14 Pounds of Turkey Thanks

I love Thanksgiving. I love cooking and sharing a meal with a big gang of loved ones. I love traditions and the smell of a Butterball turkey cooking in the oven. An insane number of side dishes and that goofy gelatinous cranberry jelly, the smell of sage and apples, creamy mashed potatoes and laughter and time spent with people we don't get to see nearly often enough.

Since we are heading up to Madison for a huge Thanksgiving celebration, Joe and I decided to cook our own little Thanksgiving on Sunday. In order to avoid the craziness of holiday grocery shopping I headed over to the store tonight. There were about 10 people in the whole place. It was heaven. I wandered around and filled up my cart leisurely without having to navigate the masses loading up their carts with Stovetop and pie crusts. So if you can get past the nerdy aspects of grocery shopping alone on a Friday night, I highly recommend it.

So this weekend will be filled with yard work and then lots and lots of cooking. We have a 14 pound turkey defrosting in the sink today and it will be getting dry brined tomorrow. Then Sunday we'll be making roasted brussels sprouts with shallots and balsamic vinegar, red wine gravy, sausage, apple and onion cornbread stuffing, and double layer pumpkin pie. I think we'll be freezing some turkey leftovers and making turkey pot pies and turkey soup throughout December. I'm looking forward to a whole day in the kitchen with my husband. Plus some new recipes for my 52 this year! So what are you doing for this Thanksgiving?