Thanksgiving!

I can give thanks to Leanne from Saving Dinner for a well-organized Thanksgiving dinner! Everyone had a great time! The menu changed a bit, but in general it was fabulous! I'd venture to say that it was one of the best ones I've had in the last 10 years. It's my second time cooking the Thanksgiving dinner and this one was WAY better than the previous attempt four years ago. A lot of things have changed in the last four years that I'm thankful for... namely, I'm more organized, I have Flylady, I'm a better wife and a better cook! The last time I cooked T-day dinner, the turkey took FOREVER so we didn't eat until close to 7-8 PM when we would normally eat around 4 PM. It was awful. This time, everything was great. I had my menu planned, my cranberry dishes made on Tuesday, ingredients prepped Wednesday night and the turkey was done early!

You can tell that I haven't cooked turkey very much because I figured out on Saturday as I was cutting leftovers off the turkey that the giblets are hiding under the neckflap. Luckily there were no issues with it being left in there, but I had no idea they were there! I kept looking inside the cavity for it because that's where they put it for chickens!! Oh well, no harm, no... fowl??
A special thank you to my sister Dawn for the fabulous Pumpkin Cheesecake and my SIL Jodi who made mashed turnips, sweet potato pie, persimmon bread, pumpkin bread, pomengranitinis. All the food was fabulous. The only adjustment I'll make for next year is less salt in the stuffing. It was too salty (and I love salty food!).

I think the winners were the turkey, yellow squash casserole and the pan drippings gravy. I had a friend who said she usually does eat gravy have three helpings! It was good, so I can't blame her one bit.

Here's a picture of me cutting the turkey:



Here are pictures of other food:
Main table

Side dishes

Turkey, up close

Thanksgiving approaches...

Thanksgiving is right around the corner!! We usually spend Thanksgiving with my husband's family, but this year, we decided to do our own thing with some of both our families and some friends. It should be fun...

The Menu

• Turkey (of course!) from Shelton Farms so it's a fresh, all natural, free range turkey
• Stuffing - bread type with no fruity stuff
• Mashed potatos
• Yams/Sweet Potatos - to be made by my SIL Jodi
• Broccoli-Mushroom Casserole
• Yellow Squash Casserole
• Fried Cauliflower
• Corn Souffle - to be made by my SIL Jodi
• Cranberry-Orange Sauce
• Cranberry Relish - my favorite, it contains oranges, celery, red onion and jalopenos
• Pumpkin Cheesecake - to be made by my sister Dawn, she already has some practice!
• Sweet Potato Pie - to be made by my SIL Jodi

Whew! I think that's it! I have to go through my fridge and get rid of all the extra stuff to make room for leftovers!! It will be an adventure! This is only my second Thanksgiving dinner ever. The first one ran WAY behind schedule because the turkey label lied so my turkey took WAY longer to cook than indicated.

In anticipation of T-day, I purchased a brand new saucier pot/pan/whatever you call it. It's beautiful and I love it!

All Clad Stainless 2 Qt. Saucier with bonus whisk

I also purchased a new roasting pan because mine was the $8 version from the outlet mall and will NOT fit an 18-20 lb. turkey in it. It barely fits three Cornish game hens in it!

Kitchenaid Five-Ply Stainless Steel 15 by 11 1/2 -Inch Rectagular Roaster with Rack

I did buy this stuff to use for Thanksgiving, but I can use this stuff year round. We already tried out the saucier pan and it's fabulous!! I love it!! The roasting pan should be here by Tuesday, so it will be here just in time!!!

My next vacation!

I love the idea of changing jobs. In fact, I know I've told people that my ideal job would be one where I often change it up. The idea of doing something forever is kind of scary. Maybe because I haven't found my passion in life. Either way, I was browsing around and found an article about
Vocation Vacations!

You can take a vacation and shadow someone who has a job you're interested in and see what it's like. It's like a preview of a new potential occupation! They have all kinds of things like innkeeper, chocolatier, caterer, cheesemaker, winery owner, etc. They are not all food related either. I haven't looked through all the possibilities, but I think that would be awesome!!

Which occupation would you shadow?