Thanksgiving Day Post...

Every year I take on the task of preparing the Thanksgiving day feast. Although it has been an enjoyable task, it had also been incredibly exhausting. There are a lot of steps that go into preparing a large meal and it is easy to forget one. This year was different. The one thing that made this year different was having my mom here. I really can not recall the last time I was with one of my immediate family members for a holiday. Usually by the time Thanksgiving dinner is finally prepared I am exhausted and there are dishes up to the ceiling. My mom was a huge help and I loved making memories in the kitchen, have a look:

Of course I would use nothing other than Martha Stewart recipes. I used Turkey 101 for our delicious turkey.

The recipe starts off by soaking your turkey in a brine. Every time I make this brine the scent fills the house and immediately reminds me of Thanksgiving.


Working at the various cooking jobs I have and watching a lot of cooking shows I have learned what you can and should make in advance. The pies (pecan, pumpkin pie and pumpkin praline cheesecake) were all made in advance.


I loved showing my mom how easy it is to make piecrust in the food processor and the fillings are just as easy. There is really no reason to buy frozen pies. Actually, my mom's pie crust came out beautiful and mine came out looking like I made it in some back alley.


We used Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe and the pies came out so delicious!


I woke up early on Thanksgiving morning to take the turkey out of the brine. It has to sit out and come to temperature before placing it in the oven. Just like last year the poor turkey came out of the brine looking almost purple.


No Stove Top for us. I cubed two loaves of Italian bread and let them dry on the counter for a few days and of course Martha Stewart's Classic Stuffing recipe was used. What did not fit into the neck and tail end of the turkey was baked separately in a buttered casserole dish.


Here is Ma cutting up 1/2 of the onions for the stuffing.


The turkey was stuffed in the neck and tail ends baker's twine was then used to truss the turkey. Trussing is done to make the turkey more compact and ensure even baking. The wing tips are turned under and the legs are tied close to the body. If the wings and legs are left away from the body they would finish cooking way before the rest of the turkey and most likely become way too dry. Turkey 101 does not require a baking bag or foil to cover the turkey, instead cheesecloth soaked in two sticks of butter and a bottle of wine is draped over the bird.


As an alternative to regular green bean casserole we used Everyday Food Magazine's green bean casserole. I thought the recipe was okay, but the mushroom sauce was a bit to runny for my liking. Maybe I should have cooked it a bit longer so it was thicker.


Here is the cheesecloth covered turkey after a few hours. The browned cheesecloth is removed and the turkey bakes a bit longer to brown and cook more. I placed foil over the parts of the turkey which I though were browning too quickly.


Of course Lucy was in the kitchen carefully supervising our cooking. She was willing to clean up any wayward scraps. I also had to include a picture of my beautiful Martha Stewart Collection turkey platter which I found on sale at Macy's a few years ago.


When the turkey was done we placed it on the platter an garnished with persimmons, grapes, parsley, sage and starfruit. I must say out of all of the turkeys I have made this one was beautiful.


Since I am a vegetarian I have never tasted my turkey. My mom was willing to carve the bird here she is with her birthday apron. Well since I am a vegetarian and have never tasted my turkey I must rely on everyone's comments to gauge how well I did. My mom said it was the most moist turkey she had ever had and everyone else said it was so delicious.


Everyone was sooooo stuffed when dinner was ready, but none of us could resist dessert. There was pumpkin praline cheesecake, pumpkin pie and pecan pie (all from scratch) I also heard someone say, "Oh there is nothing like homemade whipped cream!"


This may seem like a bit much, but it was so helpful. My mom said that she liked the way that I had everything planned to be ready at dinner time. I actually wrote out a schedule on the dry erase board in my kitchen and it helped a lot. I had everything planned by the hour and it worked great.


I told my mom today THANK YOU for helping make this Thanksgiving special. I told her that I was not thanking her for helping me make pies, shopping for ingredients or cleaning up my mess. I told her I meant thank you for just being here, I said that it was the best Thanksgiving I have had in years and it was better by just having her here by my side and making memories with me.