My first Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing – all by myself!
I have a confession to make…this is the first year that I’ve prepared an entire Thanksgiving meal by myself. Yep…that’s right! I’ve never in all my life done this…but this year I decided it was time.
We had already celebrated Thanksgiving with the extended Odom family last Saturday. My brother-in-law, Terry, did the honors where the cooking was concerned. We brought the “big” cookie and some great wine. Before my sister-in-law passed away, she and my other sister-in-law typically did all the cooking. We had quite a banter going back and forth about the food. They would tease me because I didn’t cook and so I was always given the task of bringing the drinks and desserts. This usually consisted of pies from Costco. (FYI – This was before the big cookie made it’s appearance in recent years.) I joked that my culinary expertise was so great that I had sold my pie recipe to Costco so why should I make them when I could buy them! In reality, I told them one year not too long ago, that it didn’t make sense for me to cook since they were both so good at it! It was the truth too, not just a line to get out of doing the work. Their Thanksgiving menu was always fabulous!
Over the past few years, I’ve wanted to learn more about how to make our Zuniga traditional Thanksgiving meal – in particular the turkey and stuffing – so I asked my mother to teach me and my daughters what to do. I took pictures of the process and also wrote the directions down – which I can’t seem to find now. She loved doing this with us and we a blast learning her method of cooking. Anyway, my mother went to Chicago this year to be with my sister and her family and since Eddie and I were going to be home with two of our three kids this Thanksgiving, we decided to get a turkey and make a traditional meal. Rather, he bought the turkey and “I” made the traditional meal!
Deviled eggs…a little mayo, mustard and sweet pickle relish. Delish!
I made the stuffing (or dressing) and stuffed the bird close to midnight last night. I had enough for a casserole dish of dressing on the side. I also made deviled eggs because these are a staple at every Thanksgiving meal! The heavenly aroma of turkey woke me up early and my husband nudged me out of bed so I could check on the bird and turn the oven off. We got up to make breakfast for the family – my daughter Anna Marie and her new hubby Ryan came by for French toast before heading out-of-town this afternoon. While they were here, I made the other preparations… peeled potatoes, got the mac and cheese ready, green beans and almonds in a pan and finally, took a shot at making giblet gravy. It was a little thick (I think I used too much flour), but it did the trick and everyone seemed to enjoy it on their food.
Enough food for an army!
My brother-in-law and sister-law, Allen and Rhonda came over to join us for our Thanksgiving meal. It was a small group but it was really nice and relaxing once we got our plates fixed and sat at the dining room table to eat, talk, laugh and share stories.
Pumpkin pie and apple/cranberry pie were the dessert choices. I’ll have one of each please with a little whipped cream! It was a great day and I’m tired now but it’s a good tired. I feel great about being able to make this wonderful meal for my family and we have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow and the weekend!
Happy Thanksgiving y’all! I hope you and your family had a wonderful day together too!
Southern Señora 