Christmas Eve - Sausage Chestnut Stuffing

We’re having a Roasted Goose for Christmas dinner this year.  I’m making the Goose, Sausage and Chestnut Stuffing, Gravy, and Apple Pie for the dinner.  I’m making most of the food ahead of time today because I think the goose is going to take up the oven (and much of my time) on Christmas day.

I’m working on the stuffing first.  This is an old fashioned stuffing of breakfast sausage, onions, celery, fresh sage, egg, stock, and of course, chestnuts.  The chestnuts came from the grocery store’s fresh produce section and need to be roasted before using.  In roasting the chestnuts, you need to cut an X into each nut and place them on a sheet pan to roast at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or so.  Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool enough to handle.  As you peel the chestnuts there will undoubtedly be many that you can’t use.  If one is hard or looks moldy or in any way “off” just toss it and move on.  Don’t freak over how many you can’t use.  It is best to toss them than to ruin your stuffing with bad chestnuts.  They are a bit expensive but for Christmas dinner it’s worth it. 

I used a large handful of the chopped chestnuts nuts for the pan of stuffing that I am making.  I can’t give you actual amounts for this as I’ve never had a recipe for stuffing.  I’ve always just eyeballed it as I go.

I’m not cooking the stuffing in the goose like I would typically do with chicken or turkey.  Goose is one greasy fowl and the risk for very greasy stuffing just wasn’t worth the risk.  I have found that cooking the stuffing in a buttered casserole works just fine.  So, that’s what I’m doing this year.

The stuffing is being reheated tomorrow so I’m cooking it to temperature (for food safety reasons) but not as brown as I would when serving it.  I’ll do that shortly before we are ready to eat dinner.

It is Christmas Eve and I won’t be seeing my brother and his family on Christmas Day so we are going to go visit them this afternoon.  Once we get home though - I’ll be back in the kitchen.  It will be time to get that Apple Pie going.  Then, we’re having homemade pizza and beer for Christmas Eve dinner.  I know, not very traditional, but we like it anyway.

Dinner Rolls - Part Two

I didn't get back to the dough yesterday, so I will make the rolls today to go with the glazed ham and scalloped potatoes that I'm making for dinner tonight.

If you put the dough in the refrigerator like I did you will want to take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit out to come to room temperature for a couple of hours.  You'll notice the difference after a couple of hours out of the refrigerator - the dough softens and is much more pliable.

I cut the dough into 16 equal pieces in this batch but you could make them larger and cut it into 12 equal pieces.  Roll the dough into balls, keeping any seam on the bottom of the roll so that the top is smooth. 

Lay the rolls out on a parchment lined pan.  Brush the tops lightly with melted butter and cover lightly with plastic wrap to allow to rise.

While the rolls are rising preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (I let them rise here for 40 minutes).

Let the rolls double in bulk then remove the plastic wrap and place the pan of rolls into the preheated oven.  Bake for 16-18 minutes (closer to 20 minutes if you made 12 rolls instead of 16 rolls).

Remove the rolls from the oven and lightly butter the tops while they are hot. 

These are best served while warm and certainly need to be eaten the day that they are baked.



ENJOY!

Dinner Rolls - Part One

This is for my cousin, Shelly.  I can't get down to visit and show you how to make these dinner rolls so I figured I'd do my best to show you here.

You'll have to bear with me here folks.  I'm not a photographer, writer or teacher.  I am a good cook though and you'll get the gist of what I'm saying.

First, get out all of the ingredients. 

Today, I'll make a small batch so the ingredients need are:

3 cups All-Purpose Flour (or Bread Flour)
1 1/4 tsp. Salt
4 tsp. Sugar

1 package (equivalent to 2 1/4 tsps.) Dry Active Yeast (or Rapid Rise)

1/2 cup Water
2/3 cup Milk
4 tsp. Butter (or Vegetable Oil)

Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and mix it up a little bit.



Add the wet ingredients....

Let the machine bring all of the ingredients together.  You'll need to

scrape the flour into the liquids until it forms a dough.  You want the dough to be soft, not sticky and the dough hook should put all of the ingredients together lifting from the bowl.  If the dough is sticking to the bottom of the bowl after a couple of minutes of mixing, add a little bit of flour (try a tablespoon at a time) until it forms a nice dough.  If there is too much flour in the bottom of the bowl to mix into the dough, add water (try a tablespoon at a time) until the flour is picked up into the dough.

Let the machine knead the dough for 8-10 minutes.  You want a nice soft dough ball to form.

Form the dough into a ball and lightly oil the bowl and the dough with olive oil to keep it from drying out.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place.  If you haven't used your oven lately you can place the bowl in the oven with the light on.  That will produce a nice warm environment for your dough to rise.

Let it rise for an hour/double in bulk.

Punch down the dough. 

Now at this point I'm going to deviate a little from my norm.  I have a gym date in 20 minutes and can't finish the rolls until later tonight or maybe tomorrow.  So, I'm going to put a little oil in a bowl, add the dough ball, turn it over so that the dough and bowl are nicely oiled and cover with plastic wrap.  Then, I'll put it into the fridge until I'm ready to work with it again.

We'll form the dough into rolls and bake them in my next post.





Georgetown, Clyde's, Stairs, University & Cupcakes

Welcome…
There is no friend like an old friend who has shared our morning days, no greeting like his welcome, no homage like his praise.  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Whoooeee. What a day. My friend and I headed out to Georgetown today. I drove us into Roslyn and headed over the Key Bridge. We parked at the garage at the Georgetown shops and spent the better part of the day together.  It was a fun girls day out.

Eat…

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. ~Voltaire

First stop was lunch at Clyde’s. I had a nice mixed greens salad with a crab cake sandwich. We enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch - aka slow service. Clyde’s isn’t usually my first choice but since this trip was mostly planned around the movie The Exorcist, it was a good choice for today.

Exercise…
Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness. ~Edward Stanley
After lunch we headed down M Street towards the stairs that were in The Exorcist. Yep – we climbed them, all of them. Not an easy task for me but felt good once I caught my breath at the top. I don’t like heights so I didn’t care to look down them and had no intention of climbing back down them when it was time to leave.  I had never visited this part of Georgetown so this was pretty cool.

Here’s a cool picture I found on the internet of the stairs from the movie The Exorcist.















Once we caught our breath; it was off to Georgetown University. It was a busy day there today. It looked like the new students were all moving in. The parents were helping their kids with all of their stuff. We saw them hugging and crying. It was rather touching and I think we picked a good day to be walking around. We walked around a lot and checked out the row houses and looked into some of the yards. The homes there are old and little but they have a charm of their own.

Georgetown University, Healy Hall










Have Fun…
Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless. ~Bill Watterson
We had a great time walking around Georgetown and had one more stop to make before heading back home. We had to stop at Georgetown Cupcake. The line was longer than I was hoping for but not nearly as long as people had said it would be. The wait was only about 25 minutes and we got to talk to a nice lady and her daughter from Long Island. They were in town because of a family funeral next week but figured they should see the area while in town. I think this was the only shop the little girl really wanted to see.

My friend and I each bought a dozen cupcakes to take home with us.  I know I won't be eating more than one or two of them myself but just had to get them after waiting so long in line.  My son and husband will enjoy  them and we can always throw them in the freezer for another day.

It was a good day.

Blog Post One

Welcome. 
A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you. ~Irish Blessing
This is my first ever blog post.  I'm writing this to keep me focused on my weight loss journey.  I've got about 90 more pounds to go to hit my target weight.  So far, I've lost about 11 pounds.  I've been going to Weight Watchers meetings since May. 
My intention here is to write about my day to day successes and struggles.  I also want to have a written journal with recipes, favorite food findings, exercise information and anything else that catches my fancy along my way. 

Exercise. 
A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercies. ~A. A. Milne
My plan for this afternoon is to go to the new gym that finally opened last week.  I think I'll do some nautilus weights, a little on the elliptical machine and maybe hit the pool for a little while.  I should be able to fit in an hour before having to make dinner.  I need to get in a good workout today to make up for the eating I did over the weekend.  Maybe then I won't feel like skipping my Weight Watchers meeting come Thursday.

Eat. 
Food is an important part of a balanced diet ~Fran Lebowitz
I've found a new restaurant for lunch that I really like (at least for now) - Panera Bread.  I know it's been around for a long time.  I just never walked into one.  Yesterday, when work was slow, I sat down and wrote the points values for ever item on their menu.  Some things are just WAY to many points.  Others are light and healthy and very tasty.  So far I have tried the Strawberry Poppyseed & Chicken Salad, the French Onion Soup, the BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad, and the Low-Fat Chicken Noodle Soup.  I wasn't thrilled with the French Onion Soup but enjoyed the other foods.  I like that you can get a half a sandwich and a small bowl of soup.  I'm not one for having to make choices.  I want a little of everything.  Why do you think I still have 90 pounds to loose?
For tonight's dinner I plan to make my General Tso's Chicken and Broccoli, the healthy version.  By stir-frying boneless trimmed chicken thighs and broccoli, then adding some jarred General Tso's Sauce, I have found a compromise that my family and I can live with.  We have also made the switch to Brown Rice.

Have Fun.
Don't worry about the world coming to an end today.  It is already tomorrow in Australia ~Charles Schulz
Tuesdays are generally my "no drinking" nights. (Not that I drink every night.)  So, since I won't be going out for happy hour after hitting the gym I need to find something fun to do tonight after dinner.  When the family sits down to watch tv, we usually watch nature shows, Dirty Jobs or Myth Busters because they are what we can easily agree about.  I think it may be a good night for a family movie night instead of tv though.  Maybe a comedy.  Or The Karate Kid.