Turkey Turkey All Around

What is there really to say about Thanksgiving?

You eat turkey.

Then the next day you eat some more.

Then, on the third day, you think about something else you can make. (I'll come back to this in another post.)

This year we had Thanksgiving at Mr. Coffee's sister's house. She made the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.

I made the desserts and a couple of side dishes.

Not everything was successful. Also, for some harebrained reason, I forgot to take pictures of some of my finished dishes.

But here's a list anyway.

Turnip greens with turnips, apples, and ham hocks

This was a great dish. The most time-consuming part was washing the greens. Would definitely make this again.

(By the way, this is not the finished dish—in case any of you are puzzled. These were the washed and cut turnip greens and the ham hocks before they went into the pot.)

Pecan Tassies

Easier to divide up than pecan pie. They take longer to make, but its more time-consuming than difficult. A keeper.

Caramel Apple Pie

Have made this recipe before and loved it. However, this time, though I baked it for two (two!) hours, the apples never got soft. Tasted good, but will have to get to the bottom of the apple issue before I make it again.

Tuscan Kale Salad

The hit of the evening. This will show up on my table all winter until Mr. Coffee bans me from making it anymore. Raw kale tossed with a caesar-like dressing and toasted bread crumbs. Delicious! Also a great buffet salad, as you can dress it way ahead of time and it doesn't wilt.

Thanksgiving Shopping

Even if I'm not cooking the Thanksgiving meal, I always make a point of grocery shopping the week of Thanksgiving.

Why?

Because certain things almost always go on sale that week. So it's a great time to stock up on particular items.

I saved about $20 on cracker barrel cheese today, by waiting for the sale that comes every thanksgiving and then buying a bunch. (My family eats a lot of cheddar cheese.)

Also in the photo and on sale were butter, brown sugar, and eggs.

There's a good chance the following items may be on sale the week of thanksgiving in your local grocery store:

• cheese

• cream cheese

• butter

• pasta (particularly macaroni)

• sugar

• brown sugar

• flour

• evaporated milk

• condensed milk

• sour cream

• frozen spinach

• frozen green beans

• ice cream

• sliced bread

• bacon

There are others, but I can't think of them at the moment.

Incidentally, butter should go on sale a couple more times until the spring. In the colder months, cow milk contains more butterfat; therefore butter is cheaper to produce and more likely to be on sale. If you bake a lot, as I do, it's always worth buying a few pounds when it's on sale and keeping it in your freezer.