The Holiday Extravaganza!

Now this post is a bit past the holidays because it's been a super hectic and absolutely crazy time. Seriously I came home from University for a holiday and I just wanted to go back to LEARN because I didn't want to deal with the insanity. That says something ha ha. But really it was a lot of fun! I hope everyone had a great holiday too! I believe being politically right its Happy Chrismahannukwanzicalookit'stuesday. (Can't forget those atheists)

This post starts out upstate and will end back home for me. I lost my job so i've been a bit strapped for cash and I decided to make some presents for my friends families instead of buying. It was a brilliant is dumb plan I should have started earlier than midnight on the night I was leaving but you know it's the holidays and nothing is crazier than them.

So then, onto the PIES, yes pies. I bakes them into mason jars! I also did a bit of glass etching on the jars because I thought it was really cool/cute.

 Well for the glass watching to work you have to tediously cut out a stencil. The layer is masking tape, stencil, tape. Then outline the pie with an knife and pull off the stencil and pull up the little pieces of tape. 

 Pour some armor etch over it and let sit for 2-5 min. And when you wash it off you get this! Then repeat 11 more times @_@

I did all the stencil and glass etching two days before (Instead of studying for finals) 

 Then I got the boyfriend and the boy to help peel apples!

 I winged this recipe, those are traditional granny smith and then I got some fuji because I think a mix is better. But do your apple research, some apples are better than others for baking. You want firmer apples without a grainy texture. Fuji are sweeter and thus paired well with the sharp taste of the granny smith. 

Dear everyone. Do you see how the boyfriend is cutting those apples? DANGEROUS! Do NOT do!  

The girl provided this nifty apple corer and cutter but the slices still had to get thinner and smaller because of the tiny jars. 

The pie dough! Now i've never made dough from scratch before so this was a bit scary. (Read too many horror stories) 

 It's actually really easy, (lack of a dough hook means hands!) drizzle ice water into the dough as you mix it. It's mostly just butter and flour.

You don't want the dough sticky or too dry!

Instead of mixing I suggest folding the dough over and over until you get your desired texture. (if you don't have a mixer)

There! You should get a nice ball of dough!

 There was a LOT of apples. The boyfriend is still cutting up toward himself T_T;;

 These are the sized pieces you want, you can even go smaller but I like nice chunks of apple!

 Now for my favorite ingredient! It's the only one I'm showing you! I have my own amazing secret apple pie recipe with no measuring, all tasting and absolute yumminess. 

 Everything should be evenly coated. (It smelled amazing, and we had so many apples left over that the boy was just eating them.)

 The fun (Tedious) part! Take little pieces of dough and mash then up against the sides of the jars.

 Go all the way up until the you hit where the rings start for the jar lid.

 Man the boyfriend just didn't get a break today ha ha

 Time to fill!

 Fill as much as you can and then tap the jar to see if you can't fit more in.

 You don't NEED a topper but they are just too cute.

I tried making mini lattices and they look funny.

 As long as you leave air for the steam to escape you are fine. 

 Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or put the lids on and pop into the freezer. 

 I cut little squares of cloth for the jar tops because these were gifts.

The verdict I got was that they were all devoured! I suggest taking the lids off and heating in the oven at 300-350 for 10-15 minutes. And then dropping a scoop of vanilla ice cream right into the jar on top of the pie. 

Bake on people, Bake on!

This was the holiday dinner I went to at my aunts house. It was spectacular and I loved every moment of it. I also think I may have died of a food coma. Ladies, gentleman and whoever reads this blog. When I got back to school I'm on a tofu and vegetables diet until I don't feel like I gained a billion pounds. 

 Lets just say the night started off RIGHT.

 My aunt is an AMAZING cook!

 Calorie count: 4 trillion Delicious Score: Ditto

 We brought that cake to the left, my god it's so easy and delicious. Heavy cream, kahlua and Tate's Cookies in-between the layers. Then toss into the fridge. Icebox cakes for the win!

 I'm mildly obsessed with tea cups.

 There are few better after dinner drinks! (ha ha thats my lipstick mark)

 This cake is spectacular I'm making it up at university and there will be a blog post on it.

 Just a bit of everything. I hate coffee but I love tea, and there is something about tea out of a teacup with a saucer that I adore. It tastes better. 

 That's mom and dad!

 Grandma and Uncle! Grandma ate a huge piece of that cake and surprised us all!

 I think the verdict was WOH good. That last piece was purposely saved for my cousin and her new husband since they were at his house for the holiday dinner. 

 Devoured. 

 It's the brother and his amazing girlfriend.

 I somehow was given a vintage tea set from poland... I voice I like the tea cups one time and bam I get a whole set! I can't wait to bring these up to the house next semester!

 Last night of Hannukah! The middle candle went haywire! I don't think thats a good sign...

And the cat says Happy Holidays! Yes that is the velvet dress ladies that we were all shoved into when we were kids. It's her turn! She is one and has to go through it too. Though I don't think she minded too much ha ha. 

I've got too many pictures of this cat... Abbey is just too adorable and crazy to not take photos of!

Hope all went well with your holidays and remember, it's 2012 and if the apocalypse is coming then I'm baking till the end!

Music of the meals: God only knows. <--Not a song, more of a whatever feeling. 

I'm leaving for California tomorrow so I'll be doing a 'Look what I Ate' post when I get back! Be prepared! I'll give you the details about the places at well don't worry. 

So eat well, dress up your cats and get to exercising!

Turkey Time!

Well this post has been a while in the making, mostly because of my broken wrist and then forgetting my camera when I went home for the holiday. So I'm posting it now! Because its 3am and I can't sleep so why not blog?

This was a 20 Pound Organic Local Heritage Turkey. This thing was MASSIVE and brown instead of white. It was also wider than a normal turkey with way bigger legs. The boyfriend and I drove about an hour out to a little place called Vernon to Sweet Grass Farms. Got a bit lost but we made it! It's a great little farm and was well worth the drive.

So for this potluck thanksgiving with all my friends I took charge of the turkey and to tofurkey. Now for those who scoff at that word I promise you it's amazing. (At least my version) We had about 5 Vegetarians and Vegans so how could I exclude them!? It looks funny I will admit... REALLY funny but it tasted amazing and thats what counts.

So onto the main course! (See what I did there?) <-- It's past 3 am just let it happen.

Roomate: Rach there a turkey in our room...?

Me: YUP

 It's a big one people.

 That's an extra large pan there. It didn't fit the roaster that my boyfriend's mother lent me, so I used that for the tofurkey and had to buy this. 

Don't use the packet with it! It's a lie! There are WAY better ways to cook this deliciously.  

 I don't recommend the gravy it's flat out terrible. Sorry. I made my own and regret buying this.

 So you can start this part the day before. I made rosemary, maple butter. (OMG IT SMELLED AMAZING.) 

 Just let 2 sticks sit out and use about a 1/4th cup rosemary to to taste and a 1/4th cup REAL maple syrup. Not that aunt jemima crap.

 

 Yes, it came with all the body parts. You can make some seriously yummy giblet gravy with these. Plus turkey liver is yummy. ( I know I'm weird, most people just ignore it.)

 I smother this turkey in the butter, I also took pieces and rubbed it under the skin and put chunks under there so it would be self basting. 

 Don't forget some basic salt and pepper. I also put some chopped sweet potatoes in and around the turkey and some turkey stock in the bottom of the pan. Heritage turkeys bake at higher temperatures for a shorter amount of time. 425 for only a couple of hours. 

Giblet gravy is beyond easy. Pour some turkey ( or chicken) stock into your pot of turkey giblets (photo above) Toss in half an onion, a few smashed pieces of garlic, some salt, pepper and a copped up carrot and a stalk of celery. Let simmer for a couple of hours while the turkey cooks. 

NOW, onto the tofurkey. I told you it looks funny!

I put some wedged butter potatoes, carrots and onions with a few smashed pieces of garlic around it for the baking process. 

Now this is a bit of a strange combo but I swear it's yummy. 

3 simple ingredients. Red wine (SHHHHH), olive oil and apricot jam.

I put the whole jar of apricots in there and eyeballed lets say two cups red wine and maybe half a cup to a cup of olive oil. The key to this is tasting as you go. 

Let simmer for half an hour and then pour over the tofurkey. Bake tofurkey 

It's time to tent the turkey, and use parchment paper with heritage turkeys! Its essential. 

How amazing does that bird look?

It smelled amazing too. Don't worry if it looks dark in those spots, its because I poured some of that yummy NY maple syrup over it to caramelize on the skin. 

I still had a broken wrist so it was up to the boys to take this hefty bird out of the oven!

And this is what happens when you invite 19 people to a potluck. AMAZINGNESS

I got to carve the turkey! Took some time with the broken wrist but it was worth it!

The tofurkey just smelled amazing with the apricot-red wine reduction!

Fresh bread from Wegmans! and Salad cause we are greenies.

There is even a dessert table! See those pies at the end? Made from scratch by the rainbow haired kid you are about to see in a photo below. Phenomenal. 

Omgosh so many people!

A mishmash of plates, cups and silverware erupted to make sure everyone had something. 

o_0 More kept arriving.

And like true hungry college students we ate. 

Just a sample of my plate. 

After the food it was lazy coma hang around time. 

And still people picked because all that food was there. 

This guy is the pie guy! (Thats how I will refer to him) And he is in a food coma. 

I think I woke the boy up?!

The boyfriend and the pie guy have a bromance nap.

Boyfriend deciding if he should/is physically able to eat more.

Told you the Tofurkey was a hit. Demolished. I'll make this again for sure. 

Most of the food was eaten.

Look it's the girl! 

Photo shy shenanigans. 

Who wants to move after all that food, Not this girl!

The sad and triumphed remains of a once amazing 20 pound turkey.

So all in all this was a complete success. Everyone brought food, took food and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I'm glad I was able to create this whole event. Because the truth is that being around all of your friends while eating a ton of good food and having a loud fun time is priceless. 

By the way we had SO many people that we had to do this whole thing in the downstairs conference room and still we had to push some tables together! Good times!

Songs of this meal: Camouflage, By: Bran Paisley & Rain Is A Good Thing, By: Luke Bryan

On a few side notes: The cast is off! Hello right hand! I missed you so! Today is 1 month+N with my boyfriend. N being the month we dated before hand. Our anniversary is a math equation... Only at ESF. 

Ha ha anyway its almost 4:30am so let me say I hope everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day/ Holiday and a fun NOT MACED black friday! (I did! Got all my holiday shopping done!)

A big project is coming up soon so stay tuned, fight off the zombie horde and read my blog!

Sorry about the spelling >.< Its late! 

PEACE OUT