tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

It turned out pretty well – cooked a lot faster than normal turkeys, had a lot less fat (boo!) but also a lot more nutrients. The skin was divine. The brining did infuse a ton of flavor, and it wasn’t salty at all. It was juicy, but I’m not convinced that was due to the brine. I think using the pan of water in the oven helped more. I should try using a can of Guinness or Boddington’s for beer butt turkey….hmmm….

I still don’t really see what the big deal about a turkey is – I guess you need more than two people for dinner to appreciate it! I think next year I’ll do two cornish hens.

We bought a farm raised, pastured turkey for Thanksgiving, which we’ll be picking up this afternoon. The big decision now is how to cook it so it doesn’t end up dried out, like so many turkeys do.

Now, I’ve made a turkey breast before, and it wasn’t dry, because I put a pan of boiling water in the oven underneath it and all that steam kept it moist. I figured I’d do the same thing with this turkey. But I keep hearing about how wonderful brining is, and how it transforms turkeys into a meat of wonderment. And Aaron has always wanted to try brining something.

I’m not one to experiment on a very expensive bird, so I thought I would try brining a chicken to see how it turned out.

I’ve never really had a problem with chicken not being moist enough either, since beer can chicken, my recipe of choice, always ends up being incredibly juicy and delicious. So I’m not sure what more brining could add to the mix.

But, I tried it. I soaked it, I rinsed it, and I roasted it.

And it was good. The flavor from the brine did make its way into the chicken, although it was a little saltier than I would like. I guess soaking it longer might help with that, but I also can’t stand salt in general so it might just have been my oversensitivity. I can’t say that I thought it was as juicy as beer can chicken, so I don’ t know that it was worth all the prep time. I might try brining and beer canning it, and seeing how that goes. But I will need to be really bored to do that.

So I’m still not sure how to cook the turkey. I suppose I will brine it (for a longer time) so the flavors permeate the meat, but I will also use my tried and true water underneath method as insurance.

I decided to try making butter from our raw milk. From one half-gallon container, I was able to separate almost 2 cups of cream off the top. And let me tell you, that cream was delicious! There are so many things I want to make with it. But first up, butter.

All I did was pour the cream in the blender and blitz for about two minutes. It ended up looking like this:

Mmm butter! I poured that mixture into a cheese cloth covered colander, to separate out the buttermilk (which I then froze for later use).

Looks gorgeous, doesn’t it? I rinsed it in cold water, tried to mix in a little salt (but I didn’t get it that thoroughly mixed in, I don’t think. I’ll have to mix it a little more before I use it). Then I squeezed the excess water out using the cheesecloth:

Voila! Butter! I can’t wait to try it out!

I stumbled across what looks to be an amazing recipe for a Mojito Pound Cake with Rum-Flavored Italian Meringue Buttercream. I’m trying to imagine the taste and texture, and it’s almost beyond human capability. How freaking good does that thing look?!

I’m probably going to make it for our next barbecue. The question is, do I make it gluten free so Aaron can eat it? That will alter the flavor slightly…maybe I will have to make one practice cake the day before, gluten-free, just to make sure, you know, that it really is good and I don’t mess it up. Then I can make a flour one for the bbq.

Yeah, that sounds good…

Well, we own a cow.

Or at least part of one.

We’ve just started a cow share in order to get raw milk every week. In Virginia it’s illegal to buy raw (unpasteurized) milk, so to get around that you buy partial ownership of a cow and then you can legally get that cow’s milk. Tricky, right?

We picked up our first gallon today.

Oh. My. God. It is so good. So unbelievably smooth and creamy.

I can only really drink skim milk – 2% and whole milk are just too thick (or something) for me. So I was a little hesitant before I tried it, but my fears were unfounded. It is divine.

Next up, I would like to try making butter, yogurt, and cheese from it too.

Moo.

I may have made a tactical error of epic proportions.

Fall is dancing its way into town, and it’s put me in the mood to do some holiday baking. I have visions of dropping pies off at friends’ houses, sipping apple cider and zipping my jacket up to keep out the chill.

So I was standing in a long checkout line at Giant, and I noticed a magazine. No, not In Touch, although that’s only because I already have the current issue, but a Better Homes and Garden ‘Special Interest Publication’: Holiday Baking.

I started to flip through it and immediately stopped on the Amaretto Chocolate Brownies recipe on page 2.  Oh. My. I knew then that I was going to buy the magazine; even if every other recipe sucked, I was going to spend the $5.99 to get that one recipe.

But then I turned the page.  Pumpkin Custard.

Oh yes, that one too would be mine.

I kept looking.  Two Tone Banana Bread (the other tone is chocolate!). Chocolate Amaretto-Apricot Crunch Pie (the apricot will not be making an appearance). Pumpkin Frangelico Pie. Spiked Eggnog Custard Pie. Raspberry Pie with Chambord. Pumpkin Bread Pudding. Mocha Hazlenut Bread Pudding. Gianduia Mousse Cake.

Shall I go on, or have you had enough?

No? Alrighty then.

Gianduia Cheesecake Brownie. Cappuccino Cheesecake. Very, Very Berry Cheesecake. Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake. Caramel-Toffee Cheesecake. Peanut Butter Tart. Apple Tart with Cheddar Cheese Crust. Bittersweet Truffle Tart with Whipped Almond Marscapone. Chocolate Caramel Bars.

I AM NOT DONE YET!

Butterscotch Marble Cake. Cream Cheese Marbled Brownies. Marbled Gingerbread. Chocolate Eggnog Swirl Pie. Double Decker Pumpkin Bread. Swirled Chocolate and Peanut Butter Souffle. Giant Ginger Cookies. Toffee Crackle Cookies. Fat Molasses Cookies.

Has your head exploded yet? Look at all those delicious recipes!! You’re lucky I’m not scanning in the pictures!

Oh yes. Yes, I will be making every.single.one of these recipes.

If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go buy a few cases of butter, several pounds of sugar, and a pile of chocolate that is larger than my body.

See you when the sugar crash fades.

I recently had a physical, and I just got my results back from my cholesterol test. I had been pretty curious to see what the numbers would be, since I’ve been eating low carb since the beginning of the year. I haven’t been uber strict about it, but I’ve cut way back on my carb consumption from what I used to eat.

I had good numbers last year, so is the fact that I feel so much better now just a case of mind over matter, or is there really a health benefit to going low carb? Would the numbers back me up?

And they did! My HDL was 97, and my triglycerides are 67!! My LDL was 107, which apparently is a little high, but the number itself really doesn’t matter, it’s the size of the particles that matter, and they didn’t do an LDL subset (or whatever) to see the breakdown of the size of the LDL particles. Since it’s not even that high, I won’t ask for that test to be done unless it gets much higher next year. But from what I’ve seen from other low carbers, even if the number is high, the number of dense LDL particles is low, which is what you really need to worry about.

The number I’m really shocked about is my triglycerides. Last year, eating tons of carbs, it was 94. The ‘worry’ number is 150 and higher, so I was still in good shape. However, going low carb dropped me to 67! If you stop and think about it, that is amazing. Eating more fat and protein, and very limited carbs…made me less in danger of getting heart disease? Wow!

I think this is important because so many people get so up in arms about how low carb diets are a ‘dangerous fad’, and how fat will cause heart attacks. If I’m above 150, I’m at a much higher risk for heart disease. Eating a lot of fat and really low carbs dropped me even farther away from this danger zone.

Awesome! Bring on the butter!

My last Christmas present finally arrived!!

I’m in Week 4 of Stage 1 of the workout in The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I’m still loving the workouts, and I like having the planned out structure that forces me to improve with each workout. I can tell I’m getting stronger by my weight and rep increases, so I guess it’s working! I was peeking ahead at the Stage 2 workouts and they are a little more daunting. There are more of them per workout, and they are more… involved. At least I get to take a week off for our snowboarding trip before starting that stage!

I still really recommend this book if you are looking to shake up your workouts.

We’re still eating low carb and I think the added protein is helping with my workouts as well. I feel strong and energized.  I feel like if I was suddenly transported into a MacGyver episode, I would be able to outrun the bad guys and make a bomb out of a paperclip, and not even break a sweat. You know that knock out punch he gives because he hates guns? Yeah, I feel like I could own someone with that too. POW!

I hosted a book exchange this weekend – really just an excuse to get together with some friends, give away some books, drink wine, and knit.

There was knitting:

There was talking:

There was cake for Molly’s birthday:

There was even roses:

Some people think we look like sisters: