I’ve brined my turkey for the past 9 years and will never go back.  It truly makes a difference!  True - getting a 14 pound bird into the bag sloshing it around for 24 hours is a little nuts…but it’s worth it.  This is the recipe I’ve been using that I clipped out of a magazine all those years ago, modified a bit to suit our taste.  Enjoy and happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours! 

Brine:
8 cups apple cider (or juice, just be sure it is unsweetened) 
2/3 cup kosher salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon black peppercorns, crushed  
1 tablespoon whole allspice, crushed
6-8 (1/8-inch-thick) slices peeled fresh ginger
10 whole cloves
2 bay leaves

2 cups ice cold water

Combine the first 8 ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 3-5 minutes, until the sugar and salt completely dissolve.  Remove from the heat - add the 2 cups ice cold water and let brine cool COMPLETELY. 
Brine should be cold before using!  This is the basic brine solution…This recipe takes you through all the steps to complete the brine process and roast the bird. 

Will you be watching Top Chef Texas this November?  I know I will! 

It’s the start of another school year - time to talk about LUNCH.  Let me get the kid off to school and let’s chat next week. 

I love this recipe for espresso ribs, via Michael Chiarello.  Have a great long weekend Foodie Families!  Enjoy. 

Our latest trip to Orcas Island included a repeat dinner at Allium Restaurant.  It was another triumph of taste, artistry and yummy.  Plus we learned that our daughter loves scallops!  Please share your vacation food experiences too! 

Well tomorrow is the last day of Kindergarten for my dear daughter.  That means it’s been one full year of packing school lunches and I have to give myself an A-.  I limited the pre-packaged stuff (mostly cheese sticks and apple sauce) and always tried to mostly use fresh fruits, meat and veggies as the main meal.  I think I over did it on cured meat/nasty nitrates but overall the kid ate well.  Can I help it if she loves really good salami?  You know you do, too. 
Toward the end of the year she did ask to buy lunch.  I let her - but I have to admit it was tough when the menu items included “chicken rings” and nachos.  I adore Jamie Oliver.  I am a full-on member of the food revolution.  But when my kid wants to buy the Mac & Cheese lunch with her friends on one particular day, I’m not going to

So where is my fabulous food photo to go along with this post?  Um..we forgot to take one and these sandwiches were so delicious they were gobbled up quickly.  This is one of those recipes that you can toy with to your heart’s content.  The best thing you can do (and this goes for any recipe in my humble opinion) is use quality ingredients.  I used Boar’s Head meats and Grand Central Bakery Brioche bread.  I also had my local deli hand slice thicker slices of imported Swiss Cheese.  The sandwich was truly elevated to a special meal because I used the good stuff!  I’m not specifying quantities here - you can use as many slices of meat and cheese as necessary for your # of people.  I’m no recipe writer but this is basically what I did.  I combined a few recipes I found online so if you need more details look for them on the usual suspect recipe sites.  Hope you enjoy - please let me know if you make them! 

Homemade Monte Cristo Sandwiches ~ You’ll Need:

A loaf of good quality Brioche Bread, sliced into sandwich slices
Deli Ham
Deli Turkey
Swiss Cheese
Eggs (2 eggs per sandwich)
Milk
Mayonnaise
Mustard (your choice, I used Dijon) 
Powdered Sugar
Berry Preserves

Monte Cristo Sandwiches are ‘triple decker’ so you’ll need 3 slices of bread per sandwich.  You are basically layering a turkey sandwich with a ham sandwich!  Spread a little mayo and mustard on two slices of bread.  Top one slice with 1 slice of Swiss and some turkey. Put the third slice of bread on top, add one more slice of cheese, some ham and top the sandwich.  Some people like to cut the crusts off - I didn’t and it worked fine. 

Wrap the sandwich tightly with plastic wrap, compressing it a bit, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 6 hours. (Wrapping the sandwich in plastic wrap, compacts it, and prevents the egg batter from seeping in.)

Whisk eggs and a splash of milk per egg in a large mixing bowl.  Heat a griddle or large non stick pan to medium high heat.

Unwrap your sandwich.  Dip the entire sandwich in the egg mixture to coat.  You are basically making ‘French Toast’ with a sandwich! 

Butter your griddle or pan.  Gently place your sandwich in the pan and cook on both sides.  If you’d like to, using tongs - griddle the sides of the sandwich as well.  (This is especially helpful if you have thick sandwiches like I did!)

Cut in half and serve with a little powdered sugar on top and berry preserves.  You’ll be glad you did. 

Give this a whirl - WOW!  Amazing. 

OK - not just gardening… but Pacific Northwest Native Plant gardening?  Well you are in luck.  My husband recently started blogging about our new adventures living in the woods.  Even if this specific type of gardening isn’t your ‘thang’...his writing is both funny and informative.  I’m pretty darn proud of him!  Plus our family gets to do fun things like plant salal and Oregon Grape seeds together (see photo). 
I myself am still on the steering committee for our local Community Garden (P-Patch) that should be fully operating by next year.  It’s an exciting project that I love being a part of.  Are you growing anything fun in your yard or veggie beds this year?  I’d love to hear about it! 

This is an old debate that I’ve just never really understood.  I get having a children’s menu for smaller portion sizes and price…but why this obsession with separating who eats what?  I’ll admit we are very lucky to have a child with an adventurous palate…but we have worked hard to make that happen! 
Last weekend our family had dinner at Lark - a lovely Seattle restaurant dedicated to the best in local Northwest cuisine.  We had one of those Living Social vouchers that was going to expire soon and decided to forgo date night and instead make it a Sunday supper.  I was very pleased to see other families with well behaved children there.  What did surprise me were the parents who lugged out several Tupperware containers of plain pasta, yogurt and milk for their twin girls who looked to be about 4-5 years old.  The wait staff was very accommodating and the parents did order a nice variety of dishes.  Perhaps the girls had allergies?  This clearly was the best option for their family it’s not up to me to tell others what works.  They looked like they were all having a great time together.  I just wanted to throw this scenario out there to see what others think.
I don’t force our child to eat anything but I do have expectations that she at least try.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on dining out at a ‘higher end’ restaurant.  Do you do it with kids?  How do you handle it?