More Thanksgiving preperation

Yesterday I was rattling pans left and right. I made the Family traditional Eggplant Parmesan.  This is exactly how my mother would make it.  The trick to delicious egg plant is deep frying it and making it crispy.   The reason you want to deep fry the eggplant and make it crispy is so the breading will not dissolve when the tomato sauce is added to the dish.  I have been to many Italian restaurants and they lightly brown their eggplant or bake it and by the time they put it in front of me it is a big soggy mess.   Making it crispy allows the breading to stay on the eggplant.

Everything you will need to make the best Eggplant parmesan!

2 large eggplants, peal the skin and slice 1/8 of an inch thick.
15 oz. container of Progresso Italian style bread crumbs
1-1/2 cup of flour, add flour to the bread crumbs.
1/4 cup of parsley, add to the bread crumbs.
1/2 tea. salt and pepper
6 eggs, scrambled
Oil for frying
8 cups of your favorite tomato sauce.  I use my homemade tomato sauce.
4 cups of mozzarella cheese.

Put breadcrumbs, flour and seasoning in a large bowl and blend together.
Scramble all eggs in a separate large bowl.
Peel and cut the eggplant lengthwise 1/8 inch thick.
Heat oil in a frying pan.
Dip a slice of eggplant in the egg and then in the breadcrumbs. Pat the bread crumbs on the eggplant. Make sure it is fully coated.
Put the slices in the hot oil and fry on both sides.  Make sure they fry to a very rich golden brown.
Once they are done place them on a paper towel to drain the excess oil. 

Now that the eggplant is all fried you can start layering in a 3 qt. baking dish.
First put a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the dish.  Add a layer of eggplant then sauce, then cheese and keep going until your dish is full and the last layer should be cheese. 
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. 

You will have the best and most mouth watering eggplant you have ever eaten. 

I cut the egg plant in half because I was only making a small batch of the Eggplant Parm.  My little helper loves to cook like his mom.  He really loves the eggplant.  He will eat it right out of the fryer. 

You put tomato sauce on the bottom of the baking dish so it will not burn when it is baked. 

I didn't post the picture of the completed dish because I am not baking it until tomorrow.  I will post pictures then. 

Have a geat Thanksgiving!

Cooking all day!!!!

I have cooked so much today. I started at 9:00a.m. this morning and I just got done at 8:15 p.m. This sounds like allot of time but I rather do it today than do this all day Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving all I will have to do is put most of it in the oven. One of the items I cooked was the candied sweet potatoes.

Peal and rinse 6 sweet potatoes, then cut them into large chunks. Put them into a pot of boiling water until they start to get soft. Don't cook them all the way. They will become to soft and very dry when you bake them on Thursday.  If you are going to back them the same day you will want to cook them until they are tender. 
Mix together one cup of light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of applesauce, 1/4 cup of kayo syrup 1 tablespoon of melted butter and 1/4 cup of water. Mix until everything is dissolved.

Drain the sweet potatoes, Put the cooled potatoes in an air tight container then pour the sugar mixture over the potatoes and refrigerate until you are ready to bake on Thursday. Bake on 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Mix together for the sweet sauce.  Melt butter first.

Once the sweet mixture is dissolved, pour it over the potatoes.  

 Tomorrow I will post my egg plant parmesan that I made today.

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving is two day away and yesterday I started prepping all my meals. I don't fully cook them because I want them to be fresh Thanksgiving Day so I cook them in steps. Thanksgiving morning all I will have to do is put all the ingredients together, cook or bake them. Everything will taste as if I slaved over the stove and prepared it all that day.

I started with sautéing onions, celery and mushrooms for the stuffing. I add the sage and butter, and then in a container it went until Thursday. On Thursday all I will have to do is take the bag of Pepperidge Farm turkey stuffing mix, cook it with turkey broth instead of water, add my sautéed vegetables and done. Perfect and delicious!

I boiled my eggs for my deviled eggs.  I put the in the fridge until Thursday when I will make them. 

This year I decided to make cream of mushroom soup. I sautéed the mushrooms and in the fridge they went.

The next item I prepped for was the stuffed mushrooms.
I sautéed a small onion, diced into small pieces.

I added four slices of bread, 1/4 cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of dry parsley, salt and pepper to taste.  I cook this for just a few minutes to get everything blended.

1/2 lbs of ground beef.  I grind my own beef in a food processor.

   

   

You can buy ground beef and mix the bread mixture together and stuff your mushrooms. You will end up with the same taste.


I use a food processor because I like my meat 99.9% lean. As I am grinding my meat in the food processor I add 1/4 cup of olive oil. The meat needs a small amount of fat. I add back in the healthier fats from Olive oil. Once the meat is grinded I now add the bread mixture and pulse a few times to blend.

I then take a spoon and stuff the mushrooms with the beef and put them in a sealed container for Thursday morning when I will put them in the oven at 350 degrees until the tops are golden brown approximately 40 minutes.

Today I am starting on my candied sweet potatoes. I will start by cutting 6 potatoes into very large chunks. Then I will par boil them for 15 minutes. Don't cook them all the way. They will become to soft and very dry when you bake them on Thursday. Once they are done cooking, drain the water and set them aside to cool. While the sweet potatoes are boiling I mix up a batch of the sugar that these sweet potatoes will marinade and bake in. Mix together 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, three tablespoons of melted butter, 1/2 cup of water. Stir until everything is dissolved. Put the cooled potatoes in an air tight container then pour the sugar mixture over the potatoes and refrigerate until you are ready to bake on Thursday. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until tender all the way through. I will post the prep pictures later today.

funny sayings

I have to share a very funny moment.  I have to start out by reminding you how much The Cisco Kid loves his sugar.  Every night after dinner he and I will figure out what he will have for desert.  The boy will do back flips for his deserts.    Every so often out of the clear blue The Cisco kid will say, I love you mom.    This time he said I love you mom but right after that he said, you are my sugar.   Now that is a whole lot of love. 

The Cisco Kids Last Soccer Game

Saturday was The Cisco Kids last soccer game until spring. All I could say is, I'm glad it's over. The Cisco Kid on the other hand would play all year round. That took up allot of our time. Our week was very busy.

Monday was a free day so The Cisco Kid just has to do homework and practice his guitar. Tuesday is homework, practice guitar and there was a soccer practice. Wednesday is homework, practice guitar and Church. Thursday is homework, practice guitar and Cub Scouts. Friday is homework and guitar lessons. Saturday practice guitar and there was a soccer game. The only "what I call free day" was Monday and Sunday.

He can add this trophy to his collection.

My schedule always revolves around his schedule and I don't go easy on myself. Two days a week I go into school for three hours. One day a week I have my Wolf Den and we are working on all our achievements. That involves me working the day before to prepare everything, and whenever I could fit some extra time in I work on my booth. This week I have to change my booth all around and get it ready for Christmas.

I can’t forget to mention I ordered my Digital photo book. Finally!!!! I am two months behind schedule. The book should be here right before Thanksgiving. The final page count is a whopping 276. Through Blurb Books all these pages came out to a total of 176.00 including shipping. As a digital scrap booker I can tell you this is a steel. Now I am going to start my Cook Book. Family Heritage Recipes.

A couple of months ago I completed the front cover to my digital book and I thought it looked like a bridal shower book cover.   I decided to change it a little bit. Here are the changes.

The cover before my changes. 

 The new cover.

Sometimes mom's come up with really great ideas.

So far The Cisco Kid has expressed an interest in just a couple of items he wants for Christmas. The items he told us about was... a bike and a razor scooter. I have been trying to pry some information out of him on other toys he might be interested in. That has not been successful. Then it hit me!! The greatest idea!! I'm sure I am not the only one who thought of doing this but when it hit me I got so excited. I decided to tell the Cisco Kid that Santa is not taking just letters anymore. He is now working on his computer and looking to see if children have registered a wish list full of toys. I proceeded to tell him that we had to go to Toys "R" Us and opening a wish list account.  Once the account was open he will get a scanner so he can scan all the toys he wants into his wish list.


Saturday, right after his Soccer game, we went to Toys "R" Us and opened the account. The person that was opening the account was so cool about it. She really played it up. She explained to The Cisco Kid how the scanner worked and handed it to him. She told him to push the yellow button and run the red beam over the bar code. After she was all done he turned to me and said...... mom you can show me what a bare code is. I didn’t realize he didn't know what a bar code was. He now knows! I can't tell you how excited he was to have that thing in his hot little hands.

It was so cute watching him run around the store and scan all the items he wanted. He was scanning so much that we had to explain to him Santa couldn't possibly get him everything. Santa has lots of children to give toys too. He said I understand! I want to give Santa options. O.K. Then!!! I can’t argue with that.

We went up and down every Isle. When it was all said and done he had scanned 76 items.

Fun Days / End of the month wrap it up posts.

So much was happening in October and I didn't have enough time to make all my posts.  Better late than never.   So here is what I am going to call my post I haven't had time to do.  End of the month wrap it up posts.

My birthday was in October and my husband took me to my favorite restaurant. The Melting Pot. I love their cheese fondues with all the veggies and bread. Also their sesame battered chicken, dipped in their special sauces. Then for desert.... The chocolate fondue with cheesecake, strawberries, brownies, pound cake, bananas, rice crispy treats. It is always a treat going there to eat.

Another birthday celebration for me... was when my dear friend and her mother had me over for lunch. She surprised me with the most spectacular salad bar and wonderful gifts. She had set up this award winning salad bar you can ever imagine. Oh! Did I mention... I also love salad bars. Everything was so fresh and delicious.

The Cup cakes were so delicious.  There were so many different flavor cupcakes.  They all sounded so delicious I had a hard time choosing from the Oreo cookie, peanut butter, strawberry, wedding cake, double chocolate and Coconut.  I chose the coconut flavored cup cake and it was a perfect choice.  That was one good cupcake.  

 

 I thought that the lunch and the wonderful cupcakes was so a perfect b-day celebration.  But these two did not think so.  They had some more surprises for me.

My favorite candy is Godiva chocolates.  They are so delicious.  I love anything Godiva.  They even have Godiva Coffee. 

Such beautiful gifts.

This looks wonderful on my piano.  Thank you so much Kimberly.  I love it.  

That was a great surprise lady's.

                                                                CLASS TRIP
The Cisco Kid had his first Class trip in October and it was to  Sykes Farms Maze.  It was actually a very cool class trip. We first walked through a corn field maze.      The picture on her shirt is the entire maze.  They said that when you fly over the top this is the picture you will see.  They don't cut this maze every year they plant so when the plants grow the maze is already there. 

 Phase one of the corn field maze was the sunflower on her shirt.  Later in the day we walked Phase 2 and that one was the wording Sykes Farms.  Of course you couldn't tell one phase from the next but the kids enjoyed the adventure. 

They liked feeding and watching Ms. Piggy drink water.  

 I never knew chickens can lay colored eggs. Very interesting!!!!

They all went on a hay ride through the pumpkin patch.   

 Then they played on a very large air mattress.

 A tractor tire play ground and slides.  There was a sand box with a unique concept.  Instead of sad they used corn.