The Lonely Cowgirl’s Cookbook

     I have been making Thanksgiving meals ever since I was 19.  Over the years I have been repeatedly told I make the best turkey they have ever had, hands down.  I have had other people's turkey at Thanksgiving and I am ever grateful for a meal I did not have to cook, but often find that turkeys I did not cook are extremely dry (please no offense, I am always honored to be a part of someone else's festivities!).  Turkey's don't have to be dry if you are doing it right.        This is my Thanksgiving edition where I will share my secret of a delicious juicy bird no matter how big or small and a few side recipes and even a holiday drink I like to make that is delicious and festive.  These are full sized recipes, you could easily halve them, except the cornbread, you will just have a half a skillet cornbread left over for eating.   The Turkey The basic rule of thumb for roasting a turkey is 20-25 minutes per pound.  I surpr...

 Today's culinary adventure was to make a batch of everything bagels.  I haven't made any in years because I can never eat bread fast enough.  I discovered though that breads can be frozen and keep for months and take them out and defrost just what you need a night or day ahead of time it still tastes just as fresh as when it was frozen. I like breakfast sandwiches a lot so I figured I can switch it up every now and then and have a bagel instead of my normal healthy cereal.  This recipe makes eight bagels.  If you want to make more simply make another dough recipe.  This is definitely not a recipe you want to double, it will overwhelm your mixer. If you want plain bagels simply just use the egg wash only and bake.  Or you can make them onion, garlic or salt bagels, whatever you like. I am hoping to make a batch of cheddar bagels next.  I will be adding 1/2 to 1 cup of shredded cheddar when starting to mix the flour into the yeast mixture.  An...

      Surprisingly, I had never actually had french onion soup ever!  All the years in and out of restaurants I saw it sitting in its pan being served.  It just never looked appetizing to me at all.  Over the years I saw pictures in various food magazines served with crusty bread and melted cheese, it always looked delicious in the magazines.  Then one day someone was talking about it and I just had to make a batch and it was  absolutely delicious.  I intend to post recipes as I make them so I can accompany my post with a tantalizing picture of my creation but someone is eagerly awaiting me to post this recipe so here it is.  Maybe the next time I make it I will update this post with a delicious looking picture.        I serve mine with gruyere, most restaurants serve it with swiss.  I much prefer gruyere, it is a very delicious cheese.  Keep in mind this is a halved recipe, you can double the ingredients to...

My first Thai dish I ever tried was pad thai with chicken and man was that good!  I was about 18 when I tried thai for the first time and I was hooked.  But, as soon as I discovered thai green curry wok stir fry with chicken I have not had pad thai since until I decided I wanted to make it right here at home.  I actually used the full size recipe as I know I will most certainly eat all of it.  It came out super, duper good!  Ingredients: 8 oz flat rice noodles 3 TB peanut oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 8 oz uncooked shrimp, chicken, or extra firm tofu, cut into small pieces 2 Eggs, beaten 1 cup fresh mung bean sprouts 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced 3 green onions, chopped 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts 2 limes 1/2 cup cilantro chopped For the sauce: 3 TB fish sauce 1 TB low sodium soy sauce (I use tamari) 5 TB light brown sugar 2 TB rice vinegar 1 TB siracha hot sauce or more to taste 2 TB creamy peanut butter Cook noodles according to package until tender.  Ri...

Everyone knows that when you are single cooking can suck.  Most recipes are built for normal size families that you just can't or won't possibly eat all of.  You go buy your groceries, maybe you're not very good at meal planning and you always seem to end up throwing out quite a lot of food. Not meaning to of course but if you are like me maybe you are sick of seeing dollar signs being thrown into the trash.  At least I was. I was always making too much, throwing so much away.  Whether it be cooked meals, or food I bought that didn't get around to being used.  It came to a point that as a former chef and a single person that I had to do something.  I got smarter at my meal planning.  Looked at what I really liked, what I cook often, and what I wanted to be able to cook and enjoy without making too much.  I learned to plan it out week by week.  I shop for the whole week and plan my meals accordingly and my food is getting eaten and it has made...