HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
May your day be filled with family, friends, laughter, love and happiness. x
Tag: Thanksgiving (page 3 of 5)
Maybe more famous now then during her lifetime, Hollywood starlet, Marilyn Monroe seems as at home in the kitchen as she did on the silver screen. Auctioned off during a 1999 sale of her personal effects at Christie’s, heralded two well used cookbooks and a set of bright yellow enameled Le Creuset pots and pans. She had a love affair that fans never knew of, she was a kitchen goddess, long before it became a “thing” to be.
I know that today, for many, is a day of preparation and if I was at home celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, we would already be in the kitchen working away on family favourite’s and much loved recipes. In case you are looking for something new this year or haven’t quite finalized that Thanksgiving menu, I thought I would share this little recipe.
This recipe, like a recipe from your grandmother or mother, is scrawled on letterhead from an insurance company, probably the nearest thing she had to hand. Recipes written on the back of receipts or in the margins of a book always seem to me, the best kinda recipes! And like many old recipes I have, there is not a clear step-by-step directive, but you can still follow along or hazard a guess at her meaning. However, the NY Times Cooking section has researched and refined her scribbling in to an exact recipe and I shall include that below, in case you don’t have the time or inclination to decipher this yourself.
{Recipe Image From “Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters by Marilyn Monroe”}
Marilyn Monroe’s Stuffing, Matt Lee and Ted Lee
INGREDIENTS
- A 10-ounce loaf sourdough bread
- ½ pound chicken or turkey livers or hearts
- ½ pound ground round or other beef
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 4 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 cups chopped curly parsley
- 2 eggs, hard boiled, chopped
- 1 ½ cups raisins
- 1 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 ¼ cups chopped walnuts, pine nuts or roasted chestnuts, or a combination
- 2 teaspoons dried crushedrosemary
- 2 teaspoons dried crushed oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried crushed thyme
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon salt-free, garlic-freepoultry seasoning (or 1 teaspoon dried sage, 1 teaspoon marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg)
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon pepper
PREPARATION
- Split the bread loaf in half and soak it in a large bowl of cold water for 15 minutes. Wring out excess water over a colander and shred into pieces.
- Boil the livers or hearts for 8 minutes in salted water, then chop until no piece is larger than a coffee bean.
- In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef in the oil, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat, so no piece is larger than a pistachio.
- In your largest mixing bowl, combine the sourdough, livers, ground beef, celery, onion, parsley, eggs, raisins, Parmesan and nuts, tossing gently with your hands to combine. Whisk the rosemary, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper together in a bowl, scatter over the stuffing and toss again with your hands. Taste and adjust for salt. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use as a stuffing or to bake separately as dressing. To serve as a dressing, pile about two quarts of the mixture into a 9-inch square baking dish and bake at 350 degrees until the top is evenly browned, about 1 hour.
The house has been filled with the sounds of Christmas music today. The candles are lit, the pumpkin pie has been baked, fresh vanilla whipped cream is in the fridge and the turkey is in the oven along with carrots which are roasting in an orange juice and brown sugar glaze.
The mashed potatoes are being kept warm and the stuffing and other sides are in their final stages as well. We are celebrating Thanksgiving today. Work has kept us from celebrating it sooner as Mr. Michie had a late school night on Thursday and a school commitment yesterday as well. So today is our Thanksgiving with each other. We have had a quiet day, which is something that doesn’t happen often, I have loved it!
On this first Sunday of Advent we are celebrating love, family, a roof over our heads, food on our table and the blessings of the Season.
{Image Pinned HERE}
I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, filled with love, laughter and many blessings. Jennifer x
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Just a few things that have caught my eye lately:
1. An adorable turkey by the lovely Jennifer Murphy // And other silly things…
2. Roasted turkey, cranberry and brie grilled cheese // Heather Christo
3. Blushing Pumpkin // French Kissed
4. 30 Table Ideas // Style me Pretty
5. Cranberry Sorbet Champagne Fizz // Annie’s Eats
6. Spice Pumpkin Layer Cake // Annie’s Eats
7. Thanksgiving Tablescapes // Cottage & Vine
Follow my Thanksgiving Board HERE // Follow me on Pinterest HERE.
I have a pumpkin pie in the oven, bread torn and drying out, ready to be turned into stuffing, Christmas music playing and I am cleaning the house and beginning to put away Fall in preparation for decorating for Christmas.
This afternoon we will celebrate Thanksgiving. We are a few days late, but it still counts!
I can’t believe that today marks the first day of Advent and the first day of December. Where has this year gone? It seems to have vanished with a blink of an eye! We are trying to keep things a bit more simplified this year. We even bought a chocolate Advent calendar instead of using Eglantine.
Which doesn’t sound like such a big deal, but it is for me. I love Christmas! Our house is usually decorated within every square inch of itself. However, I don’t think it will be that way this year. I love my new job, but it is keeping me very occupied. So something’s gotta give somewhere and that means that this year we are keeping the house decorating elegant yet simple.
Look what I’ve been pinning lately:
1. Thanksgiving Luminaries by Creature Comforts
2. Thanksgiving Florals, Design Sponge
3. Spiced Pumpkin Layer Cake, Annie’s Eats
4. Cranberry Orange Sherbet, Vintage Mixer
5. Sweet Potato Pie, Joy the Baker
My Monday wish came true, I got to eat a turkey sandwich! This year, that is all I truly wanted out of Thanksgiving, was a turkey sandwich and a slice of pumpkin pie. We left work last night in the pouring rain and got soaking wet waiting for the bus, I don’t know if my jacket will ever dry out! We came in, took off our wet clothes, threw on some pj bottoms and sweatshirts and heated up a little spinach and artichoke dip.
We snacked on that and talked about our day, then we worked on making some turkey sandwiches. I sliced the bread while Mr. Michie picked out a Christmas movie. It had been a long day, so we decided to just keep vegging out and stayed on the couch under our quilt to eat our delectable sandwiches made with the Thanksgiving leftovers and watched The Santa Claus. Our evening would not have been complete if we didn’t eat a slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream of course!
Today was such a long day, I am already ready for the weekend again, crazy isn’t it!
The candles are lit, an old Christmas movie is on at the moment, we are going to dig out Home for the Holidays later (a must to watch!), a turkey is roasting in the oven, my stuffing is going in soon. We have a little spinach and artichoke dip to snack on this afternoon that I made last night and our pumpkin pie is ready. We are going to celebrate Thanksgiving today and enjoy every moment of it!