Why I Ate Apple Pie for Breakfast Today

And I’ll probably do it again tomorrow

Current contents of my fridge. Don’t be fooled by the empty space in the freezer. I need to fit eight jars of turkey soup in there. They are currently cooling down out on the patio. Photo by author.

When you’ve been cooking Thanksgiving dinners for three decades you can do most of the work on autopilot. Pie crusts get made on Tuesday. On Wednesday every dish that can be made ahead is. Thursday morning is a rush followed by a delicious dinner, a sleepy afternoon, and painful cleanup.

I’m not one of those people who fiddles with the menu too much. I might change up the recipes a bit but most of the meal is constant. I always make way too much food because eating Thanksgiving leftovers is one of the great pleasures in life.

Except, I might have overdone it this year by following my normal patterns.

I forgot there are only two of us here to eat the mountains of leftovers.

In years past Thanksgiving always included my immediate family of five plus extras. I usually cooked for a minimum of 12. The guest list might rotate but there were always guests.

My husband is a leftover pusher. No one leaves our house at Thanksgiving without being offered food to go. “Are you sure,” he’ll say, rummaging in the cupboards for stray cool whip containers, “I can easily pack up some turkey for you. You’ll want sandwiches later. We can’t eat all of this ourselves.”