blueberry skillet

Holiday dinners are all fine and well, but my favorite mealtimes during this season are the breakfasts. I love getting up late and lingering around the kitchen table in my pajamas, eating leftovers and special breakfast dishes.

And so this year I thought I would add another morning entree to my holiday cooking repertoire: Blueberry Breakfast Skillet (isn't it pretty?).
Do you remember when I stocked up on blueberries this past summer and froze them in cup-size portions? I reasoned that someday, in the midst of cold winter weather, I would want to eat some of those delightful summer berries. And I was right.
While the blueberries defrosted in my cast iron skillet amidst sugar, cinnamon, and some tapioca, I whipped up the crust in my handy food processor. God bless the person who invented the food processor! They make dough-making a cinch.
And here it is, all ready to be rolled out. This buttery pastry is definitely on the sticky side, so make sure you have flour close at hand if you decide to make this dish. I had to start the rolling step over more than once before I got it right...
Transferring it to the blueberry-filled-skillet was also a bit of a challenge. The recipe recommends the aid of a rimless baking sheet, but I didn't have the patience for that. My transfer motto? Move quick. Very, very quick.
And here, friends, is the result. Hot and bubbly from the oven, it is sure to impress your overnight guests or hungry kiddos on Christmas morning.
To make this blueberry skillet breakfast for yourself and family this holiday season, click here for the free recipe from Sunset Magazine!

Note: I did make a few modifications to the recipe: I used half shortening and half butter in the pastry crust, blueberries instead of huckleberry, and I added a cap-ful of almond extract to the filling.

And, to be unabashedly self promoting, those lovely napkins you see beside the skillet are from my Winter Napkins pattern... I'm just saying...

Enjoy!

Hearty, Healthy Winter Meal

After last Friday's post about cookies, I didn't want you all to think that I only eat sugar during the holiday season. Because although I have been enjoying more than my fair share of holiday treats, I have also been cooking up a few winter-worthy dishes.
Like this hearty braised-chicken stew that we had for dinner earlier this week. It is a favorite at the Hillberry house, partly because it tastes SOOO good, and also because it is one of the easiest one-pot meals to whip up any night of the week.
First you start with root veggies. Incidentally, due to my veggie share at a local farm, I have a lot of these stashed around. Too many, really. So many, in fact, that I have been desperately searching for ways to cook them up, thus clearing space for my cookies.
And this dish is one of my favorite ways to use up carrots, onion and potatos. With chicken thighs. Allow me to just declare for a moment that chicken thighs are my favorite of all the chicken cuts. They are so tender and flavorful and easy to cook.

I would eat them every day if I weren't already committed to that strategy with the cookies.
After the chicken is floured and herbed (as seen in the ziploc bag above), it is browned. As an aside, I am very excited for a new braising pot that I ordered recently, soon to arrive at my house. It will make this browning process oh-so-much fun. I'll probably feel compelled to blog about it, so be forewarned.
Once the chicken is browned, the carrots and onion are added. Do you notice the vibrant color of those veggies!? That, my friends, is the difference between locally-grown-from-the-farm and commercially shipped from who-knows-where. It is so pretty. Probably healthy too, but you all know how I'm more concerned with the "pretty factor."
Then comes the potatoes. I was a teensy bit alarmed when I cut into the spuds on the left and discovered their purple insides. But after determining that they were, in fact, perfectly fresh and not harboring some kind of fungus, I concluded that they must grow that way naturally.

Of course if I'm wrong and I die unexpectedly this week, you'll know why.
The chicken and veggies now simmer for half-an-hour or so on the burner with some chicken stock and white wine.

It doesn't even need stirring. In fact, I went upstairs during this step and worked the whole time it was cooking--that's how low-maintenance this dish is.
The final result is a hearty stew with a ton of flavor and the recommended quotient of healthy vegetables.

Which is almost as important as the recommended quotient of holiday cookies.

Almost.

To make this hearty dish for yourself this season, click here for the free recipe from Cooking Light!

Enjoy your weekend!

I've Died...(part 2)

...and gone to turkey heaven. Again.

As I mentioned yesterday, my husband and I are deeply committed to cooking the perfect holiday turkey. This year we think we may have found it....

But before I unveil the finished bird, let's review. First there was the 24-hour brine.

And then the butterflying technique whereby the turkey is cut in half and laid out flat.

One additional intermediary step that I unfortunately forgot to snap photos of is the herbed-butter rub. This is where you create an intoxicating blend of herbs (the trifecta again: rosemary, sage and thyme), garlic, salt and pepper, and mix it into a buttery spread.

Then you rub the buttered mix in between the skin and meat of the turkey. This makes the turkey taste divine. Trust me. Divine.

And finally it is ready for the grill. As I said yesterday, this is the first year we have grilled our bird. And it is unquestionably the only way we'll cook our turkeys in the future.

It was that good.

That good, people.

The charcoal briquets were laid into the bottom of an old propane grill we had along with a drip pan and hickory chips (ummm...hickory...), and the turkey was laid out directly over the grate.

I only wish you could smell it.

And here, my friends, is the final result. It is a golden masterpiece if I do say so.

It took about two hours on the grill to get up to 165 degrees (the temp needed to avoid nasty things like food poisoning), and then another 10 minutes to rest.

And the flavor. Oh the flavor. The smoky goodness hits you first, followed by the more subtle hint of herbs. And both the white and dark meats were so juicy.

Let me just say that there were lots of high-fives and self-congratulations at the Hillberry house.

And of course some very hungry dogs hoping to get lucky.

They know a good turkey when they smell one.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the sides, like the artichoke parmesan stuffing I tried, and of course homemade apple pie!

in case you want to try:
recipe for grilled butterflied turkey from Sunset Magazine

I've Died (part one)...

...and gone to turkey heaven.

Every year since my husband and I tied the knot we have been on a quest to cook the perfect holiday bird. We watch the Food Network and take copious notes. We scour magazine recipes looking for tips and hints. We search the internet for prized tricks. And every year we get closer and closer to perfecting our technique.

This year was no exception.


It started with some salt. About a cups worth.

And then some brown sugar.

And molasses, naturally.

Followed by the trifecta of holiday herbs: rosemary, sage, and thyme.

These ingredients create the brine. That's right: brine. It's basically a soak for the turkey. Like a bath, only for Thanksgiving poultry.

And here is the bird. This one is about 12 lbs and has been sitting in the fridge defrosting for several days.

My handy helper is now rinsing the turkey. He gets very excited about turkey.

Very excited.

Now comes the Big Dunk.

See it soaking so happily in that brown brine-y goodness? From here it goes into the fridge for 24 hours.

After the customary soak, we decided to try something new this year. Martha calls it "spatchcocking," but of course normal people simply call it butterflying.

I promised to use the latter phrase because my husband feels uncomfortable with the term "spatchcock." For some unexplainable reason it makes him squirm.... Okay, maybe it is explainable.

It starts with some heavy duty poultry shears. These basically look like pruners, and they're needed to cut the backbone out of the turkey.

Once cut, you flip the bird and break the breastbone. For some reason this is a particularly satisfying chore for a man. I think it's the cracking sound.

Then you tuck the wings under the sides and prepare it to cook.

Butterflying the turkey cuts the cooking time in about half, which sounded perfect for us since we decided to ditch the oven entirely this year and head out to the patio grill.

But more on that tomorrow...

What is your favorite turkey recipe? Share by posting your comments here!

Day 4: a Cooking Student

Have I mentioned that I was a bit of a school nerd growing up? As in I always did my homework and never missed an assignment? And was a tiny bit obsessed with getting A's?

So naturally when Mrs. Marple instructed us to start in the kitchen on our quest for fine living, I took her seriously. True to form, I wanted to impress her with my scholarly diligence.

So I made chicken parmesan for dinner.

First I chopped up these lovely tomatoes, home grown from my friend who felt sorry for me after reading my "runt" post last week (thanks Sharry!), for the sauce.

And I blended them in my handy little hand chopper. It's probably one of my favorite appliances. But that's not surprising because I think smaller versions of big things (like food processors) are always adorable.

I like a little flavor and texture in my sauce, so I sauteed some onion and garlic....

And then added the tomato, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. On occasion I've also been known to thrown in a little chipotle for heat, but my little tryst with heartburn of late shut that idea down immediately.

Chicken parmesan is breaded, so I dutifully dredged my chicken breasts in egg and then seasoned bread crumbs. Then I cooked them in 1 tbs. of butter in the skillet until done, giving them a nice, crispy brown coat.


The final ta-da is to dump the cooked pasta (I used about 1/3 of a spaghetti package) into an oven-proof skillet, place the cooked chicken on top, sprinkle (or dump, as in my case) the parmesan cheese, and then pour the sauce over the whole thing. I broiled mine for 5 minutes or so until the cheese melted and everything looked all bubbly and delicious.

Then I served it with salad greens tossed in vinaigrette.

Of course cooking dinner wasn't exactly the point of Mrs. Marple's lesson. What she wants is a menu plan. So, again true to form, I did that too. I'll let you copy mine if you want--just email me at shillberry@stephaniehillberry.com for the pdf. Mrs. Marple probably won't notice.

She also gave us a hint about the next assignment--something about doubling up recipes to make life easier. I guess we'll learn more about that tomorrow.

Hope you have a great day!

Previous Days at the Institute:
Day 1: Acceptance
Day 2: the Secret to Fine Living
Day 3: Starting in the Kitchen

Day 3: Starting in the Kitchen

Mrs. Marple taught this morning that a good place to begin fine living is in the kitchen. Though this seemed a little archaic to us post-feminist types, she made some good points. Like how preparing fresh food is good for our health, and saves money, and provides opportunities for creativity. And how the kitchen is often the primary place for caring for friends and family.

Now I have to confess that I'm kind of hit-or-miss with cooking & meal planning, so I suppose that spending the next few days on the subject would be good for me.

Take for instance the dinner I made last night (thanks to Marple's encouragement). I've had these yellow "green" beans and zucchini in the fridge for awhile.

My ambition was to cook them days ago as part of a healthy, well-balanced dinner. But did I do it? No. Instead we've been eating tortillas with cheese and turkey sandwiches (in other words--foods that require no cooking).

I so often do this: stock up on good food with good intentions...and then end up passing over it in favor of convenience.

I'm not sure why this pattern is so tempting, though. It's not like cooking is so difficult, as Mrs. Marple reminded us. It just takes a little planning. Like with this cedar-planked salmon. It's a simple cedar board soaked in water with salmon placed on top--not difficult at all.


While I was preparing the salmon (with pepper...lots and lots of pepper), I thought about Mrs. Marple's comments about meal planning, and how important it is to at least make an effort at it.

And while the salmon was cooking on the grill, all cozied up in a foil blanket, I thought about how I know the importance of meal planning, but have a hard time disciplining myself to do it.

Frankly it often feels like a chore, and I get tired of the same repetitious recipes. But then I smelled the smoky, cedar goodness of this salmon, hot off the grill, and I considered that even hit-or-miss planning is WAY better than lunchmeat sandwiches and tortillas with cheese.

I mean, in less time than it takes to watch a sitcom I had made a well-balanced meal for just a few dollars.


And it tasted great!

So when Mrs. Marple assigned us a menu planning template as homework, I rolled my eyes at first. There are probably a million things I'd rather do than plan next week's meals. But after enjoying this salmon dinner, and how it beat the pants off of my previous weekly menu of handy convenience food, my attitude improved a bit. I guess you know what I'll be doing tonight...



How about you? What are your cooking/planning secrets? Share them by posting your comment here!

Previous Related Posts:
Project #1: Meal Planning
Flunking Homework
Food for Thought
Leftover Challenge