Early Thanksgiving

Early Thanksgiving

It is turkey time.  By the time I post this, my Thanksgiving will be over.  Due to logistics, to get the most relatives possible to the table, we do the holiday the weekend before.  This year it was Saturday in the late afternoon to accommodate several guests who are hairdressers.  The weekend before Thanksgiving is apparently a very busy weekend for hairdressers.

Thursday it was my job to buy the bird.  We need about 22 pounds to feed a large crew and still have enough to send everyone home with “a plate” ( It’s an Italian thing.)  The bird cost $40, but with $400 worth or grocery purchases in the month you get a free, or discounted turkey.

After all our shopping this month,  I was still short $40 of the $400.  I started grabbing high cost items.  Soap, Advil, Pistachio nuts, and other items that have a long shelf life.  Just made it.  For an extra $40 of groceries I got a $40 bird for $10!  I felt like those crazy coupon people on a TV show where they buy $1000 worth of stuff and after cashing their double coupons only have to pay 17 cents.

Half of Friday was spent cleaning the house and helping Mrs. C make the stuffing, which also has to be enough to send some home with guests. 

Mrs. C makes the best stuffing ever.  Her recipe:

1. Take one giant load of sausage, heat until brown and stir and break up until your arms hurt. 

2.  Fine chop a ton of celery, mushrooms, and green peppers.

3.  Fold the celery, mushroom, peppers into the broken-up sausage.

4.  Add dry bread crumbs until Mrs. C says stop, then mix everything with a couple of eggs.

5.  Add chicken broth until Mrs. C says stop.

6.  Add a bit more crumbs, broth, and or eggs as Mrs. C sees fit based on how it feels when she stirs it all up.

7.  Put some of the mixture in separate pans for guests to take home and refrigerate.

8.  Next day cook in oven for about an hour.

9.  Pile it on your plate with turkey, bean casserole, carrots, mashed potatoes, Waldorf salad (a WASP touch to an Italian feast) cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes.

10.  Wash down with wine, undo belt buckle, and digest for a half hour before coffee and choice of several pies.

When the real Thanksgiving comes around, we relax.