My mom and I are on our own, the boys are in Chicago, and we are having a fancified breakfast for two.  I am in the process of roasting chicken sausages, and the popovers just came out of the oven.  Popovers were always around when I was a kid — something my parents made and enjoyed.  They are like Yorkshire pudding in that they are made from a thin egg batter and puff up over the sides of their baking receptacles, resulting in hollow eats.  In fact, they are small, Americanized Yorkshire puddings, originally baked in hot beef fat, but evolved into the sweeter buttery breakfast food we know and love.  This American creation first appeared in the mid-19th century.  Looking in older cookbooks is an easy way to find a good recipe.  Don’t be discouraged if they don’t work out at first – just keep plugging away until you get the hang of it.  Something you may want to have on hand is baking pan spray that has flour in it – in addition to plenty of eggs.

Turkey wings in a slow cooker

Dinner was an American food through and through – braised fresh turkey wings.  If you like chicken wings, you should like these.  Take whole, fresh turkey wings and put them in a Crock-Pot.  Add:  a whole onion, sliced; a few garlic cloves; a little soy sauce; a few scallions; a knob of ginger; salt and pepper.  Pour chicken stock over all of it until the wings are just covered. Crank ‘er up to low.  The wings should be soft after about 5 hours.  I eat this like a soup, adding rice or noodles about 45 minutes before the wings are done.  If you have leftovers, you’ll find the wings suspended in gelatin in the fridge.  I like gelatin, so I pry some of the contents out and eat them cold with a hard roll.  If you have people in your family who would be outraged by turkey wing bones (there is no such person in this house) then you can debone the wings before you serve, but I say to heck with that.  This is a good, honest, casual dish, and anyone who is above making like Fred Flintstone every now and then needs a swift kick in the rear end.