Thanksgiving!

So here it is...
This holiday was kind of push off to the side in this family after my sister died and my dad got sick.  What with mom's birthday and deer hunting and subsequent deer processing, it can be a bit overwhelming, but we plan on a little lutefisk with my mom and dad today.

For those reading that have never heard of lutefisk, it's whitefish that has been dried and soaked in a brine of lye and salt.  It is a traditional Norsk winter meal and popular from about November until after Christmas with us Norwegians and Swedes that are still holding onto a little tradition from the "olde country."  So, around Thanksgiving and Christmas there was always  a lutefisk meal served with mashed potatoes, butter and peas.

I have to be honest with you, there was a glitch in my Norwegian wiring that somehow burned out just before liking lutefisk or mashed potatoes. Maybe its the smell of the "Lute" or the texture of the potatoes...whatever.  The fact of the matter is, all my life I was screwed on Lute night.

Oddly, My husband, who is Cherokee and English, kind of enjoys Lute night because the fish "isn't bad" and it's the only time he can get a mashed potato in his mouth. LOL...

This year though, I'm bringing a couple of things of my own.  After a summer of gathering up food and squirreling away, its kind of time to enjoy the fruit of my labors.

Menu:
Venison back straps
Sauteed milkweed pods with mushrooms
Elderberry pie.
Parsley and thyme from the garden.

The venison was actually shot last night and so we just took down the back straps (the long tender length of mean from either side of the spine on the back, aka, the tenderloins).  I cut up onions into quarters and a couple cloves of garlic and layered that on the bottom of the crock pot.  I took parsley from out of the freezer and snipped it into small bits over the onion and garlic.  Then, I laid 3 sprigs of thyme across that, then laid the cleaned and trimmed back straps.  I poured about 2 cups of coke over all of that and turned the pot on high.

The elderberries were harvested this fall and frozen in bags.  I understand a pie can be pretty runny, so I followed a recipe featuring cornstarch and a thickener.  I added a little extra and instead of putting a solid top on the pie, I went with a lattice top so some of the moisture can escape.  Here's hoping it works out.

Lastly is the milkweed pods.  I had harvested them late in the summer, parboiled them twice before freezing.  To prepare, I just took them out and sliced them while they were still frozen and sauteed them with onion, garlic, mushrooms and butter.  Sadly, I used up the last of the black trumpet mushrooms I found this summer in chicken and wild rice soup, so the mushrooms in the saute are domestic :(  I have plans to obtain some wild 'shroom spores online and hopefully can grow my own for next winter :)

Anyway, there you go.  A really easy thanksgiving supper.  Almost everything was free or already on hand and this meat is smelling 10 kinds of awesome.  It should round out the smelly fishy and mashed potatoes nicely methinks :)