Of all things, I sure didn't guess this. We had, in effect, too much food.
I should have figured that out of course, seeing as we had to take two cars to bring all the food and make multiple trips, each of us, in order to get it all inside. It had begun to stockpile in the mudroom we we using as an icebox.
Yup, so now we've returned, almost painfully full, and have a whole other feast to be comsumed, made up of all the leftovers. I guess I overdid it, just a litle bit. What I realized though was that this Thanksgiving wasn't so much about the food, but it was about seeing whether or not I could do this in a manner that most would describe as sane.
And I did. Generally, all was done in a pretty sane manner. This is the first year that I have actually done this and I truthfully feel quite happy about it!
Something that I think kind of sums up these last two days is last night, when my mom told me that she had forgotten to get gluten-free rolls and I had to make them. Along with the who-knows-how-many pounds of potatoes that filled up this whole pot:
Yup, I was baking gluten-free rolls from some unknown's blog last night at eleven, and guess what? They were some pretty great rolls. In essence, this experience has shown me that things don't HAVE to go wrong just by the nature of the game. If you are calm and try to approach things happily, it will work, it just will.
Now I'm posting these two recipes together because they are on our table for similar reasons. The Angel Biscuits are a staple at Thanksgiving on my mother's side. My grandmother has made them for as long as I can remember, and because she is from South Carolina, loves to eat them with ham, which we, when at her house, have for Thanksgiving. I baked the biscuits this morning, after having made them the night before. The recipe calls for all shortening, but, as I can't stand the thought of that much shortening sitting in my arteries for the rest of eternity, substitute in half butter. Some would argue this is no better...
I'm proud to say that they tasted much like the ones Nana makes with the perfect texture and taste. I am quite happy.
Now the relish isn't such an old recipe, though it comes from the same cookbook author. My grandmother found it about 10 years ago and has been making it for Thanksgiving ever since. It is the simplest recipe ever and can be eaten with so many things. This time the color was very pronounced, perhaps because I had frozen the berries the night before and then let it sit for a day after having processed everything together. Perhaps the maceration of the cranberries in the sugar made them extra bright. Whatever it was, they were beautiful and scrumptious.
Batch One of Frozen Bicuits
Last batch all done
The second batch cooling
That's all for now folks...tomorrow will be the flourless chocolate cake or maybe the three pounds of mint and shallot peas that I made. Or maybe the potatoes...Oh how I love Thanksgiving!
ANGEL BISCUITS
Keep Cooking--The Maine Way (Marjorie Standish, 1973)
1 envelope dry yeast (I think that's one tablespoon...)
2 tablespoons lukewarm water
5 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening (I use half butter and half shortening)
2 cups buttermilk
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt. Cut shortening into dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and dissolved yeast and mix well. Turn onto floured board, knead 2 or 3 times, roll to desired thickness. Cut into biscuits, dip into melted butter (I just brush with butter). Fold over like Parker House rolls or place flat biscuits in greased pan.
Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes. Recipe makes 3 dozen regular size biscuits.
CRANBERRY ORANGE RELISH
Adpated from Cooking Down East (Marjorie Standish)
2 cups Fresh Cranberries
1 whole orange (I use large navel oranges)
3/4 cup sugar
Process the orange in its entirety in a food processor. Process the cranberries until finely chopped. Mix together the orange and cranberries and add sugar.
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