broth mixture over the seasoned bread in each bowl and mix well; if the bread is still really dry, repeat. If the bread is fairly moist, pour off some of the liquid and add the rest of the onions and celery to the bread. You want the bread to be moist enough to hold together, but not soggy.

Meanwhile, wash out the thawed turkey (be sure to remove the neck and giblets!) and tip it so the inside drips dry. Start at the head end (the smaller cavity) and fill with stuffing. Slide thin slices of sacrificial apple or potato between the skin and the stuffing (so the stuffing won’t burn). Use thread (about 4 strands in a big needle) and sew the skin closed or use big poultry pins to secure the skin.

Turn the bird over and fill the bigger cavity. Place slices of apple/potato over the exposed stuffing.

Hook the legs back together (usually there is a plastic leg holder on the turkey already. If not, use thread to lash the legs together). Set the bird on a rack in the roasting pan. I then like to pull the wings up and stitch thru the tips, leaving about 4 inches of thread between the wings resting on the breast of the turkey. This keeps the wings from touching the sides of the pan and burning.

Baste the turkey if you want to and bake it. I preheat the oven to 375 then turn it down to 325 and cook it longer than recommended since it is at a lower temp. You may want to cover the breast, wings and legs with foil the last hour to keep them from overcooking.

These amounts are for a 12-14 lb turkey. Leftover stuffing gets put in a foil lined pan and is wrapped in the foil like a tin foil dinner. Bake it for only one hour, not the whole time the turkey is baked.

I find I like fresh turkey, rather than frozen. If you brine a thawed out frozen turkey, that is good and moist as well.

Mom's Orange (Lemon) Thyme Chicken and Rice

Time: 45 min.
Serves: 2-6 (depending on how much rice you make and how big the people are who eat it)

Chicken: 1 to 1.5 lb boneless or 2-3 lb w/ bones
Flour for dredging chicken: 3-4 Tbs for boneless or more for boned
1 medium onion, diced
5 long sprigs of lemon thyme. Pull off all the leaves to get about 1 Tbs of fresh thyme (use 1 to 2 tsp if it's dried). Set aside 1/2 tsp of it (1/4 tsp if dried) for the rice.
1 c. rice for every two hungry adults you want to serve
1 tsp of orange peel zest (optional)
1 cup of milk (optional)

Start the rice cooking. Use a 2 to 1 ratio of water to rice BUT substitute 2-3 Tbs of orange juice concentrate for 2-3 Tbs of the water. Mix in the reserved 1/2 tsp of thyme leaves.

Sautee the diced onion in about 1 Tbs. of butter or oil.

Dredge chicken in flour mixture (consisting of the flour, the majority of the thyme and the optional orange zest). If you want it to stick well, dip the chicken in milk first.

Add the dredged chicken to the sauteed onions and brown the chicken on all sides (but don't cook it all the way through). Add about 4-6 oz. of concentrated orange juice (from a can of frozen juice) and a cup or two of water (depending on how much gravy you want at the end). Simmer chicken until it's tender and cooked through (about 20 min. for boneless, 5 minutes longer for boned). Put a lid on it if you want more gravy when you're done.

You can make this recipe substituting concentrated lemonade and lemon rind if you prefer, and it will come out much more sour and bitter. But you may like it!