Kitty Cat Tuesday

Having a day off work means catching up on all the things that I meant to do, like blogging, cooking and folding laundry.

Here's a little video of Nutmeg helping Mike fold the duvet cover. We seem to never get anything done quickly, but we sure have fun doing it!

Crustless Turkey Pot Pie with Cranberry Sauce

I love turkey dinner, but since it's just the two of us, a whole turkey is far too much. Instead of cooking an entire turkey and all the trimmings, I make a turkey pot pie that works just as well! It's like having a turkey dinner, but in one casserole dish.

For the turkey pot pie:

INGREDIENTS

2 cups cooked turkey meat, cubed

1 cup mixed frozen vegetables

1 can creamy soup (chicken, mushroom, celery, or whatever soup you like most)

1 loaf French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 pkg (500g) sausage meat

2 cups cold mashed potatoes

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 large onion, chopped

STEPS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a casserole dish, mix the turkey, vegetables and soup together and spread evenly.
• In a very large bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together very well with your hands.
• Spread the bread mixture evenly on top of turkey mixture and bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes. You may need to place foil on top in the last 15 minutes to keep the top from burning.
• You may have extra left, so you can put that into another dish and cook it next to the turkey pie.
• Serve the turkey pie with cranberry sauce.

For the cranberry sauce:

INGREDIENTS

1 bag frozen cranberries

1 pear, diced

2 tablespoons raisins

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp cinnamon

STEPS

• Put all ingredients into a 2-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the cranberries begin to pop. Then lower the heat and simmer another 5-10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool. Serve over turkey pie.
• Keep leftover sauce refrigerated.

Roasted Potatoes

Potatoes make a great side dish for almost any meal and can be prepared in many different ways. One of the easiest ways to prepare potatoes is to roast them and it's even more convenient if you're already going to be roasting something else in the oven like roast beef or a chicken.

Roasted Potatoes

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

3 medium-sized potatoes, chopped into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon chopped dried rosemary

1/8 teaspoon ground or chopped dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon savory

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

STEPS

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Spread the potatoes onto a baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the potatoes and sprinkle the herbs on top of the potatoes.
• Stir the potatoes around to coat them in the oil and herbs, then spread them evenly on the pan in a single layer.
• Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then flip the potatoes and bake for another 15 minutes or until the outside is crisp and lightly brown, but the inside is fork-tender.

Granola Bars

Granola bars are great for breakfast or a snack in the middle of the day. They can give you a burst of energy, but those store-bought granola bars are packed with sugar and all kinds of ingredients that I can't pronounce. So here's my recipe for homemade granola bars.

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups crisp rice cereal (like Rice Krispies)
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (use anything you like: raisins, dates, apricots, crystallized ginger, pineapple, etc.)
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use smooth, but you can use crunchy)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

STEPS

• Lightly grease an 8"x11" or 9"x13" casserole dish with butter and set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the cereal, oats and fruit.

• Pour honey, corn syrup and brown sugar into a small saucepan and heat over medium low heat until the mixture just starts to bubble. Stir occasionally.

• Once the sugar mixture has started to bubble, remove it from the heat and add the peanut butter. Stir until the peanut butter is well mixed, then add the vanilla.

 

• Pour the peanut butter mixture over the cereal mixture and stir to combine everything. Then pour into the greased casserole dish and even it out by pressing firmly on top.

 

• Allow to cool completely, then cut into bars and serve.
  

The Omnivore's Hundred

Taken from Very Good Taste - the items in bold are what I have tried. Those with an X in front of it are the ones I would never consider eating.

I encourage you to go through the list and see how many things you've tried!

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
X6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (apple and pear. Can't say I enjoyed either one!)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
X23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
X25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (without the cigar)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
X42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
X50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
X62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
X66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
X68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
X70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
X75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
X78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
X89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
X99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
X100. Snake

How to Cut an Avocado

Avocados are delicious and contain lots of potassium and monounsaturated fats which protect against cardiovascular disease. They're good sliced up and sprinkled with a little bit of salt or made into a guacamole or any other kind of dip, but how do you cut one up and remove the seed? Read on to find out!

With a sharp knife, carefully cut into the top of the avocado, right to the seed.

Then run the knife all the way around the seed, cutting the avocado in half.

Once the avocado is cut in half you will see the large seed.

Very carefully, gently tap the knife (it's easiest and safest if you use the heel of the knife) into the seed.

Once the knife is in the seed, twist it and the seed should pop right out!

Now you're all set to cut up and peel the avocado or scoop out the flesh to use in your favorite recipes!

Layered Dip

I had to make something for a potluck lunch, so I thought about what I could make relatively easily without making the entire house smell like food. I came up with 7-layer dip, but this one is actually eight layers. I would've made my own refried beans, but that would have made the house smell like cooked beans and that's just not what you want people to smell when they walk into a house wondering if it's the right house for them to buy or not. So, unfortunately, I had to use canned refried beans.

Here's what you'll need for this recipe:

INGREDIENTS

1 can refried beans

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon salsa (I use 1/2 cup habanero salsa and 1/4 cup medium salsa)

2/3 cup sour cream

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 medium tomato, diced

1/4 cup chopped hot pepper rings

2 ripe avocados

2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

1 cup shredded cheese

STEPS

• Empty the beans into a nice, clear glass dish. (Yes, I know, mine isn't pretty but it's all that I had at the time.) Stir in 1 tablespoon of the salsa to add a bit more flavor to the beans. Level it out in the bowl and wipe the sides clean. Then spoon the remaining 3/4 cup of salsa evenly on top of the beans.
• Cover the salsa layer with the sour cream. Then sprinkle the sour cream with the green onions, then the hot peppers, and finally the tomatoes.
  

• Peel the avocados and place the flesh into another bowl. Pour the lime juice over it and mash it all together with a fork. The lime juice will help keep the avocados from turning brown. Once the avocados are mashed and the lime juice is mixed in, cover the tomatoes with the avocado. Then sprinkle the top with grated cheese.
  

• Serve with corn chips. Our favorite is Tostitos Scoops!