Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Family, friends, cozy against the chill outside and wonderful food.  The smells alone make the holiday wonderful.  Here are some links to great websites that will help you with roasting the perfect turkey, great side dishes to make and how to make perfect pie crust.

Ina Garten takes the mystery out of roasting a turkey and her short video shows just how to prepare the turkey for perfect flavor.  Her roast turkeys and whole chickens are moist and tender and really easy to do.  Here is her link:

Ina Garten's perfect roast turkey

Calli Taylor shares great side dish ideas on her Make It Do blog.  The cranberry sauce is full of apple and pear chunks and flavored with orange zest.  It is yummy.  You can also get recipes for rolls, beans, broccoli casserole and much more.  You can find this recipes at this link:

Make It Do - Thanksgiving recipes

I know.  I know.  Pie crust always seems to be a mystery.  Here is a tutorial for pie crust from Orson H. Gygi here in Salt Lake.  It it 53 seconds so you could watch it over and over until you felt comfortable with trying it yourself.  They use butter flavor Crisco, I use plain Crisco.  It is just a flavor preference so either one works in the recipe on this site.

Gygi's - How to make perfect pie crust

Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Gratitude is a constant attitude of thankfulness and appreciation for life as it unfolds. Living in the moment, we are open to the abundance around us and within us.  We express appreciation freely.  We contemplate the richness of our life.  In life's trials, we seek to understand, to accept, to learn.  Gratitude is a continual celebration of life.        -Unknown

Favorite Salad Recipe

If you need the perfect salad recipe then this is it.  It always brings rave reviews and is my husband and children's most asked for recipe.  The ingredients can mostly be prepped the day before so that it only takes a few minutes to put it together to serve it.

Spinach Cheese Salad

1 (10 oz.) bag baby spinach, washed and trimmed

1 small head lettuce, washed and drained

¾ pound mozzarella, Swiss or Monterrey Jack cheese, grated

1 (16 oz.) carton small curd cottage cheese

½ pound bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 recipe Poppy Seed Dressing

Put spinach in a large bowl.  Tear the lettuce into pieces and add to the spinach.  Just before serving add cheese, cottage cheese, bacon and toss with the dressing dressing.  Serves 12.

Poppy Seed Dressing

1 T. poppy seeds

¾ cup vinegar

½ cup sugar

1 ½ T. grated onion

1 ½ t. salt

¾ t. dry mustard

1 ¼ cups vegetable oil

Mix everything in the blender.  Refrigerate unused dressing for future use.  Keeps up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Hint: The salad only uses half to two thirds of the dressing.  To increase servings, add more spinach and use all of the dressing.

Do ahead: Prepare spinach and lettuce.  Shred cheese.  Cook and crumble bacon.  Make dressing.

Frosting - How Easy is That?

Frosting is pretty easy and cheap to make yourself.  It tastes yummy and you can make it whenever you like, color it how you want and use it on cookies, cakes, sweet rolls or whatever.  I will share some of my favorite recipes.

Plain Vanilla Frosting (I usually just make it without measuring but here are measurements that are pretty close)

2-3 T. butter or margarine
4 T. milk
4 cups powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla, if you like

Place butter, milk and 3 c. powdered sugar in a bowl and beat by hand or with a mixer.  Add the remaining powdered sugar until the right consistency.  Add a few drops of milk if it is a little stiff. For the creamiest frosting, substitute cream for the milk.  (You can add 1/4 cup cocoa for a quick chocolate frosting.)

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla

In a saucepan, melt the butter, milk and cocoa over medium heat, stirring.  Remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla. This will frost one 12 x 17-inch baking tray of brownies.

The BEST Butter Cream Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 t. vanilla
1-2 T. cream

In a large bowl, with a mixer, cream together sugar and butter on low speed.  Mix until well blended.  Increase speed to medium and beat for 3 minutes.  Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if desired for spreading/piping consistency.  Scoop into a piping bag and pipe decoratively onto cupcakes, or spread on cupcakes as desired.   Chill cupcakes.  Take out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving.   It will do about 30 cupcakes if you spread it and 15 if you pipe it like in the photo. This recipe is from: recipegirl.com.  She also has a great recipe for chocolate butter cream.  Her White Wedding Cupcakes are the very best cupcakes you can make and this butter cream frosting is the perfect finishing touch.

Maple Glaze
Yummy on  sweet rolls.

3 cups powdered sugar
2 T. melted butter
1/2 t. maple flavor (mapleine)

Stir together and add hot water a little at a time until it is the consistency that you like.  Drizzle or spread over warm sweet rolls. Enough for 24 sweet rolls.  This is from Ann Romney's cookbook, The Romney Family Table.