Christmas Dinner: Roasted Goose

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!

Sure it's a few days late for this but I thought I'd show you my special Christmas dinner that I made for my family....



It's Christmas morning, it's 7:00am and Gracie doesn't want me to just cook this morning, she wants to open her presents, especially the one from Auntie Lisa and Christian.



Today I'm making a Christmas goose, something my family hasn't had since my Oma passed away three years ago. And everyone is really excited about it being on the table when my family eats at 12pm.



As a forewarning before you think, "ooo let me buy a goose and cook it" it's really really expensive so it's not something you just go and get. Danny actually ordered this fresh from a specialty butcher in Toms River (a half hour away) and bought it the day before Christmas Eve.



You start this by getting the fat out of the ass end opening of the bird. Goose is a very fatty animal and you need to get some of it removed before you cook it.



And there is a lot of fat to get out of there.



When you have the fat cut out you need to take the giblets and put it in a saucepan along with a bullion cube (demonstrated by Danny) and boil them up, this will give you something to baste with later.



Then take the bird and but it in a roasting pan that is raised, this thing is going to give off alot of grease and you don't want it to sit in it. Also put some spices on it. I just did the standard salt, pepper, garlic and celery seed.



Then you need to get 2-3 apples (depending on size) and wash them...



And you stick it a few times with a fork and insert them into the cavity of the goose. These apples will suck up some of the grease as the meat gives it off. I also like to spread it on bread later on... but it's an acquired taste...



Then put some water on the bottom of the pan, since there will be so much grease you don't want it to cook to the bottom of the pan, this just makes clean up a little easier... then you pop it into a 350 degree oven.



You then take it out about every hour to baste it. You also should flip it for one hour so the grease is a little more even through the bird.



You'll also have to remove some grease from the bottom of the pan, I told you a lot will come out. You need to cook this bird until it reaches 180 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh, it should cook in 3 1/2 to four hours.



When it's done you load it up in the car and bring it to Mom's house! I forgot to take pictures when I was there, but just imagine it... it was THAT good.

Holiday Gloog

This is the first time I'm putting an alcoholic beverage on my cooking site, basically I don't make many drinks, I let Lauren do that or the nice guy at the bar. But this is a special drink!!



Gracie and I have had a busy last few days, so a drink is in order for her mommy!



While Danny and I were in Finland we purchased Gloog, a Christmas drink that is basically like a mulled wine. What you get in this bottle is just juice, and you mix it with alcohol. You can get other versions of Gloog off the internet and they also sell it in the foods sections of Ikea. I'm not sure if it tastes the same, but I'll let you know when I try my other bottle I got from there.



You put enough juice in a saucepan, I just filled the glassed we would be using and put it in that way. You then throw in a cinnamon stick and warm the juice up. Don't boil it.



While that is warming up you can add some vodka (I like Svedka Vanilla) into a glass. You can do it to taste. Taste to me is two fingers. You can also use wine with this as well, but vodka is my friend.



Then you ladle it into your glass and enjoy. But now you have to pay attention to the MOST IMPORTANT step... repeat.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve Dinner: Bangers and Mash

Sorry for being away for so long, so be prepared for a couple of holiday food blogs. Christmas kept me pretty busy, as did the time leading up to it, but now I have a little bit of down time and it's long time due for a catch up.



It was Christmas Eve in the Tiny Ass Kitchen and all over the apartment, the kitties were also getting in the Christmas spirit...

We explored the other side of my husbands heritage by having some traditional pub food. When we were on honeymoon in London Danny had a chance to have Bangers and Mash and loved it, since then we've found a great English Shoppe in NYC and I've been making my own knock off version.

**SO PLEASE NOTE! I am NOT British. I do NOT know how to make real Bangers and Mash, and I've never seen a recipe for it, this is my own version so please don't knock me on authenticity. All I know is he says it tastes as good if not better then what he had in the UK.**



First you need to take some canola oil and put just a little in a cast iron pan and let it heat up. Don't put to much in, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan, otherwise the dish it way to oily.



I start the Bangers and Mash by cutting up three onions by cutting them in half and then making smaller wedges out of them. I put it in the pan with the oil. Now this next step will take a while, you need your onions to brown up and basically caramelize. Don't cook them on to high of a heat, you'll burn them. It takes some patience.



Take this point to get all your potatoes boiling in a pot of water. These sausages are served on a bed of mashed potatoes, so you can use some russet baking potatoes :-)



During this time I prep my sausages by cutting them apart. They come nice and twisted together from Myers of Keswick in NYC (www.myersofkeswick.com). Please also drop by and give them a visit, they have lots of great items, and not just meats. They are located in Greenwich Village between Hoatio and Jane Street at 634 Hudson Street. Just so you know I use Cumberland sausages for this dish.



When the onions are browned and ready to go I put the sausages in and brown them up just a little bit. When they start to brown on the outside then it's time to begin the gravy.



Take about two cups of water and pour it into the sauce pan, and then add in some milk, I like to use Parmalat milk because I like the way it tastes, but you can do whatever you feel.



Sorry I don't have a measurement to tell you but when I cook I don't always use measurements I just go with the flow.



Mix that together and then take two Knorrs Bullion cubes (chicken or beef, whatever you have) and add that to the mix. Then you basically let the bangers, well cook!



When they are done you make the mixture into the gravy by adding a spoonful of cornstarch to a bit of water and dilute it and pour it into the liquid and it'll nearly instantly become gravy.



At this point you'll also have to mash your potatoes. I'm lazy and do it in my kitchen aide mixer but I was SO excited to eat I forgot to take photos of most of this process, so therefore you get to see how excited Danny was....



And my mostly eaten dinner!

Merry Christmas Eve to all!

Black Bean & Corn Quesadillas

It's time for a quick fix! Despite being off of work today I wasn't feeling like making a big dinner that was time consuming, after all I did make soup too today. So for dinner tonight I made some black bean and corn quesadillas, they are super easy and vegetarian and I'm sure if you put more into it, you could make them vegan, so here we go!



I started the dinner by draining and washing some black beans (my favorite) and setting them aside.



I preheated the oven to 350 and sprayed a cookie sheet and laid down a tortilla, layered it with some shredded Mexican cheese (courtesy of Aldi).



I then layered on some black beans and some corn and top it with a touch more cheese and then I put on the other tortilla. You then repeat it for the second one if you are making it for more then just yourself.



Then stick them in the oven for 15 minutes at 350.



To have something extra special, I decided to use an avocado to put along side of the quesadilla. I'm new to avocado, so I started with a peeler and then was able to pop off the rest of the skin.



I then cut it in half and removed the pit.



I also put out some salsa that I got in PA yesterday at the Christmas Markets, it's a great Mango salsa. I highly recommend it.



At that point the quesadillas were done and served, and they are nice and hot on the inside and crispy on the outside.



And they always get Danny's sign of approval.

Oh and if your wondering where Gracie is, she was busy playing with Bella at the tree skirt....



Enjoy!

Zero Point Vegetarian Soup

I eat soup every single day. I normally go out and buy Progresso soup in the can. I always get the Weight Watchers ones since I've been watching my weight since January (basically I got tired of being fat) Since I've been on WW I've lost 25 pounds. I've gained a few here and there (but never more then 5) but I have always lost them shortly after I put them on. With the New Year coming I am trying to lose another 10 pounds to get me to 140 pounds - my big goal, one I didn't make even though it was my New Years Resolution.

Because money has been tighter I wanted to stop buying the Progresso, so I made my own soup that should be either 0 or 1 point per one cup serving. There are also very few measurements with this soup, I just threw in what I had, so you can change it yourself as you feel necessary!



I started the soup by putting three cloves of garlic in a garlic press and getting all that garlicky goodness into the pot.



Then I went to chopping up an onion in my little mini processor. My eyes are very very sensitive to the onion so this makes it so I can actually cook with them.



I had a teaspoon of olive oil in the bottom of my stock pot and I had it turned on as well, so I began sweating the onion and garlic (this means keep it on a low heat!)

While that did it's thing I started cutting up my veggies:



First I did some green beans.



And then I started on some carrots.



At that point my onions were done and I added in 7 cups of water....



And two vegetarian vegetable bullion cubes, I normally don't have to much room for stock in the house so this does the trick.



I also took a can of diced tomatoes to add to the mixture and gave it a stir.



I then added all my chopped veggies and added in two small bowls of corn to give it some nice color.



After that I opened a can of kidney beans for some extra goodness, drained and rinsed them before adding them in.



Then I added spices. In this was a bay leaf, died basil, dried oregano, thyme, adobo, salt, & pepper.



When it started to cook and come to a boil I added in a small can of tomato paste to give it make a nice tomato overtone, as I love tomato based soup. It also made a nice smell that attracted my Gracie.



When everything was done I portioned it out into 1 cup servings for my lunches and two larger ones for Danny, one for his dinner on Wednesday as I have an office party and a smaller one for a lunch for him.

Hope you enjoy it! Sure is tasty!