Monday, November 24, 2008

Holiday Preparations - Part I - FOOD

One of my favorite things about this time of year is.. well, a LOT of things.. Since I'm eating right now, I'll start off with the FOOD. I dont' know about ya'lls houses but at my house - we go ALL OUT when it comes to Thanksgiving, Christmas and even New Year's Day meals. Everyone in the family has a specific dish that they are assigned to bring/make. Mom usually covers the turkey and the pumpkin pies (but mom's pies don't hold a candle to Grandma's.. anyway..), Dad makes the salads - regular salad, pasta salad, strawberry jello salad and his delicious chocolate layered dessert. My sister is in charge of the mashed potatoes -- mainly to insure that we have them EVERY year -- there was this one year where we picked up our Thanksgiving dinner to go to an extended relative's house, we get there and lo and behold -- NO MASHED POTATOES!! A few of my cousins and I STILL reminisce about that year.. LOL. My job is the broccoli/rice/cheese casserole. I have already made my first batch of the year - a test run, if you will, over the weekend. We had a massive Thanksgiving feast last Friday night at Bible Study -- our leaders are AWESOME! They turned their one bedroom apartment into a dining area that seated 30 (yes 30 people!). We had a really great time but there was sooo much food leftover! I guess that's my next favorite part of the food is the leftovers - we usually eat on this food for days and then personally, I've had my fill for the year. I LOVE Thanksgiving food but too much of a good thing in this case, is a bit much...

Also, as of today, I have a 7 pound smoked turkey in my freezer. Apparently, my boss started a "tradition" last year of giving all the employees a turkey for Thanksgiving and we got ours today. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this thing!! I mean, I plan on eating some of it but not all by myself. Looks like I'll be surfing recipes.com or Rachael Ray or Bobby Flay to find some turkey recipes to use with it. Any suggestions? (I know there are a few closet chefs out there that read my blog)

COUNTDOWN: 4 more days until Christmas music (which may be my 2nd favorite thing about this time of year..) more later...

2 comments:

Princess Cam said...

Yes, Yes Nilla! You said it! I can't wait to get my grub on!! It's funny cause I call myself eating light this week so I won't feel as guilty when I throw down on Thursday (I do this EVERY YEAR!! And probably every other woman in America! LOL) It's interesting how you mentioned the assigned dishes...we SOMEWHAT do the same thing...but somehow, my mama and daddy end up cooking it all! However, I will be there to help her prepare...I love that part. Sharing in the cooking...I've done it since a little girl! ;-)

Girl, make some good ole turkey salad with some of that turkey! LOL

Mrs. Dallas said...

Nilla, you better inject that turkey with some seasoning and let it marinate and run that turkey down with season and butter and deep FRY that bad boy, I mean hey you only live once. Yeah Turkey day is one of my favorite days as well. Enjoy! and FRY that BIRD!