thanksgiving dinner

As I mentioned before Brendon and I were going to host Thanksgiving dinner at our home. It was so successful and my first ever roasted turkey came out amazing! The only hiccups in the day were not getting the Crock-Pot turned properly for my little sister's pasta request, the can opener not opening my yams, and the stuffing getting a little cold before the rest of the food was ready. So really, nothing to complain about.

For the turkey I used a bbq/grilled marinade recipe I found online and it was so, so, so good.

This was actually the most complicated thing I had to do all day. What you need is:

1½ cups cooking oil (vegetable oil)

½ cup water

½ cup lemon juice

½ cup white vinegar

½ cup worcestershire sauce

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp dried oregano (italian seasoning)

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp pepper

Mix and apply.

According to the turkey packaging, the weight of our turkey meant it would take approximately 7.5 hours to cook. Luckily it had the "ready popper" on it because we don't have a meat thermometer, but it popped at only 5 hours! We let it cook for about 30 more minutes and simply turned the oven off and kept it closed up while the rest of the food was prepared and cooked.

The rest of the menu consisted of:

roasted red skins

mashed potatoes

mashed sweet potatoes

stuffing

bread, bread, bread

corn

green bean casserole

chicken bacon ranch pasta

cranberries

lime jello

pumpkin pie

pumpkin creme pie

german chocolate cake

PHEW. 

The turkey. The sides. Perfect.

LOOK AT IT.

My mom supplied the desserts and really everything else I cooked was from a box or the Crock-Pot. Making sure I had enough clean and ready pans and a solid timeline was the hard part. But like I said, I think I did okay because the stuffing was really the only item that I was like, "um, maybe you should throw that in the microwave before consuming."

It was definitely a casual affair and I enjoyed every minute of it. We didn't get dressed up, I didn't get the kids dressed up, and we used paper plates. Besides me. I cooked my bum off and I delighted in a regular plate. Sweet, sweet, casualness.

Kennedy only wanted to eat the jello and other various desserts. Whatever, I guess.

Leftovers for days.

Leia