MONTCLARION: November 26, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving! If your life is anything like mine, you’ve got a full tummy and a full house. But as sluggish as you may feel, you’ve got a job to do today, so you might as well get to it.

It’s time to strip the carcass.

There are many ways to fix leftovers and some folks get creative. My favorite recipe is Turkey Noodle Doodah Casserole, a Minnesotan delicacy using egg noodles, turkey, Cream of Mushroom soup and Old Dutch potato chips. Is it good? You betcha! Even better with a little Cheese Whiz on top.

I realize, however, that not everyone has leftover turkey in the house. I address this today in my Happy Wanderer travel column. For those of you who cooked something unconventional for Thanksgiving, like Grasshopper Polenta or Pumpkin Soup with Dung Beetles – you may wish to just snack on the leftovers without altering the flavor. Lord knows they’re crunchy enough without adding potato chips.

And now for the top ten things for which I am grateful:

10. My editor, Connie Rux, who lets me write about silly things like Grasshopper Polenta and Dung Beetles

9. My husband Chris, who gets up at dawn to prepare the Thanksgiving feast. This goes back to the early years of our marriage when I anchored the news on Thanksgiving mornings on KSFO Radio. I got the double overtime and he got the bird

8. My daughter Kara, who comes home from college and makes the pies. This year she made pumpkin and pecan – and assured us they were fat free.

7. My son Anthony, who supplies the football. His high school team makes the playoffs every year at this time and we work off the calories by jumping up and down, screaming, in the stands

6. The Butterball Turkey Hotline for giving me fodder for my column and newscasts over the years. It’s comforting to know I’m not the only one out there who has kitchen disasters. There are actually women who’ve stuffed their wedding rings inside their turkeys

5. My high school friend Cindy, for paying attention to the lesson on entertaining in Home Economics. She hosts a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner  – complete with table decorations that could be on the cover of Martha Stewart Magazine. (For those of you who are counting…yes, we have two Thanksgiving dinners.

4. My cat Tonka, for curling up by the fire while we cook. It takes years of training to get a cat to curl by the fire ala Currier and Ives, especially when the smell of turkey permeates the air.

3. Macy’s, for continuing the tradition of the Thanksgiving Day parade. The world seems a little sweeter with marching band music and giant balloons

2. My mom and dad, who taught me the virtues of counting my blessings and taking only as much food as I was sure I could stuff down my gullet.

1. Corpus Christi Church, for holding mass on Thanksgiving and letting us put our table wine on the altar for a blessing. Please forgive me, father, if I accidentally take someone’s Cakebread instead of my Two Buck Chuck.