28 November 2008

We Rest from Thanksgiving

We had a lovely day yesterday, hanging out with the family whilst Jim, the courageous and excellent brother who was cooking Thanksgiving dinner, prepared yet another lovely feast.

It was not without its excitements, though. Some of you may remember the exciting turkey problems from last year. This year, we had not only a new turkey recipe, but my wheat and dairy issues.

Jim wanted to make a recipe that called for roasting the turkey above the stuffing, and letting the turkey drippings fall into the stuffing. Excellent idea.

He was making cornbread stuffing with no wheat and no buttermilk, though, and for some reason I forget, he had to make two recipes. So there was a lot of stuffing. This meant that there wasn't much room in between the stuffing and the turkey. And so it took a looooong time to roast.

Indeed, it never did get roasted fully.

The gravy also had problems; soy milk and cornstarch SHOULD have worked, but never did, we don't know why.

Eventually Jim went out and bought roasted chickens.

They were great, actually, and there was indeed cranberry sauce, and the cornbread stuffing, which turned out well, and calabacitas, and black eyed peas.

All was well.

Today we're going off to buy pinon nuts, cause there weren't any last year and I ran out, and we have final goodbyes, and then we'll come home.

And next year perhaps we'll have yet more turkey excitement.

Or, maybe we'll just go out.

2 comments:

Marjie said...

Oh lord! Please! Let me help you. I really can't cook but I must say I can roast stuff. As you know, the secret is to keep it simple. Use the tried and true method - Thanksgiving is no time for experiments - put the stuffing in the bird. The drippings go into the stuffing anyway. Bast often. Also allowing the drippings to go into the stuffing. If you are cooking with an active alcoholic who has been drinking in the morning...let go of sewing the bird up and just let the stuffing fall out. Also allowing the drippings to get into the stuffing.
As to gravy. Flour of choice or need and water makes an execellent gravy. I also add a bullion cube or two depending on how much gravy the drippings will make.
I make a mean Yorkshire pudding from my great Grandmother's recipe too. It would give the health officials heart failure. ALL ingredients MUST be ROOM TEMPERATURE!! I can't recall if it calls for milk or not. Have to try it with the allergen free ingredients. Might not be so mean.
Oh yeah, and I taste all the stuff that has raw egg in it to see if it is spiced okay. The health officials would be dead by now. Me? I'm fine.
But, if you're into experimental cooking...carry on! I'm off to experiment with some turkey soup. The broth already has cumin in it. See the experimentation? Could be awful.
Love and Laughter,
Me

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