Let’s Talk Turkey

Posted on September 23, 2013 by mdespard001

P.S. (that’s ‘pre’ script!) I left my turkey in the pan even though the bottom of it blackened. Yup. It happens and even though I love my blog I am just not the kind of girl who is going to place her turkey on a pretty platter just for a photo. Who has time!?

Yes it is late September and I am in the mood for turkey. I love me a nice roasted turkey. The aroma of that heavenly non-chicken savory-ness permeated my house while it cooked away. Mmmmmm…

We Americans have become so Thanksgiving-ingrained about turkeys that they can be down right hard to find outside of November, but I knew Whole Foods wouldn’t let me down (and at their prices, let’s face it: they’d better not!)

So I got myself an organic turkey yesterday for $3.99/lb. For a nine pound bird that’s, ahem, close to FORTY DOLLARS. How the heck does the full time homemaker–married to a public school teacher–swing a 40 buck-bird for dinner? Well I am just so glad you asked.

I don’t. That is; I don’t swing it for one dinner. My friends, to make this purchase worth it I go Native American on my bird. Oh yeah. NOTHING IS WASTED. The only way I can justify spending this kind of loot on a turkey is to stretch that meat into a bunch of meals. Don’t you want to know what I do? (yes.) Would you like me to walk you through all the stages? (yes.)

OK. Here we go.

1. Prep your turkey. Super easy plan here. Fall has actually descended in So-Cal (thankyouthankyouthankyou) and the weather is a tad cooler, but it’s not cold enough outside for me to have a hankering for some stuffing and that sort of thing. So I kept my plan pretty light:

After removing the neck and the bag of whatever-the-heck-that-was from the cavity of Mr. Turkey, I put in a quarter of an onion, two garlic cloves and a lemon (ends chopped off with holes forked around the sides.)

2. Then, you may have noticed that my turkey doesn’t look like June Cleaver’s (and never will, thank you very much.) Just like when I roast a chicken I always place the breast side down to insure the largest pieces of meat will stay tender and juicy. My sister calls this “downward dog style.”

Then, on top I used the following ingredients: 1/2 cup white wine, 1/2 cup orange juice, drizzle olive oil. Sprinkle top with whatever yummy stuff you’ve got in your spice drawer. I used several dashes of thyme, garlic powder, garlic salt, black pepper and I think some oregano.

3. Also just like when I cook a chicken I set the oven at 425 degrees and cook for 25 or so minutes. Then reduce temp to 325 and cook approximately 25 minutes per pound. This was a 9 pounder so I left it for about 2 1/2 more hours. I checked it at about 2 1/4 hours and it was done. How did I know this? My handy meat thermometer (inserted into thigh after taking out of oven to check) read just above 155 degrees.

Back to the justification piece… After the turkey cooled I de-boned it and had two sets of leftovers. All the meat:

And then the bones or carcass:

This is, in fact, my favorite part as I will boil these bones in water (with the lemon, onion and garlic) for about 90 minutes to get the most delicious broth you’ve ever tasted. If my house smelled good with the turkey in the oven, just imagine what it will smell like with these bones simmering away. Yu-uhm.

So, last night we had turkey with rice and broccoli. I will use the leftover meat and soon-to-be broth to make, likely 3 more meals (including soup which I am so excited about I can hardly stand it!)

If you do the math now, I spent about 40 bucks on the turkey, but if I use it for four meals for five people that’s around $2.00 per person per meal. For organic turkey that’s pretty good, right? And if I can squeak another meal out of the meat I could drop that cost even more.

How many recipes can a girl make with turkey? Again, so glad you asked. Turkey soup is coming pronto. I’m also thinking about turkey enchiladas, toasted turkey sandwiches and maybe turkey fajitas… or maybe turkey stir fry… or wait… so hard to decide!

Do you want to see my recipes for turkey leftovers? (yes.) Coming soon!

Turkey ingredients recap:

Ingredients: 9 pound turkey, two garlic cloves, 1/4 onion, fresh lemon, 1/2 cup OJ, 1/2 cup white wine, drizzle olive oil, generous dashes of garlic salt, garlic powder, black pepper, thyme and oregano.

Direction recap: Cook at 425 for 25 minutes and then lower temp to 325 and cook for 25 minutes per pound. Internal meat temp should read 155 when done.

Tips: I place a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom of my roasting pan to help with cleanup. Also, I added water this time about 1/2 way through roasting as the sizzling pan started to create a bit of smoke.

Lena’s Smoothie

Posted on September 19, 2013 by mdespard001

So I got this text from my nieces (grades 5, 6 and 7) the other day. They know who would appreciate this concoction!

This strawberry-banana smoothie comes from a cookbook, but smoothies honestly don’t need to be measured to be tasty. As long as you’re not hung-up on whether or not it turns out a tad thick or a bit runny, just throw whatever you like in a blender and hit puree. One of my favorites is a banana, some orange juice, whatever yogurt we have in the fridge and a can of unsweetened pineapple and its juice. YUM.

But lots of folks prefer an actual recipe–and what kind of auntie would I be if I didn’t share the recipe that creates the stunning pink glass of frothy ambrosia you see above? It is a downright privilege to be on your nieces’ contact list and as I do desire to remain, I will now share with ya’ll…

Lena’s Smoothie

Ingredients: 1/2 cup milk, 1/3 cup strawberry yogurt, 1/3 cup frozen unsweetened strawberries, 1/2 banana, 4 ice cubes, 8 tsp. sugar (I’d use 3 max, but that’s just me.)

Directions: blend and serve. Strawberry swag on side of glass optional but highly recommended. It does make quite a statement, don’t you agree, dahling?

P.S. Besides Lena, a special thanks to Lindsey and Raquel for tasting, photography and also being loves of my life!

It Happens to Everyone…

Posted on September 12, 2013 by mdespard001

This probably isn’t the best sales pitch for someone trying to build her meal planning/kitchen coaching business, but I just gotta come clean: I, Michelle Calva-Despard, made a totally gross meal the other night.

What was supposed to be my side dish of teriyaki vegetables and rice noodles turned into a soggy, doughy, mass of yuck. I deemed my efforts inedible, which is something I haven’t done in years. Even though the veggies and sauce were delicious, I couldn’t get over the ball of blech that it all became when I added the noodles. These are Trader Joe’s new rice noodles, btw, which perhaps I mis-prepared… I dunno.

The good news is (this is like the part in the job interview when the interviewee turns a negative into a positive) that since I’m such an expert meal planner, I had loads of leftovers on hand and enough other easy-tasty-healthy choices to still whip up something really nice for dinner. 🙂

My husband and son did eat this mistake-of-a-meal (guys… figures!) although they both agreed it wasn’t one of my best.

And thus, I will not be sharing this recipe with you today!

Mediterranean Layer Dip

Posted on September 10, 2013 by mdespard001

I was recently introduced to my new friend, Mediterranean Layer Dip. Nice to meet you.

I discovered this new delight at our back to school BBQ a few weeks ago. Let me just say, it was love at first sight when I caught a glimpse of this yum-ola situation. I literally ran around shouting “Who made that dip!?” until I found the smart lady who had whipped it up. She didn’t have a name for it so I went with today’s title.

I knew right away what this dip was made of, even though I had never seen it before. You can just tell that it’s hummus (I used Trader Joe’s Mediterranean blend as recommended), crumbled feta cheese, chopped cucumbers, bell pepper, tomatoes and kalamata olives. Genius or what!? Serve with pita chips or more veggies for dipping and you’ve got yourself a beautiful (I mean seriously–isn’t it just lovely?) delicious, hearty appetizer.

Technically the preparation of this food item is more along the lines of “assembly” than “cooking”–which is super okey-dokey right now as it’s so hot in Pasadena I have a hard time choking down my cup of caffeine each morning lately.

I brought this dip (shown here with the gorgeous hand of my girlfriend, Eva, poised with chip) to the Labor Day BBQ that my beans got me invited to. It wasn’t a big hit with the kids. My three, for whatever reason, are not hummus fans. Go figure and it didn’t matter anyway because all the adults huddled around it and snarfed it down so fast we didn’t really feel like sharing with our little offspring anyway.

There are times when generosity is not a priority.

Will I make this dip again? Invite me over and find out!

Sangria

Posted on September 6, 2013 by mdespard001

Hot. It is hot. Cool, it is not. How I wish it were chilly but it is hot, hot, hot, HOT.

Have I mentioned it’s hot?

People who hang out with me on a regular basis know some of my fave things in life. Sangria is one of those things.

Sangria comes in a kajillion different ways but generally includes wine, fruit, juice and some other stuff. While I appreciate a crisp white sangria, red is my go-to.

Lots of restaurants serve sangria and I must say that none of them make it better than I do. (Oh no she di-‘unt just say that!) Apparently practice does make perfect 😉 and I have finally given up ordering this when dining out as it’s just too disappointing. Everyone tries to get all fancy-pants about it with 12-ingredient-long recipes and almost always waaaaay too much sugar. Blech!

I even saw a restaurant in Mammoth Lakes this summer that boasted “World’s Best Sangria!” Not even close.

Simple. Lightly sweetened. Refreshing and beautiful. I have a few sangria recipes I like, including one that uses pineapple juice and spiced rum, but for now please say hello to…

Michelle’s Simple Summer Sangria

Ingredients: 1 bottle red wine, 2 cups OJ, 1 can club soda, chopped seasonal fruit (I used a nectarine and a plum here) 2 tbsp. sugar, 1-2 shots brandy or rum or triple sec.

Directions: Chop the fruit and set it in the liquor with sugar for an hour or so–longer is fine. Chill all your ingredients and mix them all together, serve over ice (casually cute Martha Stewart glass jar optional) and smile. You may want to add another 1-3 tbsp. sugar to taste.

Tips: Don’t break the bank on the wine. A mediocre $5-7 bottle will do fine. In the fall I make sangria with oranges and apples. In the spring with strawberries and cherries. It’s all good. Really good.

Bonus tip: Sangria always tastes better when shared with good friends, like Dale and Lisa. Cheers!

Savory Late-Summer Tomato Pie

Posted on September 4, 2013 by mdespard001

(Quick, before my internet crashes again! I hate Charter Communication and I don’t care who knows it!)

OK. So the without-a-doubt exquisite photo you see above actually started from another completely amazing photo you will now see below:

These are Didi-delivery tomatoes.

Didi has a patient (she’s a physical therapist) who has a hobby farm and he brought her these tomatoes which she shared with me. Do I have some awesome girlfriends or what?

So to thank Didi I baked her (OK, yes, and myself) a tomato pie. Didi called me, pie in mouth (it’s hard to stop once you start) to say that the pie rocked–which I already knew but it’s still fun to hear.

My mother is a gluten free girl and she breaks her routine for two foods I make: pina colada pancakes and this here tomato pie.

Yes. It’s that good.

Michelle’s Late Summer Tomato Pie

Ingredients (most measurements are approximate): pie crust (see below), 2 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes, 1/3 cup chopped basil, 3-4 crushed garlic cloves, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, 3/4 cup cubed bread or bread crumbs

Directions: pop your pie crust in the oven at 375 for 5-10 minutes while you prep everything else. Then mix tomatoes, basil, garlic, half of the amount of each of the cheeses. Place in crust. Add bread crumbs, rest of both cheese to top of pie. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Pie crust from scratch: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup butter, 4-5 tbsp. cold water. And no, I do not make my crust from scratch. Although I generally avoid prepared food items, the non-baker in me cannot reconcile the effort that goes into a pie crust that, when completed, tastes the same as a store bought one. Sorry. Just comin’ clean.

And now, if you’ll excuse me…

Rose’s Banana Bread

Posted on August 29, 2013 by mdespard001

Quick! Check out my featured recipe for sangria this week on Hometown Pasadena! And, FYI: I have space in my “Come to the Table Workshop” tomorrow evening for one more new friend I haven’t met yet…

And so we shall close this week (OK, yes, it’s only Thursday. Just go with it.) with my favorite recipe for banana bread.

I got this recipe from a friend I made years ago; Rose from MOM’S Club. Rose had a son older than my then babies and she moved with the self-assured stride of a mother who, even though her son might be screaming bloody murder while clinging to her skirt threatening to disrobe her, was going to get down that frozen food isle no matter what.

Calm. Cool. Rose. I admired her from the first time we met and even though we never became close this recipe is near and dear.

Like its previous owner, this banana bread recipe is straightforward, practical and comforting. I make it a lot, actually, and put it in my kids’ school lunches. Who doesn’t like banana bread for heaven’s sake?

I prefer mine with nuts but the kiddos do not, and since I don’t really need to be snarfing down large quantities of this yummy stuff, I make it the way they like it.

Rose’s banana bread

Ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 2 eggs, 2+ cups over ripe bananas (or whatever you have,) nuts optional

Directions: Mix it and pop it in the oven at 350 for about an hour. Serve it warm whenever possible…

Tips: I use only 1/2 cup brown sugar and it works fine. I also use whole wheat flour. Freezes very well to!

Baked Beans for Labor Day!

Posted on August 26, 2013 by mdespard001

Shocked as usual, I cannot believe that the unofficial end of summer–also known as Labor Day–is one week from today. Wow.

My family loves baked beans. LOVES them. For a potluck party we attended a few weeks ago I decided to bring a baked bean hotdish (Yes, I’m from Minnesota and we do that. And we make it in Corning Wear which is featured above. So there.)

Baked beans are so cool because, although they’re a bit heavy on the “sugary side” of life, they are still a great source of fiber, complement a million different entrees (burgers, brats, BBQ chicken, pasta–no, not pasta! Just checkin’ to see who’s awake this Monday morn. :)), and are super cheap-ola to make. That’s a win-win-win in my book.

So, to create this giant pot of yum I Googled Baked Beans and basically pulled bits from a handful of recipes that looked pretty dang tasty. I grabbed what I already had in the cupboard and fridge and through it all together. It was the right approach. The beans ROCKED!

Michelle’s Everything-But-the-Kitchen-Sink Baked Beans

Ingredients:

Step one: 1 large onion (I used a Maui which is sweet) diced, 1 diced bell pepper, 1 diced tart apple, 3-5 crushed cloves of garlic, few handfuls of leftover diced ham (recipes called for bacon but I didn’t have that), black pepper, two tbsp. olive oil

Step two: 5 15 oz. cans of baked beans (I used Bush’s, plain), 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup mustard, 1/4 cup brown sugar, many dashes of chili powder, chipotle powder, black pepper, few glugs of Worchestershire, soy sauce, dash of balsamic vinegar, splash of beer (kinda fell in…)

Directions: take your step one ingredients and saute in a pan until the onions and pepper soften (approximately 10 mins) like this:

Then toss it all together with the step two ingredients in a giant pot. Mix it up and pop’er in the oven at 350 for 60 or so minutes. I broiled the top so it would get that nice darker crust situation goin’ on.

(Side note for my measuring friends: this is a great example of a time when it’s really best to just wing it. I mean with a list of ingredients like the one above, how can you go wrong?)

The party guests made quick work of this dish, and I was glad I had made so much. The leftovers for dinner the next night were even better!

And, if I get invited to a Labor Day celebration, I do plan to make these beans. Just puttin’ it out there…

P.s. Quick shout-out to my South Pasadena Mom’s Club peeps who attended “Thinking Outside the Lunchbox” last night! It was so much fun!!!

Hey–It Worked!

Posted on August 22, 2013 by mdespard001

So, OK. I admit it. Even I have those days (like during the first week back to school) when I’m scratching my head going “What the heck are we gonna have to dinner!?”

This is my new couscous dish. It took me 15 minutes to prepare and about five to clean up so there. And it’s nutritious. And my family liked it. Josie was only so-so but the other two asked for seconds. Two ‘outa three ain’t bad!

Michelle’s Couscous Dinner:

Ingredients: 1 16 ounce box of couscous cooked following directions with chicken broth instead of water, 1 bag of peas (steamed) diced leftover chicken.

Directions: cook couscous according to what the box says. I always prefer mine with chicken or veg. stock instead of water but you do what you gotta do. When done mix in peas and chopped up chicken.

What I love about this meal (besides the fact that it’s east-tasty-healthy, that is): It may be the Midwesterner in me but I find it very satisfying to provide a complete meal in one bowl. On these still warm school nights when my kiddos can’t wait to wolf down their dinner so they can run back outside and play, this type of meal is perfecto. Then you do the math: one pot for dinner (OK two if you count the peas) and a bowl for each family member… garlic toast was served on the side so one more plate…

Easy-peasy lemon squeezy, Grasshopper.

If you’re shaking your head and thinking: “Oh yeah? Great. But my kids will never eat that.” I can only shamelessly promote myself so many times on my own blog: contact me and sign up for “Come to the Table” like Karen, Ana, and Cat did for next week…

p.s. a bloggy thanks to Kimber, Anamaria and Lydia for attending “Meal Planning 101” this week. We had so much fun!!! 🙂

After School Snacks

Posted on August 16, 2013 by mdespard001

Yes, you read that title correctly: It is the 16th of August and I’m writing about after school snacks.

Here in Pasadena, CA our school district has decided to start our school calendar so that it coincides with the absolute-most-unbearably-and-ridiculously hot time of the year, also called mid-August.

Apparently the justification for this has something to do with finishing the first trimester at winter break (which, OK, yes, makes sense) but people, if you’re so smart then tell me this: How are we supposed to go to the beach when school is in session? Where are your priorities school board!? Honestly!

But I digress.

I’m teaching three workshops to some super fun (haven’t met them all yet but I just know it’s true) mamas in the next couple of weeks. I AM STOKED! Love chatting/chillin’/coaching/supporting parents with their kitchen and table woes.

Here’s a freebie tip and you didn’t even have to pay me. Isn’t this your lucky day?

A great time for veggies is right after school. In our neck of the woods ’round this time of year it so dang hot that some cool, fresh snacks are soundin’ pretty tasty after a hard day of addition and capitalizing proper nouns. Plus, if your kiddos are anything like mine, they are famished when that final bell rings and would eat a cardboard box if it was their only option.

Luckily, my kids do have an option, and it’s called “steamed broccoli, fresh carrots and tomatoes.”

That’s not what you’re hungry for child’o-mine? Hmmm… get started on that mountain of veggies and then we’ll see what else I might have for you.

What’s that? Your kids still won’t eat vegetables? Your day just got luckier: I offer a workshop called “Come to the Table ” which is focused entirely on how to get the food you want into the people you love–without driving you crazy in the process.

If you want to watch your kids eat stuff like what’s in the photo above, let me know. But that one ain’t a freebie. 😉