Roasted Turkey Breast

This is an easy way to roast turkey which should come out moist and juicy. The trick is to let the turkey breast soak in a brine for about 6 to 8 hours or overnight. The brine helps the turkey retain the juices as it roasts. This can be used for chicken as well. The brine is a mix of salty and sweet and a 5 to 6 lb. turkey breast will require about 1 cup of coarse salt and 1 cup of packed brown sugar in a pot of water. Place the turkey in the pot, bone side up. The water should cover the turkey breast. Place a plate on top to help hold the turkey down (the turkey will float to the top otherwise).

After the turkey has soaked in the brine for at least 6 to 8 hours, rinse it off well and pat it dry. Place the turkey breast on a baking sheet (preferably rimmed) and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours. Let the turkey sit for about 20 to 30 minutes before slicing. By waiting the 20 minutes or so, you are letting the turkey "rest" and this helps the juices to solidify so when you slice the turkey, the juices don't all run off but are retained in the turkey meat. It really works!

Trader Joe's Chicken Tortilla Soup

A visit to Trader Joe's today resulted in picking up all the ingredients to make TJ's Chicken Tortilla Soup. Sampling tables are great for sales and today's sampling table included this soup marketed to take only 15 minutes to make. Everything was there at the display ready to put in your shopping cart! Wow, a great marketing strategy and Morris said the soup was good! We loaded our cart with all the ingredients and I made the soup when we got home. Easy as they said it would be and tasty too! Here's what you need:

15 minutes
A large soup pot
1 Can Black Beans drained and rinsed
1 Can Corn drained
1 Can Chunk chicken
1 Box (32 oz.) Chicken broth
1 Jar Double Roasted Salsa (16 oz.)
1 hand full of tortilla chips

Add all ingredients to a large pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes. Serve in soup bowl with a dollop of tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, sour cream and/or fresh avocado sliced if desired.

Easy and good! How often does that happen?

Applesauce

Applesauce is pretty easy and after you make it once you probably won't need a recipe. This recipe is from allrecipes.com and is a basic recipe to follow. However, remember that it is about what tastes good to you so these are all approximate amounts.

Ingredients:
6 cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup white sugar

Directions
In a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, combine apples, water, cinnamon, and cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer covered for 10 minutes. Stir in sugar, and simmer 5 more minutes.


I like to use Granny Smith apples for applesauce. They are a little dryer in texture and hold up well when cooked. You can experiment with different apples until you find one you like. Also I don't think I would use 3/4 cup water but would use about 1/2 cup. You can also use apple juice and reduce the sugar. The reviews for this recipe talked about using less water (you can always add more if you need to). The reviews also talked about less sugar. I don't think I would add more than 1/4 cup sugar. Some reviewers didn't use clove either. Again, try it or not it should be good either way. I probably would use a little more cinnamon.

Overall I think this is a good starting point and should get you where you want to go. I usually take more time for cooking, about 20 minutes or so. I like my applesauce chunky but you can use a fork to mash it up so it is a smoother consistency. After it is cooked I would put it in a container and refrigerate it for a couple of hours. I like it cold right out of the frig! So good!

My grandmother made applesauce on a regular basis and so did my dad when I was a kid. I loved to make applesauce sandwiches! I know you and your dad didn't like them but maybe you will give it a try.