What are you thankful for this year?

Date: November 26, 2015

Author: Bobbi Holmes

Wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving!

I belong to a local woman’s group—the Woman’s Network Exchange of Arizona. It’s Mission Statement explains its purpose best: To provide a forum wherein women may enter into an exchange of philosophies, with an enlarged and diverse circle of friends and acquaintances, for the purpose of attaining success in business and in life. We also raise money to fund scholarships for local women.

At our last meeting we were urged to write down three things every day that we’re thankful for. I’ve been doing that on my private Facebook page.

To be honest, I’m grateful for many things this year. Since it’s Thanksgiving Day, I’ll mention just a few that I am particularly thankful for this year.

I’m thankful I have two breasts and didn’t have to undergo chemotherapy. Last year at this time I thought I was possibly facing a mastectomy and chemo. As it turned out, I only had a lumpectomy and radiation—no chemo.

I’m thankful my Haunting Danielle series has been so well received by the readers. How lucky am I to be able to make a living doing what I love?

I’m thankful our children are doing so well—and our grandchildren. Our granddaughter started kindergarten this year and she is so happy and thriving. And our grandson, who struggled with speech because of ear issues, is doing so much better now that he has tubes in his ears, and his food allergies seemed to have subsided.

I’m thankful my husband is my best friend. We will be married 40 years this summer—I think it is pretty amazing that I’m not only still in love with him—I genuinely like him.

I’m thankful my mother is still with us. So many of my friends have lost both parents—my husband lost his last parent last year. Mom is in relatively good health, and I am thankful she is able to have a real relationship with her great-grandchildren.

There are so many other things I am grateful for—my sister, family, friends, our home—I feel blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(Starring in the JibJab video: Me, my husband, mother, daughter and son–should I tell them they are in the video???)

Careful when stuffing that turkey!

Date: November 25, 2015

Author: Bobbi Holmes

Categories: Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes

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If you’ve already started to prepare Thanksgiving dinner, don’t be tempted to stuff your bird with dressing the night before. Even if you put the bird immediately into the refrigerator to keep it until it’s put in the oven on Thanksgiving day, you run a real risk of food poisoning. And seriously, do you really want to make your family sick?

This is the problem—when food reaches a certain temperature, bacteria starts growing. When you shove warm dressing into a cool bird, the dressing’s temperature encourages the bacteria to grow. It’s simply not possible to cool down the dressing quick enough while sitting in the bird. Basically, it’s a nice little incubator to grow bacteria.

Stuff your turkey in the morning, right before you put the bird in the oven. Or, you can do what I do, and skip the stuffing part, to speed up your cooking and prep time, allowing you to spend more time with your family and friends on Thanksgiving day.

But it won’t taste as good, you say. It will if you use my trick.

Prepare your dressing and place in a casserole dish. Keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to put it in the oven.

After your turkey is finished roasting, drain off all the juice into a large glass jar. Let the juice sit a moment, so that the fat rises to the top of the jar.

Remove the fat—use a portion of it to make roux for your gravy, and spread a portion of the fat it over your dressing, right before you put it in the oven. I normally poke the dressing with a knife, making holes of sort, so that when I spoon the fat over the dressing, the fat will seep down into the dressing while it cooks. How much to use? That is a personal choice.

Your bird can sit while you prepare your gravy, get the potatoes and other side dishes together, and while your dressing is in the oven. Normally, the dressing will be done by the time you are ready to call everyone to the table. But keep an eye on it; you may need to turn the oven off if it gets too brown on top. I normally bake the dressing at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until piping hot and lightly brown on top.

Enjoy!

Have you thawed your turkey?

Date: November 24, 2015

Author: Bobbi Holmes

Categories: Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes

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Thanksgiving is just two days away, and if your turkey is still sitting in the freezer, you may not have enough time to thaw it in the refrigerator—and you really shouldn’t let it sit out at room temperature.

According to the Butterball website, your turkey will need to sit in the refrigerator about one day for every four pounds. This means, if your frozen turkey is over 8 pounds, it won’t be thawed in time for Thanksgiving.

But don’t despair! You still have time to safely thaw your turkey—it is the method we used in our restaurant. Place your turkey—still in the wrapper, unopened—in cold water. The turkey should be completely covered with water. Change the water every 30 minutes to keep the turkey chilled. This will take about 30 minutes per pound for the turkey to thaw. Do not use warm or hot water!

Happy cooking!

(Photo: Grandma Hilda and Grandpa Pete Meredith.)