It's Sneaking Up on Me, I Can Feel it...

It's about to pounce...  That time of year when all heck breaks loose around here.  After Halloween begins the long downhill slide of merriment until the New Year arrives.  We've got two birthday parties to attend, one to throw, two more small home birthday celebrations to deal with, Thanksgiving, 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, 25 days of Advent, Christmas, and the arrival of our dear friends for a week-long visit all between now and next year.  Plus there's supposed to be school, martial arts, piano lessons, and swim lessons in there somehow.  And all you guys out there probably have similar schedules!  It's just that time of year.  It's the most wonderful time of the year.  It's going to kill me.  And I wouldn't change a minute of it if you paid me.

One thing I'm doing different this year for Thanksgiving is that we're actually going to have real live guests here with us for dinner finally.  Since my husband and I got married, we have always had people over for Thanksgiving.  Every year a revolving list of friends has feasted with us depending on what family plans people had.  One year we had one person.  Our largest gathering was 10.  When we moved to Washington though, we just never found anyone who could join us.  Everybody had family here and plans.  But this year I ordered a turkey.  And not just any turkey.  One of these turkeys:

Photo Courtesy: R Heritage Farm

That's right, folks.  One of these beautiful animals is ours.  My friends Monique and Ben at R Heritage Farm are selling heritage, GMO-free, pastured turkeys.  (I hear there may even be a few left if anyone's interested.)  Note how colorful they are.  How they are roaming around completely cage-free on green stuff I understand some people call "grass."  They may occasionally (try not to faint, y'all) eat a bug.  If I'm going to cook an animal, this is how I want it to be raised.  Pay attention, farmers.  If one of these gorgeous, grumpy gobblers is going to give his life to feed my family, I wanted to make darn sure none of him was wasted so I put the word out on facebook and lo and behold we had a friend in town!  I am so excited to be having guests again I can hardly contain myself.

I am going to cook the bird low and slow just like the good old days and I will probably trot out lots of traditional (yet vegetarian) sides to go with it.  I'll post a picture of the bird once it's done if I can get one before the horde descends.  To inspire you a little, here are some recipes I've made in the last few years.

Mains:

Apple and Sage Roast Chicken

Simple Roast Chicken

Sides:

Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic Vinegar	Roast Fennel
Roast Vegetables with Quince	Vegetarian Mushroom Gravy
Pears	Five-Minute Cranberry Sauce
Pears with Ricotta Cheese and Chestnuts	Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

Breads:

Whole Wheat Bread	Pumpkin and Sage Cornbread
Pumpkin and Sage Cornbread Dressing	Simple Cornbread Dressing

Desserts:

Pumpkin Not-Pie Dessert	No-Bake Cheesecake with Soft Orange Cookie Crust
Rhubarb Kumquat Crisp with Goat Cheese	Pumpkin Mousse

Hopefully, I'll get a few new ones posted soon!