Only 24 Hours Left! Crap!

It's true - in 24 hours, the Parents of Crazy will arrive for Thanksgiving.

Needless to say, I have to clean my entire house (for I did NOTHING this weekend related to this task) and I need to begin cooking tomorrow, for I make the entire thanksgiving feast (as it is a way to control my thanksgiving experience, and since thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, there are some things that need to be in place in order for me to be happy).

What's on the Thanksgiving menu you ask?

1. Turkey.
2. Stuffing (or is it dressing if you don't make it in the bird?) At any rate, just a basic bread stuffing. Nothing fancy at all. I don't come from the kind of people who put oysters or sausage or chestnuts or whatever in stuffing. I come from the kind of people who make stuffing with the cheapest bread at the store - i.e., "stuffing bread" - carrots, celery, and onion and a shitload of butter. It's really yummy, and it has approximately no nutritional value.
3. Mashed potatoes. The only advice I have on these is to use yukon gold potatoes and to mash them with real butter and a minimum of 2% milk (though I like to throw in a little half-and-half, too).
4. Green Bean Casserole. You know, the one with the recipe on the back of the can of french-fried onions. Oh, though I do add some almonds in for crunch into my version of this "classic."
5. Mashed rutabaga. YUMMY.
6. My dead grandmother's famous giblet gravy (a perfect non-lumpy gravy that actually doesn't require one to make a roux).
7. maple-syrup glazed baby carrots (a new addition this year, per my mom's request).
8. Sweet potato gratin.

I'm going to include the sweet potato recipe, because it is AWESOME if one wants a savory sweet potato/yam option. In the past I did a sweet option with pecans, but it was almost dessert-y, and I really don't like any sweet potato/yam recipe that involves marshmallow. So anyway, here is the recipe, from the Wild Women in the Kitchen cookbook.

Ingredients:
3 sweet potatoes, peled and sliced thin.
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh sage (or you can use a teaspoon of dried, if necessary - you could also switch out the sage and use tarragon.)
1 cup of cream (though you can use half and half if you just can't imagine going the actual cream route)
1/2 cup grated Jarlsberg cheese

Preheat oven to 350. In a buttered casserole dish, overlap the potato slices in a single layer. Sprinkle with half of the sage and pour half of the cream over. Add another layer of potatoes and top with the rest of the sage and cream. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 40 minutes and until the top is bubbly.

1. This recipe is rich and delicious.
2. You can do everything ahead of time so that all you need to do on Thanksgiving is pop it in the oven.
3. Did I mention that this is rich and delicious? Oh, and it allows me to incorporate cheese into the meal, which really makes me happy, as I love cheese.

For dessert, there will be homemade (from crust to filling - my only compromise is that I do use canned pumpkin) pies - apple and pumpkin. And if I do say so myself, I make a wicked-good pie. And my crust is PERFECT.


At any rate, I suspect I may not have time to post for a couple of days. If that's so... gobble gobble! See you after the holiday!