In the Kitchen With Mattie

     This week is my favorite week of the whole year, the reason is THANKSGIVING!!! As someone who loves to cook I am in heaven. I get to cooks lots of dishes and spend time with others enjoying a meal. There is a side of it that saddens me too, I think about those who don’t have the luxury of a meal with those they love or a real home to keep them safe and warm. We are living in tough times right now and many people are hurting and I feel for them, we have been in those same shoes a few times in years past, we are thankful that we are holding on now and our heads are above water. I wish I could feed all those out there that have a need for it and let them know that someone does think about them.

     This year I will probably make our standard turkey, a small ham and either a lasagna or some manicotti. There will also be some mashed potatoes, fresh steamed broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, carrots and some baked beans and of course the dressing to go with the turkey and cranberry. I don’t know if anyone besides hubby and myself and Matt and Rachel will be here to eat but anyone who knows us knows that the door is always open and they are welcome for a meal, at times we have had up to 50 or more show up during the course of the day. If there is one thing I will miss,  it is that I don’t think I will ever see my childrens faces all together again around our table during this holiday in my lifetime and that leaves one with a somewhat empty feeling inside at times, hubby says it means that there won’t be any food fights and dinner will be peaceful and quiet, but give me those wild rambunctious antics the boys pulled all the years they were home and I will be happy, through all the good times and bad, no matter what was ever going on in our lives they could make us laugh with their antics.

     Most of the prep for my cooking fest is already done, if I have learned anything in all the years I have been making this massive dinner it is DO AS MUCH AS YOU CAN IN THE WEEK BEFORE! Seriously, such little things as chopping the onions and celery for your stuffing and then bagging them in ZipLocks will go a long way in preserving your sanity come the big day, it will also allow you to be relaxed and spend time with whoever you are spending your time with rather than rushing around trying to get everything done on the big day. Tomorrow night the turkeys will be put in to brine overnight and the stuffing will be assembled and refridgerated, Thanksgiving morning the potatoes will be peeled once the turkeys in the oven and then the veggies will all be steamed right before we sit down. The turkey stock for the gravy and to moisten the stuffing has already been made and frozen. All the veggies have been cleaned and prepped and then bagged, ready to be simply steamed Thursday. The cheese mixture for either the lasagna or manicotti is already mixed and containered, if I do the lasagna I already have the meat mixture frozen and will just have to defrost it and assemble the pan of lasagna and bake it, the manicotti doesn’t use meat so that can just be put together in about 5 minutes and baked in the little convection oven while the big oven has the turkey in it, the little side oven on my stove is just big enough for the ham.

     I hope all the readers of this blog have a wonderful holiday with great food and friends to share it with. I will try to upload some pictures of the table before it gets attacked on Thursday.

Mattie

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