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All this holiday baking is making me hungry for some turkey and dressing, or dressin’ as we say in the South. 

We will be celebrating Thanksgiving on our own again this year.  Last year I was pregnant and our Thanksgiving Day feast turned into a fiasco. Because I was pregnant and about to have a baby in 5 days, I wasn’t going to cook. I couldn’t even if I wanted to.  I was told by a doctor not to move much less bake a 17 pound turkey.

My mom had purchased a turkey meal for us from a local grocery store that always makes the most delectable entrees and desserts, and all we had to do was pick it up. The meal looked oh so warm and delicious. Warm oven roasted turkey with juices flowing down the sides, big heapin’ steamy pot of mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh whole-berry cranberry sauce, moist cornbread dressin’, and a luscious looking holiday dessert were all very tempting on the brochures.

We scheduled the pickup for 10:30am, so we’d be stuffing our bellies by 11:00. My husband headed to the store a little after 10:15, so he could pick up a few other things before grabbing our delicious turkey dinner. He was handed a very large box at the deli counter.

He arrives home with the turkey, all of us eager to dig in.

As I start to open the box, I notice the box is somewhat cold. Do you see where this is headed?

The turkey was more than chilled. It was downright frozen. The side dishes were not even made in the store, but prepackaged crap, for lack of a better word. The kind of stuff that I’d never purchase, you know, like canned gravy (canned gravy on Thanksgiving????). That is just a crime. We, apparently, had wrongfully assumed (and you know what happens when you assume) the meal would be HOT and prepared AT the store.

I was not happy, and pregnancy hormones got the better of me at that moment. I called my Mama in Baton Rouge, and let’s just say you don’t want to mess with a redheaded Coonass who was just informed that the meal she lovingly purchased for her family in Nashville to enjoy on the thankfull-est of days was cold and canned.  She immediately called the store.

After a lengthy conversation to the manager of the grocery store, all was made right in the end, and that is why I’m not naming the store. However, one thing IS for certain. NEVER will we purchase a Thanksgiving meal from a grocery store. And said grocery store should change promotional materials to reflect the fact that the meal needs to be heated before eating.

Needless to say, I will be cooking and serving hot food this year.

This is one of our holiday staples, Coconut Pie. It always tastes better in fall and winter, especially served warm. WARM.

 

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