Get Set… Get Ready…

Are you ready yet?  It’s almost time for feasting!

I think I’m ready.  I’ve planned.  I’ve shopped.

Now, wonder what will surprise me?  Something always does.

Luckily, we’re feasting with some very flexible friends.  They’re both great cooks.  There’s no pressing schedule.  We’ve got a TV for football and beer kind of fills you up for a while if the meal is a late to the table.

I’ve already made my coffee ice cream, which tastes heavenly, I might add.  There’s the pumpkin loaf, which turned out much better than I imagined.  I skipped the chocolate chips in that recipe.  Does everything really need chocolate?  (Well…?)

I haven’t even cooked Thanksgiving dinner and I’m already thinking about Christmas.

Feasting is so satisfying. 

Let’s all remember Paula Deen in our prayers for getting hit in the face with a rogue flying ham. 

(or not)

Thanksgiving Menu

Thanksgiving 2009

Applewood Smoked Turkey

Green Chile Cream Gravy

Homemade Cranberry Chutney

Herbed Dressing with Oysters

“No Canned Soup” Green Bean Casserole

Toasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Buckhead Rice with Spinach and Cheddar

Broccoli Rabe with Lemon Butter

Pecan Pie with Chocolate and Bourbon

Homemade Coffee Ice Cream

And if I feel like it, Pumpkin Loaf

Our friends, the Smiths, are coming over.  Lori will probably bring a salad, some bread and another vegetable dish.  Oh, and a few bottles of wine, an essential addition to a proper Thanksgiving dinner.  I’ve got the serving dishes picked out and a schedule of when everything is going to be prepared, starting on Tuesday.  Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if we eat at half time instead of before the game.  It’s so hard to stay on schedule.  It’s a day for relaxing, right?  So, who cares?  Luckily, I don’t work in the retail industry anymore and I get to be off work on Black Friday.  No shopping for me.  Just three days of working next week and a nice leftover-filled four day weekend.  This is going to be a great Thanksgiving.  I know it.

 

Leftovers

Last weekend I took an inventory of the leftovers in my freezer…

Split Pea and Ham Soup
Pork Stew with Black Beans
Hot and Sour Soup
Pinto Beans
Chili
Poor Boy Enchilada Sauce
Indian Lamb and Potato Stew
Refried Beans
Marina
Italian Wedding Soup
Gumbo with Chicken, Shrimp and Sausage
Braised Short Ribs
Chili for hotdogs
Meatballs in Marina Sauce
Ricotta Gnocchi
Pork Pot Stickers

This week, we’ve been on a mission to eat all this stuff.  This is what happens when two people like to cook a lot and never think to cut a recipe in half.  Waste not, want not, right?

How come I still want?

Stuffing

I’m obsessed with Thanksgiving this year.  It’s going to be different from what I usually do.  I am actually cooking a bird.  I’m making stuffing for the first time in my life.  Hubbard wants a stuffing with oysters.  I’ve found a recipe that sounds good on Epicurious.  It’s a bread stuffing, not cornbread.  For some reason I have this urge to combine breads in the stuffing.  I mean, why does it have to be just one bread?  Wouldn’t it be prettier with different colored breads?  What do you think?  Also, the stuffing recipe calls for chopping up the oysters.  Is that necessary?  What if you had small oysters?  Couldn’t you just leave them whole?

Heritage Turkey

Has anyone every eaten one?  Curious to hear about it…

Christmas Anyone?

Are you thinking about Christmas yet?  I’m having one of those rare lucid moments when I realize that if I start doing something about it now, I might have accomplished Christmas by the time it gets here.  I’d like to make something for people.  I’m not sure what.  Have any of you got any clever plans for gifts this year?

What to do?