Wednesday, November 24, 2010

extra turkey gravy

turkey gravy
Ingredients

• Pan drippings from roast turkey
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Chicken broth or water

Directions

1. After transferring roast turkey to a serving platter, pour pan drippings into a large measuring cup. Skim and reserve fat from drippings.
2. Pour 1/4 cup of the fat into a medium saucepan (discard remaining fat).
3. Stir in flour. Add enough broth or water to remaining drippings in the measuring cup to equal 2 cups;
4. Add all at once to flour mixture in saucepan.
5. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly.
6. Cook and stir for 1 minute more.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes 2 cups - 8 to 10 servings

Monday, November 22, 2010

simple abundance: for what it's worth

simple abundanceSimple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy helps guide a person through each day of the year, with quotes from famous people and well-known sources along with a daily topic. This is not Holy Writ or a recently re-discovered treasure from the Bard, so don't try to approach it as such. For what it's worth, it's a few hundred pieces of advice and recommendations for enhancing your home, yard and work environments, your lifestyle and sense of yourself and maybe even helping some of the people around you.

Author Sarah Ban Breathnach doesn't call upon insights or practices from expressions of any of the great faith traditions, so don't expect an exposition of scripture or interpretation of the latest news through the lens of a modern or ancient prophet. However, almost nothing she suggests is incompatible with most religious or spiritual practices.

Some of it's kinda funky, some close to caricature, but (for example) I can relate to "Decorating with the Seasons: Summer Houses" for 14 June, though my own Summer-Themed Habitat might not have the exact same details. "Classic Chic 102" is the subject for 04 June; it's about living spaces, but I like picking up the classic idea for the way I dress that tends to be touches of vintage, preppy, urban, prairie in almost equal parts, so an idea aimed at one aspect of life might inspire another direction.

This is a nice handbook to keep handy on a table, although instead of reading each page-long entry in order, I'd prefer to read at random. For what it's worth, take what appeals to you and leave the rest for another time or maybe never.

my amazon review: for what it's worth