Pecan Sandies

I love pecan sandies, don't you?  They are rich, buttery, crumbly, crunch, sweet and just plain delicious.  Here is a great recipe for some tasty cookie.  It's just like the cookies in grocery store, only better.

You'll need the following:  butter, vegetable oil, sugar, powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and pecans.

Cream butter, oil, sugar and powdered sugar until smooth.

Add eggs, one at a time.

Stir in vanilla.

Stir flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt into creamed mixture.  

Mix in pecans.

Scoop dough into balls, roll in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven.

Here is the recipe I used.  I know you'll love it!

Enjoy!

Turkey Demeating...A Feather Raising Process

WARNING!  Some may not want to see what lies ahead...a dead turkey.  Cover your eyes, look away, or just go shop online if you're scared.  There is very little to no blood...actually NO blood...so you'll be ok.  This is how to skin...butcher...dress...carve...(I don't know what it's called) remove the meat from a turkey.  Here we go!

Here it is.  What a beauty...so proud!

After the beard is cut off, measure it.  See what ya got.  Almost 9 inches...what a whopper!



Do the turkey's have large talons?  (Remember Napoleon Dynamite?)  Measure the talons, claws, feet, whatever you call them.  Almost 1 inch here.  And yes, the turkey has large talons.

Grab a saw and go to town on the legs.

Look at the action shot.  One leg down, one to go.



Beard and feet...they're like the turkey trophy.

Here goes.  Slowly and carefully cut the skin down the breast bone, being sure not to cut the meat.

Pull the skin and feathers back.

Begin cutting the breast  meat along the breast bone.  Wait maybe don't cut the meat yet.  Keep cutting the skin and feathers.

Pull the skin back more.

Cut on the inside between the meat and skin to free the meat from what holds it.

Cut the meat from along the breast bone.

 

Cut carefully being sure not to puncture internal nastiness.

Pull meat and make the final cuts.

Ta da!  Turkey meat...on a tail gate.

Now, start on the other side.  Use the same cutting and pulling process as before.

Take a moment to admire the feathers...ah, what lovely colors.

Back to meat removal.  Almost there.  Just a few more cuts.

Here is the turkey, minus the breast meat.  That's all Ronny wanted, no turkey legs for us.

This is its head, obviously.  I just thought the colors were so pretty.  Poor little gobbler.  I'm sure he had lots of fun time playing and doing the things turkeys do.

Here's the meat.  Maybe we'll have a gobbler cobbler, or fried turkey strips, or an early Thanksgiving feast.  The possibilities are endless.

What a fun time learning how to clean and demeat a turkey.  And it wasn't even that disgusting...if your just watching!

Enjoy!

Prop, Location, Era

I hope everyone had an amazing Easter.  I sure did.  Ronny and I went to 3 different Easter celebrations...we were busy. 

At the Easter with my dad's side of the family we played this game after we were finished eating.  My uncle would choose something, prop from a movie, location, or era in time and everyone would say what prop they would like to have, what location they'd live or what era in time they'd live.  It sounds kinda dumb, but I had fun.  Ronny went outside for some fresh air when he heard what we were doing (come on, have a good time!).

We started off with a movie prop.  Which movie prop would you choose if you could have any prop from any movie, ever?  So, here was my first thought.  It really took no thinking at all!



Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz!  I mean, doesn't everyone want the original ruby slippers?  But, here comes the bad news.  My mom was setting one person in front of me.  You know what I'm about to say, don't you?  She took the ruby slippers!  I was in a panic.  I knew that there were 3 pairs of slipper used in the movie, so I could have one too!  My uncle said no, the ruby slipper were already taken.  What should I choose?  My mind was racing.  The only thing that came to mind was Reese Witherspoon's Tiffany & Company ring from Sweet Home Alabama.  I would just die if I had that ring, but that just wasn't it.  Then my uncle asked someone, to help them think, well, what's your favorite movie?  It hit me!  I love Meet Me in St. Louis.  Here it is...



The house from Meet Me in St. Louis.  I'll take it.  Give me the real thing...I want it!  I'll just move it to the location of my choosing, wherever that might be.  So just hand it over movie prop people (or owner of the house)!  Now that I think about it I'd also like Audrey Hepburn's outfit that she wears in Breakfast at Tiffany's.  The outfit she wears when she's going to visit Mr. O'Shaunessy at Sing Sing.



The dress, the earrings, the amazing hat, the sunglasses, and she has on pointy black alligator heels...love it!

Now that all the props were out of the way, we moved on to location.  Where would you live if you could choose anywhere in the whole wide world?  My mind began yet another struggle.  I have two location loves right now.  Which to choose?



OR



Savannah, Georgia or Boston, Massachusetts?  This was so hard.  Some people were saying fabulous places like Mykonos, Greece...San Diego, California...Hawaii.  I knew what I had to do.  Go with my first love.  Savannah, Georgia it was!  I feel like I will be a true Southern Belle someday (haha).  I'll be the epitome of class, elegance, sophistication, beauty.  Ronny and I will move there, buy a historic home, I'll become bff's with Paula Deen, she will promote my fabulous home style/southern bakery, I'll become a very successful business owner/baker, I'll become famous because of my bff, Paula's promotion, and Ronny and I will live happily ever after...a life full of southern charm!  Well, that's a plan!

Finally we moved on to era's.  If you could choose any era in time to live, what would it be?  I wasn't sure the era in time, but I knew the style of clothing I wanted to wear.  My mom had to help me decide which decade I needed to be in.  Here is the look I was going for...





I choose the 1950's...maybe mid 50's to 60's.  So classy and classic.  I love this last picture from Pan Am (loved that show).  I'd have on a beautiful classy dress every day with perfectly groomed hair, jewelry, a hat (some days), an amazing handbag, but absolutely no gloves (gloves make me claustrophobic, I'm crazy).  I would look amazing!  Fashion is the sole reason I chose the 1950's. 

My mom chose the 1960's so she could be a hippie.  But when my aunt asked her if she would partake in any of the "questionable" thing hippies did she said no way.  I guess she'd be a good hippie?  A few said the 1980's...I'm not sure why.  Maybe it was a good time for them.  And best of all is what my cousin, Stacy, chose.  She said that she would have to live in modern time because there is no way she could live without modern technologies!  If you know her this is spot on for her...I would expect nothing less...love it.  Oh, and I wouldn't be alone in the 1950's.  My grandpa and Stacy's husband, Josh, would be right there with me.  It would be a party!

So, which movie prop would you choose?  What location would you live?  And, which era in time would you live?  Let me know...it'll be fun!