{Our Thanksgiving}

After a lot of thought we changed it up this year... which means that it's 9am on Thanksgiving morning and I'm not running around getting kids showered, dressed, fed, in the car to rush off to the 1st of many stops on this busy day. Nope, I'm sitting on my couch in my jammies and relaxing with the family.  I've got one, rather large, dog twitching and yipping in his sleep on my left and a steamy mug of coffee to my right, Happy Thanksgiving!

 

We made the decision to stay home this year and our parents reluctenly respected our decision, which is why they are all so great.  Which is one of the things that makes me so thankful on this Thanksgiving Day. 

 

Now on to the important stuff, the menu!  If you don't like food posts turn away now!

 

THE BIRD: We brined it overnight in an apple cider, water, rosemary, peppercorn and orange peel mixture. 



 

Then it will roast for a couple hours. Next it's smothered with butter infused with rosemary and orange zest every 30mins as it finishes cooking.

 

THE STUFFING/DRESSING: cornbread with apples, onions, roasted mushrooms and sausage. Ooo  Weeee!

 

THE SIDE DISHES: Dan's famous brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes with giblet gravy, (yes, you heard me giblet gravy) and roasted carrots.

Finally, THE PIES: pumpkin for the girls and apple for the boys.  This this the first apple pie I've ever made.  For some reason they intimidate me.  Maybe because I don't like them so I never have my whole heart into the deal. 

 



 

We did some of the prep work the night before just to ease the work load.  Neither Dan nor I have made a whole turkey before, so it was nice to let him focus on that while I could wrap up some other things.  Even with my timeline lists and some elements already done we did have a couple hiccups; The 2nd pumpkin pie didn't make it to the oven.  I got cocky and didn't double check the jar, I added mint extract instead of vanilla extract.  Also, the rolls were never thawed out so in a last ditch effort to get them on the table I just baked them from frozen.  They were edible but not the rolls you really want on your Thanksgiving table.  The giblet gravy was almost regular gravy because Dan couldn't find the bag o' bits inside the bird.  As he was digging out the stuffing he pulled it out from up near the neck.  At least the contents were cooked so they were added to the regular gravy and the day was saved!  Whew.

 

 

As you can see, shirts were optional at our table.  We don't take ourselves too seriously. 

It was a wonderful meal together as we talked about all the things were are thankful for.  It was nice to hear all the food was well received and everyone had seconds.  It was a nice change but I have to admit it was weird.  I feel like hosting the family dinner is one step closer though.  We have learned tricks and proven methods to ensure a tasty and enjoyable Thanksgiving. 

After clean up and vacuum sealing leftovers for days and lets be honest, thirds of pie, we got the call that visitors were coming.  We put in a movie and broke out the playing cards. Than what I can only describe as the Thanksgiving Miracle, I won the game! 

 

We hope you all had a finger lickin' good day.