Thanksgiving is thankfully over. Add one mother-in-law to the proceedings and it’s, well, a challenge.

She arrived with her jar of Lawry’s seasoning salt. I don’t use the stuff. Salt, pepper, garlic, are good enough for my turkey. “You need this,” she said, and dumped this scary DayGlo orange powder all over my lovingly brined turkey.

“Oops, I spilled something,” she said, dabbing a piece of paper towel around the burner –the gas burner revved up to high. “Stop!” I shrieked, tossing the smoldering thing into the sink. “I’m not going to burn down the house,” she sniffed.

Enough said. The turkey was juicy, the wild rice stuffing aromatic, the pumpkin pie silky, and the apple pie, not too sweet.

For mother-in-laws, there is no recipe for success. But I recommend the wild rice stuffing, which I found on Oprah.com. We’ve got allergies galore in our family, including a daughter who’s gluten intolerant, so this worked for us. I substituted apples for cranberries (she’s allergic to cranberries). Instead of stuffing the bird, I baked it at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour.

INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped into 1/4-inch dice
4 stalks celery, chopped into 1/4-inch dice
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) white button or cremini mushrooms, sliced
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage (or 1 1/2 tsp. dried)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups prepackaged mixed brown and wild rice
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. salt, plus more for turkey
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more for turkey
1 (12-pound) organic turkey In a 4-quart pot, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and continue cooking 3 more minutes. Add sage, cranberries, walnuts, rice, broth, salt and pepper. Raise heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook 45 minutes, without lifting lid. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325°. Remove neck and bag of giblets from turkey cavity, then rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. Fill neck cavity with some cooked rice mixture—don’t stuff too tight. Fold neck skin over rice and fasten to turkey back with 1 or 2 skewers. Spoon remaining stuffing into body cavity—again, don’t stuff too tight. (If any rice mixture remains, place in an ovenproof dish and cover with foil.) Fold skin over cavity opening. Tie legs and tail end of bird together with kitchen string. Rub remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over skin of turkey and season generously with salt and pepper.Place turkey on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast about 3 1/2 hours, basting with juices and drippings in bottom of pan during last hour of roasting. Remove from oven and let sit 15 minutes before serving.

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