Dressing & Stuffing a Turkey

I know I’m going to get stuff under my nails….

Originally, this was going to be two separate videos. Cameraman Ken suggested just making it one video both for content and my sanity. I also got a new toy that we were playing with throughout this video–it’s a light ring. Let me know if it helps the lighting at all? I don’t normally watch my own videos until a lot later, so commenting or, if you’re a Patron, pinging me on Discord is the way to go.

First of all, what is the difference between stuffing and dressing? Technically, stuffing gets stuffed into whatever you’re stuffing and dressing is baked on the side or in its own container. The recipe in this video is, obviously, stuffing from Primal Palate, one of my go-to websites for Paleo/Primal dieting. We’ve been stuffing meats since the medieval times, honestly. I had stuffed tilapia the other night for Fish Friday. It’s not a new concept. Dressing is simply how a meat is prepared. Salting, peppering, and dry rubbing a steak are how you dress the steak. When did this get confusing? The Victorian era. Everyone was so prudish–which was funny because Queen Victoria herself, was not. They also, apparently, had the humor of a 9-year old boy and found the term “stuffing” to be mildly offensive–especially when it came to birds. If you need a little help with that one, I’ll just leave this post here and say no more.

So, “stuffing” became “dressing,” despite it still being shoved into the carcass of a bird. They really confused everyone, but now it’s more of a regional thing. Some place–I think the South–refer to stuffing as anything with bread in it and dressing as anything else. I think? I don’t know. I use the terms to indicate if the dish has been cooked inside the meat or if it’s been casserole’d, basically. So, you’ll notice in this video, I talk about the stuffing inside the chicken, but the dressing in the casserole dish. That’s just for clarity. For me, they’re pretty interchangeable. Especially since I can’t have regular bread and any bread I make molds before it goes stale.

When it comes to dressing a bird, there’s so many different things you can do. I’m using a chicken for this video because I don’t have room for a turkey in my fridge. Truth be told, I barely had room for the chicken! I don’t like skin. I can’t think of a single animal whose skin I eat. I don’t like the texture and it’s just… icky. So, I have Cameraman Ken remove it for me while I prep up other things I’m going to need for dressing my fowl. So, if you like skin, my recommendation is to peel it back and put small cubes of butter under the skin to help keep the bird moist and crisp up the skin. Rub it down with salt and pepper and any other spices you’re using, and make sure to get the inside of it, as well. Stuff your bird, and then tie its legs together. I was struggling, mostly because my brain shut off almost completely and I couldn’t figure out how to tie the legs. Cameraman Ken says to do a Figure-8…which I then had to figure out how to do because my brain was just done.

I can’t remember if I said this, but you’re going to roast your chicken or turkey for 20 minutes per pound (so a 6lb bird goes for 120 minutes, or 2 hours) at 325F. Please note, your bird is not done until it reaches an internal temperature of 165F at the thickest part of the meat. The USFDA doesn’t recommend stuffing turkeys or chickens because of “Food Safety,” meaning a lot of people just take out the bird when the timer goes off instead of verifying it’s safe to eat. Get yourself a meat thermometer and use it. Clean it off after each use to avoid bacteria and transfer.

Make sure to stay tuned for more Thanksgiving-related cooking and projects, and if you’re not already a Patron, consider becoming one and, as always, thank you for your support!

PS: It’s my parents’ 54th Wedding Anniversary today! Congratulations, Mum & Dad!

Paleo/Keto Pumpkin Chili

All Hail CAThulhu!

When other people talk about how it’s “Pumpkin Spice” season, I’m just talking about pumpkins because I love pumpkins. I’m not even sure why. They just make me incredibly happy. Which is why I bought 3 sugar pumpkins a few weeks ago so I could make some of my favorite pumpkin treats! We’ve made, pumpkin purée, pumpkin shortbread, and now, pumpkin chili! I still have a pumpkin left and I plan on making pumpkin pie with that! Though, I also want to make pumpkin butter. Hmm. We’ll see. I’ll probably have plenty of purée left over from my pie to make some pumpkin butter.

I found this recipe back in, I want to say 2011 or 2012, when I first decided to do a Paleo diet and start powerlifting. I’ve made it many times over the years because it’s my favorite chili. This time, I made modifications to the recipe by omitting the sweet potato and adding bell pepper and jalapeños; I also omitted the fresh basil, oregano, and cilantro and, naturally, added hot sauce.

Normally, I do this recipe in the crock on low for 8 hours. This time, however, I’d had this idea that I’d fill the pumpkin shell with it, but that turned out to be a bad idea, so I just did it on the stovetop. It’s not all that long of a recipe to make–probably about 45 minutes. I would not walk away from your chili, though. It has a serious potential to burn onto the pot, and you do NOT want that! Stay vigilant!

Thanksgiving is coming up soon and I guarantee I will have at least two videos about Thanksgiving foods! They will be low-carb, gluten-free, and delicious! I’ll even have a video (on a Thrusday) about how to dress a turkey (using Cornish game hens because there’s only two of us and I have no need–or place to store–a 12+lb turkey). Patreons have some videos just for them already posted–and we may even do a special Thanksgiving Patron-only video for a from-scratch, gluten-free green bean casserole! If you’re not already a patron and you want to see these videos, the $5 is where you want to be! You’ll get exclusive content in addition to what you find here!

Regardless of what you choose, thank you for your support! We’ll see you next time!

Enchilada Meatball Casserole

This is not my final form…

I hope everyone had a blessed Samhain. I know that, at this point, that was two weeks ago, but life comes at you fast!

Before I explain this video, I want to say that on November 5, I did my oral defense of my dissertation proposal. My doctoral work is in the field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, with an emphasis on training and development. My study focuses on skill transference from playing games (in this case, Dungeons & Dragons) to working life. I’m very excited and by the time you read this, I’m hoping to have been granted approval to submit my study application to the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Also! Happening this week on Thursday, I will be debuting my burlesque act! Tickets are still available (and if you use the code LAVINIA at checkout, you’ll get $5 off your tickets) and I’m also very excited about this particular endeavor, as well. Don’t worry, I’ll still be doing videos and such for cooking and witchery. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.

So, this video. This was a last-minute decision to record and my ADHD brain did not plan well. I started blocking another burlesque act and was way too into the blocking and lost track of time. I had a Halloween thing to do at 7pm, and it required a costume–a costume I’d planned on wearing all day! I just started my video too late, so I ended up having to finish the video as Dawn from Cry for Dawn by Joseph Michael Linsner. Pretty sure no one minds, but it was a cross-over I had wanted to avoid. Oh, well!

The casserole was really good. It was something that came across my Facebook feed the other day and I decided to give it a try. I still had the nightshade-free enchilada sauce from a while back (which was still good), so I used that and went from there. Cleanin’ out the fridge.

This post is kind of short. I apologize for that; I’m quite a bit distracted. I’ll try to remember to let you all know how the defense turned out and I hope to see you at my virtual burlesque debut!

Oh! Be sure to check out my Patreon for even more content and features!

Homemade Condiments

My favorite sweater…

I enjoy making my own condiments. I know exactly what’s going into them and I can customize them to my own taste. Honestly, I wanted to make a couple of other ketchups and mustards, but I didn’t have some of the ingredients I needed and I was very quickly running out of spoons.

I woke up in a massive pain flare. Like, I had to use my wheelchair when we went out, today, and I had to take NSAIDs in order to function at 60%. It was not a good day. I have several things I need to get done, too, and I just don’t have the focus or energy to do them.

At least I have one-serving bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, gin, homemade tonic syrup, and a few other things to make tasty adult beverages (don’t worry, it’s been hours since I took pain meds; they only took the edge off, anyway).

So, the condiment recipes can be found here. I have made the rich, deep-flavored ketchup before and, honestly, it’s my favorite. But I do like the simple ketchup. While filming another video for later, I actually ended up making making more ketchup to use up my tomato paste. So, I gave it to my upstairs neighbors. Then decided to make them a container of mustard, as well. They were very excited. I also owe them eggnog.

The simple ketchup and the simple mustard really are simple. If you’re going to make the BBQ Sauce, I’d recommend whipping up the simple versions of the ketchup and mustard and using them in your BBQ Sauce. If you’re feeling particularly fancy, whip up the deep-flavored ketchup and the whole grain mustard and use those. There is a recipe for making your own Worchester sauce, however, if you stick with the Lea & Perrins, you’ll be fine as they are a gluten-free brand (and also the best, in my opinion).

I always add hot sauce to my BBQ Sauce. I want it spicy! So, I used the Torchbearer Sauces’ Garlic Reaper sauce and I was not disappointed!! I will be visiting my folks over Christmas this year, and I fully expect to go to the mall in Harrisburg and buy up some of their sauces! I mean, my mom gets Cameraman Ken the Zombie Apocalypse sauce every year for Christmas, but there are a few others we really want to sample.

If you went to the Paleo Leap’s site for the link for the condiments, you’ll see a lacto-fermented dill relish and a traditionally fermented horseradish. I’ve made both of these and I will tell you, they are fantastic. My neighbors were all very appreciative, as well. Well, for the dill relish. It’s been a few years since I made the horseradish. I really should do that again. Anyway!

Thank you, again, for subscribing to my channel and blog. If you’re able, consider popping over to my Patreon and supporting me, monetarily, there. It would help me bring more videos and content across your dashboards and allow me to give back to you, my supporters!

Homemade Grenadine

P-p-p-POMEGRANATES!

I love pomegranates! I also love friends who allow me to come pick pomegranates from their trees! I think we brought home about 10lbs of pomegranates and about 5lbs of persimmons. I may make persimmon bread; we’ll see.

This video, though, is for how to peel and juice a pomegranate and how to make grenadine syrup. I used two different recipes, so you can make one or both and decide which you like better for yourself! I think it depends on what you’re trying to do, I think. I also realized after the fact, I’d made the Shirley Temples wrong. It’s okay…the Italian Sodas were actually better for tasting the grenadine. Shirley Temples are made with ginger ale, not club soda. OH WELL.

In the evening, I had a Russian Kiss which is 2oz of grenadine and 1.5oz of vodka shaken together with ice; stained into a cocktail glass and topped off with soda water. I drank two of those with the lemon juice grenadine and that was about half a drink too many (so sweet). However, I added about 2tsp of the orange flower water grenadine to about 3-ish oz of tequila and that was actually fairly tasty.

I also began steeping some compound gins this week–in fact, they should be ready today! One is a very traditional gin flavor palate (juniper berries, cardamom, black pepper, allspice, coriander, fennel seeds, orange peel); the other, I just sorta made up. It’s very floral, featuring juniper, rosemary, calendula, lavender, pomegranate, and cardamom. We’ll see how they turn out, I suppose!

If you’d like to see more videos that involve making liqueurs and various mixers from scratch, head over to my Patreon and for only $5/mo, you can have access to the exclusive content available from yours truly! Who knows–maybe you’ll get to see the role of Kitchen Witch Kryssie played by Cameraman Ken!

Pumpkin Shortbread

I really like this shirt…

Remember when we made pumpkin bisque and made our own pumpkin purée for that? Well, I ended up with an extra 1-1/2 cups of purée that I need to figure out what to do with! So, I started with the pumpkin shortbread because, I love shortbread!

Almond flour is a good 1-to-1 substitute for a shortbread recipe. Of course, so is gluten-free all purpose flour. Once I’m not meticulously counting carbs and trying to stay under 20g of net carbs per day (something I’ve been failing, recently), I’ll probably go back to my standard flours. I’m still going to be super carb conscious because–and this is the bizarre part–of the three of us kids, I’m the one with the most health issues. My body just really doesn’t like me, so it’s making my life complicated. I’d like to lose another 5lbs. Maybe 10lbs. Between 5 and 10. We’ll call that 7lbs. I’d like to lose another 7lbs. That will put me snuggly between 140 and 145lbs, which is where I’d like to be. I’m not unhappy with my current 150lbs; I would just like to have a little more wiggle room on weight gains which happen with new medications and flares and New Symptoms(TM) that end up being new disorders. To continue on the health trend, though, Cameraman Ken and I have discussed transitioning to a Mediterranean style diet. I need to do oodles of research on that and it’s not likely I’ll give up my chaffles or fathead dough, but it would be nice to bake with something other than almond or coconut flours.

Regardless, these shortbread cookies are actually really good and got better after they completely cooled. The texture wasn’t as bad as what was shown in the video. Overall, this was an okay attempt for my first time making it. I don’t think I got enough moisture out of the purée, which meant I had to add more flour which is what contributed to the texture issue.

Still, do make sure to try it for yourself! Also, make sure to head over to Patreon and consider supporting me. The public blog posts there are the same as they are here; however, there is some Patron-only content and announcements that go to my Patrons first before releasing to the rest of the world!

Pumpkin Time!

BEHOLD! MY PUMPKINS!

It’s pumpkin time!

No, not pumpkin spice. I mean, pumpkin spice is fine and dandy and if that’s your deal, you go! I prefer the Gingerbread Lattes to Pumpkin Spice, but I just love pumpkin! So, I bought 3 sugar pumpkins (the kind you use for pumpkin pies) to make various things. One of them got heat damaged from being next to one of my burners, so I decided to roast that right on up and make pumpkin puree! The pumpkin weighed about 2lbs and yielded ~2.5 cups of puree.

A note on the puree: If you decide to use a blender, you will need to cut the large chunks down. You will also need to gauge the water that you add. You don’t want to make it too liquidy, but you need enough liquid to keep the blades from seizing. Pumpkin is notorious for bulking up when you blend/puree it.

The recipe is from the Samhain book from Llewellyn’s Sabbat Essentials library. The entire series is a great resource for each of the Sabbats, honestly. It’s where I get a good number of my ideas for videos. I celebrate very differently from many of the traditions, but if you’re just starting out on your path, these books are a really good overview of everything. I especially use them for the Sabbats I don’t personally celebrate so I can help others celebrate those sabbats!

Samhain is one of my sabbats, if you hadn’t guessed. This entire month, I’ll be featuring recipes and crafts/rituals/etc for the sabbat. I may see if I can live-stream something on Samhain eve/Halloween for everyone, since… we have to be socially distant. Maybe I’ll host a Zoom event. Would that be of interest? I’ll post information, obviously, for the event! Video/audio is not required, unless you want to.

Anyway! Make sure you’re subscribed to the YouTube channel for the video updates and make sure you’re subscribed to the blog for other updates and while you’re subscribing, considering popping over to Patreon and subscribing there so you can be notified of special events and such (and, maybe even get early access to stuff)!

Blessed be!

Veggie Lasagna – Low Carb

A-LEGEND-ly.

There are six guys who live upstairs. They’re a cool group of guys, but I’m really only friend-friends with 3 of them. One of the things they do is run a start-up called “Spira, Inc” in which they grow spirulina to create sustainable and ethical food sources. In a nutshell, that’s what they do.

Anyway, one of them, Elliott, is going to do this–in space! He’s going to be gone for two months for training and getting things set up and all that. So, he’s moving out so they can replace his portion of the rent, quickly. He has a new apartment lined up, already, for when he’s back. Plus, he loves my cooking, so it’s not like I won’t see him.

His birthday was also recently, so I promised that I’d make him veggie lasagna (because he’s a vegetarian). I told him I didn’t use pasta in my lasagna. He was a little dubious, but excited all the same. Instead of pasta, I use zucchini. Plus, I used my homemade sauce. Ricotta and mozzarella added to the flavor and, of course, you have to top it off with mozzarella. And parmesan.

Apparently it was a hit. I had an empty and clean baking dish back the very next day.

Also, my diet is working well. To date (at least of the writing of this post), I have lost 15lbs. I have 10lbs more to lose to reach my goal. And don’t worry, my goal weight is not unrealistic. It’s 145lbs. I thought I had completely blown my progress on Saturday because I ordered a gluten-free pizza from Pizza Hut (veggie!) because I didn’t feel like cooking, I had worked out, and I was just…stressed. It was a low-calorie thing, but the carbs were pretty high. Still, I wasn’t knocked out of ketosis and, in fact, I’m actively burning fat as I type this (in a very insane way, according to my test strips). So, I’m pretty confident that when I transition into a maintenance phase, I’ll be okay and won’t regain everything I worked to take off. Plus, I plan on staying with my exercise routine. I’m on week 12 of the 13, and I’ve only missed one workout.

Thank you all for viewing the videos and reading my posts. I was notified I’ve received 100 likes on this blog. That’s actually overwhelming to me! I never really expected people would be interested in these, but apparently, I was wrong! Thank you for your support!

Keto Meal: Shrimp Scampi, Creamed Spinach, & Cornbread

I am quite ambitious.

It was #FishFriday. I’m not a huge fan of shrimp, but I promised Cameraman Ken I’d make shrimp scampi if he ordered shrimp in our Imperfect Produce box. He was excited for scampi, but I didn’t feel like making noodles or making two separate batches of noodles for him and myself. So, I asked if I could make something else to serve it with. He agreed, and so I chose to make creamed spinach and cornbread, as well. Because the scampi recipe suggested those as side dishes.

Y’all. This was a frantic thing. I had an hour to prepare everything because I had a Zoom meeting to co-host. So, I cooked and filmed this entire meal in one hour. It is a new record. Also, you can hear me curse if you listen closely (sorry, Mom). I was very overheated, very frustrated, very hungry, and very stressed. So, I ended up channeling my inner Nadia Bolz-Weber. Regardless. Everything came out almost exactly on time with each other.

If you decide to make the cornbread, don’t skimp on the butter. I used a coconut oil cooking spray and it really did not help keeping the bread from sticking to the glass dish. Butter will likely make it release better. I, personally, like sweet cornbread. It’s what I grew up with. Oddly. Because I grew up in Central PA, not the South. YMMV.

If you decide to make these dishes, also make sure you use LARGE shrimp. My shrimp were small and they overcooked at 3-4 minutes per side. This was still incredibly tasty–especially considering I don’t like shrimp! I’d love to hear about your experiences making this dish! Leave me a comment below!

Avocado Pesto

Counting avocados…

I love avocados. They are not pre-Columbian, however. So, apologies for the New World foods I’ve been eating and sharing on my pre-Columbian blog/YT channel. But, being on a Keto diet, I have to make some tough choices. Once I get to the point where I can “safely” enter maintenance, I’ll be switching to a low-carb Mediterranean style diet, which I’m hoping can go back to the pre-Columbian things. Of course, I may make exceptions from time to time to make some really awesome 17th or 18th century foods, but, for the most part, I want to keep to the 15th Century or earlier, in The Old World.

Anyway. This is an amazing recipe that Cameraman Ken shared with me. The first time I made it, I didn’t add the almonds, just made it per the recipe (and added the optional ingredients). This time, I added the almonds and it gave it a little extra pop. Obviously, if you have nut allergies, don’t add the almonds.

This is good for a kicked-up avocado toast, a pasta sauce (which reminds me, I should make the Keto Noods again, and use this as the sauce for them), or even as a base for a pizza (be it regular, gluten-free, low-carb, or keto).

Definitely do not leave out the lemon juice from this recipe. Definitely taste it as you mix it, but also wait for 10 minutes after you mix it because the flavors will marry and you don’t want to over-salt it. Unless you’re like me and your lab work comes back saying “Gurl. U got issues!”

Also, my cat bit me two days before I filmed this video. So, that’s what’s going on with my left arm, if you notice the scratches and such. It was my fault; I misread his body language when trying to calm him down from attacking (through a security door) a neighborhood cat. He clamped down on my arm and shook it like a rat, realized it was me, panicked, got two of his fangs stuck, panicked more, and Cameraman Ken had to release his mouth from my arm and help me clean up the blood. It was pretty brutal. Fortunately, I had things like 99% Isopropyl Alcohol and Hibicleanse. It was super swollen for a couple days; now it’s just swollen at the 3 puncture points, which also have lumps where the tissue damage is. Also? It’s itchy A.F.

Lesson learned. (Probably not)

How will you use the Avocado Pesto?