We are just so excited about our urban garden that we have to share its progress. In May, we picked up a few tomato and pepper plants from the local Home Depot with aspirations of a harvest later this summer. We were a little skeptical about our space, if there was really enough sunlight to sustain growth, etc… so we made a minimal investment. We didn’t want to get our hopes up or throw away too much cash on the project. Lo and behold- we have a blooming garden filled with baby fruits and we couldn’t be more pleased! We have already harvested several Jalepino and cayenne peppers- and they couldn’t have had a better flavor! We have about 20 tomatoes on the vine and lots of blossoms promising more fruit to come! We will keep you posted on the harvest!

Carving Turkey
Successful turkey carving only requires one knowledge point: use an electric knife!  The dark meat can be quickly striped from the thighs and drumsticks.  The whole breasts can be quickly removed from the bird and then evenly sliced on the cutting board.  The presentation of the completely sliced breasts is beautiful. 
 
Turkey Soup
Thanksgiving cooking usually takes most of the day.  So, we turkey soup lovers can find it difficult to motivate our cooking staff after dinner to go back in the kitchen and begin making good turkey soup. 
 
To solve the conflicts proceed as follows:  As the turkey is carved, keep the bones and carcass in a separate dish until after the dinner.  Use kitchen shears to cut the main body to remove the back bone and reduce the size of the large pieces.  Then, put the bones and small turkey pieces in a large foodsaver bag, remove the air, and freeze until later–end of kitchen conflicts!
 
Turkey Soup Soup Recipe
There is lots of flexibility in making turkey soup.  The key thing is:  making it taste good.  So your preference for seasoning is certainly acceptable.
 
1.  In a large pot put the carcass of at least one turkey.  Bring to a boil and simmer for about 2 hours–or until the meat falls off the bones.
 
2.  At the same time in a second pot put celery, carrots and onions.  Cook slowly using a little of the turkey broth to get it started.  The celery will cook down and provide a lot of liquid, so at the beginning only use a little broth.
 
3.  When the turkey is falling off the bones, transfer the turkey broth to the second pot with the vegetables.  Add powdered chicken flavoring, salt and pepper, as required, to taste.  This is the key step, because this is the flavor of the soup. Sea salt is excellent to get the flavor and minimize the amount of salt. 
 
4.  Drain the turkey and empty onto a flat pan so that the bones can be removed.  Set the turkey aside.
 
5.  Cook any kind pasta you wish in a separate pot until it is just about done.  Take off the burner and drain.  Stop the pasta from cooking by adding cold water, and then drain and put aside.
 
6.  When the vegetable/turkey broth pot is seasoned to taste, add the turkey to it and cook for a short while to blend in the flavors.
 
The soup is now almost done.  The last step is to ladel out the soup into bowls/containers for eating/freezing.  At this point the pasta is added back into the soup.
 
Freezing recommendation
Freeze the soup in containers of appropriate size for the number of people to be served.  After the soup is frozen, take it out of the containers and put in foodsaver bags.  Because the air is removed, the soup will easily last a year in the freezer.
 

1 C Margarine or Butter
1 1/2 C Sugar
3 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla (can substitute 1 Tsp of Nutmeg, if serving with fruit, etc)
3 1/2 C Sifted Flour
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
Colored Decorative Sugars
Cream butter. Add Sugar. Gradually creaming until Light and Fluffy. Add Eggs one at a time. Stir in Vanilla. Sift Dry ingredients together and then add gradually to cream mixture. Chill the dough thoroughly (3-4 hours). Roll on a well floured surface 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Cut in desired shapes and sprinkle with sugar. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets in a 375 degree oven for 6-8 minutes.

This is a great way to add some natural fallish elements into your tablescape.

Ingredients:
3 c mashed sweet potatoes (cook sweet potatoes in kettle until tender. Peel and use mixer to mash. Can also use canned sweet potatoes)
1 c granulated sugar
1/3 c pet milk
1/2 c melted margarine or butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
Topping:
3/4 c chopped pecans or almonds
1/2 c flour
1 c light brown sugar
1/3 c margarine or butter / softened, not melted
Beat eggs until well blended. Add all other casserole ingredients. Mix Well. Pour into a greased casserole dish.
Blend all topping ingredients together by hand until crumbled in texture. Spread on top of mix. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
ENJOY!

2 sticks salted butter
2 cups white sugar
1-1/3 cups light corn syrup
2 cups half & half
1 tsp vanilla
 
Put butter, sugar, syrup and half & half in heavy pot and cook til boiling. Stir constantly to keep from burning.  It takes about 45 minutes. I cook my caramels to about 225 degrees on my candy thermometer, the soft ball stage. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour into a 9×13 buttered pan. When cool cut into squares and wrap in wax paper.
 
To test the firmness of your caramels, take a teaspoon and drop a little of the boiling mixture into a COLD glass of water. Stir it around to cool it down, then take it out and taste it. If it is the texture you like for your caramels you are done. DON’T over cook, they’ll be like Sugar Daddy suckers.

Notes: This recipe was made in a Rival 4 Quart Ice Cream Maker that we picked up at Rural King for around $20.00. Your machine doesn’t have to be expensive to make good ice cream!
*Beyond the necessity of the sweetened-condensed milk, you can vary the fresh cream and milk that you use. From very creamy to ice-milk, most variations are successful. You can make the whole batch with heavy whipping cream- which really makes exceptional ice cream. Or, you can be slightly more healthy and use 2 quarts of cream and 1 quart of whole milk. We have also made this with 1 qt whipping cream, 1 qt half-and-half, and 1 qt whole milk. Its still good and maybe a bit healthier? The less cream you use, the more ice-milkish the ice cream.
Since Junket Ice Cream Mix can be hard to find, I have often used Jello Instant Pudding to help accomplish the same end. Its delicious to mix the strawberries with the Lemon Pudding. I recommend it!
Materials:
One Ice Cream Machine
2 large bags of ice
Ice Cream or rock salt
Ingredients:
2 lbs fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled. Can also be frozen from previous years.
2 cans eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
2 quarts heavy whipping cream*
3 cups of sugar- or to taste
Either: 2 (3 oz) boxes of strawberry, vanilla or lemon instant pudding mix
OR 1 (4 oz) box of either vanilla or strawberry ice-cream mix
1 quart whole milk (approximately)*

Rinse and clean the strawberries. In a very large bowl, blend them into a pulpy mixture. I did this in my mixer, but you can do it in your blender or food processor, as well. Add 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk, 2 quarts of the whipping cream, and pudding or junket packets. Mix thoroughly. Add sugar. This is a mostly "to taste" process… I add the sugar in the mixer so that the sugar can completely dissolve in the milk. But know, that a little more cream or milk will be added to the mixture later- so accommodate for that when sweetening!
Insert the paddle into the Ice Cream machine’s metal core. Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker. Add the final quart of cream or milk to fill it up, It might not allow for a whole quart- so just fill it up as needed. But do not pass the fill line.
Here, you can begin to follow your machine’s instructions, but for ours:
Put the metal core into the ice cream machine. Tightly secure the lid and add the top mechanism. Plug it in! As the machine turns the ice cream, Layer Ice and salt into the plastic bucket, around the metal core. Let the machine do the work of freezing. Typically, we continued to add ice and salt to keep it cold. When the machine stops, the ice cream is ready.
Remove the machine top. Carefully pull out the core. Rinse the core thoroughly (you don’t want the salt to contaminate the ice-cream). Pull off the lid and Enjoy!!!!

2 cups blackberries
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar + 1 tsp
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
1/4 chopped pecans
Cooking spray or butter
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine softened butter, 1/4 cup white and brown sugars and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix with a fork until blended. Add 1/2 cup flour. Mix until crumbly in texture.
Spray the bottom of cooking dish with cooking spray. Scoop about 1/3 of dough into pan and spread it out with your fingers to make a nice crust. Sprinkle with part of the pecans. Add berries. Sprinkle 1 tsp sugar on top. Finally, add the remaining dough/crumble mixture on top and sprinkle with remaining pecans!
Bake for about 25 minutes, until crumble is golden brown.
YUM!

1 Box Duncan Hines Lemon Cake Mix- and included ingredients
1 Package Cream Cheese
1 stick butter, softened
4 package powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp milk- or as needed
Prepare Filling by mixing all ingredients until well blended. Add more or less powdered sugar to thicken the filling to a good consistency- creamy and smooth. Fill pastry bag with thick ‘filling’ tip- Or fill a ziplock bag and snip the corner.
Mix cupcake batter and bake according to the box directions.
Immediately after removing cupcakes from oven begin filling.
Insert tip of icing bag into the center of the cupcake. Gently squeeze the filling into the cake. When the cake starts to sort of "swell" remove the filling tip and make a little dollop on top of the cake. Feel free to frost the cakes with the filling- or like we did here- add a raspberry on top!
These are crazy good. Duncan Hines is truly the best cake mix- I swear by them, so substitute at your own risk!

Salad
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
1 cup sugar
1 pound fresh spinach
2 cups thinly sliced celery
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
Dressing (recipe follows)
• Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add pecans and sugar; stir to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar melts around pecans and is caramel-colored. Remove pecans with a slotted spoon and spread in a single layer on a sheet of lightly greased aluminum foil. Cool completely and break up pieces as needed.
• Remove and discard stems from spinach. Wash spinach and pat dry with paper towels. Tear into bite-size pieces.
• Combine spinach, celery and strawberries in a large bowl. Pour 1 cup dressing over salad mixture; toss gently. Add reserved candied pecans; toss gently. Serve immediately.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Dressing

2/3 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3 to 4 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 cups vegetable oil
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
• Combine first 5 ingredients in container of electric blender; cover and process until smooth. With blender running, gradually add oil in a slow, steady stream through opening in lid. Process until thick and smooth.
• Transfer dressing mixture to a bowl; stir in poppy seeds. Cover and chill. Store unused portion in refrigerator.
Makes 3 3/4 cups.

Original recipe found at
http://www.cooksrecipes.com/salad/strawberry-spinach-salad-with-pecans-recipe.html