Here are step-by-step instructions on how to prepare the Holiday turkey so that your family and guests think you are a Foodie Star. This was the first time I had ever cooked a holiday meal for my family ~ it was loads of fun and yes they Oohed and Aahed over my turkey!!
Every year my Nona makes the cranberry sauce for the Holidays. This year though, we won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving together. So I called her up and asked her for her cranberry recipe. She didn’t want to give it to me. It was a secret. Seriously. I had to ask her for over five minutes to tell me. She told me the recipe was handed down to her by her mother-in-law almost 50 years ago and if I was going to post it on that thing called the Internet I better give her credit. Yes, she is quite the character!!
What a gorgeous woman inside and out – Lola Trimmer
This is my Nona, Lola Trimmer’s Top Secret Cranberry Sauce Recipe… please don’t tell anybody! Shhhhh
Ingredients:
Don’t the grapes look so pretty!
Boil the water in a saucepan and then dissolve the sugar and Jell-O in it. Use the final container (my Nona says you should use the pretty one!) that will hold your cranberry sauce. To grind the cranberries, put them in the food processor and pulse them until they chopped up, but not pureed. Add the grinded cranberries, and the quartered grapes to it and mix well. Pour the Jell-O water mixture over the top of the cranberry mixture and stir well. Saran wrap the container and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours.
Drain the oranges and pat dry. Once the cranberry sauce is firm, place the oranges on the top in a creative pattern – she suggested a smiley face 
I am going to add fresh raspberries to mine. This recipe is super simple, but oh so delicious.
The cranberries in this pic still need to be decorated – trying to decide on what I want to do. Decisions, decisions.
Did you read Brine That Turkey! for my favorite brining recipe? You should! Brining helps make your bird moist and delicious. After you rinsed the turkey off and patted it dry, you are ready to make your guests Ooh and Ahh over your Thanksgiving Turkey.
Ingredients:
To make the basting mixture: In a sauce pan, melt 1 stick of butter. Then add in half of the bottle of wine, 1 tsp crushed garlic, 1.5 tsp onion powder. Mix over low heat until combined.
With the breast side up, bend the wing tips underneath the bird. If you are stuffing the bird with homemade stuffing do so now. If not, insert these ingredients into the cavity: Apple, half an onion, 1 garlic clove, a carrot, and celery stalk. On the bottom of the roasting pan, place the remaining carrots, celery, parsnips, turnips, onions, and garlic cloves. Rest the wire rack on top of the vegetables.
Flip the bird over and tie the legs with cotton twine to the tail. Make sure it is tight, but tie with a bow tie so it is easy to release later. Place the turkey on the wire rack inside the roaster.
Rub soft butter on the skin all over the turkey. Even rub the butter underneath the skin on the turkey breast. Affix the neck skin to the breast using a toothpick. Fold the cheesecloth so that it will fit over the turkey. Don’t cut it – use all of it. Dip the cheesecloth into the butter wine basting mixture then lay it on top of the turkey, breast side up.
Flip the bird so that the breast is facing down in the roaster.
Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, then turn your oven down to 350 degrees for the remainder the of time. Baste every 30 min or at least once an hour. Halfway through the cooking time, turn the turkey over so it is breast side up. At this time, you will want to melt another stick of butter and add the remaining wine. Bake the turkey until it has an internal temperature of 180 degrees. During the last hour, you might have to put aluminum foil over the legs so they do not burn.
Yes. You need to brine your turkey before you put that bird into the oven. You do not want a dry, bland tasting meal – you want people to ooh and ahh over how moist and full of flavor the meat is. Here is my tried and true brining mixture. What exactly is bringing you may ask? The process of brining or soaking meat in a solution of water and salt, before cooking. Yes – it really is that simple. As it soaks, the meat absorbs the brine, then retains it during cooking.
Don’t forget to make sure your turkey is defrosted (remember it can take up to two days to defrost!) before you begin.
| Cold Water | Salt | Time | |
| Turkey 12-17 lbs | 2 gallons | 1 cups table salt or 1.5 cups Kosher salt |
6-12 hours |
| Turkey 18-24 lbs | 3 gallons | 1.5 cups table salt or 2.25 cups Kosher salt |
6-12 hours |
*Important to remember, cup for cup, table salt is stronger than Kosher salt. If you use Kosher salt in a brine, multiply the amount of salt called for by 1.5 times.
Mix these additional ingredients together until they are fully dissolved into the water:
Heat one gallon of water, pour in all of the ingredients including the salt, and stir thoroughly until the ingredients are completely dissolved. Refrigerate until the brine is cold. In the largest stock pot that you have or 5 gal pail, fill it with the brine mixture water. Put your turkey into your pot gently and add the rest of the water. Ensure that the breast it is fully submerged. The entire bird must be submerged for the full brining period. Refrigerate the bird for the recommended time.
Once the turkey has brined overnight, remove it from the brine, rinse it off, and pat it dry. You are now ready to prep your turkey for the oven. Need help getting it into the oven and onto the table? Ooh and Ahh Turkey
I woke up in a very pissy mood. The details are definitely worthy of a post all to themselves. Let’s just say that I didn’t sleep well, which was irritating, and that I was up at 6:00. My natural internal alarm is at 7:00 am and anything earlier than that… well, it’s a good thing I live alone.
If you didn’t read last night’s post, Weight Perspective, you might want to first. Now Weight A Minute was written over the summer and was the first time I actually tried to explore where my weight issues might stem from. Now back to today…
I made it to my gym at Trillium Apts, put on a fake smile and met with my new trainer Ivorie Weatherspoon from Ultimate Fitness Solutions. We were waiting for the other person who was also going to work out with us. Ivorie asked if there was anything I hated to do. That’s easy – running and abs. His look was priceless – he said, ‘but every time I see you, you are running on the treadmill.’ Yeah well, sometimes in life you have to do what you hate to do to in order to get where you want to be. As I reflect on that statement, that is huge! I do this ALL THE TIME. I constantly do things I don’t want to do in order to find that silver lining to life.
We started on the treadmill and did interval training. I was keeping up for the first 15 minutes. Then when we did an incline of 10.0 and had to run, (ok by other people’s standards, this might be considered jogging) at 4.5. Now, normally I can run 5.5-6.0 depending on how I am feeling – but not at a 10.0 incline. Was this kid taking lessons from Jillian Michaels? Now I have to give him credit, he wasn’t yelling at me or making me feel like a loser because I was gasping for each precious breath, he was actually quite supportive. Good. In the mood I was in, I probably would have either broke down in tears or yelled back. Neither of those would have ended pretty.
It was a pretty good workout. We did lots of lunges and squats – which is great because I have a big ass that needs to be toned. Then we did crunches. Did he not hear me when I said I hated ab workouts? Uh huh. So 60 crunches later, and some other excruciating ab exercise that I can’t remember the name of, we were done. Not too bad for the first day. I actually heard myself asking if I can see him again tomorrow. I know. I am certifiably insane.
He asked me what my fitness goals were. I told him I wanted to lose 70 pounds. His look was priceless. What?!? Ok, I am going to say it. Can’t believe I am going to admit it out loud. I might need a drink after this. But I weighed in this morning at 201.2. The trainer was stunned – bless his heart – he thought I looked 150, 160 at best. I could have kissed him, but I refrained. I told him that I have seen many trainers, nutritionists, and doctors and I have not been able to get below 180 for years. With my recent divorce, I put on 20 pounds because of the depression.
I don’t have a problem with overeating or binge eating. I normally don’t ever eat over 1,500 calories a day. That even includes my wine calories. Ok, maybe not when I drink the entire bottle, but stop judging.
I am going back to FatSecret to chart my progress and keep a daily record for my own sanity. I invite any of you out there to join me on FatSecret – you can enter your food, menus, and workouts. Plus it has a great app for smartphones and a place for friends to help and encourage each other.
It’s Monday morning. I have admitted my weight online for everyone to judge. I’m still in a pissy mood. Some moments I have to fight back the tears so I can just work. (Again, that’s for another post or possibly a book). Welcome to my life. It’s not always peachy. I am not always happy. I am far from perfect. I say the wrong thing the majority of the time. But I am me. Love me or hate me, but just accept me for who I am.
I met with a good friend recently and was shocked to see that she had dropped over a 100 pounds in the last year, and almost 50 since the last time I had seen her. She looked amazing, her self-confidence was shining through, and you could see the fire in her eyes as she talked about her new perspective on life. I was so happy for her! She told me that she was the smallest she has ever been in her adult life. When she told me her weight, I almost died inside. She was unbelievably happy and I was unbelievably sad. Her smallest weight is exactly where I am at now – at my heaviest.
It took me a second for that weight perspective to really sink in. How can two people be the exact same weight, one deliriously happy and the other not so much? When I wrote Now Weight A Minute, I was on a mission to lose weight and to find myself again. I tried. Then I didn’t. Then I tried again. Then I let life get in the way. So now 10 pounds heavier than when I wrote that post, I sit here on a Sunday night and wonder what is wrong with me that I can’t stick to a health plan? I don’t want a diet, I want a way of life that is part of my everyday existence.
For awhile there, I was going out to a lot of happy hours and on a few dates. So I didn’t want to work out at night or in the early afternoon because then I would have to get ready all over again. It is hard for me to wake up super early because then I am sluggish all day and need a midday nap. I found that I tended to work out Thursday through Sunday, but more often than not, it was just yoga on Sunday mornings. And yes, I realize that there are some excuses mixed in there.
I typically try to eat healthy, but I have a hard time when I eat out at places. Because come on – someone has pancetta mashed potatoes on the menu and I want that, not the side of steamed vegetables. I have absolutely no will power. None. Zilch.
Recently, I pulled 7 ribs in my back and that made me want to work out as much as I like going to the dentist. I was at the gym at my apt this past Thursday and there was a Personal Trainer that was working out his clients there. My apt complex pays the majority of his fee, and the residents only have to pay $10/hour. Wow! When he mentioned that he had only seen me there twice in the last month, he wondered if I was working out at a different time. Hmmm, someone was paying attention to when I made it to the gym? Do I lie and say I must just miss him each time? I didn’t – told him about my back issues and then – to my surprise – I asked him if he has any openings this upcoming week. I am seeing him at 6:30 am tomorrow!! I have a feeling he is going to kick my ass. Big time. Looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time.
I ran out of whey powder for my protein shakes, so a friend of mine gave me some Zrii powder to try. We shall see. My typical protein shake looks like this:
2 scoops protein powder
1 scoop fiber
1 tsp flax seeds, crushed
1 cup cranberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup cranberry or apple juice
1 banana (occasionally)
Good? Bad? I don’t have a juicer or anything fancy, just my handy-dandy KitchenAid blender. Debating about getting a juicer though, won’t lie.
Another thing about the weight perspective comes from being newly single. When people see an online picture of me or remember me from way back then, they have a preconceived notion that I am thinner than I really am. I like to call myself curvy. But I will tell you, I am extremely self-conscious meeting old friends for the first time again. I know a lot of people say the right man won’t care, but seriously? I don’t want that added stress of someone looking at me and not being attracted to me. This picture of me was shot a few months ago and to be honest, I had a lot of people, especially men comment on it. I will admit, I think I look great in it. Thank goodness for cropping!! But then I wonder – does someone want to date the real me or do they just like the girl they think is in this picture?
I was told recently that the most successful people to release the weight did so by journaling about it. So I am going to try that. Again. What I am also going to try is not to lie about it. To admit my struggles, my failures, and my successes. So here’s to trying again. Day 1 starts tomorrow. I’m ready for it.
As I rolled into Las Vegas, I saw the city where I spent many years getting into trouble and building some lasting friendships. Las Vegas is one of those towns that I call home, yet I had never been here for a conference or to work, usually to see family and do a little gambling. Not this trip. I drove over to the Rio to check into my room and will honestly say I had a little problem at check-in. You see, I no longer use nor carry a credit card, but have a debit card. I know that this is an issue at hotels, so I had researched that at the Rio as long as you could put down a $200 cash deposit that there wouldn’t be a problem. I know that the front desk clerk was adhering to rules and regulations outside of his control, but I have to say making your guests not feel like losers because they don’t possess a credit card will go a long way. There were other issues with check-in, but the overall feeling I left there with was that I wasn’t valued nor wanted as a guest. This could have been my own insecurities, but it was hard to shake. Yes I tweeted about it.
After I freshened up I made my way over to the Luxor party hosted by Social Rewards, where I was to meet @nickelnm to pick up my tickets for BlogWorld. While searching for her using her little Twitter icon as a guide, I met @rubenorozco with @tweetfind and @mayhemstudios. I ended up seeing @Rubenorozco all over BlogWorld – he was even my Battery Savior for my Droid X – he should get a cape! Decided though instead of partying until dawn, that I needed a good night’s rest, and bid everyone a good night.
I woke up on the first day of BlogWorld like a giddy school girl. The thought crossed my mind that I needed to stop and pick up a bag of apples for my teachers… I didn’t, no worries! Remember that scared crazy feeling of the first day of high school when you didn’t know if you would fit in or if you would stick your foot into your mouth – yep, all those feelings of insecurities were running through my veins. I walked into the Mandalay Bay and took a deep breath as I prepared myself to let go off all I thought I knew about Social Media and open my mind to all different ideas and perspectives.
First up was Scott Stratten aka @unmarketing with his killer keynote Stand Up, Stand Out, Stand Together. His word for the day – Awesome! People Spread Awesome. Learn it, love it, live it. One of the key things he said, that I hadn’t really thought of was It is not our job to tell people how to consume our content. Know your audience and give them the tools they want. What he was referring to is realize that every visitor to your site knows might not know what an RSS feed is, so give them the option to opt in to updates through email. Make sure your website is easy to navigate for the novice user – don’t make it so difficult that people leave frustrated.
Best key takeaways and real tweets from Scott’s Keynotes:
People don’t spread meh. People spread awesome… Blogging on a schedule makes me stabby. No one recommends blogs that are just ok.
If your product sucks, social media makes it suck more. Social Media amplifies, does not fix bad products.
If you are tweeting while you are standing in front of someone and talking to them… you’re a jackass. << This tweet was retweeted over 500x!! And the statement is oh so true, and yes I am guilty of this.
You’re always marketing. Even when you’re throwing up on the curb in Vegas.
Which is your favorite takeaway? Will you use of these thoughts to change how you do business. I redesigned my entire website because of this, made it more user friendly, easier to navigate, and am no longer all over the place with my content. I want to spread Awesome.
Want to watch his first 8 minutes, from MeFeedia? It is well worth your time, and yes, you can thank me later.
I bought the book UNMarketing and it is changing the way I think about marketing, social media, and how I interact with my clients. Thank you Scott! Pick it up here:
I am a Social Media Specialist and Editor based in Phoenix, AZ. I absolutely love everything about organic gardening, decadent food, and my all time love, yummy wine. ~ Read More  |
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Welcome to my lifestyle blog! I'm single with a passion for life and love good food and wine while trying to eat healthy. Here is an overview what you will find on my Blog:
