Thanksgiving ~ Part 1

~in which the cheesecake is in the oven and I tax my kitchen appliances to their limit.

~So far this morning I've made a vat of cranberry sauce--my own special cranberry sauce--and put together a pumpkin cheesecake that is now baking. It's the cheesecake that taxed my kitchen gadgets. I own neither a food processor nor a stand mixer. A couple of years ago I bought a combination blender/food processor. It's not bad, really, but the processor bowl is smaller than an average size Cuisinart would be, and making the crust (gingersnaps, pecans, butter and sugar) just about maxed it out. In fact, there was a tiny puff of smoke at the end, although the motor didn't smell like it was burning.

~And then there was the batter...I have a pretty decent hand mixer but it barely cut it mixing all that cream cheese. My mixing bowl wasn't quite large enough either, so we had lots of spatters at the end. I think if I were going to bake more often I would definitely invest in a stand mixer. I wish I had my mother's old one. She had an old Sunbeam Mixmaster that I think belonged to her mother. She used it for years; it still worked when she upgraded to a Kitchen Aid when she started making sourdough bread and rolls every week.

~When the cheesecake comes out of the oven, the turkey breast goes in. That's for the Kid, who is something of a purist when it comes to Thanksgiving. I offered salmon and was met with a resounding "No way!" (I offered to take him out, too, and got the same answer). The cornbread dressing and veggies will come later. And maybe there will be pictures.