Most little girls dream of fairy tales and weddings. I dreamed of stemware and poultry.
Last year, I did a pre-Thanksgiving dinner for my parents, who were in town the weekend prior. Emily and Kirby were still living in Del Rio, and Emily's friend Ann was in town as well.
Last year's spread: Brined fresh turkey, sage and apple stuffing, gravy, cranberry orange sauce, sweet potato casserole, whiskey glazed carrots, mixed mashed potatoes
Emily was just starting to show with Lily in this photo. On actual Thanksgiving, it was just the four of us, and we had a much smaller turkey dinner. It was nice, and I had a blast arranging all the recipes. But it wasn't the same, since most of our family wasn't there.
But THIS year, we've convinced my mom and Mikey, Art's parents, Charlie, my Aunt Cathy and my Grandma Jean to all come down for the actual turkey day! And, believe it or not, they're all DRIVING the 24 hours from Dayton to Del Rio. Better them than me!
My brothers and their respective girlfriends, Dawn and Jamie, are currently on sibling probation for their absence. I will forgive them on Christmas. I think.
Anyway, here's what I've got on docket for this week, Thanksgiving recipes included. Links up where available!
Sunday:
- French onion sliced steak with Grueyere sauce and green beans Do you think they have Gruyere cheese in Del Rio? No. I'm using Swiss.
- Roast chicken, broccoli with garlic, sweet potato biscuits
- dinner out at one of the two non-chain restaurants in Del Rio (there's a third, but it's inedible)
- Thanksgiving prep:
- Brine the turkey. I am extremely picky about my turkeys. I refuse to buy a frozen one, which means I can't get my turkey in Del Rio. The past two years we have ordered a free-range turkey from Whole Foods and driven the 6 hours round-trip to San Antonio to get it. Worth it!
- Make mashed potatoes and refrigerate (recipe: potatoes, cream cheese, salt, pepper.)
- Make stuffed mushroom stuffing and refrigerate separate from reserved mushroom caps for tomorrow's appetizer
- Make Roasted butternut squash soup and refrigerate
- Breakfast: Pumpkin Pie Smoothies
- Dinner: Braised chicken (Side note: This is from my old blog, and I wrote it just a few days after Art proposed. Ah, memories.)
- Breakfast: Art's pumpkin pancakes, turkey bacon, eggs
- Appetizers:
- Stuffed mushrooms (my own recipe... someday I'll post it!)
- Brie en Croute
- Thanksgiving dinner:
- Roasted turkey
- Gravy (someone else is doing this, maybe Grandma Jean. Gravy stumps me)
- Sweet potato casserole (Art's mom's recipe)
- Cornbread dressing with sausage and apples
- dinner rolls from the Kitchen Bible (best cookbook ever!)
- Roasted asparagus with tomatoes and parmesan
- Mashed potatoes
- Cranberry-orange sauce
- Dreamy apple pie with hard sauce
- Traditional pumpkin pie (made with PW's pie crust)
