Christmas gift idea for a Teenage Foodie

Anyone have any Cool Christmas gift ideas for a 15 year old boy who's hobbies include: video games, movies, and eating:) I was thinking some unique food idea? Thanks in advance for your assistance!

Friday night cocktails and appetizers ...

... on Wednesday! The night before Thanksgiving calls for some celebration, relaxation, and reflection while your preparing what needs to be done in advance, so we moved Friday night cocktails to Wednesday this week.

Pumpkin martinis, first and foremost for the purpose of quality testing prior to serving them to a crowd on Thursday, and Pizza potato skins (made from the skins of the potatoes baked for the Make-ahead mashed potatoes, also to be served Thursday). What efficiency!

Pumpkin martinis

2 parts vanilla vodka
1 part amaretto
1 part canned pumpkin

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ½ c of crushed ice. Shake well. Strain into a martini glass, top with freshly grated nutmeg. The nutmeg was key!

Make-ahead mashed potatoes

5 lb russet potatoes
¼-½ lb butter, softened
3-4 c whole milk or light cream, warmed

One or two days before serving, bake potatoes in preheated 350° oven for about an hour, until flesh is tender. Let cool until comfortable to hold in your hand. Cut potatoes in half and scoop flesh into a bowl. Reserve skins for another use, that’s where all the vitamins are. Mash potatoes to remove all lumps. Add in butter and milk (½ cup at a time). When you’ve got the potatoes to your desired consistency, add another ½-1 cup of warmed milk and mix well.

The day of serving, warm the potatoes in a crockpot, on the stovetop, covered with foil in the oven, or in the microwave. Stir well to distribute the flavors. Top with additional butter.

Pizza potato skins

potato skins
pinch each salt, pepper, oregano, basil
mozzarella cheese
pepperoni
parmesan cheese
sour cream

Place skins on baking sheet. Top skins with herbs, cheese, and pepperoni. Bake until cheese is melted, bubbly, and just starting to brown. Serve with sour cream.

Simple gifts

It’s nice to make personal gifts for your friends and family, but it’s not so nice being stressed out the week before Christmas and feeling like you have to make personal gifts. So, start now, early, and take your time. Make gifts that will mean something to the recipient, and make them now, while you have the time. They don’t have to be elaborate gifts, or time-instensive preparations, just simple, heartfelt, and just right. Do you and a friend always test and rate the cosmos at the restaurants you visit? Why not make her some cranberry liqueur so you can get together and make your own holiday cosmos on a stressful day?

The vibrant red color of this liqueur is perfect for the holidays. Present it in a decorative glass bottle with your favorite cosmopolitan recipe attached.

Cranberry liqueur

2 c sugar
1 c water
1 12-oz package fresh cranberries
3 c vodka

Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan; cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and cool completely.

Place cranberries in a food processor; process 2 minutes or until finely chopped. Combine sugar mixture and cranberries in a large bowl; stir in vodka.

Pour the vodka mixture into a large, clean jar; secure with lid. Let stand 3 weeks in a cool, dark place, shaking every other day.

Strain the cranberry mixture through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a bowl, and discard solids. Carefully pour liqueur into clean, decorative bottles.

Note: Liqueur can be stored refrigerated or at room temperature for up to a year.

If you don’t have a favorite cosmo recipe, try this one out.

Cosmopolitans

2 parts Cranberry liqueur
1 part Cointreau
½ part lime juice

Mix with 1 cup crushed ice; strain into martini glass. Garnish with a lemon or lime twist.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

T-Day is here ... and gone. I think we sat at the table for 6 hours.

You know I love food that works for you while you’re doing anything else. Before I turn in for the night, I put the turkey carcass in my crockpot, fill it with water and let the stock become rich overnight. My friend Annie told me this years ago, and it never fails to make me happy.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Day 1: Here’s my menu, here’s my timetable. We’re going to the Thanksgiving Day Football game at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning, so I want to have everything done ahead and get the turkey in the oven by 8 am (remember, my 24-lb bird will take 4½ to 5½ hours to cook, always anticipate the longer time, you can tent it with foil to keep it warm for longer if you need to, and add ½ an hour for it to set before carving, this is Residual Cooking Time, the meat continues to cook once it’s removed from the oven).

Thanksgiving menu
Cocktail: Pumpkin martinis

Appetizers:
Prosciutto-wrapped asparagus
Spinach-and-artichoke dip with pita chips
Del’s deviled eggs
Cheddar-stuffed mushrooms
Hommus and tabouli with fresh Syrian bread from Methuen because we can’t get it here in Newburyport

First course: Antipasto with Nonni’s pickled peppers

Second course: Del’s cheese-and-meat-stuffed shells

Main course:
Turkey with stuffing and gravy
Make-ahead mashed potatoes
Butternut squash casserole
Creamed onions
Turnips mashed with brown sugar
Green bean casserole
Auntie Cee’s cranberry jello mold
Nonni’s green salad
Cranberry relish and jellied cranberry sauce

Dessert:
Del’s apple pie with vanilla ice cream
Auntie Cee’s pumpkin pie with whipped cream
Death by chocolate
Michael’s fudge
Alden Merrel Meltdown brownies
Roasted mixed nuts
Fennel

Timeline
Wednesday

• Bake potatoes for make-ahead mashed potatoes
• Brine turkey
• Prepare green bean casserole, stuffing, fudge (the fudge could have been done ahead, but I just decided to add it to the menu today), and death by chocolate (the chocolate cake has been soaking in the Kahlua since Monday evening). (Fortunately, I doubled up on my other apps and sides when I was doing Thanksgiving prep for clients earlier this week so they’re done already.)
• Scoop flesh out of cooled potatoes and mash with butter and cream. Add an extra ½ to 1 cup of cream when you think they’re perfect, then they’ll be light and fluffy when you reheat them Thursday.
• Set table and label serving dishes so everyone can help tomorrow when it’s time to get the food on the table while it’s still warm.
• Test pumpkin martinis. (It’s all about quality control.)
  
• Remove turkey from brine and place on rack over baking sheet in fridge, uncovered, overnight, to dry out flesh.

Thursday

7:00 Bring turkey to room temperature and preheat oven to 425°.
7:30 Rub turkey with butter, sprinkle liberally inside and out with salt and pepper.
8:00 Stuff turkey and place in oven.
8:30 Lower oven to 325°.

Remember you’ll want an easy—and light—breakfast that won’t make a big mess in the kitchen and cause extra clean-up. Then we’re off to the football game. When we return, we’ll set out the cold appetizers, heat up the others, then start heating up the other dishes. We’ll sit down to the antipasto at about 1 pm, and move through the day, loosing our belts as we go.

Thanksgiving desserts

We are having a small crowd (5 adults, 3 kids) for thanksgiving. I made a pumpkin cheesecake 

it is in the freezer. I will make a chocolate desert because I love chocolate deserts, thinking molten chocolate cakes with Irish cream.

Molly asked about pie. Now I like pie but could live w/o it but is does seem like for thanksgiving you need pie, Molly requested apple, Brad's favorite is blueberry so I'm thinking of making mini apple pies -- and maybe doing 1/2 apple, 1/2 blueberry. I figure I can freeze the leftovers. Anyone ever try mini pies? I worry a little about them coming out of the muffin tins.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Day 5: Does salad have a place at your table? Several years ago, my sisters, my sister-in-law, and I had a long e-mail exchange about salad at Thanksgiving. I think it started when one sister was asked to bring a salad to her husband’s aunt’s for dinner. We were stymied, salad had never had a place on The Traditional Dunican Family Thanksgiving Table. Our meal would begin with lots of appetizers, because we always ate later in the day (about four o’clock). And our table was all about the sides: mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots, creamed onions. There was just no room for salad.

So, there we were, what salad to serve with Thanksgiving dinner? It went something like this:

Eileen: I'm bringing salad to my in laws for Thanksgiving. Still haven't gotten to the idea that salad is for Thanksgiving but they want one. I found this one. It sounds good to me but I was wondering if the cranberry would be over kill or good to keep similar tastes. Also would you add any other veggies to it? Any ideas are helpful.

Jamie's Cranberry Spinach Salad
Servings: 8

1 T butter
3/4 c almonds, blanched and slivered
1 lb spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
1 c dried cranberries
2 T toasted sesame seeds
1 T poppy seeds
1/2 c white sugar
2 t minced onion
1/4 t paprika
1/4 c white wine vinegar
1/4 c cider vinegar
1/2 c vegetable oil

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook and stir almonds in butter until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and let cool. In a large bowl, combine the spinach with the toasted almonds and cranberries. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, and vegetable oil. Toss with spinach just before serving.

Katie: If you have to have salad, this one sounds great. I think the cranberries will be great, not too much. You may want to add one yellow and one orange bell pepper to add to the "fall-ish-ness" of the salad; they're pricey, but the color and crunch they add to the salad are worth it. Also, I'd use hazelnuts rather than almonds, but whichever nut you use, I'd dry-saute them in a saute pan, not cook them in butter in a saucepan. You can put them in your toaster oven for one ding too (but sometimes they burn that way), you want them to be just lightly browned. Fred's family always has his Mom's salad at Thanksgiving too, although, more than once, we've found it in the fridge as we're putting away the leftovers.

That was most of The Salad Exchange. The rest was about the merit of appetizers beforehand, or leaving room for the dinner itself. Weigh in, what does your family do?

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Day 6: What else goes on your table? When we were growing up, our holiday dinners always started with fruit cocktail, and there was always a relish tray with celery, black and green olives, and pickles on the table. My husband’s family always starts with antipasto (his grandmother’s delicious pickled pepper recipe and Italian cold cuts), then moves on to pasta (this year it’s Del’s stuffed shells), then the turkey dinner. It’s funny how people fall into patterns: My husband and one of my sons pass on the pasta, or do a very small serving to save room for the turkey; my brother-in-law and another of my sons do more pasta and only a token amount of turkey dinner. I love that there is enough variety to make everyone thankful for Thanksgiving dinner.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Day 7: Ready, set, ... Bake! You can tell all the veteran bakers this time of year, because their grocery carts are overflowing with flour and sugar and other staples for baking. The couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, most baking goods go on sale, and the veterans stock up.

Your desserts can be started ahead of time, when you’re not doing a hundred other things, and stored in the fridge or freezer for Turkey Day.

Scalloped Potato Recipe?

Regina, Where is your Scalloped Potato recipe posted? Was it 3 cheese? I want them this weekend:)
Thanks

Vegetarian Favorites!

Tonight we had a friend of my daughter's and her mother here for Pizza between school and PTA. I promised next month I would cook for them! What's your favorite Company Vegetarian Meal? I'll have to check if they like spicy, for my Veggie Chili:)
Thanks for sharing!

Southwest snack mix

Regina asked for a spicy snack that could be stored in a jar. Here is one we like.

4 cups popped popcorn

3 cups mini pretzel twists

2 cups mini garlic bagel chips

1 cup corn chips

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon paprika

3/4 teaspoon chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Dash Cayenne

In a large bowl, combine popcorn, pretzels, bagels and corn chips.

In a small bowl combine all remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour evenly over popcorn mix, toss gently to coat. Store in tightly covered container.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Day 8: Clean out your refrigerator. Before you can bring home the groceries and get cooking, you need some room. It’s a great week to feed your family from the fridge & freezer. Be creative, be firm. You’re going to need the room. I plan my fridge-cleaning day for trash day, so the stuff’s not hanging around getting ripe.

Another way to save fridge and freezer space is to have guests bring some things that take up space there, like salad (if you go there, see a post on that later this week) or ice.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Day 9: Let’s talk turkey. For starters, Butterball turkey has a great site to help you get through cooking your first turkey or refresh your memory if you only do it once or twice a year. Use their tools to help you:

• Plan perfect portions. This tool allows you to indicate the number of adults, the number of children, whether you’re big eaters or light eaters and whether you want leftovers or not, then it tells you how many pounds of turkey you need and how many cups of stuffing. For 11 adults and 2 children (my teenagers are counted as adults, they eat more than I do, and we want leftovers), we need 24 lbs of turkey and 18 cups of stuffing. Bear in mind that the larger the turkey, the more bone you’ll get too, so you might want two 12-lb turkeys if you have the room in your oven.
  
  
• Figure out how long to thaw. This tool has the refrigerator option, or what I call the Last-Minute (or Oops!-I-Forgot-To-Put-The-Turkey-In-The-Refrigerator) option. The refrigerator option is definitely the set it and forget it method, the way to go for a stress-free holiday. But, we all forget sometimes, and it’s nice to have the specifics for the cold-water option too. My 24-lb turkey will take 6 days to thaw in the refrigerator, so I put it there yesterday because I want to brine it before I cook it on Thursday. (More on brining later.) Your thawed turkey can stay in the refrigerator for 4 days before you cook it.
  
  
• Figure out how long to cook. This tool gives you the amount of time it will take to cook your turkey if you roast it in an open pan in a 325° oven; it gives you the option of stuffed or unstuffed. My 24-lb turkey will take 5-5½ hours stuffed, 4-4½ hours unstuffed. That said, there are as many ways to roast a turkey as there are side dishes on my parents’ Thanksgiving dinner table (and, in case you’re wondering, that’s alot): Not just stuffed or unstuffed, brined or unbrined, breast-side-up, breast-side-down, start in a hot oven and reduce heat, start in a low oven and increase heat, cook steadily in a moderate oven, tent with foil at beginning, tent with foil at end, don’t tent with foil at all, cook in a covered roaster, rub with butter, rub with olive oil, don’t rub at all, put liquid in roaster, ... I prefer to start my turkey in a very hot (425°) oven for the first half hour, then lower it to 325° for the remaining time.

Brining a turkey is soaking it in a salt-sugar-water solution before roasting. The advantage it gives to the bird is that it moistens and flavors it on the inside, not just the outside. Cooks’ Illustrated magazine has a great “Basics of Brining” article online. When it comes to turkey, especially The Thanksgiving Turkey, I think simpler is better, so I use their basic brine, with minor modifications.

To brine my 24-lb turkey, I will use 2 gallons of brine, and allow it to brine for 8 hours. To make 2 gallons of brine, combine 2 gallons cold water, 4 cups kosher salt, and 4 cups brown sugar and stir to dissolve salt and sugar. You can add herbs and spices, peppercorns, rosemary or thyme sprigs, bay leaves, if you like, but I’m going the Taste The Turkey route this year.

If you’re brining a smaller bird, you can reduce the amount of brine accordingly, they guideline is to use 1 quart of brine for one pound of meat, but not to exceed 2 gallons of brine. Now clearly, I will not be able to find a container that will both contain the bird in the brine and fit in my fridge, so I will use a cooler, kept cool with ice packs while I’m brining.

Once brined, you’ll want to dry the turkey so that the skin will be crisp, not soggy, when roasted. If time allows, it’s best to air-dry the turkey, uncovered, on a rack on a baking sheet, in the refrigerator overnight.

If you stuff the turkey, you’ll want to stuff cold or room temperature stuffing into a cold or room temperature bird just before roasting, and once roasted, remove the stuffing immediately.

It’s a good idea to let the turkey come to room temperature before roasting it. You can let it sit on the counter for 2 hours to do this safely. When you’re ready to put the turkey in the roaster, tuck the wing tips under the body of the bird, and place turkey breast-side-up in a roasting pan. Season inside of bird with salt and pepper. If you’re going to stuff the turkey, do it now.

Cross the legs over one another and tie them with butcher’s string. Rub the turkey with butter and season salt and pepper. Place the turkey in a heavy roasting pan with sides at least two inches high. You can use a roasting rack to keep the turkey from sticking to the pan.

As I said earlier, I like to start at high heat, and reduce to low heat, to do so preheat your oven to 425° and roast the turkey for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, reduce the oven to 325°. Roast for another 4-5 hours. After 4 hours start checking the temperature of the thickest part of the thigh with an instant-read thermometer (avoid the bone). When the temperature of the thigh has reached 165°, it is safe to take the turkey out of the oven.

Let the turkey rest 30 minutes before carving. I move the turkey to foil on the counter or to a cutting board so I can make my gravy directly in the roasting pan while the turkey’s resting. This is also a great time to get all your side dishes into the oven to get them warm.

Martha Stewart’s web site has great articles on how to roast and how to carve a turkey. The USDA has good food — specifically, turkey — safety guidelines.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Day 10: Getting prepared.

• Firm up your guest list. Call and confirm as necessary.
• Read through all the recipes and make your preliminary shopping lists and to-do lists.

Double-check your serving pieces, equipment, and utensils. My sister lays out her serving pieces with a Post-It Note inside indicating what will go there, that way she doesn&rquo;t forget anything at the last minute. If you don’t have something you need, you don’t necessarily need to buy it, if you only use it once a year, consider borrowing it.

Think about your centerpiece, table setting, and any other decor you might need.

• Shop for staples and equipment. Green produce and other fresh foods will wait until next week, but you can buy root vegetables now, while the selection is better. You can buy the cranberries, and put them in the fridge or freezer.
• Take your linens to the dry cleaner or press them yourself. You don’t want to be ironing at midnight on Wednesday.
  

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Day 11: Plan your menu and order your turkey. Thanksgiving is 11 days away, if you haven’t given any thought to what you’ll serve (or bring with you, if you’ve been invited elsewhere), now is the time. Many supermarkets and specialty stores have a two-week sale that runs through Thanksgiving weekend, take advantage of that — and the relatively empty stores — now. (Mind, I say “relatively empty” because some of the shopping craze has already started, especially among the bakers. So if you can’t find something on the shelf, ask; chances are they have it, they just haven’t gotten around to restocking it.) If you need some inspiration for menu, check out my menu for both traditional favorites, and new ideas to shake things up a little. Also make use of cooking TV shows and web sites, such as www.foodtv.com, epicurious.com, and allrecipes.com.

When you’re planning your menu, keep in mind the following:

• The food doesn’t need to be fancy. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it’s all about the family and the food, but you don’t need to go overboard. People look forward to your signature dishes, don’t apologize for making the same menu as last year, or just throw one new recipe in the mix.
  
  
• It’s a long day of eating, don’t go overboard on the appetizers. Something to tide people over is fine, but don’t make a meal of it.
  
  
• The turkey will be large and will be in the oven the longest, and until the last 30 minutes before you carve it and serve it. Plan side dishes that can make use of that half hour of turkey resting time to be cooked or reheated in the oven.
  
  
• If you’re making gravy, that will be happening during that 30-minute turkey resting time as well, so don’t plan on a lot of hands-on sides.
  

Finally, if you’re planning to serve a fresh turkey, order it today.

Great Glazed Cupcake Recipe?

We are having a ladies lunch for my best friend, who is expecting her 3rd baby, in a couple of weeks.

I have a great floral cupcake pan from Pampered Chef (https://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=13837&words=floral%20cupcake) and am looking for a delicious cupcake recipe to use in it. Because the tops have such a pretty flower design, I don't want to cover in frosting. I am open to different flavors.

Appetizer - Proscuitto & Pear

With the holidays coming up, and a couple of events I am hosting or co-hosting, I was looking for some fun, new appetizers. I just came across this deliciously simple looking appetizer. Plus, it looks beautiful! I will be trying this sometime this month and will report back.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/crispy-prosciutto-cups-with-pear?backto=true