Skip to main content

Featured

The Garden House (Devon, England)

The destinations are beginning to blur but looking at the tour guide booklet, I see that we are now in Plymouth. Today, we visited two gardens designed by Keith Wiley.  The first is The Garden House , where Wiley worked as Head Gardener for 25 years (from 1978-2003). The 10-acre estate was purchased in the 1940s by former Eton schoolmaster Lionel Fortescue and his wife Katherine. It was formerly home to the  vicars of Buckland Monachronum. The Fortescue's renovated the gardens and ran a market garden business and raised cattle.  The remains of some of the original buildings in the vicarage still stand in the garden and serve as a romantic backdrop in the Walled Garden - I loved the way they had massed ferns together. Just stunning! Surrounding the walled garden and venturing out away from the house are more naturalistic plantings  - Today, the head gardener is Nick Haworth, who was previously head gardener at Greenway , which we visited earlier.  Keith Wiley lef...
2 comments
Read more
Labels

Happy Thanksgiving

I spent the day in the kitchen yesterday and made our entire Thanksgiving meal. This is unusual for me since I'm not good at multi-tasking. We didn't have any Thanksgiving plans this year so we had a great dinner last night and now we have leftovers!

I posted yesterday on Facebook about my Broccoli Salad and Cranberry Sauce. I will repost those recipes here. I also made dressing for the first time in my life and I made it in the crockpot. It was fantastic! Michael said that it reminded him of his mother's which was the ultimate compliment.

We also made Alton Brown's Green Bean Casserole (with some changes) and it was wonderful. I will have to post that recipe another time since I'm not sure exactly how Michael did it. 

And, of course, turkey.


Slow Cooker Cornbread Dressing

 6 cups prepared cornbread (Michael made me some cornbread the previous night. You can also use Jiffy mix cornbread but I suspect it would not be as tasty).
8 slices of day-old bread (I just used regular loaf bread)
4 eggs
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 TSP. of poultry seasoning or Sage (I used a combination of both)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 10 1/2-oz. cans of cream of chicken soup
2 10 1/2-oz cans of chicken broth
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp. salt


*Lay your bread out on the counter the night before you prepare the dressing so that it will dry.
*Crumble the breads.
*Add all other ingredients except butter. Salt to taste.
*Pour into a sprayed crock pot.
*Dot with butter.
*Cover and cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 4 hours.



Broccoli Salad - my favorite side dish!

1 head broccoli, cut into small pieces, washed and driedb
bacon (6-8 slices)
1 bunch green onions, chopped (blades)
1 cup raisins
1 cup pecans
2 TBS. cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Cook bacon, cool and crumble.
Toss broccoli, bacon, onions, raisins and pecans.
Whisk together the vingegar, sugar and mayonnaise. Pour over the broccoli mixture and refrigerate.
Chill overnight.

Cranberry Sauce

1 12-ounce package fresh cranberries
1/2  cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
Zest of 1 orange 
1/2 cup water
2 T. Grand Marnier liquor (optional)
Dash of cinnamon (optional)

Plop all the ingredients into a heavy stock pot. Simmer on low (be sure to cover!) for about twenty minutes. You will hear the berries start popping and that is OK. Stir occasionally and make sure heat is very low. Refrigerate. Can be made up to four days ahead.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
Email Post
Labels:

Comments

  1. David OliverNovember 28, 2013 at 1:24 PM

    It all looks very good! I love my slow cooker and cook everything I can in it. I'll try the dressing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CarolNovember 28, 2013 at 5:07 PM

    looks like y'all ate good at your house. enjoy the rest of your holiday!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lisa at GreenbowNovember 28, 2013 at 6:23 PM

    I see that you and Michael ate royally. It all looks and sounds yummy. I made your Pimento Cheese and served for an appetizer today. Everyone loved it and wanted the recipe. That broccoli salad sounds great. I might have to try that too. It is good that you had such a delicious Thanksgiving. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anne BoykinNovember 29, 2013 at 6:55 AM

    Thanks for the recipes, Phillip. Glad you had such a tasty Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  5. JenNovember 29, 2013 at 10:39 PM

    I love broccoli salad and that looks delicious! Happy thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment