Thanksgiving Cookin'

This Thanksgiving, we didn't cook a turkey. I'm a (mostly) vegetarian anyway, but I will cook a turkey on Thanksgiving (preferably from a farm with environmentally and animal friendly practices) if it's just the two of us. 

 

But this year, my husband, Dan, and I were out of town until that Wednesday, and on Thanksgiving morning, we ran in a Turkey Day 5K. There wasn't enough time to defrost and cook a turkey.

 

Dan was on call at his work for the holiday, which meant I finally had a chance to make my mother's Thanksgiving dishes since I was the only cook in the kitchen.

 

We started the morning with the raspberry coffee cake my mother would get from Albertsons. No cooking required, my favorite kind of dish. 

 

To my surprise and delight, this particular coffee cake still exists. It's been over twenty years.

 

 

Of course in true Becky Let's-Get-This-Over-With fashion, I figured I would throw everything together Thanksgiving day, and I didn’t look at the recipes ahead of time. 

 

Some of the directions included things like “chill overnight” or “let rise for 3-5 hours,” and I just ignored all of that the best I could.

 

When I was getting ready to put the salad together, I realized I had a can of bamboo shoots instead of water chestnuts. 

 

I sent Dan to the grocery to pick up the correct ingredient. (Not to throw him under the bus or anything, but Dan had done all of the grocery shopping that week. Just sayin' . . .)

 

 

Next, I overflowed the broth and raw egg mixture for the cornbread dressing, unleashing a potential cesspool of salmonella all over the kitchen counter. 

 

That was totally my bad. But Dan cleaned that mess up for me too.
 

I, on the other hand, yelled, "I HAVE TO GO MEDITATE NOW!" and left him to do all of the cleaning.

 

Despite a few unhinged moments and some halfhearted preparation, I did end up with successful dishes from my mother's Thanksgiving menu. I added veggie sausage to her dressing recipe, turning it into an entree, since I didn't cook a turkey. 

 

Mom's Seven Layered Salad

 

Mom's Cornbread Dressing

 

I made it through without burning anything down. So there's that.

 

But all of that cooking left me exhausted, and I wondered if it was worth making that much food for just the two of us.

 

 

I decided it was when I didn't have to cook for the next three days. Funny how everything tasted better as leftovers.

 

 

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