It's been a while...

since we've posted anything on this website.

What do you think? I don't make up any recipes on my own. I find them in cookbooks, or on other people's websites. Some, I get from my mother-in-law. So, they're not my recipes, but would you guys still like for me to post some of our favorite recipes on this blog? I mean, some of them I'd be just copying directly from the "Better Homes and Gardens" cookbook. It's not even an obscure cookbook! Sometimes I think about posting things, and then I think, "Everybody probably already owns this cookbook." What do you say?

Super Simple Turkey Recipe

This recipe is sure to wow all your friends. I anticipate lots of compliments when I serve it this Thanksgiving. When I found this recipe, I thought it was perfect for people like me, who just are not sure how to tell when poultry is thoroughly cooked, but not dried out. Give this a try.

BAKED STUFFED TURKEY

12-15 pound turkey
1 1/2 cups melted butter
4 cups stuffing mix (Pepperidge Farm is good.)
1 cup uncooked popcorn ( ORVILLE REDENBACHER 'S LOW FAT)
Salt/pepper to taste
_____________________________

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush turkey well with
melted butter, salt, and pepper. Fill cavity with
stuffing and popcorn. Place in baking pan with the
neck end toward the back of the oven.

Listen for the popping sounds. When the turkey's
ass blows the oven door open and the turkey flies
across the room, it's done.

This recipe serves as many as don't mind ignoring the 5-second rule.

The Blog Looked So Lonely, I Just Had to Post a New Recipe

Okay, so it's starting to get chilly here (it's "freezing" right now at a mere 63-degrees. LOL!) Anyhoo, the turn to brisk weather with lots of wind lead me to make some homemade bean soup a couple of weekends ago. It wasn't truly "homemade" as I cheated some, but it was still yummy.

Jenn's Bean Soup Cheater Recipe

1 lb. pre-package mixed bean soup beans
1 lb. package of diced ham
1 can or jar of diced tomatoes
spices to taste

Take the beans and sort them in a bowl, removing any stones or debris that may have been left after processing. Rinse beans. Add to a larged, lidded pot with 7-8 cups of cold water. Cover. Let soak 6-8 hours.

Uncover beans. Add your favorite spices. I added several "shakes" of prefab cajun spices, as well as some garlic powder and dehydrated minced onions - I'm not sure how much, I just kept adding until it smelled and looked right to me. Add tomatoes and ham. Place pan on stove over high heat. Heat til water boils. Turn heat down to medium-high and cover with lid. Simmer until beans are at the consistency you desire. Stir occassionally.

I usually ad a little reduced sodium soy sauce and squirt catsup in the soup when I serve it. It helps cool it down and makes it yummy. Rachel added cheese to hers. Jamie noticed that he likes Goldfish crackers in his. Whatever you do to it, it sure makes a warm spot in your belly on a chilly day!

Curried Lentils

I have been fiddling with curried lentils for a while now. Lentils and rice is an ideal dish for so many reasons: it's cheap (really cheap), it's healthy, it's meatless, and it makes great leftovers. Unfortunately, I haven't found a recipe anywhere that imparts a satisfactory flavor. If food doesn't taste good, it's not worth eating, I say. Instead of giving up on curried lentils, though, I kept messing around until I hit on something really good, and now that I've made this dish successfully more than once, I figure it's worth sharing with the world at large, for those who care. In fact, I made this a few weeks ago for a friend who came over for dinner, and she asked for the recipe; I took that as a good sign.

I've learned a few things about curries from reading Indian cookbooks and old-fashioned experience, and I've learned a few things:

1. Don't overdo the spices, either by using too many different ones, or too much of one kind. They will overwhelm the palette. OMG, did I just use the word "palette"? Yes, yes I did.

2. Don't be afraid of oil. Vegetable oils aren't high in saturated fat, and some, like olive oil, have stuff in there that's good for you. Low-fat diets will get you nowhere anyway.

3. Do not add tomatoes or salt to any dish containing lentils or beans until the very end. There's some kind of enzyme that will prevent the lentils/beans from cooking all the way through and they will be crunchy. I had to learn this the hard way...several times.

4. Toppings and curry mix well. I've listed several in the recipe below.

CURRIED LENTILS
(I don't know if this is authentic to any particular culture...I just think it's good.)

Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
4 T. vegetable oil or ghee
2 tsp. chopped garlic
3/4 tsp. each cumin, coriander and cayenne (You can use more cayenne if you like it really hot)
1/2 tsp. turmeric
2 cups dry green lentils, washed and picked over
2 tsp. broth concentrate (I like Better Than Bullion Vegetable broth) or 2 bullion cubes of your choosing (I would use veggie or beef)
1/2 tsp. freshly ground cardamom seed
1 cup chopped potato

1. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan, and sauté the onion until soft, 5-7 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and spices and toast them, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds.
3. Add the lentils plus 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and let simmer until the lentils are just a little bit crunchy. Check them every 5-10 minutes and add water if necessary. (I always add the water gradually because I never know quite how much water is needed, and I hate watery lentils.)
4. When the lentils are not quite done, add the chopped potato, plus more water if necessary.
5. When the potatoes are cooked through, add the broth concentrate or bullion cubes, plus salt to taste. Sprinkle with the ground cardamom (you can leave this out if you don't like it peppery.)

This is a large recipe. It keeps well for leftovers for a couple days, and is usually better on day two, so if you think ahead enough (and I rarely do), you can make it several hours ahead of time or the night before and just heat it up when you're ready to eat.

Serve with rice of your choosing (I like steamed basmati, myself) and any or all of the following toppings:

Raisins
Dry roasted peanuts
Chopped fresh tomato (if this isn't available and you really like tomato, add a can of diced tomatoes to the lentils when they're done cooking along with the broth and salt)
Plain yogurt
Shredded coconut
Chopped banana
Boiled eggs, chopped
Chutney

Summer Salads

Summer in Madison is hard to beat, not the least because of the great farmers' markets. The one on the Capitol Square is the largest of its kind in the world, and there are several other smaller markets throughout the metro area. Produce abounds: vegetables, berries, plants, flowers, and later in the season, squash, apples, melons...it's easy to buy more than you can eat. So just in time for the 4th of July, I'm sharing some of my favorite summer salad recipes. I usually don't measure ingredients, so amounts aren't too precise, but it's all to taste anyway. These are all very simple, and most delicious when made with vegetables fresh from the garden or farmers' market.

Potato Salad
Mix:
Approx. 2 lbs yellow, red or purple potatoes (or a combination), chopped.
2-3 eggs boiled for exactly 11 minutes.
1-2 T. chopped parsley (more if you really like parsley)
2 tsp. yellow mustard
1/3-1/2 cup mayonaise (you can sub part yogurt if you wish)
1/2 tsp. paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Tomato-Cuke Salad
This one hardly needs instructions! Chop or slice equal amounts fresh cucumber and tomato and mix with a little sugar, a little salt, a little pepper, and a splash of cider vinegar.

German-style green beans
This is the vegetarian version. I think the original German recipe calls for bacon.
Cut 1 lb. fresh green beans into 2" lengths and boil briefly, just until crisp-tender, in salted water.
Sauté 2 T. chopped red onion in 2 T. olive oil until soft.
Add the beans, along with 1 T. cider vinegar, and some salt and pepper to taste.
Stir just until the beans are coated, then remove from heat.
Serve warm or room temperature.

Easy, no?