About Me
- Pamela Clare
- I grew up in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, then lived in Denmark and traveled throughout Europe before coming back to Colorado. I have two adult sons, whom I cherish. I started my writing career as a columnist and investigative reporter and eventually became the first woman editor of two different papers. Along the way, my team and I won numerous state and several national awards, including the National Journalism Award for Public Service. In 2011, I was awarded the Keeper of the Flame Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism. Now I write historical romance and contemporary romantic suspense.
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
Thanksgiving Menu
Rockwell’s idea of ThanksgivingSomehow it’s November, and Thanksgiving is exactly one week away. As is typical for me, I have done nothing to plan or prepare for this event, even though it looks like I’ll be so lucky as to have both of my sons, Alec and Benjamin, home for the holiday.
Benjy arrives on Sunday, which just happens to be his birthday. He’ll be 22. So we have that to celebrate.
But when it comes to Thanksgiving, plans are still in the works.
Although I love a traditional Thanksgiving spread, I’ve started to change what I’m cooking based on — wait for it — what we actually eat. Whoa! What a concept!
I used to get a 12-pound turkey for the three of us. We would fight over the breast meat and then kind of work our way through the rest. Rather than buy a whole turkey, I started buying just a turkey breast. It eliminates waste and leaves more room in the fridge. The only trouble with this is that most turkey breasts are about 7 pounds, and part of that is bone. That doesn’t leave much in the way of leftovers.
I thought I’d be clever this year and order a big, fat turkey breast, but the woman at the butcher shop told me that turkey breasts only come in 7- to 8-pound sizes. Frustrated, I explained the situation to her, and she came up with this groundbreaking solution: buy TWO!
My family at Thanksgiving when I was about 9 years old.So this year, I’m going to buy and brine two turkey breasts so that we’ll have lots of leftovers. Here’s what’s on the rest of our menu:
Tray of munchables, like olives, radishes, celery sticks, Italian peppers — This keeps hungry young men from bugging the cook.
Mashed potatoes — Greatest food invention ever.
Stuffing — Not inside the bird, obviously. With potatoes, we don’t really need it, but what is Thanksgiving without stuffing?
Some kind of squash — I have acorn and delicatta left from my garden. I steam delicatta but bake acorn squash.
Green Beans — I usually just steam them but this year I might mix them with steamed golden beats.
Broccoli or Brussel sprouts — We love both in this house, and I saw a cool recipe for oven roasting Brussel sprout halves after stirring them in a mix of apple cider vinegar, olive oil and spices.
Cranberry sauce — Nothing from a can, thank you. I make my own from fresh berries. It’s easy and tastes so much better. Plus, you can cut back on the sugar.
And for the grand finale, a homemade Pecan Pie and my first attempt ever at Maple Cream Pie, something Benjy learned to love from his years in college in upstate New York.
I’m going to be back, probably this weekend, to discuss pie-making with Natalie Benoit McBride — the heroine from Breaking Point. This is her first Thanksgiving as a married woman, and she’s pulling out the stops to make it special and romantic for herself and her husband, Zach McBride. They definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year. I had hoped to bring Dessert Diva in from the newspaper to make pies with Natalie, but that never worked out, so you’re stuck with me.
Speaking of Breaking Point, it was named one of the top 10 romances both under books and Kindle romance of 2011 by Amazon.com — a huge honor and a thrill. Right now, you can vote for Breaking Point in the Goodreads Choice Awards, where it has made the semifinal rounds and faces some amazing competition. Click here to vote, and thank you so much for your support!
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7 comments:
There will be 12 of us at Thanksgiving dinner. My mama, my stepdaddy, me, my husband, my son, my niece, my grandmother, my aunt & uncle, 3 cousins. We will have turkey, ham, dressing (my mama's & made from cornbread), broccoli casserole (made by me), mashed potatoes, homemade macaroni & cheese, butter beans, fried okra, sweet potato souffle, banana pudding, pumkin cheesecake. We buy croissants from the bakery to eat the leftover ham & turkey on. I hope you & your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Congrats Pamela!
I usually make Turkey with stuffing inside, mashed potatoes (daughter won't touch them and we have video tape of her making faces as my hubby kept feeding them to her because he thought the looks of disgust on her face were cute), green bean casserole, yams topped with marshmallows, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, 3 layer jello, corn, gravy, rolls, and perhaps a salad.
Any chance of getting you to post the recipe for Maple Cream Pie? Sounds yummy.
Lisarenee
Yum,really nice menu you have there,love that you use things from your own garden! Also,I agree,the turkey breasts are the best part of the whole bird.
For me,the best part of Thanksgiving food is the days after,where you can fully enjoy those amazing,delicious, sleep inducing turkey sandwiches.
I've never heard of Maple cream pie,but the name by itself is mouth watering!
Pumpkin pie, hands down. Okay, turkey is pretty good too. Despite the fact that I don't actually celebrate Thanksgiving because 1) I'm not American [despite being in the US], 2) the only Thanksgiving I would sort of celebrate is in October, 3) I have no family nearby, 4) I usually use the holiday to travel somewhere exotic where Thanksgiving is nonexistent, and 5) I have no friends to celebrate with whenever I am in the US. Just kidding on that last one. Maybe.
I did, however, experience a traditional American Thanksgiving while at university-- I must've looked sad & lonely so one of my flatmates invited me to go home with her. The usual Thanksgiving suspects were all present... you can never have too much turkey and/or pumpkin pie!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I just got my 20lb turkey today, in fact, so we'll do the traditional turkey and stuffing, which I always make from scratch. Onions, celery and mushrooms sauted in butter with some sage, thyme and pepper, then mixed with a couple of loaves of stale, cubed bread.
For the veggies I'll serve steamed asparagus, and as a "kids" tradition, canned corn. I make my cranberry sauce from scratch, too, and I usually add sliced mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple and sometimes even some chopped pecans.
We'll have brown and serve dinner rolls, which is something my grandmother always insisted on and it just doesn't seem like Thanksgiving without them.
Dessert... my son in law makes a mean pecan pie, but I don't think he'll have the time this year, so it looks like we'll be hitting up Coco's or Marie Callendar's for our pies.
I'll have the usual munchies - veggies with dressings for dipping and I'm going to make my artichoke dip this year, too. There will be waaaaay too much food leftover, so our Thanksgiving dinner will be repeated for a few days afterwards, too.
I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!
OMGoodness!!
Sounds like a lot of 'yummies' are going to be eaten at your house!
We are having a get together at a friend's house this year. I won't have all the wonderful aroma's floating out of my kitchen this year.
I have noticed how relaxed I am because of not making a whole meal here at home.
Usually I am barking orders (at myself) and trying to find my list so I can stay on track. I know, I sound like a nut, but a happy nut for sure!
Give Benjy a Happy Birthday wish from me! YAY for the young ones coming home!
If possible could you share recipe for your Maple cream Pie, sounds like I could love eating that one!
Congrats on BREAKING POINT!!
Have a Blessed Thanksgiving Day!
Yummmmm....Pecan Pie! My favorite. We take the easy way out, though no left overs...we go out for Thanksgiving Dinner. We do brunch somewhere, usually near one of my brothers houses since one or both usually has to work that day. The best part, Tom is home! Happy Birthday to Benjy and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your boys!