yea, I was hoping the title caught your attention. And I figure with my being MIA I owe you, my fabulous followers, a fun post and recap!
For those who are new around here, this recipe was taken from _the 50 shades of chicken_ cookbook that my lovely husband got me years ago. My mother in law was visiting for the holiday and why not a roast chicken??!! This was pretty good: you mix Dijon mustard with fresh chopped basil, garlic (lots), olive oil and a splash of white wine and you smear (or spank) it all over your bird. I’ve started separating the skin from the breast and thighs/legs and putting the seasoning there to add extra flavor and to keep things nice and juicy. I think next time I’ll up the herbs and marinate either earlier in the morning or overnight because the flavore really didn’t penetrate all the way through.
visiting with oma is thumbs up!
Which brings me to thanksgiving (and of course no pics. I suck.). I swear, the day before AND the day ocbmj f thanksgiving are my favorite days of the year. I look forward to making a menus, chopping, prepping, sautéing my way through recipes. It’s so calming for me that I can’t understand how people freak out about it! Planning helps a lot!
So I normally start the day before to knock out some dishes so I’m not spending all day in the kitchen on Thursday. Last year we went to the beach, came home, started the turkey and all was awesome.
Here was our turkey day line-up. I’ve been in a bit of a Pioneer Woman kick so I used a few of her recipes. Here we go!
– Turkey brine via Alton brown. I will ONLY do my turkey this way and if you invite me to your house I’ll insist on doing the turkey. Just sayin.
– Spinach artichoke dip for a pre-dinner snack.
– Cranberry sauce. I added more sugar because my orange was quite tart.
– Green bean casserole. Uhm, YUM!
– Dressing. I used this as a base and added mushrooms and omitted the clove and nutmeg. So earthy and flavorful!
– Spice infused sangria. Because you need a good libation. And the fruit is oh so delicious!
– the gravy I just improvised using the turkey drippings, mixing in flour to form a roux, rosemary and thyme from the garden, and butterrrrrr. Mmmmmmm.
I was planning on mashed potatoes but my crew were napping late and I lost motivation. Lol. But there was more than enough of oh so yummy goodness!
It was a great day and a great week with oma!
mojitos!
gabriela’s furst virgin pina colada.
Hope everyone had a fabulous turkey day and I’m glad to be back! ❤️
My kitchen musings! 
Well, good morning and welcome back! Sounds like you had a wonderful time with family and oh how I’d love to go the beach on Thanksgiving. Your recipes sound delicious. When we used to eat chicken we’d make up a spicy jerk sauce and marinate overnight and slow cook on the grill. It really does get the flavor all through the meat.
Thanks for the comment, Barbara! Yum, jerk chicken! My husband and dad loves anything jerk and spicy so I’ll have to try that. Do you mind sharing your recipe for the marinade; I’d really love to try it out!! Have a great day!
Hi, Jen~ I guess I don’t follow recipes but the consistency of the sauce should be little like mustard but a little runnier. I take barbeque sauce, diced hot peppers, hot sauce, soy sauce, about 2tsp. all spice, garlic, thyme, and black pepper. You can taste it to see if you want it hotter or adjust seasonings. The hotter the better for hubby and me. You can add some ketchup if you like, too. Mix well in a large zip lock bag or container then put cut up chicken parts into mixture coating well and marinate over night stirring occasionally. Really slow cook it, being careful to not catch the sauce on fire. You probably can cook in an over, too. Hope that helps!
This sounds great! My husband and father love love hot and spicy but I’m more on the mild side. Crazy weird. I’ll definitely be trying this. I’ll let you know how it turns out! Thank you so much for sharing!!
You are welcome!!
Oh, you can add some cumin and chili powder as well. Let me know how it turns out 🙂