Thanksgiving 2014

Here is Mr. Z carrying home a turkey the guys got for Thanksgiving. Mr. Turkey came from a flock of about forty gobblers which range up and down our valley throughout the year.

The rules say a hunter can harvest two turkeys in the spring and one in the fall, so the rest of the fellows are safe until springtime.

The meat tastes like very turkey-ish turkey. I marinated the breast in zesty Italian dressing and it roasted, immersed in a cup of melted butter and a half cup of olive oil.

Ms. Pearl is following along to ensure that the turkey doesn't come back alive and fly away.

We had a domestic turkey, too, who lived an organically good life on a farm about sixty-five miles away on the Rio Grande. We bought him from Cid's, the mini Whole Foods type grocery store in Taos.

Here is a photo from the Embudo Valley Organics website.

I don't know if this is the one we ate, but isn't he a beauty?

After Thanksgiving, Trudy, and then I, contracted a cold virus and we've been out for the count, resting in bed and hoping this bug doesn't last much longer. Trude had to travel feeling ill and I worried about her the whole time she was flying home.

She had some time to enjoy our Northern New Mexico sunshine, though, before she was zapped by the bug. Trudy's the best Mom-in-Law ever and we were so glad she was able to visit!

M and M came for Thanksgiving, too. Here they are ready to dig in.

Now Trudy is snug at home, Z, M and M are back to work and we are home alone once again. The exciting thing we did today was take the trash to the transfer station. Fun times.

Don't Toss That Turkey Carcass!

It would be a sacrilege to toss the turkey carcass without getting as much as possible from your investment. This year we bought an intensively raised, grass grazed, free range designer turkey, so we really wanted to get our money's worth. That turkey cost as much as the budget for a small town!

http://www.embudovalleyorganics.com/about/

 After Thanksgiving dinner, we had Friday leftovers: sliced turkey for sandwiches and all the stuffing, rice, mashed potatoes, green beans, roasted butternut squash, beet and arugula salad and gravy we wanted to eat.

But there was still meat left on that turkey carcass. This is a stock photo, but you get the idea.

So I found a cooking show to watch while I dismembered the turkey. I broke the thighs and wings off the bird, picked the bones clean, flipped it over and over, scouring that lovely bird for all it would offer.

There was much more dark than light meat, and I used quart freezer bags to save 2 cup servings of all my pickin's.

 Into small snack bags went skin and other yucky stuff (no bones) to add to Ms. Pearl's dinner: not so much that she has a digestive upset, just a little yum to add to her senior dog food.

Here's what I got:

But we weren't done. The carcass, complete with the stuff I had used in the turkey's cavity for Thanksgiving roasting, apples, onions, tangerines and rosemary sprigs, went into the stock pot for a leisurely slow boil lasting about an hour and a half. Since I had brined the turkey, I didn't add any salt.  After I removed the carcass from the broth, I strained it and picked more meat from the rescued bones.

From the stock, daughter M made some Turkey Barley Soup. She added extra mushrooms and because we ran out of celery and are not near a store, sliced some chard ribs into the soup and added some celery seed. The leftover white meat and some of the dark meat I had gleaned after the simmer went into the soup toward the end of the cooking time.

The rest of the meat is in the freezer now, waiting for its reappearance. 

For your inspiration, here are a few recipes that use either leftover turkey or cooked chicken. Cooked turkey and chicken are interchangeable at our place.

Stacked Turkey Enchiladas 

Chicken Spaghetti

White Chicken Posole (Skip browning the chicken and add your turkey toward the end of the cooking time)

King Ranch Chicken

Easy Turkey Rice Casserole

Lemon Pesto Turkey Pasta

Enjoy!

Apple Pie Two Ways

If you are like me, you've had Thanksgiving swimming in the back of your head for several weeks now, but haven't done much about it.

My mind churns over what sides to have with the turkey, what can I do differently, and what should stay the same because we just can't have Thanksgiving without (insert your favorite family dish here.)

Some of my friends have the whole event planned and foodstuffs have been prepared and frozen for the past couple weeks. I salute you and want to be you when I grow up! Is the dining table already set with a sheet over it to keep everything pristine? Well, here the dining table has three pairs of binoculars on it along with some books and a couple magazines.

But really, Thanksgiving is moving front and center today and I will take the 50 mile Taos drive to Cid's Food Store for an Embudo turkey and other freshies I don't have hanging out in the pantry or in the freezer.

What's an Embudo turkey? It's a turkey raised in Embudo, New Mexico, pasture raised in probably the best way a turkey grown for food can live. Here's a photo of Embudo turkeys in their pens, moved over to fresh organic pasture daily.

They are pricey, but it's just once a year or so, and the turkey is delish! And I can support a local small farmer at the same time.

Really, though, this post was about apple pie, so let's get to it.

The slice of apple pie at the top of the post was from a recipe I found here and it is unique because it isn't as gooey as most apple pie recipes. You cook the apples and then drain them well before piling the slices into the pie crust. I didn't use the pastry recipe, even though it looks good, because there were refrigerated crusts in the fridge and slothful laziness won out.

There is another apple pie recipe on our blog here, the famous Pietown New Mexico Apple Pie. There is a little kick to this pie because it has a secret ingredient: green chiles and also a little surprise crunch with the addition of pinon nuts. I love this pie and it will probably be served for dessert (among other goodies) after Thanksgiving dinner.

It's been a busy time, with making quilts and teaching quilting classes, but sometimes you just have to focus. (That's me giving myself a pep talk!)