Report Card

BREAKING NEWS:  John can answer the phone and says "hel-whoa"...then when asked how are you doing he replies "Fine."  Then after telling everyone that "aunt day" is on the phone, he says "Bye-bye" and click you are gone...

Any time I attempt a new dish, Andrew gives me a grade on it (which I love - if it worked - we will have it again, if it failed, I throw away the recipe).  After stuffing ourselves full of turkey (well not so much turkey), dressing, hashbrown casserole, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and pumpkin bread pudding - he gave me the most amazing, totally unexpected grade ever - 99!! Here's the story -

Grand total - 18 eggs, 1 quart of heavy cream, 5 sticks of butter, 6 tablespoons of bourbon (in three different dishes), 4 cups of sugar, 2 cups of brown sugar, 2 cups of cheese, 2 cups of sour cream - yep that makes for a wonderful meal!!


The turkey breast that was supposed to cook in 2 hours on 325, took 3.5 hours on 325, then 350, then 375, then 400, then 425.  The moral to this story - I need double ovens.  However, it was moist, juice, and full of flavor once it was finally done after we had eaten all the sides.  I used an apple, Serrano pepper, and sage glaze on it - amazing!!

The dressing - aka 2005 Mama Ouzts Dressing - was perfect.  Mrs. Susan spent 4 or 5 years trying to get the recipe just right...she wasn't given much help - the original recipe said a dash, a little bit, and our all time favorite - "until good and juicy."  So lucky for me, she has already figured out what "good and juicy" means - and I quote from Mrs. Susan's recipe "similar to a lumpy cake batter."  Prior to putting it in the oven I declared it a success and sure enough Andrew said, "Its a 99.9% and if you had gravy it would be 100%"  but then he realized that it didn't require gravy and he was pleased.

The hashbrowns are the usual - thanks to Mom for the recipe - they are better than Cracker Barrel and super easy to make if you have a large enough mixing bowl and can brave tossing frozen hashbrowns with your hands.

The sweet potatoes were super yummy and I learned that most people don't peel, boil, and mash their own sweet potatoes - I've never been known to take the easy road...well...

The green beans - Glory brand straight from the can...easy road...

Pumpkin Bread Pudding - with homemade pumpkin bread - enough said...but gotta mention the bourbon maple cream sauce - okay now enough said...