November was a flurry of activity as we finished the attic, except for staining some woodwork, entertained my sister for a few days, cleaned our house, talked with a writer from our newspaper who featured us in an article and had a visit from the photographer and writer, planned for Thanksgiving, and visited with our son who arrived for a whole week’s visit. His arrival was somewhat of a surprise for us, as he had not told us exactly when he would be coming. But we were delighted to have his company. We celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday, since our other son and his family arrived then. All 13 of us were able to sit at one table in the dining room. We had hoped the baby would be there with us in her high chair, but she napped during dinner time. Our feast included traditional foods such as roast turkey, cranberry relish, green beans, salad, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, rice stuffing and bread stuffing. Traditional, in this context, means the past 200 years or so. It also means, our family traditions. For a long time, I could not eat wheat, and during that time, I learned to make stuffing for the turkey out of rice. This stuffing is now a favorite of one daughter. First, you cook the rice as usual. Then you cut up and saute onions, celery, and mushrooms. Mix with the rice, and put it inside the turkey for roasting. According to your taste, you can use salt, pepper and thyme for seasonings. The recipe was on the small box of brown rice many years ago. I thought I had saved it somewhere, and maybe I did, but it is in my head now. These days rice comes in a big plastic bag.
Since I can eat wheat now, or at least, I do eat it, whether it is good for me or not, and since we live in the Midwest now, I make bread stuffing also. I use the Betty Crocker recipe, with the apples and raisins, and pecans. This year, I put the rice inside the turkey, and the bread stuffing around it in the roaster pan. I use an electric roaster these days—so convenient.
Our daughter acquired the turkey from a farmer. We prefer the fresh turkey, with no additives. This bird was delivered to me on Monday before Thanksgiving. It had been killed only a few days before. It is three times more expensive than the ones in the grocery store, but worth every dollar, in our family’s opinion. It weighed more than twenty pounds, but fit in our roaster pan nicely. On the first day, we fed 13 people. On the second day, 12 people. On the third day, we fed 6 people. On the fourth day, we were back to just the two of us, and we had some sandwiches. Then I cooked the carcass for soup, and gave half to our daughter. Counting the meals from leftovers, we can say we served 35 people from that turkey, and the soup is still to come. We put the broth in our freezers.
Our daughters met on Wednesday and made many many pies, about 14. These were all eaten by the end of the third day. They included blueberry, pecan, pumpkin, apple, peach, mincemeat. Mincemeat is a traditional food, prepared in the fall to be ready for the festivals of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I make it from beef heart, apples, raisins, currants, oranges, lemons, sugar and spices such as cinnamon. First I bake the meat, then chop or grind it. Next chop the fruit, add the juices, sugar, and spices, and then pour whiskey and brandy over it. Then it ages in a crock in a cool place, in this case the refrigerator. To serve it, we bake it in a pie. First you have to heat it on the stove, to get it started, then put it in the pie and bake. You have to get it hot enough long enough to change the alcohol. Otherwise, though it is safe to eat, you might as well just have a glass of brandy.
It was quite cold that weekend, so cold that we could store food on the porch. But we were especially grateful for our complete family gathering, since it was the first in three years.