Brine

Anne Marie asked what I thought of the brines, which is cool because I completely forgot to update you guys on those.

The Apple Brine is a long time fav of ours. We first tried it about 5 years ago and have been hooked ever since. The key is to not use the full amount of sugar. Use no more than 1 cup of sugar. We also brined it for about 36 hours which I don't think was better or worse than the usual 24 hours. It sure made it fast to put in the oven in the morning. Just rinse, pat dry, and chuck that baby in.

The maple brine wasn't bad but no where near as good as the apple brine. Man thought that the maple was too strong, which is interesting what with all the other flavors competing in there. Though the drippings from this one made the best gravy I've ever had.

Peas and mushrooms were (in my opinion) very tastey.

We just used the basic recipe for cranberry sauce. (berries, sugar, water, dash of salt)

Rolls were our favs: Unknownchef86's Very Best Dinner Rolls. These are super easy, very forgiving, and fast to cook.

Stuffing was Stove Top, my fav kind of stuffing.

Steamed corn, with optional butter and salt.

And I think I already posted the mashed potato recipe.

The sweet potatoes were simple: microwave until soft, let rest until cool enough to handle. Peel, mash, put in casserole with enough brown sugar to sweeten to taste, top with marshmallows and brown the top briefly.

We're still eating the leftovers, 4 days later. :)