Thanksgiving Agenda / Black Friday

Every year I cook a turkey for Thanksgiving and every year I say I’m going to make it different. One year I cooked it in an oven bag which turned out very moist and all the natural juices stayed in. One year I stuffed it with veggies which I rather cook them separately. Most of the years I just cook it by following recipes courtesy of The Food Network chefs, or The Butterball website.

I always tell myself I’m going to make cornish hens and never do. I also say I’m going save myself time and buy a fried turkey because I always wanted to try that but never do. I also wanted to try a jerk turkey but never got around to that.

My job gives the staff frozen turkeys every year and when I say frozen I mean frozen. I need at least 2 to 3 days to thaw it out then at least a day or two to marinate but sometimes we don’t receive our turkey on time so I always need a backup. That’s where Pathmark comes in. If you spend a certain amount you receive a free turkey. There are also a lot of places giving away free turkeys and pantries as well.

One year my sister won a ready made turkey with all the trimmings already seasoned. All I had to do was heat it up but I already had my turkey marinated and ready to cook so I cooked it anyway and gave my cousin and her family the ready made turkey. She was very thankful.

My cousins, and my older son’s friend who I raised for a while come over every year to eat. I enjoy cooking very much.

This year I guess I will do a traditional turkey, stuffing, green beans with garlic, mashed potatoes and gravy, or rice pilaf, macaroni and cheese, corn bread, or rolls, another type of meat, maybe collard greens, of course desserts, sparkling cider. We’re not a cranberry sauce family but I make it anyway for whoever comes over and request some. I’ll probably wind up making more than this.

I will take pictures don’t worry.

I also need to be prepared for Black Friday so I don’t want to overeat.
I usually keep it local for Black Friday. I go to my mall a few blocks away. There’s a Target, Marshalls, Costcos, Famous Footwear, Old Navy, Game Stop, etc, etc. Burlington Coat Factory is coming soon in place of Best Buy. I did good last year at the mall. I waited later in the day and it wasn’t crowded.

Now I just need to go grocery shopping 🙂