Thank you to Ruth Ayers for the Celebration Link up
at her blog, Discover Play Build
Head over there and link up your Celebration too!
The big event to reflect on this past week was hosting Thanksgiving. Since I had school work up until Wednesday, I decided to keep the menu simple. Simple worked for everyone else too. Turkey, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, bread, yams, and pie for dessert was all there was to eat. My celebration is about my three favorite pieces of the meal...
Turkey-turkey-little turkey...I am by no means a chef so I researched the best ways to cook the bird. I didn't buy a whole bird-mainly the breast-because no one in the family likes the dark meat. I had it thawing in the refrigerator since Sunday. Wednesday called for the time to brine. The mixture was a little white wine, salt, pepper, and apple juice. I played around with what to put in the mix but these ingredients worked out well as the turkey was so sweet and juicy...YUM!
Stuff in the stuffing...I love, love, love the way my mom always made the stuffing on Turkey day and so I followed how she put it together. First, I sauteed lots of onion and celery together in butter. Then I poured in one can of chicken stock. After that boiled, I added just one box of stove top stuffing mix-then added bread that was cut up and dried. I mixed it all together and baked it for 45 minutes at 350. It turned out so tasty...there was only a tiny sliver left (I'll be eating that leftover).
Marshmallow Yams...Yams have grown on me over the years-I despised them when I was younger. I really like how they taste now. I'm not sure what changed but I'll go with it. I put them in the baking pan and added a few pats of butter, sprinkled on some brown sugar and baked them. At the last 5 minutes, I added two handfuls of mini-marshmallows to the top! They came out toasty brown (just like when you cook them over the campfire) on top of the yams. I really could have eaten the whole pan. They tasted that good.
Now the problem is how to work around the 3 pound weight gain! Hope your Thanksgiving was bloated with yummy food and fun times with family and/or friends!
Any tasty morsels to celebrate this week?
Amy, Isn't it fun when we choose to make our celebrations simple? Every special treat at your Thanksgiving had a story. That is my favorite part of this holiday. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy your leftovers.
ReplyDeleteAmy, I am a wanna-be-foodie. I loved this post! We celebrated a "jello salad" that has jello, fruit, cool whip, and shredded cheese. My 10 year old loves it. :) So one of his aunties made him his own batch. My mom worked to make us peanut-free deserts, and someone used cheese in the green bean casserole. It was awesome. I ran yesterday, and I'm getting ready to go out again to get rid of the bloat. :) Great post!
ReplyDeleteAmy, I enjoyed reading about the process behind your Thanksgiving dinner. Your line about how you could have eaten the whole pan of the yams made me think of stomach aches around the holidays when the food is just so good. We had two Thanksgiving dinners - one with my parents and another with my husband's family. My sister in law made the turkey wrapped in banana leaves (sometimes she uses them instead of corn husks for tamales as well) and with chile. Yum.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading lots of food writing lately. I miss these kinds of holiday meals.
ReplyDeleteYum - what a yummy Thanksgiving, Amy.
ReplyDeleteLoved the food post. Brought me back memories of my very first Thanksgiving at USA and the times Americans at my school have brought in turkey, stuffing and pumpkin or pecan pies.
ReplyDeleteSo much family and story intertwined with food. I think that is a big part of what makes food such an obsession. Thanks for sharing these stories!
ReplyDeleteOh my word those yams sound amazing!
ReplyDeleteThanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it's all about family and friends and the food! Your meal sounds wonderful and good for you for keeping it simple.
ReplyDeleteThe food is important, no matter what you serve. We love the stuffing, too, & your turkey brining sounds divine, Amy. Your cooking really is not so simple, you did a lot! Happy you enjoyed every bit!
ReplyDelete