Splitting Thanks

Since my parents got divorced in 1995, I've been swapped back and forth till I was, what my parents decided, of age to choose for myself. I can't remember when that day was, but I think it was when my older brother graduated high school back in 2003.

To make things easy, my brother and I just kept with the switching back and forth between our parents. Since I've been away at college, my brother and I have been making our own separate decisions and I've, for the most part, been going to my Dad's family's thanksgiving for the past two years because my Dad's parents have been pretty sick.

After they passed away this past year, I decided it was much past due that I spend some time with my Mom on Thanksgiving. She doesn't have any family up here, so I figured it would be a nice calm dinner, just her and I.

The best part about my mom's home cooking is that it's pretty much all socially righteous food in my eyes, which makes it even better.

The back bone of the meal, the turkey, was raised organic and free-range. I'm pretty sure everyone knows what organic means, and free-range is essentially organic. It just means that the turkey, instead of being caged, is free to roam about a field, and eat freely.

The turkey was raised on a farm called Diestel Family Turkey Farm in Sonora.

My mom in high school always roasted free range chickens from the same farm, and they were delicious compared to brands like Butterball or Foster Farms, which my dad tended to buy more. So I would get a pretty good side by side comparison.

The turkey, unfortunately, is something my mom deals solely with, but I had some say in the sides to the meal, which I will share a few with you.

The sides we dined on in addition to the turkey were sweet potatoes,
Brussels sprouts, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

The Brussels sprouts were surprisingly easy to make, and although most people cringe at the word, the condensed vegetable's sour, tart punch is softened, but not silenced, in the skillet when it's grilled. The best way to cook it is to slice it in half and dice some onions up with it. Throw it all in the skillet and add a couple spoonfuls of balsamic vinaigrette. I've heard other people do it differently, but I've yet to explore the wonderful world of grilled Brussels sprouts.

Now, here is the part where it gets tricky. This is to your own taste. There is no doubt about it, the Brussels sprouts should be grilled all the way through but they can sit on the stove for hours if you really wanted them too. A lid can be added to cook the sprouts faster and create more of a convection within the pan, but the house smells better when the lids left off. Grill them to your liking, and if you want, you can always add more or less seasoning or balsamic vinaigrette to it.


And here's the kicker, cranberry sauce doesn't always have to come from a can. And it'll actually be good to. Crazy, even wild if you will. I asked my mom how she made it, and she said it's simple, a handful or two of cranberries, a bit of water, and some sugar all in a pan and wait for it to boil. The cranberries pop and make an amazing sauce. And you can season this, just like the prior, however you want it. no more tube shaped cranberry sauce!

So, next year, when your family asks you to bring a dish, create something that'll really blow their minds. You can even add on in a sort of Long Island accent, "Don't worry about the can opener Ma, I've got the cranberry sauce covered."