Poultry Pageant Sides (Part II)

Baby Cranberry Pies

The second most important course of Thanksgiving is dessert. Typically you are required by law to serve pumpkin pie, but I did that for Halloween. Disregard this recipe if you want to follow the rules. I'd never had cranberry pie before, I was very curious about how well these would taste. I was pleasantly surprised at how unbelievably good these were. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I traded one of these pies for a peace pipe pow-wow with some very accommodating Native Americans. They were gone quickly. 

You will need the following: 

Pie crusts (enough for 4 minis)

1.5 c sugar

1/3 c sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c water

12 oz fresh cranberries

1/4 lemon juice

1 tsp pie spice

2 tbsp butter

Step 1: Preheat oven to 425. Rinse cranberries. 

Step 2: Combine sugar, flour, salt and water. Bring to a boil and stir 'til smooth. Add berries, lemon and spice. Boil 5 minutes until thick and berries crack. Remove from heat and add butter. 

Step 3: I used a pie bird to keep the filling from bubbling over the crust. To use a bird, pour a little filling into crust, then place bird and finish filling the crust. 

Step 4: Seal top crust and brush with egg and milk. Bake 40 minutes on a baking sheet. 

This concludes the 1st Annual Poultry Pageant. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Poultry Pageant - The Bird

Thanksgiving Lemon-Pepper Roasted Chicken

Oh there's no place like drunk for the holidays, now quit your bitchin' and get into my kitchen. After you catch, kill and pluck your chicken, watch this video and learn how to roast it! Ingredients listed below.

You will need the following: 

1 five-pound chicken

celery

carrot

onion

garlic

1 tsp cracked pepper

1/4 c lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

a few sprigs fresh rosemary

2 tbsp butter

olive oil

for gravy

2 c chicken stock

2 tbsp corn starch

salt & pepper

I ran out of camera battery before I could show ya'll how to make gravy from your pan drippings. This final step is best done while your chicken is resting. All you do is discard the veggies and skim all visible fat from the pan juice. Heat pan juice with corn starch and gradually add in stock. Stir until thickened and serve warm. 

Poultry Pageant Sides (Part I)

Sweet Potato Biscuits!

It's Turkey Time! With this simple biscuit recipe, I'm officially kicking off the first annual Little Dinner Party Poultry Pageant! Thanksgiving is about one thing, food. While I do love a trashy biscuit from a tube, there's something so sad about the Pillsbury/Stove Top/Campbells displays at the grocery store around this time of year. Biscuits are practically the cheapest way to put starches on your table, and quite easy to boot. If you've ever read The Grapes of Wrath, you remember the Joades subsist entirely off biscuits and misfortune. I decided to mix it up a little and kill two carbs with one stone. I combined the sweet potatoes with the biscuits. Truthfully, I can't take all the credit for this recipe as it comes courtesy of my boss. Hers were better. 

You will need the following: 

2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 c butter 

1 c cold mashed sweet potatoes

2 tbsp half n half

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 425. Whisk all dry ingredients together. 

Step 2: Cut butter into flour with pastry cutter, leaving course chunks of butter. Once mostly smooth, add potato and cream. Stir until dough is doughy. 

Step 3: Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead and turn about 6 or 7 times. Cover lump with wax paper and roll out to 1/2" thickness. With a cookie cutter or cup, cut circles out of dough and place on a lined baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes. Serve warm. (Makes 1 dozen).

These make great biscuits and gravy the morning after Thanksgiving...

A Little Thanksgiving Craft

As the holidays approach, you'll probably be spending a lot of time in the kitchen eating.  The best way to keep food off your clothes is a bib or an apron. An apron is a dignified bib for adults. I hardly use aprons, mostly because I didn't have one until recently. My friend brought me the tackiest/most fitting apron from Paris last week for my birthday. You can't have too many tacky aprons, and I had already slated this craft for November. I decided to follow through, which means someone's in for quite a gift this Christmas, not sure who the lucky one is just yet. 

Making an Apron

If you follow this blog, you'll know I'm a big fan of doing a kind of faux-hem on my sewing projects. It's really easy and it always looks crafty-chic, which is the best we can hope for. This fabric was on sale and I found it perfectly suited for the poultry pageant I'm planning this Thanksgiving. 

You will need the following: 

1 cubic yard decorative burlap

ribbon (2" thick)

thin yarn and thick needle

fabric chalk 

ruler

Step 1: Trace the perimeter of another apron onto your yard of fabric. 

Step 2: Cut an extra inch around your pattern (this will fold over and form the hem). Once cut, fold down the extra and iron. 

Step 3: With yarn and needle, lazy-stitch down your folds in long strides. 

Step 4: Adhere ribbons at the top and sides to form neck and waist straps. 

Ta-da. In just four simple steps you yourself can look this gay...

A Little Political Party

Presidential Pork Chops with Apples

Despite her valiant campaign, unfortunately Roseanne did not win last night. I didn't make these chops for watching election results, but it would have been a fun idea nonetheless. Instead, a bunch of us got sauced and watched Fox News wipe the egg off their face. This blog doesn't pick favorites but we're more than pleased with the results of this annoying election, now back to flooding our newsfeeds with grainy food pictures!

To me pork is less of the "other white meat" and more of the "forgotten white meat." I never think about it, but whenever I make it I'm reminded how tasty it is, not to mention cheap. My mom used to make the world's worst pork chops and I think I'm still trying to get over that. I've always liked the idea of apples and pork together so I tried some stuff out.

You will need the following:

2-3 large pork chops (or tenderloin cutlets)

1 sweet apple (I like braeburn)

1/2 red onion (sliced thin)

fresh rosemary sprigs

2 tsp olive oil

3/4 c water

1 tsp mustard 

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 pinch pie spice

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375. Saute onion slices in oil until translucent. Set aside and brown both sides of the pork chops in the same skillet. 

Step 2: Arrange pork chops, onion, apples and rosemary in a baking dish. 

Step 3: Mix water, brown sugar, mustard, pie spice, chopped rosemary, salt and pepper. Pour marinade over chops and bake 30-45 minutes covered. Pork is cooked to 140 degrees.