What I learned this Thanksgiving dinner

 Our annual Thanksgiving this year was a bit of a disaster....on the morning of the dinner I did the following:

-Nearly melted my Iphone on the stove.
-Burned the stuffing altogether.
-Decapitated our little plastic William Bradford statute. 

-Ruined the salad bags leaving them outside the fridge for 2 days.

I nearly had a meltdown had it not been for Kenton. But basically I learnt a few things that I need to write here so that I don't forget. 

1. Stuffing CANNOT be made the day before the dinner. It will get absolutely disgusting. I burned our stuffing but it was already disgusting on the morning of the dinner....so I had to do it again, so even though it was really stressful to make it again, I was kinda glad because it was 

so gross. You can see my stuffing in the trash here.

2. It was the first year I cooked a big big turkey of 6,5 kg. So I followed my own recipe of the turkey that I always do, plus I covered the turkey with a blanket of cheesecloth of butter and wine so that it would not dry and it worked (see photo at the bottom). You can see it in this link in the first 10 minutes, it is super easy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viwXUmXTyBI

3. You do not need a fancy container for the turkey. One of those chino foil trays work as long as you put it on your heavy duty tray of the oven. Then, you place the turkey of onions, in a bed of onions and you eliminate a lot of equipment.

4. The puritan hat and the pilgrim bonnet that the Martha Stewart's page has are fantastic! also the measurements are not for kids but for adults. I have done them now many years and they are great and easy. 

https://www.marthastewart.com/908657/paper-pilgrim-bonnet

https://www.marthastewart.com/917670/paper-pilgrim-hat

5. Keep all your Thanksgiving food that is tough in a bucket all together in the same place so that you don´t go crazy looking for it. Let's be honest, most things will be okay outside because it is winter. Remember to keep the salad in the fridge, cause I ruined mine cause I was too optimistic.

6. Use plastic cups and plastic glasses. Honestly no need to complicate yourself with real dishes....plus, real dishes make the dinner cold in 5 minutes. It is pointless. 

7. I eliminated mashed potatoes altogether. This dish stresses me out because it is so hard to heat up on the same day. Getting rid of it was a brilliant idea. Instead I boiled Brussels sprouts and corn.

So I think this is it people, great findings this year. I thought I knew it all, but nope, still messed up so much. But it was a super fun dinner, we did a quiz at the end of Thanksgiving and we had so much fun.

    

Peruvian Lamb Soup

I had 3 lamb chops the other left. When I did not know what to do with them. I googled: lamb soup, and all these recipes came up from Latin America. They seemed so easy! So I gave it a try and I did not regret it....so good and no stock!!!!!!!!!! this is the video that I kinda followed. 

INGREDIENTS:

-1'3 litres of water 

-4 or 5 chops of lamb.

-3 celery sticks.

-2 big potatoes.

-1 small white onion.

-2 cloves of garlic.

-1 tsp of salt.

-some pepper.

-1 carrot.

-3-4 slices of 

-some oregano.

-a good bunch of cilantro and some lime to garnish.

-optional: brussels sprouts.

STEPS:

1. So easy. If the chops are already fried and cooked, then great, if not fry them in the pot a little so they brown from both sides. Now set apart.

2. Dice up the onion and garlic and sautee in the pot with the grease of the lamb. Stir a bit.

3. Now add the lamb chops back, let it all cook a little together in the pot for a few minutes.

4. Now add the celery and the carrot and cook all together.

5. Now add the water, the salt, the pepper, the oregano and the 2 big potatoes in cubes and bring it to a boil.

6. Once it boils, bring down the fire and simmer for 30 minutes. The potatoes will make the broth thicker, but at this point you can also add 2 handfuls of rice. Yum! 

7. Now try and add more salt if needed. Also pick up the chops and get the meat out and cut up in small pieces and back to the pot. All the flavour of the bones will be in the soup now. 

8. Now garnish with cilantro and lime. 

So good! Next time I will add brussels sprouts too cause I think it goes great with lamb.

Pumpkin Granola Soft Bars

Back to the swing of things this fall/winter! Gone are summer days and you would think blogging days are in the past, but heck no! 

These bars were pretty good and chewy and great to grab for breakfast. Found them in this great website but mine is a variation because these babies definitely need chocolate, yessssss no doubt about it. You can also add raisins or cranberries like 1/2 cup and it is good too, not too sweet.

INGREDIENTS:
-1 cup of oats.
-1/2 cup of flour.

-2 eggs.

-1 cup of pumpkin puree.

-1/4 cup of honey.

-3 tablespoons of coconut oil.

-1 tsp vanilla extract.

-1/2 cup of chocolate chips.

-1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.

-1 tsp of cinnamon.

-1 tsp baking powder.

-1/4 tsp of baking soda.

STEPS:

1. Mix all wet ingredients in a bowl and then the dry ones mix in another bowl EXCEPT for the chocolate chips that you add at the very end of everything. 

2. Stick in oven at 175 degrees, top and bottom fire for about 20-25 minutes.

That's it. Super easy and good breakfast bars for when you need a snack. Also not sugary!!!