This is my first Thanksgiving away from home. Living 1,300 miles away, it doesn't make much sense to pay the airfare back home a month before Christmas just to have a meal with the family. But fortunately, I won't be spending the day alone. Several out-of-towners in the history department are getting together and bringing dishes to pass.
Being me, of course, I can't bring just one dish to pass. The only thing I love more than cooking/baking is cooking/baking for people. So I'm bringing three dishes. I was going to reread some Foucault on my first day of Thanksgiving break (yes, that's my idea of pleasure reading...back off) and possibly get some actual work done on one of my multiple papers that are due in the next couple of weeks, but no. Instead, I spent the day shopping for ingredients and putting my dishes together in the kitchen. I put on an Abba playlist (again, back off) and cooked/baked up a storm while pulling out the occasional dance move. It was actually a very fun, relaxing, and fulfilling day. Now I just have to fight the urge to eat what I've made. It's calling my name from the refrigerator...
While I struggle to restrain myself from devouring my hard day's work, I thought I'd share the recipes of the dishes I made. And then, if you feel so inclined, maybe y'all would like to share your favorite Thanksgiving recipes in the comments. But first, the obligatory message from our sponsor:
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The largest dish I'm taking to dinner tomorrow is actually not usually a Thanksgiving dish. In my family, it's a post-Thanksgiving tradition. We call it turkey casserole, but it's a lot simpler than most turkey casserole recipes out there. My family always made it the day after Thanksgiving with the leftover turkey. But since I was feeling ambitious, I decided to roast some turkey parts and make it fresh. If you're going to make it, you'll probably want to wait until the day after Thanksgiving when you have all those turkey leftovers.
Turkey casserole consists of three ingredients. Turkey, stuffing, and turkey gravy. Very, very easy. I used a stuffing box mix (I know, for shame) and jarred turkey gravy (even more for shame). But it'll work out. I have the hardest part done (the turkey and the stuffing) - now all I need to do tomorrow is put the gravy on and bake it. What you do is this: Put the turkey on the bottom of a large pan, covering the bottom completely. Then add a layer of stuffing (I used two boxes of stuffing mix for my first layer). Normally, this is the point at which you put on the gravy and bake it, but because I was feeling ambitious, I decided to add another layer of turkey and another layer (two boxes) of stuffing. However many layers you have, when you're ready to put the gravy on, take a knife and stab the casserole in multiple locations so the gravy will seep to the bottom. Then bake it long enough so the gravy starts to bubble on top. And then enjoy! It makes a fabulous meal out of your leftover turkey meat.
It's a great dish, but the turkeys obvs don't think so.
I'm also taking one of my favorite side dishes ever, corn casserole. We have a family corn casserole recipe that I normally use, but this time I decided to get out of my corn casserole box (if such a thing exists) and try another recipe. I'm using Paula Deen's recipe. Here it is:
Ingredients
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8-ounce) package corn muffin mix (recommended: Jiffy)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, stir together the 2 cans of corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, and melted butter. Pour into a greased 9 by 13-inch casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and top with Cheddar. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let stand for at least 5 minutes and then serve warm.
I haven't made it yet, but I have high hopes! The sour cream and the muffin mix are especially new to me, but I think (I hope) it will turn out lovely. I mean, it's from Paula Deen, for God's sake. Can't go wrong, right?
Finally, I'm taking a dessert. I thought about making a pumpkin pie, but pumpkin pie is way overdone. That, and I'm sure there are going to be several pumpkin pies at the dinner anyway (everybody does pumpkin pie). So, after some Internet browsing, I found this recipe for something called pumpkin cobbler. I'd never heard of it before, but it sounded delish to me, so I decided to make it today. And let me tell you, I took a small bite of it, and IT. IS. TO DIE FOR. If there's still time for you to squeeze in another dessert for tomorrow's feast, please let it be pumpkin cobbler. You won't be sorry. Here's the recipe:
1 lg. can pumpkin
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 lg. can evaporated milk (Pet or Carnation)
3 eggs
1 tsp. ginger or 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1 yellow cake mix (Pillsbury pudding in the mix)
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 c. nuts
Mix together pumpkin, brown sugar, evaporated milk, eggs, ginger, and salt. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Then sprinkle cake mix over pumpkin. Melt butter. Drizzle this over cake mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Last 10 minutes, sprinkle nuts over it.
I can't wait for tomorrow. Have I mentioned that I FUCKING LOVE Thanksgiving? No? Well, I do. This whole week, I've been trying to burn off a couple of pounds so I wouldn't feel guilty about adding a couple of pounds on Thanksgiving Day. But, between a trip to The Cheesecake Factory yesterday and my awful habit of eating while I'm cooking/baking, that didn't happen. Do you think that's gonna ruin my Thanksgiving Day gluttony? Lawlz, think again! :)
I'm thinking about making another dish, just because I love Thanksgiving that much. I just don't know what. Maybe if y'all shared your favorite Thanksgiving recipes in the comments, I'd get some ideas!
More turkey attitude FTW:
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From enhydra lutris:
Meteor Blades sums it all up in this comment in this diary by Joan McCarter.
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God forbid that after you fry somebody’s eyes, mouth and skin with pepper spray and you decide to electrocute them while they are writhing on the ground in pain, you wouldn’t want to set them on fire. That might be a little excessive.
From yours truly, Chrislove:
Friend of the court delivers this awesome one-liner in response to an equally awesome cartoon posted by JekyllInHyde in Hunter's diary "Social conservatives meet in attempt to defeat Mitt Romney."
zenox gives us another witty one-liner in Brit's diary "FALL OF THE HOUSE OF MURDOCH XXX: BREAKING: James Resigns from NI Newspapers." Here's the whole comment thread for context.
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