Thanksgiving Plans

Everyone,

This year, no family is coming to visit for Thanksgiving since the first year we moved to Maryland. We have been asked over to a friend's house from church, and we are pretty excited to just show up and not have to worry about the turkey. Although we have been asked to bring a few sides, which I volunteered to do anyway.

The first Thanksgiving we had in Maryland was the first Thanksgiving we had ever had on our own. About a month before, I started looking at recipes, planning the menu and planning how to make all of this on my income. Juice had JUST started his work (I think he had been there 2 weeks and was still going to school 3 nights a week) and I don't even think we had a paycheck from them yet. I started my tradition that year of buying one thing for Thanksgiving every shopping trip all through October and November. Things that would keep I bought first. Turkey (I think we just had 2 breasts that year), stuff for desert, frozen veggies, etc. And things like potatoes and fresh salad I bought last. It has been a great tradition and really easy to make one big meal out of maybe a few extra dollars a week.

That year I also bought a few of those little cookbooks they have at the check out counter next to the magazines talking about how fat Oprah was or the latest divorce. The first one I bought because it had a time line. I had never ever made Thanksgiving dinner before without help (thanks Dad!) so I had no idea what to put in where. This one had a nice time line of putting what recipes they had in what order where. We enjoyed a perfectly good and all hot at the same time Thanksgiving dinner because of this book. I still love to use the turkey breast recipe in there. Do you know how hard it is to find JUST a turkey breast though? And the ones I have found are as much or even more than a full turkey! (Juice would like some turkey left overs to make his beloved turkey puffs. Even though we are eating someone else's bird, I think I may have to make one for us. Okay, for Juice. Man, I'm nice.)

The other book I picked up was Pillsbury's Holiday 2005 edition. I don't care for most of the recipes in it but there is one redeeming quality about this book. The cranberry sauce. I think this is Juice's favorite part of Thanksgiving. It even goes great with his coveted turkey puffs. Butterfly loves it too and will eat only that if we let her. This is also if you look in my freezer right now you will see 3 2 lbs bags of cranberries and 1 2 lbs bag in my fridge. This recipe makes me want to know how to can so I can make a ton of it and have it all through the year. Sadly, no canning skills here so I just buy a ton of bags of cranberries and freeze them. (Easy to do...buy the bag. Put the bag in the freezer. In about 24 hours, enjoy the marble-like sound they make as you desperately dig for something else in your freezer.) I will be buying more as the cranberries are still available since I only see them in the stores this time of year.

I was watching the food network the other day (thanks again Dad!) and they had the secret to making really good cranberry sauce. Orange juice. They said to pour orange juice in the sauce after you have cooked it to make it less tart. My recipe takes it one step further. Enjoy!

Cherry-Cranberry Sauce
1 bag (12 oz) fresh cranberries
1/3 cup dried sweet red cherries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons orange marmalade

In 3 quart saucepan, mix cranberries, cherries, sugar and water. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; simmer uncovered 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have popped open.

Stir in marmalade. Cool 1 hour. Spoon into serving dish; cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

How easy is that? It works well to make it a few days ahead, although after about a week in the fridge is gets a little runny. I also double or even triple it sometimes, but be prepared to double or triple the time to cook it. Plus, if you do double it, stir it a little more often than 'occasionally' and all the berries will be hot and soft at the end.

Let me know if anyone tries it.

Safire