Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving is two day away and yesterday I started prepping all my meals. I don't fully cook them because I want them to be fresh Thanksgiving Day so I cook them in steps. Thanksgiving morning all I will have to do is put all the ingredients together, cook or bake them. Everything will taste as if I slaved over the stove and prepared it all that day.

I started with sautéing onions, celery and mushrooms for the stuffing. I add the sage and butter, and then in a container it went until Thursday. On Thursday all I will have to do is take the bag of Pepperidge Farm turkey stuffing mix, cook it with turkey broth instead of water, add my sautéed vegetables and done. Perfect and delicious!

I boiled my eggs for my deviled eggs.  I put the in the fridge until Thursday when I will make them. 

This year I decided to make cream of mushroom soup. I sautéed the mushrooms and in the fridge they went.

The next item I prepped for was the stuffed mushrooms.
I sautéed a small onion, diced into small pieces.

I added four slices of bread, 1/4 cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of dry parsley, salt and pepper to taste.  I cook this for just a few minutes to get everything blended.

1/2 lbs of ground beef.  I grind my own beef in a food processor.

   

   

You can buy ground beef and mix the bread mixture together and stuff your mushrooms. You will end up with the same taste.


I use a food processor because I like my meat 99.9% lean. As I am grinding my meat in the food processor I add 1/4 cup of olive oil. The meat needs a small amount of fat. I add back in the healthier fats from Olive oil. Once the meat is grinded I now add the bread mixture and pulse a few times to blend.

I then take a spoon and stuff the mushrooms with the beef and put them in a sealed container for Thursday morning when I will put them in the oven at 350 degrees until the tops are golden brown approximately 40 minutes.

Today I am starting on my candied sweet potatoes. I will start by cutting 6 potatoes into very large chunks. Then I will par boil them for 15 minutes. Don't cook them all the way. They will become to soft and very dry when you bake them on Thursday. Once they are done cooking, drain the water and set them aside to cool. While the sweet potatoes are boiling I mix up a batch of the sugar that these sweet potatoes will marinade and bake in. Mix together 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, three tablespoons of melted butter, 1/2 cup of water. Stir until everything is dissolved. Put the cooled potatoes in an air tight container then pour the sugar mixture over the potatoes and refrigerate until you are ready to bake on Thursday. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until tender all the way through. I will post the prep pictures later today.