Thanksgiving Part 2

There is a method to our madness…sometimes. Mountain Man and I both have our own delusions of grandeur. His tend to be on 4 wheels or floating, while mine tend to be in the kitchen or garden. Today was my day to dream big. There comes a time in a food lovers life when you have to ask yourself: “Can I do it all in one day?” The answer is yes but you will never want to actually host this shit show. I can’t imagine doing it all and hosting! My sister just did this and I gotta say: “Hats off sis! this was tough.”

But we had a plan and we saw it through! Thanksgiving dinner for 2 looked more like Thanksgiving for 20! Why?? 2 reasons really: 1 we both love leftovers and if you go to someone else’s house you don’t get leftovers! Gah! I want to eat turkey until I hate it!! 2: Well, I bought a really big turkey which turned into a food blogging opportunity for next November. Why not just get a ton of recipes all done in one fell swoop?

So here’s how the day played out:

6:30 – The alarm goes off… for the next half hour. Mountain Man is a snoozer. At around 7 it dawns on me that I am now awake, which is fine since I face-planted at 8 last night. So I pull my butt out of bed, make coffee and breakfast while enjoying reruns of Don’t Trust the B in Apt 23. Meanwhile, MM grabs the brine bucket from the garage the contains our 22lb turkey. He continuously grumbles about how it’s too big while I continuously remind him it was the smallest one Costco had…. Costco sized, even true for turkeys lol.

7:30 – Me,  “So Honey, what you up to today?”

MM, “Smoking a Turkey, you?”

Me, “Oh you know, making mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, pumpkin pie, doing laundry, dishes, cleaning the house.”

Sound a little lopsided right? It’s all good, I’m sure he’ll find other ways to busy himself that will benefit us, he usually does. After making this statement, I started the dishes, curled back down on the couch with a fresh cup of coffee and spent the next 2 hours playing on the computer and watching more reruns. I got time for lounging, so I’m gonna!

A little about Thanksgiving and smoking a turkey: when you smoke a turkey, gravy and stuffing need to be done more or less without the bird. All drippings become smokey and taste terrible. Creativity and research is key! Oh but a smoke turkey is divine and so worth the extra work! 

9:30 – alright alright I’m going I’m going!

Step 1: Roast turkey leg to get a tiny bit of drippings for gravy. MM and I aren’t big dark meat eaters so we don’t mind loosing a leg.

After it roasts, I poke holes in it to release all the juices.

Step 2: Make turkey stock

This will take a few hours of simmering….

Step 3: Make bread cubes – I will do a full post on this accidental idea, it’s brilliant!

Step 4: Get pumpkin pie cooking – I have a luscious little tip for this on too!

12:30 – break time! I DVR’d Frozen since I keep getting looks of horror form my students when I tell them I haven’t seen it. Now I see what all the fuss is about. I would recommend this show to everyone old and young. Hell, MM watched it with me on his own accord and was completely engrossed! (Shhhh, don’t tell him I told you 😉

2:00 – Back to work!

OK so the pie is done

Next is to make red potato death and gravy.

Red Potato Death is a no brainer. I make it every other year for 30 people. As alwasy it came out oh so garlicy and wonderful.

The gravy was a task, on which I will share in another post. Long story short, making gravy from scratch using only one leg, the neck, and giblets is a bitch. Seriously. Still, with a lot of patience, I finally made turkey gravy without resorting to using store bought stuff! Completely from scratch and it is pretty damn good if I do say so myself!

The last piece to complete was the stuffing. I was racing agaist time for these guys! No, not because the turkey was ready, I was loosing light for pictures! I’m starting to learn that non natural light is the kiss of death for food bloggers. So hustling and bustling I am rushing rushing rushing to get those last little bits of light!

Ah perfecto!!

    

And they both came out great!!

4:15 – Finally! Sitting down and finishing this post. Mountain Man is dilligently toggling between carving the turkey and finishing our outdoor Christmas light. I am so happy with all I’ve accomplished today. Nothing I made was a fail. My mouth is watering looking at that turkey and all the spoils! Yay me! Yay us! Yay Thanksgiving!

 

Do you do this if you don’t host Thanksgiving?

What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

Thanksgiving Turkey Loaf with Stuffing

I want turkey!!

I want it all and I want it now!! I don’t want to wait a day for a turkey to thaw! I don’t want to fret over whether it is perfectly cooked to 165 degrees! In the words of the lovely Kimberly Wilkins:

Get it? Thyme! Tehehe. Don’t get me wrong. Mountain Man and I make a point of doing the whole darn dinner, with all the trimmings, for just the two of us typically a weekend or two before or after Thanksgiving. Why? Well, lets be real, one of the best things about turkey dinner is the leftovers. And if you aren’t hosting thanksgiving, well…

Or at least that’s how it feels the day after. It is one of the saddest things to go to Thanksgiving dinner and not get to enjoy the leftovers.

Sigh, I digress. But this is not about the big dinner. This is about having the next best thing to the big dinner when you want it on a Wednesday without having to prep a day before or cook for hours on end. Seriously! It can be done in 1.5 hours! It can! I’ll show you!

Ingredients:

Turkey loaf:

• 2 lbs ground turkey
• 1 cup crushed bread cubes
• 1/2 cup whole cranberry sauce
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 2 diced garlic
• Salt and pepper

Stuffing: This is a basic stuffing with apple that I make using the instructions from the Food Network: 50 Stuffing Recipes. This is a great collection. It starts with a general recipe that you can add or take away from. It’s the key stone of stuffing recipes!! Check it out, it’s awesome!! Since we’re not stuffing a giant turkey, I just cut down the amounts to work for the recipe.

• 6-8 cups bread cubes
• ½ yellow onion
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 diced fuji apple
• ¼ cup butter
• 1 egg and 1 egg white
• 2 tbsp dried parsley
• 1 1/3 cup chicken broth

As with most turkey dinners: Don’t forget the gravy! There aren’t any drippings so make your own from stock or be like me and get the canned stuff.

Time: 1.5 hours

Servings: 8

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare Stuffing: Instructions here.

I am planning on doing my own stuffing post soon but for now, the link above is just dandy!

In a mixing bowl blend all ingredients for the turkey loaf together.

In a greased 9×13 pan, make a narrow column down the center using 1/2 the stuffing.

Cover the stuffing with the turkey loaf mixture

Fill in the rest of the dish with the other 1/2 of the stuffing.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Uncover and cook for an additional 30 minutes.

Serve with all of your favorite sides! I chose green bean casserole and cheesy potato casserole this time.

These are a few of my favorite things…. (part 1)

It’s the holiday season. I’d be lying if I wasn’t a fool for this time of year. I love it. Every weekend is spent making yummy food, covering everything in lights, and spreading holiday cheer among my wonderful friends and family. I thought I’d take a moment to share/recommend my favorites for the season.

Hmm how to begin? Perhaps chronologically?

Thanksgiving: First the morning always begins with a cup of coffee and the Macy’s Day Parade.

I love the Broadway performances, The Rockettes,  and the balloons. Mountain Man feels differently, but he tolerates it.

You already know how I feel about the food but that’s only ½ the fun. Thanksgiving is one of my all-time favorite holidays because I get to see my Dad’s side of the whole family. We are a loud, proud, and loving bunch. With how busy everyone is, it’s challenging to get us all together. But once every other year for a few precious hours, I find my niche in the world. Growing up, the whole family often took camper trips all over Washington. Lakes and the coast  trips were always a staple. Those are some of my fondest memories of my childhood. There would be a line of campers rolling in as the campsite office folk would roll their eyes and grumble “Oh great, they’re back!” We were typically too loud and fun for them.

Now not to say my mother’s family isn’t awesome, they are. But they also all live in Hawaii, so it’s a more sporadic deal when we get together.

The day after Thanksgiving: AVOID ANYTHING TO DO WITH BLACK FRIDAY!! I’m sorry if that’s your thing but it’s my greatest nightmare. The End. What I do like about the day after, it’s time to let the Christmas fun EXPLODE all over your life:

Music: It’s now acceptable to listen to Christmas/holiday music whenever you want. Although I started a few weeks early this year…. I really needed the happy! I have extremely eclectic music taste and have found I enjoy a mixture of the classics, country, rock n’ roll, punk rock, Christian rock and a little Hawaiian.

The country singers really have the Christmas vocals perfected. I just love that they sing them strong and clean, no frills or gimmicks. Might I recommend: Toby Keith, Blake Shelton, George Straight, and even Rodney Carrington….That one just baffles me. How does a man who’s entire carreer is based on drinking, sex, and women’s anatomy make great Christmas music? This man is famous for writing such gems as “Titties and Beer”, “Morning Wood”, and “Momma’s Got Her Boobs Out”.Yet he sings my favorite version of O Holy Night! I often wonder if he’s trying to offset his sins in hopes of getting into heaven, but that’s just too involved when I start to consider it.

                

…… You be the judge lol.

As for the classics, you can’t go wrong with the Rat Pack.

Dean Martin does a great version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. 

                                                                                                What is up with those socks!?!?

You have to have some Burl Ives! For crying out loud he’s the snowman on the Rudolf movies!

       

As for the Islander music, there are some great compilations:

And the soothing sounds of the Cazimero Brothers is always a must….

If you need a little banjo in your holidays….

Just today I found even Bad Religion (punk band) has a Christmas album!

It is awesome! I’m so excited. Just found my new favorite album!

Out of all of the music I have, this one is definitely my favorite song these days:

Wow! I had a lot more to say than I thought! I think I’ll have to turn this into a 2 or 3 parter….. to be continued 🙂

Red Potato Death

Yes death. Only because I beat the hell out of my potatoes

I started making these for Thanksgiving several years ago when my sister and her husband had Thanksgiving at their place. We’re still considered “the kids” so it was revolutionary to have our parents over while we did all the work. I used red potatoes with the skin on and just started throwing whatever I wanted in them. Over time it’s been carefully perfected and it goes GREAT with turkey dinner.

Ingredients:

• 10 red potatos – halved and boiled until soft
• 2 garlic cloves – pressed
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• ¼ cup parmesan
• ¼ cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup 1% milk
• Salt to taste

Throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix vigorously…. I mean it, kill it! Beat the hell out of it! Get mad, it makes it tastes better 🙂