Thanksgiving Dinner - My Favorite Day To Cook

NOTE: Originally written 11/23/11. I've had a terrible time getting pictures put on.

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year, but Thanksgiving is my favorite day to cook. I don't know if it's the foods or the table decorations or just the feel of the season.

I haven't made a Thanksgiving dinner in probably 5 years, so when my daughter asked if I was going to cook a Thanksgiving dinner I thought, "Well, I guess so", and I felt kind of excited. I ran out and found the biggest turkey I could find, 20 pounds. 20 pounds is quite a big turkey for just 5 people, but I thought a week's worth of sandwiches that could be made. And the soup stock that could be made from the carcass. Smells so so so good. If you think about it, it's actually bone soup. Thinking about that could turn one into a vegetarian.

I made out the menu: turkey, yukon gold mashed potatoes and gravy, Aunt Dorothy's sweet potatoes, green bean casserole (ick), corn dookey, homemade rolls, cinnamon apple rings, fresh cranberry relish, roasted root vegetables, green salad, stuffing, spinach balls, pumpkin AND pecan pies.

Oh, the pies! I planned on making 2 pies. I had invited our friends to come over Friday for leftovers, so I decided I would need to make 2 pumpkin and 1 pecan pies altogether. I knew the pie dish I used for the pecan was deep so I 1 1/2 the recipe. I got confused and doubled the sugar so I had to add make another 1/2 recipe of the other ingredients. Okay, so now I'm making 2 pecan pies. I made another pie crust. When I poured in the pecan filling I didn't have enough to fill 2 pies. Turns out BOTH dishes were deep. So I had to make ANOTHER 1/2 filling recipe to fill the remainder of the the 2 pies. HUH? When they baked they both puffed way above the top of the pie dish. Never had that happen before.

My friend said it was normal for a pecan pie to raise like
this. Never had that happen before.

This is the first time I got to use my pie holder.   



 This must be true love. I HATE that "famous" green bean casserole.

(Don't look too close at my messy oven. Baking soda is a
great thing to  reduce the smoke from  something boiling over.)

Corn Dookey, formerly known as Shahoskahavi. Corn, bell pepper, whole canned tomatoes
onions, chili powder. Pretty darn good.



Aunt Dorothy's sweet potatoes: To die for!

Emily is making the stuffing. Mmmm! I am a messy cook. Just look at that stove!

Mashed potato rolls. These are SOOO good. You really must try them.

Yukon gold potatoes. I did add a lot of butter, but not enough to change the color.
These potatoes really are yellow.

We served buffet style so we could enjoy some elbow room at the diningroom
 table. Emily also brought spinach balls and Maggie made the most wonderful
fresh garden salad.

I really enjoy setting a table for Thanksgiving. This isn't too elaborate as some I've
done, but I love finding leaves, sticks, acorns and flowers outside to decorate with
the pumpkins, gourds and candles.

How could this have gotten so out of hand?