Turkey Lurkey, or Putting Together a Thanksgiving Feast in Under 24 Hours.

Due to a freak blizzard that closed the freeway, my family and I were unable to make the five hour trek to my mother’s house for Turkey Day.  Whether we liked it or not, we were staying local.  This would have been fine, except that I had made no back up plans.  No turkey, no ingredients for pie (no pie!), no cans of cranberry sauce.  And I wasn’t keen on cooking a big feast.  I considered calling a couple of friends to see if we could crash their Thanksgiving dinners, “Hey, wanna feed six extra people tomorrow?”, but decided that probably wasn’t a very nice thing to do.  I considered putting in a pork loin roast and using potato pearls and having a slightly unorthodox dinner, but you know, I really wanted to go traditional. So, it looked like I was going to have to some cooking anyway.

Fortunately, our end of the world wasn’t quite as bad off as our entire freeway route, so I was able to drive an icy three blocks to the grocery store. If there’s anything I’m thankful for this year, it’s internet weather updates and the fact that I’m so close to a major chain market.  After gathering supplies, I came home to prepare the feast—you know, get as much done ahead of time, so I don’t have to be all frantic and stressed out on THE DAY.

I called my friend, Lela for her pumpkin pie recipe and ended up inviting her and her hubby, Merrill, over for Thanksgiving.  I did this in hopes that she would make the pie for me, because I CAN cook a turkey, but pumpkin pies freak me out.  I know, that’s totally backwards of the traditional anxiety over cooking a holiday meal, but there you are.  She agreed, and I didn’t even have to whine or beg or give her my much practiced puppy-eyed look.  (Would have been hard to do on the phone, anyway.)

Here’s what was on the menu:

Two Hour Turkey from www.melskitchencafe.com (another thing I’m thankful for—fresh turkeys that don’t require 4 days to defrost!)

Mom’s make ahead rolls (the one, the only, yeast bread recipe that I have ever NOT screwed up.)

canned green beans (yes.  Canned. Served plain. No casserole here.  I like them in their tinny flavored, unaltered state.)

store brand stuffing mix (I was feeling cheap and didn’t spring for Stove Top—which was a mistake.  Stove Top is way, way better—and don’t sneer at me for not making stuffing from scratch. Ew.  The Stove Top people have created perfection.  Don’t mess with it.)

Green Jell-o (per my eight year olds’ request)

mashed potatoes and gravy

whole berry cranberry sauce (thank you, Ocean Spray!)

Lela’s pumpkin pie

Merrill’s chocolates (Merrill is what I like to call a “chocolatier”, but he just refers to himself as a “candy maker”.  His dad owned a candy store, once upon a time, and Merrill learned to hand-dip his own candies, and he even makes the fondants and centers from scratch.  I could write a whole post on just Merrill and his amazing, gourmet creations, and I will, just not right now.  But I really will post about him.  And you will drool. Excessively.)

The meal turned out great.  Sure, with the exception of Merrill’s candies, none of it was what you could call “gourmet”, but whatever.  The turkey, roll, and pumpkin pie recipes are awesome and I will include them in my next posts.

All in all, it was a fabulous meal, even if it was pulled together at the last minute.