Caramelized Onions

I love caramelized onions. They are so delicious and easy to make but I often hear that people have trouble with them. Here is a foolproof way for perfect caramelized onions every time!

Caramelized Onions:

•  2 Onions
• 1/2 Tablespoon Butter

Thinly slice onions (slicing very thin is a very important part of this method) and place in a pan with butter. Cook on a medium-high heat, stirring often. (pictured below)

When the onions start to brown turn the heat down to low.



Continue to cook on low until the onions are golden brown. They are finished when they look like the picture below.

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Turkey Stock

After your Thanksgiving meal is over and the turkey is picked dry, don't throw away those bones - make turkey stock! It can be used as a base for turkey soup or you can use it in most recipes that call for chicken stock. Best of all it is so simple that anyone can do it.


Turkey Stock:

• Turkey carcass
• Cold Water
• Sea Salt
• Pepper

Method:

Leftover carcass

Place carcass back into the pan that it was roasted in and fill with cold water.

Bring water to a boil and then reduce heat to low to simmer.

Simmer with a lid on low for 24 hours. Check occasionally, you may need to add more water.

After 24 hours use a slotted spoon or some tongs to take out all of the bones and solids.

After removing bones and solids

Add salt and pepper. Allow to cool, strain contents and then pour the stock into a container (below).

Refrigerate for 24 hours. Remove from the fridge, skim the fat off  (below) and discard.

Place into jars for storage. If you will be using in the next few days you may keep it in the refrigerator. I will freeze mine, it will keep for a few months.

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Waste not, want not - Thanksgiving edition

My Fathers leftover plate

Waste not, want not - Thanksgiving edition (aka Leftover Madness)!

In my mayo post I mentioned the leftover sandwich that all of my brothers make without fail every meal. These sandwiches are toasted pieces of sourdough stuffed with every leftover you can imagine. For your viewing pleasure I am adding pictures of the masterpieces my brothers came up with this year.

My middle brothers masterpiece

My baby brothers version

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Coconut-Walnut Mayonnaise

Why is this mayonnaise smiling? (Please tell me you can see the smiley face in the jar!) Because after our first failed attempt at making mayo, the second was a success. Mrs.Barbie.C (my mother) and I decided to try our hand at some homemade mayonnaise today. One of the favorite leftover meals in our family is a sandwich loaded with turkey, stuffing and cranberry- topped with a smear of mayonnaise. Our first try was using my handy dandy Vitamix, but our results were too watery. After some deliberation we decided to whisk by hand. It worked well, but left these two ladies with some very sore arms!

Coconut-Walnut Mayonnaise:

• 2 Egg Yolks from Organic/Pastured Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Walnut Oil
• 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil (melted)
• 1/2 Lemon (juiced)
• 1/2 Tablespoon Whey
• 3/4 Teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon Paprika
• 1/4 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Onion Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon White Pepper

Method:

In a bowl place 2 egg yolks, spices and lemon.

Whisk together until smooth.

Add the oil drop by drop, whisking continuously. After it has emulsified you can add it a little faster as a stream, but still slowly. (sorry, no picture! Impossible to whisk, pour and take a picture all at once!)

All finished, now add the whey and place in a glass jar.

A word about the whey: I got the idea from Kelly the Kitchen Kop. Linked is her recipe, which I have not tried yet. In her recipe she links this one from Cheeseslave which does an excellent job explaining the details of lacto-fermentation. Happy Reading!



NOTE: After making this I found my family split 50/50 about if they liked this or not. My mother, husband and I liked it but my Father, middle brother and baby brother did not care for it. Before you try making this be sure you like the flavor of the oil or you will not like the mayo!

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Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2010

I can not think of many things worse than waking up at 2am on Thanksgiving morning with fever, chills and body ache- when you are expecting 13 people for the Thanksgiving meal. Unable to sleep, I was thinking the worst. That I would have to spend the day in bed and hand the reigns over to my mother. Thankfully, I was able to go back to sleep and woke feeling not so much better, but determined to make it work. Good planning made the day a little easier, although my mood probably left a little to be desired (sorry, family)!

I was very pleased to be able to use my Grandmothers china for the first time this Thanksgiving. It was a very nice touch.

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving spread. I missed taking a picture of our 20lb turkey, but it was a thing of beauty!

Happy Thanksgiving, I hope you all had a wonderful day!

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