Well, there was a turkey!
And it was from about 12 miles away. By the time I ordered the bird, all they had left were 20+ pounders. There were only four of us for dinner. Needless to say, are still eating turkey.
We are also still eating pie.
Did I mention there were only four of us? Nearly a whole pie per person!
Most of the meal was local, really. Not quite as local as last year, when I knew where pretty much everything came from. I had to miss the pre-Thanksgiving Winter Farmer’s Market for the Turkey Trot. But still, I’d say, pretty much all within 100 miles. Also, I ran out of chicken stock this year and had to call in the organic, store bought back up.
The menu (links are to the recipes I used – heavy on Food Network this year):
- Turkey: 12 miles
- Potatoes: Maine
- Butternut Squash: CSA squash, Cabot butter, chicken stock, from away
- Turnip Gratin: CSA turnips, Cabot butter and regional cream, Greyure, from away (turns out, even with cheese and cream, I just don’t love the turnips)
- Sausage, dried cranberry and apple stuffing (I toasted my own bread cubes rather than use bagged, as the recipe calls for): Rock Farm sausage, local bakery bread, NH apples, chicken stock, organic celery and leeks and dried cranberries: from away (a great recipe!)
- Homemade rolls from my father-in-law
- Honey spcied cranberry sauce: CSA cranberries, cider from Concord, NH, honey from Meredith, NH, spices from away
- Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart: CSA pumpkin, Cabot butter, regional cream, eggs from Sandwich, NH, banana, orange and spices from away (this is VERY yummy!)
- Two other pies homemade by my mother-in-law: mince and pecan
Phew…I’m full just thinking about it all again!
And then, on Friday, it snowed.
The old-timers say that snow right around Thanksgiving means a snowy winter. We’ll have to see. Last year’s winter was the snowiest on record in generations. We can only hope we’ll get a little less than that!
On to the Christmas planning now, I suppose. Ugh.
My mum had the same problem picking up a turkey at our local farm. A 28 pounder was the lightest one left! She cut it in half and roasted just one half of it for eight people. And their were leftovers. A lot! The thing was massive!
I’m glad you and yours had a nice holiday
Geez, Kim, you should have let us know we would have come over! I ordered a turkey from a local farm and ended up with a 23 pounder which is now in the freezer because my mom also reserved one for Thanksgiving. Of course, by the time they found the farm (they got very lost in Tamworth), I’m not sure it was technically “local” anymore!
Glad to hear you had a good day.
Our local turkey was 17.5 pounds and that was the largest one they had.
Sounds like you had a wonderful local Thanksgiving. Next year we aspire to be more local. The biggest obstacle we have is we go to someone else’s house who doesn’t care about local foods. I’m working on them!
I forgot to note the snow you got. We got a dusting here, nothing like what you have. Wolf is out preparing for the snow now by putting the plow on the truck.
G+N and HP: I should have invited all of you! Actually, we’ve still probably got enough to do it all over again… HP, I think we got our birds from the same place!
HH: Hope you had a great day, too. I hope putting the plow on early means you’ve jinxed the snow for a while!
I didn’t think it was possible to be hungry for *more* Thanksgiving food this soon after the big day, but here I am!
I lucked out and managed an 18-lb local turkey, which was surprising to me!
Hey, Jen – happy noshing! And thanks for stopping by the blog from the land of Cabot! Mmmmmm cheese. And butter. Mmmmmm butter!
Hi, Kim. Now that I’ve found your blog, you’ll be seeing me a lot more often!
Hi there! I’m excited to have found your blog through the Dark Days Challenge, hooray for uniting localvores!
especially the cranberry sauce. Can you share the recipe? Using cranberries throughout the winter seems to give that long period some spark.
I’m not a big turnip fan either. Have you tried the golden ones though? I saw them at my local farmers market last week, and they have much more of a sweet taste, somehow that “bite” of the purple-top variety isn’t as pronounced.
But…. your meal looks so good
Jen, that’s great!
Mangochild: If you click on the cranberry sauce link in the list above, it’ll take you right to the recipe. We still have some left – it’s awful good on vanilla ice cream!