The high was a balmy 29° F today so we decided it was a great day to smoke a turkey.
Dean got the grill going with an indirect heat set-up. I spatchcocked our little turkey. Oiled it up and put on a a Spice Island turkey rub. And then we smoked it for 4 hours.
Naked and oily.
After four hours I put it in a moderate oven for about 45 mins while I finished the sides.
Smoked spiced turkey.
I made a potato salad reminiscent of Grandma’s but not quite as much mustard and not totally mashed. Then I worked super hard to open the can of Bush’s baked beans to round out the meal. BBQ sauce and an olive/pickle tray and bam, dinner’s ready!
Well maybe not 10,000 but certainly a lotke of latkes.
We had our favorite everything bagels latkes, plain latkes with sour cream, Reuben latkes, pizza latkes and chili cheese latkes. Plus tater tots, which are basically mini latkes. And more plain latkes.
This was the year for latkes for us. And donuts, don’t forget the donuts.
Way back in October, Lil Mister asked for a pumpkin when grocery shopping. I asked him why did he want a pumpkin? And he replied because he wanted a pie. So of course we got a pumpkin. It sat on the table for fall decor until Thanksgiving.
Lil Mister’s pumpkin, preparing for the slaughter.
He had bugged me almost daily for a month as to when we’d make his pie. When I told him we were getting the pumpkin ready for pie making he got really excited.
Top off.
I honestly expected him to reach into the seeds and “guts” as we call the pumpkin insides and declare it too gross for him and quit. Well he did say that it felt gross and weird but he persevered. He emptied that pumpkin with some assistance from Lil Bit.
Peeling the pumpkin
Then we started the peeling process, which took a while. He helped until the whole thing was peeled and chunked up. It filled the instapot to the max line. Mom set it to cook and then started in on the rest of Thanksgiving dinner.
Mashing the cooked pumpkin. That’s my cool birthday gift from Mo in the background. She decoupaged some recipes I found out at Dad’s cabin onto an old spoon rack. I can’t wait to put it up in my kitchen!
Needless to say, Mom had way too much to do for Turkey dinner and we decided to let the pie wait until the next day (Mom’s birthday) for pie making.
Lil Mister was bright eyed and bushy tailed the next day, ready for pie making. Mom had to go work on a tile project so Big Sis took the reigns and she and Lil Mister made two pumpkin pies, one gluten free.
They did an amazing job, the pies turned out nicely, even after a last minute adjustment, Big Sis forget eggs in the wheat pie… But it all turned out good.
Sadly, I didn’t get any pics of the finished pies. Trust me that they were delicious and didn’t last long. Mom rather likes pumpkin pie for her birthday. And Lil Mister was super proud of himself for making pumpkin pie from scratch!
Darkness enfolds us as we fall deep into our winter sleep. I don’t mind, this is supposed to be our resting season. Officially under 6 hours of daylight today.
Solstice will be here soon and then we can begin counting up.
Alaska on my mind... 