Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving from scratch

My husband and I stayed home for Thanksgiving this year, so I took charge of cooking our holiday meal. I started two days in advance with the pie crusts. Then last night, I made the cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and two pies.

I'm pretty proud of myself for making everything from scratch, especially when I saw all the convenience foods in the grocery store while I was doing my Thanksgiving shopping. It's amazing that nowadays you don't even have to peel a potato.

Since I knew I had a lot of peeling to do, I recently broke down and replaced the terrible vegetable peeler I received as a wedding gift and invested in an Oxo peeler from Amazon.com. So glad I made the purchase. I bet it took an hour off my cooking time.

I stuck to a traditional Thanksgiving menu this year.

On my plate:
  • Turkey, of course.
  • Mushroom stuffing
  • Cranberry-apple sauce
  • Pioneer Woman's Creamy Mashed Potatoes
  • Fancy green bean casserole, recipe from Taste of Home magazine
  • Maple sweet potatoes with marshmallows, recipe from Better Homes and Gardens

I also made my favorite dinner rolls. (Yes, from scratch. I've got the flour-dusted clothes to prove it.)

My husband snapped a few pictures of me at work last night, looking up recipes on my netbook. Our kitchen is still ceiling-less. But at least the leak is fixed. Got to love the 1960s-style custom-made cabinets. Classy, eh?

If you're wondering, that green-and-gold pattern under the kitchen counter is carpet. That's right. Floor-to-countertop carpet. We still have the 1960s carpet in the kitchen, because we're afraid of seeing what the 1900s tile looks like underneath.
I also made two pies for Thanksgiving: pecan and pumpkin. My husband loves pecan, and I crave pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I was so excited when I pulled the pecan pie out of the oven. It looked wonderful!


But I was horrified when we cut into the pie. It didn't set!!! That didn't stop us from eating it, however.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and family. I'm thankful to live in a country where I have a fridge full of food, a house of my own, a great job and a family that supports all my goofy endeavors -- including staying up past midnight to peel potatoes.

4 comments:

  1. It looks beautiful! I'm so proud of you! It sounds like you had fun too! I usually make a lemon cream pie at Christmas because our lemon tree is so full of lemons at that time. I make my own lemon curd and I never know if it's going to set up or not. But we eat it anyway. I even thought of serving it in a parfait glass layered with whipped cream and grahm crakers.:)

    We spent Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle, all our family is up north. We have a small gathering, but still I enjoy it! Have a nice weekend too, with all those leftovers!

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  2. Yes, we're still eating leftovers, but I love it. We're thinking about making turkey enchiledas tonight. Lemon pie is my favorite! I've never tried to make one, though. I'd love to try to make lemon curd. I love the idea of a lemon parfait. Thanks for your comment!

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  3. Everything looks tasty, but I've got my eye on those dinner rolls! Looks like you did a great job on your Thanksgiving meal!

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  4. I just found your blog through A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa Thank you for your REAL posts! All of us have had something not set, but few admit it!

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