Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. This was our first year ever to host dinner, so it was nice that there were only 5 of us there. Our apartment was pretty cozy still. Tom's dad came in from California, and his grandfather and brother John were here as well. We had soooo much food! Most of the recipes we used we had never tried before, but we had pretty good luck with them. If you've never heard of the "America's Test Kitchen Cook Book" I'd recommend it. It gives tips and tricks for just about anything you would want to make, even down to how to pick the right cut of meat and what brands of products get the best results. I decided to throw on a few of my recipes here, with a few comments. If you want a recipe that we used that doesn't have a link, just email me and let me know :D

Apple Orchard Punch
This went over very well, although we had to water it down a little so it wasn't so strong. It looked great, especially with the horizontally sliced apples floating in the bowl.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Orchard-Punch/Detail.aspx?src=etaf


French Bread Rolls to Die For
These were great the night before Thanksgiving when I made them, but turned out a little dry the next day. I would recommend them if you are going to eat them hot. I think my yeast may have been having problems, so this may have been the reason they didn't turn out as good as expected.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Bread-Rolls-to-Die-For/Detail.aspx?src=etaf


Praline Sweet Potatoes
These were fantastic! Everybody went back for seconds, including Tom's diabetic grandfather. This is more of a dessert than a side, because it is pretty sweet. You could cut down the sugar in the mashed sweet potatoes and it would mellow down the taste a bit.
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/2128/Praline-Sweet-Potatoes93029.shtml


Butternut Squash Soup (Test Kitchen Cookbook)
This was good, but really strong. It is more of a soup you would have on its own with some grilled cheese sandwiches than something to serve as a soup course. Still, we all enjoyed the flavor and each had a little.

Easy Roasted Turkey (Test Kitchen Cookbook)
This turkey turned out soooo good. The skin was all brown and bubbly, and the inside was really moist. We stuffed it with:

Homemade Stuffing
1 cube butter
1 small onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup water
2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 loaf bread, left out in open air to get dry or baked in the oven until crisp, torn into abt 1 inch pieces.

Saute onion in butter until soft (abt 5 minutes). Add water, sage, and salt until mixed. Pour over bread crumbs and mix together. Add enough chicken broth to make pieces stick together. Stuff into bird. Add 30 extra minutes roasting time for your turkey. Enjoy :D

Holiday Cookies(Test Kitchen Cookbook)
These were really good, they have a buttery shortbread taste and are like little crackers.



Our turkey was lovely and golden brown, although we forgot to take a picture of it before Tom started slicing it. Next to it is the butternut squash soup. John kept saying it was nacho cheese, lol.



It's amazing how quickly the dishes can pile up, especially when you have such a tiny kitchen!



After dinner, we played a few games. That's Merrill (Tom's dad) on my left.



Tom's grandfather really got into the game (Apples to Apples) once he understood what he was supposed to do. He was making us all laugh with some of the cards he came up with. John chose to sit at the more comfy chair instead of at the table with the rest of us.



John and Tom. Why does John always pretend to scowl when I snap a picture of him? :P