Thanksgiving Day Gorge Fest

Okay, everyone is posting about their Thanksgiving dinner plans. So, just to help me get organized I will outline my T-day menu too.

1) We will start out the day with a breakfast of my Easy-Peasy Cinnamon Rolls because I like them and if anyone else doesn’t, they can kiss my lily-white…

2) Turkey – well, turkey breast. B went to the store to redeem our free turkey (grocery store-speak for ‘thanks for buying so much crap at our store…here’s your ten dollar turkey, sucker!’) and came home with a turkey BREAST (must have been mesmerized by the word ‘breast’). No problem for me…I just eat the white meat anyway, but B will have no drumsticks. I am trying a dry-brine this year. I have done the wet brine and it is really good but I thought I would try it another way this year.

3) Mashed potatoes – Pioneer Woman’s creamy mashed potatoes. God they are good. Bonus, they can be made a day in advance. Win-win.

4) Sausage-cornbread Dressing – I like it this way and if anyone complains, well then there is more for me.

5) Gravy – I make kick-ass gravy. Pour gravy over the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, a piece of bread, spilled it on my shoe. God it’s good.

6) Homemade dinner rolls – again PW’s No-Knead Rolls – they look really easy and, again, make in advance…

7) Glorified rice – a modification of my MIL’s recipe – it has cream cheese, maraschino cherries, pineapple and whipped cream – what’s not to like?

8) Pumpkin pie – okay, this is kinda boring but I will make the boring kind of pumpkin pie that B likes instead of my kick-ass pumpkin chiffon pie…obviously my family ain’t here.

9) Pumpkin Leche Flan – it’s flan…that’s all I needed to hear…

10) B’s family's creamed corn crap – obviously not a favorite of mine.

11) That ghastly green bean casserole – see #10.

12) Broccoli-Cauliflower Gratin – it’s cauliflower…and CHEESE…sounds good to me.

And, of course, wine...delicious, delicious wine.

There…you think that’s enough food for three people (the smallest of whom will probably pick and complain, eat the mashed potatoes and gravy and say that he doesn't like turkey...)?

Happy Thanksgiving and Bon Appetit!

Chicken Stir-Fry

I made the best dinner last night. I wish I had taken a picture of it so I could post it here but I hadn't planned on blogging about it so I didn't. Oh well. I'm gonna blog it anyway.

It was kind of a stir-fried chicken but it had just the right amount of 'heat' (for me anyway) to make it really yummy. I think it was just at the edge of E's 'heat' index...if it had been any spicier I don't think he would have liked it, but he said he liked this. I'm gonna make it again.

I kind of took a couple of recipes and put them together and then I substituted stuff because I didn't have what the recipe called for on hand and had to improvise.

• 1 pound chicken (I had a 20 oz package of chicken tenders so I froze half and used half)
• 8 oz angel hair pasta (I didn't have any angel hair so I used regular spaghetti)
• 2 c. fresh broccoli
• 1/2 c. Kraft Asian salad dressing (okay...I didn't have any of this stuff but I had Soy Vey teriyaki sauce...and I used almost 1/2 c. of that and a splash or two of Newman's Own salad dressing)
• 1/4 t. garlic powder
• 1/4 t. ground ginger (didn't have any so I skipped this)
• 1/4 t. red pepper flakes (this was just enough for me...if you need more heat, bump it up)
• 1/3 c. dry roasted peanuts (didn't have any of these so I toasted some slivered almonds instead)
• a couple of green onions, sliced

First I put the water on to boil for the pasta. While I was waiting for that to come to a boil I used my wok to dry-toast the almonds. When they started to brown I poured them into a bowl. Then I cut up the chicken. E doesn't chew meat (or something...I don't understand it...) so I cut the chicken up very small. When the water was boiling, I broke the pasta in half, tossed it in and gave it a little stir. Then I cleaned the brocolli (how do you spell that???) and cut it into flowerettes.

Then I started to stir fry the chicken. I dribbled a little of the Newman's Own into the wok while I cooked the chicken thinking it might add some flavor (I couldn't tell if it made a difference). For the last 3 minutes or so of cooking the pasta I tossed the broccolli (that doesn't look right...) into the pot.

Combine the dressing(s) and spices. After the chicken is done, pour the dressing mixture over the chicken and let it cook for a minute or so. Drain the pasta (and that unspellable green vegetable) and then dump it in the wok with the chicken. Stir it all up a bit. I thought the sauce looked a little soupy so I took a tablespoon of cornstarch, mixed it with a little water and dumped that in. Then let it cook for a minute or so.

You can then put this yummy concoction on a pretty platter. I just put the wok on the table. Sprinkle the peanuts almonds and green onion over the top.

Easy Peasy Cinnamon Rolls

Well, I forgot to download all the blurry out-of-focus great pictures that I took while making my great Pumpkin Chiffon Pie last week so I will wait until tomorrow to post the recipe. Until then, here is a very easy, really, really good make-ahead Cinnamon Roll recipe that I make quite often.

They are Yummy!!! Next time I make them I think I will add chopped pecans but if you had walnuts or almonds or even raisins they would probably be great too.

Easy-Peasy Cinnamon Rolls

20 unbaked frozen dinner rolls
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup instant vanilla pudding mix
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, melted

Lightly grease a 10 inch bundt cake pan. Place frozen rolls into the pan and sprinkle with brown sugar, the pudding mix ,and cinnamon. Pour melted butter over the top. If you don't have a bundt pan, you can use a muffin tin, but they turn out better in a bundt pan (you could also use an angel food cake pan).

Cover with a clean, damp cloth and leave overnight at room temperature to rise.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Turn rolls out onto a serving plate and dig in!