Duck "poppers".....

This weekend has been great, filled with lots of family time. Miles and I are enjoying a very rare four day weekend with my husband. Friday was spent relaxing, playing outside, and eating leftovers...of course. Several pumpkins were left from my brother's wedding, fall decorating and Halloween. Miles wanted to have archery target practice with one and it was the perfect day. Afterwards he tried out pumpkin carving with his new pocket knife.

While the boys played I took a little walk around our yard. It was such a gorgeous day. My father in law has an amazing garden that grows lots of delicious food right near my house. This year he planted a fall garden after the summer garden quit prodicing. Currently it is full of cabbages, lettuces and greens aplenty. I only have a small porch garden with mostly herbs with one pequin pepper plant.Unlike his garden, it is on its way out for the season. My herb plants did provid me with lots of great  fresh herbs all summer and most of the fall. On the other side of his garden is a peaceful little pond that usually has birds, turtles, dragonflies and fish. I tried to get a picture of some of our pond wildlife but they all escaped before my camera was ready. 

Duck Breast in Marinade

Today has been more of an indoor day, although it was just as beautiful outside. We made homemade yogurt (not sure if this worked yet), lasagna and duck jalapeno "poppers". My brother-in-law went hunting a couple days prior to Thanksgiving  and brought home some ducks. He made fresh duck "poppers" as a pre-dinner appetizer on Thursday. Man they were so delicious!! He had a few extra duck breasts left so he gave them to me. I asked for his recipe and this is my attempt. My version turned out pretty great but his were way better. Three reasons why his were better; they were cooked on the BBQ, he put regular yellow onions in them (I had shallots) and he used plain bacon (I only had maple). When he gave me the duck breasts, all the hard work had been done. They were even already marinated in what looked like Italian dressing. Per his instructions I cut the duck into bite sized pieces, then sliced up some fresh jalapenos, cream cheese, and shallots. Now everything was ready to wrap and skewer. I only had bacon ends and pieces (my husband uses it make homemade sausage) and for some reason it is maple flavored. I have never like maple bacon, so I would choose regular or even peppered bacon instead. 

Stacked up and ready to roll

My brother in law suggested using two tooth picks to hold the bacon on. I found this worked quite well, although a lot of the cheese still came out. However, this was due to the bacon pieces being so inconsistent, it was really hard to nicely wrap each piece. I then baked them until the bacon was crispy and brown. YUM YUM YUM!! I think they would be great for any kind of BBQ, the super bowl or as a tailgating treat. I am sure they could even be made using any kind of meat.

Duck "poppers"

1 pkg cream cheese, cut into small pieces

3 fresh jalapenos, seeded and thinly sliced

1 onion, cut into small pieces

4 small duck breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1 pkg bacon of choice, slices cut into thirds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees or light and heat grill. Make an assembly line of ingredients. This ensures that when your hands are covered in raw meat you don't have to go searching around for anything. Lay out 1 piece of bacon, top it with one bit of duck, cream cheese, jalapeno, and onion. Wrap the bacon around horizontally, securing it with a toothpick. Then wrap it vertically with another piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Bake or grill until bacon is browned and crispy.

Cajun "Fried" Turkey....

This turkey has become a tradition. It's cooked in a infrared propane cooker and tastes like it has been under a rotisserie after it's cooked. You have to start thawing your bird in the refrigerator four days ahead. When it is thawed open the turkey wrapping over a sheet pan or clean sink because there will be liquid inside. Remove the neckbone, organs and sometimes a gravy packet from the cavity of the turkey. Our turkey had some in the back end and some in the front end. Set it aside for soup or gravy or whatever you like. Rinse the turkey under cool water, then pat dry and set on a sheet pan. Then season it up. Massage the rub up under the skin, the on top of the skin and in all the nook and crannies of every part of the bird. We the inject it some sort of flavored butter. Tie up the wings and legs so the don't hang loose and burn. Then we let it sit a couple of hours, until it was time to head to my sister in law's to cook the bird. It takes about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to cook in our cooker.

Preheat the cooker, set the turkey in the basket, insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the meat. We prefer a digital probe thermometer but we forgot it at our house so we used a regular food thermometer stuck into the breast so we could keep an eye on it. When it reached 165 degrees, it was ready to pull and set to rest for 15 minutes.

I like to cut out the whole breast and thinly slice it, the cut off the individual dark meat parts, like the wing, thigh and leg. Arrange it nicely on a platter, if you can before it's served. I couldn't even get it partially cut before little fingers were snatching it off the tray. 

All the food was great! I ate way more than I should have and enjoyed every bite. So Happy Thanksgiving and I hope yours was as great as mine.

Turkey Veggie Tray (delicious and adorable but not made by me)

Bon Appetit (my favorite magazine ever!!!!) Cajun Seasoning

5 Tbsp Kosher Salt
2 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper
2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
2 Tbsp Sweet Paprika
1 Tbsp Dried Oregano
1 Tbsp Dried Thyme
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Onion Powder

Stir these all together in a small bowl with an airtight lid.

Brownie ice cream cake....

My nephew's favorite cake is a brownie topped with chocolate ice cream and frosted with whipped topping. I made my favorite brownie recipe in an 8 inch square pan. After it was cool enough to remove from the pan, I removed it to a cooling rack and lined the same pan with plastic wrap (no need to wash it) to mold the ice cream. I prefer to use parchment paper for this step but I didn't have any so I used plastic wrap.

At this point, pull the ice cream out to soften, but don't let it melt. You want to be able to press it into the pan, which is your mold. Then smooth the ice cream until it is even. You may need to hold onto the plastic wrap a bit so it won't slide out. Then return it to the freezer to refreeze.

I used my bamboo cutting board for the cake's board because it's strong. Since it's going to family, I know I will get my board back. If you don't have one, get two or three pieces of appropriately sized cardboard, stack them on top of each other, tape them together and wrap it in foil. Put the brownie layer on the bottom, then unmold the ice cream by pulling up on the plastic wrap. I  used a cutting board to flip the ice cream out on, then I slid it off onto the brownie cake. Stick it back in the freezer to firm up again. Leave the plastic wrap on at this point. After about an hour it should be ready to pull out and cover in whipped topping. Remove the plastic wrap and working quickly cover the entire cake in whipped topping. You don't have time to be perfect unless your house is pretty cold. I saved a little whipped topping out to tint with food coloring to write happy birthday and add a border. Just remember whatever color you use will come out pastel. I chose green. Put it back in the freezer until ready to serve.

 

I didn't get a picture of the birthday boy enjoying his cake, but all the kiddos ate it and as far as I know it was a great success. So happy birthday Joey, you are sweet kid who deserves this special cake!

Ghirardelli's Chocolate Brownies
Makes 16 brownies

1/2 c Semi-sweet chocolate chips (get the best you can afford)
4 oz Semi-sweet baking bar (same deal here)
1/2 c Butter, cut into pieces
1 c Firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp pure(never imitation) vanilla extract
2 Eggs
3/4 c + 2 Tbsp AP Flour
1/4 tsp Baking powder
3/8 Tsp Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, prepare an 8 inch square pan by lightly buttering it.Chop 4 oz chocolate and melt over double boiler until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Stir in vanilla and brown sugar. Add eggs and mix well. In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients. Slowly add sifted dry ingredients into the egg/chocolate mixture. Fold in chocolate chips, then pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Pumpkin Bread...

Miles and I had cooking school yesterday. It was such a fun day! Last week during our lunch break we watched "The Chew" and Michael Symon made Chocolate Pumpkin Bread, well Miles just had to make it. We already had all the ingredients, including a pumpkin that needed to be cooked and eaten, so we made it. It turned out great! I also made my nephew's birthday cake (a brownie, ice cream, cool whip cake), which was actually pretty fun, a much better experience than the last time I made the same cake. Then it was on to turkey prep, which of course Miles had absolutely no interest in helping with. Everything turned out just like I wanted...except the giant pile of dishes.

The pumpkin bread was really Miles's baby, he helped clean out the pumpkin, roast it, peel it, measure out the ingredients....well everything. I just guided him and took it out when it was ready. I cut off the stem end of the pumpkin, cut it in half, scraped out the guts, and then lightly oiled a cookie sheet. I place the pumpkin, skin side up, on the pan and roasted it at 350 degrees for about 30 minute, until it is lightly browned and soft. We did this a couple days ahead of time. Then the day of we peeled it, then pureed the pumpkin in my food processor. It wasn't quite wet enough to mix thoroughly, so I added a little eggnog to loosen it up enough to blend into a smooth puree.

 This makes the pumpkin puree needed for the recipe, I am sure you could use a can of pumpkin, but like I said we already had a pie pumpkin that needed to be eaten. Measure out 1 1/2 cups for recipe, I froze the rest for a future recipe. We then assembled the recipe according to the original directions. Miles did all the work, he is a great helper. He mixed all the ingredients together and folded in the candies.(I think it would be just as good without the candy, but don't tell Miles)

Pour it all into the pan and bake. It made the whole house smell amazing! Let it cool for as long as you can stand it, then slice and enjoy.

            

The Chew's Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Avacado Cheesecake!

I love the flexibility that homeschool gives daily life these days. Miles and I enjoyed a couple of hours of school, then he helped me wash dishes and we hung out with a good friend the rest of the afternoon. My friend wanted to make an avocado cheesecake for someone at my old job. I miss all the people there so much, they were such great people. I know I made the right choice leaving work to stay home and school Miles. However, not going to work, cooking amazing food every week and sharing my work with tons of people makes it tough sometimes. So I thoroughly enjoy any chance I get to cook for people, especially someone special. And if anyone deserves a special birthday surprise it's this guy, he always goes out of his way to help people, no matter what. He even helped me fix my car twice and was happy to do it. People like him are so important to the general well being of the world that they need a little something special every now and then. 

I love this recipe! I first made it for my little sister's birthday because she loves avocados...and cheesecake. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. It's not too sweet and a little tangy but absolutely delicious!!

**BTW Sorry in advance for the lack of pictures. I was having fun hanging out with my friend and forgot :-(

Avocado Cheesecake
1 1/2 Tbsp. powdered gelatin
1/2 cup water
1 lb. cream cheese
3 ripe, Fresh Avocados (cut in half, remove seed and scoop out with spoon)
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
7 oz. Greek yogurt
8 oz. whipping cream

Crust
1 13 oz pkg Pecan Sandie cookies
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. lemon zest
2 oz. butter, melted


Filling
Combine gelatin and water in a small bowl and place over double boiler, stirring until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside. With a paddle attachment cream together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. In a food processor, add lemon juice with avocado and process until smooth. Add avocado mixture to cream cheese mixture and mix together until well combined. Place whisk attachment on mixer. With mixer running, gradually add the warm gelatin to the avocado-cream cheese mixture and whisk together until well combined.Add the yogurt and mix together until well combined again. Using a hand held mixer or standing mixer with whip, whip whipping cream to soft peaks.
Fold whipping cream into the avocado mixture until well combined. Pour mixture onto prepared Cookie crust and allow to set in the refrigerator overnight to completely set.

Crust
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 9 inch cheesecake pan. Using a food processor, pulse together the pecan sandies, sugar, salt, and grated lemon peel until finely broken up. Add melted butter and pulse mixture again until small clumps form. Press crust into prepared cheesecake pan. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until crust begins to brown slightly. Allow to cool completely before adding Avocado Cheesecake mixture.


Here is the link to the original recipe, I only slightly modified it so I want to give credit where it is due:

http://www.avocadocentral.com/avocado-recipes/Avocado-Cheesecake-Bites-with-Pistachio-Shortbread-Crust

It's that time of year....

This has been a family filled weekend full of movies, cuddling, snowflakes, and hot chocolate. We had a few chores around the house but otherwise it was a great kick off to the holiday season. My son loves Christmas music, in fact we have been listening to Pandora's holiday playlist since September during school time, and his favorite station is now playing it 24/7. Thanks to Sunny 99.1 my house is now constantly filled with holiday tunes. Ask me how I feel about it in a week. He was then in the holiday mood so we broke out the Christmas DVDs and watched Elf....this inspired hot chocolate with peppermint marshmallows and snowflake making. 

Darth Vader Hot Chocolate

Cheers to rare, random, and family fun on chilly winter nights.

Pot Pie!

This first week has been crazy, from starting this blog, getting my little munchkin to focus when he is so excited for the upcoming holidays, to fitting in time with extended family to bake, so I am glad it's finally the weekend. Friday morning was the start of a pretty normal school day, except I started using a new computer program, Raz-kids, for our reading lesson. So far Miles loves the program, it rewards him for reading and taking quizzes with points to build and customize a robot and/or spaceship. Since he finished his Life of Fred book on thursday, he only had his Kumon workbook to complete for math.While he was working on his word problems, I started dinner in my trusty old slow cooker.

Last week my husband bought me some AWESOME wild mushrooms and I decided to make a mushroom and beef potpie, I am calling it beef wellington pie to make it sound fancy. It was a really busy day so I cooked the meat portion all day in the slow cooker and right before dinner I  magically turned pot roast into pot pie. (I am definitely adding the recipe so don't you worry). After getting that all settled, I got back to active involvement in the school day. It went so well, not every Friday does, we were done by 1:15....Well, technically, there was a storm outside so the internet was acting crazy and I couldn't get the videos I wanted to watch on Africa and the equator so I am just going to have an extened Africa study session on Monday. No reason to start new material when we are only doing "class" on Monday and Tuesday and cooking "school" on Wednesday getting ready for the big day. After school we headed to my in-laws house where Miles got to see his favorite little cousin to decorate Pilgrim hat cookies and Teepee cupcakes. My nephew has discovered pinterest and chose these fun projects. It was messy and fun as all good projects should be and the boys got to run around Nana's house like crazy monkeys and had a blast. The wet drizzly winter weather had set in by the time we left and I rushed home to finish the warm, hearty pot pie. Immediately I tasted the beef and after 5 hours on high in the slow cooker it was perfect.

Beef, yummy and delicious!

I removed the beef to a glass dish and broke it up using a spatula (be sure to save the remaining liquid in the crock so it can be used in the pie filling). Then I chopped the other goodies...shallots and wild mushrooms.

Shallots, Maitake Mushrooms, and King Trumpet Mushrooms

Now it was time to get back to cooking so I melted some butter in a pan and satued the shallots, then the trumpet mushrooms and the softer more delicate Maitake mushrooms. When they were all soft and lighlty brown I added soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper. and ladles of the beef liquid, about 4. It simmered away until almost all the liquid cooked away then I added about half the beef (reserve the rest for another meal)

Everything simmering and steamy...

While this was all cooking down I blind baked the bottom crust, and shredded the cheese for the top of the pie. Just for the heck off it I put a little cheese on the bottom of the cooked crust to help the crust not get soggy (I don't know if it helped but I hear brushing egg whites on the bottom crust helps), then piled in the filling, topped with the other crust, cut little steam slits on top and sprinkled cheese on the cheese.

Ready to go in the oven.

Now it was time to relax.....the pie was in the oven and i had 20-25 minutes....what to do....well I made my little man an open-face roast beef sandwich on some leftover French bread and topped it with the remaining shredded cheese. The boy is sweet but he doesn't like mushrooms....I don't get it, we tried so hard to raise him right. I tried to get a picture of him eating his sandwich but he ate it so fast this was the result.

What, what??

Now it was time for the big reveal, even Miles couldn't resist a sniff, of the amazing and beautiful pie. I still couldn't get him to try it. I have to say it was really good. It could do without the cheese. I feel the crust would have cooked better with out it. You have to decide if you want a crispy cheese crust or a crispy top crust. Either way is delicious in its own way.

Beef Wellington Pot Pie...kind of

2 1/2 pounds Beef chuck roast

Montreal steak seasoning

Flour for coating the meat

3 Tbsp oil

1/2 c red wine

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 c beef broth

12 oz wild mushrooms or regular button (chopped)

3 small shallots (minced)

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp soy sauce

2 sprigs of Thyme

1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

2 c shredded sharp white cheddar cheese (optional, almost as good with it)

2 pie crusts (this mom takes a shortcut here and I buy Pillsbury refrigerated rolled up crusts from the can                 biscuit section..best advice I will ever give you....know when to take a shortcut for your own sanity)

Beef Roast

Season the beef with the Montreal steak seasoning on all sides, then coat with flour. Heat a large pan over high heat with the 3 Tbsp of oil and carefully sear the roast on all sides until golden brown. When thoroughly seared, add it to the slow cooker, then the wine, Worcestershire sauce and beef broth. Set that baby to high and forget about it for about 5 hours. (This can of course be done a few days ahead.) When done remove beef from the liquid and pull it apart (I just squished with a spatula) reserve the meat and liquid for making the filling

Filling

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly oil a pie dish and line it with a pie shell, poke the bottom of the crust with a fork and blind bake on sheet pat until golden brown 5-10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat and add butter.When the butter is melted add shallots and saute until transparent. Add mushrooms and cook down about 5 minutes. Add soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and 4 ladles of the liquid (about 1 1/2 cups). Cook for about 5 minutes then add half of the beef. Continue simmering for 10-15 minutes over medium heat until most of the liquid is gone. Remove from heat and set aside.

Sprinkle about 1 cup cheese on bake crust, add filling, top with second (raw) crust. Cut steam holes in the crust and sprinkle more cheese on the top crust, too. Put pie dish on sheet pan and bake until golden brown about 15-20 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

Ribs!

Thursday was quite the busy day, we did school from 9am-2pm and it took up every second. We are using Oak Meadow 2 and Life of Fred as our curriculum this year. I add in extra science and math because he loves these subjects. I let him direct the science and I add in Kumon workbooks for math. This week in Oak Meadow we are studying the continent of Africa and distinctive features of various animals. We were also supposed to start clay work for art, but we don't have any, so we are starting that the week after Thanksgiving (we are taking Thanksgiving week mostly off) We did an experiment out of Steve Spangler's Naked Eggs and Flying Potatoes, where we put hot sauce on pennies. It was fun and now we have a whole collection of shiny pennies.Miles loves The Life of Fred, he just finished Goldfish in the elementary series and  is already begging me to go on. It's such a cute little story and the math you learn is very diverse and it keeps his interest and attention. We also finished our daily reader, Horrible Harry and the Invasion of the Purple People. He was very proud of himself for finishing it. He is such a reluctant reader and I am very proud, too.

Towards the end of school I started on our recipe for today, OVEN BAKED baby back ribs, before running to Tae Kwon Do class. I trimmed and prepped the ribs while he was finishing his last workbook page.

I seasoned one with our favorite pre-made salt-free rub (Rasta Rub) and  Kosher salt. Since my little man doesn't like spicy the other one was seasoned with a mixture of salt, pepper, garlic powder and a little brown sugar. 

 My favorite way to cook oven ribs is 15 minutes in a 450 degree oven, to form a nice crust, then I lower the temperature to 325 for about 2 hours. I put them in for 15 minutes in 450 degrees and right before I left I bumped the oven down to 325 and scooted out the door. (I don't recommend leaving the house while things are cooking but my husband would be home in thirty minutes and Tae Kwon Do is 5 minutes up the road and only 50 minutes long, so I took the risk.) They were done a little while after we all got home and settled down for the night. I served them with edamame (my son's favorite vegetable) and thick slices of French bread.

Oven Baked “BBQ” Ribs.

2 slabs Baby back ribs

rub of choice

BBQ sauce of choice 

(I use a sweet sauce and a spicy rub)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Open the ribs and give them a light rinse under running water and pat dry. I like to take off the thin membrane on the bottom side of the ribs, then season both sides of the ribs. Put them on a rack on a sheet pan (spray with nonstick spray, I forgot and boy do I regret it), I could fit both on one pan but you may need two. Put the ribs into the oven and set your timer for 15 minutes, when that time has passed, turn your oven down to 325 degrees and let bake for about 2 hours. My husband makes the best homemade BBQ sauce and I asked for his pork sauce for these babies. When the ribs are done I baste them with the sauce (you can use your favorite), return them to the oven for 5-10 minutes to glaze.Then, pull them out and let them rest 10-15 minutes before cutting.