Flabbergasted: Thanksgiving

I generally don’t eat mashed potatoes.

Still, every Thanksgiving I load up on mashed potatoes so I can play with them.  I always find myself sculpting faces into my mashed potatoes as I decide which side dishes I wish to devote my precious stomach room to:

Stomach Room = 80% Turkey/gravy +20% sides

Fear comes in the form of becoming full on Thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving, I made some new discoveries. Cranberry sauce acts as a great pallet refresher and drinking wine with Thanksgiving dinner instead of milk allows you to both eat more and sleep sounder.

After three plates full of food and sculpting beautiful portraits of Katie Holmes and Barack Obama into my mashed potatoes, I was ready for a nap.

Better World Books’ Atlanta office enjoyed a pre-Thanksgiving feast. I contributed the cranberry sauce to the office feast.  The trick to cranberry sauce is so disguise the can-like appearance or embrace the cylinder shape by cutting it into delicious circles.

Did you know that you can make apple pie without apples?  My father grew up eating “mock apple pie.”  During World War 2 there was a shortage of apples and to keep the All-American dessert alive, cracker companies came up with mock apple pie.  Below is the recipe.  It’s the imitation crab meat of the dessert world.

Mock Apple Pie

The classic pie, featuring crackers baked in a golden crust,
is perfect for the holidays.

Pastry for two-crust 9-inch pie
36 crackers, coarsely broken (about 1 3/4 cups crumbs)
1 3/4 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Grated peel of one lemon
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Roll out half the pastry and line a 9-inch pie plate. Place
cracker crumbs in prepared crust; set aside.

2. Heat water, sugar and cream of tartar to a boil in saucepan
over high heat; simmer for 15 minutes. Add lemon juice and peel;
cool.

3. Pour syrup over cracker crumbs. Dot with margarine or butter;
sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll out remaining pastry; place over pie.
Trim, seal and flute edges. Slit top crust to allow steam to escape.

4. Bake at 425 F for 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is crisp
and golden. Cool completely.

Makes 10 servings

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION per serving
413 calories, 3 g protein, 63 g carbohydrate, 17 g total fat,
3 g saturated fat, 339 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber.

Preparation Time: 45 mins.
Cook Time: 30 mins.
Cooling Time: 3 hrs.
Total Time: 4 hrs. 15 mins.