Why do I cook a
Thanksgiving dinner in August?
Just because I want to ... and I don't do the whole thing, but by August, I'm ready for a turkey. Sometimes I fry the turkey ... sometimes I put it on the spit on the bbq grill ... but today I roasted it in the oven. The temperatures stayed in the 70s today, which is pretty unusual for August in Southern Illinois ... so it didn't bother me to heat up the kitchen!I did make an interesting twist on my traditional dressing. I wanted to make sure it screamed Southern Illinois, so I filled it full of the fruity flavors of dried blueberries and a peach ... both from just down the road in our orchard county. I used part of a loaf of Anadama bread I made a few weeks ago and froze. Anadama bread has corn meal in it and sorghum molasses, so adding the fruit seemed like the perfect thing to do. I also put a little bit of honey in it and I used local honey to baste the turkey, too.
I fixed a 22 pound turkey, so I had plenty to freeze. There's a method to my summertime madness! I'm going to document all the things I do with the left-overs and use it in one of my cooking columns right before Thanksgiving 2013! My readers and cooking class students frequently ask me what to do with left-over turkey. Now, I'll have pictures and recipes that will begin with brunch tomorrow ... one of my favorite things ... Turkey a la King! Then, I'm fixing turkey pot pie with homemade biscuits on top ... for my daughter and family. They are returning from vacation and they'll be starved, but too pooped to cook! So, I promised I'd deliver dinner.
As I prepare all these left-over delights, I'll be posting on this blog and will be adding the posts to a special page entitled "Turkey Forever"! So, you'll want to return from time to time and check out the additions.
I'm sharing with a few parties this week, so make sure you check out all the posts at ...
