Thanksgiving Day is almost over - did you cook or did someone else?  

It was just me and Mom today. My daughter cooked for her boyfriend. My guy friend made the rounds with his family. My son....I have no idea since he didn't call. He might be working - he might be at his dad's. But, I did the cooking for the two of us. And, I have to say, I did pretty darned good!

Mom, of course, thought I was being a slacker all day. And, I was. I just don't enjoy the whole domestic goddess thing like she always has. She just loves planning out meals, working on this that or the other throughout the day, spending the time in between cleaning the house. Yeah - that's just not me. But, I do think I can cook pretty well for someone who doesn't like it all that much.

I wanted to make a couple pumpkin pies this morning, but Mom said no. Considering she ate the other one we had between Monday and last night, I thought it might be nice to have some for today, but she didn't want me to make any. I started preparing the turkey just after noon. We only got a breast, 6 2/3 lbs. Plenty for two people (and then some). I rinsed it out, salted it inside and out, sprinkled poultry seasoning all over it top and bottom, and sprinkled some celery seed inside the large cavity. That is because I never went and bought celery or onion to make home made dressing to stuff it with.

I had brought up the roasting pan, but it doesn't have a rack, so I fashioned a lifting strap from some heavy duty foil I folded into thirds to lay in the pan to set the turkey on. Then I started making the stuffing. Like I said, I hadn't bought any celery or onions and I knew Mom didn't want just some boxed stuffing. But, I did have a box of gourmet stuffing with cranberries and pecans. I also had a half loaf of bread, some celery soup and some dried onion flakes, plus loads of raisins and an apple. I decided to try my hand at culinary creativity.

I made the boxed stuffing mix first. Those are always quick and easy. Then, I tore up the bread, seasoned it with poultry seasoning and dried onion flakes and then opened the soup and stirred it through the bread until it was all moist. I diced up the apple and added about a half cup of raisins, stirring it all together. Once that was done, I added the already made cranberry stuffing to it and mixed both together. I put some in the cavity of the turkey breast covering it with a piece of foil since there was no skin to pin shut and put the rest in a casserole dish. I then put the turkey in the oven on a timer and put the casserole of stuffing in with the turkey 45 minutes before the turkey would be done.

I wasn't sure how the stuffing would turn out. I honestly winged it on this one. But, I have to say it was some of the best I have ever made!! Even Mom had a second helping, which she doesn't do if she doesn't like something. It was so moist, which I find stuffing to not be if not cooked inside the bird. I'm really very pleased with how it turned out.

We also had mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, peas and homemade turkey gravy. For the gravy, I used the turkey drippings plus the potato water thickened with a flour and water slurry. No meal is complete without a nice cold can of cranberry sauce as well. No salads, no desserts (remember - Mom ate the pie herself), just the hearty goodness of the ultimate comfort foods.

I did have one failure and that was the canned biscuits I put in after pulling out the turkey. Timed them and everything, but they were hard, didn't rise, and had to be chiseled off the baking sheet. I probably should have donated them to the Philadelphia Flyers - they couldn't do any worse with these little concrete gems than they already do with regulation pucks. But that's OK - there was so much dressing, we really didn't need any other kind of bread.

So, how was YOUR meal? Did you cook? Did someone else? Did you or they have any ingredient shortages that had to be improvised? Tell us about your meal and what was special about it.