Thankful

When I was a kid asking after everyone’s favorite holiday, my dad would choose Thanksgiving.  At the time, this seemed patently stupid to me; everyone knew that Christmas is the best holiday.  Yet there was my dad, suggesting that a family feast and time to be grateful for our blessings was the nicest day of the year.  For some time now, I’ve realized that my dad was on the right track as far as Thanksgiving is concerned.  I enjoy the tradition of day spent being thankful.

My Thanksgiving day started early so that the yeast rolls would have plenty of time to rise.  As the coffee brewed,  I stirred together pumpkin pecan bread for our breakfast.  As the bread baked, I sat with my coffee and laid out the day’s master plan.  We eat our supper in mid-afternoon and so I plan according, with a precise plan to bring the feast together.  It’s a process I greatly enjoy.

The day unfolds with ease, the kitchen smells amazing, and I feel incredibly grateful to have this happy home and a family to enjoy.  Our list of blessings is great and we know it. 

That’s happy!

Thanksgiving Supper

I love holiday cooking, both for the celebration it creates and the traditions that I serve.  I enjoy planning the meal, organizing the cooking, and then sitting down with my loved ones to have supper together.  This year, there were some appetizers before the turkey was served.

And then supper itself.  

There was laughter and good humor and the pleasure of having my boy home from college.  That’s happy!

Food Friday: Cranberry Brie Turkey Panini

For me, one of the nicest things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers that can be turned into delicious meals.  My absolute favorite “leftover” is made using the turkey and cranberry sauce.  Behold the turkey, cranberry, brie panini sandwich.

For each sandwich, I spread two slices of bread with a thin amount of dijon mustard.

Then I add thin slices of brie cheese.

I add minced turkey.

Then I put a thin layer of cranberry sauce on the bread.  

The sandwich gets grilled on medium low so there is time for the heat to spread and melt the brie without burning the bread.

It’s delicious!

Thankful

Supper won’t be on the table until later this afternoon and this morning finds me organizing the day’s cooking plan.  Yesterday, I set the turkey to brine, put together a sweet potato casserole, and made our pumpkin pie.

I checked to ensure that we had a good supply of leftover containers at the ready.

This morning, while my coffee was brewing, I set the rolls to rise.

I mixed the cranberries with sugar, water, and orange peel and now cranberry sauce is cooling for our supper.

Right now I have a moment to pause and enjoy a few cups of coffee before the rest of the cooking gets started in earnest.  I’ve so very much for which to be thankful and the older I get, the more I value a reminder to stop and appreciate my many blessings.  

By the time this day is done, I’ll have made a cheese and relish tray, spiced warm apple cider, roasted a turkey, made mashed potatoes and gravy, steamed green beans, stirred together cornbread dressing, and whipped some cream for our pumpkin pie.  The dishwasher will have worked overtime and even so, the sink will still be filled with dishes.  But none of that matters as much as the pleasure of sitting at the table and sharing some laughter with the people I love.  I try to always be thankful for my blessings but today is always a welcome reminder to be pause and be grateful again.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!

Thankful

It is my Thanksgiving tradition to be thankful for the blessings in my life.  Though I experience a daily cringe as I hear about the developing Cheetoh Kleptocrat Administration, there is plenty about which I am so very thankful.

I am thankful for T and JT, who make me laugh, love me unconditionally, put up with my quirks, and eat my cooking.

I am thankful for my family, especially my parents and my sister and her family.  These are my people, the folks who speak my particular language of sarcasm, anxiety, and impatience.  I am blessed that they are in this world.

I am thankful for friends who are at hand to laugh (and cry), to look after me, and to make my world happy in untold ways. 

I am thankful for a job that I love, with students who challenge me to ensure that the world they will inherit is a better place.  These children make me smile and remind me that there is great hope present in this world.

I am thankful for my happy home, with it’s comfy beds and cat fur, front porch, stacks of books, my garden and trees, and all the things that make my house my home.

I am thankful that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.  This fact reminds me that there are more of us than the adherents of the Cheetoh Kleptocrat.  I have a feeling this is going to matter more and more in the coming years.  For now, it reminds me that there is a 70 million large community of Americans who care about equality, justice, the climate, and all the things that matter to the future of this nation.

It’s nice to have a long list of blessings.  May your Thanksgiving be filled with the same!

In the Backyard Neighborhood: November 1

The beauty of my once-a-month photo project is that by the time it comes to a close, the last picture of the year looks a great deal like the first picture of the year.    If feels like the project has come a full circle.  Seasons are like that and for me there is power in that sense of the infinite.

Sometimes, November 1st finds many leaves already down.  But not this year.  A lot of leaves have fallen in the last month, but plenty yet remain in my backyard, especially on the peach tree.  Up close, it’s apparent that they have begun to turn.

In the next month, likely in the next few weeks, these leaves will have fallen to the ground to join the growing collection.  November is one of those months that always ends on a different note than the one which brought it in, with big changes.  This November is no exception.  I’ll be a month older; the nation will have (hopefully) elected it’s first woman president.  By the time we get to Thanksgiving, I’m hopeful that we have a lot for which to be thankful.

The peach tree will be on my list.

Cranberries

My childhood Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts featured cranberry sauce from a can.  Most of my family didn’t like cranberries, so I guess the canned was seen as good enough.  As an adult, I discovered the glory of cranberries in all their forms, most especially in homemade sauce.  Cranberries are beautiful.

In the pot with water and sugar, they bubble and boil and make delightful popping sounds.

Once set to cool, their natural pectin takes hold and the sauce firms up.  We enjoyed it alongside our turkey and gravy on Thanksgiving.

But its great glory came when it joined turkey and brie for post-Thanksgiving paninis.  That’s happy!

Thankful

Sometimes, I feel a little sorry for Thanksgiving, a holiday that can get lost in the shuffle of Black Friday sales and the coming of the Christmas season.  But a well-laid meal with loved ones and time for gratitude and thankfulness is a tradition worth enjoying.  In my mind, Thanksgiving is a very nice way to pause and renew for the busy weeks that lie ahead.

When we return to school on Monday, it will be a quick-moving three weeks of wrestling practice, school events, and children getting increasingly excited about the coming of Winter holidays and two weeks off from school.  Quiet in advance of that frenzy is richly rewarding.  I love all of the planning and cooking that goes into Thanksgiving, a holiday that I appreciate more and more as the years pass. Here’s to a reminder to appreciate our blessings and to give thanks for them.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Supper has been served and now we rest, thankful for our many blessings.  Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Getting the Feast on the Table: Thanksgiving Day

Yesterday, I detailed the planning that goes into getting together our Thanksgiving supper.  Today is feast day and there are a few more chores to complete.  The list isn’t too long and I had a good time tracking events yesterday, so today I am doing the same.  Updates as warranted!

The tasks ahead of us (items in bold are completed):

1.  Roast the turkey.
10:00 am: Turkey is out of the fridge; being drained of brine, rinsed and prepped for roasting.

10:30 am: Oven is on; set for 400 degrees.

10:50 am: The bird is in the oven at 400 degrees.

11:10 am: Lowered the roasting temp of bird to 325 degrees.

1:15 pm: Lowered the roasting temp of bird to 225 degrees........in the final hours of roasting!

2:25 pm: Turkey is out of the oven; resting.

2:50: Carve turkey.

2.  Bake rolls.

8:15 am: Rolls set out to rise.

2:50 pm: Rolls are in the oven.

3.  Peel and boil potatoes; mash them just before supper gets set on the table.
2:05 pm: Peel and cut potatoes; set to boiling.

2:50 pm: Drain and whip potatoes.

4.  Assemble cornbread dressing.
10:50 am: Chopping onions, celery, and jalapeno for cornbread dressing.

11:00 am: Boil water for dressing broth.

2:00 pm: mix broth into cornbread dressing.

5.  Bake rolls, cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole, and green bean casserole.
1:55 pm: Side dishes set out in preparation for baking.

2:25 pm: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees for casseroles.

2:30 pm: Casseroles in the oven.

6.  Assemble cheese tray.
11:40 am: Slice cheese for cheese tray.

2:15 pm: Set out brie; assemble the rest of cheese tray & crackers.

7. Make gravy.
2:55 pm: Start gravy.

8.  Set the table.
9:50 am: Dining room table cleared off.

10:00 am: Set dishes; serving bowls on table.

11:00 am: Assemble centerpiece for table.

2:30 pm: Set the table.

3:15:  Supper is served!

Thanksgiving Feast: The Pre-Planning

I secured all of my holiday supplies last weekend, so that I wouldn’t need to be at the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving, when the madness is well beyond my patience level.  This year’s supper is a traditional feast and will feature all the usual suspects:  roast turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, cranberry sauce, cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, yeast rolls with butter, a cheese tray, and pumpkin pie.

I am blessed enough to have the day off from school and while the icy snow falls, I will be completing the advance work that makes Thanksgiving Day go smoothly.  I spread the tasks throughout the day, so I can get other things down as well.  I love this process and find cooking to be among the most pleasant parts of my holiday celebration.  This year, I am posting my preparation checklist here on the blog and as tasks are completed, I will live-update.  

The tasks at hand for today (items in bold are completed):

1.  Brine the turkey…….I do this for anywhere between 15-24 hours before I plan to put the bird in the oven.  I buy a fresh turkey from a local butcher so that I don't need to worry about defrosting it.

9:45 am: Mix the brine for the turkey.  Boil and let cool.

10:30 am: Rinse turkey and set in brine bag.

11:00 am: Pour brine in the bag; refrigerate brining turkey.

2.  Make cranberry sauce.

11:00 am: Start boil of sugar, orange juice, and water for cranberry sauce.

noon: Cranberry sauce cooled and in the fridge

3.  Prepare and bake the pumpkin pie.

12:10 pm: Make pie crust; start pumpkin pie custard.

12:40 pm: Pie is in the oven.

2:00 pm: Pie is out of the oven; cooling.

4.  Roast sweet potatoes; assemble sweet potato casserole.
1:45: Wash sweet potatoes for roasting

2:10: Sweet potatoes in the oven for roasting.

3:00: Mix together the ingredients for sweet potato casserole; place in the fridge until tomorrow.

5.  Assemble green bean casserole.
1:50 pm: Cook green beans for casserole

2:01 pm: Assemble casserole; cover and store in fridge for tomorrow.  

6.  Make cornbread (tomorrow, I will mix together the cornbread dressing).
12:45 pm: Set out cornbread ingredients.

1:25 pm: Mix together cornbread.

2:10 pm: Cornbread is in the oven.

2:35 pm: Cornbread is cooling.

*******
3:20 pm: The day's cooking chores are complete and I am turning my attention to the tidying up the guest bedroom. Let's hear it for holidays!

Favorites

On Tuesday, as the pre-holiday fervor hit a crescendo in the Middle School, my 6th graders and I took time to share our favorite Thanksgiving foods.  I heard a lot about mashed potatoes and roasted turkey.  Deserts were also mentioned.  The kids laughed and exchanged nods as shared favorites were identified.  I thought about those conversations as I was doing some pre-holiday cooking this morning, making a few items ahead of time.  First up was pumpkin pie.

I also made the corn bread for cornbread dressing that I will stir together tomorrow.

Both of these dishes are at the top of the list of favorite foods at my house.  I love holiday cooking and find the organization and planning just as enjoyable as the meal itself.  Later today, I'll set out my antique dishes, getting ready for the feast.  Tomorrow we'll roast turkey and brussells sprouts.  Mashed potatoes, fresh cranberry sauce, rosemary rolls, and sweet potato casserole will also set on the table with my favorite cornbread dressing and T and JT's favorite, pumpkin pie.  It will be a feast with leftovers to spare.  We'll count our blessings and enjoy the day, thankful for all the things that make us smile.