Coleslaw--your versatile friend.

To me, you can judge a restaurant by it's coleslaw.  Big awkward slices of cabbage mixed with mayo does not a coleslaw make.  Remember, cabbage is a leafy green, and we need to think of coleslaw as a salad.  A delicious crunchy bite of something cool and green to have in between courses of spicy food (bbq, tacos, etc).  I don't even put mayo in mine (gasp!)--I am a firm believer that coleslaw should be vinegar based.

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup white vinegar (or half white vinegar and half cider vinegar)

2 tsp mustard seeds

2 tsp celery seed

1 tsp salt

Mix the above in a large bowl, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

Add the following ingredients to the bowl:

1 cabbage, finely shredded

1 small bell pepper, minced

1 T. minced pimentos

1 small vidalia or sweet onion, minced

Toss well and mix.  Transfer to a ziplock bag and refrigerate overnight.  This coleslaw gets better the longer it sits, and it can last up to 2 weeks in the fridge.  

GOOD WITH: bbq, beans, tacos, sandwich filling, hot dogs, veggie dogs, burgers, seafood.

Stacey's Famous Brined Turkey

My sister Stacey makes the best turkey for Thanksgiving. She has brined her turkeys for years, and has changed the original recipe she followed over the years to make it her own.
If you can get your hands on a local free-range turkey it will be even better. Remember that good all natural turkeys do not have over-inflated balloon breasts, they way commercial turkeys do. If you've never had a free-range turkey, you may be a bit shocked at how different he looks, but remember--this is the way he was meant to be. A well cared-for animal produces a higher quality of meat.

This recipe is great because it is very simple (although it does require some pre-planning). It is easy to make while you are running around (like a chicken with it's head cut off, har-har) doing all the other 5 million things you need to do when preparing a holiday meal. We buy our turkeys the day after Thanksgiving when they go on sale and throw them in the deep freezer. You may be sick of turkey right now, but come Feb. or March, that turkey in the freezer is going to look pretty darn good.
I'll shut up already and just give you the recipe.

4 cups (just under 1 box of Morton's) Kosher salt
2-4 gallons cold water
A big tub, plastic pail, or cooler that will hold your turkey
Ice (if you live somewhere that is not cold)
Carrots, celery, and onion
1 bunch fresh thyme (or 1 T. dried)
Butter
salt & pepper.

You've got to brine your bird the day before you cook it, so plan ahead. Take your 4 cups kosher salt and pour it into your bucket/pail/cooler. Add 2-4 gallons water, and stir till salt is dissolved. Now, before you add your turkey, make sure you've removed the neck and giblets, and all the other stuff that might be stuffed into him. Throw him in the brine, making sure the cavity fills up with water. He will float, so you might want to throw a plate on top of him to keep him submerged a bit.
Now, I just cover it and throw the bucket-o-turkey outside on my porch and let him brine for 6-8 hours. Where I live it is about 33 degress, so it's no problem. If you are somewhere that is above 41 degrees, you are going to want to throw a bag of ice on top of your bird. Keep the ice in the bag, just throw it on the bird to keep him and the brine cold. After he's had a good 6-8 hour soak, take him out and pat him dry. Put him in the fridge, uncovered, overnight. (I just cut open a paper grocery bag, line it w/ paper towels, and put him on that)
Cooking Day:
Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Throw a bunch of carrots, celery, and onion all around the bottom of a roasting pan, covering the bottom of the pan entirely so that your bird will sit on top of the veggies. Add the thyme. Melt about 3-5 Tablespoons butter, and brush it all over your turkey, top and bottom. Then go back and sprinkle him with salt and pepper. You can tie up his legs or whatever here. Add 2 cups of water to the veggies in the pan. Put your bird on the veggies BREAST SIDE DOWN. That's right, BREAST SIDE DOWN. Fear not.
You're going to cook him at 425 degrees for one hour. Take him out, flip him right side up, and reduce the heat to 325. Put him back in and cook till a meat thermometer reads 175 degrees in the thickest part of the bird. This can take anywhere from 1 hour (a 10 lb bird) to 3-4 more hours (giant bird). It is very hard to overcook this bird because the brining process locks in the moisture.
Use the pan juices and fat to make your gravy after removing the veggies.
YUM!!!!

Notes from tonight's dinner--early fall

We had a great dinner tonight! I figured I better jot down some notes about it so that I remember it for later. The whether has started to get chilly outside, so its time to make some changes to our usual dinner staples (bye bye cucumbers).
I think its good to make some notes, especially during the season changes, so I can look back and see what was working and what wasn't. Aaron has been trying to remember all day today what sandwiches he made last year during the cold whether.
Lunch first: I had maple ham and swiss cheese sandwiches using the sandwich press. I don't like one of those fancy "panini" presses. I prefer the old style one that is sandwich-bread shaped. Aaron had his first ruben sandwich of the fall. He makes it with corned beef and saurkraut, russian dressing, swiss cheese, and rye bread. He heats up the kraut and corned beef in a pan together. (Noah had a PBJ, which he has about 2-3 times a day now...)

And here's dinner:
Aarron had some chicken quarters that he slow-roasted all day after brining for about 36 hours. The brine contained salt, vinegar, 3 T ketchup, 3 T dijon mustard, 1/3 c. lemon juice. I think he basted it all day as well with butter, wisticher sauce, sugar, dijon, and salt.
I made a few odds and ends. We had some sweet corn and eggs from a farm we visited yesterday outside of Harleysville. I turned the eggs into deviled eggs (yolks, mustard, mayo, pickles, salt, pepper, and paprika) and just steamed the corn. I had some local red bell peppers in the fridge that needed to be used asap, so I roasted them. They were amazing! I threw them in the toaster oven on "grill" for about 15 minutes, then put them in a paper lunch bag and closed it for another 15 minutes while cooling. I skinned the peppers (its really annoying) then sliced them thin. I put them in a tupperware with 2 parts olive oil, 1 part red wine vinegar, and salt. They will stay good in the fridge for about a week. I have a recipe for canning them somewhere, but I haven't done that yet this season. I'll be sure to report back when I do.
There was also some feta cheese hanging out in the fridge that I needed to use or loose, so I marinated it in olive oil, vinegar, oregano, basil, dill, salt, and pepper (all dried herbs). This should also stay good in the fridge for about 10 days.
We also had a baguette available for soping up all the yummy juices from everything.
Anyway, its worth noting to hang on to the pepper recipe. They were the best batch I have ever made!