Thanksgiving at This Little Place Here

We are having a quiet Thanksgiving, just DH, DS2, the two DDs and I.  DS1 is deployed currently and unable to take leave for the holiday, so we have left him messages via the computer. 

The morning began with feeding critters, then getting the (homegrown) turkey into the oven before heading out to the woods for the morning hunt.  Back in the house about 10:30 a.m., the TV gets turned on to the football game, and the girls and I go into the kitchen to get busy preparing the big meal for today.

Pumpkin pie, from a pumpkin we grew, was baked yesterday.  Today is apple pie, and DD2 pares and slices the apples while I make up the crust.  Meanwhile, DD1 gets some (homegrown) sweet potatoes washed up and on to cook.  Then she peels and cuts up potatoes, and puts those on to cook also.  Once the pie is in the oven, I punch down the dough that has been rising for rolls, divide it into 20 pieces, and put them into pans to rise before baking.  DD1 has moved on to mixing up a green bean casserole, DD2 is taking the peels outside--apple peels to the chickens and potato peels to the compost bin.

Right before the rest of the food is done cooking, I slice up staled bread for stuffing, then saute celery and onions in lots of butter.  Add sage, thyme, salt, pepper, and some turkey drippings, then mix well with the bread cubes for a stuffing so good even stuffing haters will take seconds of. Before I tired making stuffing from scratch, I never cared for stuffing.  And once I convinced my daughters that mine didn't taste like any they'd tried before--which was always made from a box or bag--they found out that they like it too.  Stuffing is incredibly easy to make.

Stuffing
9 cups of stale bread cubes (put about 10 slices of bread on a wire cooling rack overnight to get stale, then cut into cubes)
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups diced celery
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
turkey drippings (1/2 to 1 cup, depending on how moist you like your stuffing).

Saute celery and onion in melted butter until soft.  Stir in seasonings.  Add turkey drippings and pour over bread cubes.  Stir to blend, then serve immediately.

The rest of the turkey drippings get made quickly into gravy, and the meal is served.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, stuffing, and rolls.  Nothing extravagant, but all of it from scratch and most of it raised right on the property.  

That is something to be thankful for: this little place here that provides us the means to access high quality and naturally grown food.  The ground to grow the garden.  The zoning that allows us to raise poultry.  The acres of woods that mean we can go deer hunting not by driving long distances to remote areas, but simply by walking 300-400 yards from our beds.  Our children, three quarters of whom are able to be home today, and all of whom are growing to be such responsible adults.  And our marriage, still strong after all these years, despite many trials and tribulations along the way.

Simple blessings.  The best ones of all.