Happy Thanksgiving!

Last Thanksgiving I baked apple and pumpkin pies from scratch. (Meaning actual apples and pumpkins.)

This Thanksgiving I bought two frozen pies to put in the oven. I feel a little cheap. HOWEVER.... I did make a pumpkin spice cake from scratch... in the shape of a PUMPKIN!

Behold:

BBQ Turkey Meatloaves

I'm back! Fall is here, and so is my need to cook yummy foods more often. I also have a brand new SLR camera so I don't have to rely on my iPhone for pictures... this also means that I'll be starting work on my cookbook soon.

The other afternoon driving home from my new amazing job, I felt like BBQ, and I had some ground turkey that needed cooking. So I opened up some wine once I got home (4 o'clock is the new 5 o'clock when you go to bed at 8) and started making (up) this tasty meal.

I even wrote down what I did as I did it so I wouldn't have to try to remember! (aren't you proud?) The full combined recipe is at the bottom of this post.

Chop up the onion VERY finely. It really matters so that the patties hold together.

In a bowl combine the turkey, BBQ sauce, egg, cheeses, pepper and bread crumbs, by squishing it well with your hands.

I suppose you can use any old bread crumb, but whenever I make cornbread, I save a few pieces and smash em up in a bag and stick em in the freezer. Corn bread makes better breadcrumbs. Incidentally, whenever I make bacon I save the grease to use in the cornbread. Bacon fat makes better cornbread...

Pan fry in some oil until they are very crispy on both sides. This isn't burned... its the cheese and sauces getting flavorful. I also steamed some peppers and green beans to go with it.

 And here you are!

And while I'm here, I want to show off my cute new fall table set up. Orange is my new favorite color!

                                       

 The centerpiece is just a hurricane with rivets in the side so the candle holder hovers above an empty space. For a while I had some fake grapes in there... then I put in river rocks. Now I've added paper leaves and pumpkins the rocks.

BBQ Turkey Meatloaves

1.25 lbs ground turkey

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese grated

1/2 cup grated mozzarella

1 egg

3 T barbecue sauce

pepper to taste

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1 T vegetable oil

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for the oil. Shape into 3/4 inch thick patties and pan fry in the oil at medium heat until they are crispy on both sides and cooked through (about 10 minutes total). Serve with vegetables, a roll, and a good layer of BBQ sauce.

Enjoy!

Potato Harvest

Harvest some Yukon Gold potatoes from your garden. (Avoid the onion munching slugs.)

Grate some cheddar. 

Brown a pound or so of beef, and make this cream sauce. (I added garlic powder.)

Layer thin slices of potatoes, parmesan cheese, cheddar, and ground beef.

Pour sauce over, add more cheese, bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Super tasty!

Yummy Potato Pie

      Step One: Have a few days off of work so that your lust for life comes back.
      Step Two: Have a martini and chop up some potatoes.

      Step Three: Grill some chicken. I have become spoiled and refuse to eat chicken anymore unless it is grilled.

Step Four: Saute some onions, green onions, shallots, and butter. I was going to use garlic, but I was out. Tonight's rule was to make something out of food I already have. Those green onions are from my garden.

Step Five: Add them to the potatoes. Add cream and salt. Mash up. Add the grilled chicken.
Step Six: Spread some smushed up old cornbread and some melted butter in the bottom of a pie plate. Put under the broiler until crispy.

Step Seven: Spread the potato mixture into the crust. Sprinkle with more cornbread crumbs and some Parmesan cheese. Put under broiler for a few minutes. Enjoy!!!

I made this up today as I was driving home. Its going into my cookbook, because I completely made this up myself.  I have no idea if it exists already!

New phone

I am actually writing this from my iPhone. I wonder if it will turn out right?

Tonight I cooked Gluten Free Bean Free Turkey Chili and took pictures with my phone. This is an experimental post :)

First, start with some veggies.

Then chop em up.

Then add ground turkey and cook till it's soft.

Then add parsley, oregano,chili powder, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, and cocoa.

Add some canned tomatoes and tomato sauce. Simmer until thick. Serve over rice.

P.S. I didn't measure anything. Thats why I took pictures of the spices...they are listed starting at the bottom and going clockwise.

Soup

I was hungry.

Some wine, butternut squash, onion, and carrot. (The wine is ingested separately.)

A stick of unsalted butter and medium high heat until everything is gooey....

I boiled the gooey buttery tastieness in some chicken broth 'till everything was gooeyer....

And threw it in my Handy Dandy Food Processor!

And then I ate the most ****ing amazing soup I've ever had, if I do say so myself.

This is for you, Brie

I am boring, and uncreative. I have been working WAY too hard to have much fun at all with the food processor I got for Christmas. We'll see what the next few weeks and "spring break" hold. Maybe I'll make something new and fun?

Well, my last microwaved corn-dog is gone... time for bed.

A Resolution

       I realized something since the last post: I don't want to have an blog with original ideas! I want to do whatever I do in real life, take pretty pictures of it to the best of my ability, and tell my family and friends how it turned out!
      This takes a lot of pressure off me, and also helps free up my posting block.

      I actually DID make some foodz that I could have posted the recipe for, but I didn't take pictures because my battery was dead. Another time.

Instead, I'll show the pictures from my trip to Spokane with my mama:

    
This weekend CJ turned 24. I took him to Salty's and bought him a magnificent dinner with the gift card we got from our Visa points. I told the waiter to bring him balloons and cake while I "went to the bathroom". He he.

I love this adorable guy so much!

Coconut flakes are tasty and pretty. Wish I knew about 20 years earlier!

Here is the german chocolate cake I baked him. It was very tasty!

YAY

I found a photo (that I actually took myself) that isn't too large of a file for Blogger to accept!!!!

I feel less cheap now!! Woo!

I also have a few new recipes to try and put up soon, that are MINE. hehe.

This is progress!

A Conflict

       I haven't really posted much of my cooking projects lately, and for a particular reason that I think I need to talk about.

       All my recipes lately have come from other people's food blogs. I feel very cheap trying their recipes, taking my own photos, and reposting! And I don't know how to get over this. Part of me wants to quit looking at other people's blogs, spend a little more time being creative and concocting my own recipes, and then post them guilt free on my own.

       The other part of me feels that if I stop looking at other people's ideas I'll stagnate. I have cooker's block. I can't think of anything tasty lately until I search for something!

      To make things worse, I am very dissatisfied with the appearance of my blog right now. Blogger won't allow me to upload any pictures for my background over 300K, which is a pretty much unreasonable limit. Either I pick one of their stock photos (which also makes me feel cheap) or I tile a small photo, which does not make me happy. Add to this that most of my photos are difficult to access due to a complete wipe of my laptop last week, and you get a pretty lame blog.

       That was a lot of complaining and not a lot of solutions.

       On a lighter note, I do in fact have a few original recipes, and am working to compile a cookbook! Not to sell, but to create as sort of a family heirloom. Bookemon and Blurb both have applications to create cookbooks and have them printed up for around 50 bucks. Maybe the fact that I only have 5 recipes so far will encourage me to stop stealing other peoples recipes and work harder to create me own. Wish me luck!

P.S. If anyone has solutions to my problem, please advise. Also, if you find better applications for creating cookbooks, please share!

My Computer Sadness

 My laptop that I got in June is dead. Its still under warranty, so I sent it off to get fixed, but until then I'm not very happy. A lot of my data was lost, and I am stuck using the computers at work, or this ancient thing on the floor in my spare room. I got it up and running and miraculously I got internet on it and I can do some basic functions. CJ was impressed with me. But, this is part of the reason my blog had a Christmas background and theme until just now, and the reason the current background and theme is rather crappy. At least I didn't give in and use a pre-made Blogger background!

For Christmas I got a food processor and a magazine full of recipes. Hopefully soon I'll have time to cook some of my own recipes and take pictures and give a good update.

Until then, good luck enduring these cold non-holiday months!