Easy make-ahead turkey gravy

I don't know about you, but I like to get as much done as possible before the day of Thanksgiving. There are so many different dishes to prepare! I like to spend time with my family rather than all my time in the kitchen. And I tend to get frazzled easily if there are too many things going on.

 I have been making this gravy for years. Gravy is one of those things you have to make at the last minute, and it sure is nice not to have that going on along with everything else.

Package of turkey drumsticks (2 or 3)

3 or 4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

Large onion, quartered

Parsley

1/3 c oil

1/2 c flour

6 c chicken broth

pepper and salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Put the drumsticks, carrots, onion, parsley, and oil in a roasting pan over two burners on the stove. Brown the drumsticks for about 3 minutes per side; stir and brown the vegetables.

Transfer to the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Remove carrots, onions, and parsley. Remove drumsticks for another use. Put the roasting pan back on the stove and whisk the flour into the pan drippings. Add the broth and pepper, whisking constantly. Bring to boil, then simmer for about 45 minutes. Strain and salt to taste.

Can be made up to three days ahead of time or earlier and frozen. Reheat over medium heat; add a few tablespoons of broth if necessary.

Don't do what I did and use a foil pan. Use a regular roasting pan. I found this pan while sorting through stuff and thought I'd use it up. You can see where the drumsticks burned a little and I got some burnt pieces in the gravy. I did strain most of those out, and it tastes just fine. But now I know why I never use these pans! They're too flimsy for high heat.

I make a sausage stuffing, and I never want the mess of cooking the sausage and sautéing the onions and celery for it on Thanksgiving morning. I do this ahead of time, too, and those casseroles are already in my freezer. I'll make a simple cranberry orange relish on Tuesday because that always tastes better after having had a chance to sit awhile. I'm going to do the sweet potatoes in the crockpot this year to save room in the oven. And my husband will slice up the ham ahead of time.

My daughter is doing the pies and her MIL is bringing a vegetable dish.

In fact, the only "big" jobs to do Thanksgiving day, besides the turkey, are peeling the potatoes and making the rolls. Now that I think about it, I might make the dough ahead of time, too.

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I hope you are all able to celebrate Thanksgiving in some way this year, even if it looks different. We are having a very small gathering. We have, all eight of us, been carefully social distancing ahead of time (even more than usual) so we can be together. 

Happy Thanksgiving! Even in this difficult year, there is much to be thankful for. xo.

Taking care of silver hair

Silver can be beautiful, don't you think?

 But you need to take care of it. This is what my tray looked like before I polished it.

Silver hair also needs care. It is more porous, which means it is more easily discolored. Sun, pollution, product buildup, and heated styling tools can all cause yellowing.

I cut my hair really short after I decided to go natural. I was just too impatient to wait for it to grow out, and was tired of seeing the bleached blond ends. It was the shortest it had ever been and I really liked it that way. 

But then COVID happened, and nobody got to get their hair cut. Mine grows fast and it was quite a bit longer when we were able to go back to the salons. By that time I had decided to just continue on growing it out.

But I've found I need to take much better care of it. After all, with a super short haircut and having hair that grows fast, I get a whole new head of hair every six months or so. Hair that reaches the collarbone can be two or more years old!

I have given away my curling iron. I didn't even want to be tempted to use it. It is a killer on silver/gray hair, and will yellow it very quickly, especially if you have any product like hairspray on your hair.

I do use a blow dryer, but only twice a week, on low heat, and only for a short time when my hair is almost completely air dried. I use it just to smooth my hair out.

Despite being very careful I recently noticed that the top layer of my hair looked off, a little yellowy and dull compared to the bright silver underneath. I'm certain it is because of the sun this past summer. Next year, I'm wearing a hat if I spend any amount of time outdoors.

I used a couple of different kinds of purple shampoo with no results.

Then I got the idea to treat just the area affected as if I was coloring my hair. I separated out the discolored hair and covered it (dry) with a dollop of purple shampoo. I put it up in a clip and let it sit for a good half hour. I then washed my hair. Et voila! The yellow is gone!

I wouldn't recommend overdoing the purple shampoo. It's always better to practice prevention than to try and fix things. I overdid it with the purple shampoo when I first went natural for fear of the dreaded yellow. My hair turned a dark iron gray. Yours might turn lavender or blue. 

Now that I've fixed the problem I'll only use it once a month.

I use a shampoo, conditioner, a root lift, and occasionally a little hair spray. Sometimes some dry shampoo. The great thing about using dry shampoo with silvery white hair is that you don't have to worry about hiding any white powder!

These are my current favorite products.

 Redken All-Soft Shampoo and Conditioner.

Redken Guts 10 Spray Foam. I put this on my roots only. I have fine hair, so don't want a lot of product weighing it down.

Kenra Volume Spray 25.

Batiste Dy Shampoo.

For purple shampoo, I use the Redken Color Extend Gradiant Shampoo and Conditioner. This is what I used on my hair, as described above.

I also have the Klorane Anti-Yellowing Shampoo, below, because it contains natural ingredients. It's not actually purple. But I don't care for the smell. I will use it, and the deep conditioning cream that goes with it, but probably won't buy again. 

Occasionally, I use a clarifying shampoo to get rid of residual gel, hairspray, or dry shampoo. This is the Redken Detox Hair Cleansing Cream.

Yes, that's a lot of Redken products. Ulta recently had a sale, two for one, that I took advantage of. I have been using these products for a couple months and love them. They really are worth the extra money. Think how much I'm saving on cuts and color!

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A big thank you to Cheryl from Homespun Devotions for a copy of her book Biblical Minimalism and a Big Daddy Weave CD. I was a winner of her recent generous giveaway. Be sure to check out her blog. She is a treasure.