This morning my little boy and his best friend, had a date with Santa. It was "Breakfast with Santa" day. I'd been looking forward to this for a long time. We picked up his best friend, and his Mommy then off we went. When we got to the Club, there he was, a wonderful Santa. He had a real beard and snow white hair. A beautiful red vest, trimmed in white fur and buttoned up smartly with brass buttons. His knee length red velvet coat, covered his red velvet pants both trimmed exquisitely in snow white fur. Shiny black boots peaked out from under the fluffy white cuffs. He had a jolly round belly, with a red hat whose cuff and ball were made of the same beautiful fur. He read stories to the boys, did magic tricks and admonished them to listen to their Mom's or they'd get lumps of coal in their stockings. As we drove away, we passed a red truck with a "Santa" design on the back. The boys asked why Santa was driving a truck and not his sleigh. I told them that Santa's reindeer only flew on Christmas Eve, so he had to have a 4 wheel drive to get through the snow. I felt a slight twinge of guilt from the dishonesty, but hey it's the magical season. I've also been telling him the real reason we celebrate Christmas is because of Jesus' birth. That Santa and the gifts came after Jesus, and they are not the reason for the season. He's trying to understand, he will, as he gets older. It never hurts to lay down the foundation early!When we came home, I decided to turn on some Christmas tunes to get me moving. I tried my favorite radio Internet music station and really enjoyed listening to all the different types of music, they really warmed my heart and put me in the Christmas spirit, almost. Songs like one by the Eels called "Christmas is going to the dogs.", or Johnny Cashs' version of "Blue Christmas". If those two don't send you to the ABC store, then a song by the Killers featuring Toni Halliday titled, "Big Red Sled" would. It's jolly story of Christmas tells of, "Santa handing out wine and guns." Where are my car keys? But wait! There's more! Billy Idol roared into the speakers with his ditty, "Screaming at the Christmas Tree", followed by the raspy falsetto from Queensryche singing, "White Christmas." I noticed that of the songs I'd heard, none contained a wish list for Santa! That thought was soon shattered by the all to familiar sound of AC/DC, yes, AC/DC singing their tune, "Mistress for Christmas", followed by another Christmas wish by Chemical Romance, "All I want for Christmas is You". This song, filled with angry, screaming voices, conjured a very unhappy Christmas picture of Santa, cowering in the corner while some rage filled rocker, in love, showered him with his desire for....well, you. As if by the mere thought of anger, the next song on the list was by MxPx, very aptly titled, "Christmas Night of Zombies". I'm gonna' have to change the channel, poking my minds eye out is not a reality. Not to worry, Heart was up next with their English rendition of, "Ave Maria". Following on their heels, Annie Lennox came to the party with her ballad, "See Amid the Winters Snow". Exhausted from those and the many other, um, unorthodox, versions of Christmas tunes, I switched on the t.v., and sat down to drink coffee and watch cartoons with my son. Cleaning, cooking, and dirty clothes were going to have to wait.
My husband called to let me know he was on his way home, and he was hungry. Ok, he's coming from Georgia, I've got 7 hours. Plenty of time to cook a turkey dinner! I had a 3lb turkey breast thawing in the fridge. I decided to have my favorite, sweet potatoes with some gingerbread flavored marshmallow's I found at the grocery. Leave it to Paula Deen and me to make a perfectly healthy food into a, well, not so healthy food, but it sure is yummy!
You have to have cranberry with turkey and since I had extra blueberries, I decided to use them too. As for stuffing, no. I found my old Mayonnaise muffin recipe. I wonder why I don't use it more, it's so simple and delicious. Oh, now I remember, it's delicious. Bread is the enemy if consumed in mass quantities, so nix on the Mayo Muffins frequent use, for me anyway! Not today, bring them on. I will forgo the use of jam, just for the sake of conscience.
Here's my recipe for Turkey with orange oil:
1/2 cup olive oil
1 large orange
1 small lemon
1 tbl poultry seasoning
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
5 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup Moscato wine
1 3lb. boneless turkey breast
Pour the olive oil in a measuring glass, then add the poultry seasoning, thyme and pepper. (don't worry about the oil and juices separating. The citric acid will break down the oil so that all things will mix and stay mixed. You can use vinegar to do this as well, for instance, oil and vinegar on a sub. Add the vinegar first to help break down the oil.)
Take the lemon and the orange and roll across back and forth exerting moderate pressure to get the juices going, then put in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds to further this along.
Take out and juice into the oil and whisk together.
Add 1/2 the wine
Let that sit, while you prepare the turkey.
I always salt just the fat on the turkey, I don't want to dry the bird out.
Put the stalks of celery and some onion under the turkey, place the rest around it.
Pour the rest of the wine in the pan
Pour the orange oil over the turkey, turning to cover it all. Use all of it.
Make sure the turkey is fat side up
Cover with foil and bake in 325 oven for 2 hours, uncover.
Cook until the breast is cooked through.
Take out and cover in foil to keep warm.
NOTE: If you want, you can take the carrots, celery, onion and juices and use those to make a delicious gravy. Place the veggies in a blender, blend until smooth. In a heated skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter and add 2 tbl flour and mix until it starts to turn a caramel color, then add the blended mix and the juices until the consistancy of gravy. If you wish, add some milk or half & half. Salt and pepper to taste.
Cranberry/Blueberry sauce:
1 bag fresh cranberries
1 cup blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
Boil the water, orange juice and sugar then add the cranberries and blueberries, mix well and let boil on medium heat, then let simmer until a gel like consistency.
Gingerbread sweet potatoes:
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large orange, juiced
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbl salted butter
milk or half&half
1/4 cup brown sugar
Gingerbread flavored marshmallows
You can bake the sweet potato or boil it, I chose to boil it for time's sake.
Add the orange juice to the water
About 1/2 way through the boiling, add the cinnamon.
When the potatoes are easily stabbed with a fork, pour out all the water
Add the brown sugar, milk and butter, mash well
While they potatoes are still hot, add the gingerbread marshmallow's and mix until melted
Mayonnaise Muffins:
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp sugar
1 heaping tablespoon of mayonnaise
Muffin tin
Heat oven to 400 degrees
Mix ingredients together and pour into prepared muffin tin, bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown
Serve hot, with butter and jam. YUM YUM!
My husband was very happy to come home to a nice turkey dinner, and he was so grateful he served the food and cleaned up afterwards. How nice of him. He said he enjoyed it and even though the little boy didn't seem to want to eat, he thought he enjoyed it too. The little boy looked at me and nodded his head in agreement. I love my guys!
No comments:
Post a Comment