Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Well, it's time to move on to the holidays.  Christmas is around the corner.  But I want to share a few last tips from this year's Thanksgiving.

Extra Turkey Breast Waiting to be Roasted

If you want lots of turkey sandwiches afterwards, consider buying an extra turkey breast.  The breast was surprisingly inexpensive.  I roasted it while we were enjoying our Thanksgiving meal.  

(Yes, I wish we had two ovens and didn't have to stage everything several layers high on the counters in our small kitchen.)

Thanksgiving Apple Pie

As far as pies go, I tried a few new things.

To keep pie crusts from burning, make a circle out of aluminum foil.  Tear off a sheet large enough to cover your pie plate, fold it in half, cut out a 9 or 10 circle, depending on the size of your pie plate, unfold, and place over the crust, if needed, during cooking.

Preheat a cookie sheet to go under the pie

For crisper bottoms for pies, preheat a cookie sheet in the oven, and place your pie on it.  Saw this tip on TV.  It really works!  I also added aluminum foil in case I had any spill over, for easy cleanup.

Be sure to chill pie crust after rolling it out

Chilling the pie crust is important, so I didn't skip this step this year. 

Brush with milk, then sprinkle with sugar

For a nice crust on apple pie, brush it with milk and sprinkle it with sugar.

Nicely Browned and It Doesn't Collapse

Here's how it will turn out.

Creamy Chunky Applesauce

With the leftover apples (about 8) and the leftover 1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk, Sarah and I made an experiment.  We peeled the apples, cooked them down until they were chunky, added the juice of one lemon, a pinch of salt, and the sweetened condensed milk.  The result was a delicious creamy applesauce.  Tasted great on its own, but also in oatmeal.

We have so much to be thankful for, and I am grateful that we had a such a nice Thanksgiving this year with kids and grandkids.  It was one of the best!

B