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