Thankful for Family (Who Know How to Cook!)

Happy Thanksgiving!  Wanna know what was on the menu at our house today?

[Gentle reminder: You can click on any of the photos to enlarge it and enjoy an enhanced view of the delectable food.]

It was just the five of us eating chez Moberg today, but Susan prepared enough food to feed four times as many people!  Here's what she made:

• Overnight she brined an 18-pound turkey in apple cider, brown sugar, orange peel, garlic, thyme, peppercorns, and salt.  Today as it roasted, she basted it in chicken stock and white wine.  I found it easy to carve because it was so moist and tender.
• She made mashed potatoes and turned the turkey drippings into gravy, which tasted wonderfully savory from the garlic and wine.
• She made green beans into a casserole with bacon, pimentos, and a homemade cheese sauce, topping it with panko for a crust.
• She made dressing from dried bread, chicken stock, mushrooms, leeks, garlic, parsley, and sausage.
• She baked mushrooms stuffed with spinach, Asiago and Parmesan cheeses, onions, sausage, lemon zest, and pine nuts.
• She stirred cranberry gelatin into homemade whipped cream and let it set for a sweet salad.
• Abigail prepared dishes of dill pickles and green and black olives.
• I buttered and sugared lefse made and sold by members of our church.
• We drank milk and, for the girls, sparkling cider but, for the adults, white wine.

Throughout our meal, we paused to make toasts, telling what we were thankful for before clinking our glasses and taking a drink.  "Family" was the major theme throughout all the toasts, which is only appropriate--we love our family and feel truly blessed.

After dinner, the girls helped Susan clean up while I finished carving the turkey.  After Susan bought the 18-pound turkey last weekend (the smallest one she could find in the grocery store), I decided that I would make turkey soup to help use up the inevitable leftovers.  So I didn't bother being too thorough in cleaning off the bird today, knowing that some meat on the bones would be good for the stock.  I boiled the carcass in water with carrots, celery, onions, garlic, thyme sprigs, peppercorns, and salt.  I let it simmer for a couple hours before straining the stock a couple times and then setting the stock pot out on the veranda to cool.  I'll work the rest of my magic tomorrow!

We waited a few hours before having dessert:

The pumpkin pie on the left has pumpkin whipped with vanilla pudding, whiskey, and other ingredients in a graham cracker pie crust.  The apple pie on the right has a crumble instead of a top crust, and Susan made "hard sauce" from butter, powdered sugar, and whiskey to top each slice. 

For herself and me, Susan made coffee with caramel and Kahlua in it, and she topped each cup with homemade whipped cream sprinkled with chocolate shavings.