All Posts Tagged With: "stuffing"

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. It’s a day that we set aside the normal cares, stress and grind of every day life and focus on family, reflect on our many blessings and eat way too much food, feeling miserable the remainder of the day.

This morning, we’re getting ready earlier than normal for a non-working day as we prepare to drive to Enid, where my parents live, to celebrate Thanksgiving with them and my sister’s family. I’ve volunteered to prepare the feast for today, with the (more expert) assistance of Karla, which means we have to gather all the fixin’s for the meal in addition to the usual impedimenta that goes along with our entourage (a family of four plus three canine kids). We’re leaving early enough this morning (6:30-ish) so I can get the turkey in the oven to begin its 4-hour-plus roasting and then prepare the various side dishes.

This year, I’ve chosen to brine the turkey using a Williams-Sonoma recipe that features its signature pre-made turkey brine blend of seasonings — coarse sea salt, dried apples, juniper berries, lemon peel, Spanish rosemary, three varieties of peppercorns and other herbs — and buttermilk. The turkey has been brining since Tuesday evening. I’ve become a brining devotee ever since my brother turned me onto it a couple of years ago — it makes such an amazing, succulent difference to the turkey (and other meats that I’ve brined).

To accompany the turkey, we’re trying something different from our family’s traditional dressing recipe. After a failed experiment with another Williams-Sonoma recipe (Smoky Bacon-Biscuit Dressing), Karla found a pre-made stuffing mix that we’re going to try: Cranberry & Pecan Stuffing. It’ll be the first time we’ve tried it, so I hope it’s good and that everyone likes it.

We’re also fixing classic mashed potatoes, snap beans with caramelized shallots and roasted mushrooms, and molded cranberry sauce — the latter two being Williams-Sonoma recipes as well. (Are you noticing a Williams-Sonoma theme to this Thanksgiving menu? That place has become like a toy store to me!)

One other item we’re including is another new addition to our traditional Thanksgiving menu as a first-course to hold people over until the main meal is ready. It’s yet another Williams-Sonoma recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Cider Cream. I actually made this a couple of weeks ago to try it before springing it on the rest of the family; I’m glad I did. The recipe makes alot of soup — and I mean, alot. We ended up taking two-thirds of the batch and freezing it to save for today. We’ll reheat it on the stove and it should taste as good as the day it was made! It was really good, by the way.

So, it is going to be a very busy and full morning as we start preparing the feast. I have no doubt that I will be miserably stuffed by the time the annual Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game kicks off this afternoon, no matter how much I pace myself throughout the meal. I’ll let you know later how the meal turned out and how well it was received.

Until then, have a wonderful, gratifying, satisfying and blessed Thanksgiving holiday.