Thanksgiving Day Replay

How did your Thanksgiving turn out?!

Mine was amazing—the best holiday in a long time for no specific reason, I just really needed some family time! And I put together the whole turkey day meal which was a first. It was a lot of work, but obviously I loved it, or I wouldn’t have volunteered :-) I really feel like the route I want to go career wise is to be a personal chef. I can’t see myself working in a giant restaurant establishment, but I can see myself cooking away 24/7 in someone’s kitchen for their family.  Anyone have any information on becoming/training for a personal chef?

We held Thanksgiving out at my grandparents house with our family. I am so thankful that I have a family even though it’s small. Do you have a big family that get together for holidays?

Like I promised, here’s the pictures and recipes from my Thanksgiving day. I have plenty of leftovers—so stay tuned for a leftover recipe makeover tomorrow!

Wednesday was the day of prep!

 

Like I said before, I decided on this turkey recipe to make. The cranberry relish had to be made and slathered on the turkey a night in advance to marinate. This turkey turned out divine—moist, tender, slightly sweet with a hearty aftertaste. I would make it again in a heartbeat. I also added a lot of rosemary to pump it up as well.

(Grandpa carving the turkey) 

My mom made her stuffing in advance as well. This is her “famous” recipe, so I had to pry a bit to get her to share—thanks mom! Please try it, you’ll love it =)

Mom’s Stunning Sausage Stuffing

Ingredients:

• 1 lb wild rice
• 1 lb maple flavored sausage
• 5 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large granny smith, chopped
• 1 c apple juice
• 1/2 c orange juice
• 1 8 oz can mushrooms
• 8 oz applesauce
• 14.5 oz can of chicken broth
• 2 tsp garlic

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 F.
• Cook wild rice according to package instructions.
• Meanwhile in another deep skillet add sausage to a pan—crumble and cook until browned. Add all chopped ingredients, garlic, juices, and applesauce to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Get a large roasting pan and pour both pans into one, stirring until thoroughly combined.
• Put in preheated oven for 1 hour covered with foil.

Come Thanksgiving morning, I whipped together these Cheesy Good Cornbread Muffins—wowza were they great! Very moist, flavorful, and overall a definite keeper. Making them in muffin cups was a lot easier for cleanup as well.

Of course some kind of squash needs to appear at any shindig I am hosting. I chose to make this I Can’t Believe It’s Not Sweet Potato Pie, which I ended up added an extra cup of sweet potato puree instead of just the butternut squash. I also added a dusting of brown sugar to the top to give it a finishing crust.

Amazing & barely any leftovers in sight!

My grandpa also made a bread-based stuffing which was amazing, and we had mashed potatoes, garlic bread and tossed salads as well. This was only my first plate ha ha:

And where’s the pie you ask? Member I told you I decided to make this stunning cake instead—well it stole the show and the pie was not missed!

I hope you all enjoyed your day and  had fun looking at mine. From my family to yours—happy holidays!