Considering how what should have been an easy 3 day week kicked my ass up, down and sideways the way it did, I’m kinda surprised I can form sentences. (Of course, I may read this in a day or so and realize that I really can’t…)
I love Thanksgiving. Can’t wait to get over to Mom’s tomorrow. I always find it interesting how everyone has their “traditional” foods, and it doesn’t matter exactly what that food is, but it HAS to be the same every year for it to be “right”, and it’s very weird to have Thanksgiving with another family. The worst was when I was in 6th grade & we lived overseas. Mom went to Thailand for the holiday to meet up with my Dad (Navy), so my brother & I stayed with another family. The food was great, and I got a killer biscuit recipe out of it, but it just wasn’t the same. At least other Thanksgivings, there has been one at home, and then the other wherever I ended up being.
For my family, the “right” food is:
turkey
stuffing (Stove Top)
mashed potatoes (instant)
veggies (frozen)
rolls (the little squishy square ones)
sweet pickles & black olives
jello salad (I have absolutely no idea what it is, as it’s my brother’s fav so he eats it)
edit Jellied Cranberry sauce. From the can. (My brother again.)
Pies tend to be hit or miss, as we often don’t have the room for them by the end of the evening, but it’s usually pumpkin with a LARGE container of Cool Whip to dump on top.
There have been some minor changes over the years, such as the turkey - mom has gone to getting a decent sized turkey breast instead of a whole turkey, cooks in it the microwave rather than having it get sawdust dry in the oven, and this year, she’s brining it first.
The vegetable tends to be different every year, but that is mainly because I think it tends to be ignored anyway.
The gravy has evolved to the ready to go jars that have no lumps. That stuff is SO much better than trying to do it from scratch, because when you’re under pressure to get gravy made, you can put a whole BOX of cornstarch in it, and it will NOT thicken up. Any other day, it would work fine…
One year, she didn’t put out the sweet pickles. It was a full on calamity in my eyes, as I am the one that usually eats most of them. :)
Then there was the year Mom & I attempted scratch mashed potatoes. Complete unmitigated disaster. (I did learn - warm the milk before putting it in the potatoes. Hot potatoes + Cold Milk = Cement) Thank god for the box of instant in reserve. We haven’t tried that again, as my brother would kill us all - as it was, he was threatening revolt that we would even consider changing the potatoes. (I think we’d best not tell him of the change w/the turkey this year.)
Given the not so much from scratch nature of the food, my grandfather used to say, “Sharon (my mom) must be cooking, there’s 4 pots of water boiling on the stove!”
But if it were any other way, it wouldn’t be our Thanksgiving. :)
Denver Biscuits
(recipe from Mrs Judy Ferrell, Nov 1984)
3 pkgs Dry Yeast
1 quart Milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening (corn oil can be substituted)
7 to 8 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Dissolve yeast in small amount of warm water.
Scald milk and let cook to lukewarm,
Add yeast, sugar, and shortening.
Add 4-5 cups of flour, until it is the consistency of pancake batter.
Let rise until double in size.
Stir, and add baking powder, baking soda & salt. Add enough flour (2-3 cups) to make it the look/feel of soft biscuit dough.
Roll out (roughly 1 inch thick) on floured board, and cut out biscuits.
Put on greased cookie sheet and cook at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.
Can be frozen after baking.
