Turkey Day in May

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The big attraction is all the food that we have to eat! Unfortunately, with it being May, there's still 6 months until Turkey Day.

As such, my friend and I decided that we'd throw a Turkey Day in May party yesterday for my roommate (who LOVES turkey) and the rest of our friends. We decided instead of doing a traditional Turkey Feast, we'd put a Spring/Summer spin on a few of the dishes.

This was a day of firsts for me. It was my first time preparing a dish for a turkey dinner and the first time that I've carved a turkey.

Our menu for the day was simple:

• Roast Turkey
• Grilled Seasoned Potato Wedges
• Grilled Corn on the Cob
• Braised Carrots
• Bacon & Bourbon Stuffing
• Romaine Lettuce Salad
• Strawberry Roubarb Pie

Today, I'm going to focus on the dish that I was in charge of, the Bacon & Bourbon Stuffing.

Bacon & Bourbon Stuffing

Ingredients:

• 1 LB thick-cut bacon, chopped
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 loaf pumpernickle bread, lightly toasted & cubed
• 1/2 loaf dark rye bread, lightly toasted & cubed
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 Tbsp dried thyme
• 1-1/2 Tbsp dried sage leaves
• 1 Quart chicken stock (more as needed)
• 1/2 cup bourbon whiskey

Directions:

1. Begin by toasting all your bread and cubing it.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
3. Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium high heat until crispy. Drain on paper towels and reserve all bacon grease left in the pan in a bowl.
4. In the same skillet, melt the butter over Medium heat. Add the onion, celery, garlic and rosemary to the pan and cook until the onions are soft. Add the reserved bacon fat.
5. Place the bread cubes into a large bowl. Add the eggs, thyme, sage and bacon. Toss to mix. Add the onion mixture and mix evenly again.
6. Pour the bourbon and chicken stock into a separate bowl and stir. Add the mixture to the bread bowl and mix with your hands. Keep adding chicken stock until you reach the desired consistency.
7. Place the stuffing into the baking pan and bake for about 1 hour. It will be ready when a knife stuck into the center comes out clean. You can increase the bake time to produce a crispier top.

Well, that's the recipe for today! If you have any suggestions, questions or comments, please let me know!

Homemade Chicken Soup Makes It All Better

The only thing that I love about being sick with a cold is that it gives me a reason to make Chicken Soup. So, when I came down with a cold this week, it gave me the perfect excuse to make my favorite Chicken Noodle Soup recipe!

I actually found the recipe this one is based off of a couple of years ago when I had a pretty nasty cold. That recipe was good, but I combined a number of suggestions to make it better. The following is my version of the recipe and makes enough leftovers for a few days:

Feel Better Chicken Noodle Soup

• 1Tbsp Butter
• 1/2 Medium Yellow Onion
• 3 Stalks of Celery
• 2 Carrots
• 2 tsp Minced Garlic
• 2 - 32oz Boxes of Chicken Stock
• 1 - 14oz Can of Vegetable Stock
• 1 Tbsp Dried Thyme Leaves
• 1 Tbsp Dried Oregano
• 2 tsp Dried Basil
• 1 Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes
• 3 drops of Hot Sauce
• 1 - Rotisserie Chicken
• 2 handfuls of Medium Egg Noodles
• Salt & Pepper to Taste

Directions:

1. Clean the meat off of your rotisserie chicken. I prefer to use a Bourbon flavored chicken from my local Stop & Shop. Make sure that you make the pieces of chicken bite-sized.
2. Melt the butter in your soup pot and sweat the garlic, onion, carrots and celery.
3. Add the stock, herbs, and hot sauce to the pot and stir.
4. Add about 2/3 of the chicken and the egg noodles and stir again.
5. Heat the soup to boiling, then lower the temp to Med-Low and simmer for 20 minutes
6. Enjoy!

Note: I usually use the left over chicken that I didn't add to the soup for a number of different recipes during the week. Stuff like Chicken Salad or Chicken Fried Rice/Stir Fry.

That's all for today! Happy Eating!
--Kyle

Greetings from the Kitchen!

Hi everyone!

Since this is my first post with Eating with Kyle, I thought that it would be a good idea to introduce myself before I start with what I expect to be my normal posts.

Well, first of all, my name is Kyle (duh) and I'm a 26 year old single guy living just outside of Hartford, CT. I share a house with 2 other awesome guys, and I'm pretty much the master of the kitchen amongst the three of us.

I've been cooking since 5th Grade and have been in love with it ever since. During High School, I took a Food Service class and loved it so much that I almost gave up on my true love of working with computers to go to Culinary School instead. I still wish that I had taken that leap though, or at least taken some classes at the local Community College. Alas, that was not to be...at least for now!

Now that I've moved out of my parents' respective houses I've redeveloped a love for cooking and try to make something new every week when I have time. Unfortunately, my job doesn't always allow me the time to make a good meal, but I try to as often as possible.

And now, on to the meat and potatoes of this blog: THE FOOD!