Thanksgiving, two weeks after the fact

I never got around to posting pictures of our modest Thanksgiving. Here it is, two weeks after the fact, and a reader was asking about it, so here goes.

The menu this year was simple: Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, green beans, wild rice stuffing, bread stuffing, biscuits, and dinner rolls.

Naturally much of this spread is made the day before. Here I'm working on "half-time spoon rolls." Letting the dough rise:

Second rising:

Baked and brushed with melted butter:

Bread stuffing starts with a loaf of fresh bread. Other ingredients: Homegrown sage, homemade turkey stock, homegrown onion, homemade butter. I'm sensing a theme here, aren't you?

The bread stuffing is for Don and Older Daughter. Oddly it's while making bread stuffing each year when I piercingly miss Younger Daughter the most. She used to love snitching uncooked bread stuffing.

Older Daughter doesn't like onions, but Don does, so I always divide the pan.

My particular indulgence (which no one else likes) is wild rice stuffing. It's my once-a-year treat.

Since I had so much homemade butter, I slathered it on the turkey before baking.

Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without a dog that just "happens" to park itself in the middle of the kitchen floor. Y'know, in case something falls.

After the turkey went into the oven, we had a chance to talk with Younger Daughter at her European duty station. It was late in the evening for her, and she had already had a "Friendsgiving" celebration earlier in the day.

Turkey, finished.

Older Daughter likes to make fancy folds in the napkins while setting the table.

At last we all sat down for our feast.

A few days after Thanksgiving, I finally got around to canning turkey stock. I had frozen random chicken and turkey carcasses for the last two or three years, so I pulled them all out of the freezer and chucked them in my biggest stock pot. I let them simmer all night long.

I added a splash of apple cider vinegar to help draw the nutrients out of the bones. By morning, it was a rick broth indeed.

I started straining the broth by putting everything through a colander over another stock pot.

Lots of meat bits left on the bone, so I separated some for Mr. Darcy.

Believe me, I went through those scraps with a fine-tooth comb. I didn't want him swallowing any bone shards.

I wasn't sure how many jars I'd need, so I washed a lot. My canner holds 18 pints at a time, so I washed not quite double that.

I started filling canning jars with hot turkey stock...

...but then realized there was just a bit too much fat in the stock. Instead, I put the stock outside to chill overnight to let the fat rise to the surface. The next morning, I skimmed it off.

Filling the jars.

First batch out of the canner. I always pressure-can my turkey stock for 75 minutes (pints), the same as I would for meat. That's because, even though the stock is liquid, there are lots of tiny meat bits in it. I don't want to take chances.

Second batch.

Beautiful golden stock, enough to last us a couple of years at least.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was equally blessed.