Week in Review:
Big holiday week full of cooking and eating and shopping! The hunters returned. Brent and Lindsey came up on Wednesday night. We had Thanksgiving dinner here on Thursday, then, of course, the Black Friday shopping trip. On Saturday we went to Drew's shower at Gene Stratton Porter, (see pics from the shower on Lindsey's blog) and celebrated Brent's 26th birthday. Oh, and my friend, Cheryl, who also rode Joe's bus home from Funkhouser School, e-mailed me that I forgot to mention the great bus debates of Ford vs Chevy. How could I forget!!!!
Corey and Rob and what they killed
For Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to try dry-brining a fresh turkey. This worked okay and was fine and everything, but I don't think it was really worth the extra effort and in the future, I'll be sticking with the Butterball. I've also never been satisfied with my dressing. After some phone consultation with Maw-Maw, (who makes wonderful dressing) I decided to cook the turkey neck and wings (I made Bob cut them off) in the pressure cooker and use that meat and stock as the base. I've always been a little afraid of my pressure cooker. I guess I think the lid will blow off and hit me in the head. But, I got it out anyway, and proceeded. Later, I added chicken broth and then the celery and onion and, on Maw-Maw's advice, rubbed sage, instead of the powdered. Well, the dressing turned out great and I feel like a real victory was won on this great holiday. We also served sweet potatoes that knock your socks off, mashed potatoes and gravy, scalloped corn, apple & walnut spinach salad with honey mustard dressing, pecan and pumpkin pie and turkey cookies, as shown above. Nick and Stormy were also guests at our Thanksgiving Dinner, as their children were not coming until the weekend. Black Friday!!!!!
It was great. Our first stop, after Starbucks, was Best Buy. I ran in and grabbed my purchase and got in line, and waited in that line that zig-zagged down many aisles for about 45 minutes. Stormy and Lindsey positioned themselves so that they could wave and cheer at me and take my picture as I came around each corner. Then it was on to Target where we scored one sweet parking place and were in and out in no time. We used a little strategy there. One person immediately got in line and the other two ran to get the stuff and bring it back to the line. A
t one store, Lindsey demonstrated her assertiveness skills by telling the clerk how to ring up our sale so that the discount coupons could be used to our best advantage.
t one store, Lindsey demonstrated her assertiveness skills by telling the clerk how to ring up our sale so that the discount coupons could be used to our best advantage. Us, at Starbuck's at 5:00 AM
Brent's birthday carrot cake
We had ribs and Stormy sent over extra jalapeno crab cakes that they were serving at their house.
Sunday - There was no supper. I was all cooked out, s0 we had leftovers. Bob spent the afte
rnoon cutting down the neighbor's walnut tree, so he can put up a dish and watch I.U. basketball games on the Big Ten Network. Here's Bob carrying his Little Giant back to the garage. At this point, the deed is done and the tree is finally down. I just ran out to check. I had been inside the house, praying, and frantically searching online to see if there was maybe some Patron Saint of Woodcutters on whom to call. (like St. Paul of Bunyan maybe) Anyway, the neighbor is safe and so is his property and the lights and cable are still on, so whew!
The recipe of the week is for the turkey cookies featured above. I got this recipe for cream cheese sugar cookies from another kindergarten room mother at J.L. Buford School in Mt. Vernon, Illinois in 1988. You have to keep an eye on these cookies when they're in the oven, as they brown quickly because there's so much butter in them.
rnoon cutting down the neighbor's walnut tree, so he can put up a dish and watch I.U. basketball games on the Big Ten Network. Here's Bob carrying his Little Giant back to the garage. At this point, the deed is done and the tree is finally down. I just ran out to check. I had been inside the house, praying, and frantically searching online to see if there was maybe some Patron Saint of Woodcutters on whom to call. (like St. Paul of Bunyan maybe) Anyway, the neighbor is safe and so is his property and the lights and cable are still on, so whew!Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup softened butter
3 ounces softened cream cheese
1 egg yolk
2 3/4 cups flour
Combine all ingredients except flour. Stir well. Add flour slowly until well-mixed. Chill a few hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness and cut with cookie cutters. Bake approximately 7-10 minutes. Watch closely. Frost or sugar them when cool.
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