Thanksgiving in June

I recently found myself in a position of having to cook at 15-pound turkey. In June.

It's a long story, but the short version goes something like this:

We spent Thanksgiving on a cruise last year with my in-laws, so we did not have a traditional turkey meal. However, our neighboring supermarket was holding a promotion where they gave away free turkeys to everyone who spent more than x amount of dollars that month.

The friendly manager at the supermarket ended up pressing the free frozen turkey upon my father-in-law, saying "why refuse something free?"

So that's how I found myself with an extra turkey in the freezer for 6 months. Last week, I finally decided it was time to reclaim my freezer, and so decided to throw a "Thanksgiving in June" playdate party on a Monday in June.

I found a "dry-brine" recipe online and brined the turkey in the fridge for 36 hours. The genius part of the recipe is that it brined as it defrosted in the refrigerator, and was ready for the oven by the time I got back from a weekend away! The result was juicy and tender -- the best turkey I've ever made! This will now be my go-to recipe for turkey. I cannot wait to try this again in the fall.

Russ Parson's Dry-Brined Turkey

slow cooker cooking: tuscan chicken & artichokes

Babble's "Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken" recipe popped up in my inbox on Monday morning just as I was checking out at the grocery store, and as I only needed two more ingredients to make it, I decided to try it for a playdate dinner we were hosting this week. I grabbled a couple of organic chicken breasts and a can of fire-roasted chicken, and made my way home. While the kids ate breakfast this morning, I turned the slow cooker on low, added the chicken breasts, the tomatoes, and sprinkled on a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs. I popped a few artichoke hearts in a few hours before serving, and at served dinner at six o'clock.  The chicken was moist and tender, and my toddler loved it diced in small pieces. For adults, serve over pasta with some parmesan, fresh basil, and maldon sea salt.

Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes, with sauce
1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
salt to taste
parmesan cheese
fresh basil (optional)


Place chicken breasts into crock pot. Sprinkle with dried herbs and top with the whole can of tomatoes, including the sauce. Cook on "low" for 7-8 hours. Serve over pasta, with grated parmesan, basil, and sea salt to taste.

roasted root veggies, eight minute egg

Meatless Monday again. Where does the week(end) go? We ate out more than usual this weekend, starting with a family dinner at our favorite Korean restaurant on Friday night, followed by a fried-chicken  brunch on Saturday, dinner out, and then Sunday dinner out as well. When I began thinking about dinner this afternoon, I decided on something simple and relatively light to counteract all of that restaurant food. Nonetheless, it had been an unusually cold and windy San Francisco day, so I wanted to make something that still felt hearty and warm.

It had also been a busy Monday, with our usual start-of-the week errands, furniture delivery, and playdates, etc and so I was looking for something easy I could prep and just pop into the oven. This fit the bill!

Roasted Root Veggies, Eight-Minute Egg
4 cups winter vegetables, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces (I used radishes, mushrooms, whole garlic cloves and scallions)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
2 Eggs


Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Toss vegetables with olive oil and sea salt, and spread onto baking sheet. Make sure the veggies are in 1 layer (they won't brown if they are crowded on the pan). Divide into 2 pans if necessary. Roast for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Divide into 4 bowls.
Meanwhile, place eggs a small saucepan and cover with cold water. Cover with lid. Heat until water boils, then immediately turn off heat and let eggs sit for eight minutes for a medium-boiled egg. Remove eggs after eight minutes and submerge in ice water until ready to use.
Peel and halve eggs, topping each bowl of roasted vegetables with half an egg. Sprinkle with Maldon sea salt. Serve with crusty bread.

slow cooker stroganoff

Along with trying out 3 new recipes a week, one of my corollary resolutions is to use my slow cooker more. The trouble is I tend to enjoy really fresh, crisp veggies and just seared meats, which is the antithesis of slow cooker food. Currently the main use of the slow cooker is to make overnight oatmeal from steel-cut oats, which couldn't be easier and is absolutely fantastic.

I saw found this slow cooker beef stroganoff online and it looked so simple that I decided it couldn't hurt to try. Prep time is literally 10 minutes, and it filled the house with an amazing aroma the whole entire day. I felt like one of those people who simmer sauces all day long!

The verdict? Still a bit "stewy" for me, though my son actually ate ate a whole chunk of beef with his dinner. (I also forgot the sour cream, so perhaps it might've been better with)? My favorite part of the meal was the kale and cucumber salad, dressed with my go-to lemon shallot vinaigrette.

Slow Cooker Stroganoff (adapted from The Stir)
2 pounds of London broil cubed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 beef bouillon cubes or equivalent granules
1 cup water
1 cup sour cream (light works fine.)

Mix all but sour cream and put in slow cooker (you do not need to even brown the meat first).

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.

About 10 minutes before serving, stir in sour cream. 

Serve over hot noodles or rice.