Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Countdown

Every Thanksgiving I always think back to the first Thanksgiving that I hosted. It was four months after Tim and I got married and I was a very rookie cook. My mom hooked me up with the recipes and I was very busy getting everything going. It being a beautiful aftrenoon my hubby and I went out to enjoy while the turkey was cooking away. When we came back into the house we breathed in the turkey smells...or did we! I had forgotten to turn on the oven! Well diner did get done and it was lovely if I say so myself and now 33 years down that road I have been making basically that same meal.
This year the menu is as follows
Roast Turkey with oyster stuffing
Deep fried Turkey
Mashed Potatoes/Gravy
Green Bean Casserole
Layered Lettuce Salad
Butternut Squash
Cranberry Chutney
Apple Crisp
Vanilla Ice Cream
On Monday I took out the turkeys. On Wednesday I plan on brining them for a day before cooking.
Tuesday I put togther the mashed potatoes and froze them.
Shirleys make ahead potatoes
5 lbs potatoes
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp season salt
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Cook and mash potatoes. Add the rest ingredients. Put in 3 qt. casserole. This can be made a week ahead and frozen. The day you need it, take out of freezer 2-3 hours before baking to thaw. Bake at 350 for 30-40minutes.
That done I needed to get the Cranberry Chutney going. I like to make this ahead to give the flavors time to do their thing.
I cannot find that recipe to save my life! Have you ever done that? I can see it in my minds eye but nowhere I thought it was, so I found a good recipe on line very similar to my recipe.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1823,146185-251207,00.html
The only deviation I made was to add chopped walnuts. This makes a quart and now its in the refrigerator.
While all this was taking place I was roasting a butternut squash. I will put this casserole together tomarrow. Now I will get some sleep.

2 comments:

Fresh Local and Best said...

I think everyone has a Thanksgiving story. This is a great menu! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Unknown said...

Love your blog! Good cooks definitely run in your family!