From the archives.  My go-to giblet gravy.  sure to please a table of twenty or a table of two.  don’t waste those giblets!

Giblet gravy is one of the staples on my holiday table, and has been since my grandmother introduced me to it as a child. At the time this brown gravy was something different, even a bit exotic for a child who was raised on southern gravy. For me this succulent new flavor sensation became one of the things I looked forward to most at the holidays, which was the only time I’d ever had it.

Over the years I tried many times to perfect my grandmother’s recipe for this gravy without success. I suppose I’ll never get hers right, but this version has become my favorite, and is adapted from a recipe I got from a Safeway Select Magazine.

I’ve never looked back. It’s just that good.

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If you’re like most of us the holiday dinner has passed and now you’re looking for a few creative ways to use up all that leftover turkey.  While there is absolutely noting wrong with turkey sandwiches, I know that there are a lot of people who tire of them quickly or just want to find something a little more creative to do with what’s left of a once regal bird. If you’re one of those people, this might just fit the bill.

Before any true curry fanatics out there step up to inform me that this isn’t a traditional curry.  Don’t bother.  I already know.  This dish was cobbled together with what I had on hand at the moment and geared towards introducing my kids to flavors they have never experienced before.  I used potatoes instead of rice because my middle son runs screaming at the mention of long grained anything, let alone basmati or jasmine rice.  This is just a big heapin’ pot o’ love, and may actually have made it ot my comfort foods list.

In the end I suppose this could be treated like a soup or a stew.  The liquid is fairly mild the first day (but gets pretty ambitious by day 2), and can easily be eaten with a spoon if you desire, or skip the potatoes and serve the curry with rice to soak all the wonderful flavors up while you’re eating it.  In any event it came out wonderfully and was enjoyed by all but my youngest, who was not only ill that evening, but is finicky to the point of sending this foodie father into fits on some occasions.

He had chicken nuggets.  The rest of us polished off half of this dish in minutes.  I’d call that a raging success!

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We’re pulling this dish out of the archives because it really is the ultimate roast turkey recipe and should not simply be linked to.  It needed to come back into the limelight and take its rightful place at the center of our holiday menu once again.  Enjoy!

Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present to you the king of the American Holiday table, the centerpiece of nearly every family gathering in the United States for the months of November and December, the prince of poultry, the roast turkey. As promised, I’m kicking off the Holidays with a focus on the foods of the season, and there’s simply no better place to start than with with this, the noblest of all domestic foul.

The turkey is either the most awaited or most dreaded addition to a holiday meal. Most awaited if the bird is moist, succulent and juicy, and most maligned when dry, overcooked and in desperate need of a slathering of gravy just to make the remains of the once proud bird palatable. the latter almost never happens to me, and I’m going to give forth the secret of the perfect bird, which I assure you, this was.

There are literally thousands of roast turkey, Christmas turkey and Thanksgiving turkey recipes on the Internet, and the methods for achieving the “perfect” bird vary wildly from one recipe to another. Most call for basting the bird constantly throughout the cooking process. If it makes you happy, I suppose you can go ahead, but you’re not going to end up with the results you were looking for. To make the truly prefect turkey you must keep the mantra of poultry perfection on your lips at all times…

“I will not baste. I will not open the oven door. The turkey is fine.”

Sound silly? I know my mother and grandmother would have thought so. Both women basted their birds religiously, and both made some pretty fine turkeys. Over the years I’ve discovered that basting does not make for a better bird. Patience does.

One caveat. If you’ve bought yourself a butterball turkey, this method will not work for you. The skin of a butterball turkey has been pierced, and therefore basting is necessary. For any other poultry in the world, it is NOT, and should not be done. The second part of the mantra is this…

“I will not stuff the turkey…”

Stuffing the bird increases cooking times drastically while robbing you of the perfect opportunity to add flavor to the bird. I adore turkey flavored dressing but if you’ve got a good bird you should have more than enough turkey drippings to make not only a wonderful dressing, but a good amount of gravy as well. (But I digress, those are different entries.)

This method is simplicity in itself, a rub, a trip into the oven and one action that you need to take in the middle, a little patience at the end and viola! You’ll thank me for this, I promise.

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Brussels sprouts.  As a kid the mere mention of the things would have sent me running to my room in fear, yet here I am sharing a recipe for them at the request of my kids, who absolutely adore them.  It’s a strange turn of events to be sure.

It’s strange the things I adore today that I never would have touched as a child.  I’m not sure if it was the lack of fresh ingredients in our diet for most of the year, or if my tastes have just changed that much.  I know that most of the vegetables we ate for may years were canned, that probably didn’t help.

In any event, these sprouts do not disappoint.  They have my Son’s seal of approval and I have to admit that I’ve eaten two plates of them in the last two days.  They truly are tasty. As a matter-of-fact, I think I’m going to add them to my permanent Thanksgiving lineup in one form or another.  That way I know my kids will eat at least one green vegetable at the family table…

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When we invited our friends over for Christmas this year, I only asked for one thing.  I asked for the apple pie pictured above and the recipe that went with it.  The fact that the pie dish pictured was also given to us was a bonus (and a very nice one, thanks guys!) but the real gift is a pie that I will gladly make and share with friends and family for the rest of my life.

I know I say this all the time, but the simple things in life are usually the best.  This hods true with food as well.  Overcomplicating a recipe usually does little to enhance the flavors of the food, it just adds extra steps that are not necessary. (There are, of course, times when this rule does not hold true, but this is not one of those cases.)

This has to be just about the simplest recipe for a German apple pie I have ever seen.  There’s no fuss, nothing picky or finicky, just a good-solid recipe that tastes far better than you would expect for the ingredients used.  In my opinion this is true perfection.

I know that statement may ruffle a few feathers.  Everyone has their own favorite apple pie recipe.  Of those, I’m sure that 99% would be a pie that I would enjoy as well.  But for me, Brie’s German Apple Pie is quite simply the pie I will crave whenever I think of apple pie in the future.  I’ve been spoiled, but I’m not complaining.

The recipe as given to m is only for the pie filling.  I’m not sure if she made her own crust or if she used a prepared crust, so I’ll leave that decision up to you.  If you’re bent on making your own pie crust, the best recipe I’ve ever seen for one is here. I am not a baker by nature, so if my wife wants to make a crust from scratch, great!  If not, I’ll use what I can get.  With this filling adorning it, it could be shoe leather, I really wouldn’t care.

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This year is not only our last year at Sheppard Air Force Base, but very likely the last year for the BMET Christmas party as we have known it.  (For those of you not familiar with the acronym, BMET stands for BioMedical Equipment Technician, and it’s what my wife does for a living when she’s not instructing or writing.) Knowing that it could be the last of these get-togethers was the only reason we needed to attend and I’m glad we did.

My wife was lovely (as usual) in a little black patterned A-Line cocktail number and a set of killer stilettos.  Myself… well, I’m not as pretty as she is.  I also have an aversion to formal attire, so I just plopped in in a  set of khaki’s, black oxfords and a hunter green microfiber shirt.

The party started with the usual poorly made production-line barbecue (with sauce!  Gag!).  Dry brisket, destroyed pork and under smoked sausage were the main course.  Sides were a nasty potato salad, horrible beans and an even more disappointing something-or-other I can’t even remember.  I shouldn’t be surprised that I was not impressed.  I’m particular in my BBQ and these people apparently don’t believe in smoke.

The rest of the evening was dancing to some pretty random club music and a raffle (which we were not fortunate enough to win.) There was much drinking and carousing and several fools were made, but I won’t highlight that here.  In the end, it was a good evening with good friends and people we may never see again.  We made the most of it.

We sat with our friends Erick and Brie and even though I said I wouldn’t be caught incriminating myself, I couldn’t pass up a chance at a group hug with our newest friends. (I told you I’m not as pretty as my wife is! And yes, that’s Erick holding his wife, not me, LOL!)

In all it will be a party I remember.  Not so much for what was scheduled to happen, but for some of the more spontaneous moments that occured along the way.  It’s a good way to say goodbye to the place we’ve called home since 2005.  I can’t say I’ll miss the base, but I will always miss our friends.

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Have you ever wondered what to do with a leftover ham, especially through the Holidays?  If you’re like us and prefer to have ham on the table for Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as a turkey or roast beef (Or whatever your tradition happens to be), then this quick little throw together might be just what you’ve been looking for as a way to get a bit of new life out of some of your leftover holiday feast.

Almost everyone has a few boxes of mac-n-cheese stuffed somewhere in their pantries.  You may not use it regularly, but I’m sure its in there somewhere.  This recipe calls for two standard sized boxes, but hey, I’m not going to say you can’t make your own Mac and Cheese and make this up either.  It would surely be better, but I always have the boxed stuff, because my son doesn’t prefer homemade yet.

So with a few boxes of noodles, a bit of cheese leftover from an Antipasto platter that I made, a bag of frozen broccoli and a bit of this and that, you can have a beautiful comfort food meal on the table and go through some of those leftovers in the process.  Not a bad deal, is it?

And did I mention that this is freaking wonderful?  It really is.  We actually ate the leftovers of the leftover solution for lunch the next day…  Yup.  It’s that good.

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Day two of the Twelve days of Cookies finds this home paying homage to the Pecan.  (Honestly, you can’t be a Texan if you aren’t making something with pecans.) The cookie of the day?  The Pecan Tassie, from the era of big hair, heavy metal, Depeche Mode and Cindy Lauper.  Gourmet Magazine’s top cookie pick for 1985, and with good reason!

Gourmet stated that these little gems reminded them of pecan pie.  I don’t get that when I taste them, but what I do get is a mouthful of wonderful.  The texture and flavor of these cookies is a bit surprising.  The dough is a bit cake-like, but the topping is very crunchy.  The contrast between the two is wonderful.

The downside?  These cookies don’t hit their stride until they’ve had a chance to sit overnight and cool completely.  I tried them last night when still warm and honestly, I didn’t like them much.  But this morning… Ah, I’m singing a different tune altogether now..  How bout “Just can’t Get Enough” by Depeche Mode.  It’s fitting for the time, and I like the song!

So, my thoughts on these…  A definite thumbs up for us. We’ll be making these again, I guarantee it.

Now go make some.  Do it now so that you can enjoy them with your coffee in the morning!  Resist the urge to try them warm!  They’re soooo much better the next day it’s just unbeleivable.  Trust me on this.

And don’t forget to check out the other members of our crazy little group.  We’re all making the twelve cookies we thought we’d like most, so you can be sure that there are other great recipes out there for your cookie indulgence.  The list is at the bottom of the post!

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It’s Christmas time again, and what would the season be without mountains of cookies?  The weather here in North Texas has finally begun to show the season, with temperatures in the 40′s and of course, gusty winds that make it feel like the 30′s, so the weather is perfect for baking, so when I was asked if I wanted to get together with a few fellow food bloggers and try out 12 recipes from Gourmet Magazine’s list of all time favorite cookies, I jumped at the chance!

I don’t know about you, but when I think of Christmas cookies I think of gingerbread men. They just scream Christmas cookie, so for the first of my 12 batches, these little guys were the obvious choice.  I’m glad I chose them, too.  This is by far the best gingerbread recipe I think I’ve ever come across.  Which is as it should be.  They really knew their gingerbread in 1959, though the way recipes are written has (very thankfully!) changed a lot.

I’m not alone in making 12 different cookie recipes this month. Joining me in the fray for the 12 days of cookies are a list of very talented bloggers and cooks in their own right.  So please take the time to visit my partners in crime for this event. (Once you’ve read and printed out this recipe, of course!)  I have no idea what they’ve chosen to make today, so don’t be surprised if several of us have the same recipe posted.

The insane bunch that decided to taste test Gourmet’s top picks:

• Kelly of Sass & Veracity
• Ben of What’s Cooking
• Judy of No Fear Entertaining
• Claire of the Barefoot Kitchen
• Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench
• Courtney of CoCo Cooks
• And Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes, who first thought of inviting us in on this little blog party.

I’ve got to say, these are the best example of a perfect gingerbread I’ve ever had, but the dough is a little difficult to work with.  Instead of rolling them out and then moving them to a cookie sheet, we ended up rolling the dough out directly on a half sheet pan with a smooth sided glass and simply pulling the excess away from the cut shapes, thus preventing gingerbread men with serious and crippling deformities.  The dough is rather like glue as well, so copious amounts of butter flavored cooking spray should be employed wherever possible.

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For the first time in 40 years, I’ve strung the entire front of a house with Christmas lights. it was a bit of work, yes, but I’m just loving the heck out of it! We’re going nuts decorating this year, since it’s the first time we really get to do so since we’ve been married. Lights are up, tomorrow the 7 foot tree in my yard gets decorated, as does the flowerbed fence, with garland, ribbon and its own lights.

As for the inside of the house, a massive 7.5 x 5′ tree goes up, all 400 lights aglow.  Ornaments, wall hangings and the christmas music won’t stop playing until December 25th.  There will eb cookis, candies, cakes and lots of turkey leftovers!

I Friggin’ Love Christmas!

What about you?  Are you feelin’ the spirit yet, or still scroogin’ it up after Turkey day?

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