If you live where you have some space, try deep frying the turkey. Its really easy to do and so much more tasty than baking one. It's kind of hard to fuck up.
Sadly, its probably gonna be in an apartment. So, no, there really isn't anywhere to set up a turkey deep-fryer. That said, I completely agree. I've had it cooked that way and its SO much better than baked.
I had one baked in one of those Reynolds baking bag thingies. I'd never had one that way. It was wonderful and you still get drippings to make gravy.Feedback and advice about using one.
I'm looking for some recommendations for some high protein meals. Trying to up my protein intake without having to drink a bunch of meal replacement shakes or mix protein powder into my meals. I tried using google but I ended up getting a bunch of weight loss, meal plan type websites which isn't what I'm looking for.
A couple of off the cuff tips if you decide to roast a turkey in the oven: If you can buy it from the store the week you are going to roast it (not always easy the week of a holiday, the stores run out quick), just stick it in the fridge and that way you won't wonder if it is fully dethawed. A foolproof way to make it delicious is to buy fresh stalks of your favorite herb (rosemary is my favorite, but thyme, sage, etc will work - you can find these in the produce section by the bagged salads), cut slits in the skin all over the turkey and shove bits of butter and the herb stalks underneath the skin. Then take olive oil and massage that turkey like you're trying to make it horny. (ps, you can also do this with chicken) Follow the directions that came with the turkey for baking time. Other must have tools that are easily purchased: Use a meat thermometer to check the temp. Use a baster to periodically suck up the juices from the bottom of the roasting pan and spew it out over the top of the turkey.
I hate how fake protein shakes taste, so I try to get as much from natural sources as possible: Eggs a million different ways (omelets/quiches/frittatas/fried/salad) Salmon/trout/shrimp Any kind of beef/chicken/pork/turkey is great (except for most of the deli sliced stuff) -- lean towards white meat or buffalo if you're worried about fat, but they're all fine in moderation. Use them to make chili, steaks/chops, meatloaf, roasted chicken, whatever. Snacks: nuts/sardines/cottage cheese Are you looking more for ideas like this, or recipes? If you want recipes for this kind of stuff, let me know, happy to post.
Orange & Sage Roasted Turkey Rub: 2 tbsp. grated, dry orange peel 2 tbsp. dried sage 2 tbsp. Kosher salt 2 tbsp. veggie oil Turkey 1 whole bunch fresh sage 2 oranges handful whole cloves Mix rub and apply to bird. Tie sage with butcher's string and place in cavity. Pierce oranges with multiple holes and insert cloves into half of the holes on each orange (about 10-12 cloves per orange). Stuff oranges into cavity on top of sage. Roast according to directions as per weight, let rest for 15 minutes before carving, having removed sage and oranges from the cavity. This is incredibly simple and delicious. The juice from the oranges permeates the turkey meat, making it virtually impossible to dry the bird out and brings out a truly unique flavor with the sage. MODS: Maybe a Thanksgiving recipe thread is in order?
Sounds fantastic. Can this still work with stuffing though? Seems like the orange flavor would infuse with the stuffing as well and most likely enhance it too(a good thing.)
Not a chef at all but my family seems to like it. Do not remember where I got it. 2 pounds baby red or Yukon gold potatoes, quartered 1/4 cup butter, melted 2 teaspoons pressed garlic (or more to taste) 1 teaspoon salt (I use garlic salt) 1 lemon, juiced 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese Preheat oven to 350 degrees F Place potatoes in an 8x8 inch baking dish. In a small bowl combine melted butter, garlic, salt and lemon juice; pour over potatoes and stir to coat. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over potatoes. Bake, covered, in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes, or until golden brown
Recipes. Should have been a little more clear, so I will be. Basically my daily intake nets me approx 140-150g of protein. I'm never really hungry during the day but I'd like to mix things up while improving my overall protein intake (170-180g range) without resorting to powders or nasty supplement shit. I eat lots of eggs/egg whites for breakfast with chicken or turkey sausage and I'm getting bored. I know there are tons of foods I've never experienced that could be easily incorporated into my meals to bump the protein levels just curious if anyone has some great recipes.
Cool…here are a few of my favorites. Some of these are my own, some I’ve collected from various sources over the years. Rainbow Trout 1 whole (1lb or so) rainbow trout sweet paprika olive oil kosher salt 1) Preheat oven to 400 2) Wash fish, pat dry 3) Lightly rub with olive oil 4) Sprinkle kosher salt and paprika 5) Bake for 20 minutes, finish by broiling for a couple of minutes to make the top crispy Asian Grilled Salmon You can scale this to as little as one salmon filet. 1 side of salmon, boneless, skin on (approx. 3 lbs) 2 Tbls Dijon mustard 3 Tbls soy sauce 6 tblsp olive oil 1 clove garlic, crushed Mix everything but the salmon, then pour half of the mixture over the fish. Marinade on the counter for 10 minutes, throw on a hot grill. 4-5 minutes per side. Take it off and let it rest for a few minutes before eating it (it should still be a little rare in the middle when you take it off). Roasted Chicken 1 chicken 2 carrots 2 stalks of celery 1 onion 1 lemon 1 bulb of garlic bunch of fresh thyme 2 Tbls melted butter Preheat oven to 425. Chop up the carrots, celery and onion, and toss them in a roasting pan with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Wash the chicken and pat it dry (inside and out). Salt and pepper inside and out, then cut the lemon and garlic right in half and stuff them into the cavity with the thyme. Rub the melted butter over the top of the bird, then tie the legs together with twine and tuck the wings under. Cook for 1.5 hours, rest for 10 minutes, eat with the vegetables on the side. Use the leftovers to make chicken soup: 1 onion 2 carrots 2 stalks of celery 32oz chicken stock fresh thyme whatever chicken meat you have left over, pulled apart with your hands 2 bay leaves Chop the onions, carrots, and celery. Coat the bottom of a dutch oven or soup pot with olive oil over medium heat, and throw the veggies, thyme and bay leaves in there until they’re tender, about 5-10 minutes. Pour in the stock, bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix in the chicken, cook until the chicken is warmed up. Eat. You can add noodles or rice here too. This is something really easy to do with ground beef/chicken/turkey when you don’t feel like doing anything hard: 1 onion 1 clove garlic a few mushrooms 1 lb ground beef/chicken/turkey 2 tsp cumin kosher salt/pepper 1 tsp cayenne pepper 1-2 tblsp olive oil Chop up the onions, mushrooms and garlic and sauté them over medium heat in olive oil and a little salt until they’re softened, about 10 minutes. Add the ground meat and seasonings and brown the meat (if you’re using very lean meat, you may need to add a little more oil). Add ¼ cup of water (or broth if you want more richness) and cook until the liquid is gone, about 5 minutes. Eat over brown rice with a salad. Take leftovers, put them over brown rice and stick them in the fridge for a pre-made meal that tastes just as good the next day.
No, you're not going to have room in the cavity for dressing with the oranges. However, I also have an excellent sausage and cornbread stuffing w/ tart apple recipe that I cook separate from the bird that is a huge family favorite. I'll dig that one out and post it (along with my Praline Sweet Potatoes--guaranteed to kill a diabetic just by putting it on his plate.) In the 21 years we've been married, we've hosted Thanksgiving 19 of those years, and the 2 we didn't, we cooked the meal at each of our parents' houses. It's one holiday we do really well. One year, we made 3 birds: the orange sage, a deep fried and one smoked. What I miss about living in New England is, we had a great poultry farm close to my office and I would get a truly fresh-killed turkey every year. And by fresh, I mean when I went to pick it up the day before, the package was still warm. No antibiotics or steroids. The whitest white meat you've ever seen. Guy Fawkes: It's 7 Acres Turkey Farm--Concord St. in North Reading
I recommend trying tuna tartare. There are plenty of good recipes out there, but I'd stick with adding veggies that are high on protein as well (sweet corn, edamame, etc.). I add wasabi seaweed salad which will give you an added protein kick. That's the beauty of tartare, you can pretty much add in anything you feel will enhance the protein.
Here's another pasta sauce recipe, from relatives in Rivisondoli, Italy. Ingredients: 1 beef soup bone. 2 hot Italian sausages 3 medium sized carrots 2 large stalks of celery 4 cloves of garlic 1 onion, no need for a jumbo one, standard size will do 2 28oz cans of Contradina tomato puree As for spices, you will need basil, oreggano, parsley flakes, bay leaves and black pepper Procedure: - Take a small frying pan and heat up some extra virgin olive oil. No need for much, perhaps two tbsp. - Add in the soup bone, two sausages, and the whole onion. Do not cut the onion. Brown the onion and the meat. It's not terribly important to cook the sausages all the way through in this phase. - While this is occurring, put the tomato puree into a large sauce pot. Begin heating the pot on medium. Rinse your cans out to get all of the puree with about 1/4 can of water each. You can use 1/3 can of water if you prefer, but do not add too much or your sauce will be runny. - Add your browned soup bone, onion, and sausages into the pot. - Clean your vegetables and trim the brown off the celery. Cut the celery and carrots into three pieces each and add them into the sauce pot. - Cut the skin off your 4 garlic cloves and add them in. Do not cut up the garlic. - Season with equal amounts of basil, oreggano and parsley flakes. - Add in 3 bay leaves - Add in black pepper. Do not use as much pepper as basil/oreggano/parsley flakes. - Stir ingredients. Reseason to your preference. - Turn the heat to medium high and stir constantly until your sauce is at a boil. Not stirring will result in burning. - Bring the heat down to medium low and cover your sauce. For the next hour, stir every 5-10 minutes The flavors all come together very nicely. Your vegetables are there to reduce acids and add sweetness. To get all the excess sauce off your vegetables and soup bone, simply take them out of the sauce pot and put them into your pasta bowl. Stir them around with your noodles until the sauce is mostly off and then toss them out. Enjoy.
Bacon Wrapped Turkey: Some are already asking how to do their birds up. This will be the third year I bacon wrap my turkey, and it is really the only way to go (unless you deep fry it; deep frying is a much better way to go). Brine your turkey over night. I used a kit because it was dirt cheap and came with a bag, but it is easy to make a brine on your own. The next day, rub the turkey with butter, rendered bacon fat, or oil (not all three). If you can slide some of this under the skin, even better, but don't be tearing at that skin. Season with salt and pepper. Take out the bag of giblets and the neck bone (save these for later) and stick an onion or two sliced in half, chopped up carrots, and garlic. No need to peel these things, they are just to add flavor to the stock and the bird, not to eat. Also put in some herbs (I like thyme, rosemary, and basil for this). I also like to stick some of these under the skin after chopping finely. You can put in some bacon inside the bird as well. I do not put stuffing in my bird, one reason is you have to cook it longer and it may cause the bird to dry out. Put the bird on a rack. Some folks like to breast down at first and then rotate to breast up. Up to you. Put some chicken or vegetable stock in the roasting pan and some white wine. Enough to come at least above the first knuckle on your pinky, but you can go more, just as long as it is well below the bird. You don't want to poach or steam the bird. I like to also add onions, garlic, and carrots to the pan. Some also add celery to both the pan and the inside. Up to you. I will usually put a foil tent over the bird. Definitely wrap the ends of the legs in foil so those don't burn. Have the oven pre-heated to 400 and then put in the bird. The key now is to baste that bird every 30 minutes. The more you baste it, the juicy it will be; however, the more times you open the oven, the longer it will take to cook. I don't know the formula off hand for cooking it, but get a meat thermometer. You want to stick that in the thickest part and wait for it to get to about 145 degrees. Then you know it is bacon time. Take the bird out of the oven and just put strips of bacon all over the breast and wrap the legs in bacon. You don't want to see any skin here. Then put it back in. In about half an hour, or whenever the bacon looks nice and crispy, take it out and pull the bacon off (except for the legs) and put it back in after giving it a solid baste. I crank up the temp more and let it go for about 10-15 minutes, until the bird is golden brown. The first year, I took the bacon and used it in the salad. I was going to do something with it last year, but people just started eating it as an appetizer. I also like to use some of the bacon fat to make a salad dressing (stick it in a plastic container with balsamic vinegar, mustard, some sugar, and season to taste. Seal the container and shake it. Instant dressing). Make a gravy with the pan drippings and you can use your giblets and neck bone for added flavor. Seriously, last year this technique yielded breast meat that was juicy several days later. The dark meat was amazingly juicy. The gravy will be the shit. Everyone will love you. And those drumsticks are a late night treat when you chow through them with the bacon still on.
I'm going to look like a nerd with this post (you guys should have figured that out already, though), or at the very least somebody who works for the magazine, but here goes... Clean Eating Magazine. For those of you who like simple recipes that also follow a clean eating format (no white sugars, flours, processed foods, bad fat, etc.) this is phenomenal. It's published every other month. What I do is go through it and record the recipes I like onto cards and then keep a box with all of them broken down by breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. For any of you looking to plan ahead on your meals to keep your fitness regime in check, or just to budget, I find this works really well and I haven't found a bad recipe yet. Do be cautious, though, because sometimes either their portion list or nutritional info is screwed up (i.e. this recipe makes 30 pancakes...no it doesn't, you liars). Don't rely on it if you're counting calories or protien/carb/fat percentages.
My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe in the world. I like it even better than the infamous Neiman Marcus recipe, which is also really good but some people aren't a fan of oatmeal. One of the major pluses about this recipe, besides it's buttery flavor and texture, is that it still tastes good for days. There are some chocolate chip cookies that only taste good barely cooled from the oven. Several days later and I still want to inhale these things. Which is why I usually only make half the recipe, I don't need this much temptation around. I got the recipe from a friend of mine, who told me that she just tweaked some of the ingredients of the toll house cookie recipe. So I call them Michelle's Modified Toll House Cookies: 2 1/4 cups unsifted flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 cup butter-flavored crisco (do yourself a favor and buy the sticks) 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup dark brown sugar 2 tsp vanilla 2 eggs 2 cups chocolate chips 1 cup chopped nuts - optional Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In small bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt, set aside. In large bowl combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla, beat until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add contents of small bowl, mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop balls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for at least 10 minutes, then watch after for level of doneness you prefer. Given that when I do the half recipe it makes about 18 good sized cookies, I think it makes about 3 dozen for a whole batch.
Alright, I'm looking for two separate recipes which will be combined into one unholy awesome dish. I could do both of these simply by buying a packet or ready made at the grocery store, but I prefer to do it the hard way (and hopefully the way-tastier way): -Blackened Cajun Chicken -Alfredo Sauce (or similar cream sauce) Anyone who's got either, let me know.
Here's a recipe for the blackened spice that should work for you. 1 teaspoon Paprika 1 tablespoon Onion powder 1 c Sweet paprika 1 tablespoon Salt 1 tablespoon White pepper 3 tablespoon Cayenne 1 tablespoon Garlic powder 1 tablespoon Rosemary 1 tablespoon Black pepper Combine the ingredients in a bowl until completely mixed. I recommend tasting it first because you have your own tastes, so doctor the final result any which way you want. Don't know what kind of chicken you are going to use, but what you want to do is soak the chicken in buttermilk for about a half an hour, then let dry for another 1/2 hour. If you're going to grill the chicken, then I would bloom the spice in some melted butter, let the butter cool and then liberally brush the butter onto the chicken before it goes on the grill. If you find the seasoning dripping off, then keep coating it to your own taste. Keep a sprig of fresh rosemary out and keep whipping the chicken with it as it grills. You can also add a 1/2 teaspoon of sandalwood dust to the mixture which will add a nice smoky wood flavor to the chicken while also giving it a nice aroma. Lastly, if you are using chicken breast, what I do is use the steps above, only don't grill the meat, but pan sear the outside until the seasoning sets in. Don't cook it all the way through. Take the chicken and wrap it up like you're rolling a joint. You can stick pretty much anything in the middle, I've seen it done with blackened smashed potatos or even brie dusted with your blackened seasoning, it's entirely up to you. Then wrap the wrapped chicken pieces in bacon put in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the bacon looks nice and crisp. Good luck, let me know how it worked out.