Thanksgiving a little early

It's not that I don't love my family, because I do....really. But sometimes it makes me a little sad to think that some of the people I am the most thankful for are never at my Thanksgiving Dinner. This year, I decided to throw a little dinner party with all of the Thanksgiving fixins' and invite some very dear friends over to share in the fun. We each contributed a dish and since I was hosting I agreed to the turkey and stuffing. Now, considering that there would only be 6 people in attendance, there was no real need to get an entire bird so I went with just a turkey breast. Whoever came up with the guideline of a pound per person was lying...I got about 7 pounds of turkey and when dinner was over I'd say we had about 4 left over...so maybe half a pound per person.

I was a little worried because I've never made this before, but it turned out to be pretty idiot proof. I got two boneless frozen turkey breasts at the store, let them sit in my fridge for a day (apparently that's not long enough to thaw out...but I was short on time and high on luck) and then tossed the still half frozen bird parts in my crock pot, put in a stick of butter, half an onion (coarsely chopped) and two cups of white wine. They say never to cook with wine you wouldn't drink, and since the only wine I won't drink is Riesling (particularly from 2007) I am generally good with anything...however, I ended up using what turned out to be a very expensive Chard. What did I learn here? There is no difference between this turkey cooked in high dollar wine and the chicken I once cooked in Franzia Refreshing White in college, no need to get on your snob horse. I turned it on low for 8 hours and by the time I returned home from work they were cooked to perfection, unlike so many dry, gross turkeys I have eaten on Thanksgiving day, these bad boys were tender and delicious. And since my family wouldn't be in attendance, I was pretty sure there wouldn't be any sneezing on this one, either.

The stuffing was equally easy, dry some corn bread in the oven, saute a chopped apple, onion, celery, and add in some craisins then throw them in with the bread with a little poultry seasoning and bake for about half an hour. Add some butter to keep it from drying out, if you like.

It was a great night and I was so excited to be able to host such great friends. Everything was wonderful and I think our own family Thanksgiving feasts are going to have a lot to live up to. It was great to hear about everyone's traditions. it turns out Andrew and Katie have their Thanksgiving catered...not a bad idea if your not in to the cooking or the clean up part...or if you have 90 people like Katie has in her family. Liz has a modern family, her mother is hosting her dad, step-mother and step grandmother. Chella...I'm not sure, maybe they're making tamales? And Patrick is sure to be shooting video of whatever happens at his Turkey day.