Progressive thanksgiving

Ever been to a progressive dinner, where you go to a different person's house for each course of the meal? Well we did a sort of progressive thanksgiving. Due to illness, our travel plans got cancelled at the last minute, and suddenly we had 4 days to ourselves, and we could cook whatever we wanted.

Thursday: big pot of soup
Friday: Turkey and stuffing
Saturday: pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust
Sunday: Sweet potatoes and Apples and Corn Pudding
Monday: Pumpkin cookies

I've been in love with the Apricot Glazed Turkey from BitchinCamaro since the first time I had it, and each time i adapt it a little based on the ingredients I have on hand and how many people I need to feed. This year, it was just the two of us, so I vastly simplified the recipe.

This year's Apricot glazed turkey

two skinless turkey breast halves (or even better, one whole boneless one!)
olive oil
salt & pepper
Filling:
half an onion, diced
1/4 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup chopped pecans
4-6 oz feta cheese
3 tbsp chopped parsley
Glaze:
3/4 apricot jam

these instructions are for two breast halves. if you have a large whole breast, you'll figure it out. Mix all filling ingredient in a bowl. Season breasts all over with salt & pepper. Lay out skin side down (Yes, I know these are skinless breasts, but you know what side I'm talking about), and you'll see that one part is quite a bit larger than the other. with a very sharp knife, cut a pocket into the larger part. Stuff each pocket with as much filling. grease your baking dish with some olive oil, and lay one breast down, skin side down, pocket side up. place remaining filling on top, and very carefully lay second breast on top of this, skin side up, pocket side down. If some of the filling falls out, that's Ok, and if you have filling left over, just put it in the baking dish around the meat. Brush the Apricot jam all over the meat. Cover loosly with tin foil, and bake at 375 for about 75 minutes. Your baking time may be different depending on how much meat and filling you have. Let rest at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

And it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie! I was curious to try a graham cracker crust, hoping maybe it would have a little bit less butter in it than a traditional one-stick-of-butter crust that I usually make. Well, it had a little less butter. Not much.

Graham cracker crust for a 9" pie
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter
pinch of salt

whisk together crackers, sugar and salt. melt butter in the microwave and let cool a bit. mix it into the crumb mixture with a fork, and blend very well. With the back of a spoon, or your fingers, press the mixture into a pie plate. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, and let cool before filling with pie filling.

What's the recipe for sweet potatoes & apples? My husband guards that secret very carefully! all I know is that it has apples, sweet potatoes, brown sugar, butter and cinammon, and that it's delicious!