Thanksgiving Essentials

Roast Turkey with Cranberry Orange Glaze

Ingredients

3/4 cup orange marmalade

3/4 cup frozen cranberry juice concentrate, thawed

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (14 pound) Butterball® Frozen Whole Turkey , thawed

No-stick cooking spray

Directions

•         Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine marmalade, cranberry juice concentrate, maple syrup, vinegar and salt in small heavy saucepan. Bring to boil on medium heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low. Cook, uncovered, stirring frequently 12 to 15 minutes, or until glaze is reduced to about one cup.
•          Remove neck and giblets from body and neck cavities of turkey; discard or refrigerate for another use. Drain juices from turkey and pat dry turkey with paper towels. Turn wings back to hold neck skin against back of turkey. 
•      Place turkey, breast side up, on a flat roasting rack in a shallow pan. Brush turkey lightly with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Roast turkey for 2 hours. Cover breast and top of drumsticks loosely with foil to prevent overcooking of breast.
•      Continue roasting turkey for another 45 minutes. Remove foil and brush generously with glaze. Return foil loosely to top of turkey. Cook for another 45 minutes, or until meat thermometer reaches 180°F when inserted into the deepest part of the thigh.
•      Brush with remaining glaze. Let turkey stand 15 minutes before carving.
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  Sweet Potato Casserole

   
  Ingredients

       5 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced

       1/2 cup packed brown sugar

       1/4 cup low fat margarine

       2 tablespoons orange juice

       2 pinches ground cinnamon

       1 (10.5 ounce) package miniature marshmallows

       Directions

•        Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
•        Boil sliced sweet potatoes in water until tender. Drain.
•        In a large bowl, blend the potatoes until creamy. Stir in the butter, brown sugar, orange juice to taste and a dash of ground cinnamon.
•         Spread the sweet potato mixture into a 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle the miniature marshmallows over the top and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) until golden brown.

Trends in Desserts-Cake Balls and Cake Pops

Cake balls and cake pops are becoming more and more trendy with Starbucks introducing cake pops into their stores this past year. Cake balls are super simple and fun to make. You have several options:

• Pick up a cake pop kit at your local Starbucks

• Buy a cake ball maker at your local department store

• Do it the old fashioned way!

Cake balls can be made using different mixtures of cake flavors, frostings, and chocolate coatings. If you want to add something more, cake balls can be rolled in sprinkles, nuts, coconut, cookie crumbs, etc.

All you need is:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package cake mix
• 1 (16 ounce) container prepared frosting
• 1 (16 ounce) bag chocolate flavored confectioners coating

• prepare cake as directed in 9x13" cake pan
• before cake cools completely, crumble the entire cake using two forks
• in a large bowl add 1/2 to 3/4 container of prepared frosting to cake crumbs and mix together (forms a dough)
• place dough in refrigerator until cold
• roll cold dough into 1" balls (for cake pops, add sticks)
• dip balls into confectioners coating, place on wax paper, and decorate as desired
• allow balls to set, then serve

Persian Food

Chelo Kabob

                                                                                     Baghali Polo- Mahiche

                                                                                        Ash Reshte

                                                                                    Tokhmemorgh Khorma

                                                                                   Zereshk Polo

                                                                             Pitza

                                                                               Salad Olvieh

        All these recipes are available at just $1.00 each!

Top Five Kitchen Appliances You Need To Check Out!

We're always trying to find ways to make cooking easier, so I've decided to give you all an inside look into what you can do to improve your cooking time. I've complied this list of five great items you should check out and pick up for your own kitchen! Even better, you can find each of these small appliances for less than $100 at your local department store.

Toaster Oven: Toaster ovens seem to be overlooked often in the kitchen, but I use mine every single day.  If you purchase a 6-slice high quality oven, you’ll probably find yourself using yours quite a bit too. For small meals, the conventional oven option is awesome. Many of us heat up our homes using the traditional oven when it’s not necessary! I find my toaster oven bakes meats, breads, and even frozen foods, just as well as a traditional oven if not better. Plus, it’s a lot smaller and easier to maintain.  I have had the most satisfaction with Oster brand ovens.

CrockPot: A slow cooker is a must have if you’re always on the go. You simply place the ingredients in the CrockPot, plug it in, and turn it on. You are free to spend the entire day doing whatever you please and you can come back to a great home-cooked meal. I especially love my CrockPot for preparing soups. It’s so simple and can be so delicious! (http://www.crock-pot.com)

Magic Bullet: The Magic Bullet is a great addition to any kitchen. It’s small and fits easily on your countertop.  It’s also super simple to use.  You put all your ingredients in a cup, then the cup is capped off with the blender blades.  The whole thing is put on the base, you twist it to turn it on, let it run a minute or so, then twist it off. Your drink is already in its own cup!  It’s a great product for making smoothies, sauces, and salsas! (http://www.buythebullet.com)

Slap Chop: We’ve all seen the silly commercials for this product, but it really works! It’s a quick and easy way to chop up veggies. I often use it to chop up nuts for baking. It’s also fairly simple to clean and doesn’t take up a lot of space. (https://www.slapchop.com)

George Foreman Grill: George Foreman indoor grills come in all shapes and sizes and are simple to use. I recently got one and was surprised at how quickly I was able to cook meats. Although I wouldn’t suggest it for every meal, it’s great for most!  (http://www.georgeforemancooking.com)

How To Make a Quick Delicious Healthy Smoothie

Smoothies are delicious, healthy, and easy to make. Save money by making it at home instead of your local smoothie shop. The video above is a great first step to making your own...you can even add more fruits to your smoothie for added flavor and volume.

Apple and Goat Cheese Salad

So my friend Valerie brought this salad to one of our group BBQ's I went to last week. And it knocked my socks off. I just had to share it. Argo:

 Valerie's Apple and Goat Cheese Salad:

SALAD FIXIN'S

spinach leaves

romaine lettuce

1/2 red onion - sliced into rings

1 red bell pepper - sliced into rings

1 fuji apple - thinly sliced (please becareful)

5 oz goat cheese - crumbled over other salad fixin's

THE DELICIOUS DRESSING

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tbsp honey

2 tsp sugar

salt to taste

pepper to taste

Halloween Favorites

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, we've decided to include some great ideas for your Halloween parties this year.

Cupcakes are a party classic, and these are simple decorations that will bring your cakes from spectacular to SPOOKtacular!

Simply adding sprinkles and candy to your cupcakes can give them that spooky feel! Just be creative and you can turn your cupcakes into spiders or an entire cupcake graveyard.

You can turn simple deviled eggs into scary eyeballs with the use of a little green food coloring, as seen below.

To top off our Halloween treat ideas, we've included a free recipe for Witch Finger Cookies. This simple recipe will be the talk of the party.

Quick Tip:

To make your cookies more horrifying, try adding green food coloring to your dough!

Witch Finger Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole almonds
• 1 (.75 ounce) tube red decorating gel

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt mixture, continually beating; until a dough forms. refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets with butter or cooking spray.
3. Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time onto a piece of waxed paper. Use the waxed paper to roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. Arrange the shaped cookies on the baking sheets.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.
5. Remove the almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie for a bloody effect.

Have a great Halloween!!!