Turkeys Are Here

These are three floral turkeys I made for our Thanksgiving day. The one on the left is from floral class and has googly eyes and a waddle of chenille stem...the others I made from leftover flowers and stuff from the yard. The middle one is more of a wild turkey shape and has two candles in the middle, making them look quite striking at night.

Floral class turkeys, they all came out beautiful, some took theirs home before I could snap the pics. The one on the left is mine.


Home for the holiday....also got to make bud vase turkeys in class, if the big turkey sold in a florist shop, it would be about $45.00, the bud vase around $12.00, mine cost around $8.00 total (china mums for the breasts and poms for the body) and the birds of paradise were cut right here in Paradise! We learned how to "open up" the birds to get their full value, very slimy, guess that's why hummingbirds love them.

Just couldn't stop making arrangements!

Here's how it looks in El Cajon on Thanksgiving eve, just perfect.

Orange you glad I showed these pictures????

I'm making "do nothing" turkey, Stove top dressing, Costco mashed taters, roasted Brussels, Ocean spray cranberry sauce, frozen pearl onions, and Henry's pumpkin pie, gotta have a rest after all those floral designs.....phew...........

Oh and the do nothing turkey recipe I found somewhere on the web, is for a 12 pounder, you just use olive oil, salt and pepper, then place it on ribs of celery and roast for 2 hours, I have to check the temp (I think it was 375), for two hours, then tent for 1/2 hour and done. It says to discard giblets, but that I will not do since giblet gravy is my specialty, and that will get the "Scarborough Fair" treatment, you know, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, all from my garden..........

Can't wait to smell that turkey cooking, Steve loves the legs, otherwise I would make the breast only, but you have to admit, nothing looks better than a perfectly roasted turkey! Wish me luck :).

We are NOT shopping on Friday, just putting up Christmas lights and eating turkey sandwiches. YUM. Have a nice Thanksgiving, we have a lot to be thankful for.

Halloween's Over but Thanksgiving is Coming

I decided to make sweet potato soup and embellish it with a spider web, tasted good and was kinda fun to make. I kept my Halloween menu on the simpler side this year, I did manage my deviled egg "eyeballs", and had leftover frozen beef curry , so just heated it up and called it "ghoulash", then made "bear claws" out of biscuits I just cut four slits around.

SWEET POTATO SOUP

1.5 pounds sweet potatoes (about three medium), peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks
1 stalk celery, cut into chunks
1 medium shallot, chopped

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 slice fresh ginger (1/4 inch circle)

Dash of Madeira wine (ginger juice, see note)

1 16 oz. can chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon salt

Few fresh cracks fresh black pepper

1/2 cup half and half

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons honey

additional salt to taste

2-3 Tablespoons sour cream thinned with half and half

Note: I keep fresh sliced ginger in a covered container, covered with sherry or Madeira and use the juice as seasoning and just keep adding more ginger and sherry, it keeps forever in the fridge it seems.

Cook the potatoes, celery, shallot, thyme, salt, pepper, ginger and Madeira with the can of chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer about 35 to 45 minutes, until veg are very tender. Remove thyme stem and ginger round. Puree with immersion blender while adding the half and half, may need a little extra, if too thick. You want soup to be somewhat thick, not watery. Season with the butter, honey, and taste for salt and add more if needed.

Place sour cream and half and half in a plastic baggy, mix around and snip end, pipe concentric circles, drag from inner circle out to edge with a toothpick. My second try came out better, but I didn't snap a picture of the good one!

Makes enough for about 4 servings.

I think this would be nice for Thanksgiving, sans spider web, but perhaps some other design such as dots with the tips dragged out like the chefs do :).

We got no trick or treaters :(
Well, it's time to put the decorations away, I only have a sorta small collection (lots larger than Easter, but MUCH less than Christmas, oh my....), anyway I kinda hate to see them go away for a whole 'nother year, Furby actually talks from inside his box every once in awhile, spooky!!! This year, I am going to put them all in two boxes only, then discard the old stuff, I swear! I've gotten this far in collecting them all from their various locations, just can't seem to put them away yet......Steve was kind enough to offer to help me tomorrow to pack it all up and put up our Thanksgiving stuff which consists of a bad wreath and a fake corn swag, I'm upgrading that and will be making fresh floral turkeys I'll share later....

Miss Kitty always getting into the action, she is facinated by Furby and got quite engaged with it.