Phluff Philler.

I don't know if I should do this. But if you don't like it, you can blame my dear friend, Marion, for double-dawg daring me. All right. Not really a dubble-dawg-dare. This is what she actually wrote:

….you owe it to your readers:

I wrote her back, But, I want to keep the few readers I have! OK. Here it is. My Delicious Life With Paula Deen. Rosie ducks and runs.

Thanksgiving Day. Rosie Makes A Cranberry Dish.

I remember Thanksgiving at my mother's table. There was always the ever-present can of cranberry jelly, resting on its side on a cut glass dish. A ruby red, glistening, shimmering, gelatinous, cylindrical blob. With can lines encircling the whole. Glinting back the sun light. I hated that crap. Thanksgiving afternoon, I decided to make my own cranberry sauce.

My ingredients: 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup sugar 2 tangerines, peeled, seeded, and pureed 8 ounces cranberries handful raisins cinnamon stick grated nutmeg handful pecans 1 peeled and chopped apple and pear First I brought the water and sugar to a boil, then reduced the heat to a bare simmer and added ...

the cranberries, the cinnamon stick, the tangerine puree ...

... and mixed all together.

Then I grated a little fresh nutmeg into the mix.

Added pecans.

I started out with 1/2 each pear and apple,

... then decided to add the whole apple and pear. Add in a handful of raisins. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

And here's my cranberry sauce. Tart, sweet, fruity, spicy, nutty, raisiny. And it's pretty, too. What's not to love?

Thanksgiving. Rosie Makes A Dressing.

Mr. Hawthorne has to have a dressing/stuffing for Thanksgiving. Has to. Threatened with the very real possibility that he was going to pull out a box of Stove Top Stuffing, I told him to back off, get the hell out of the kitchen, and I'd make my own stuffing.

I started out with a few chestnuts, cut an "X" in the end, and roasted for about 20 minutes.

I let Mr. Hawthorne back in the kitchen long enough to peel the chestnuts.

I put in about 1/2 pound ground sausage, cooked until done, breaking it apart with my spatula.

Then I added in the chopped roasted chestnuts and some chopped water chestnuts I had in the fridge.

Heat through.

I chopped one onion and one stalk of celery and added that, stirring. Don't overcook. You want the celery and onion crispy. Or at least I do.

Freshly ground salt and pepper.

A bit of the pan drippings went in.

I toasted some bread pieces I'd pulled from a multi grain boule and added them at the end.

Voila! Dressing.

Thanksgiving Day. Turkey Hawthorne. And Giblet And Mushroom Gravy.

After brining our turkey overnight, I rinsed it off and prepared it for baking.

Here, I'm adding butter between the skin and the meat as far back as I can reach.

I stuffed the cavity with sage and rosemary and also stuffed some herbs between the skin and meat.

I massaged the bird with vegetable oil all over its surface. I use oil instead of butter on the outside since butter has milk solids in it which tend to burn, and unevenly at that. Freshly ground salt and pepper. My turkey went into a 475 degree oven for 15 minutes. Then I lowered the temperature to 325.

I cooked until my meat thermometer registered 155-160 degrees. Took the turkey out, kept it covered, and let it continue to carry-over cook until the temperature reached 165. And I never stuff a turkey. For the stuffing itself to reach 165 degrees so you don't kill any of your guests, the turkey would be way overcooked. I do a dressing separately.

One of my favorite things in the world is giblet gravy.

I deglazed the pan with a bit of water.

I prepared my giblets by trimming the silver skin off.

Chop the giblets into little pieces.

I washed off my shrooms with a damp paper towel ...

... and sliced them.

I heated some Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil and Land O' Lakes Unsalted Butter, added my shroom slices ...

... and sauteed until nicely browned. Rosie Tip #342: Do not salt mushrooms until after you've finished cooking them. If you add salt at the beginning, the salt draws out the moisture and your shrooms will steam, not saute.

Add in the giblets.

Add freshly ground salt and pepper.

I added in about 1/4 cup flour and cooked it for about a minute, stirring.

Now it's ready for the liquid. I added in the deglazed pan liquid.

Then I scooped up some of the pan drippings ...

... and added to the mushroom/giblet mixture, stirring.

Keep adding the pan drippings until you get the consistency you want.

I always like a touch of sherry in my gravy.

And don't worry. If your gravy is too thin, you can still thicken it up with an instant blending flour like Wondra. If you added in regular all-purpose flour to the liquid, it would clump. Wondra doesn't clump. If you didn't have Wondra on hand, you could make a beurre manie. A beurre manie is a quick and easy, lump-free way to thicken a sauce or a soup. Simply mix together equal amounts of butter and flour. Start with 1 TB each and work together by hand. Once the flour is incorporated into the butter, just add a bit to your gravy at a time, cooking and stirring, until you get the proper consistency. Also, if you wanted, you could add in some heavy cream for extra richness. Perfect, lump-free gravy every time.

Thursday Afternoon. Thanksgiving Day. Rosie Prepares Her Ham.

I gotta prettify this ham.

A few pineapple slices, some Maraschino cherries, and a studding of cloves. And pour some pineapple juice and cherry juice over top. Bake.

Ham was delicious. I loved the clove flavor.