Happy thanksgiving (with recipe)

Thanksgiving is one of the reasons November is my favorite month. The food, the family, the camraderie, the laughter...it's a wonderful holiday. An unspoiled warm moment in life, and I hope everyone has a good one.

For those in a last-second bind, below is one of my favorite recipes of all time:
Apple Pecan Stuffing

1/3 cup Butter, divided	1/8 tsp Ground sage
2/3 cup Diced onion	1/8 tsp Ground marjoram
2/3 cup Diced celery	1/8 tsp Ground thyme
3 cup Diced apples	1/2 tsp Dried parsley flakes
3 cup Day-old bread	1/2 cup Chopped pecans
1 tsp Salt	1/2 cup Water
1/2 tsp Black pepper

1. Melt 1/4 cup butter into skillet
2. Add onion and celery. Cook until tender.
3. Add to bread.
4. Melt remaining butter in skillet.
5. Stir in apples.
6. Cook until golden.
7. Add apples to bread mixture.
8. Mix in salt, pepper, sage, marjoram, thyme, parsley, and pecans.
9. Add water and mix thoroughly.

Makes enough for a ten pound turkey.

Shoes n food

Sorry, but been too busy wrapping, singing, baking, decorating, and whatnot else to blog. I will take a second to note how disturbing it is that this Iraqi journalist managed to throw two shoes at President Bush (here's a great summary of the incident). While I admit that I find the episode funny on one hand, there's truth to the fact that this guy shouldn't have gotten a second shot. If you're trying to inflict physical harm on the heads of two governments, it's tough to stop you from getting a try. But there's no way anyone should get a second chance. Why Bush and Bush's Puppet were still frozen at their podiums by the first attack, and not covered by security as they should be. The journalist doffed his second shoe, wound up and tossed it, not being temporarily removed from the theatre as he should have been.

Conspiracy theory possibilities include that this was a plot to make Bush more sympathetic, or that the Secret Service reviles him as much as the rest of the country.

Anyways, to make up for my blogging absence:

White Blondie Brownies
8 oz White baking chocolate
½ cup Unsalted butter
2 Eggs
1/3 cup Sugar
1 tbsp Vanilla
1¼ cups Flour
¼ tsp Salt
1 cup White chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Line 9 X 9 pan with wax paper. Grease it.
3. Melt choclate and butter until smooth.
4. In large mixing bowl, beat eggs until foamy.
5. With mixer running, add sugar, then vanilla.
6. Gently pour in butter and chocolate.
7. Fold in other ingredients by hand.
8. Make 25 minutes at 350 F

A bold stand for turkey

I don't get the whiny petulance I've read about how horrible turkey is on several blogs. As with almost all food, the quality is as much as a good cook can bring out of it. With the right gravy and stuffing, such as my family provided today, turkey is delicious. Here's my advice for stuffing: use this recipe...

Apple Pecan Stuffing

Butter
2/3 cup Diced onion
2/3 cup Diced celery
3 cup Diced apples
3 cup Day-old bread
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black pepper
1/8 tsp Ground sage
1/8 tsp Ground marjoram
1/8 tsp Ground thyme
1/2 tsp Dried parsley flakes
1/2 cup Chopped pecans
1/2 cup Water

1. Melt 1/4 cup butter into skillet
2. Add onion and celery. Cook until tender.
3. Add to bread.
4. Melt 2 tbsp butter in skillet.
5. Stir in apples.
6. Cook until golden.
7. Add apples to bred mixture.
8. Mix in salt, pepper, sage, marjoram, thyme, parsley, and pecans.
9. Add water and mix thoroughly.

Makes enough for a ten pound turkey.

Not to mention the eight varieties of pies for dessert. Ohhh.... Anyway, a Belated Happy Thanksgiving. And thanks to noternie for reminding me to listen to Alice's Restaurant.

Posting will be light...baking

One of the essential Christmas activities is baking.

I won't give away too many secrets, but I will say the best new recipe to come to my attention this season has been the Chris Dodd family cookie recipe at Yankee Magazine (though I tend to add 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of cloves, rather than the full teaspoon of cloves recommended in the recipe).