It is another small Thanksgiving for us, just me, my husband, and son (don’t worry, I will be spending plenty of time with our girls and our friends over the next month – and I will be with my daughter and granddaughter in Sweden in February). But, for now, Thanksgiving is quiet. That is no reason not to have a full Thanksgiving meal. In fact, it means more leftover turkey to play with!

My pomegranate molasses turkey recipe starts 3 days before Thanksgiving (that’s Monday), with salting and wrapping the turkey. It then sits in the fridge for 2 days before spending a day unwrapped and drying out. The result is a beautiful and absolutely delicious bird.

In order to minimize my work on Thursday, since there would be plenty, I made a sweet potato pie on Tuesday and cranberry sauce on Wednesday. The pie is from the Monday Morning Cooking Club’s It’s Always About The Food (the cookbook that I have a Khoresh Bademjun recipe in). Fr cranberry sauce, I have decided that I like my mom’s simple recipe best (it’s probably the one she got off a bag of cranberries in the 70’s): bring 12 ounces of cranberries, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of orange juice to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and let it cool. Refrigerate. It doesn’t get any easier than that, and it always tastes good.

For the bread, I made a simple sourdough discard bread (also on Wednesday, because on Thursday I made an herbed cheese sourdough for the weekend – yes, I know, why add yet another cooking project to Thursday? I just can’t help myself).

The sides were new trials. Creamed spinach from the same Monday Morning Cooking Club book and a yapsuk – a Polish potato dish from the Jewish Food Society’s website. Both were really tasty. The yapsuk had a crispy outside and a soft, creamy inside, almost like a really thick, back latke. The creamed spinach was especially good spread on top of the bread.

My favorite bite of the night was turkey, cranberry sauce, and spinach – the flavors and textures melded perfectly together.

It is Thanksgiving and time to reflect. What am I thankful for this year? So many things. Of course, I am thankful for my incredibly supportive family, really good friends, both old and new, for all of you who take the time to read my blogs, and for this journey I am on building my forest therapy business. Until next Thanksgiving, I wish you peace, love, health, and joy…and laughter!