Posts Tagged "Thanksgiving"

We ate way too much and I so wish some of my family had been here or we were there . . just wish we were together on holidays.

We’re not much on turkey leftovers so I had a 10 pound turkey, which we fried.  There’s a fried duck there too, along with two kinds of dressing, green bean bundles, carrot souffle, cherry/cranberry salad, cranberry sauce, rolls and somehow I forgot to get the giblet gravy in the picture.  We ate about 1:30 and by 2:15, we were all asleep.  I didn’t wake up til 5:30 and that’s when we had dessert — buttermilk and pumpkin pies.

Vince picked the meat off the bone.  I detest that part — getting that stuff under my nails makes me feel weird!  The leftover turkey will probably be made into a gumbo.

My kitchen is finally clean and back to normal.   Anyone who opens a fridge around here had better stand back though . . they’re stuffed too!

Chad has gone to the movies and he’s spending the night with a friend so they can be closer to their hunting area in the morning.  Vince is online shopping.  I’m going to sew and I’m betting after sleeping half the day, I’ll be up late . . but those darned chickens don’t understand and I’ll still have to get up at daylight with them!

10:00 p.m. . . the night before Thanksgiving.  This is the point where I always say “I’m not doing this again!”  Next year . . we’re having turkey sandwiches . . turkey from the Wal-Mart deli!  Maybe even storebought bread! 

I’m too tired to move.  My kitchen is a wreck.  I think I’m so tired I’m not even thinking straight because I’m going to show you my kitchen . . exactly as it looks at the moment.

This afternoon Chad asked for chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes for dinner.  I needed mashed potatoes for my rolls tomorrow but what was I thinking?  Chicken fried steak?  I ended up having to mop the floor, take the stove apart and clean it . . and I don’t even like chicken fried steak, nor do I like milk gravy.  I should never have done that today.

The turkey is brining overnight, pumpkin and buttermilk pies are made, cranberry sauce is made and it is so good, cherry/cranberry salad is made.  Tomorrow I’ll mix up the dressings, make the green bean bundles, make the carrot souffle, make the rolls, make the gravy, inject the turkey so Vince and Chad can fry it.  Hmm . . that’s more than I thought that’s left to be done!

And, I truly wonder if it’s really worth it for just the three of us.  But, it’s Thanksgiving and it’s tradition to have all the Thanksgiving  foods so I’m sure I’ll do it all again next year, and probably complain about it again! 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  I hope you all have much to be thankful for.

Today on Lime Green Kitchen:

Cornbread – Our favorite cornbread recipe.  When making for dressing, I cut the salt in half because the broth has a bit of salt in it.  More salt can be added to the dressing when I’m adjusting the seasonings.

Yesterday was mostly spent chopping and getting done what I could do ahead for Thanksgiving.  On Thanksgiving Day, we’ll have regular cornbread dressing, a sausage dressing, fried turkey, giblet gravy, green bean bundles, carrot souffle, cherry/cranberry salad, rolls, pumpkin pie and buttermilk pie.

Thanksgiving preparations have begun:

I made two batches of cornbread and a batch of biscuits.   Any time I find sourdough bread marked down at Wal-Mart, I buy it.   Though I think their sourdough bread tastes fake . . like something was added to give it a sourdough taste, it works great for bread crumbs, croutons, bread pudding, dressing, Overnight Peach French Toast . . or whatever.  I can sometimes find it marked down for $1 for a big loaf and I stick it in the freezer til needed.

The sausage is browned.  The celery and onions are chopped.  The cornbread and white breads are torn and crumbled.  I’ll leave them sitting out til Thursday morning so they can dry out and then absorb all that yummy chicken broth.  The gizzards and livers are boiled and chopped.  There’s a big problem with getting that step done because . . why do you think?   Because I love gizzards!  Isn’t that gross?  The best part of the giblet gravy is that Vince and Chad pick out every crumb of liver and gizzard and . . they give it to me!

Those hamburger buns on the rack don’t go in the dressing.  They went with dinner.

Smoked pulled pork and homemade hamburger buns!  Yum!

Today I’ll make the pies and the cherry cranberry salad and I’ll try not to eat the gizzards! 

Who’s making dressing/stuffing for Thanksgiving?  My grandma and my mom after that always made the holiday meals.  I never helped.  I never watched.  I didn’t have a clue how to make it.  It took me a few years to get my dressing down but the year mom and dad were here for Christmas, dad said my dressing was the best he’d ever had.  Talk about make me feel good!

I had once had a secret quilting buddy from New York.  Her sister lived not too far from me in KY and one year at Thanksgiving, they came to visit and brought me some of what they call “Yankee Dressing”.  It had white bread, sausage and I can’t remember what else.  I loved it!  I made it a couple of years, though mine wasn’t as good as what they made, but Vince and Chad didn’t like it so I quit making it.

What kind of dressing or stuffing do you make?  For us, it will be cornbread dressing . . one dish without celery for Chad; one dish with lots of celery for us.  Chad will eat his entire dish in one day and then he’ll eat what’s left of the dish with celery . . and complain about the celery the whole time.

When Chad was probably 2, he ate so much dressing at Thanksgiving at mom’s that we almost had to take him to the hospital with a belly ache.  Same thing happened at Christmas.  That boy loves cornbread dressing!