Holiday eats galore

On the menu for Thursday at La Casa de Oropeza y Chihak:

Ten-pound turkey, roasted
Cranberry chutney (see Chef Dan Fluharty's recipe) (photo shows chutney ready to be cooked)
Butternut squash, poached
Potatoes, mashed with roasted garlic
Dressing, my many-years-in-the-development secret* recipe
Dessert: Daughter Ann Chihak Poff providing a home-made apple crisp, after her mother-in-law's recipe

Prep work Wednesday night will include the dressing and cranberry chutney. Cook time on the turkey is expected to be two to 2 1/2 hours.

More details later.

* Dressing secret: Use fresh herbs, not dried, and put them in halfway through the baking.

Jump-starting your carry-to-work lunch

This weekly menu from Epicurious reminded me of a little tasty trick I started this week with lunch sandwiches: a smear of chutney, instead of mustard, on the bread or the wrap. Yum!

My wife, Hilda Oropeza, came up with the idea, saying that while she liked the turkey and cheese sandwiches I was making for her, she wanted a little twist on them. She showed it with a bit of cranberry chutney on a lunch wrap over the weekend. Two kinds of chutney -- mango and cranberry -- now grace the condiment shelf in the fridge.

Will use the jarred chutney until I can make my own using fresh ingredients. Stay tuned.

(Photo credit: www.sweatyguineapig.com)