Preparing for Thanksgiving Dinner

Today is pie baking day here.  I have been looking forward to Thanksgiving for several weeks.  I love turkey, dressing, potatoes and gravy and all the rest of the great foods we get to eat.  We will only have four at our table this year but we will cook the traditional meal just the same.  Just not as much.

Today Hannah and her friend Flor are coming and I think they may want to bake the pies.  I'm also trying to decide if we should bake the turkey today and slice it and just warm it up tomorrow.  The advantage to that would be we wouldn't have to get up so early tomorrow and I can make broth from the carcass to use in the dressing and gravy tomorrow.  If I am careful and cook and cut it properly it should retain the moisture.  I'll talk to Hannah and Flor and see what they think.

My big task for today is to clean off the dinning room table.  Its a mess because its where I cut up my old jeans for squares and use the computer and just about every thing else.  At the other end of the table are some cotton snowflakes I crochet drying and starching.  You can see where I am going here I'm sure.   It's a mess.

Here is a turkey cooking chart in case any of my dear friends need it.

I remember years ago cooking my first turkey and how scary it was.  It turned out fine and in the last few of years I have learned to save the carcass to make broth.  I used to take the turkey carcasses home when we had thanksgiving at our old church.  I think some of the ladies thought I had a screw loose.  But I just added a few carrots and onions and cooked those carcasses in a big ole pot for several hours and then I had the best turkey broth I could want and it is basically free.  So many people throw away their chicken bones and beef bones and turkey bones.  If I don't have time to make the broth right then I just put the bones into a bag and keep it in the freezer.  I also save carrot scraps, onion scraps, celery scraps and so on the same way.  Then when I'm ready to make some broth I just roast my bones in the oven, then either put them in a big pot filled with water on the stove along with the vegetables and a splash of apple cider vinegar or I just put them in my crock pot and let them cook for several hours.  I then strain the broth and cool it.  Its keeps for a few weeks in the fridge if you leave the fat on top.  If you want to remove the fat and are not going to use it right away its best to freeze it or can it.  Remember its dangerous to freeze items in glass so use plastic containers or even zip lock freezer bags.

OK, back to the pies.  This year we are just making one or two pumpkin pies and one pecan pie.  But while I was at the chiropractor I was talking to the ladies up front and they mentioned German chocolate pie.  Oh my that sure sounds good.  I will ask for their recipe next time I go in and maybe I can make that at Christmas time.

What are your plans for Thanksgiving and what are you thankful for?  I am especially thankful for family.  Even though I don't get to spend the holiday with them, I know they are well and safe so that is the most important thing I have to be thankful for.

               Happy Thanksgiving

Spiced tea and Chai tea mixes

     I love the smells and taste of winter teas.  Spiced tea and Chai tea to name two.  There is something about cinnamon simmering that makes me think of winter and warm mugs of tea.

     This weekend I plan to make a small batch of spiced tea and a small batch of Chai tea.  I'm learning to make smaller batches of things as I get older.  With a mostly empty nest its not necessary to make huge batches of whatever I'm making any more.  That has been a hard lesson to learn.

     The is the recipe I am going to use for the spiced tea.

1-1/2 c. Tang ( I will use my orange juice mix from the cannery)

3/4 c. instant tea

1-1/2 c. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. ginger

I will divide this up between Hannah and I so we neither one have too large a batch.  To make this just add 1 tbsp. to a cup of hot water and stir.

For the Chai tea I will have to look on Pinterest to get a recipe.

Etsy Store

     I used to have an Etsy store a few years ago and never really tried to make it work.  I am thinking about trying it again.  Do any of my readers have an Etsy store and what are your thoughts on it?  Is it a good way to go to sell my handmade items?  Leave a comment please.