Good Press

In our school distr ict in West Virginia, public school students have no classes the en tire week of Thanksgiving. This is because the first day of rifle deer hu nting season is Monday of that week . This is a rural area. When I was child, we got Monday off, were supposed to go to school Tuesday and Wednesday, and got Th anksgiving Day and Black Frid ay off. Well, hu nters gonna hunt. So the distr ict allowed hunting students to take "education al leave", guarantee ing th em ex cused ab se nces for Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't know why or when the county s tarted giving students the whole week off. If you're looking for something your children can do while they're off from school before Thanksgiving, have them make place cards for the dinner table. I found this idea on line a few years ago -- probably from Family F un ma gazine. All you need is some white cardstock (colored would wo rk too), tempera or other washable p aint in a variety of colors and their ...

I thought I broke the cranberry sauce. When cooking, I don't usually work from memory or make things up as I go along. And certainly not when there is a holiday meal at stake. I wanted to make the cranberry sauce today and I couldn't find the magazine with the idea I had read. So I risked spoiling the sauce and struck out on my own, using the recipe on the bag of cranberries as a guide. To the bag of Ocean Spray cranberries, I added 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water, per the directions. But then I wanted to add 2 cups of frozen mixed berries I had. And I felt like the sauce needed orange juice and cinnamon. So in went 1/2 cup OJ and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. I set it to boiling on the stove. It looked like a lot of really runny liquid. I worried for many minutes and tried to calm my fears with the mantra "It'll cook down. It'll cook down." It cooked down. When I poured it out into a bowl to cool, my husband tasted it and pronounced it good. Whew! So it is ch...

The elephant in my kitchen all summer has been a turkey. This year for Thanksgiving, I decided to reserve a live turkey from a local farmer who sells produce at the farmer’s market across the street from my house. On the market’s opening day in June, I sought him out and signed up for my bird. Only then he tells me how big the birds were last year – and how much they cost per pound. Last year, his family cooked and ate a 48-pound turkey. That’s dressed weight, meaning the turkey had been stripped of feathers and other inedible parts. And his price, derived from the cost of organic feed, was $2.75 per pound. That would be $132 for my Thanksgiving turkey. He called to another shopper, Loretta Wotring, to tell me her story. She bought a 38-pound turkey. It barely fit in her roaster pan. And she had just served her family the last of the frozen leftovers that spring. I started to sweat. As the weeks slipped by till Thanksgiving, I tried to save money and I occasionally worried how I was go...

Turkey seasoning rub In making the turkey this year, I am going against everything I advise about 1. Trying something new for a major dinner instead of having a trial run first and 2. messing with how people expect something to taste. I am going to rub a mix of seasonings under the skin instead of just butter. This recipe comes from TV show host and cookbook author Jim Coleman. COLEMAN'S RUB 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon onion powder 1 teaspoon ground sage 1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1 teaspoon powdered cumin 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme 1 teaspoon powdered coriander 1 lemon Wash turkey inside and out with cold water and pat dry with paper towles. Using hands, lift up the skin (without tearing) and rub herb mixture onto meat under skin, starting near the neck and continuing to rump. Squeeze lemon over turkey and use remaining herb mixture to caot the top of the bird. I...

Chef Harv died before I got to make his acquaintance. Harvey Christie could've gone quite far, but was just getting companies and concepts off the ground when he crashed his van in December 2006 and died. He had founded a gourmet company in the Eastern Panhandle that served The Greenbrier Resort among others. But his most intriguing concept was a company that handled the overhead for people who wanted to make and package their own products to sell. For example, let's say I had what I thought was a great recipe for Granny's apple butter but opening a commercial kitchen and getting the proper permits was too overwhelming. I could call Harvey Christie's Gourmet Central, take my apples and spices to their kitchen and use their equipment to prepare, package and even label my product before marketing it. Harv's wife and partner are still running it last I heard. What got me thinking about Chef Harv? I caught a 15-minute cooking show he hosted on our local public televisio...

This is a tasty way to sneak in a vegetable and stretch a pound of ground meat. BURGERS WITH MUSHROOMS AND ZUCCHINI 1 pound lean ground turkey 1/2 pound mushrooms, wiped clean, trimmed and finely chopped 1 cup whole-wheat or Italian breadcrumbs (see bonus tip) 1/2 cup grated zucchini 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 heaping tablespoons ketchup 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper Nonstick cooking spray 1 tablespoon oil 4 bagels, split and toasted Steak sauce or ketchup for topping Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Use a food processor to chop the mushrooms and grate the squash. In a large bowl, mix the meat, mushrooms, breadcrumbs, zucchini, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, salt and pepper until well-combined. The mixture will be moist. Form into eight patties. Coat a large nonstick ovenproof (like cast-iron) skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil. Add the burgers and brown on one side for 4-5 minutes. Turn the burgers, then ...