Thanksgiving Prep

I posted this statement on Facebook, so sorry for the redundancy.  Every year at Thanksgiving I remind myself that I desperately need a bigger fridge.  But, as soon as Thanksgiving is over, I forget about this until next year...

That's where we are today.  Currently, I have all the usual suspects: Brita pitcher, milk, wine, juice, eggs, a million mustards, jellies and salad dressings.  But, now add the new players:  13 pound turkey, bag of kale (it was a steal, I HAD to buy it), a head of romaine, bowl of ice cream custard chilling, tupperware full of jello, hummus, pie crust, parsnips and carrots.  In short, the damn thing is packed to the gills.  And, tomorrow, the turkey has to get into its brining vessel, requiring the removal of a shelf.  Guess I'll be trucking groceries over to Mom's tomorrow for temporary storage.  That or packing a cooler.  

Yeah, I wish!  Mine has about 1000X this much stuff right now!

I started prep work today.  Made 'sweet and spicy pumpkin seeds' that my girl Trudie turned me onto.  Now, I usually don't mix and mingle much with Lady M, but here's the recipe.  My sister loves pumpkin anything.  So, I'm making homemade pumpkin ice cream and will sprinkle the seeds on top.  I think it's going to work well.  And, I did REAL ice cream.  That's right...cream, egg yolks, cooked on the stove. 

Tomorrow, I'll embark on this crazy tradition from Neil's childhood..."white" mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving!  Never in my life!  But luckily Aunt Jennie is bringing her sweet potatoes so the Earth will not fall off its axis.  That reminds me; I'll have to give y'all the recipe for Jennie's S.P.'s.  If our family doesn't have these at Thanksgiving there is a mutiny. Things could get ugly.

So, here it is.  I hope you'll take the time one day to try this recipe.  They are so perfect and I think you'll be glad you tried it out.  And if you're a sweet potato and marshmallow kinda guy/girl, that's ok. Try these on a non-holiday and see what you think.  I think you'll ditch the marshmallows, but that's just me.

• 3 cups cooked sweet potato
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 stick butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbs frozen orange juice

Mash up your sweet potatoes until they are a nice, smooth puree.  Mix in all this other stuff.  Make the topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 cup pecans
• 1/3 stick butter/margarine

Have the butter at room temp. Blend in the brown sugar and flour; add pecans.  


Spread sweet potatoes in casserole dish.  Spread topping on top.  Bake at 350 until the topping is melty, brown and looks right!

The Dreaded Turkey Burger

I started using ground turkey in lieu of hamburger years ago: chili, tacos, lasagna, chinese dumplings. But, whenever I tried an actual burger, it was always a disappointment. They would either turn out horribly dry, or they'd just fall apart. Plus, sometimes, the whitish appearance of turkey just doesn't scream "hamburger" at me. It's kinda creepy really.

Well, a couple months ago, I was thumbing through a magazine and saw an ad/recipe by Kikkoman for a teriyaki turkey burger. Helloooo...now this sounded interesting! So, I made them and they were fantastic. You make the burgers with turkey of course, teriyaki glaze, green onion, and ginger (ummm, my favorite). Then, as you grill them, you baste them with more glaze. At the same time, you're grilling pineapple slices with the glaze. Melt some provolone, swiss or monterrey jack on top and there you go. I was an instant convert!

I bring this up now, because at the time, I made extras and put them in the freezer. This morning, I took two out to thaw, so I'm daydreaming about my new favorite turkey burger that I'll be having this evening. Thought you'd all like to know. If you want the complete recipe, shoot me a message.