Because I didn't have a large crowd to feed, I felt like I didn't have to cook a tradition-bound meal. Turkey was a given, but everything else was open to suggestions. The Monday before Thanksgiving I asked everyone for one 'must have' dish. On Thursday, in addition to turkey and gravy, we had mashed sweet potatoes, our family's time-honored cranberry jello salad, green bean casserole topped with french fried onions, roasted Brussels sprouts, and crusty bread. Dessert was pumpkin-cranberry cookies and an apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.
Donald put in a shift at the grocery he used to work at, and came home with more bread and some pastries, and his friend contributed some chocolate truffles. All in all it was a great feast.
Of course I made enough food for leftovers. When everything was put away the refrigerator was stuffed. It didn't help that immediately after the turkey was carved I broke down the carcass and started a pot of broth, which when completed took up almost an entire shelf. Yesterday and today I tasked everyone with eating out of the refrigerator. That's led to some interesting (but surprisingly good) meal combinations. In the past 48 hours I've had:
- A bed of mashed sweet potatoes topped with a fried egg
- A spinach salad with turkey breast, mushrooms that needed to be used, leftover Brussels sprouts, and a spoonful of green bean casserole
- Steamed butternut squash mixed with apple crisp
- Shredded red cabbage cooked with onions, garlic, and a couple of spoonfuls of turkey gravy
Five years ago today: Small Business Saturday
the best thing is no food is going to waste! Glad you had a Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteAMEN! I hate throwing away food.
DeleteWe're going through our turkey now too and actually doing a good job of eating all the left-overs. Then again, family took home a LOT of food, so there wasn't all that much left over for us. So glad you had such a lovely Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteI saw your holiday post; you had a LOT of food!
DeleteGlad you had a lovely holiday! You gotta try my green bean dish. ;)
ReplyDeleteI had read your recipe and it was VERY tempting :-) However, I went traditional as that was what was requested.
DeleteLeftovers are almost the best part of Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about that.
DeleteI tried to cook smaller portions but like collard greens, I'm the only one to eat them out of the three of us - the rest got thrown Sunday night. Love your reinventions. And I'm going to google that pumpkin cranberry cookie recipe. My dad would love those. I usually make him a special cookie for his birthday in January.
ReplyDeleteJust the two of us, so we went with Cornish game hens, butternut squash, traditional dressing and gravy, yeast rolls and pecan pie. Today I will be using the leftover squash for soup. The rest has already been eaten!
ReplyDelete