Turkey Coma

Well, I survived making Thanksgiving dinner at my in-laws house. Despite the fact that I left my meticulously organized recipe folder sitting on my desk at work (luck I bookmarked everythign in my last post), and the usual bumps associated with making a huge meal in an unfamiliar kitchen: a thermometer meltdown after some confusion over the differences between "meat" and "candy" (one is NOT oven safe), resulting in an emergency Walmart run mid-day, trying to get the gravy right and without lumps, keeping my MIL from losing it while mashing the potatoes, almost forgetting the cranberries in the fridge and absolutely and completely FAILING on twitter updates.

Yet, in spite of the little bumps, the meal came out beautifully. JiT declared the turkey (the first one, and the "leftovers" one made later that day) the "best" he's ever had...so salt brining will be our new tradition. They really were amazingly juicy and flavorful. No need for any seasoning or even gravy for that matter.

All of the leftovers, including 20 lbs of turkey, 4 lbs of from-scratch green bean casserole, enough stuffing for a small army and, the surprise hit of the day, oven roasted acorn squash, were GONE by 4pm the following day. These boys can EAT.

Over the next few days, I'll share the adapted recipes for the sides, some of which are easy enough for a weeknight non-Thanksgiving meal, or perhaps worthy of a Christmas feast?

Meanwhile, I hope everyone else is on their way to recovery from a fabulous turkey coma! I'd love to hear about your adventures!