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".
Breakfast spread Thanksgiving morning.
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.
(It's just cooked green beans, tossed with almonds and butter)
Right: Corn Casserole from this recipe I found on Pinterest.
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!
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
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