TeePublic is having a sale, and they encouraged me to spread the word. I did on various social media platforms, and Ill post those here. I’d appreciate a share if you have the time or are so inclined, and it would be cool if you’re inspired to pick something up for yourself or as a gift!
There’s also always my RedBubble shop and Maze Book, too. (I’m still slowly working on a 2nd book.)
Apologies for the shameless pug, but I have to get the word out somehow. I don’t pay for advertising, as the artist profit for print-on-demand services is pretty small. If I can simply fund my creative outlets, it’s a nice lil’ personal win.
So, TeePublic is having a sale, which means you can get my art on all kinds of stuff for cheaper than usual. It's mostly mazes, but I may occasionally do other silly stuff.tee.pub/lic/AiXeLsyD13Check out some unique stuff for yourself or for your holiday gift list! Maybe share too, please?
I love to put together a holiday meal, especially thanksgiving. I have it down pretty good to corral the chaos.
Turkey in the electric roaster!Thanksgiving Dinner Plate!
First prepping the turkey & stuffing…
I do the bird in the electric roaster, stuffed, for 15-ish minutes per lb. @ 325° Farenheit. I roasted in the preheated pan on full for about 45 minutes at the start before turning it down. I inject the turkey in a few sports with a mixture of melted beer, butter, & spices. I usually rub some softened butter on top and toss on lots of seasoning there too. I usually pour a bottle of beer and a box of turkey broth in the bottom, & include some carrots, celery, & an onion.
Don’t worry about samonella with a stuffed bird. Take it to 165°. Always use a food thermometer. Some of the dark meat of the turkey will be overcooked but it will still be juicy & delicious. I haven’t killed anyone with my turkey yet.
The extra stuffing can be made into stuffing balls, but I put it in the crock pot. You just have to stir it, & maybe add extra turkey or chicken broth if needed or it will stick to the sides a lil’ burnt.
Do the math, & time it so you’re pulling the turkey out about a half an hour before you want to serve it.
I cut up the butternut squash first, & put it in the fridge for when I needed it.
I peeled & quartered the potatoes, let them sit in cold water (& turkey broth).
Cut up & prep the brussels sprouts & carrots, you want to pop them in about 45 min before you plan to eat.
Prep the squash & put it in right after the brussels sprouts.
Turn on the potatoes, by the time they cook & you do your thing… it the other stuff should be ready to go.
Others brought even more sides… cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, & rolls!
If I make green bean casserole, I pretty much use the Campbell’s recipe or French’s Fried Onions recipe… sometimes with an added can of mushrooms, fresh green beans, & maybe even some bacon pieces or ham.
Another one of my holiday go-to’s, this one takes a bit of labor but it’s worth it.
Brussels Sprouts! With some goodies…
Getchya mise en place:
One 32 oz. “family size” bag of Brussels Sprouts (or 2 lb. of bulk fresh)
One 16 oz. bag of baby cut rainbow carrots
One 2.8 oz bag of bacon pieces
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, whatever spices you want.
Do it:
Pre-heat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
I quarter the baby carrots – one cut long ways, one cut through the middle.
I cut the bottom off of the sprouts, remove the outer leaves if they’re not great looking, halve them, and if they’re large, score the middle. (Look close at the photo.)
Mix the sprouts, carrots, & bacon pieces in a bowl, add the spices, eyeball in some EVOO & toss to coat it all evenly.
Spread evenly on a baking sheet or in a glass dish.
Slap them in that oven for 40-ish minutes.
Tips n’ tricks:
Of course, use whatever spices fit your fancy.
If you can’t find rainbow carrots, regular ones or parsnips or both are an absolutely awesome addition also.
Roasting caramelizes the sometimes bitter brussels sprouts. You may find that you prefer them “more” done or “less” done.
Scoring the middle helps them roast fully or more evenly.
You can skip the bowl if you can stir it all up and not make a mess like I do.
So, what do you think? Do you like Brussels Sprouts? Do you prepare them a similar or wholly different way?
Save a pat or two over butter for on top… or, just add MORE butter.
Of course you can just use water or chicken stock or bullion cubes or beer or whatever you want.
Add whatever spices you want too! I may have put some poultry seasoning in there. Sometimes I add cheese too.
I use a meat chopper instead of a traditional potato masher. I find it goes much smoother and is less of a mess.
I’d be interested to see how you do it. Got any tips or secrets for me? What are your favorite methods or add-ins? I also love a good boxed potato flake mixed extra thick and flavored-up, but get out of here with that runny Bob Evans microwavable slop!
I hope you have seen my stuffing recipe, and I hope to blog the method for all my sides. I was digging for these, and I thought I’d post it here for posterity. My Grandpap King was always the one who did holiday meals. He passed away when I was very small, but my Grandma always used his stuffing recipe, and that’s what I use today. I’s very simple, and it came from a Westinghouse cook book. I have a terrible photo copy of the book with his notes in the margins where he extrapolated to make a much larger portion. I want to use that small one to make stuffing ball sliders.
Here is is zoomed in a bit, & cropped…
Here’s notes from an email from my mom…
My uncle found a copy of the book at an auction or garage sale… It’s the first edition, when looking at the photocopies wasn’t what my family originally had, but it is the same recipe.
Share some of the recipes that you have had passed down!
I was going to share some mazes for Thanksgiving, and I realized I have a bunch of them. I did some quick dirty coloring of some old ones. I am sharing new ones that will be in my second book, some from the first book, and I have some that are loosely related to fall or Thanksgiving dinner.
Please, use them to have some fun this holiday season! They could be placemats, an activity for those that aren’t cooking while they’re waiting for dinner or for company to arrive, or used as a game to see who finishes first. You could use them to make place cards too if you wanna get creative!
If you complete the mazes by printing them out & solving, or on your phone/tablet/PC with a drawing app, share it on you preferred social media platform & tag me! I’m @AiXeLsyD13 on pretty much all of ’em. (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, TikTok, Tumblr, YouTube, etc.) I’d love to see a video of a race to complete the smaller easier ones… and I love to see solutions! I like to draw mazes, not so much solving them.
Mmm, Thanksgiving dinner. Stuffing is my favorite. I need to figure out how to do a stuffing maze.
You can solve these while listening to one of my Thanksgiving playlists on Amazon or Spotify, or while talking about what you’re thankful for! I love the reflection this time of year.
This year’s turkey maze:
2023 Turkey Maze
Thanksgiving-ish themed mazes from the upcoming book:
Turkey Giblets Maze & Corn Maze …Maze – from my upcoming second book.
Newly (& quickly) colorized old Thanksgiving themed mazes:
Fresh takes on old Thanksgiving Mazes
Random older related mazes:
<shameless plug> The turkey from this year and the “giblets” maze are also available on some cool merchandise from my RedBubble and TeePublic shops too. Why not get a turkey maze T-shirt or an apron with the giblets maze? You can get both designs on hoodies, pet bandanas, stickers, magnets, coffee mugs, and even a damn shower curtain if so inclined. </shameless plug>
🦃 UPDATE! 🦃
After posting this, I found an OLD turkey maze of mine on Pinterest, so I downloaded & edited it a bit. So, here’s one more:
I’ve had some minor yet nagging health issues lately, and mazes help me sort of zone out or meditate. I posted them on Instagram, & my account for just mazes. I thought I would collect & post them here as mazes seem to me something that brings page hits to the blog.
Check some out. Try to solve, post, & tag me on social media. Print & use a pencil like it’s 1999, or do it right on your screen like it’s the year 2000!
World (and Lunar) Domination 