christmas on the farm

this year we celebrated our whole christmas on the farm.  earlier in 2009 my parents got to move into the farm house on my mom's 80 acres.  it is a 100 year old farmhouse.  they worked on it throughout the year and were excited about the ide a of having christmas there.  everyone has different family traditions.  ours has always been, do our immediate family christmas in tulsa before heading to the farm for christams eve with the whole extended family.  many times we have done our immediate family christmas days before and then afterwards take a trip to the mall to make any exchanges necessary...or just sale shopping!  anyways, this year we all headed down to the farm either before or on christmas eve {narrowly missing the blizzardy conditions in tulsa}.  we did our immediate family christmas at the farmhouse...which mom and dad had decked our in christmas decorations {including my great-grandma ruby jewel's silver christmas tree}.  we had lots of fun sipping russian tea and acting like big kids while opening gifts.  afterwards we headed to grandma and grandpas for the big christmas eve get together....that included 22 pounds of shrimp and many other tasty snacks.  here are some pics from our christmas.  i love excited/surprised christmas faces!

everyone had a fun WHITE christmas this year!  The farm got about 2-3 inches of snow...enough to make it white...but not the 7 inches in tulsa or 14 inches in the city! 

mymichael and i stayed around the farm until monday hanging out with grandma and grandpa.  grandma, my aunt sandra and i hit up the after christmas sales in fort smith and we got to check out the new additions at the farm.....

the first pic above is a new cow!  isn't he cute! 

anyways, hope everyone had a fun and enjoyable christmas!

the christmas TURKEY

well, christmas has come and gone and so has the turkey...well for the most part at least.  i decided to go with this recipe for our christmas turkey.  i purchased a fresh, not frozen, turkey to elliminate the days of thawing.  alright...starting with the picture in the upper left corner.  5 gallon bucket with brine {water, apple cider, fresh sage and rosemary and veggies}, grandma rinsing the turkey before putting in the brine, submerging the turkey in the brine, turkey all buttered up with the herb butter and resting on veggies, finally the finished product!  looks pretty good, huh!?!?  i wish i had got a pic of it before taking it out of the roasting pan, but to be honest i barely got this one.  dad had already taken the left leg off.  it was super moist and had great flavor with all the fresh herbs...oh and you could also tell that apples were used.  the gravy turned out good as well...different than typical gravy but pretty tasty! 

we give this recipe

*****

so, if you ever need a good recipe for a brined and roasted turkey....this is a good one!

to roast a turkey

this year i got a bee in my bonnet to roast a turkey for christmas day lunch.  never done it before....but how hard can it really be?  i watch food network all the time and they talk about brining the turkey first and then you stuff it with all kinds of herbs and rub it with butter and then let it cook forever.  so i first tested mymichael on the idea...he wasn't against it but suggested maybe i try it on a smaller bird first and see how it turns out and then decide if i want to take on the christmas turkey.  yea, that's totally not me...i feel that i work much better under pressure.  so next i tried the idea out on my parents who dad was all for...mom a little more hesitant but did state that grandma would probably love the idea of not having to do it herself. 

a couple of weeks ago grandma and grandpa were in town and we had a very interesting turkey discussion...we were all eating at los cabos and i told grandma my plan...she was fine with the idea.  since mymichael and i wouldn't get to the farm until early christmas eve evening, i told her that she would need to have the turkey thawed so that i could immediately put it in the brine b/c that takes 12-16 hours or so.  i then thought out loud, "i wonder if you can buy a fresh turkey so you don't have to go through the thawing out process".  well, that led to my dad thinking that was a great idea and us trying to figure out where you would buy a "fresh turkey".  my dad being the person that he is decided to ask our friendly waiter who happened to be straight from mexico city.  his idea of a "fresh turkey" is much different than my idea of a "fresh turkey".  you see my idea is a DEAD {not frozen} fresh turkey.  our waiter proceeded to tell us that we could probably find a place out in bixby that raises and sells turkeys.....real, live turkeys....and that we could pucrchase it there.  well, as soon as mymichael heard that he got really excited b/c that would mean that somehow/someone would need to take to killing the poor christmas turkey and dressing {i think that's what you call it} it.  now, my grandma having grown up on a farm knows how to do that and proceeded to show everyone how to kill a chicken/turkey.  to say the least our dinner turned educational very quick!  we were all laughing at the thought of having to catch a turkey ourselves, kill it, clean it and then me cook it.

anyways, all that to say i am cooking the christmas turkey this year and want a good recipe!  i have found a couple that sound pretty good....one is a recipe from Ina Garten....it's for a turkey breast but i think i could use the same principle on a whole turkey.  then there is Paula Deen's recipe that sounds yummy as well, but more sweet, oh and another recipe of hers.  And here is  a recipe one from Ann Burrell. 

So, here is my question to you guys.....which one OR do you have a great recipe i could try????

a texas christmas

this past weekend we drove down to fort worth for christmas with mymichael's family.  his sister had twins in april and we hadn't seen them since may, so we were excited to spend some time with the family.  saturday evening we had christmas at his uncle mitch and aunt maggie's beautiful house.  the picture above are sandi's {mymichael's sister} two oldest...katelyn & brent.  here are some pics from the night....

i also learned how to make his mother's chicken and dumplings.  apparently those are the only chicken and dumplings in his world {although he did say that cracker barrell is a decent substitute when hers aren't available}.  i'll have to post the recipe at some point...they were pretty yummy. 

i also got to spend some time with my best friend anna!  i made the drive from fort worth to dallas early friday morning.  we grabbed starbuck's and then headed up to ikea where i got a lot of christmas shopping done.  on our way back to the galleria we drove through our old apartments...austin ranch.  oh how we loved living there...we were across the pond from each other.  on the weekends in the summer we would claim our lounge chairs at the pool closest to us and relax all day saturday and many sundays as well.  it was glorious!  we headed back to the galleria mall where we met up with tiffany and had lunch at mi cocino and stared at the huge christmas tree on the ice skating rink. 

when i lived in dallas i worked at am design associates and our offices were in one of the galleria towers....so during lunch...or breaks...we would get to eat and shop around {yea...mymichael just loved that!}.  after lunch tiff had to go back to work but anna and i hit up the new 2-story forever 21.  great store but there is just so much stuff!  to finish off the afternoon we had a fat straw smoothie w/ bubbles and then i had to head back to fort worth before traffic got bad.  ha!  it still took me over an hour....there is always traffic...one of the things i don't miss about DFW! 

and finally to wrap up...here are some cute pics of the twins....meet brooklyn...

and sadie...

i think they look like little elfs in this one.  sadie always has her toes in her mouth and brooklyn always has her fingers in her mouth...but yet they will not take a pacifier!  i guess who needs one when you have toes and fingers...right?

the crew...brent, sadie, brooklyn & katelyn

yay for early christmas's!

thanksgiving break!

i am outta here!

for me thanksgiving break officially starts....n o w...and continues until monday, november 30th at midnight.  i am stoked and so ready to have a few days off. 

tomorrow i am getting my hair did {and it needs it oh so bad}...

thursday we leave for mymichael's dad's for thanksgiving lunch...

after lunch we head to branson to get in the christmas spirit! 

woo hoo...nothing like christmas time at silver dollar city. 

if you haven't ever gone, you really need to.  growing up we went every year with my grandparents.  two years ago was the first time for mymichael and i to go...just us and we had a blast.  there are a million lights,

a huge tree,

cheesy christmas show, carolers in the streets,

and we can't forget the awesome food:

homemade potato chips at hatfield's tater patch

succotash at buckshot annie's skillet cookery

funnel cakes at flossie's fried fancies

kettle corn

salt water taffy

hot wassil

hot chocolate

snow balls at the saloon {hot chocolate with a scoop of ice cream}

and the list can go on and on

so, when i get back i may be 20 pounds heavier, but it will so have been worth it!!!

oh, we are also going to the dixie stampede.  mymichael has never been...it's been years for me...so it should be fun!  and you can't forget about the shopping...lots of outlet malls and branson landing...i've got one day of shopping set aside...poor mymichael.  there is a bass pro shop, so that will help. 

man, i think i should totally get paid for all this advertising!  branson, branson, branson! 

hope everyone has a happy holiday with their family and friends!