Thanksgiving plans

It will be just Dale and I on Thanksgiving Day. His son and family are going to visit his mother, and neither Dale nor I want to drive to Great Bend and back in one day to spend the day with my family. (We both have to work on Friday.)

But that doesn't mean we won't have a traditional Thanksgiving Day. I plan to roast a turkey, after brining it first. The rest of my menu includes stuffing with sausage and chestnuts, mashed sweet potatoes with fresh rosemary and white cheddar cheese (a recipe my friend Marty introduced me to), fresh steamed asparagus and cranberry salad. With Dale's blessing, I plan to make apple pie instead of pumpkin, and like my colleague and fellow blogger Theresa I'm going the whole nine yards by making my own crust.

I'm also going to make gravy although I've read that brining your turkey first can make the drippings too salty for gravy. So, just in case, I plan to have some jarred gravy handy. (Really, the Boston Market brand is not too bad, although I'm hoping I won't have to go that route.)

I'm sure the rest of our day will include a brisk walk (the high is supposed to be in the 40s) and then catching up on our shows. (Wow, did I just say that?) I have to leave plenty of time for my other Thanksgiving culinary tradition, which is to make turkey stock from the carcass. I like to simmer the stock for at least three hours. Once I've strained it, I pick through the carcrass carefully to get the meat. Then I'll use the stock and turkey meat later. I usually will make turkey noodle soup the weekend after Thanksgiving.

So, I'm looking forward to the day. Even better, I have to work just one day after that before I'm off for a whole week of vacation.