unfortunately, the "a" gang will not be together for thanksgiving this year. jastin is on call and adali and i are heading to illinois to spend some time with my family. so, based on that and the fact that we have so much to be thankful for this year, we decided to have our own little antisdel's thanksgiving last weekend.
just like many thanksgiving dinners, it did not go off without a few hiccups...like when i walked into the kitchen on saturday morning to find jastin trying to brine the turkey in the bucket that was used to mop the floors at our house in st. louis. here is the conversation that ensued...
me: (upon seeing the bucket and what looked like a brown sugar, salt water mixture in it): what are you doing?
jastin: what does it look like i am doing. i'm getting the turkey ready to brine.
me: uhhh, you do realize that this bucket was used to mop the floors at the house in st. louis?!?!
jastin: yeah, that's why i cleaned it twice.
me: uhhh, i don't think so! that is disgusting! you are not using that bucket!
jastin: what do you want me to do then, we don't have anything big enough to fit the turkey in to brine it?
me: how about trying an oven bag?
jastin: what is that? we don't have any of those so i got resourceful. i knew you might be upset that i was using the bucket, but i thought i might get lucky and you would be rational about it.
me: i guess i'm all out of rational today.
jastin: great, it's only 8:30 in the morning.
luckily, after brining in a clean bag, the turkey turned out deeelicious. and so did all of the trimmings which included yukon gold mashed potatoes with herb pan gravy, spring mix salad with homemade balsamic vinagrette dressing, broccoli casserole and rolls. if you are wondering where the cranberry salad and the stuffing were...i don't like them. you see that's the beauty of having your very own thanksgiving...you get to make whatever you want.
"mom, hurry up already i'm hungry!"
for dessert, i decided to make an apple crisp. i thought about apple pie but my grandmother and mother make the perfect apple pie which is intimidating so i thought apple crisp would be more my style. here is where the second hiccup came.
i found a recipe that i thought sounded good and the ingredients seemed basic enough. however, when i was at the grocery store and got to "bisquick baking mix" on my list i paused. "what the heck?" the only bisquick product i know of is pancake mix. so since it said "baking mix" i headed to the baking aisle and picked up the only bisquick item i saw...bisquick biscuit mix. on saturday i made the apple crsip according to the recipe, stuck it in the oven for the directed 35 minutes and went about folding laundry. the house filled with the aroma of baking apples and my mouth salivated for dessert. when the oven "dinged" i opened the door to find a burnt, black topping with a mushy uncooked center. "what the..." i obviously did something wrong but how could i screw up such a simple recipe? knowing it had to do something with the "baking mix" i pulled my computer out to look up what in the world bisquick baking mix was. drumroll please...it's flipping pancake mix! doh.
after being angry for about 10 minutes i knew i would not be defeated that day by apple crisp so i drove to the store to get pancake mix and more apples, came home and did the entire recipe over again. this time...it worked! and it was sooo good.
hiccups and all, the first annual antisdel's thanksgiving dinner was a success (and the leftovers of potato pancakes and turkey quesadillas were delicious).
maybe next year our home and our picture will be filled with many more people.
much love,
mama a
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