Not quite a Smorgasbord!!

Its Thanksgiving and if your'e like me you just finished digging into the side dishes and completely ignored the centerpiece-the roast bird.  We celebrate with the quintessential roast Turkey and lots
of sides giving thanks for tons of terrific vegetables and side dishes. All day the center of attention was the meal I've  been planning for a few days, just so that everyone is equally happy with their favorites and I think I made my goal! I made a simple meal since I will be going overseas tomorrow.  While you cannot go wrong with the traditional turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce and vegetables, I love to think of ways to put a different spin on the standard Thanksgiving dinner. I've eliminated the mashed potatoes and stuffing. But here's to Macaroni and cheese, ravioli, Orange-cranberry sauce and gravy for the meal, and greens have taken over the green bean casserole. It's really hard to find a bird that is less than 13 pounds so if I were to roast one it would leave us tons of left overs to disperse and so I went with an organic turkey breast!!

This time I got a small organic turkey breast slathered it with herb butter after the overnight brining process.  I used about 3 liters of water, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup salt, 2 Tablespoons whole black pepper, 4 cloves and 1 large stick of rosemary.  Let the mixture boil well, cool until it is room temperature. Place the Turkey breast in it and refrigerate for 24 hours. The next day, remove the turkey from the water and pat dry. The Moisture has now been retained inside and you are now ready to marinate with herbed butter or spiced butter or any flavors of your choice and then roast to perfection basting the juices along the roasting process.

After all this, would you be surprised if I said that Turkey is not R's favorite bird to roast? The girls and I agree that our favorites are the Orange-Cranberry Sauce with a slice of moist turkey, Greens, Butternut squash ravioli and Pecan Pie with fresh whipped cream.. Yumm.....  Last year I designed my Thanksgiving meal around Indian spices rubbing it all over the bird before roasting it. The bird looked heavenly on the table but now the display is less  like Thanksgiving!!

As usual, we go through good times and bad but this year had its share of ups and downs too. So when I go over the events since last Thanksgiving, I am surely thankful for recouperating from the Earth Quake, surviving Natural calamities like hurricanes, and the Snowmageddon Blizzard I drove in for hours just to get home. I am happy just to be together with my family.

   
I apologize for not posting all of my Greek Mezze recipes yet. But before I get to my Butternut Squash Ravioli photos and the rest of the Thanksgiving meal,  I must leave you all for a short time.  I am flying to India tomorrow to spend a couple of weeks with my Mother at the same time enjoy her home cooked meals!!! I promise to have interesting photos of my travel and new recipes when I get back !!
Happy Holidays!