Turkey And Dressing In March? Why Not?

Been mostly puttering around today.

 Finished off a few painting projects, did laundry, housework, read a few blogs,

looked at more decorating ideas at BHG.com

You know...day off stuff.

I've been thinking about making turkey and dressing

 so I decided today is the day.

Now don't misunderstand, I'm not cooking the full blown turkey day meal.

I have some leftover turkey in the freezer,
even found a couple 1/2 pint mason jars of turkey stock,

 so I'm going to improvise.

What I'm going to do is make the dressing and add chopped turkey to it.

Trust me...I've made this before.

The turkey is thawing and the freezer bag of veggie ends

(onion skins, celery ends, garlic peels) are in a pot with water, gently simmering.

Crap.... only found a few slices of bread in the freezer and no cornbread.
Texans need cornbread in their dressing!

OK...

I made some foccacia dough in the bread machine,

whipped up a double batch of cornbread batter and both are in the oven baking.

The extra cornbread will go great with beans and rice

and the extra bread is good all by itself!.

The slightly wilted celery, an onion, a couple of pepperoncini and some garlic

are chopped and waiting to be sautéed.

OK, breads are out of the oven, lets get this done!
(I oiled the foccacia bread and added herbs to the top).

1. Drain the solids off the veggie stock,

add the turkey stock to the veggie stock and set aside.

2. Cube up about 5 cups of the two breads, put in a large bowl and set aside.

(I usually do equal amounts of each bread).

3. Cube the turkey and set aside.

4. Sautee the chopped veggies.

This is where it all comes together.

5. Throw a handful of dried herbs into the bread bowl, your choice.

Add the sautéed veggies and mix.
Add the cubed turkey and mix.
Add the stock to your desired wetness, I like mine on the wet side.
Pour into an oiled 9 x 13 baking dish.
Bake uncovered at 325° for 1 hour.
You could even sprinkle on some grated cheese
in the last 15 minutes of baking, but
I think I'm going to make gravy with the leftover stock.

There you have it, turkey and dressing with very little fuss!

I'm off to Canton Trade Days tomorrow,
I don't need anything but you never know....

Till next time,
Bonjour

Hacking, Canning & Fun

OK...



So we finally had the time to can up

all those wild blackberries we picked in the spring.

We also pulled out the flat of strawberries from first monday,

and the surplus tomatoes from the garden.

They've all been patiently waiting in the freezer,

 anticipating being turned into yummy pantry shelf goodies.

Also pulled a couple packages of

cooked pork roast to defrost.

Later I'll be making it into something for our work lunches.

For the berries we decided to

 can them whole instead of making jam or jelly.

This way they can be utilized for

smoothies, cobblers, pancakes, muffins etc.

 I used the instructions in Jackie Clay's canning book.

(A backwoods Home publication).

The process was to pour sugar over the berries,

1/2 cup sugar to each quart of berries, (same amount of sugar for both types of berries) 

gently mix, then cover. Let the strawberries sit for 6 hours and the blackberries for 2 hours.



Free blackberries

While we were waiting for the blackberry two hour window, we moved on to the tomatoes.



Squashing TO-MATERS

We blanched the tomatoes to remove the skins,

then quartered them.

Into the pot they went.

We squashed them with the potato masher,

 simmered for a bit,

then ladled into hot, sterilized jars,

adding 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar.

Released the air bubbles, wiped the rims, capped, and

processed pint jars for 35 minutes in the water bath canner.

To can the blackberries, 

we heated them up in the turkey roaster,

(I like to use the roaster because

the product has a chance to spread out.

I straddle it between two burners,

making sure the middle gets stirred to the ends).

When it starts to bubble,

ladle into hot, sterilized jars 1/2" from the top.

I use a chopstick to release the air bubbles,

wipe the rims, cap, and boil in the water bath canner.

Strawberries process for 10 minutes,

blackberries for 15 minutes, (same method) 

The process timing was for pints,

we did 1/2 pints but used the pint timing.

After that we were on to making our lunches for the week.

I diced one package of the pork roast and set it aside.

The other went in the fridge for ham salad.

In a large skillet, I heated some olive oil,

added chopped onion and garlic,

 sautéed for a bit,

added 1 cup brown rice,

and sautéed a bit more.

Next I added the diced pork roast,

1 can of cream of potato soup, 1 1/2 cups water,

and some frozen mixed veggies.

I brought the mixture to a boil,

reduced the heat to low and cooked for 20 minutes.

Forgot to add any herbs or seasonings,

but I guess the canned soup had some.

Oh yeah, I did cook the roast with herbs, forgot!

By this time my brain was sort of fried,

(we started at about 9am, finished about 5pm.)

The ham salad will just have to wait till tomorrow.

In the middle of all this, I get an automated call from Citi Bank.

Hello, your credit card has been used for an online purchase,

suspected fraudulent.
Call us at bla, bla, bla number.

Being the wary, suspicious,

know that crooks call and Email

you to get your info, 

person that I am, I don't call the number they leave.

I call the number on my statement!

Sure enough, my info has been hijacked!

Seems Citi Bank has been hacked.

The credit card I haven't used in about 3 years,

the same card I haven't even

activated in that same amount of time,

 has been used to purchase something,

or some service online, at the cost of about $100.00.

They even tried to use it again at Cabala's.

(hope I spelled that right)

Declined!

DUH!!!

Seems to me,

an inactivated card should be

declined the first time!!!

But what do I know?

OK,

one long, excuse me, could you repeat that again,

conversation later, I'm to be sent an Email that I have to E-sign,

stating, I have no knowledge of this.

Never get the email.

(By the way, I'm the one saying, can you repeat that again).

Call again 2 hours later,

same excuse me, could you repeat that again, conversation!

 (I'm thinking, trying to can food here, it's your fault you got hacked, you fix it).

Thankfully my brain didn't let me voice those words.

EXPLAIN EVERYTHING AGAIN!!!

Got the Email this time. Hope my E-sign went through.

GEEZ!

I was assured that I would not be responsible for the charge,

but you know what,

in the end,  the charge has to be covered by someone.

Guess who that is?

Never even got make soap today, oh well!

At least I had fun canning, got to make some bread

and even had time to call Nathan.

Now it's 10:34pm,

 I work tomorrow, goodnight!

Till next time,

Bonjour

Canton First Monday Trade Day & Graves

SO...

Fate has a way of directing things, or misdirecting, however you choose to view it.

We were supposed to hook up with Roland & Irma at First Monday to do a little shopping, 

 but fate had other plans. 

We wandered around on our own, perusing this & that, not really looking for anything special.

I did find myself a nice lightweight coat, perfect for this fall weather,

ate some fried green tomatoes and generally just screwed around.

Steve decided he wanted to go across to the livestock part so, off we went.

On our way we passed the Canton graveyard, a very old graveyard.

Guess who's grave's we discovered?



Paul T. Mann/ died 1948 & Una Mae Mann/ died 1951

Steve's grandparents! He swears he didn't know they were buried there, how weird is that?

We always stay on the fair grounds, but this day we didn't. I don't know what fate had, or has in mind, I'm just saying, really weird! 

We did eventually make it over to the livestock area and saw this on the way...



Pit crew fixing a flat

And this...

Deer head mounted on the front of a chicken cage!!! (WHY)

This adventure was on Friday, today is Monday & I still haven't got my head around it all.

Till next time...
Bonjour

Canton First Monday & Frugal ideas

OMG.....

I can't believe I slept soooo late, almost 9:30, all that walking at First Monday I guess.

Half the day is gone already!

Yesterday at First Monday

I wanted to take a few photos of all the great crafts, but it was so crowded in the sheds, there was no way!

We headed out on to the grounds for a little junking. (not nearly as crowded)

My friend Irma was with us & she's working on cross crafts, so we scouted for the parts & pieces she needed.  (You take different sizes & shapes of wooden crosses, somehow attach them together, then decorate in various ways.) She's making these for a craft fair in November to benefit The Cancer Society.

Here's one she found already painted.  That thing next to it in the cart is a gourd. She wants to decorate/paint it for Halloween.        

I collect dishware so that's what I was looking for. I found this cute Tea/Coffee Pot with the 2 cups & the sugar bowl. (NOTE) They are sitting atop THE RUNZA RECIPE. (a reminder to try the recipe again today)



Steve's mom, Annette was with us also, she likes to buy clothes & jewelry. She got a pretty green sweater & a necklace to match.

Steve found a fruit vendor & scored 8 pints of strawberries for $8.00. I'm thinking jam, preserves, maybe even freeze some for muffins or pancakes. (gave some to mom too)

Mom & Steve

We didn't stay too late, Irma had to get back & help out at the concessions for the football game.

Mom is 83 so we had to be mindful of that also.

We all had a good time & I got to take a few photos.





Fall is here







Bottle Tree



My frugal ideas for today

1. freeze way to ripe bananas for later use in smoothies, muffins, bread ETC

2. freeze stale chips, bread, cornbread to use in stuffing/dressing
3. save the water from boiling your chicken & freeze or can for later use as stock
4. simmer the washed celery ends, onion skins, garlic skins, ETC in a pot of water to make a veggie stock, freeze or can
5. if you have dogs, scatter the vacuum canister contents around the veggie garden, keeps the rabbits away

Feel free to share your frugal/smart ideas.

I'm headed to the kitchen for a day of cooking. Probably need to vacuum also!

Till next time

Bonjour

P.S. Even thou it's called first monday,
trade days last all weekend.

Canton First Monday



First Monday here we come



WELL....

We're off to First Monday Trade Days. Not looking for anything in particular, just like to go.

In addition to all the junk vendors, Canton also has what they call "sheds" where there's plenty of

handcrafted items. It's like a free art show. There are so many talented people with great imaginations. 

Maybe I'll find a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow!

Hope you guys have a great day!!

Bonjour

My New Bath Tub

SOOOOO.

Update on yellow bench!!!

Well, Steve finished painting the bench & it turned out great.

A bright sun shiny yellow.

YOW!!!

BEFORE,  PLAIN

AFTER,  ELECTRIC

Don't you just love it?

On to the bath tub.

I have always wanted a cast iron bath  tub, ALWAYS! They seem so Romantic, so Exotic, so 30's, so everything.

So, Heather & I were at the Bluebonnet Trails craft Festival in Ennis & saw this beauty.

                                  

Well, needless to say, $150.00 later it was mine. (Thank you Heather)

My poor neglected tub sat on the deck for about a year waiting paitently for some attention.

Begging for attention, pleading for attention, demanding attention!!!

OK!!!!! I'll buy some paint, I will give you the attention you deserve circia 1939 tub!!

(Actual date some how applied to tub in raised numerals.)

Well,I bought the paint, Steve painted her.

She is dreaming of me lighting candles for her, lounging with bubbles in her,

having a glass of wine while bubbling in her, she is decadent and doesn't care. She is proud of it!

MY LOVELY TUB, COMPLIMENTS OF HEATHER!!!
AND THANKS TO STEVE FOR PAINTING HER.

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

Bonjour