Thanksgiving is around the corner and it's a big one here at Many Branches! Beth's family will be coming in from New Orleans and the Cincinnati Lechlers will be here as well. Plus girl friends and boy friends...you know the drill. Thanksgiving Day will be the usual two meals with the dinner meal a candle light affair because of the late arrivals from New Orleans. They are driving and we hope for the best driving weather possible for them. (And, for us, when we go to Florida for the month of January.)
As you can see from the picture, I am not a ready mix snob. I may adjust the things here and there, but I take the help no matter where it comes from. For instance the wonderfully delicious spice swirl cake mix. I made it for the OSU week end and could not get it out of the bunt pan (because of the brown sugar cinnamon swirl part), so it came out in pieces...so, I just put it in a pretty stemmed glass dish, made a custard pudding, poured it over the top and there we had a nice bread pudding style dessert. Lovely. Today I made this cake again and this time I put it in a long baking dish and hoped for the best, and, the best it was.
The products shown here are from World Market and I have begun to really enjoy this store. If you buy a case of wine (they have wonderful selections) you get 10% off the case of wine. The Ghirardelli brownie mix is stunningly good. I use two boxes and it fills the longest baking dish really well. Don't over bake. It's Ghirardelli chocolate, how could it not be good?
The pasta is from Italy and World Market has some nice selections that are not usually seen. Lumaconi stands up well to the sauce which nestles in the little pockets, so when one bites in to a fork full, Carfagna's pasta sauce squirts from the shells and one gets double the pleasure. Carfagna's sauce is sold in many grocery stores in Columbus. Their market is on route 161 in Columbus. It is a very popular Italian center piece in the foodie world of Columbus, and, their products are fantastic.
So, the cooking begins and the freezer fills pretty rapidly. I am planning on two or three turkeys this year. Two of which will be roasted the day before. Luckily Pam and George will be here the day before and George will wrestle the turkeys and slice them up. I am making gallons of gravy, so two platters will be made the day before, covered with gravy on the day.... and Bob's your uncle. We will also do the ham the day before. The rib roast, however, will be done on the day. Too much food you say??? With every bedroom filled and four meals to do, there is never too much food. We are expecting nearly thirty people. The 29th, the day after Thanksgiving we will gather again for a dinner as well. That's the plan.
