Originally Posted by
Cloudship
My mother made the best stuffing ever. I crave it sometimes. But she has cancer and no longer cooks - this year we might not even be able to enjoy a real family dinner. For the first time in my memory I am dreading the holidays. I just cant imagine it without her or her turkey and stuffing.
I think Turkey and stuffing is just one of those things you can't fancy up. It fills the soul, and the simpler it is, the better a job at that it does.
Spend as much time as you can with her and ask her for her stories on cooking for the holidays and for her recipes. She'll be with you for every thanksgiving when you recreate her recipes
I do different Turkey and stuffing every year because we celebrate both Canadian (Oct) and American (Nov) Thanksgiving. Plus, the MIL is really insecure and competitive (not a good combination) and does turkey one way and one way only
So when I make turkey I always do something
very different that she can label as blasphemous
. Plus, sometimes we have turkey at x'mas too and that's turkey 3 months in a row....
One of my more traditional recipes is a sweet Italian sausage stuffing with fennel and orange with fresh cranberries. Gravy is sweet onion riesling reduction. It's still considered weird for the MIL but it's a situation that works for us
I think the last time I made a "traditional" turkey was our first thanksgiving together that I cooked and the MIL had some sort of fit.