Friday, November 28, 2008

And the Gravy Rocked!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you all enjoyed some quality time with family and friends, or had some nice quiet time with yourself.

We had a very nice day with John's sister and two of her kids. Her husband and oldest child were off in Utah skiing, so we invited them up here. They went to the Macy's parade in NYC in the morning, and then came out here. The kids got along well, and mostly everything I was cooking came out at the same time. For some reason, the turkey took WAY less time than the estimate, so we ended up not making potatoes (which seemed fine with everyone). But I made the gravy from scratch and it came out EXCELLENT. Woo Hoo! I handle everything else ok, but gravy is often challenging. I highly recommend the method in the Better Homes and Garden cookbook (the big red gigham print one). Worked great, easy, no lumps, flavorful!

Can you tell gravy is important to me?

And I made the Candy Bar pie from the same cookbook, which ended up being a huge hit as well. And of course apple pie (secret- put chopped crystallized ginger in it) and found a "Pumpkin Mascarpone Bread Pudding" at Costco. Also very yummy.

The only minor disappoinment was the stuffing, I just did the bag of Pepperidge Farms, and followed their directions. A little dry, although the flavor was ok. Needs gravy!

So today? No Black Friday shopping for us (well, maybe later). I am currently putting off going to the gym, so I guess I gotta get off my tuckus and get moving.

Happy start to the holiday season!

3 comments:

Jill in MA said...

Did you use butter or crisco in your pie crust?? LOL!! Just kidding. (If you're like me, you use the pillsbury crusts now.)

Were you happy with your weigh-in results on Monday?

Ann in NJ said...

Snicker. For those not in the know, this refers back to a Thanksgiving in college, when a friend and I got in a huge argument over whether butter or Crisco was better. Whatever your mother used is the right thing!

And yes, I used Pilsbury this year. I made from scratch what was important to me, and used pre-packaged or pre-made on what didn't matter as much. Worked out great!

ooolia said...

Maybe I'm nuts (okay, we all know I'm nuts), but I use butter and shortening in my crusts. Julia's recipe with the food processor. I usually make 2 or 3 batches and freeze the extras for later.

It's all Ann's fault. I never would have tried a pie crust until I saw how easy she made it. (and how easy risotto is, and well, damn, I'm going to blame you for my cooking fetish.)