The Stuffing.

I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to actually stuff the stuffing inside the turkey. I know that is the purpose of stuffing and that it probably tastes better inside the turkey, but I’m a little squeamish about shoving my arms up to my elbows inside a dead bird. 

I do know that I’m going to use a simple recipe with modifications and have chosen my old standby, the Betty Crocker Cookbook. My friend’s kids will presumably be eating some of my stuffing and I want to be able to say that no children were harmed during the making or eating of my stuffing. 

The recipe calls for margarine or butter, but I’m going with butter; nothing but the best for me. It also calls for celery, onions, salt, thyme, sage, and pepper. I can deal with all of those just fine, but again, I don’t want to the kids to freak out at the sight of onions or too many real vegetables in their stuffing. The kids are used to fine dining; some nights they are treated to Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and others they are treated to flank steaks.  They eat bagels and pizza by the pound, but I’ve never seen them consume any other kind of bread other than white breadsticks. All of which means I have to be extremely careful in my bread choice. 

El Chef will not be there to tutor me on the art of cooking stuffing. 

I’m also in charge of the mashed potatoes and the rolls and he won’t be there to help with either of those. While his absence may hurt my chances when I try to compete on “Hell’s Kitchen” with Chef Ramsey, it might make for a more peaceful Thanksgiving. 

I haven’t decided yet whether I’m making the rolls from my Grandmother’s secret recipe courtesy of my aunt or whether I’ll be making a careful choice of rolls in the grocery store.

Mashed potatoes are easy. Peel. Slice. Dice. Boil. Smash. Smash some more. Smash with milk. 

And voila. Perfect mashed potatoes. Mine might have some more lumps in them because I’m going to make the kids do the mashing. This will not be one of those Thanksgivings where kids have to suffer at the kids table and have no responsibility for the meal. This Thanksgiving, there won’t be many of us in attendance, but all of us will be cooking something.