Thursday, November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving at our house

This was a homebody Thanksgiving for us. We had no travel plans, and we had no guests (except for our friend GG, who has been with us for several weeks). We invited a number of people to join us, but they all had prior plans... so we had a homebody Thanksgiving.

We started the cooking yesterday (Wednesday). My philosophy is, the more we can get done in advance, the less we'll have to do on Thanksgiving day.

Making desserts: cheesecake and pies.


Bread stuffing.


Round One of an astonishingly messy kitchen. I have the most amazing talent to dirty every dish in the house when I'm involved in kitchen projects.


Next I made two of GG's family favorites, candied yams and lime jello salad. The rest of us agree these dishes are revolting (and we tease GG unmercifully about it too) but what the heck, a Thanksgiving meal should include favorites for everyone.


Round Two of the messy kitchen.


End of Round Two.


Conclusion of the evening: Bread stuffing, wild rice stuffing, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, lemon meringue pie, candied yams, lime jello salad.


And a clean kitchen.


And a much-needed glass of wine.


This morning we put the bird in the oven...


...before going to a Thanksgiving service at our church (where the gospel text was Luke 17:11-19).


Then it was home to plunge into the kitchen again. The chickens got their own Thanksgiving dinner with some old rice.


Rising rolls.


Table set.


Baked bird.


Mildly colorful sunset.


Hot rolls.


Don carved the bird.


Hungry kids!


Lots of dishes afterward.


Dessert that nobody wanted (too full!). No worries, it won't go to waste.


I always look forward to the day after Thanksgiving because I go on STRIKE in the kitchen for several days. No cooking whatever! My philosophy is, there's plenty of leftovers in the fridge, help yourself.

Three... two... one... ON STRIKE!!

How was your Thanksgiving?

8 comments:

  1. Looks and sounds like a good day to me!

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  2. like you,i did alot of cooking/baking a day ahead then popped my first "splatchcocked" turkey in the oven yesterday an hour and a half before sitting down for "the meal". it was just me and the husband at the table this year, but all of the leftovers were delivered in the evening to those veterans and friends at a local bar where the remains of dinner was enjoyed by all.

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  3. Here's a slick trick for making bread cubes: Freeze the bread! I goofed up and forgot to buy some sandwich bread for making bread cubes for the stuffing. I don't normally keep bread in the freezer, but I had a loaf in there probably because I got a deal on it and couldn't use it fast enough. Just break off a chunk of 4-5 slices and slice them quickly in one direction, and then cube them in the other. It's fast, and it's much less messy. The cubes are actually cube shaped and you can make them very small if you want. Now I'm going to have to remember to freeze the bread the night before I want to make bread cubes.

    Have a great holiday as I know you will.

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  4. Happy Thanksgiving!
    Your feast looked delicious.
    sidetracksusie

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  5. My day was ok. I didn't make as many dishes as you, but still had to coordinate preparation with cooking times to synchronize everything... it's the hardest meal I do all year. Some things can be done in advance, and like you I try to whenever possible. This year everything seemed to go ok in all respects, though not without some second and third efforts to keep things on track.

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  6. Those are some nice pictures. However the dirty dishes were traumatic for me to look at as my kitchen now looks worse than yours. Happy holidays!

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  7. I shared the day with my 94 year old mother and her lovely friends. They came out of their own homes, assisted living, and nursing homes, so it was a chore to get them all here! I had ordered the dinner from a local grocery store because I knew my time would be spent being Miss Daisy's driver.
    I do not think I had a better time. To listen to those old friends tell stories, laugh, and eat was better than any holiday I have had in years.
    My blessing to add to your list on WND is the wisdom and love garnered from these ladies.

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  8. God has surely blessed you and you family! I love your blog.
    Greg from the Flint Hills of Kansas.

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