The Knight Rider is on a temporary hiatus from publishing due to waining interest from student writers.  The paper will remain available for archived stories to be accessed however, it will not be updated until a nonfiction writing class is developed.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you for your readership!

Sarah Polan, Retiring Editor in Chief

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Roasting for Beginners

By Pam Linkous

If you have a good thermometer, you can roast your turkey straight from the freezer.  There, I have said it and past experiences back me up on this claim.  Sometimes defrosting a turkey is just not convenient and often is downright dangerous.  I never defrost my bird and no one has died (other than the turkey) yet.  That said, there are some important things to get straight first.  Number one, this only works with a TURKEY BREAST!  A whole bird has some pretty nasty parts in a bag stuck inside the “cavity” and it is impossible to extract this giblets kit when it is solidly frozen inside the bird.  Past experience also backs me up when I tell you it is extremely embarrassing to hand the beautifully roasted turkey over to Uncle Joe to carve and he digs out a hot, dripping paper bag and announces to the table that the “cook seems to have forgotten something.”

Another important step is buy a box of cooking bags from the grocery store.  These are specially treated plastic bags that can go in the oven and not only do they make cleaning up a breeze, they are critical to cooking a frozen turkey.  Get the large size which is adequate for a turkey breast.  If you need the extra large, you must have a whole bird and this will not work from a frozen state (at least not as well).  Do not skip this step because if you don’t cook the frozen bird in the cooking bag, it will take twice as long to get to safe temperature and when it does, you may as well just throw it directly to the dog to gnaw on until Christmas.

On Thanksgiving morning (or about three or four hours before you want to eat), line a baking pan with foil.  I usually buy an aluminum pan from the dollar store so I can just get rid of the whole greasy mess but a foil lined 11×13 pan will work just as well.  Get out your cooking bag and gently shake it open and lay it in the pan.  I slice some onions to put in the bottom of the bag but that is a personal preference. Get the turkey out of the freezer and cut the wrapper off, making sure you peel all the bits off.  Stubborn pieces will slide off if you run the bird under gently running warm water.  When it is clean, lay the turkey breast side down in the bag and pull up the bag so it is settled in the bottom.  This is contrary to what all the recipes ever written tell you to do but it makes for the moistest turkey breast you have ever eaten.  At this point you can rub butter over the skin if you want but I have never noticed it makes a difference when using the cooking bag.  Pull up the open end of the bag and cinch it down tight with the little tie that is provided with the cooking bag.  Don’t use a twist tie because they are made of things that do not behave nicely in a hot oven for several hours.  Trim the edges above the tie if the bag may touch the element in the top of the oven and then make two or three SMALL slits in the top of the bag to vent the steam.  A turkey breast will produce a lot of moisture as it cooks and the cooking bag will blow up like a toasty brown balloon and you will spend “Black Friday” cleaning your oven if you don’t provide some escape holes.

Pop that whole thing in the oven, turn it on to 400 degrees and go watch the parade on television.  In about an hour, turn back the oven to 350 degrees and check to see if there is browning and bubbling going on in there.  At two hours, that important thermometer comes in to play.  Carefully pull the pan with the turkey in it out of the oven and stick the thermometer in one of the ventilation slits you made in the bag.  If the temperature races up to over 165 degrees, start checking other places in the breast to see if it stays at or over 165. Pay particular attention to the deep areas near but not touching the bone.  If nothing reads below 165 degrees, you are ready to move on to mashing the potatoes.  More likely, there will be cooler spots so the bird goes back into the oven for another half hour.  Wash the thermometer and repeat the process until nowhere on the turkey reads less than 165 degrees.  When it is at the safe temperature all the way through, cover the whole thing with a tin foil blanket and set it on the back of the stove until everything else is ready.  If it is going to be hours before the carving begins, let it cool for an hour and stow it in the refrigerator .  About a half hour before time to eat, put the whole thing back into a 350 degree oven and let it warm back up.  Carve and enjoy, but be sure to get the leftovers into the fridge within two hours.  You don’t want to spend Black Friday in the bathroom either!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

By Angelica Lee

I really do not like pumpkins or anything that has pumpkin in it so I was surprised that I actually like this, whether or not you like pumpkins, everyone will enjoy this.

These are great cookies if you need a quick but decadent treat that will be loved by all.

2 Cups Quick Oats

2 Cups of Sugar

6 Tablespoons Baking Cocoa

½ Cup Unsalted Butter

1 teaspoon Vanilla Flavoring

½ Cup Cream

½ Cup Peanut butter

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat.  Add sugar, cream and cocoa and stir well.  Stir regularly until liquid reaches a boil.  Stir constantly for one minute after the mixture reaches a rolling boil.  Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until combined.  Add vanilla and oatmeal.  Stir until combined and pour into a pan or drop onto a  clean surface such as a countertop in ¼ cup dollops.

• www.fastweb.com
• www.scholarships.com
• www.iefa.org
• www.college-scholarships.com

But it can also be a serious handicap when you are applying for four year colleges and permanent jobs.  Though there are many social sites out there the one that is most likely to be checked by future employers is Facebook.

Here are some tips to prepare your profile for it’s judgement day.

1. Keep your profile pictures up-beat and happy.  You don’t want the first picture that can be viewed on your profile to be you drinking at your spring break get away when you were still three years short of being legally able to drink.
2. Limit the application quizzes that tell you how good you are in bed or what your stripper name is.
3. Eliminate drinking and girls/boys or anything that is similar from your Interests section.
4. Remove the “Random Play” option on your “What You Are Looking For” section.
5. Take the “Legalize Pot” application off of your profile.
6. Try to refrain from dropping the f-bomb or other offensive words anywhere in your status or on your profile.
7. Highlight all of the good things that you do.  Talk about your siblings or children.
8. Show pictures of events where you helped out.
9. Mention awards that you have received somewhere on your profile.
10. Be sure to untag the unflattering pictures that your friends post and keep up with new ones.

Chrome:

Chrome is an interesting web browser that has just joined the browser line-up.  It has more personalization options than most other browsers such as themes and search engine choices.  It is also more modern in it’s over-all appearance and seems to be a bit more sleek.

Firefox:

Firefox is the second most popular browser.  It is loaded onto all of the school’s computers and for good reason.  It is a user friendly browser that has plenty of security and is very compatible with popular websites.

Opera:

Opera is one of the safest browsers that you can use.  It is not very popular so very few viruses are made to attack it.  It is not as compatible with popular websites as Internet Explorer and Firefox  but it is an excellent choice for security.

Internet Explorer:

Internet Explorer which is commonly known as IE is a very plain, very predictable browser.  It is by far the most widely used web browser for NRCC students.  It has more security issues though due to it’s extreme popularity.  It is compatible with nearly every website available on the World Wide Web but it is also very difficult to work with compared to the other browsers.

Safari:

Safari is a Macintosh web browser that comes standard on every Mac computer.  It is almost as web compatible as Firefox and it tends to be pretty secure.  Safari is different than other browsers so it can take some time to learn how to use it.

The meeting dates for graduates are:

• Tuesday, October 20, at 11:00 a.m. in the Rooker Hall Auditorium
• Tuesday, October 20, at 5:30 p.m. in the Rooker Hall Auditorium
• Wednesday, October 21, at 11:30 a.m. in the NRV mall site