Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Eve

Preparations are underway already. The bread is cubed and drying for stuffing. The pumpkin cheesecake bars are baking. The wine is being sipped. I even have something resembling table decor. I know, I think I must have hit my head on something.

My favorite Thanksgiving food, to eat and to cook, is stuffing. When I was wee my maternal grandmother's stuffing was the best. I made it once as an adult; it is not actually the best. It is kinda gross, in fact, a mixture of finely ground hamburger buns, hard boiled egg, celery and oregano, it was clearly a product of the 60s. I wished that stuffing was nearly as good as I remember it to be, since it would be nice to have a family recipe to turn to.

Instead I usually look up a couple different recipes and end up improvising. This year I'm using a mix of white and wheat bread, though in years past I've used challah or a baguette. The flavorings are dried apricots, cherries and pecans, along with the traditional celery and onions. Herbs are mostly from the garden (that's how mild the weather has been, I've still got herbs growning!). I decided on fruit and nut because it turns out that all my recipes this year have nuts in them. Look at all the bags of stuff from Trader Joe's!

No comments: