Blessings for our Thanksgiving!

Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey by Laurie Dotson

Thanksgiving has become one of my favorite holidays. An acquaintance wrote my sentiments to a tee and I would like to post them. So without further ado… She says, For weeks I look forward to preparing a beautiful meal and relaxing with my family. Sadly, Thanksgiving night invariably finds me deflated. I regret having gotten irritable in the final crazy minutes of gravy making and turkey carving or feel dispirited by the lack of meaningful conversation at the table. I miss the family members who are absent. I wish people would have gotten along better and connected more deeply. The list of discontents varies from year to year but the theme is the same: it didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped.

This year I am on to myself. All month I’ve been thinking about letting go of my imaginary ideals and showing up with an open heart for whatever happens. I anticipate that it may be a little hard to pull off on the big day. I know I’m not alone. For many people the holidays are a time of heightened need for things to be a particular way. Certainly there’s nothing wrong with wanting a lovely holiday. But high expectations can hold us in their grip. What we want to see blinds us to what is actually in front of us and diminishes it. If we then distance ourselves from the imperfect, that gap makes it even harder to connect to things as they are. It is only in approaching a thing — be it this particular holiday meal or an individual human being — with attention that we can fully appreciate it, for all its faults and strengths, for all its funky uniqueness. Paying attention with kindness opens us to the wholeness around us. From there it is a short leap to gratitude. That which we see deeply enough can virtually always be counted as a blessing.

As we each look around our Thanksgiving tables next week, may we focus on the kindness and generosity that is shared between us and give thanks for the day we have been given, whether or not it is the one we had imagined.

Blessings on your holiday table.  Don’t forget to invite a friend or two who need a family to share this day with! 

Honey Roast Turkey

Turkey ingredients

• 1  12 – 14  pound  fresh or frozen natural turkey
• 2 cups  water
• 1/2 cup  Hive & Honey BEEpothecary honey
• 1/4 cup  finely snipped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons  finely snipped fresh sage
• 2 tablespoons  snipped fresh thyme
• 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon  olive oil
• 1/2 kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup  Hive & Honey BEEpothecary honey
• 2 tablespoons  butter
•  Apple Cider Sauce (see recipe below) (optional)

directions

1.Thaw turkey if frozen. In a medium saucepan combine water, 1/2 cup honey, and about half of the parsley, sage, thyme, and garlic. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in olive oil. Cover; let stand 30 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve; discard solids.

2.Rinse turkey; pat dry with paper towels. Skewer the neck skin to the back. Tie legs to tail. Twist wing tips under the back.

3.Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Using a flavor-injector syringe, inject the honey mixture into the meat of the turkey. (This may take up to 20 injections, so try to evenly distribute the seasoned mixture in the turkey. If the syringe gets clogged with a bit of seasoning, you will need to flush it out with water and a toothpick.) Sprinkle turkey lightly with salt and pepper.

4.Insert a meat thermometer into the center of one of the inside thigh muscles without the thermometer touching the bone. Cover turkey loosely with foil. Roast in a 325 degree F oven for 2-1/2 hours.

5.For glaze, in a small saucepan, heat and stir 1/4 cup honey and butter until butter is melted. Stir in remaining parsley, sage, thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper.

6.Remove turkey from oven. Cut the string between the drumsticks so the thighs will cook evenly. Remove the foil to let the bird brown. Brush about one-third of the glaze over turkey. Return turkey to oven and roast for 30 to 60 minutes more, brushing two more times with remaining glaze, or until meat thermometer registers 180 degrees F and juices run clear.

7.Remove turkey from oven and cover loosely with foil. Let stand for 15 minutes before carving. Carve turkey into thin slices and, if desired, serve with Apple Cider Sauce. Makes 18 servings.

Apple Cider Sauce

 ingredients

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons  butter
• 3 tablespoons  flour
• 1 1/2 cups  chicken broth
• 1 cup  apple cider
• 1/4 cup  Hive & Honey BEEpothecary honey
• 2 tablespoons  cider vinegar
•  Salt
•  Pepper

directions

1.In a medium saucepan, cook onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour, broth, apple cider, honey and cider vinegar. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

From the Laurie and Pete Dotson and Jeannie and Steve Saum,

We wish you Great Blessings and Happy Thanksgiving Eating !

(P.S. Take your Propolis and Honey and stay healthy this holiday season!)

Psalm 95:2-3  Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.  For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.

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Smoked Brisket with a Honey BBQ Sauce

Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey by Laurie Dotson

I love spring!  You know why? My husband wants to grill and that means, he is the Cook. With a capital “C”.   It’s a nice surprise when someone else cooks for the Cook!  ME!  So, off to Costco we go to pick our choice beef!  We graze around the meat department. If you’ve been to the store, Costco has food reps standing at stations serving up every kind of goodness they sell.  I look at Pete and he is mesmerized by all the big meat.  You know, the large slabs of prime rib that cost a whole months wage, the porterhouse steaks that are the size of a barn, the racks of ribs that we can gnaw on for weeks, but its the large, bright red briskets that has caught his eye.  This brisket was calling his name, as he looked into the cold case.  It had everything he wanted. Size: 14 lbs,  Color: meat red,  Fat: a nice thick piece running down its back and finally the Shape: it will fit into our smoker.  We bring it home and let it sit in the ‘frigerator for a two weeks. Cold aging tenderizes the meat.   The day before smoking take place, we put a special rub on the brisket. It’s so special that were not sure what’s in it…My cousin DeeAnn was staying with us, a couple months ago, and she made up a rub for a roast, so I used what was left over. Perfect!    The next day, the smoking began. Pete gets the smoker to maintain 225 degrees. We smoke the meat until it reaches 180 degrees, using a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat.  At this point, the meat is done and slicable, but we want the meat to fall apart, so we continue to cook the meat until it reaches 190 degrees. That’s when the fat melts into the meat and it becomes yum-azing!  All in all, it took about 6 hours.

Yum-azing brisket

Rub recipe:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bbq-with-bobby-flay/oklahoma-joes-smoked-brisket-flat-recipe/index.html

The easy part is my BBQ Sauce.  I made up the Honey BBQ Sauce and brushed on a thin layer while the meat rested.  Served the rest on the side.  I doubled this recipe because we have 14 lbs of meat to eat!

Honey Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1-1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions

• In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil. Serve with sliced brisket. Yield: 1-1/3 cups.

Eat the brisket and Honey BBQ sauce with just a fork, no knife needed!

Happy Eating!

Genesis 9:3 ESV  Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.