Prepping for T-day!

Thanksgiving has long been one of my favorite holidays, mostly because it centers around food. I mean, how can you go wrong with a holiday that insists on you making tons of delicious dishes and then encourages you to go into a food coma? But because it also involves family, drama WILL ensue, whether you like it or not. Here is a rundown of things that have actually happened during Drama family Thanksgiving get-togethers.

1) My brother borrowed my sister's car keys to go to his annual Turkey Bowl pickup football game with friends from high school. He proceeds to lose said car keys in a field full of snow, rotting leaves and various debris. Of course, my sister needed to leave that evening to drive back to college. Ahh, the hilarity of trying to find a locksmith on Thanksgiving day. Lucky for him, he found the keys in the field, thus avoiding permanent eunuch status.

2) A family member developed hysterical blindness and proceeds to drive themselves to the ER for treatment. Yes, I said hysterical blindness. I may have guffawed a little with this one.

3) The Fried Turkey Inferno of 2007: What, you didn't hear of this one? Thankfully, my mother couldn't figure out how to work the gigantic FryDaddy and she narrowly missed the chance to burn down the new addition to their house. So we got an insanely overpriced, tasteless turkey from Boston Market to round out the meal.

As a result, DrDrama and her sister have decided to hijack Thanksgiving dinner this year. Lil' sis is taking charge of the desserts, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and brioche stuffing. Sounds yummy, huh? You would never guess it to look at her since she is a size double-zero, but she is a fantastic cook in a Giada deLaurentiis sort of fashion.

DrDrama is responsible for the turkeys, cornbread sausage dressing, cranberry-orange sauce, green bean casserole (a request from my brother-in-law) and appetizers. As we speak, I am cooling the brine for the turkeys which is an unbelievable discovery that makes the turkey taste soooooo good. I will probably make the cranberry sauce today or tomorrow and prep my vegetables for the dressing.

I am thinking of making some sort of appetizer with roast beef and spinach or arugula on a slice of baguette with a Dijon-horseradish sauce, topped with a grape tomato, similar to the picture below.


The recipe is inspired by the Ina Garten Beef and Horseradish sandwich shown below. I think this picture's version has some caramelized onions, which I may use to top off a few of the appetizers.
More Turkey Day food posts to come!