lacking sanity....

12 days of no posting is a great way to lose any followers my little blog might have had. Being in Indiana, traveling back to North Carolina, and going through doggy-surgery (that's what happens when your little dog eats bread ties, tupperware, string, and hair in the same week) has left me out of the kitchen. And it's been way, waaayyyy too hot to cook.

But tomorrow I am trying out 5 (count 'em 5) new recipes that I'll report back on! I plan on sticking pretty close to Tartlette's nectarine galette and macarons (different from macaroons apparently), as well as Ree the Pioneer Woman's Malted Milk Chocolate Chip cookies. The pepperjack potato salad will be my own, with some heavy borrowing/guidance from a recipe my cousin Mandy gave me. Get this-potato salad without mustard, mayo, or eggs! She took out all the gross and just left the delicious. and bacon. and I'm going to try to add pepperjack cheese. We'll see. Finally, I'm going to try to make my own hummer (black bean and roasted red pepper) just because I want to know if I can. Look for posts on all these soon!

Turkey In A Crock Pot

Yep, I cooked a bone-in turkey breast (which I thought was the same as a whole turkey, but maybe not? I guess there weren't any legs/drumsticks now that I think about it) in a crock pot. Why was a I cooking a turkey in July? Good question, long answer, we'll skip that. Why do it in a crock pot? Because it's July so our apartment is hot without having the oven on for 4 hours and my dog is very sick so I just wanted to start it and leave it with minimal effort. I wouldn't have made it at all, but I didn't know if you could refreeze a totally thawed turkey.

Anyway, it turned out delicious, moist and tender, though not particularly beautiful if presentation is important to you. When I lifted it out of the crock pot one whole side came, leaving the bones and the other side totally separate and still in the pot.

I used:

7.5 lb bone in Turkey breast

6 quart crock pot

olive oil, about 1/2 cup total

black pepper (about 1/2 Tbsp.)

salt (about 1/2 Tbsp)

season salt (about 1/2 teaspoon)

garlic powder (about 1/2 Tbsp)

thyme (about 1/4 teaspoon)

1/2 onion (any but red), peeled

3 cloves fresh garlic, peeled

I thawed the turkey completely in the fridge. I rinsed it, then trimmed off most of the skin, the neck, and any yucky stuff inside (including removing the provided gravy packet which I almost always manage to slice open when removing the turkey wrapper). I rinsed the turkey again, then patted it dry with paper towels. I used my hands to rub a layer of olive oil all over the inside and outside of the turkey. I put the garlic cloves and the 1/2 onion inside the opening of the turkey.

I mixed all of the seasonings together in a small bowl, then added enough olive oil to make the mixture the consistency of a thick paste. I rubbed this spice paste all over the outside of the turkey, and even some of the extra inside the turkey. I placed all of this in the crock pot and turned it on high. That's it. Well, actually I then Lysoled the entire kitchen counter and sink.

After 3 hours I used a meat thermometer to check the turkey. I had read that the turkey needs to reach 140 degrees in the first three hours to be safe; mine hit 150. I can't vouch for the truth in this, but it does make sense that you don't want a semi-warm turkey laying around. I put the lid back on the crock pot and left it for two more hours. After a total of five hours of cooking the top side of my turkey (out of the liquid) reached 190 degrees and the bottom side (in liquid) over 200, meaning it was cooked thoroughly. Given the seriousness of getting poultry cooked thoroughly to prevent illness, I'll direct you to the experts for info on how to know your turkey is done.

Now I don't need to worry about presentation for my turkey, but I am guessing you could broil this for a few minutes after it was finished in the crock pot if you wanted to brown it a little, and then arrange it nicely on a plate. I am excited for turkey, turkey sandwiches, and a number of other left over turkey creations in the next week or so (I refroze some of the cooked turkey). It's a nice change from what I typically eat and if you can catch turkey on sale midsummer, you just might want to give this a try! It's been a weird weekend so why not make a turkey?

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (no, I'm not 80)

It's always been the misfit pie, the joke pie in my family. As we prize pies with chocolate and drive out of our way to pick up coconut cream pie, we have always made faces about people who chose to eat rhubarb pie when there were other options.

But I was feeling a little antsy and a little fired up yesterday, so when I encountered rhubarb at the farmer's market I felt up for the challenge. As usual I only sort of measured (i.e. The lady in front of me in line said she was making a rhubarb pie so I just told the cashier to give me the same amount that lady got, which was $4 worth, which my dad did the math to figure out was about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs.). I have a new love (a natural true love with a big green leaf...ok I watch too many Truvia commercials).

Prepare the rhubarb: Ok, let me just suggest you google this because I am no expert! My rhubarb was all red on bottom and transitioned to all green on top. I trimmed off the bottom red ends and cut off the top at the point where it was more green than red. I learned that you are supposed to use a peeler and shave off some of the outsides of the red bottom if they are stringy. I also learned that the leaves are (supposedly- according to the interwebs and my grandma) poisonous- don't eat those. Wash the trimmed rhubarb, then chop into small pieces about the size of the tip of your pinkie finger.

What I made: 4 small (6 inch) pies with lattice top crust (I actually made 5 and two had no top and they weren't totally full, so you should make 4 with this recipe). You could probably make one full 9 inch pie with a lattice top or full crust top, but lattice is prettier!

You'll need:

• 4 6 inch pie pans (or 1 9 inch)
• 1 (2 piece) store bought pie crust (or make your own, but I don't if I don't have to)
• as much rhubarb as the lady in front of you (ask a lady who looks older than your mom, she'll be impressed you even know what rhubarb is and be happy to give you guidance!), or about 1 1/2 lbs.
• 1 cup white sugar (or more, my grandpa said it could use more, I liked it tart)
• 1 1/2 c. (approx.) strawberries (washed, trimmed, cut into smallish pieces)
• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
• nutmeg (I gave it 2 shakes from the spice bottle)
• cinnamon (I gave it a bunch of shakes, let's guess 1/2 to 1 tsp.)
• vanilla (I gave it 2 splashes, let's guess 1/2 Tbsp? aren't I helpful?)
• the online recipes all call for some kind of citrus (a little orange or lemon zest or lemon juice), but I forgot it and didn't miss it at all

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put chopped rhubarb and sliced strawberries together in a large mixing bowl. Pour in remaining ingredients over the strawberry and rhubarb. Use a large spoon to gently stir until all of the ingredients are well mixed and the rhubarb and strawberries are all covered in the sugary, powdery mix. Set this aside while you prepare the crust; doing this step first allows some juice to gather on the bottom of this mixture.

Lay bottom crust in the pie pan(s) making sure to gently push the bottom all the way around the edges (so it won't tear when you fill it). If using 4 little pans you will need one whole crust piece and about 1/4 of the 2nd one; you'll have to squash it together, divide it into 4 balls, and roll it to fit your pans- just thin enough to cover the bottom and sides of the pan.

Stir the rhubarb strawberry mix again to pull the juice from the bottom over all the fruit (vegetable? what is rhubarb? weird!). Pour this into the pie crust(s). If dividing it among pies, be sure that the juicy goodness in the bottom gets split over all the pies (or put it all in one awesome pie and keep that one for yourself!).

Prepare the lattice crust for the top. You have two options- fancy and not-so-fancy. We did not so fancy because we were in a hurry. For this just cut the top into strips (be sure you have enough if you made multiple pies) and lay all the ones going one direction, leaving space between them for the pretty red mix to show through. then rotate the pie one-quarter turn and lay the same number of strips going the other direction. For fancier you would actually weave these. It's not that hard and involves folding back the "top" pieces while covering the "bottoms" then switching what is a top and what is a bottom. Watch a google video, it will make way more sense!

Place the pie pan(s) on top of a baking sheet (they may overflow) and bake uncovered until the crust is a light golden brown (I used a convection oven so this took nearly 20 minutes), then cover with foil. Poke some holes in the foil to vent and continue baking until your total baking time reaches about 45 minutes (for smaller pies in a convection oven, probably need longer for a big pie and a regular oven, possibly up to 60 minutes). If you can snag a little piece of rhubarb through a hole- all you are going for is really tender rhubarb and semi-thick pie filling.

Enjoy with vanilla ice cream. Really, give it a try. Rhubarb is weird, but delicious!

Don't Be Intimidated Baby Back Ribs

I've wanted ribs for about oh, two years now. Ridiculous, I know. But they are kind of pricey and come in big packs and I didn't think they made good left overs and I just found them kind of all around intimidating. But I talked my parents into them and between the three of us and google and a rub recipe we made some pretty good ribs.

Unfortunately I don't know which of the steps we took were important to the end result and which didn't matter, so I'll just give you all of 'em.

You'll need:

3 or so pounds of pork back ribs (or however much you want really)

apple cider vinegar, a few cups

water

a dry rub of your choice, we used Meatheads Memphis Dust- (see notes at bottom for how I changed it)

Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (you knew it was coming!)

napkins, lots and lots of napkins

We rinsed the ribs thoroughly in the sink. Then we cut the rack in half to make it more manageable and laid it meaty side down in a baking dish. Over the bony side I poured about 2 cups of apple cider vinegar and 1-2 cups of water. The ribs were not covered, but there was about 1/2 inch or so of liquid in the dish. We wrapped plastic wrap over the top of this and put it in the fridge for two hours. Then we remembered that many websites said to "remove the membrane", which I didn't remember seeing. So I pulled the ribs out and saw the disintegrating membrane on the bony side. I peeled this off, flipped the ribs over in the dish, and spooned the vinegar liquid over the meaty side of the ribs. Rewrapped and back in the fridge for 2 or so more hours.

Then I removed the ribs, which I felt were visibly tenderized, rinsed them, and patted them dry. I rubbed the Meathead's Memphis Dust all over the ribs on all sides. (My dad said he couldn't taste the rub coming through, so feel free to use A LOT). My mom grilled the ribs straight on the hot grill for about 15 minutes. I think you could skip this step if you don't have a grill. Then we baked them in a baking dish (without the vinegary liquid) covered over with foil at 300 for about 2 1/2 hours. We topped them with Sweet Baby Ray's and baked them another 20 minutes uncovered. The bones were slipping out of the meat when we tried to pick them up, so cook until you get everything nice and tender! We dished 'em up with fresh Indiana sweet corn (sooo good) and my not-gooey green bean casserole.

We went grill before baking because we were afraid the really tender meat would fall through the grill and didn't see the point of finishing them on foil on the grill. It seems to be a matter of opinion.

Meathead's Memphis Dust my way- On advise of a friend we cut the paprika in 1/2. We didn't have any onion salt so we skipped that and the rosemary. In the future I think I'll include the onion salt and maybe just a touch of rosemary. I will definitely be making ribs again!

Oh, and a leftovers note: We cleaned all the leftover meat off of the bones (I'd also recommended cutting out the really fatty parts that you aren't going to eat anyway) and storing in Tupperware. The meat resembled shredded meat, reheated well in the microwave, and made a fabulous sandwich the next day!

Easy Blueberry Trifle...really, really easy

Need a last minute recipe to take to the 4th of July pitch in but don't want to look like you were tempted to spend the whole day on the couch in pajamas soaking up air conditioning and then, upon deciding to go, needed a last minute recipe? Here's one for you!

2 quarts fresh blueberries, washed (I honestly don't think frozen and thawed would work...too squishy)

1 box low fat brownie mix (though you won't use it all)

2 large (12 oz) tubs of Cool Whip (I used cool whip free)

1 angel food cake, the round kind (I used store bought)

Find a trifle bowl or other glass container between 8-12 inches in diameter. I used a trifle bowl that doubles as a punch bowl and a cake plate if that helps you guess. I did put a glass in the middle of my trifle bowl to fill up some space, but in the end I wouldn't have needed too. Use your best guess. I also think a tall cylinder vase would be pretty to use!

Cut/tear angel food care into chunks about 1x1x1 inches or smaller. Fold 1/2 cup of brownie mix powder into each tub of cool whip (so 1 cup of brownie mix is used total). Place half the chunks of cake (for a two layer trifle, adjust as needed for more layers) on the bottom of the trifle bowl. Top this with a layer of blueberries 1-2 blueberries high. Spread 1 tub of brownie-fied cool whip on top of blueberries forming a relatively smooth and flat layer. Push the remaining angel food cake chunks into the cool whip layer. Top with another layer of blueberries. Spread the remaining browniefied cool whip on top of blueberries. Finally sprinkle a few blueberries on top (just to look cute). Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

This is soooo easy and sooo good! I used really fresh (as in we picked them the day before, thanks Owen!) blueberries which I think made this so yummy! May have to switch to later season berries in a few weeks. Enjoy and Happy 4th!

P.S. Get off the couch, get out of your pajamas, and go celebrate!

Make Your Own Hot Pockets: Italian Chicken & BBQ Chicken

Ok, not fair (fare? jeez, I should know that) to say I'd post two more hot pocket ideas, hold out on you, and then make a bigger deal of them than they are. Here's how it goes:

For Italian Chicken-

Do everything from the past post EXCEPT instead of adding salsa add marinara sauce. Still cook out most of the liquid, so the marinara sauce gets super thick and sticks to the chicken and veggies. Replace Mexican cheese with Parmesan cheese. Presto, that's it!

For BBQ Chicken-

Do everything from the past post EXCEPT instead of adding salsa add Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. Again, cook out as much liquid as you can which means the BBQ sauce sort of caramelizes on the chicken (=awesome). I even used the Mexican cheese in this, though I am sure Pepper Jack would be good too. When I reheated a left over BBQ one it seemed a little dry (it had lots of extra crust), so I just dipped it in some more SBRs.

I liked all three, I loved the salsa chicken pockets and the BBQ chicken pockets.

Just in case you didn't catch it yet- I really think the key is to have the ingredients pretty dry when you put them in the pockets. I'm also still not sold on pie crust as the best way to go about this, but I know it is much better than puffed pastry, and pizza dough seems too heavy though maybe not if you got it thin enough. I'll have to keep trying...

Headed out of town tomorrow, but fully intending to test recipes on the family so I'll keep you posted! I have a blueberry dessert in mind that I am anxious to experiment with :)

Make Your Own hot pockets: Salsa Chicken

So I had a pie crust laying around... you know, since they come in packs of two. What did I use the other one for? Why do I own pie crust? Oh yeah, the mini poptarts.

Anyway, I decided I wanted something different and home made hot pockets sounded just right. Now I made 6 out of one pie crust, but if you wanted them to be the whole meal you'd probably want to plan of 4 per crust. I feel like any food wrapped in pie crust is a splurge, so I kept them small and paired with fruit or salad. I made three kinds, but I'll give you the amounts of each thing to make them all one kind. Look for Italian chicken and BBQ in the next couple days.

Salsa Chicken hot pockets

1 refrigerator pie crust (I guess you could make your own...)

2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, and cut into about 1/2 of what you'd call bite sized

1/2 c. peppers, I used red and green bell peppers, finely chopped

1/4 c. onion, I used yellow, finely chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2-3/4 c. salsa (less if runnier, more if chunkier)

1 c. Mexican blend cheese

Keep the pie crust refrigerated until you are ready for it! It needs to be cold going into the oven. Heat your olive oil in a skillet. Add garlic and stir that around just for about 30 seconds, then add peppers and onions. Stir all this around and then let cook for just a minute or two. Add chicken. Cook uncovered for a few minutes, then cover and let cook just until chicken is done. Remove lid and let ALL the liquid cook out. Add salsa and stir until everything is well mixed. Again, cook ALL the liquid out.

Wait, cook out ALL the liquid? Then why did I put the salsa in? For the flavor of course! It makes the chicken so yummy that I could (read:did) eat it straight out of the pan! But you need all of the liquid out before you put this in the pie crust so it doesn't make the dough gooey. Once all the liquid is cooked out, remove this mix from the pan and set aside to cool completely.

Once the salsa chicken veggie mix is totally cooled (i.e. not even the least bit warm!), take out your pie crust. Unroll it from the wrapper and place on parchment or wax paper, then use a rolling pin (or glass or whatever you have) to roll it just a bit thinner. I just rolled in until I had more of a square than a circle. Use a pizza cutter to cut twice as many squares as the number of pockets you are making (4 pockets= 8 squares, 6 pockets= 12 squares). You will want the "top" squares to be bigger than the "bottom" squares by about 1/2 inch in length and width.

Place your bottom squares on a lined baking sheet (I used parchment, but I'd guess foil would work, ungreased!). Layer the cheese on top of the bottoms (1/4 c. for 4, 1/6 c. for 6). This will help protect the bottom crust from some of the moisture bound to come out of the chicken mix. Then top the cheese with 1 to 2 Tbsps of the chicken mix. Wet one side of a top square with your fingers, then place the damp side down over the chicken mix and push the crusts together (the water will help hold them), then use a fork to crimp the crusts together all the way around. You will want to be able to seal it all the way around, so adjust your chicken mix amounts as needed. Use the fork to poke small holes in the top of the pocket so it won't bust open. You may have left over chicken mix which is not a bad thing, just grab a chip or a fork and eat up, or toss in a salad or a wrap.

Bake in a 450 degree oven about 7 minutes, or until you get a nice brown around the edges of each pocket and a firm, but white crust in the middle. Then turn the oven down to 300 degrees for another 7 minutes. I suggest letting them rest a couple of minutes before serving (1. to avoid lava filling tongue burn and 2. not to loose any of the yummy stuff running out).

I like to mix some taco seasoning with light sour cream to have with these, especially if you feel like they are a little dry. It is taking all the will power I have not to go eat all the ones left in my fridge! A leftover hint: I individually wrapped the left over ones in foil for storage in the fridge, then just popped one in the toaster oven inside the foil for a few minutes to reheat.