Thanksgiving 2011

We didn't go anywhere for Thanksgiving and no one came to us. Good thing, too, because poor Daddy had a work problem (server down)starting at 6:00am Thanksgiving morning and finally resolving at 6:00am Friday morning. He was on a marathon conference call and had his bluetooth on all through dinner.

I started Thanksgiving morning leaving the house at 9:00 am to head to the grocery store. I hadn't done any Turkey day shopping at all believe it or not. I didn't even have a plan until 10 minutes before leaving. I had a cold most of the week and felt pretty blah. Over the years, I've done a few Thanksgiving Day meals by myself and usually have a 3 day schedule of prep work. I made a list of a couple of things I needed to make from scratch and a few things I didn't mind buying ready made and away I went.

I bought everything I needed, got home and the kids unloaded the car by 10:00am and I had the ham in the crockpot a few minutes later. I could make this a tradition! No lines, no traffic and great sales.

Our menu was:
*Ham
*Turkey breast (pre-stuffed with a delicious cornbread and cranberry stuffing and latticed with bacon. Best turkey I have ever had!)
*Homemade mashed potatoes
*Gravy (made fresh by the store. All natural and pretty good.)
*Homemade noodles (made completely by hand by L-16!)
*Homemade dressing (bread cubes cut to perfection by M-9!)
*Corn pudding (made by L-16. Best stuff ever!)
*Homemade Cranberry sauce
*Autumn Vegetable Medley (the only bomb. Pre-cut butternut squash, sweet potato, parsnip and red onion with herbs. Looked promising, but I didn't cook it enough before serving and the veggies were way under cooked.)
*Rolls (store bought and they never made it to the table. They'll be good for sandwiches, though.)
*Pumpkin pie
*Pumpkin cheesecake pie (pies courtesy of the store)
*Sparkling apple cider
*Diet Dr. Pepper (for Dad Ha ha)

The food was really good! Everything tasted better than my other holiday meals that I spend days preparing. I burned the bacon on the turkey a bit since I couldn't find my meat thermometer and wanted to make sure it was done, but it wasn't a catastrophe.

We pretty much stuffed ourselves silly then watched the original black and white version of Miracle on 34th Street,had a roaring fire in the wood stove and watched an amazing sunset.

It was a really nice day and I loved cooking with my girls. I'm grateful for my wonderful family and I love them very much!