Thanksgiving planner

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Despite being ill (spent most of the last 24 hours in bed) I have to do my Thanksgiving planning.

Here’s the line up:

Turkey — we brine it, then cook it the Alton Brown way: 500 degrees to sear it and seal in juices, then bake it the rest of the way. Oh, and smear a stick of butter all over it before you start. This is the only way to make a turkey — faster, juicier, easier.

Mash pots — with lots of roasted garlic and some butter and cream

Apricot-Ginger Cranberry Sauce — I love my Triple-Berry Sauce recipe, but I needed to change things up. This has fresh ginger, dried apricots, and apricot preserves.

Scalloped Greens — I think you can eat these about once a year, they are so rich, but man are they delicious. From The Best of Southern Living. My mom is coming for T.giving this year, so this is a must. We show our southern roots when we cook!

Molasses-Horseradish Sweet Potato Spears — Again, I am tinkering with tradition. We eat the same casserole most every year, and it is flat out delicious, but I want something new

Stuffing — I swear by the Cooks Illustrated stuffing (or dressing, since we don’t put it in the bird), but this year I am going a little nuts and adding green apples and bacon. Bacon is so fabulously evil. (Another reason I am switching up the sweet potatoes, which usually involve lots of butter and eggs.)

Winter Vegetable Salad — This is from the Silver Palate cookbook, kind of like potato salad, but with broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, and peas instead. I’ve never had it, but it sounds like an easy make-ahead, and it gets those vegetables in there.

I’m making a cider punch for the kids, and I always get a canned jellied cranberry sauce (the kind where you can see the rings of the can imprinted on the “sauce”) for the person who secretly likes that best. And it is good for sandwiches later.

I am thinking of having the kids make Karen Edmisten’s Thanksgiving Trees before dinner.

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