Turkey Week is here, my friends … let the preparations commence and the feasting begin!
My parents are hosting Thanksgiving, as usual, this year so I really don’t have much to get ready for. I’m in charge of the pumpkin pie so I will get at that Wednesday evening after work. I have my mom’s recipes for lard pie crust (the best!) and pumpkin pie so I’m set. 🙂
First, though, we’ve got Joe’s first band concert of the year Tuesday night along with an always-busy Thanksgiving week at the office for me.
Today was a lazy Sunday around our house. I tried a new buttermilk biscuit recipe straight from Charleston and inspired by my girls’ trip to that area just last weekend. We visited Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits twice at the market in historic Charleston and we all fell in love. This led to the purchase of Callie’s Biscuits and Southern Traditions cookbook and the rest is history.
I would say I have a little work to do on technique and form but the biscuits were very tasty – and Teacher Man agreed! My favorite way to eat them is with some homemade black raspberry jam. Yum!
For much of the afternoon, I read a book and took a teeny tiny little nap – along with keeping up with the laundry. I can’t tell you how nice it was to actually do nothing more than that for a few hours. (Plus, I’m loving this novel by Hannah Tunnicliffe – A French Wedding!)
I also made a quick run to Target to get the fixings for our meal on Tuesday night, when my parents are coming for Joe’s band concert. (We’re having these slow cooker sloppy joes and Instant Pot mac and cheese … I’m keeping it simple since the week is going to be a little crazy.)
Plus, I made a new venison stew recipe, also inspired by our Charleston trip. (The stew was in this new cookbook I bought: What Can I Bring?: Southern Food for Any Occasion Life Serves Up.) Super flavorful and the venison was so tender, after simmering in the stew for an hour with the carrots, celery, garlic, tomatoes, and herbs.
Tonight, I’m sort of watching the Vikings’ game (currently we’re losing, unfortunately) while also listening to Joe practice his piano for jazz band. I’m not quite ready for the work week to start and yet, I’m excited for Thanksgiving weekend … so here we go!
Finally, here are links to three new Thanksgiving-inspired recipes from three of my favorite Minnesota food bloggers:
- A Farmgirl’s Dabbles – Turkey Wild Rice Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
- A Kitchen Addiction – Turkey Sweet Potato Quinoa Bake
- Greens & Chocolate – Instant Pot Maple Mustard Turkey Breast (with Easy Gravy!)
I can’t wait to try every one of these options for turkey!
And one more thing … the National Thanksgiving Turkey event will be held this week in Washington DC and the two turkeys are coming from South Dakota this year. Follow along with the National Turkey Federation on Facebook and Instagram for all the festivities. (And view my post from last year, when the turkeys came from Minnesota and Joe and I were in the White House Rose Garden for the turkey pardoning ceremony!)
Too funny – you can kind of see Joe and I in this photo the White House just posted on its Facebook page tonight. 😉
xoxo – Lara