My FIRST (Hosting) Thanksgiving

My FAVORITE season of the year is finally here: CHRISTMAS SEASON! (And it is also basketball season which is an added bonus). But, this year, the path to the Christmas season had a new hurdle for me, hosting my first Thanksgiving dinner.

With Eric scheduled to work the day after Thanksgiving, there was just no reasonable way for us to spend Thanksgiving at home like we have the past three years, so I decided to act as the hostess. This way we got to spend time with our families, without having to travel.

Eric's parents arrived Tuesday evening and we visited our new favorite local restaurant, Abbott's Grill because I was not going to try and store any additional food to cook meals before the big day. My parents and sister arrived Wednesday evening and we ordered pizza from Papa John's to do our part in helping to make the night before Thanksgiving one of the busiest nights of the year for pizza take out places.

Once everyone arrived, it was time for the big day! I will admit I was nervous, but I also was feeling confident due to the fact that over the past three years, my culinary skills have improved drastically! Thursday morning was an early morning for me, but I wanted to make sure that everything got moving on scheduled. I started off with mixing together the "wet stuffing" to go in the turkey. 

For most of my recipes I tried to keep them simple, knowing that I would have enough other stress, I didn't need to add in any complicated recipes. My stuffing recipe (for both the wet and the "dry" - I'll tell you the only change later) came from my trustworthy Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, page 480 "Old- Fashioned Bread Stuffing". The recipe is simply:

• 3 stalks chopped celery
• 1 large chopped onion
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 12 cups dry bread cubes (I used about 9 cups of herb seasoned bread cubes instead)
• 1 cup chicken broth

Saute the celery and onion in the butter, then add seasoning and pepper to the mixture before pouring it over the bread crumbs. Mix it all together, and then slowly add the chicken broth while stirring so that the moisture gets evenly distributed, rather than some bread becoming overly soggy! (Gross!) 

I made two separate batches of this recipe. The one in the picture went inside my turkey, the other one I just baked in a casserole dish for about half an hour. The only difference was in the casserole dish, I used ground sage instead of poultry seasoning.

Then came the big moment, prepping the turkey, stuffing it, and getting it in the oven. Here are the before and after pictures of my turkey! (Please ignore my outfit, I was just going for comfort)

I also kept the turkey VERY simple. I rubbed it down with about half a stick of butter, and then put just a bit of salt and pepper on top. I also accidentally roasted the turkey "upside down" (breast on the bottom), but it made the turkey breast so moist and juicy that I think I will make it that way every year! My turkey was about 20 lbs, and because it was stuffed it cooked for about 5 hours.

I had a flawless system of keeping track of when things would be done (picture below), but it was the best I could do with my lack of timers. It worked out though, because nothing was burnt or overdone!

My sister provided the art work for the "timer board".

For the sides for our wonderful dinner we had mashed potatoes (cooked in the pressure cooker), sweet potato casserole (made by my Mom, I will need to get her recipe and add it here later), green beans amandine, corn casserole, homemade gravy, fresh cranberry sauce, and rolls (just generic frozen rolls from Walmart). Check the caption for each picture if you're interested in any of the recipes (except the sweet potatoes, because I'm still working on getting that!).

My Dad made the mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker. Peal and chop the potatoes, cook them for about 7 minutes in the pressure cooker, then mash with heated milk. Quick and easy!

The sweet potato casserole is the front left on the table. It is cooked and chopped sweet potatoes with a sauce of crushed pineapple and brown sugar, topped with marshmellows. 
The cranberry sauce is all the way at the back of the table. It is just the recipe from the back of the Ocean Spray cranberry package.

Left: Green Beans Amandine from pg. 575 in my cookbook.
(It's just cooked green beans, tossed with almonds and butter)
Right: Corn Casserole from this recipe I found on Pinterest.

Eric and my Dad made the gravy right in the turkey roasting pan. They weren't following a recipe, they just "made gravy".

For dessert my Mom made homemade pumpkin pie, and my mother-in-law made a home made apple pie (I didn't get a picture of either of these before they were eaten!). I had also made spritz cookies, and my absolute favorite soft snickerdoodles. I have made these many times before, so check out my "Christmas Countdown" post for a link to the recipe.

I of course had other food for breakfasts, and snacks both on Thanksgiving and the day after. I have include a few pictures below, just because I'm proud of my presentation skills!

 Breakfast spread Thanksgiving morning.

Snack-itizers to hold people over until dinner.

All in all, I am extremely proud of the results from my first hosting attempt. Thankfully this has given me confidence to host many future family events. As much as I will always want to be at my childhood home for the holidays, it is great to know that I can re-create a little of that holiday magic in a new setting. I hope that magic will continue to grow over the years. 

Now that the quiet has returned to our apartment, Eric and I spent the day relaxing, decorating for Christmas, and watching football. I will post decoration pictures soon! And perhaps more exciting (and in the tone of where this blog seems to be going), I will post more of my culinary adventures, including one of my favorites: Christmas cookies!!!

I hope that your Thanksgiving was full of love, family, and tasty food!

Until my next food adventure!

~C

the Calm Before the Storm

With Thanksgiving just two short weeks away, these past few days have definitely been the "calm before the storm". Over the weekend Eric and I had a number of culinary adventures.

Friday night we treated ourselves to a night out in one of the nearby small towns (although everything is a "small town" around here). Our night out was really just dinner, with drinks at Abbott's Grill  where Eric ordered the Frog Leg and Jambalaya special, and I had a delicious roasted pork with butternut squash and bacon roasted Brussels sprouts. I had never had butternut squash or Brussels sprouts before and they were both quite tasty. I also tried Eric's frog legs (they were new for him too) and I have to say it wasn't horrible. I don't know that I would ever order it on my own, but it was pretty good. I won't say it tasted like chicken, but it wasn't that far off. Then to really treat ourselves we got dessert (we never get dessert). Dessert was new for both of us since we ordered a toasted coconut flan. It was SO good. I wish I had taken my camera for pictures, but... live and learn.

After a nice dinner out, we decided on Saturday to have a nice dinner in the apartment so we made clam chowder (recipe provided by my Taste of Home cookbook). It was so much fun to spend time in the kitchen together cooking, and then enjoying our yummy results. I love lazy Saturdays with Eric, they are very enjoyable.

One thing we are working on is getting better at eating leftovers. I have really found a passion and love for cooking and so I enjoy making new dishes every night. The problem is, with only two of us (for now) we always have leftovers. Eric doesn't ever take leftovers into work for lunch the next day (he wouldn't want to deviate from his PB&J with a granny smith apple), and I can only take so many leftovers with me for lunch. But we did spend a couple of days eating leftovers and have almost gotten rid of everything!

Tuesday was Veterans Day (thanks to all the former and current military and their families!) and since I had the day off from work, I made one of Eric's new favorite dishes: Roasted Pork with Sweet Potatoes. I love getting the Food Network Magazine, and I love when we try recipes that are super successful. This was one of those times! It sounds so simple, and it is so simple to make, but it is SOOOO yummy. The pork is tender and juicy and it just melts in your mouth. I have included a picture from the Food Network site here (we ate it too quickly for me to get a quality photo).

The only "change" to the recipe that Eric and I make is that instead of cutting up sweet potatoes into wedges, we buy a bag of sweet potato french fries (thanks Ore Ida). They work great, and are much easier to use than having to worry about chopping up big sweet potatoes.

Tonight I have andouille sausage Jambalaya planned. Don't worry, it's nothing fancy (I would go crazy being fancy every night), I just use Zatarain's rice and spice mixture. We do doctor the recipe though by searing the sausage in butter first, and then replacing one cup of the water with a cup of spaghetti sauce. Typically I use Classico Italian Sausage sauce, Eric says it just adds another layer of flavor.

This weekend I will be working on my lists to prep for my first hosting gig for Thanksgiving! It is an exciting time in my household. If you have any tips, tricks, or suggestions on how to make my Thanksgiving more of a success, let me know!

Until my next food adventure!

~C

Countdown to Christmas!

My absolute favorite time of the year has finally started! We made it past Halloween and so now I can publicly be excited about the holidays. Typically I put my full focus on getting to Christmas and while Thanksgiving is nice, I just view it as a check box on the way to the big day. This year is different. This year, I am hosting Thanksgiving for the first time! The pressure! Well, Eric and I are hosting, but with his work schedule I know that I will be doing a lot of the grunt work, and I am so excited! We are hosting both sets of parents, my sister, and maybe my uncle (who is also my godfather). It will be a packed house, but hopefully it will be packed with love and yummy food.

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I have been reflecting back on my own culinary journey and I am proud to say that I have grown A LOT, mainly over the past five years. I have posted a number of pictures of the things I have made in the past and I am impressed with all of those, and the things I haven't posted pictures of yet. One thing I have noticed though is that I have become much less afraid. If you are someone who isn't "good" at cooking or baking (or both) don't be afraid to try! If you have to throw out a meal every once in a while and order pizza, well then you will have at least learned something from that experience.

I hope to be able to track my food explorations better on here, and I will start today with something to really get you in the holiday spirit if you aren't there yet. One of the best parts of the holidays is the desserts! Today I didn't have school (thank you America for Election Day!) so I started off the dessert train with one of my all time favorites: snickerdoodles! I have included a few pictures here, and the link to the recipe. I will never claim to come up with these things on my own. I hope you try this recipe (it's super easy) and get your culinary journey started.

Cookies to take into Eric's office, and also to give as a gift to a friend today who I haven't seen in too long!

An artsy shot of some cooling cookies. It's difficult to let them cool before digging in!

Until my next food adventure!

~C