Words and Light

I can’t believe it’s December.

I also can’t believe that I volunteered to take over Thanksgiving (choosing the menu and cooking all but the turkey, that is).

My mom's reaction while chopping up cremini mushrooms for the stuffing: "Look! It's a Siamese!"

And, furthermore, I can’t believe that I’ve now volunteered to do the same for Christmas Eve dinner and the Christmas cookie-baking.

Anyway, I’m a bit behind in blogging, but here’re some goodies from Thanksgiving. I’ll backtrack from there and post some earlier photos — later.

I wrote the recipes out because inkjet printouts tend to smear if they get damp.

We — my grandparents, some of my immediate family and another family (10 people total) — began the meal with squash and corn chowder. This was one of the dishes we made when I visited some friends in Roanoke in July, and it was a resounding success.

I doubled the recipe for 10 people, and it was far too much. I also added a lot more seasoning and herbs, as it was otherwise a little bland.

One of the reasons why I volunteered to take over Thanksgiving was, I was a little tired of the usual dishes. Squash casserole? My older brother is the dish’s biggest fan, but he’s in Hawaii. I nixed that one and decided to introduce the soup course.

Then, with the turkey, we had three other dishes plus the usual Thanksgiving condiment.

Mushroom, onion and sourdough stuffing, a la Bobby Flay:

I forgot the egg and the parsley. It still came out fine and tasted great. Definitely the most labor-intensive and time-consuming dish to prepare, though.

I’ve never been a fan of stuffing — or dressing, whichever — but the week before, Jeff and I watched the “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” episode wherein Bobby and The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) went head to head on a full Thanksgiving meal. This was Bobby’s stuffing, and both Jeff and I decided to give it a shot in our respective homes.

It was pretty good.

Garlic green beans — another area where I diverged from the usual Thanksgiving meal. Green bean casserole has also been a staple, but I figured that the squash and corn chowder was providing enough calories to warrant the ousting of a casserole dish.

The recipe called for pecans, but I used toasted almond slivers instead.

Pioneer Woman’s crash hot potatoes (I’m a big fan of PW):

Should've salted them a little more, but at least this way, they weren't overseasoned.

And the cranberry sauce:

My mom commandeered this dish at the last minute. I think she wanted to control how much sugar went into it - and didn't add enough. (It was pretty tart.)

I was pretty excited about having pulled off a successful Thanksgiving meal (sans the turkey, which I left in my mom’s hands). Sure, I forgot some minor ingredients and made some other small mistakes in timing, but everything came together and I never felt like I was under a lot of pressure to have everything perfect.

Plus, I actually enjoy cooking.

Which is why I’m going to do it again for Christmas Eve and the holiday baking. Although, this time, I’ll enlist my sister-in-law’s help.