Chicken Francaise

1 package of chicken breasts. Either thin cut or thick- slice them in half and pound thin
¾ cup Flour for dusting
½ cup seasoned bread crumbs
Kosher salt, pepper
2 eggs
1 lemon
¼ c olive oil
2 tbs butter
1 cup chicken broth
½ white wine
Flat leaf parsley about 1 tbs chopped

Mix flour, bread crumbs, salt and pepper together, place in a plate to dredge the chicken through
Mix 2 eggs with a little water and scramble lightly

Add ¼ olive oil to pan until really hot. Dredge chicken breasts through flour/bread crumbs until coated on both sides. Dip in egg mixture and add to hot pan. When the chicken is golden brown flip and continue to cook on the other side. Place cooked cutlets on a plate.

Cut paper thin slices of lemon using half of the lemon. Place slices in pan and cook until they are caramelized. Add wine and cook for 1 minute, now add ¾ cup of chicken broth reserving the rest to adjust sauce later. Cook for 5 minutes to reduce. Take your butter and dredge it in the flour breaking it up into chunks. Drop into the sauce and allow sauce to thicken.. Taste sauce. If too lemony add more chicken broth. Adjust sauce if it needs salt and pepper or more flour and butter. At this point chop the parsley and add.

Add chicken back into sauce and cook until boiling. Place cover on the pan during this time to heat through.

Aunt Sue's Sweet Potatoes

This is the cheaters way, but it’s awesome and quick.

2 large cans of Yams
1 cup margarine
½ cup brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp salt
½ c to ¾ cup cream
Small bag of mini marshmallows

Boil yams in their juice until hot. Remove and drain. Add margarine, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Mix with a hand mixer adding the cream a little at a time until smooth. Taste and if need be add more brown sugar. Pour into a baking dish and set aside, even refrigerate if you’re not serving within the hour, but before baking bring back up to room temp.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Add marshmallows to cover and broil for 1-2 minutes. Watch very carefully and make this the last thing you’re baking before serving. The marshmallows will burn very easily.

Mom's Turkey Stuffing

1 cup Margarine
2 cups diced celery
1 ½ cups chopped onions
¼ cup minced parsley
2 tsp poultry seasoning
½ tsp pepper
3 eggs slightly beaten
1 large can chicken broth
2 bags of cubed bagged stuffing

In a very large sauce pot melt the butter and add the onion and celery. Saute over medium heat until onions are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add parsley, poultry seasoning and pepper. Mix well and take off the heat. Add the first bag of stuffing into the onion mixture and mix well. Add half of the second bag and continue to mix but this time add the 3 eggs and stir well. Stir in the broth a little at a time until it is absorbed into the bread cubes. You may not use all of the cubes or the broth, but add in more cubes if needed or more broth if needed.

When this is completely cooled down you can stuff your turkey. Do not add hot stuffing into the cavity of your turkey. Do not over stuff the cavity either. Put all remaining stuffing into a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

The Big Day!

The night before Thanksgiving I take everything out of the cabinets that I will need for the next day. Go back and grab your shopping list and take things out that are on your list. Group them by the dish you’re going to make. I also make any pies I am planning on serving on Wednesday. My pumpkin cream cheese pie needs to chill so I make it now.
I also do all of my chopping now and place things in zip lock bags. I chop my onions, celery, and parsley. Do not peel your potatoes until Thursday. Put the can(s) of cranberry sauce in the refrigerator at this point.

Thursday morning
Keep your menu and shopping list handy then you won’t forget anything.
First thing is to make the STUFFING (click to see recipe) this needs to cool before you can stuff your turkey.
Take your turkey out of the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrapping and remove the pouch that will be in the cavity. Also check the space where the neck was to make sure that there is nothing in there too. Rinse the turkey inside and out. Salt the inside of the turkey and place in your roasting pan. Add the neck to that pan. In a sauce pot place all ingredients that you found inside the turkey cavity or neck area and set aside for now.
Set your oven to 350 and now stuff your turkey. Fill the cavity but do not pack too tightly. Rub margarine all over the outside of you turkey and sprinkle with poultry seasoning. Tent the turkey with foil making sure to cover the wings and drum sticks so they don’t burn. You will take this foil off about 1 ½ hours before your turkey is cooked. Do the same process of margarine and poultry seasoning to the turkey breast if using one. I am fortunate to have 2 ovens so I place one in each oven. Cook the turkey according to the package directions.
Next I make the SWEET POTATOES (click to see recipe) set aside until ready to bake. Leave the marshmallows off until after baking and ready to broil. This will be the last dish to come out of your oven because of the marshmallows.
Now peel the potatoes for your MASHED POTATOES. (click to see recipe)

Planning for a Stress-free Thanksgiving Dinner

OK everyone! We promised a Thanksgiving post and we've heard from many of you that you're anxiously awaiting it! Let the preparing begin!

Stress free grocery shopping and preparing for Thanksgiving Dinner

I over cook and over shop since my daughter Jen’s friends have made it a tradition to come over late at night on Thanksgiving or on Friday and eat the leftovers. So if I want some left overs for us I need to make a lot extra. We normally have 6-8 people over for Thanksgiving Dinner (depending on which displaced friends get brought to the house by my kids).
I start food shopping weeks in advance so by the time the week of Thanksgiving comes I only need to get my fresh ingredients.
First you need to come up with a menu of what you’re planning on cooking. Here is a list of what I plan on making for my family.

Starters
Onion dip and chips, cheese and crackers, chopped chicken livers (an Aunt Sue Favorite)

Dinner
Butterball Turkey, extra turkey breast, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas, corn gravy, biscuits.
Butterball breast (for the extra left overs)
Here is a copy of the actual list that I keep in my excel program on my computer.

Turkey 22-24lb
Butterball breast
pan with handles (throw-away kind)
4 margarine
1 celery
onion
parsley
Potatoes
Corn
peas
poultry seasoning
2 bags bread stuffing
eggs
2 large chicken broth cans
3 cans sweet potatoes
1 marsh mellows
2 cranberry sauce
biscuits
brown sugar
chicken bullion
flour
Gravy master
cornstarch
2 cream cheese
1qt half and half large
Lg coolwhip
2 graham cracker pie shell
2 pkgs vanilla instant pudding
1 16oz can pumpkin
2 apple cider
Mozzarella for potatoes
rye bread and whole wheat
parm cheese
2 packages butter crackers
Peas
corn
biscuts
dip and chips
Cheese
artichoke dip
chopped chicken livers
apple pie
pumpkin cream pie
blueberry cream pie
lemons
limes (for drinks)

Each week I buy a few more things off of my list to keep in my cabinets so I am ready to go when I need to.
When the super markets start showing turkey and turkey breasts I shop for the best price per pound and put it in my own freezer. I have an extra refrigerator so on the Friday before Thanksgiving I take my turkey out of the freezer and put it in the pan I plan on using, this way I know it fits when I want to cook it. I usually don’t open that refrigerator again until the morning of Thanksgiving. If your turkey is as big as mine, your turkey will be thawed perfectly.
By the Sunday before Thanksgiving I have everything in my home except for my fresh produce and that I will pick up on either the Monday or Tuesday before. I also take the extra turkey breast out of the freezer on Tuesday and let it thaw in the refrigerator in a bowl.
On the Sunday before I start my dinner table by choosing which tablecloth I am going to put on the table and then I take out all of my dishes, utensils, serving dishes etc., and place them on the dining room table. Then I label all of my serving dishes with what I am planning on serving in that dish and then place the serving spoon I am planning on using in that dish. Then there will be no confusion on Thursday and I know I'm not a few serving spoons short!

Stay tuned for the next steps!

Thanksgiving is coming!

If you're anything like me, you've already begun to think about Thanksgiving dinner. If you're not like me (aka you're normal), I'm here to help you make a successful Thanksgiving dinner. My sister-in-law and kids always are so surprised that I can make the entire feast and have every single thing come out at the exact same time. My trick? Planning and organization! Stay tuned over the next few weeks while I prepare for the big feast! I'm going to give you my tricks to being organized as well as all of my fun Thanksgiving recipes!

And as Jen says, "Mom does Thanksgiving like Martha Stewart, but not as stuck up." :)

Chicken Marsala

This one is one of my daughters' favs. It's so easy and makes you seem like you totally know what you're doing.


1 lb thin sliced chicken cutlets

1 package mushrooms sliced

Parsley (2 tablespoons)

Scallions (3)

1 cup cooking marsala…you can get this in the supermarket where the vinegar is sold

Flour

Chicken broth 1 can

1 pkg of egg noodles or bow tie pasta

Margarine or olive oil

2 cups mozzarella cheese

Gravy master

In a fry pan add some margarine or olive oil just enough to coat the bottom of pan. Season some flour with salt and pepper and coat chicken cutlets in flour and brown in fry pan with margarine or oil. Remove as browned and place in baking dish. After all cutlets are browned you can now add the mushrooms and scallions and sauté.

Now add the flour until the liquid is absorbed and becomes pasty. Add the marsala wine and slowly add the chicken broth until the gravy is the consistency you want. Add a small amount of gravy master to make gravy darker. Add parsley now too.

Place water to boil for pasta and when it boils add your pasta.

Now pour your gravy over the chicken cutlets, add mozzarella to top, cover with foil and bake at 350 until your pasta is cooked. Drain pasta, add a small amount of butter to coat pasta and then take your chicken out.
Add a salad and maybe some dinner rolls.