Roger's View of the World, Love and Seafood Gumbo!
Seize the Day! Put no trust in the morrow! — Horace
I had originally planned to have an “Osturducken” this year, but somehow the Ostrich meat never arrived…. hmmmm … must be a plot!
Anyway, with my girls all ‘hell and gone from Cartagena!” … it was just Mom, me , Karla and Grandma June. However, the Turducken this year was de-licious!
Happy Thanksgiving to our American Soldiers Everywhere… and to our Trojans…
Roger Freberg
This year was particularly challenging… without all the hungry appetites, we opted for a ‘smaller 13lb. turkey.’ I know… some folks feel that this is the ‘normal’ size… but to me Thanksgiving is best symbolized by the largest Turkey you can buy… we once fixed a 44 lb turkey that barely fit in the stove! The solution? Buy a bigger stove!
My concern this year was a practical one… would a smaller turkey handle the larger number of ingredients including the duck and the chicken? Fortunately, the turkey ‘stretched’! So tomorrow, I think we’ll have a smaller but gentler… wonderful Thanksgiving!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving… and especially those in Basra and elsewhere who have touched this site.
Roger Freberg
By the way, I didn’t use the bones for stock this year… but they were definitely enjoyed by the local ‘turkey buzzards.’
In my last post, I mentioned that I presented Laura with the challenge of finding a truly yummy dessert , now that we we’re on ‘maintenance.’ Obviously, we thought we might see what we could use that could be ‘portioned controlled’ to a reasonable amount (not microscopic)… that would also be delicious!
Laura was up to the challenge and dived into her recipes.
Both Laura and Karen love the Amarula carrot cake they developed as a result of Karen’s Public Relations internship in South Africa. Their recipe is spectacular!
I joked that they could bake the ‘individually frosted cakes’ that Nerus was so ecstatic about in a prior Stargate episode! Laura was thrilled with the idea… but if it ended up the size of a quarter, she said… then forget it!
Laura baked up 22 cupcakes from her recipe saying that this was the minimal size that she could honestly consider a ‘dessert.’ She ran to her computer to calculate the calories and other nutritional aspects of her recipe, divided by 22… and the results are on the left as you see them. Not bad when you consider a slice of cheese is often 7 grams of fat or more.
So what’s next, you might ask?
Thanksgiving is one of the more wondrous of holidays and it is one of the few that most Americans celebrate. As usual, we are having a ‘Turducken’ this year complete with all the cliche’ side dishes!
Obviously, we will be keeping at least one eye on the scale… but we will enjoy ourselves as well! Happy Thanksgiving… and remember those who serve that you and yours might enjoy the holidays!
Roger Freberg
Laura has been a little bored with some of the Jenny Craig Desserts. Now , that we are on ‘maintenance’ , she wanted to investigate ‘portion size’ of some of her favorite fun snacks.
Laura and Karen make Amarula Carrot Cakes to die for … and they really are nothing but delicious! Obviously, they do not qualify as a ‘diet dessert’… and only marginally in the right proportion!
This did not prevent Laura from being a bit clever and squeezing 22 cup cakes out of her recipe … and believe it or not… one of her cup cakes is very consistent as a dessert item for someone on maintenance… she has promised me that she will produce a label — as she did for the Chicken Tetrazzini — outlining fat, protein, carbohydrate content and the like. Stay tuned!
In the meantime… you can see how thrilled she is to find a REAL dessert that will still help her watch her weight… oh yes, that is Cream Cheese frosting as well!
Roger Freberg
Every week we fancy something special on the weekend. This weekend we rediscovered “Chicken Tetrazinni”… and the woman Louisa Tettrazinni for which the dish was named.
I was very surprised at how many recipes exist for what is a rather simple dish of mushrooms, pasta and chicken in a lovely cream sauce. Most of the recipes are ‘short cuts’ of the original… but with a little exploration , it is easy to see how it should be made.
Our Chicken Tetrazinni uses the famous trinity of French cooking (onions, celery & carrots), along with the love of the wonderful style of New Orleans and garlic of California.
We hope you enjoy our Chicken Tetrazinni as much as we did!
Roger Freberg
Did I splash a little Armagnac in the chicken ? I will never tell!