Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie with Whole Wheat Crust
We did it. I can’t believe it’s true, but we planted two pecan trees in our yard. We spotted them at Lowe’s in late September and selected a Sumner Pecan and a Stuart Pecan. We are slightly north of the growing zone for the Sumner, but our area has mild winters so it should do well. Pecan trees need another variety nearby to produce, and we planted these within 30 feet of each other. They got a little dry at one point and we were worried we might lose them, but it looks like they have taken to their new home. They don’t look like much right now, just a couple sticks about five feet (152 cm) tall since they lost their leaves, but they are full of promise, I can feel it. We have hopeful visions of harvesting pounds and pounds of pecans in about eight years. Yes it will be a long wait, but if the trees produce then my dream to grow our own pecans will be fulfilled. Read more
Sparkling Apple Cocktail
In preparation for the upcoming New Year’s Eve celebrations, we decided to make and sample champagne cocktails over the weekend. A fun job, to be sure, and this week I will feature three cocktails that we enjoyed to help you prepare for your New Year’s Eve party. All of the cocktails are easy to prepare with just a few commonly available ingredients.
This light cocktail uses apple juice, cognac, simple syrup, champagne, and apple chunks. Since it calls for simple syrup, make sure your apple juice isn’t sweetened (most isn’t anymore, but it can’t hurt to check). If you prefer an alcohol free cocktail, I’ve suggested a variation below.
More Tasty Beverages
Slow Cooker Turkey Breast and Gravy
December 28, 2008 by Andrea
Filed under Grow Your Own, Poultry
Christmas Day is one day out of the year that we really like to relax with the kids and still have a traditional meal while keeping it easy. Ham with all the trimmings is a Christmas Day meal for my family, while Michael’s family does turkey. This year our compromise was to do turkey on Christmas Day and ham on New Year’s Day.
In keeping with the easy and relaxing theme, we decided to cook a whole turkey breast in the slow cooker, which gives a tender and juicy bird and keeps the oven available for baking rolls or pie or whatever else might be on the menu. My inspiration for this recipe comes from Elise’s mom, who makes a great turkey. We’ve used her recipe the last two Thanksgivings with success, and I adapted it for a slow cooker turkey breast.
On Christmas morning I walked out to the garden and cut some sage, thyme, parsley, and oregano, all of which flavored the bird and the gravy. Read more
Cranberries with Orange Zest and Port
November 24, 2008 by Andrea
Filed under Condiments
Every year we look forward to Thanksgiving day and start planning well in advance. The boys are still only slightly interested in the holiday, though they seem to enjoy turkey more than they used to. One of my favorite parts of the holiday meal, even more than the turkey, is the cranberries, but you would never know if you came to our home for Thanksgiving dinner. Every year I make cranberry chutney or some kind of cranberry side dish, and about half the time I forget to serve it along with dinner. It remains in the refrigerator, forgotten and forlorn while everyone dives into the turkey, potatoes, gravy, beans, salad, and rolls. Read more
Cranberry Orange Upside Down Cake
When I was a kid thought of upside down cakes as “dump cakes.” You know, you dump the cake out of the pan and stuff runs everywhere. It seemed reasonable at the time, even if it sounded less than palatable to the average ear. My boys think upside down cakes are magic, and I had an audience when I turned this one out onto the serving plate. Top Gun stood as patiently as he possibly could, his eyes big as saucers when I lifted off the pan, and he simply said, “Wow.” Then after tasting a few crumbs he wanted to know when we were having dessert.
I like upside down cakes because the fruit and glaze looks so pretty on the top, and for the most part they are easy to make. You can serve them as is or dress it up for guests with a little whipped cream or ice cream; either way, you have a simple cake that looks beautiful and works well for dessert or brunch.
With cranberries in season, this is an easy and tasty way to use them. The tartness of the berries and the orange juice balances the sweetness of the brown sugar, the orange zest carries on the theme in the cake, and the whipped cream has just a touch of orange flavor with Grand Marnier.
New Favorites for Thanksgiving
November 23, 2007 by Andrea
Filed under Holidays, Poultry, Vegetables
My plan to blog yesterday fell by the wayside as this Thanksgiving was as busy as ever. Though we stayed at home and had a small celebration with our little family, it seems that we’re still stuck in the mode of struggling to get meals on the table while trying to manage the three-ring circus, aka our three little boys. I did manage to continue my tradition of forgetting to serve the cranberry chutney. Last year was the first time in three years that I actually remembered to serve it, and I promised myself that I would remember this year, but once again it sat in the refrigerator forlornly while we enjoyed the turkey and the rest of the trimmings. Oh well, it will taste good with turkey sandwiches for the next few days!
In a departure from our tradition, we roasted a whole turkey this year rather than just a turkey breast using Elise’s method for roasting the bird breast-side down and Food & Wine’s recipe for shallot butter with Madeira thyme gravy. The breast meat was so tender and juicy it was falling apart as we cut it, and the flavor of the gravy was a real winner. I will never roast a bird breast-side up again because it was *that* good. After picking off all the meat for a turkey pot pie, the carcass went into a stockpot to make some good, rich stock for turkey noodle soup. Read more
