Thanksgiving 2021

I’m not a big fan of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and we’ve often done very different cuisines and this year we decided on Italian.  Since some of the invitees were unavailable on Thanksgiving Day, we opted to have our meal on Wednesday – ain’t retirement great.

We had 12 diners so we used both the dining room and sun room tables – I called it the kids table.  Here’s a shot of the big table that was empty then but soon filled up with food.

More Delicious Fish For Cindy and Me - Halibut In Prosciutto Herb Cream Sauce And Cioppino For Thanksgiving

I HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

As I continue to work through our supply of frozen fish while Bev is gone, we had two remaining pieces of Halibut and we opted to cook them using the recipe for Halibut In Prosciutto Herb Cream Sauce from the “La Bella Vita” blog.  The two pieces of fish were very different which is one of the reasons I cancelled my subscription from Wild Alaska Seafood Co. as I believed I was just getting the leftovers for a very high price. 

Thanksgiving 2012 At Almost Heaven South

As you may have gathered by now, I was alone on Thanksgiving Day and had several meal options from which to choose, starting with a grilled cheese sandwich by myself through an invitation to dinner in Oak Ridge with Wende (daughter) and her friends up to driving to Baltimore for the holiday with Eric (son).

After the previous week’s seafood meal, I decided to invite my buddy Joe and his wife Carol down for a repeat.  Carol opted for something else but Joe decided to come on down.

We considered what we liked about the last meal and made this one just a little differently.  Since we also planned to winterize the RV, we spread the meal over the entire afternoon beginning with the shrimp cocktail appetizer.

Tell your friends not to order this at Almost Heaven South unless they want some shrimp.  Once again I used Ina’s cocktail sauce.  After the RV job, we had the salad course which consisted of a basic salad with bottled dressing and a half dozen raw oysters.  Similar to chicken on a salad but just a little different J

An hour and a half later we had the main course of grilled shrimp, grilled oysters, clams casino, and a baked sweet potato – we had to have something that made it Thanksgiving dinner in the South.

And finally, another hour or so later, we had Mrs. Smiths pumpkin pie with Ready Whip - not exactly mom's famous pumpkin pie with real whipped cream, but it was edible.

I know I won’t be able to talk Bev out of it, but after this meal, I’d opt to pass on turkey from now on – like last week’s flattened tower, this meal was just too good and as a bonus, it was easy to fix and clean up after.  Also, taking all afternoon to eat it negated the terrible stuffed feeling I have following the normal meal (I know, just eat less, but I can’t help myself).  I'll suggest we have an extended meal next year, even if we serve the traditional menu.

As you can likely guess, I won't be posting any Thanksgiving leftover meals - I ate the few leftover boiled shrimp out of the plastic bag they were stored in the next day for lunch J

I'm now responding to your comments and hoping you will stop back by - photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

11/22/12 meal date

Tex Mex For Thanksgiving

I believe I've mentioned this before but I’m not really a fan of plain roasted turkey but Bev is a traditionalist so I was surprised when she readily agreed to serving Tex-Mex for our Thanksgiving meal – it helped that it’s one of her favorite foods and we were eating on Wed.  This seemed to fit well with a visit by Kathy (daughter) who lives in San Antonio which claims to be the home of the cuisine.  A big highlight of the day was getting to meet Kathy’s new fellow and see how happy she is.  Kathy likes to talk and here she is with a captive group.

Thanksgiving Meal and Fish Supply

 In 2018, we decided to stray considerably from the traditional Thanksgiving meal and made Tex-Mex instead and we all loved it so this year we decided to give Cajun a try.  In late summer, while okra was still available from the neighbor’s garden, we made up a gallon of gumbo and stuck it in the freezer for the holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving

    

Bev and I have so much to be thankful for and our wish for you is a safe, healthy, and happy Thanksgiving. 

Even though it’s called a Christmas Cactus, ours always blooms at Thanksgiving.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

11/25/21 event date

You Know I Had To Try It

When I said yesterdays post was the last Thanksgiving meal post, I meant last turkey post.  I ate leftover stuffing with gravy for breakfast for the first three mornings after Thanksgiving, then, I skipped a day and had it with the potato pancake meal posted on Dec 2. So I just had to try this – big surprise huh?

I was a little apprehensive due to the sweetness of the dressing, but I knew it would at least be edible. I took one bite and a big smile spread across my face, as I thought it was delicious. One of the things I always do with pancakes, which I lke but rarely eat, is top them with a fried egg, even though they have syrup on them. And this reminded me a lot of that dish.

Can you imagine that Bev ask if I wanted her to add the remainder of the left over dressing (my favorite Thanksgiving dish) to the dog food she was making (Dec 3rd post) and I actually considered it. I think there may be enough for three more meals like this and I’m sure glad I told her no.

What a great discovery and now I can hardly wait for next Thankgiving’s dressing. Wait, there is something wrong here – dressing is one of my very favorite foods and I only eat it once per year – this must be corrected.

I've often mentioned that I am an engineer by education and a friend recently sent me several "Understanding Engineers" jokes that I thought were funny enough to pass on.  Here's the first one.

Two engineering students were biking across a university campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?" The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want." The first engineer nodded approvingly and said, "Good choice: The clothes probably wouldn't have fit you anyway." 

I'm pretty sure I'm not THAT much of an engineer, but have know some.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Creamed Cauliflower (aka Creamy Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower with Bacon) & Thanksgiving Dinner

When daughter Wende invited me over for what is becoming her traditional Thanksgiving supper of Cornish hens cooked over an open fire, I volunteered to bring a side dish.  My original choice was Brussels sprouts & sweet potato hash but when I saw Kevin’s recipe for Creamed Cauliflower, I changed my mind.

On his “Closet Cooking” blog, Kevin describes the dish as “A quick and easy stove-top creamed cauliflower with butter, garlic, parmesan, and bacon!”  I made it by his recipe below but since I made it ahead of time, I transferred to a dish for reheating at Wende’s and I used one of his options to add shredded cheese to the top.  For the complete list of options and his good how-to pics, just click on the above link.

But before I get the cauliflower, this is the main event being cooked over the open fire - potatoes and onions in the foil.

Transylvanian Goulash Inspired Dish And Thanksgiving At Wende’s

When I saw this recipe for Transylvanian Goulash from Debbie on her “A Feast For The Eyes” blog and with my girls, who would be lukewarm on trying it, off in Florida, I was inspired to make a similar dish for myself, especially since I had some pork chops in the freezer and a jar of kraut in the fridge. 

Since I was making it for just me, I halved the ingredient amounts and changed the cooking method so as not to overcook the chops as I prefer them slightly pink.  I debated whether to leave the chops whole or cut them up and I opted for the former.  You can click on the above link for Debbie's original recipe and how-to pics.

A Couple Of Thanksgiving Leftover Meals

While I enjoy the standard Thanksgiving meal menu, I prefer the turkey made into leftover dishes. Since we had a direct repeat of our T-day meal on Friday, it was now time to move on to other things – I did have dressing with gravy for breakfast on Fri, Sat, & Sun – that’s why no new breakfast posts.

In the past few weeks, Bev had mentioned a desire for both tortilla soup and some type of turkey soup and I had saved a recipe that looked like it fit the bill. It’s called Ranch Style Tortilla Soup and comes from Lea Ann over at Mangos, Chili and Z – check out her site for the recipe and pictures.

We followed the recipe with just a few minor changes – we used leftover turkey rather than chicken, added a can of drained black beans for a little contrasting color, and used a higher ratio of Rotel to tomatoes, because when I upped the recipe amounts to 1½ times, it fit the can sizes we had. We also used blue corn chips because we had a bag already opened, and it used up two avocados that were about to get too ripe. I really like it when a recipe calls for ingredients we have on hand and need to be utilized – the only thing we had to buy were the poblanos. Here it is in the pot.

And my bowl.

We had six for dinner and all but Bev’s sister (who rarely gives anything new a high grade) thought it was outstanding. The poblanos and Rotel gave it just a nice little heat in the back of my throat, which makes it good for all but those who demand zero heat. Bev likes to have tortilla soup fairly often and this will be made again. Thanks for sharing the recipe Lea Ann.

One of my favorite Thanksgiving leftover recipes is fried, potato pancakes for breakfast (of course), so this meal was built around them. I had a choice of fried eggs on top of the potatoes or scrambled eggs beside them. I went with scrambled as I hadn’t had them in a while and the fried would have hidden the potatoes.

My mom always just formed the potatoes into cakes with no additions and fried them (they came apart easily). Bev likes to add a little flour, an egg, and milk – if they’re too dry, to help hold them together – which I believe is an improvement. Sometimes diced onion, herbs, etc. goe in, but I went with the pure version today.

So for breakfast, it was potato pancakes, scrambled eggs, and a little reheated stuffing (I skipped it on Monday).  I can't seem to get into the habit of adding a little something - like chopped green onion - to make it prettier.  Since I'd been waiting three hours for our @&%# power to come back on, I was in a bit of a hurry and mildly irked.

When I watch the cooks on the cooking shows, they rarely ever put up a finished plate that they haven't sprinkled something on.

The leftover we didn’t make this year was turkey salad (we ran out of turkey) and I didn’t make stock from the turkey carcass and bones, as they had too much sweetness from the cooking glaze. I’ll just have to smoke a turkey in the near future to make into salad – I prefer the smoked version anyway and have two birds in the freezer.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Texas RV Trip - Thanksgiving Dinner

We were originally planning to start home from Texas on Wednesday morning but after all of our trials to get here I wanted a few more days to get mentally prepared so we were able to extend our stay in the campground until Monday.  This meant we would be here, rather than on the road, on Thanksgiving Day and we decided to participate in the campgrounds dinner, where they provide the meat and everyone brings a side dish or dessert. 

To match up previous resertvations, in order for us to extend our stay, we had to move three doors down to new digs - still close to the bathhouse and laundry, but right beside the main entrance.

This is the campground office where the pool is on the bottom and upstairs devoted to the office and activities room, which was set up for the dinner.

As is often the case, the day we decided to do this and bring a side dish up pops a recipe from my favorite recipe book - your blogs.  We are fans of brussel sprouts and when I showed Bev the recipe she was quick to remind me we were in the land of meat and potatoes, but I offered that many of the folks here were likely from somewhere else.  We decided to go with the sprouts, realizing that we would enjoy the leftovers if no one else ate them, so we used Ashley's recipe for Brussels Sprouts with White Beans and Pecorino from over at Big Flavors From A Tiny Kitchen.  We made one modification to suit our taste, with the addition of bacon, but I basically cut and pasted Ashley's recipe below:

About 1/2 pounds of crisp fried bacon - our addition
8 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 pounds brussels sprouts, trimmed, cut in half lengthwise
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
1 15-ounce can cannellini (white kidney beans), drained
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 cup (about 4 ounces) coarsely grated young pecorino (such as a young
Pecorino Toscano)

Fry the bacon to a crispiness to allow it to be crumbled - I did it the day before on the campgrounds grill using a pan made from foil.
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. When just about to smoke, add half of brussels sprouts. Cook until brown, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Transfer to large bowl. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in same skillet. Add remaining brussels sprouts, reduce heat to medium-high, and cook until brown, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Transfer brussels sprouts to same bowl.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to skillet; increase heat to high. Add garlic; sauté until brown, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Add broth and brussels sprouts. Cook until brussels sprouts are crisp-tender, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes. Add beans and butter; stir until butter melts and broth is reduced to glaze, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in cheese.

We failed to get a shot, so please visit Ashley's site and imagine crumbled bacon in it.

Most of the dishes brought by the campers were pretty much what you'd expect for a thanksgiving meal with a couple of unique ones.

In addition to the meat, the campground furnished some dressing and gravy and this is them serving it up - didn't realize I had Bev in the shot until I downloaded them - definitely the hottest chick there.

Let's get down to some serious eating - that vacant chair is mine.

We sat across from a young couple and their two small children from Austin, except as soon as they spoke, it was obvious they weren't native Texans unless it was Texas, England - they had come here 11 years ago for a short term work contract and loved it.

We did had a few sprouts left but the mashed potato bowl looked like it had been licked clean, so I guess Bev was right and in walking around the campground most have Texas plates and most may be permanent residents. 

As is typical with pot lucks, the food was all delicious and I enjoyed finishing up the sprouts for a bedtime snack - thanks Ashley for posting the recipe.

Friend Kathy posted these on her Facebook page and I couldn't pass them up.

"The Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a Nativity Scene in the United States' Capital this Christmas season. This isn't for any religious reason. They simply have not been able to find Three Wise Men in the Nation's Capitol. A search for a Virgin continues. There was no problem, however, finding enough asses to fill the stable."

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry
.

Thanksgiving 2013

After reading many of your blogs, I realized that doing everything possible prior to Thanksgiving Day made a lot of sense, even some finished dishes.

Tuesday

I made the gravy using Debby’s method from A Feast For The Eyes – check her blog for the recipe and lots of photos.  I made the stock per her recipe then made up a double recipe of delicious gravy.

I made the turkey brine using a recipe from Chris at Nibble Me This, but omitted the final two ingredients. I fried up bacon for several dishes and whipped up some Alfredo Sauce for the Brussels sprouts hash.

Wednesday

Eric, Ann, Matthew, and Sophia came in late Tuesday and Bev decided to start off Wed. by making up a batch of pepperoni rolls with the aid of the grandkids.

Then with help from Eric, we prepped the turkey and added it to the brine, made up the herbed butter and turkey baste, mixed up the crock pot dressing except for the dried bread, chopped up extra fresh herbs, and made the roasted vegetable sauce.  Bev made up the rolls and we had all but a few things ready to go.

When we got this done, my buddy Joe came over, and we did as much damage as we could to the 10 dozen oysters Eric brought with him from Maryland.  After some Oysters Rockefeller for Bev and Ann, us guys had a raw tasting of the four varieties we had: Blue Points, Chincoteague, Sewansescott, and Maryland.  After three rounds, I rated the Blue Points first and the Maryland’s last with the other two in the middle but the Chincoteague’s were very salty.  Even though there was one ranked fourth, I have to say they were all plenty good raw or made into more Rockefellers.

Thursday
For Thanksgiving morning, we only had a few chores to do.  First was to rinse and dry the brined bird, add the herb butter under the skin then pop it in the 250* smoker for about 4 hours.

Then we cut up the turnips, sweet potatoes, celery, carrots, winter squash, and parsnips for roasted root vegetables using the recipe from Drick’s Rambling Café.  We cubed sweet potatoes and sliced Brussels sprouts for the hash using the same recipe as previously - I’d never seen them in the store on the stock like this so I had to buy one.

Finally, I added the bread to the other dressing ingredients and started them in the crock pot for the four cook on low.

Friend, Ashley, brought the salad, and SIL, Pat brought the mashed potatoes using the Pioneer Woman’s recipe and we kept them warm in a crock pot.  We served buffet style and this is my plate.

We finished the meal off with homemade pumpkin pies provided by daughter, Wende.

I liked everything we had and others seemed to enjoy the meal as well – even Wende liked the hash and she doesn’t care for Brussels sprouts.  The only things I’d change was to reduce the Crasins in the dressing from two cups to one as it was a little sweet for my taste and orient the turkey in the smoker so that the dark meat was closest to the heat as, while the breast was meat was perfect, the dark could have cooked a little more.  Please click on the various links for recipes and the pictures I failed to take.

I’ve posted a couple of recipes below so I’ll have them on my blog.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

11/26 - 11/28/13 meal date

Slow Cooker Chicken Stuffing  – Double recipe shown below

6 oz pkg     Cornbread stuffing mix

6 oz pkg     Regular stuffing mix

2 whole      Chickens, cooked, boned, and chopped (we used rotisserie birds)

2 large       Onion, chopped

2 cups        Celery, chopped

6 ea            Eggs, beaten

2 (10 oz)    Cream of mushroom soup

4 cups        Chicken broth

1 T              Poultry seasoning

1 cup          Dried cranberries (reduced from 2 cups) - optional

1 tsp           Salt

½ tsp          Pepper

4 tbsp         Butter, cut into small pieces

Grease a 6 quart slow cooker (for the double recipe)

Combine first 12 ingredients, transfer to slow cooker and top with butter.

Cook covered on high for 1 hour & low for 3 hours – do not remove lid.

Turkey Herb Butter

1 stick butter, room temperature,

2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme

2/3 teaspoons dried marjoram

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons minced fresh sage

Mix butter and all minced herbs in small bowl; season herb butter with pepper.

Starting at neck end, slide hand between skin and breast meat to loosen skin. Rub 4 tablespoons herb butter over breast meat under skin.  Repeat for thighs and legs.

Smokey Turkey and Dirty Rice Soup

While trying to store something in the pantry just before Thanksgiving, I noticed a box of Zatarains Creole Dirty Rice Mix that had been taking up space for a long time and I made a mental note to toss it later.  Then, the next day I read the recipe from Chris at Nibble Me This, using the dirty rice and leftover turkey for one of his favorite soups.  Since it was cold here after Thanksgiving and we had everything on-hand but the red kidney beans, we made up a batch.  Please check Chris' blog for the original recipe and his usual great photo.

Smokey Turkey and Dirty Rice Soup – Adapted from Nibble Me This

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter (mine was salted)

1/4 cup diced green bell pepper

1/4 cup diced white onion

1/4 cup diced celery

1/4 cup diced carrot

1/4 cup all purpose flour

8 cups homemade poultry broth - warmed

8 oz package Zatarains Dirty Rice Mix (with seasonings)

3 cups chopped turkey

2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried oregano

hot sauce to garnish if desired

Instructions:

1. Preheat a stock pan over medium high heat and melt butter.  Sauté veggies for 5 minutes, until starting to turn tender.  Season with a little salt and pepper while sauteing.  
2. Sprinkle in the flour and stir until blended into a light roux (about 1-3 minutes).

3. Whisk in 1-2 cups of broth gradually while constantly whisking until the roux is well combined into the liquid.  Stir in the rest of the broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Stir in the Dirty Rice Mix and continue simmering for 25 more minutes.

5. Add the turkey, kidney beans, thyme and oregano and let simmer for 15-25 minutes longer.

6. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

Ours turned out a darker than Chris' as I used roasted turkey stock for the liquid.  Bev said "this is good, actually, it's really good" and I agreed.  So if you have a box of dirty rice mix taking up space at your place, you now have a use for it and if not, you may want to pick up a box and rotisserie chickens for an easy week-night meal.  Thanks Chris for a delicious dinner.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/1/13 meal date

Fresh Trout Two Ways For Breakfast - A First Time For One

While picking up the seafood for the cioppino, I noticed some good-looking dressed fresh trout in the case and since this is another fish that Bev won’t eat, even fried, I bought a couple that weighed 10oz. each.

Pizza From Leftovers – Mostly

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE

It's 5:30am and I'm sitting here reading the paper, drinking coffee, blogging, and getting myself mentally prepared for the very busy day to come.  It's supposed to be a balmy 70 degree day (more like Thanksgiving in Florida), before the cold that many of you already have moves in for a not so balmy 40 degree Friday - may have to build my first fire.  Here's a post from a meal we had a day or two ago.

I’d assumed we were having leftovers for dinner, but the chef wanted to make pizza and I reluctantly agreed. :-)

The other day, I'd made Chicken Pepperoni and used part of several items, so we had containers in the fridge to be used. And what better way than the blank canvas of a pizza crust – Thin Pizza Crust Napoli Style, which we’ve used before and looks like oversized Naan bread. We get them at Walmart.
 
For this version, it was marinara, from the just opened jar of Bertolli with some additional pizza spices sprinkled on, followed by opened artichoke hearts and mushrooms, and diced pepperoni from the newly opened stick. It then got onions, sweet peppers, diced garden maters, sliced olives, and mozzarella & asiago cheese.  Pizza is like vegetable soup - just go thru the fridge, freezer and pantry and add what you have and strikes your fancy.

It was very good and we ate all but one piece, with Bev commenting that she believed she could eat pizza every day - I could sure eat it once a week.  When she makes it from scratch, we always make extra so we can reheat it for breakfast - which we both like.

Hopefully you can see a little difference in picture quality as I finally took the time to learn how to shoot close ups with Bevs camera.  Not as good as the SLR cameras, but better than I was getting.  There must be a lot of folks taking shots of food as the setting for close ups on my camera was "close up" but on this camera it is "cuisine" - food bloggers rule.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

A Day To Be Thankful – The Day After

Our kids prefer to visit with us when it’s just them so we get maximum exposure to one another, and as I’ve thought about it, I agree. So, son, Eric, Ann and their two kids, Matthew and Sophia, and daughter, Wende, came down here on Friday for a repeat of our Thanksgiving day meal (reheated leftovers).

And if I’m asked what I did after a busy three days of making the Thanksgiving meal happen – the answer is - a relaxing visit and meal, and this.

Sophia wanted to cuddle under the blanket.

On my way to the mailbox that day, I noticed two Blue Jays flitting around in a couple of dogwood trees. Since they still had a few leaves until the past couple of days, I hadn’t noticed the abundance of bright red berries – these are loaded while some others have none.

And what did I do Saturday, you asked – some serious laying around here at Almost Heaven South with my darlin and watched a some college football.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Thanksgiving Preparation

Once again, we’re having Thanksgiving dinner for the wayward souls – friends who might otherwise not have family and friends to share the day with or those who just want to eat with us. We’re having a pretty traditional meal, however, several of the recipes are new to us and our guests understand that when they eat here, they are likely to be Guinea Pigs.  Here's the basic plan:

3 pm - Social hour

• Cocktails
• V. Sattui Gamay Rouge as an aperitif – no Hors d’Oeuvres as we’ll have plenty to eat.
• Non alcoholic cocktail

 4pm - Salad

• Tossed salad provide by a guest
• 1000 Island, Blue Cheese, Ranch, Raspberry Vinaigrette

 4:30 ish - Dinner served buffet style

• Roasted turkey, using the Pioneer Woman’s brine and a basting recipe from the newspaper
• Pork chops baked with dressing
• Dressing using the recipe with the turkey from the newspaper
• Mashed potatoes, Pioneer Woman recipe
• Gravy
• Baked sweet potatoes - a must for the true Southeners
• Cranberry salad using another newspaper recipe
• Broccoli cheese casserole using the recipe in Bev’s head
• Brussel sprouts using our normal cooking method
• Homemade rolls
• Sauvignon Blanc, dry riesling, and pinot grigio

6:00 ish - Dessert

•  Desserts brought by guests
• Coffee
• Muscat dessert wine

The turkey, sweet potatoes, and rolls will be cooked in the oven and the dressing, casserole, and pork chops will be wrapped in foil (to keep the pans clean) and cooked in the Stumps smoker - my big, charcoal fired, outdoor oven. We'll pre-make and do as much prep as possible on Wednesday, to help reduce the stress level on Thursday and as you might expect, I have a detailed gameplan for both days (the engineer in me never goes away). We'll have a table set up in the living room with drinks and salad to get it away from the kitchen while we're still cooking, and we'll eat in the dining room and the sunroom..  Then we'll get the buffet laid out around the kitchen while the guests finish their salads and visit with one another.
I sure hope it turns out great but if it doesn't we'll try again at Christmas. :-)

I hope ypur planning is going well and that you have a happy holiday.  Thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Turkey Pot Pie From The Leftovers

Finally, the last of the thanksgiving meal posts – but my favorite, and a pretty common one across America.

For me, the one must-have meal from Thanksgiving leftovers is turkey potpie and Bev usually just wings it, but this year I used the recipe proportions provided by Dennis over at More Than A Mount Full. This way, if it turns out just right, I’ll know what I did - I made a double recipe. I kept it pretty simple by starting with the diced carrots cooking in 6 cups of the fresh poultry stock, then added the potatoes, celery, and onions. When they were all crisp tender, I thickened the liquid with a roux and added the chopped leftover turkey, gravy (it’s just thickened broth after all), and frozen peas, cooking until everything was boiling - ready to dump.

Then I adjusted the seasons and poured it into a greased casserole dish. Bev topped it with some Pioneer Baking Mix biscuits (I don’t bake – even with a mix, I will put frozen biscuits on a pan and put them in the oven though) and we baked at 450* until they were browned (my family always used drop biscuits).

One key is to have plenty of liquid for the biscuits to soak up some while cooking and to put over them when serving – more so than if topping with a pie crust. I didn’t add any additional spices except S&P – relying on the meat and gravy to provide everything else.

I normally flip the biscuits when I plate them, but Bev convinced me this would be a prettier picture - right as usual.

I had the right amount of veggies and liquid, but it needed to be just a little thicker (I should have used as much butter and flour as Dennis did in his and started with the butter and veggies), but I wasn't sure what impact the leftover gravy would have, otherwise it was outstanding - my first ever pot pie.  And while we may now have more leftovers than when we started, I'm looking forward to lunching on them the next few days.  Also, we all thought the biscuits turned out to be especially good, for a mix.

Well I don't know about you, but I'm about turkied out (except for the pot pie), so it's steak and a salad tomorrow for dinner.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Thanksgiving Day Breakfast

Bev  made a meal for me the other day and I didn’t get a shot of it, so I asked her to make a similar one to start our Thanksgiving day. We had some left over hash browns from the previous day and still had a little piece of smoked pork tenderloin so this was what she turned out.

Needless to say, I didn’t have to eat again until our evening feast.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Another Stack Em UP Meal

Inspired by a dish my sister-in-law saw Rachael Ray prepare, Bev whipped up this breakfast from Thanksgiving leftovers – all I had to do was snap a few pictures and enjoy eating it. She pattied out some mashed potatoes – nothing else added - made a patty from dressing and fried them in olive oil along with a sunny side up egg.


Then she stacked them up ala Chez and it was delicious. She wanted to sprinkle some chopped parsley on top, but I’d tossed it during a kitchen clean up frenzy.



I finally got around to eating my Thanksgiving dessert last night as I had nothing but pie for dinner. I ate all of the cherry, half of the pecan and a small piece of the pumpkin – all were excellent and this is the first pumpkin pie I've eaten that rivaled my mother's.


Have a great day.
Larry