Recipe for Leftover Turkey, Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

Here it's a few days after Thanksgiving and you're wondering what to do with some of that leftover turkey, other than sandwiches, of course. This is a soup that will be a great change from the usual turkey casseroles. If you can find some, use Baby Bella and brown mushrooms in the soup for even more flavor.

Herbs and Plants Around the World (Weekend Herb Blogging #8)

This week was consumed with Thanksgiving dinners and family plans for most people in the U.S., but I was still hoping some of my international food blog friends would want to participate in Weekend Herb Blogging, and they didn't let me down. In fact, every week it seems there is a new blogger or new country represented, and this week was no exception. By the way, luckily I save the links in my e-mail until the final post is published because somehow Blogger chewed up my original post and spit it out in a form I didn't recognize. So if anyone finds any errors, please let me know. (Bless Blogger's pointed little blogspot head.)

Recipe for Sunday Morning Omelet with Asparagus and Goat Cheese

It's another Sunday morning in Salt Lake City and the snow is falling lightly outside. This week Andrew is not having another meme, but I felt like making an omelet again, something I often do on Sunday morning. If you want more step-by-step instructions on making omelets, see my previous post from last Sunday. This week I just used some leftover asparagus I had hanging around in the fridge and a good sized chunk of goat cheese.

Weekend Herb Blogging #8 (Jack Frost visits Kalyn's Herbs)

I hadn't been out in the garden for a several days, but yesterday morning I wandered out with my camera and got some great shots of barely surviving herbs covered with frost. This was about 9:30 A.M. so the frost is staying for quite a while in the mornings. Today there is a light drizzle of snow falling in Salt Lake City, so these are probably the very last garden pictures of the year, except for one garden photo I am saving for a weekend when I am buried in snow and don't even want to go to the store to buy some herbs.

Kalyn's Kitchen in the Blogosphere and WHB #8 is Coming

I just found out, purely by chance, that an extremely fun Aussie Blog called Mac's Picks has selected Kalyn's Kitchen as one of his "Picks of the Week" this week. Thanks, Mac! Every week Mac chooses about ten blogs and features them as his picks of the week. I looked through his list of past picks and saw some great blogs listed. I do appreciate being recognized.

Happy Thanksgiving: A Turkey Sing-Along

I've been wondering what to put on the blog for Thanksgiving day. After all, I realize that it's not Thanksgiving in every part of the world. And, even though cooks in the U.S. will probably be busy that day I knew some people would be reading the blogs and I wanted to have something to share with you.

Brussel Sprouts or Brussels Sprouts? (My New Favorite Vegetable, Whichever Way You Spell It)

I haven't posted any recipes for them yet, but a vegetable I'm really starting to like more than I ever did is brussel sprouts. I saw a recipe that looked very promising on Zen Foodism, one of the blogs I read reguarly, but I haven't tried it yet. I did try a recipe from Cooking Light for a pasta dish with brussel sprouts, but I gave it a thumbs down. I did take some leftover brussel sprouts from that recipe, put them in a plastic container, put a handful of cheese over and take it to school for lunch. At school I just heated it in the microwave for about 3 minutes, added salt and pepper, and it was delicious.

Recipe for Thanksgiving Broccoli with Cheese Sauce (Kalyn's Food Assignment for Thanksgiving Dinner)

It's not very diet-friendly, but my family wants this Thanksgiving Broccoli with Cheese Sauce every year!

I was on the phone with my sister Sandee and we were talking about Thanksgiving Dinner. Sandee had just asked me what I wanted to bring for dinner and immediately my foodie brain had switched into high gear. I started rattling off ideas for interesting Thanksgiving type dishes I had seen in magazines and on other food blogs. Sandee listened patiently, and then she quietly said, "Don't try out anything new on us."

A Thanksgiving Gravy Tip from Kalyn

Here in the U.S. where Thanksgiving Day is rapidly approaching, there are thousands and thousands of terrified novice cooks faced with the prospects of cooking their very first Thanksgiving dinner.

I Confess I Ate at McDonald's

I've already confessed my culinary shortcomings and now I am going to confess again. About a week ago (actually the day of my dad's 80th birthday party, a decidedly hectic day) I ate a Big Mac and fries for lunch. My nephew was with me and challenged me to report it on the blog, so here it is.

Wrap-up of Weekend Herb Blogging #7

It's Sunday night, so the weekend is nearly officially over. (Sigh.) Once again, it was a great weekend for food bloggers to tell us about their interesting herbs, plants, veggies, or flowers, growing or otherwise. Here's a recap of Weekend Herb Blogging posts from around the world.

Dear Andrew: Here's What I Made for Breakfast

The talented Andrew who has given me so much help on Food Blog S'cool has invited bloggers to share what they had for breakfast today. Now if you're not a food blogger you may think this is very strange indeed. But for food bloggers, an activity like this is a chance to visit lots of other blogs and see how other writers interpret the same theme. Andrew will post a wrap-up of all the participants on his food blog SpittoonExtra.

Weekend Herb Blogging #7: Must be Mint!

For this week's Weekend Herb Blogging I'm featuring the last herb in my garden that's still looking reasonably spry, but let me clarify. I mean the last herb that I haven't already blogged about (would that be the last unblogged herb?) My basil is long gone, of course, with only a few shriveled brown stems coming out of the ground to show where all that basil loveliness once was. My parsley and oregano are still hanging on, but the edges of the leaves are quite brown where Jack Frost has been nibbling. My sage is actually looking quite good still, but I already told you about it in an earlier post. My rosemary and thyme both are cut down to the ground. (The stems were stripped and the wonderful rosemary and thyme are in the freezer to become subjects for a future WHB post, perhaps.) Earlier in the summer I had garlic, but it didn't even make it to the birth of WHB, and years ago I gave up on cilantro since the Utah snails seem to prefer it above all other herbs.

Only One Herb Surviving in Kalyn's Garden; What Will It Be This Weekend?

Here's a little flashback of some of the herbs from my garden that I've featured for Weekend Herb Blogging. Now I only have one herb left alive (not counting the ones I have already posted about) to spotlight for this week. I also have a few shots of a food-producing plant that I took last weekend which I'm saving for the time when no herbs remain.

Product Review: Rice Select Royal Blend: Texmati White, Brown, Wild, and Red Rice

Royal Blend is a mixture of Texmati white, brown, wild and red rice made by Rice Select. I don't buy a lot of this type of product, where basically they have already devised the "recipe" and all you have to do is cook it, but for some reason this caught my eye. Then a few days later I happened to catch a post on The Savory Notebook where Alysha gave it a good review, and the next time I was at the store it was on sale, so it seemed like I was meant to buy some.

Roundup for Weekend Herb Blogging #6

Another weekend and more delightful herbs, plants, veggies, and flowers featured on wonderful food blogs. Every weekend I get a little more amazed, first, at how much I am learning from doing this, and second, at the creative and inventive posts my fellow bloggers come up with to celebrate Weekend Herb Blogging. If you don't quite know what WHB is all about, here's a link to my first ever weekend herb blogging post.

A Wonderful Family Celebration and a Great Dinner at Thai Siam

Last night was the family dinner and open house to celebrate my father's 80th birthday. Thank you to all my food blog friends who have left comments sending good wishes to my father. My dad is a faithful reader of Kalyn's Kitchen, although I am not sure if he reads the comments. But I'll certainly pass on the good wishes to him.

Weekend Herb Blogging #6 (It's Time for Thyme)

The catchy title for this post was provided by my nephew, Jake who lives near me and attends the University of Utah. I remember when, as a young child of about three, Jake spontaneously started talking in rhyme.  It's true that his mother had been reading him Dr. Seuss books previous to this event, but still it was pretty entertaining. Today when I was telling Jake that I had already blogged about parsley, sage, and rosemary, he pronounced, "It's time for Thyme."

Flowers for Clare

Isn't the internet a wonderful tool? Susan (aka Farmgirl) has asked food bloggers to send good wishes and lovely photos to Clare as she recuperates in the hospital from cat bites. Even though Clare is in Australia and I'm in Utah, I can send her flowers! So here are my very last surviving snapdragons, coming via the internet to wish Clare a speedy recovery.

A Special Weekend for Kalyn's Family and Weekend Herb Blogging #6

The weekend is rapidly approaching where I live, and I've already received a link from Vijay to another wonderful post for Weekend Herb Blogging. In case you haven't heard, WHB is when bloggers from around the world post a photo of an interesting herb, vegetable, plant, or flower, and then on Sunday I do a round-up of all the posts. It's fun to see the things that are growing in other locations, and we're learning a lot from each other about plants from around the world.

I Confess

Food blogging Icon Amy has urged fellow food bloggers to confess their sins, shortcomings, or kitchen shortcuts, an idea she confesses she stole from David Lebovitz. After thinking about it for a day or two, I guess I do have a few things I can confess to.

Gorgeous and Unusual Herbsfor Weekend Herb Blogging #5

I want to start off this roundup of the photos for Weekend Herb Blogging with wishes for a speedy recovery to Clare of Eat Stuff. Clare is the original instigator of Weekend Cat Blogging, which led to Weekend Dog blogging at Sweetnicks, which led to Weekend Herb Blogging on this blog. On Friday, Clare and Casey were leaving for the weekend to attend a wedding when their cat, Kiri, was startled by a threatening dog, causing Kiri to bite Clare rather severely on both arms. It was serious enough that Clare had to be in the hospital, and missed the wedding they were traveling to attend. I was so sad to hear about this, and hope everyone who sees this will head over to Eat Stuff and leave some good wishes for Clare. (Then come back to read about the herbs, ok?)

Recipe for Kalyn's Tabbouli with Almonds (The Last Tabbouli of 2005)

Yesterday I promised I'd give you the recipe for my favorite concoction made with curly parsley, this weekend's choice from my garden for Weekend Herb Blogging. Tabbouli is a Middle Eastern salad made from cracked bulgar wheat, parsley, mint, olive oil, lemon juice, spices, and sometimes tomatoes or cucumbers. The version of tabbouli you find in most restaurants in the U.S. doesn't much resemble the real thing. Tabbouli is meant to have lots of parsley and mint and not so much bulgar, which makes it great for lower carb diets if you make it the traditional way. On the South Beach Diet, bulgar wheat is considered a "good" carb and olive oil is considered a "good" fat, which makes this a great South Beach Diet Recipe.

Weekend Herb Blogging #5: Curly Parsley

I'm home from work, it's Friday night, so the weekend has officially begun. The weather in Salt Lake is still pretty good. We had some rain earlier today, but now it's just starting to get dark and still quite warm outside.

Fabulous Food Photos and Weekend Herb Blogging Reaches Week Five!

If you're just a casual reader of this food blog or others, you may not realize the sheer number of food blogging events that go on every month. Every event has its own acronym, sometimes confusing the new reader. When I first started writing a blog and reading about these things, it took me close to a month to find out that EoMEoTE means End of Month Eggs on Toast Extravaganza, and even longer to find out what it actually was.