Are feeling a little chilly?

I have mentioned this before but my husband is a soup-aholic. He always wants to eat soup no matter what time of year. Of course during winter we get into the thick, heartier soups. We made this the other night and it was delicious! I adapted it from a Martha Stewart recipe, and if you want to change some things (like adding veggies, or swapping veggie grounds for meat, etc...) go right ahead! I am sure it will still be delicious as long as you keep the base seasonings the same. :)
Got this recipe from Martha S. website. We made it last friday and it was great! Thought I would share.

 ~Turkey and Bean Chili~
You can substitute an equal amount of lean ground beef for the turkey. Other types of beans, such as black, northern or kidney beans, can be used instead of pinto beans. Serves 8.
Ingredients
4 turkey bacon slices, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 pounds ground turkey ( I used extra lean and it was fine)
4 cups chopped onions
1 chopped green pepper
1/4 cup minced garlic cloves
2 medium fresh jalapeno chiles, ribs and seeds removed for less heat, if desired,
minced 3 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 teaspoons ground cumin
2 cans (28 ounces each) whole tomatoes in puree
2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses
Coarse salt
3 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
*Toppings-- Fresh cilantro leaves (I think these are essential to this soup!), sliced pickled jalapeno chiles, reduced-fat sour cream, crumbled cornbread, grated lowfat cheddar cheese

Heat a Dutch oven (or other heavy 5-quart pot) over medium heat. Add bacon; cook until crisp and brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Raise heat to high; add turkey. Cook, stirring and breaking up meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes. Add onion,green pepper,garlic, and jalapenos; cook until soft, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Stir in chili powder, cocoa powder, and cumin; cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 minute. Break up tomatoes with a spoon or your hands, and stir them in along with the puree. Add molasses, 1 cup water, and 4 teaspoons salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer; cook, partially covered, 30 minutes. Add beans; continue cooking, uncovered, until meat and beans are very tender, and chili is thick, about 30 minutes more. Serve with desired toppings.

GIft Shopping for that hard-to-buy-for person? Also biodegradeable wrapping paper!

Well I was searching for cool stuff to buy for my parents. They have enough money to buy whatever they want so I have a hard time shopping for them. I planned to make them something but I ran out of time and was busy with other projects. Then I had and "AHA!" moment and remembered this cool site I bookmarked just for this occasion. It's called Neato stuff and it's a HUGE listing of neato stuff that you might not just stumble across anyday but could just be that PERFECT gift for that person you can't think of what to buy for. So if you are going through it as well, head straight to Neato Stuff. Also if you want to buy a gift for someone while making a difference in a shelter animal's life try checking the Animal Rescue Site store. All profits go towards feeding animals in shelters and they have lots of cool stuff! Lots of fair trade and jewelry, it's not all animal things. :) they have cheap shipping too! Also while on the site I came across this super awesome wrapping paper that has seeds embedded into it. So when you are done with it, the reciever can plant the paper and will get flowers! Cool huh? Way better than all that wasteful super glossy crap.

It's official: Men really are the weaker sex

December 7, 2008

~~~~It's official: Men really are the weaker sex~~~
Evolution is being distorted by pollution, which damages genitals and the ability to father offspring, says new study . Geoffrey Lean reports

   The male gender is in danger, with incalculable consequences for both humans and wildlife, startling scientific research from around the world reveals. The research – to be detailed tomorrow in the most comprehensive report yet published – shows that a host of common chemicals is feminising males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people. Backed by some of the world's leading scientists, who say that it "waves a red flag" for humanity and shows that evolution itself is being disrupted, the report comes out at a particularly sensitive time for ministers.
    On Wednesday, Britain will lead opposition to proposed new European controls on pesticides, many of which have been found to have "gender-bending" effects. It also follows hard on the heels of new American research which shows that baby boys born to women exposed to widespread chemicals in pregnancy are born with smaller penises and feminised genitals. "This research shows that the basic male tool kit is under threat," says Gwynne Lyons, a former government adviser on the health effects of chemicals, who wrote the report.
    Wildlife and people have been exposed to more than 100,000 new chemicals in recent years, and the European Commission has admitted that 99 per cent of them are not adequately regulated. There is not even proper safety information on 85 per cent of them. Many have been identified as "endocrine disrupters" – or gender-benders – because they interfere with hormones.
These include phthalates, used in food wrapping, cosmetics and baby powders among other applications; flame retardants in furniture and electrical goods; PCBs, a now banned group of substances still widespread in food and the environment; and many pesticides.
    The report – published by the charity CHEMTrust and drawing on more than 250 scientific studies from around the world – concentrates mainly on wildlife, identifying effects in species ranging from the polar bears of the Arctic to the eland of the South African plains, and from whales in the depths of the oceans to high-flying falcons and eagles. It concludes: "Males of species from each of the main classes of vertebrate animals (including bony fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) have been affected by chemicals in the environment. "Feminisation of the males of numerous vertebrate species is now a widespread occurrence. All vertebrates have similar sex hormone receptors, which have been conserved in evolution. Therefore, observations in one species may serve to highlight pollution issues of concern for other vertebrates, including humans. " Fish, it says, are particularly affected by pollutants as they are immersed in them when they swim in contaminated water, taking them in not just in their food but through their gills and skin. They were among the first to show widespread gender-bending effects.
 Half the male fish in British lowland rivers have been found to be developing eggs in their testes; in some stretches all male roaches have been found to be changing sex in this way. Female hormones – largely from the contraceptive pills which pass unaltered through sewage treatment – are partly responsible, while more than three-quarters of sewage works have been found also to be discharging demasculinising man-made chemicals. Feminising effects have now been discovered in a host of freshwater fish species as far away as Japan and Benin, in Africa, and in sea fish in the North Sea, the Mediterranean, Osaka Bay in Japan and Puget Sound on the US west coast. Research at the University of Florida earlier this year found that 40 per cent of the male cane toads – a species so indestructible that it has become a plague in Australia – had become hermaphrodites in a heavily farmed part of the state, with another 20 per cent undergoing lesser feminisation.
    A similar link between farming and sex changes in northern leopard frogs has been revealed by Canadian research, adding to suspicions that pesticides may be to blame. Male alligators exposed to pesticides in Florida have suffered from lower testosterone and higher oestrogen levels, abnormal testes, smaller penises and reproductive failures. Male snapping turtles have been found with female characteristics in the same state and around the Great Lakes, where wildlife has been found to be contaminated with more than 400 different chemicals. Male herring gulls and peregrine falcons have produced the female protein used to make egg yolks, while bald eagles have had difficulty reproducing in areas highly contaminated with chemicals. Scientists at Cardiff University have found that the brains of male starlings who ate worms contaminated by female hormones at a sewage works in south-west England were subtly changed so that they sang at greater length and with increased virtuosity. Even more ominously for humanity, mammals have also been found to be widely affected. Two-thirds of male Sitka black-tailed deer in Alaska have been found to have undescended testes and deformed antler growth, and roughly the same proportion of white-tailed deer in Montana were discovered to have genital abnormalities. In South Africa, eland have been revealed to have damaged testicles while being contaminated by high levels of gender-bender chemicals, and striped mice from one polluted nature reserved were discovered to be producing no sperm at all. At the other end of the world, hermaphrodite polar bears – with penises and vaginas – have been discovered and gender-benders have been found to reduce sperm counts and penis lengths in those that remained male.
  Many of the small, endangered populations of Florida panthers have been found to have abnormal sperm. Other research has revealed otters from polluted areas with smaller testicles and mink exposed to PCBs with shorter penises. Beluga whales in Canada's St Lawrence estuary and killer whales off its north-west coast – two of the wildlife populations most contaminated by PCBs – are reproducing poorly, as are exposed porpoises, seals and dolphins.
  Scientists warned yesterday that the mass of evidence added up to a grave warning for both wildlife and humans. Professor Charles Tyler, an expert on endocrine disrupters at the University of Exeter, says that the evidence in the report "set off alarm bells". Whole wildlife populations could be at risk, he said, because their gene pool would be reduced, making them less able to withstand disease and putting them at risk from hazards such as global warming. Dr Pete Myers, chief scientist at Environmental Health Sciences, one of the world's foremost authorities on gender-bender chemicals, added: "We have thrown 100, 000 chemicals against a finely balanced hormone system, so it's not surprising that we are seeing some serious results. It is leading to the most rapid pace of evolution in the history of the world. Professor Lou Gillette of Florida University, one of the most respected academics in the field, warned that the report waved "a large red flag" at humanity. He said: "If we are seeing problems in wildlife, we can be concerned that something similar is happening to a proportion of human males"
   Indeed, new research at the University of Rochester in New York state shows that boys born to mothers with raised levels of phthalates were more likely to have smaller penises and undescended testicles. They also had a shorter distance between their anus and genitalia, a classic sign of feminisation. And a study at Rotterdam's Erasmus University showed that boys whose mothers had been exposed to PCBs grew up wanting to play with dolls and tea sets rather than with traditionally male toys. Communities heavily polluted with gender-benders in Canada, Russia and Italy have given birth to twice as many girls than boys, which may offer a clue to the reason for a mysterious shift in sex ratios worldwide. Normally 106 boys are born for every 100 girls, but the ratio is slipping. It is calculated that 250,000 babies who would have been boys have been born as girls instead in the US and Japan alone. And sperm counts are dropping precipitously. Studies in more than 20 countries have shown that they have dropped from 150 million per millilitre of sperm fluid to 60 million over 50 years. (Hamsters produce nearly three times as much, at 160 million.) Professor Nil Basu of Michigan University says that this adds up to "pretty compelling evidence for effects in humans".
  But Britain has long sought to water down EU attempts to control gender-bender chemicals and has been leading opposition to a new regulation that would ban pesticides shown to have endocrine-disrupting effects. Almost all the other European countries back it, but ministers – backed by their counterparts from Ireland and Romania – are intent on continuing their resistance at a crucial meeting on Wednesday. They say the regulation would cause a collapse of agriculture in the UK, but environmentalists retort that this is nonsense because the regulation has get-out clauses that could be used by British farmers.

My T-Day Recipes

made a "feast" on T-day this year for just Jarrod and I. But for once, EVERYTHING turned out really good. So I thought I would share these recipes with you in case you need or want any. :)

Herbed Bread Stuffing with Mushrooms and Sausage
Making your own bread cubes is easy and yields delicious results. You can prepare the toasted bread cubes two to three days before Thanksgiving; store at room temperature in a zip-top plastic bag. If there's space in the oven, bake the stuffing while the turkey roasts. Otherwise, bake it in the morning, and reheat it while the turkey stands.
1 1/2 pounds peasant-style white bread (I used a garlic loaf, not garlic BREAD, but a fresh loaf baked with garlic)
4 (4-ounce) links sweet turkey Italian sausage (I used Gimme Lean Soy sausage crumbles, which are really good, instead of turkey sausage. It comes in a tube like regular ground sausage)
2 teaspoons butter
1 pound cremini mushrooms, quartered
Cooking spray
 2 cups chopped onion
1 1/4 cups chopped carrot
1 1/4 cups chopped celery
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400°.Trim crust from bread. Cut bread into 1 1/2-inch cubes. Arrange bread cubes in a single layer on 2 jelly-roll pans. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until toasted.Reduce oven temperature to 350°.
Cook sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 10 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan; cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes. Combine bread cubes, sausage, and mushrooms in a large bowl.
Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, carrot, and celery; sauté 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add parsley, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper; sauté 1 minute. Add to bread mixture. Combine eggs and broth, stirring with a whisk. Add to bread mixture; toss to coat. Spoon into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until browned.
Yield: 12 servings (serving size: about 1 cup) CALORIES 208 (27% from fat); FAT 6.2g (sat 1.7g,mono 1.9g,poly 1.2g); IRON 2mg; CHOLESTEROL 68mg; CALCIUM 46mg; CARBOHYDRATE 25.9g; SODIUM 635mg; PROTEIN 13.6g; FIBER 4.1g Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2004

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon-Horseradish Cream
Makes 6 servings, 1 cup each 

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
4 strips crisp-cooked bacon, finely chopped (I used turkey bacon)
¼ cup reduced-fat sour cream or lowfat Greek yogurt
 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1. Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan, add 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Put Brussels sprouts in the basket and steam until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. 2. Mix bacon, sour cream, horseradish, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the Brussels sprouts and toss to coat.

Roasted Beets with Feta
Yields: 4 servings
"This colorful and elegant side dish is so easy to make. I love making this with beets and shallots straight from our local farmers' market. Green onions or chives may be substituted for the shallot if you prefer."

INGREDIENTS:
4 beets, trimmed, leaving 1 inch of stems attached
1/4 cup minced shallot
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Wrap each beet individually in aluminum foil, and place onto a baking sheet.
2. Bake beets in preheated oven until easily pierced with a fork, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Once done, remove from oven, and allow to cool until you can handle them. Peel beets, and cut into 1/4 inch slices.
3. While the beets are roasting, whisk together shallot, parsley, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and red wine vinegar in a bowl until blended; season to taste with salt and pepper, and set aside.

4. To assemble the dish, place the warm, sliced beets onto a serving dish, pour vinaigrette over the beets, and sprinkle with feta cheese before serving. *Note I made the beets the day before and then sliced and heated them up before dinner and did the rest.

Honey-Brined Turkey
Bon Appétit | November 1999
 
by Janet Fletcher

The bird gets its incredible moistness from being soaked overnight in a brine enhanced by thyme, garlic cloves and honey."Because of the brining process, we don't recommend stuffing this turkey."
***Note when brining a turkey always make sure it's labeled "All Natural" or "Wild" or "Organic" because otherwise this will be too salty with the saline solutions that other kinds of turkeys are soaked in before selling.
Yield: Makes 14 to 16 servings

Turkey:
1 19- to 20-pound turkey
 8 quarts water
2 cups coarse salt
1 cup honey
 2 bunches fresh thyme
8 large garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons coarsely cracked black pepper
2 lemons, halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cups (about) canned low-salt chicken broth.

For turkey:

Line extra-large stockpot with heavy large plastic bag (about 30-gallon capacity). Rinse turkey; place in plastic bag. Stir 8 quarts water, 2 cups coarse salt and 1 cup honey in large pot until salt and honey dissolve. Add 1 bunch fresh thyme, peeled garlic cloves and black pepper. Pour brine over turkey. Gather plastic bag tightly around turkey so that bird is covered with brine; seal plastic bag. Refrigerate pot with turkey in brine at least 12 hours and up to 18 hours.

Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Drain turkey well; discard brine. Pat turkey dry inside and out. Squeeze juice from lemon halves into main cavity. Add lemon rinds and remaining 1 bunch fresh thyme to main cavity. Tuck wings under turkey; tie legs together loosely to hold shape. Place turkey on rack set in large roasting pan. Rub turkey all over with 2 tablespoons olive oil.

Roast turkey 1 hour. Baste turkey with 1 cup chicken broth. Continue to roast until turkey is deep brown and thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 180°F, basting with 1 cup chicken broth every 30 minutes and covering loosely with foil if turkey is browning too quickly, about 2 1/2 hours longer. Transfer turkey to platter. Tent turkey loosely with foil and let stand 30 minutes.

*Note I made this with a 15lb turkey. To brine something this big you need a large pot or a bucket. Then put the lid on it and set out in garage (if you have cold winters) or in a fridge with a lot of space.You can do the bag, but it will be big too.Also my 15lb Turkey only took 2-1/2-3 hours to cook.

Pumpkin-Maple Pie 
We've made our pumpkin pie even richer by adding maple syrup. 
Crust: (I didn't use this crust recipe- see below)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chilled butter or stick margarine, cut into small pieces
3 1/2 tablespoons ice water
Cooking spray
Filling: 1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 cup evaporated fat-free milk
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
 Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)

To prepare crust, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt in a bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle surface with ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time; toss with a fork until moist and crumbly (do not form a ball).

Press mixture gently into a 4-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap; cover with additional plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, to a 12-inch circle. Freeze 10 minutes or until plastic wrap can be easily removed.

Remove 1 sheet of plastic wrap; fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap. Fold edges under; flute.Preheat oven to 425°.

To prepare filling, beat 1/2 cup sugar and next 5 ingredients (1/2 cup sugar through eggs) at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended. Add milk and pumpkin; beat well. Pour into prepared crust. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° (do not remove pie from oven); bake an additional 50 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.

 CALORIES 267 (25% from fat); FAT 7.5g (sat 4.1g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.5g); IRON 2mg; CHOLESTEROL 72mg; CALCIUM 129mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.5g; SODIUM 152mg; PROTEIN 6.3g; FIBER 2.6g Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 1999


Essential Eating Well Pie Pastry

Makes about 14 ounces dough, enough for one 9- to 11-inch pie or tart.

* Note I added 1/4 cup fresh ground flax seed swapped for 1/4 cup of the wheat flour. I also used less butter. It was perfect!

Ingredients

¾ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter (½ stick), cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon canola oil
¼ cup ice water, plus more as needed
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar

Instructions

Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger pieces. Add oil and stir with a fork to blend. Mix 1/4 cup water, egg yolk and lemon juice (or vinegar) in a measuring cup. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add enough of the egg yolk mixture, stirring with a fork, until the dough clumps together. (Add a little water if the dough seems too dry.) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead several times. Form the dough into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Tips-Refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Essential EatingWell Pie Pastry

Nutrition Information Per 8 servings: 166 calories; 8 g fat (4 g sat, 1 g mono); 41 mg cholesterol; 19 g carbohydrate; 3 g protein; 1 g fiber; 82 mg sodium; 16 mg potassium.

Per 10 servings: 133 calories; 6 g fat (3 g sat, 1 g mono); 33 mg cholesterol; 15 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 1 g fiber; 65 mg sodium; 13 mg potassium. Per 12 servings: 110 calories; 5 g fat (3 g sat, 1 g mono); 28 mg cholesterol; 13 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 1 g fiber; 54 mg sodium; 11 mg potassium.

Well that's about it. I also made potatoes but I don't really use a recipe for those. I used 5lbs red potatoes, boil them, then mash with buttermilk, a teensy bit of butter (like 1-2 tbls depending on how many potatoes), some roasted garlic (roast whole head wrapped in foil with a little olive oil for about 40 min then squeeze out cloves), and salt of course. These are easy to make a day before and reheat the day of.

But all these recipes, even with my substitutions noted, were really really good! I highly recommend them.