My First Thanksgiving

I am proud to say I have officially hosted my first family Thanksgiving.  After going back home 4 times already this year for the wedding we had had enough of driving.  Since we knew we would be making Christmas out 5th trip we decided if people wanted to see us for Thanksgiving they could come to us this year.  My mom and dad took us off on that offer and came to stay for Thanksgiving and the weekend.

I wanted to try and make my first Thanksgiving as painless as possible so I pretty much decided the only completely new thing I would be cooking was the turkey.  This was my Thanksgiving menu:

Turkey and Gravy
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Roasted Carrots
Deviled Eggs
Rolls

Here are some pictures of the end products! I also listed where I got my dinnerware items in case anyone wants to find the same ones.  You don't have to be Martha Stewart or spend a fortune to make a beautiful dinner.

I got to use my dad's mom's silver for the first time.  It's a not a huge or fancy set but it is real silver.  It means something to my dad so it means something to me.  

And since we were serving 4 it was an excuse to get some more pieces to my formal china.  We only got 1 set for the wedding so I bought 4 more sets from Macy's. Best part is I got the matching oval serving plate I put the turkey on for free with my purchase! I think we'll just buy our formal china anytime Macy's is having a free gift give away with it.  My china pattern is Silk Ribbon Slate by Ralph Lauren ($98 per 5 piece set at Macy's) and the glassware is Mikasa French Country Side ($12.99 per stem at Bed Bath and Beyond, cheaper from Mikasa's website). The silver is old and the name engraved in it said Lady Doris Silver Plate, also known as Princess Lady Doris.

The table cloth and table runner both come from Bed Bath and Beyond.  

I got my napkins from Maison du Monde while I was living in France. I love that shop.  It has tons of cool house stuff.  I also brought back some wine glasses but they are a little more modern looking than my Mikasa ones.  The napkin rings also come from Macy's (set of 4 for $14.99)

I decided to do a short simple centerpiece so there would be plenty of room on the table for food, and so people could easily talk.  Matt is always moving my pretty flowers out of the way if we have people over and he feel like he can't see them, so I decided to avoid it all together.  I love using decorative balls as centerpieces because you can buy a couple shallow wide bowls and then buy whatever colors you want in the ball and it will go with anything.  I decided to have mine match the dinning room instead of be fall colors.  My walls are teal and the accents and hardware are gold.  I got the glass bowl from TJMaxx for about $10 a while back and got the decorative balls from Hobby Lobby, half off of course. 

And now for the food.  We all enjoyed a nice appetizer of shrimp cocktail from Whole Foods and I made Kir Royal, a french apertif made of sparkling wine and creme de cassis.

And now for the food.  My mom offered to make the deviled eggs, of which she is usually wonderful at.  However this time we had a snafoo and she put too much salt in them since she is not use to my salt box and poured too much in at once.  They were pretty much inedible but we put them on the table anyway just since they look so pretty. However mom made the gravy well.  I was going to just forget about since I've never really made it.  

And of course it wouldn't be a special dinner without green beans the way Neenaw makes them.  I usually use about 2-3 cans of green beans, but this time it was a full 6 cans to feed everyone, and have leftovers of course.  I did make the error of not cooking all the water off the green beans like Neenaw always says you must do, but they were still pretty good.  

I did try one new side dish. I still remember the roasted carrots Rachel made for Thanksgiving back in France.  They were so yummy and I have been trying to recreate it.  This recipe was ok, but not quite the same.  I added parsnips just because the recipe called for it, but I was not a fan of them.  

While I have made mashed potatoes before (though not the most tasty) I wanted to try a new method I had found on Pinterest.  This recipe called for making the mashed potatoes in a crock pot.  I was not a fan of them I think because it used yellow potatoes instead of russet.  They had a bit a gluey texture and were very yellow instead of white and fluffy.  I would like to try this method again but use russets and see if it still has a gluey texture.  According to Alton, if you over boil them they will get a glue like consistency and that may be what the issue was since they were in the crock pot for while.

I have never been a bread maker so I always go with pre-made ones.  I personally prefer Sister Schubert's rolls.  

Matt is the pit master, the fireplace pit that is.  Nothing feels nicer than enjoying dinner with a nice roaring fire.

And the piece de resistance, the turkey!  I got started the day before just to brine the turkey. I cooked a turkey from Alton Browns Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe.  This recipe has almost 5000 reviews and still gets 5 stars, and for good reason. Though I did see another version of a Thanksgiving turkey that involved basting with an herb butter from Pioneer Woman I would like to try.  While the turkey was great, I need to learn how to make a good homemade stuff.  I made just some store bought stuff from Pepridge Farm and I was not impressed.  

And mom got the honor of cutting the turkey, since she is the only one who knows how.  

But soon Matt will be a carving master as well

Keep dreaming dog

Now let's eat! 

The cook concers, it is good. And she's her own worst critic

But we're not done yet!  Now it's time for pie, and what a pie it was.  I tried this one once before to take over our neighbors for diner one night and it was an instant hit.  So of course it had to appear for Thanksgiving.  my Awseome Pumpkin Pie recipe comes from Taste of home.  I would recommend topping it with Redi Whip, not Aldi brand. We had Aldi brand stuff and it just flattened out much faster and wasn't as fluffy.  

And with coffee of course. We also had a course of spiced warm wine

All in all things went well and I think everyone enjoyed the feast.  The hardest part I found was keeping everything piping hot until the rest of the stuff was done.  I think buffet chaffing dish would have been helpful, so I might look into getting one of those.  I hope this help inspires more people to brave the adventure that is cooking Thanksgiving dinner for their family for the first time.

Pumpkin Pecan Streusel Pie

I have never been one for baking, but pumpkin pie is one of Matts favorite desserts during the holidays, so I thought it would be good to learn it.  I found this recipe is in an old copy of Taste of Home and it was an instant hit.  I wanted to make this for Thanksgiving when my parents came to visit, but I did a trial run with my neighbors when we went over for dinner and everyone loved it.  They couldn't believe I had never made a pie from scratch before.

The only funny thing about this recipe is the pie filling makes waaaay to much.  The first time I made it I over filled it too much.  Make sure to only fill the pie shell up to about 2/3 full and save the rest.  You can use it to fill up mini pie shells and have extra little plain pumpkin pies.  The cream cheese filling can also be kind of hard to spread over the pie  filling since the filling isn't that thick.  One thing I have been meaning to try is putting the cream cheese filling in a icing bag and pipping it on top of the pumpkin pie filing.  This way you get a more even covering over it.  I also switched up the nuts the recipe calls for.  Being from the south I always find pecans to be the best option.  You can also  lighten the recipe a bit (though not by much :S) if you use reduced fat or fat free condensed milk and cream cheese, and use Splenda where possible.

Pumpkin Pecan Streusel Pie

Total Time: about 2 hours

Serves: 8-10

Pumpkin Pie Filling
1 refrigerated pie crust
1 can (15 oz) pure pumpkin
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbl all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger


Cream Cheese Filling
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 egg, lightly beaten


Streusel Topping
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 Tbl all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 Tbl cold butter, cubed
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Line a 9-in. deep-dish pie plate with pastry; trim and flute edge. Refrigerate while preparing filling. In a large bowl, beat the pumpkin, milk, sugars, eggs, flour, salt and spices until blended; transfer to crust. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add egg; beat on low speed just until combined. Spoon evenly over pumpkin layer. In a small bowl, combine the first five topping ingredients; cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in pecans; sprinkle over filling. Cover edge with foil to prevent overbrowning.
Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°; bake 50-60 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove foil. Cool on a wire rack. Don't forget the whipped cream when serving :)