So, who's roasting a turkey for Thanksgiving next week? Whether it's your first time to roast a turkey or if you're an old pro, here are ten tips to help you assure that you roast the best turkey EVER!

1. First, decide whether you are going to buy fresh or frozen. Plan ahead if you're buying frozen. The safest way to defrost a frozen turkey is in the refrigerator and a 20 lb. turkey will take between 3 -4 days to fully defrost.
2. When choosing your turkey, be sure to read the nutritional label. A lot of the frozen turkeys are basted and will contain more fat and as much as four times the sodium as a fresh turkey.
3. Decide on the size of the turkey you need based on how many people you will be feeding. If you want leftovers, Butterball says to allow approximately 1 1/2 pounds per person; so for 15 people, you would want to buy a 22 lb. turkey.
4. Cooking times do vary depending on whether you purchased a frozen or fresh turkey. Allow 20 minutes per pound in a 350 degree oven for a defrosted turkey and 10-15 minutes per pound for a fresh turkey.
5. I stuff a turkey the same way I do a large roasting chicken. Just loosely fill the turkey cavity with veggies like carrots, celery, garlic, onions and maybe some fresh rosemary. And, I like to add fresh herbs under the breast skin. A turkey will cook more evenly if it's not densely stuffed. (Our family always baked the stuffing separate from the turkey, never stuffed inside the turkey or in the bottom of the roaster.)
6. For more even roasting, truss the turkey and tuck the wing tips under the shoulder of the bird. If you don't want to take the time to truss, just make sure the legs are tucked into the pocket of skin at the tail end.
   
7. Before roasting, brush the outside of the turkey with either vegetable or olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and make a tent out of aluminum foil and place over the top of the turkey. (This will prevent the breast from browning too quickly.)
8. Once you've got your turkey in the oven, just leave it alone! There is no need to baste every hour and opening the oven will drop the temperature which will effect the roasting time. About 45 minutes to an hour before you think the turkey is done, remove the foil so the breast can brown and baste with turkey juices. (Our mom also liked to rub butter on the skin at the stage.)
9. Don't rely on the little plastic thermometers to pop out. Instead, check the temperature of the turkey with an instant read thermometer. The deepest spot on the turkey, in the thigh, between the leg and the breast should read 165 – 180 degrees. Make sure you do not overcook or you will end up with dry turkey breast.
10. Remove from oven. Place the foil tent back over the turkey and let it rest for 20 – 30 minutes to allow to juices to redistribute throughout the turkey. To end up with a moist turkey, it's very important to let it rest. For best results, carve with a very sharp or electric knife.

Voila!  I know the first time I roasted a turkey, it was somewhat intimidating, but it really is pretty simple, isn't it?

photo credit: r_gnuce

~LilSis

Posted under Holidays

Our “little baking team that could” has been baking up a storm the last two weekends, and we have just one more week to get everything baked, packaged and organized!

We're trying to raise another $3000 for the SPCA of Texas here in Dallas.  Last year's sale raised $3055 and we really hope we can do better than that for the animals this year.

It seems like an overwhelming task to prepare $3000 worth of baked goodies, and then sell them all in just one day.  We all agree though that this is some of the biggest fun we have all year long!

So far, I have bunches of these things wrapped up in my freezer:

• Cranberry Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts

• Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts

• Strawberry Bread with Pecans

• Texas Pecan Pie Bars from the Pastry Queen

• Texas Pecan Pie Bars with Chocolate and Bourbon from the Pastry Queen

• Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies

• Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies with Mint Oreos

• Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies with Bittersweet Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

SisMama has made a whole slew of awesome pound cakes in lots of flavors, and K & P have made oodles of breads.

Next weekend, we'll be making all of the candies and other treats that we don't want to freeze.  If you're in the Dallas area, email me or leave a comment if you'd like to come visit us at the sale and I'll send you the details.  If you'd like to donate to the SPCA of Texas but you're too far away to visit us, you can use the web site that's been set up for our donations.  It's http://www.spca.org/goto/bakesale.

Meanwhile, wish us well!  The SPCA of Texas – like lots of animal organizations right now – is in serious need of funds in this economy, and we'd really like to help!

~BigSis

Posted under Animals

Anyone who knows us, knows that we take any opportunity we can to get together with friends and family. Unfortunately, our family can't be together this Memorial Day so we'll be getting together with friends. I thought it might be fun to serve up some festive Patriotic Cocktails so here are just a few ideas.

Here's an easy, Red, White, and Blue Cocktail.

Red, White, and Blue Cocktail

Red, White, and Blue Cocktail

1 part grenadine
1 part peach schnapps
1 part blue curacao

Simply pour each part slowly into a shot glass in order:  red, white, and blue.

Here are two more really easy, yet very colorful cocktails.

Yankee Doodle

Yankee Doodle

1 part blue raspberry flavored vodka
2 parts sour mix or lemonade
1 part tonic water

Just pour into a rocks glass, stir and serve over ice.

Patriotic Punch

1 part red cherry flavored vodka
3 parts lemonade

Pour into a rocks glass, stir and serve.

And, I really like this one. I'm sure you could substitute vodka for the gin, if you're not a gin lover.

Blueberry Cobbler

Blueberry Cobbler

1/4 c. fresh blueberries
1 small lime wedge
1 1/2 t. sugar
1 1/2 oz. gin
2 oz. club soda
Ice

In a cocktail shaker, muddle 15 of the blueberries with the lime wedge and sugar. Add the gin and ice and shake well. Strain into a highball glass half-filled with ice, top with the club soda and garnish with the remaining blueberries.

And, how about some red, white, and blue jello shots? Find all three recipes here on recipezaar.

I always like to serve up a festive cocktail, or two, for whatever the occasion may be, so maybe this gives you a couple of ideas.

Of course, this Memorial Day, we will be remembering what our service men and women do for us every day.

And, we will be remembering those who served our country that are no longer with us. SirHoney's brother was a Marine and served our country in Vietnam. We will definitely be thinking of him this Memorial Day, as we do every day.

~LilSis

Posted under Food

I finally made a much needed trip to the Origins counter the other day. I was completely out of a few of my favorites that I use on a daily basis:  Night-A- Mins, No Puffery, and Dr. Andrew Weil's Plantidote Mega-Mushroom Eye Serum. I talk about my love for these Origins products in this Sister Showdown: Moisturizers and in this Sister Showdown: Eye Creams.

I also purchased, for the first time, the Clear Improvement Mask that BigSis recommended earlier in this Sister Showdown: Exfoliating Products.

Origins Clear Improvement

I've used the mask once already and really love it! I don't know why I waited so long to buy it! My pores were screaming to be unclogged!

(I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get that initial breakout that you hear some women get when they first start using this type of product. I have an appointment with my very handsome dermatologist tomorrow and I'll be totally embarrassed if my skin is in the middle of a breakout when I go see him.)

It's been so dry here in CA lately, that my skin is dry, dry, dry and very dehydrated. So, before I left the counter, the sales person suggested that I try the Drink Up mask.

Origins Drink Up

I told her that I was pretty satisfied with my present hydrating mask and didn't want to purchase their mask right now. If you've been reading our blog, you might remember that I love the Bliss Triple Oxygen Hydrating Mask.  I love it so much that I never would have purchased this Origins Drink Up mask had the salesperson not sent me home with a sample. I've used it twice already and I absolutely LOVE it!

This ten minute mask is truly amazing! It feels silky and smooth and smells wonderful. The scent must come from the Apricot Kernel Oil. I love how Origins describes this mask:

When skin faces a marathon of dehydrating circumstances, fluid levels can run too low. The steady sips of moisture that sustain it under normal conditions simply don’t hold water. Smoothness evaporates. Skin feels tight and flaky. What it needs is a great big gulp. It’s all you can drink as nature’s cocktail of caretakers drown dry skin’s sorrows. Thirst-quenching Algae Extracts deliver an extra helping of hydration while emollient-rich Apricot Kernel Oil acts like a “fountain of youth”. Feel skin drink in the softness, lap up the luxury.

Dare I say it? I like this mask more than the Bliss mask! And, for the icing on a cake, the Origins Drink Up is $21.00, whereas, the Bliss mask is $52.00! Score!

Is your skin is in need of a great big gulp of moisture? If so, then Drink Up!

~LilSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

If you're like us, we grill outside almost every single day in the summer. Actually, here in CA, we use our grill year round. If I have the choice of whether to cook inside or do something up outside on the grill, I'm always outside.

I love this idea! I haven't tried it yet, but it makes perfect sense.  You simply thread your veggies on a skewer, brush lightly with oil and cook alongside the meat. While the meat rests, you puree the sauce ingredients in a blender.

Veggies for Creamy Green Chile and Avocado Sauce

These three sauces were the ones shown in the June 2009 Food & Wine issue.

Creamy Green Chile and Avocado Sauce

Creamy Green Chile and Avocado Sauce

1 firm Hass avocado—quartered, pitted and skin left on for grilling; remove skin when blending
1 small onion, quartered
2 tomatillos—husked, cored and halved
4 peeled garlic cloves
1 jalapeño—stemmed, seeded and quartered
1 poblano chile—stemmed, seeded and quartered
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup water 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Thread the avocado, onion, tomatillos, garlic, jalapeño and chile onto skewers. Brush the kebabs with oil and grill over high heat, turning occasionally, until the vegetables are charred in spots, about 15 minutes; let cool slightly. Remove the ingredients from the skewers and transfer them to a blender.

Add the cilantro, water, and lime juice. Puree until smooth and season with salt.

Recommended to serve with grilled chicken.

Pineapple and Red Chile Salsa

Pineapple and Red Chile Salsa

1/2 pound plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
4 peeled garlic cloves
1/2 pound fresh pineapple, cut into 8 pieces
1 red bell pepper—stemmed, seeded and quartered
1 fresh long red chile, such as a cayenne or Holland chile—stemmed, seeded and quartered
12 mint leaves
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Thread the ingredients onto skewers. Brush the kebabs with oil and grill over high heat, turning occasionally, until the vegetables are charred in spots, about 15 minutes; let cool slightly. Remove the ingredients from the skewers and transfer them to a blender.

Add the mint leaves, water, and lime juice and puree until smooth. Season with salt.

Recommended to serve with grilled pork chops.

Smoky Steak Sauce

Smoky Steak Sauce

2 thick slices of bacon, halved crosswise and rolled into cylinders
1 small onion, quartered
1 portobello mushroom, stemmed and cap quartered
2 plum tomatoes, cored and halved lengthwise
4 pitted prunes
4 peeled garlic cloves
1 large supple ancho chile, seeded and quartered
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 cup water

Thread the ingredients onto skewers. Brush the kebabs with oil and grill over high heat, turning occasionally, until the vegetables are charred in spots, about 15 minutes; let cool slightly. Remove the ingredients from the skewers and transfer them to a blender.

Add the wine vinegar, light brown sugar, and water and puree until smooth. Season with salt.

Recommended to serve with grilled steak.

I can't wait to try some of these sauces. When you think about it, the possibilities are endless. Happy grilling!  🙂

~LilSis

Posted under Food

Do this.  To your hair.  Now!

I'm not kidding, you'll thank me!  You may already have this product in your pantry, but if not, you can easily pick up a jar.  You don't need to go to the beauty supply or the salon though.  And you don't need to take out a loan to buy it!

What is it?  Coconut oil!  You can get it at Whole Foods, Sprouts, or any health food/natural foods store.  You can order it online from Swanson Vitamins or Vitacost and probably tons of other sites.  You may even be able to find it at a well-stocked grocery store.  I get mine at my favorite hippie health food store called Natural Grocers/Vitamin Cottage.  For a 16 ounce jar, you can expect to pay only around $10.

I have coconut oil in my pantry because I put it in my smoothie each morning.  I never thought about smearing it on my hair though until I was reading on Beauty Brains about an expensive hair treatment called Ojon ($55).  Ojon is made of palm oil from the rainforest, plus fragrance and some extracts. The Beauty Brains said that coconut oil and palm oil are essentially the same thing, and each will actually penetrate the hair's cortex.  Most conditioners only coat the surface of the hair shaft, and don't get into the hair itself.

Penetrating the hair's cortex can help replace the natural oil that we lose simply by washing our hair.  When you replace that oil, you're “refatting” the hair.  The Beauty Brains suggested that using a coconut oil based conditioner could be as effective as Ojon.  I've since seen online that lots of girls are just using plain ol' coconut oil, and getting good results so I had to try it.

Coconut oil is solid in my house right now since it's 60-something degrees, but it will be liquid when the inside temp is in the 70s.  Since it's solid I took a blob and warmed it in my hands a bit til it softened.  Then I just started rubbing it into my hair.  My hair's almost shoulder length and is a little thin now (dang hormones), and I used three walnut-sized blobs of coconut oil.  I combed it through, and let it sit for about an hour.  Ojon recommends leaving their treatment on overnight when possible, so I may try that with the coconut oil when I can.

After an hour, I rinsed really well with pretty warm water, and then had to shampoo twice before the oil was out of my hair.  I did use my regular dab of Pureology conditioner afterward, since the coconut oil is supposed to work inside the hair and not outside.

What were the results?  My hair was softer, shinier, fuller and had more body.  It even had less frizz before flat-ironing.  After the next shampoo two days later, the results are still there.

I'm planning to give my hair this little tropical treat once a week.  It's easy, it smells fabulous, I can do it myself, and it makes my hair happy.  What more could I want?  Give it a try and let me know how you like it!

~BigSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

I can't believe Easter is just four days from today! If you're like me and don't enough time to make a cute Easter Bunny Cake or Easter Basket Cupcakes, here's a quick and easy candy treat.

I decided to try two different versions of the Easter Bird's Nests. They're a little messy, but I think they turned out pretty cute.

For the first batch, I used this recipe that calls for butterscotch chips and peanut butter. If I made these again, I would just eliminate the peanut butter. These were more gooey and took longer to set than the ones with just the chips.

Bird's Nests

2 c. butterscotch chips
1 c. peanut butter
2 c. Chow Mein noodles
Any egg shaped Easter candy (I used Robins eggs and M&M')

Cover a baking sheet or pan with waxed or parchment paper. Either melt the butterscotch chips and peanut butter in the top of a double boiler or in the microwave (heat 1 minute, stir, continue heating in 10 second increments until melted and smooth.) Stir in Chow Mein noodles. With buttered fingers shape mixture into one big nest or individual ones. Place on prepared pan. Refrigerate until firm. Fill with jelly beans or other candy.

For the second batch, I simply melted 2 cups white chocolate chips and added 2 cups Chow Mein noodles. I thought the little white nests would look cute with some grass inside them so I made some green grass by adding a few drops of green food coloring to a little coconut and shaking it up inside a baggie.

I think that I like the white chocolate version better but I could have used an extra cup or more of Chow Mein noodles because they seemed a little runnier than they should have been. These firmed up really quickly though which makes it easier to get them decorated if you're in a hurry.

So, what's next in our Easter treat lineup? Come back tomorrow to find out! 🙂

~LilSis

Posted under Holidays

Plan on watching, and hopefully, celebrating this historic election with friends? If you're like me, I always like to serve some “festive cocktails” for special occasions. There are some  great ideas for Election Day Cocktails on Simply Stated that your guests might enjoy while awaiting the election results. These two are quite colorful!

Election Day Cocktails

Cheers!

~LilSis

Posted under Food

It is HOT and MUGGY here in Southern California! This past week, we've had higher temperatures than we've had all Summer. And I don't know about you, but in this kind of weather, I MUST have a reliable deodorant that's also an anti-perspirant. There was a time when I absolutely, positively could NOT find one that worked for me, but those days are gone!

I've talked to other women who have had similar problems trying to find a good deodorant. Over the years, I've used Sure, Secret, Secret Platinum, and Mitchum and they all eventually stopped working for me. I'm not sure if it's hormones or age or a combination of both. Luckily, a couple of years ago, BigSis turned me on to Donna Karan Cashmere Mist Deodorant/Anti-Perspirant and it still works like a charm!

I was thrilled to finally find something that works! I can work up a real sweat while exercising out in this weather and this deodorant still does not fail! When I do perspire during exercise, I might detect a faint scent of Cashmere Mist, but no more stinky, sweaty smell! And it doesn't leave an ugly underarm stain on your clothes like some deodorants do.

Here's how they describe this amazing deodorant on the Donna Karan website:

The Ultimate Cult Product, try it to believe it. Totally gentle and effective, delicately scented with Cashmere Mist, this advanced formula also controls wetness and perspiration keeping you feeling dry and smelling fresh all day. So gentle it can be used immediately after shaving without irritation. Perfect for even sensitive skin.

You can buy the deodorant individually for $18.00 or the trio for $45.00 at most department stores or on Amazon.  I know it is more than most deodorants, but I can promise you that it is money well spent. One bar lasts for almost three months! Seriously!

~LilSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

Don't these pastries look yummy?  Cream puff, anyone?

Okay, so you can't eat these yummy little pastries! These are actually a set of novelty erasers from Japan. They've been on back-order for weeks and I just received my email from Jet Pens that this set of Iwako pastry erasers with tray is now available.

How cute would these be sitting on your desk? I do a lot of number crunching, and yes, I do occasionally need to erase mistakes. I think it's going to make erasing a little more fun if I do it with a cute little donut or cream puff.

This little dessert tray set is cute, too.

And, they also have a little sushi set.

If I had more time to look through the Jet Pens website, I'm sure I could find tons of stuff that I'd like to have but don't really need! For now, I'm just going to start with the little pastry set. I can't wait to have that little tray of yummies on my desk!

~LilSis

Posted under Shopping