Recipe For a Great Thanksgiving

I seem to recall that the meal the colonists ate on the first thanksgiving was largely supplied by their Indian hosts. Work with me on this. There’s very little planning involved and you probably still have one more day to find a store to prepare your turkey.For almost two decades, I’ve slaved in the kitchen doing it all myself because I’m just that…nuts. This year, on November 18, I ordered a fresh turkey, prepped for roasting with gravy and sausage stuffing on the side. If not today, when?

So, you buy a fresh bird prepped for roasting, with whatever you don’t want to make. Pick it up the day before and stick it in the frig. On Thanksgiving Day, get up in time to preheat the oven (horrors) remove the bird from the frig and just slide it in the oven.

The rest is up to you. Job out the desserts or sides to family members that can, and concentrate on vegetables. The only part I’m always on the fence about is mashed potatoes. In the best of times they scare me.

Candied cranberries. One of my must-haves. Bring a bag of fresh cranberries home from the store on Wednesday and cook them on the stove in water and sugar. The directions are on the bag. Put them in the frig to chill over night. Super easy, beautiful to look at and always impressive.

I’m crazy about broccoli…To be honest, I often steam it but in the cold weather, if your oven is already on, there’s nothing to keep you from roasting it with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. You could cheat and use butter, but you didn’t hear that from me. Some recipes if you must.

Whole Foods is still one of my favorite food stores. Here are some of their recipes worth looking at.

A musical couple that’s really cooking. We saw them a few years back at a little outdoor festival in North Carolina…Tennessee born couple Ben DeBerry and Dorothy Daniel, The Danberrys from East Nashville,Tennessee. Their first recording won the “People’s Choice” Independent Music Award for best EP, winning them the chance to perform at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. More about them.

A recent hit “Long Song” from their album Give & Receive released in June of 2016. Long Song won Best Bluegrass Song at The Independent Music Awards.