It's almost Thanksgiving! Brine vs. no brine, plus how to cook a turkey

I just looked up from all my packing/moving and realized it's almost Thanksgiving. I'll be celebrating with my fam in Virginia--it'll be my only holiday celebration this year, since I'll be working for Christmas and New Year's.

We'll probably eat fresh venison all week long--why buy a turkey when there's a freezer full of meat? But for those of you planning to be all traditional and stuff, here's a great article about brine vs. no brine for your turkey.

Also, here's how to cook a turkey.

Rotini with spaghetti squash

Or, as I like to think of it, plain old pasta with a little extra veg.

Because spaghetti squash has such a spaghetti-like texture, it goes beautifully either with or instead of pasta. For a gluten-free vegetarian experience, shred it and top it with spaghetti sauce. For extra veg, mix it with your usual pasta and add sauce.

You could even get fancy and add a little greenery, some fresh arugula or spinach, maybe.

I just roasted a spaghetti squash, shredded it, mixed it with a box of cooked rotini, and topped with my usual sauce.

"Soup greens"

I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up a couple of things and discovered a new grocery store creation: "soup greens."

This is a store-made package of various (old) produce that could go into a pot of soup, all of which I'm assuming are too old/blemished to sell individually. Because I went in for a couple of things to throw into a pot of soup, I grabbed one.

For $2.99, I got two carrots, half a stalk of celery, one-quarter of a leek, a turnip, an onion, most of a big parsnip, and some parsley and dill.

Not the greatest quality, but perfectly acceptable for a pot of soup. I added a can of red beans, a handful of wheatberries, half a bag of frozen spinach, and broth.

Then I made a big batch of garlic bread with a free loaf of ciabatta from work.

We've finished packing!

We've packed everything that can be packed. Our moving cube doesn't arrive for twelve more days, but we'll spend most of next week at my parents' house in Virginia for Thanksgiving.

I got a new laptop yesterday--my old one, purchased in 2006, still technically worked, but couldn't pick up a wireless signal. So, not really a laptop anymore. I'm spending the next couple of days getting that set up, transferring files, blah blah blah.

And we're eating the last of everything. Meals include grilled sausage plus the last of the grits plus frozen green beans; pasta; salad; and one last batch of soup. I'm not sure what we're going to eat when we return from Virginia, for those last four or five days. Perhaps we'll commandeer some Thanksgiving leftovers.

Bacon, potato and red pepper hash

Ah, hash. I've made white bean breakfast hash, sausage and potato hash, blue potato and corn hash, even sweet potato hash. Really just an excuse to eat crispy-fried potatoes, with other things.

This hash is one of those everything-left-in-the-fridge dishes. I simultaneously used up the rest of the potatoes, the bacon, two giant red peppers, and half a bag of frozen lima beans. And because I'll put a fried egg on top, the rest of the eggs, too.

Feel free to use this as a template, to empty your own refrigerator.

Dice some potatoes, and boil in water until almost but not quite cooked through. Drain. Fry some bacon. Remove the actual bacon and saute one diced onion and two diced red peppers in the bacon grease. When soft, add the potatoes back in, and any frozen veggies. Keep the heat on high and keep an eye on it. Stir it enough to keep it from burning, but not so much that you keep it in constant motion--you want a nice brown sear on everything. (I also threw in four diced mushrooms, just 'cause.)

When sufficiently browned, season with salt and pepper, crumble the cooked bacon on top, and serve with an egg on top. Good any time of day.

What we've made from selling our crap

So far, $2600.

Not bad, huh? I'd much rather have the $2600 than have to move all that stuff right now.

The late-night wrap

I engage in quite a bit of late-night dining. Waiting tables is like that. I eat staff meal at 3 pm, and then nothing. I run my ass off for the next eight or ten hours, and then I need to eat something as I'm driving an hour home. Preferably something with protein.

These days, it's a wrap, a piece of cheese, and an apple. The wrap (Stop n' Shop-brand flour tortillas, $1.50 for 8) is filled with salad greens, maybe some nuts and/or dried fruit, and either a cooked egg or some cheese, for the protein. I roll that up, wrap it in plastic wrap, and leave it in the car--it's cold enough to do that now. I keep a water bottle in the car, too. When snack time comes, I can cover all the major food groups--I have fresh fruit, greens, dairy, and protein (eggs and cheese).

Most importantly, none of these things will make a mess in the car.