Twitter Follow Me

follow me on twitter maybe we should try this whole tweeting thing. all the cool kids are doing it.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Thanksgiving Part One

Published by cck at 4:03 PM

Do you stress about big family meals? I certainly do, and not only because there's too many faces around my table. I stress over cooking. Okay, I stress over just about everything -- but cooking? K. thinks I'm like one of the mothers from The Joy Luck Club -- you know the one, my food is never good enough.

I'm sort of a closet, wannabe foodie. And, while I can remember playing in the kitchen as a kid, once I got old enough to make a big mess, I was banned from joining the madness. I didn't know how to cook a chicken breast before getting married. I'm ashamed, yes. I've vowed to make up for it.

Our Thanksgiving is relatively tame this year. No groaning table, no duo de gravy, no multiple wine glasses. We're celebrating with our small family of two on Thursday, and then our friends on Friday. You read that right -- TWO THANKSGIVINGS!

Originally I'd planned on contributing to Friday's festivities, but not making Thursday a big deal. Well, K. almost had a heart attack when he realized he wouldn't be watching Thanksgiving football with a turkey leg and I bent under the pressure. TWO THANKSGIVINGS!

Here's my menu - I'll try to update you mid-week:
Thursday Thanksgiving:
- Turkey & Gravy
- Sausage Stuffing
- Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Cranberry Sauce

Friday (real) Thanksgiving:
- Brie Stuffed Mushrooms
- Smoked Bacon & Corn Gougeres
- Grown Up Green Bean Casserole
- Dinner Rolls

Notice the lack of dessert? K. wants a cherry pie, but cherries are nearly $7 per pound right now and I just can't do it. Maybe I'll pick up a store-made one, or I'll convince him that chocolate ice cream can be just as perfect. A friend brought up the idea of a coconut cake, which thanks to Paula Deen, I now consider one of my specialties. Something about it doesn't seem autumnal to me, but I'm willing to consider it. Any suggestions?

2 comments:

Katie McClendon said...

One of my aunts makes coconut cake for most every holiday. I love that stuff.

Beth said...

I made the grown up green bean casserole from Alton this year, too, and we loved it!

We more frequently have coconut cake at Christmas and Easter in our family. At Christmas my grandfather, who LOVED coconut, always received one from a friend, and at Easter, well, it lends itself well to being decorated with jelly beans and flaked coconut dyed green, if you're into that sort of thing. Thanksgiving to me is all about the pies...apple, pumpkin, pecan, and when he was alive, coconut pie for Poppie. Hope you had a great holiday!