10 Kitchen Tools That Will Save You Money

By Kimberly Palmer

Slow Cookers

Preparing a meal in advance to cook all day while you’re out and about means coming home to mouth-watering smells and it saves you time in the evening. You won’t be tempted to order take-out because your meal is already made.

Cheese Grater

Grating your own cheese takes an extra five minutes in prep and clean-up time, but the results taste better and are cheaper than packages of pre-shredded cheese.

Hand-held blender

This device is easier to use and clean than traditional countertop blenders. It works well for soups, smoothies, and baby food.

Cookbooks

Even seasoned chefs can use some inspiration now and then, and that’s where cookbooks come in. Classics like the Joy of Cooking and new favorites such as Barefoot Contessa’s How Easy Is That? provide recipe ideas as well as time and money-saving tips.

 

Herb Garden

Purchasing the occasional handful of basil or mint can set you back $3 a pop. Instead, plant a small herb garden so you can brighten up your sauces and pastas on the cheap.

Coffee Maker

We’ve all heard how quickly the costs of daily coffee purchases can add up. A simple drip machine or French press allows you to make fresh coffee whenever you want it. As long as you buy high-quality beans, your cup of joe can taste just as good as what you find at the local café.

Tea Pot

The same make-your-own philosophy applies to tea. Jazzing up your teapot can make you more excited about brewing your own Earl Gray.

Pizza Cutter

As long as you grate your own cheese and either make your own dough or buy cheap pre-made dough, homemade pizza can be cheaper than store-bought slices. Owning a pizza slicer makes your creations look professional.

Microwave

One of the biggest money-savers is learning to waste less food. Re-heating leftovers in the microwave helps with this goal.

Food Storage Containers

High-quality storage containers that can hold up in the freezer, dishwasher, and microwave make it easy to use all of your leftovers. Plus, you can turn your freezer into a fast food joint with an array of ready-to-go meal options.

RECIPES OF NEW YEAR 2011

A New Year, A New Start, A New Chapter, A New Beginning, Forget the BAD, Cherish the GOOD. Recipes of New Year...

Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time. 

Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time. 

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, prayer, meditation, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing—don't do it), and one well-selected resolution.

Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor. 

Happy New Year to All Of You...

The Home WineMaker's

So - you have decided that you want to try your hand at making some wine. This article will describe the basic steps and some of the pitfalls to avoid to make sure your first batch turns out good enough to drink.

First things first - how much do you want to make? tinyurl.com/2vhfr29

I recommend at least 5 gallons. Why? Because beginning home wine makers just cannot wait to taste what they have made. In addition, 5 gallons is only 25 bottles. So you'll get the batch finished, and then you will try a bottle or 2 or 3. Then you'll wait a week and try a few more bottles. Sooner than later, it will all be gone before it has a chance to age and get really good.

If you just want to do something quick and simple, you could do a gallon in a plastic milk jug. The drawback is, once you have tasted it a few times - it's all gone and you'll have to start over.

With 5 gallons - you just might be tempted to let a few of the remaining bottles age. Believe it or not, the biggest mistake beginning winemakers make is not letting their wine age in the bottle. The difference in taste is, to put it mildly, AMAZING.

The next step is to decide which type of juice you want to ferment. Grape juice, cranberry juice, muscadine, and cherry are all good starter choices. The first 3 should produce a rather normal tasting wine while cherries usually will give you a sweeter wine. Of course, you can always add sugar to sweeten your wine after it is stabilized and has stopped fermenting.

The next step is to completely sterilize all of the containers and equipment you will be using. Some people use extremely hot water, others recommend using a sanitizer. I like the sanitizer because you do not have to scald yourself with the hot water. The sanitizing solution should be poured over everything and should make contact with all surfaces. Then you just rinse everything off with hot water.

Put your juice in your 5 gallon bucket - that's the next step. BUT - it's not time to put your yeast in yet.

We first want to sterilize our "must" or our juice. You can do this with 4 Campden Tablets. These are sulfite tablets that will get rid of any type of bacteria that could be present in the juice. Crush the tablets and then dissolve them in some warm water and then pour them in your juice or "must". Let this sit overnight while the sulfites do their work.

24 hours later, you are ready to sprinkle in or "pitch" your yeast.

The type of yeast you decide to use is really a question that is beyond the scope of this article. However, I'll say that there are hundreds of different yeast strains for literally thousands of different uses. For our first batch, we can just use the bakers yeast that you can easily find at the grocery store. Later, and after some research, you will probably want to use one of the specialized strains.

Now - wait 7 days and watch. you will want to cover your bucket with a cloth towel or even put on a lid with an airlock in place. The wine will be perfectly safe during the fermentation stage because it will give off lots of Carbon Dioxide. The Co2 will protect your wine from the oxygen in the air.

Once the 7 days has passed, siphon off the wine from the bucket into another bucket or into a glass "carboy". These can be found online or at your local wineshop. When you are doing the siphoning, you will want to get as little of the gunk on the bottom of the bucket as possible. This gunk is called "lees" and is made up of dead yeast. Wine that sits on top of the dead yeast sometimes can develop an "off" flavor.

Once your wine has been transferred into what is called your "secondary fermenter", then you will want to put an airlock in place and just let it sit for about a month. There's a song about this part - "The Waiting is the Hardest Part". It's true. Every budding home winemaker just cannot wait to taste the stuff - but - don't do it. It surely won't hurt you but during this month it is still fermenting. The wine isn't finished yet. Be Patient.

After the month is up, you will want to transfer it back to your bucket, again making sure that you leave the gunk on the bottom. The process of transferring the wine from one vessel to another is called "racking". Why? That's something I am going to research for another article.

You are just about there. Theres only one thing left to do and that is to add a "stablizer" to your wine. A stabilizer inhibits yeast reproduction. In essence, it stops yeast from doing it's thing. Part of what happens during yeast growth and reproduction is that it releases Co2 gas. If that is happening after you bottle the wine, you will get popped corks or exploded bottles or both. So - put in the stabilizer, stir the wine well, and then return it to your Secondary Carboy fermentation vessel. Be sure and clean out the secondary and sterilize it before you do.

Now, all you have to do at this point is wait until the wine clears. Gravity is your friend here. Of course, it won't hurt a bit to bottle cloudy wine. But if you wait another month, it should be crystal clear. The clearing process is another subject that you can find a great deal of information on in other guides and books and I suggest you read up on this subject when you get a chance.

Bottling time! All you have to do is make sure your bottles are clean and sanitized and just siphon the wine into the bottles. Corking the bottles can be a little difficult and i highly recommend you get some king of corker. Again, these are available online or at your local wine shop.

Now - BE PATIENT and let the wine sit in the bottle for 6 to 9 months. The longer the wine ages, the better it will taste - I guarantee it. Happy winemaking!

Recipes for Beauty Products

by Blair Gwilt

We all want to look our best and beauty products help us to look and feel the best. But often it happens that we don't have time to visit a salon or we always cannot afford buying expensive beauty products. Homemade beauty products help in this case. You only need to know the recipes for preparing these beauty products; you are all set to use them according to your convenience.

Today, the market is flooded with a wide range of beauty products - starting from hair to toe - we get beauty products for each and every part of our body. However, homemade products have their own specialties, as you get the pure and chemical free products to use, means less harm on your skin as well as hair.

Beauty Products For Your Hair

Here are some quick recipes for taking care of your hair. The ingredients are easily available; you will perhaps find all of them in your kitchen.

Hair Conditioner: Beat one egg yolk and mix a cup of plain yoghurt into it. Rub this mixture before washing your hair and wait for 30-45 minutes. Rinse well and finally wash it.

Hairspray: Take a lemon and cut it into 4 pieces. Place them in a pot with 2 cups of water. Boil it until the water becomes half. Cool, strain and keep it in a spray bottle. Keep this spray in refrigerator to use it for a long time. If you find the spray is sticky, you can add a little more water into it.

Hair Color: Coffee gives a warmer glow to brown hair. Brew a cup of coffee and cool it completely. Then strain it and rub it in your hair. Leave it for 20 minutes and then rinse it out.

Beauty Products For Your Face

Face masks can moisturize your face skin and make it glow with beauty. Here are some recipes for preparing facemasks.

Citrus fruit mask: Take 1-tablespoon of honey and 2 tablespoons of orange juice. Mix them with 1 apple puree with ½ teaspoon sage. Mix all the ingredients well and then heat the mixture for few minutes in microwave. Apply this pack evenly on your face and keep for 20 minutes. Then wash clean with a warm washcloth. This mask is suitable for all skin types.

Cucumber mask: Take ½ cucumber, 1 egg white, ½ teaspoon of lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon of apple mint, and make a mixture of these ingredients using a food processor or a blender. Keep this mixture in a refrigerator for 10 minutes. Then apply it on your face and keep it for 20-25 minutes. Rinse off with hot washcloth and then rinse with cool water. This mask is very good for oily skin.

Other Beauty Products

Recipes for teeth whitening product: Take 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of salt. Make a paste and apply this on the yellowish tint. Take the inner white part of orange skin and rub your teeth with it. This will help you get a lovely white shine.

Recipes for home made perfume: Place cheesecloth in a bowl and fill with 1 cup of flower blossoms of your choice (Lavender, Lilac, or any highly fragrant flower). Pour water over the flowers until they are completely covered. Cover the bowl and keep it overnight. Next day, take out the water by pulling the edges of the cheesecloth and gently squeeze the scented water into a small pot. Simmer the water until one-tablespoon amount is left. Cool and place it in a bottle. You can keep this perfume for 1 month.

You don't need to use costly beauty products to maintain your beauty. You can achieve professional results following the recipes for beauty products and using these products.

Source: http://www.PopularArticles.com/article47642.html

Christmas Candy

Kids Love To Cook. Make Homemade Candy With Them.

by Peter Bertonich

A skill that we seem to be losing in our society is cooking. Proper homemade cooking, the type grandma used to do. Homemade cooking should be taught to all kids, and it's up to you as a parent to do so. And start your kids with homemade candy.

If you start teaching your kids to cook something they don't like they probably won't develop a love of cooking. But if you start the kids out cooking homemade cakes or homemade candy you can just about guarantee that the kids will love it, and want to do more.

Last night I did some great cooking with my kids who are 8 and 11, and I can't still see their faces as they licked out the bowl. Kids love cooking something that is easy to cook and yummy to eat. Homemade candy is both easy to cook and yummy to eat.

And once they learn to cook some they'll graduate from candy to bigger things, and they'll have a skill for life.

There's some basic things to remember. And it applies whether they're cooking candy or anything else. Allow plenty of time and expect a mess. That's normal, and part of the learning to cook process for kids. Start them on a simple recipe and start them on simple steps from that recipe, so the hard ones yourself.

And of course you've got to keep them away from heat, so avoid candy, for example, that requires a syrup. Syrup is heated to a high temperature so kids shouldn't be stirring it, for example. No syrup burns.

There's some wonderful simple homemade candy recipes to begin with. I already mentioned syrup. I've suggest keeping away from making any candy that starts with a syrup to begin with. Many candies need a syrup, and getting the temperature right can be tricky, and a little boring for kids. So start with some simple candy recipes first. Pralines and truffles would be a good start.

But when you've got the kids confident at their cooking they can try so many different candy recipes. I just love toffee, especially the chewy type of toffee, how about truffles, or nougat. Yumm.

Now I'm hungry, got to cook some candy.

But seriously, homemade candy making is a fine way to get the kids to learn, and enjoy, the art of cooking. They're making something they will be guaranteed to love to eat, and they're learning one of life's essential skills.

So get out there and find some hot homemade candy recipes, there's thousands, including lots on my website. It's cheaper to make your own candy and it makes great candy. Get the kids involved, in the future they'll thank you for it.

More Information:

Find some great Homemade Candy Recipes? Visit Peter's Website Homemade Candy Ideas and find a great Homemade Candy Recipe and get the kids cooking candy.

Source: http://www.PopularArticles.com/article184278.html

Recipes Chocolate Moist Cake

Hi Good Morning...Greetings from My Recipes Blog..

Today I want to share the Chocolate Moist Cake Recipes

Ingredients :

170 gm Butter (SCS Butter)

250 gm Soft Brown Sugar

225 gm Self Raising Flour

A Pinch of Salt

40 gm Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 tsp Sodium Bicarbonate

3 Eggs

100 ml Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 tsp Kahlua/Rum (Optional)

100 ml Water

1 tsp Hot Water

1 tsp Instant Coffee Granules

Method :

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sodium bicarbonate and salt for 3 times. Leave aside.

In another bowl, mix the hot water and instant coffee granules to a paste. Leave aside.

In another separate bowl, beat butter and brown sugar till soft and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with water and milk, starting and ending with flour.

Finally add vanilla essence, rum, coffee paste and combine well.

Pour the batter into a well greased and floured cake tin (8" round). Bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven and let it cool completely before decorating it. 




Chocolate Ganache
  
Ingredients :

• 250 g bittersweet cooking chocolate, chopped
• 235 ml heavy whipping cream
• 15 ml dark rum (optional)

Directions

1. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, watching very carefully because if it boils for a few seconds, it will boil out of the pot. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Stir in the rum if desired.

2. Allow the ganache to cool slightly before pouring over a cake. Start at the center of the cake and work outward. For a fluffy frosting or chocolate filling, allow it to cool until thick, then whip with a whisk until light and fluffy.  

 

Howdy...Enjoy your baking and happy eating!!!

Recipes For Happiness

Today I want to share with you all about this RECIPES FOR HAPPINESS....

Happiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources.

While direct measurement of happiness presents challenges, tools such as The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire have been developed by researchers. Positive psychology researchers use theoretical models that include describing happiness as consisting of positive emotions and positive activities, or that describe three kinds of happiness: pleasure, engagement, and meaning.

Research has identified a number of attributes that correlate with happiness: relationships and social interaction, extraversion, marital status, employment, health, democratic freedom, optimism, endorphins released through physical exercise and eating chocolate, religious involvement, income and proximity to other happy people. Happiness is mediated through the release of so-called happiness hormones.

Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this older sense was used to translate the Greek Eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics.

Happiness economics suggests that measures of public happiness should be used to supplement more traditional economic measures when evaluating the success of public policy.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HAPPINESS RECIPES 1

The Ingredients : 

 

2 Heaped cups of patience
1 Heart full of love
2 Hands full of generosity
A Dash of laughter
1 Head full of understanding

Method :

1. Sprinkle generously with kindness
2. Add plenty of faith and mix well.
3. Spread over a period of a lifetime
4. And serve everyone you meet.

Author unknown

HAPPINESS RECIPES 2

" I have a little recipe that isn't hard to make But you must always start as soon as you awake.

1. Take a great big mixing bowl and fill it with a smile
2. Mix half a cup of sunshine with good deeds to last a while.
3. Add a pinch of work and play, a pinch of thoughtfulness and care
4. But don't bake it in the oven, just spread it around everywhere."

Author unknown

HAPPINESS RECIPES 3

You have to take a cup of what you think, stir in a few ounces of what you feel, and sprinkle generously with what you do.
If what you think is positive, what you feel is joyous, and what you do is loving then you will always create a glorious dinner of delight and happiness for yourself and others.

Joseph Mozzella


HAPPINESS RECIPES 4

1. Take twelve whole months, cleaning them thoroughly of all bitterness, hate and jealousy.
   Make them just as fresh and clean as possible.
   
2. Now cut each month into twenty-eight, thirty or thirty-one different parts, but don't make the whole batch at once.
   Prepare it one day at a time out of these ingredients.
   
3. Mix into each day one part of faith, one part of patience, one part of courage and one part of work.
   
4. Add to each day one part of hope, faithfulness, generosity, and meditation and one good deed.
   
5. Season the whole with a dadh of good spirits, a sprinkle of fun, a pinch of plan and a cupful of good humuor.
   
6. Pour all of this into a vessel of love.
   
7. Cook thoroughly over radiant joy.

Author unknown

HAPPINESS RECIPES 5

The Ingredients :

4 glasses of LOVE
2 glasses of PATIENCE
3 glasses of KINDNESS
4 glasses of UNDERSTANDING
1 glass of FRIENDLINESS
1 glass of FAITH
5 spoons of HAPPINESS
5 spoons of TENDERNESS
1 liter of HUMOR

Method :

• Take love and patience, mix with faith. Separately combine tenderness, kindness and understanding.
• Combine everything and mix with friendliness and happiness.
• Sprinkle abundantly with humor.
• Bake in sun rays.
• Serve every day with generosity of your soul
• Garnish with a smile and serve with quietness, unselfishness and cheerfulness.

Author unknown

HAPPINESS RECIPES 6

Ingredients:

1 cup of plenty
2 spoonfuls of humour
Bundle of joy
Generous helping of health
Sprinkle of blessings
Flavour according to taste
Bake lovingly
(valid for 120 years)

Author Unknown 

 

HAPPINESS RECIPES 7
 

Serves: All Mankind

1 Funny bone
1 Big smile
1 Big handful of patience
1 Dash of Courtesy

Mix with lots of love and humility.
Put through a sieve to strain out all unkindness.
Serve to anyone and everyone you meet.

Author Unknown

HAPPINESS RECIPES 8

Simplicity is the key here, and being in touch with your key values. 

Tend your goats
Take your children by the hand
and walk humbly with God
Be Happy

R.Giraldi

HAPPINESS RECIPES 9

Ingredients :

1 bag of smiles
2 cups of sharing
2lbs of positivity
1/2 cup of good humour
1 cup of self-esteem
2 spoonfuls of simplicity
1 dash of goodwill
4 drops of easy going
and 1 packet of life loving

Home-made happiness always go down well, just like home-made smiley cookies. Just remember to share them around!

Source from http://www.happinesspages.com

Thanksgiving Day Recipes

With The Thanksgiving Day round the corner... What's in your menu list for this day that should fall on the fourth Thursday of November. 

Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes for First-Timers

EASY THANKSGIVING RECIPES FOR NEWBIES By Stephanie Gallagher about.com

STEP BY STEP OVEN BAG TURKEY RECIPE

It's easy to make turkey in an oven bag, but nowhere is it more important to gather your ingredients for a recipe in advance than when making turkey. Because raw turkey can harbor bacteria, you want to make sure you have everything you need at the ready, and that all of your ingredients and surfaces are kept clean while you're preparing your turkey.

You will need the following for your oven bag turkey recipe:

Oven Bag Turkey Step 1 - Gather Your Ingredients to Make Turkey in an Oven Bag

• 1 oven bag especially designed for turkey -- do not use a brown paper bag or plastic storage bag
• 1 12-24 lb. turkey, fresh or thawed according to package directions.
• Cooking spray.
• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 apple (optional)
• 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 Tbsp. poultry seasoning
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup apple cider (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup (optional)

You will also want to have kitchen shears or a small knife to slice open your turkey and a clean cutting board or mat for the vegetables.

After you've gathered your ingredients, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 2 - Cut the Butter to Flavor the Turkey

This is the first step in making a "compound butter" (that's just a fancy way of saying a butter flavored with herbs or seasonings) to flavor the turkey.

Although this step is optional, I highly recommend it because it really makes the turkey moist. There's nothing like slathering something with butter to make it moist, eh? But it's really important when it comes to turkey, because oftentimes the turkey breast can be done before the thigh, and if the breast gets overcooked, the turkey will taste dry.

Okay, so to make the compound butter, just cut the softened butter into 1/2-inch chunks and put it in a small bowl.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 3 - Mix the Poultry Seasoning and the Butter

Add the tablespoon of poultry seasoning to the butter and smash with a fork. Alternatively, you can use a mini food processor to mix the butter and poultry seasoning.

By the way, I'm using poultry seasoning here for simplicity. You can use whatever fresh chopped herbs you like in place of the dried poultry seasoning. Rosemary, sage and thyme are nice in a compound butter.

This compound butter mixture will go under and over the turkey's skin to add flavor and moisture to the turkey.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 4 - Set Up Your Vegetable and Turkey Stations

Set aside the compound butter you made in Step 3.

Now you want to make sure you have separate stations for preparing the vegetables and preparing the turkey. Place the vegetables and anything else you plan to use to flavor the turkey (such as an apple) on a clean cutting board with a clean knife. Set this up away from the sink -- you want to keep the vegetables (and fruit) away from the turkey.

Now you want to set up your turkey station. You will need a roasting pan (2 inches deep) large enough to hold the turkey. You will also need the oven turkey bag, cooking spray, the tablespoon of flour, kitchen shears or a knife to open the turkey package, clean paper towels and, of course, the turkey.

Put the turkey oven bag in the roasting pan, and set it next to the sink. Set the flour, cooking spray and paper towels right next to the roasting pan.

Put the turkey in the sink, but do not open the turkey yet. Notice how you haven't touched the raw turkey yet, so you can continue to prep your vegetables without having to wash your hands over and over again.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 5 - Chop the Vegetables

Chop your vegetables and your apple. These ingredients will go into the oven bag to flavor the turkey. These are just suggestions, by the way. If you like the flavor of oranges, you can use sliced oranges instead of the chopped apple. This oven bag turkey recipe is completely adaptable to your tastes.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 6 - Prepare the Turkey Oven Bag

Spray the inside of the turkey oven bag with cooking spray. This will help keep the turkey from sticking. Pour the flour into the oven bag, and shake so the oven bag is coated with the flour. It's alright if some flour settles in the bottom of the oven bag. There's no need to be perfect. The idea is just to keep the turkey from sticking to the oven bag.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 7 - Put the Vegetables in the Oven Bag

Put the celery and onion in the bottom of the oven bag (or whatever vegetables you're using - chopped carrots are nice in an oven bag turkey, too). Now set the oven bag in the roasting pan, leaving the oven bag open wide so you can slip the turkey in later.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 8 - Open the Turkey and Remove the Giblets

Now it's time to get your hands dirty. Use the kitchen shears or a sharp knife to slice open the turkey package, being careful not to pierce the turkey's skin. Reach in between the turkey's legs to remove the giblets. Oftentimes the giblets will be packaged in a plastic container. You can use the giblets to flavor your turkey gravy later. Or, if you're not planning to use them, simply discard the bag.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 9 - Remove the Neck from the Turkey

Now reach around the other side of the turkey and remove the neck. Like the giblets, the neck sometimes comes packaged in plastic.

When you've removed the neck, wash the turkey and pat dry with the paper towels you placed beside the sink. See? Aren't you glad you were prepared?

Oven Bag Turkey Step 10 - Rub the Compound Butter Under the Turkey Skin

Okay, this is the hard part. And honestly, you can make this oven bag turkey without bothering with this step at all. But it does make the turkey nice and juicy.

Remember that compound butter you made in Steps 2 and 3? Now you're going to spread that butter under and over the turkey's skin to flavor it.

First, gently loosen the skin by sticking your whole hand between the turkey breast and the skin. It's not terribly easy. You will have to gently separate the skin from the breast with your fingers, working your way down the breast until you've loosened most or all of the skin from the breast meat, being careful not to break the skin. (Actually, if you look closely, you can see I broke the skin. That's the beauty of the oven bag method. The turkey will still come out moist and juice because the oven bag helps lock in those juices, even when the skin isn't protecting the turkey meat.)

Now take a hunk of the compound butter in your fingers and smoosh it between the turkey breast and skin. Try to cover as much of the breast as you can with the butter. It's okay if you don't do it perfectly. Use about three-quarters of the butter mixture in this step. You will use the rest of the butter in the next step.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 11 - Rub the Butter on the Outside of the Turkey

Now take the remaining butter and rub it all over the outside of the turkey. It may get clumpy (remember, the turkey will be very cold). Don't worry; it will still taste great. Sometimes I melt the butter for this step and brush it over the outside of the turkey. Season the turkey with salt and pepper.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 12 - Put the Turkey in the Oven Bag

Put the turkey, breast side up (the usual way) in the oven bag, which should be sitting in the roasting pan next to the sink. If you're using apple slices or herbs or lemon slices to flavor the turkey, put them inside the turkey cavity now. I know I only mentioned apple in the recipe, but any of those flavor-boosters would work well here. Now wash your hands well with soap and warm water. *Sorry pic not available*

Oven Bag Turkey Step 13- Pour the Apple Cider over the Turkey

Mix 1/2 cup of apple cider with 2 Tbsp. maple syrup, whisking well. Pour the mixture over the turkey and into the cavity.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 14 - Tie the Turkey Oven Bag

You wouldn't think I'd make a whole separate step for this, but believe it or not, I get a lot of questions about this step. If you can find the nylon ties that came with the oven bag, use them to seal the oven bag. If not (which happens a lot), just tie the oven bag as you would a trash bag, making sure to keep the it loose around the turkey. Do NOT use trash bag ties or other ties you have lying around.

You don't want the bag to be too tight or it will stick to the turkey. Now tuck the oven bag ends under the side of the turkey. If they're standing up, they could touch the heating element in the oven and burn. Not good!

With your knife, cut six 1/2-inch slits in the top of the oven bag to allow the steam to escape from the turkey.

Now place the turkey in the preheated oven, and roast for 2-4 hours, depending on the size of the turkey, until an instant-read thermometer (compare prices) registers 165 degrees.

Oven Bag Turkey Step 15 - Let the Turkey Rest

Remove the turkey from the oven, and let it rest 20-30 minutes before carving. This is an important step, because it allows the turkey's juices to redistribute. If you don't let the turkey rest before cutting, as soon as you start to carve the turkey, the juices will run out onto the cutting board, and the turkey will dry out.

Look how juicy this turkey is! Don't you just want to get a bite right now?

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY TO YOU ALL!

 

RECIPES FOR SUCCESS

You are responsible for your own life.....Oprah Winfrey

That's why She's the famous person in the world. Talk about her story of success, A careful study of her life, therefore, would reveal what her recipe for success is. First, she discovered, quite early in her life, what she wanted to do with herself. She had a plan and, the rest, as they say, is history. She believes in herself. She is completely immersed in whatever she chooses to do. She works more than the usual eight hours a day. She understands the power of money, power dynamics, and has a strong value system. Oprah could not have been so successful over a long period of time without the above-mentioned qualities. She is truly a model for success. Anyone who desires to succeed can learn from and model themselves after Oprah. Source from The Book Written By Dr Emma S. Etuk, Recipe for Success, The 21 Indispensable Things That Can Help You Succeed in Life...www.oprah.com

OPRAH FAVOURITE THINGS 2010