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Thanksgiving Wrap-Up!

It was a rather low-key Thanksgiving Day here at the Chez Nelson...and no wonder.  The menu was pretty understated (for me, that is):

Appetizers:
Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp
Blue Cheese and Pear Crostini

The Dinner:
Turkey
Roasted Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans & Corn Medley
Stuffing
Gravy
Cranberry Relish
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Dutch Apple Pie
Dutch Apple Pie with Blue Cheese

And then you remember that I did my Thanksgiving Dinner like this:


Layer #1 & 2: My mom's stuffing, which had, hours ago, filled the main orifice of Mr. Turkey.  Then, the stuffing layer was covered with a nice, generous layer of shredded turkey, cooked the day before.


Layer #3: A straight-up, no-frills corn and green bean medley.  Green bean casserole would be good.  So would scalloped corn.  So would diced roasted sweet potatoes or squash.  You just gotta have some vegetable in there.


Layer #4: Mashed potatoes.  I roasted some Yukon Golds in the oven first then mashed them up in my mixer.  Salt, pepper, garlic powder, butter, and milk.  OhEmGee.


Bake at 400 degrees until temp is 165.  We discovered that 350 was not hot enough to get this massive casserole heated through in 45 minutes...that's why we cranked it up.  Twenty minutes later at the higher temp, we were good to go.

So, essentially, this casserole is like a Thanksgiving Dinner all in one shot.  Some friends of ours asked us, Didn't you miss all the dishes on your Thanksgiving table?  Honestly, a little.  I mean, yeah, the table was pretty sparse-looking with just one blue Pyrex dish, one bread plate, and one gravy bowl.  But, did I like having the one-stop-shopness of this casserole?  You betcha!  Did it taste just like Thanksgiving dinner anyway?  Heck yes.

Would I do it again?  Maybe.  After all, this casserole best lends itself to traditional items...turkey, veg, potatoes, stuffing.  I did feel a little stifled, like I couldn't really go outside the box on the menu items, because I had to take into consideration how well it would go into the casserole.

But, it was fun and delicious.  Now, onto the Christmas meal planning...


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