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Christmas Memories

      I've loved to cook and bake as long as I can remember. My mother is an excellent cook, and my dad is a great baker-especially at the holidays.  Some of my favorite memories are of helping my dad make banana bread and sugar cookies at Christmas time. We had these cool cookie cutters in the shapes of Santa Claus, and stockings, and the entire Peanuts gang. I loved to eat the dough (before I realized it had raw eggs in it-bleah!) and sprinkle the red and green sugar on top. We would wrap the bread in foil and put a bow on it, and then he would pull me on my Flexible Flyer sled through the snow to deliver them to all of our neighbors.
     
      That was a lot of years ago,and these days Dad makes his cookies with the help of my nieces. Now that I live so far away, I can still look forward to a package of banana bread and sugar cookies from him every Christmas. It is one of the highlights of my holiday, and it isn't Christmas for me until that box arrives! I make banana bread from time to time, but it NEVER tastes as good to me as his does. It brings tears to my eyes to think that there will be a time in the not-too-distant future when my parents will be gone, and there will be no more packages from home. For now, I will treasure the memories of Christmases past, of loved ones far away, and look forward to my Christmas package this year with great expectations.
      

The Verdict

     And the verdict is......BEST TURKEY EVER!  Seriously-not to pat myself on the back or anything, because I didn't do anything except follow directions, but the brining was a huge success! So much flavor, and while you could taste the salt it wasn't too much-it just tasted well seasoned. The girl at Williams-Sonoma said that they also have a dry brine that is supposed to be even better-maybe I'll try that next time.

      I also experimented with the pies.  The Cream Cheese Pecan tasted great, but was a little bit runny. I don't like my pecan pie runny, so we will have to work that bug out (not my recipe).  The Raisin Fudge was perfect-also not my recipe-but I won't have to mess with that one. It tasted like the rum raisin fudge I make at Christmas. I also made my usual apple pie with streusel topping, but mixed coconut into the streusel. That was my favorite! The coconut toasted as the pie baked, and it was soooo good. 

     Although I really missed having our family this year, it was a nice, relaxing day and now we have tons of yummy leftovers and an entire four day weekend to enjoy them!
     Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Thanksgiving preparation.....

In the hopes of having a nice, calm Thanksgiving this year I have started my cooking three days early.  Last night I made my pie dough and put it in the freezer, and the cranberry sauce-which is kind of a waste since my husband insists on eating that jellied stuff that comes out shaped like the can. But I like the homemade kind, so I made it anyway. Tonight I made my stuffing and my sweet potato praline bake, which sit in the fridge ready for baking, and something else......turkey brine! I have never brined a turkey before, but this is my year to try something new.  I figured that if anybody would have a good brine mixture it would be Williams-Sonoma and sure enough, for a cool $18.00 I got my treasure! You have to boil the brine mixture in a gallon of water to dissolve it, then let it cool and mix it with more water and apple cider, then let the turkey soak in it for 12-36 hours. Sounds kind of interesting! We'll see how it goes.....