Happy Thanksgiving!

With Black Friday over, my family home safe, I’m taking a little time to enjoy a much needed glass of wine and some peace and quiet. However, I’ve had a few of my friends ask what I made for my very first Thanksgiving in our own home… So, I figured, this would be a better way to give everybody the run down!

As we sat there, quietly enjoying the dinner I literally slaved over, (with LOVE, of course) we started talking about what we remember of Thanksgiving as children. Family, food, lots more family, more food… But also, we remembered being hurried around to this house, then this one, then over there to say hi, even into adulthood, having to deal with split families and long distance travels.

It was nice to just sit down whenever dinner was ready, and eat our food, our way. I was excited to cook my food, in my kitchen, with nobody in my way, listening to my music, drinking my bottle of wine, cleaning up behind myself as I went and running the damn thing like clock work. It was a beautiful thing, it was a beautiful Thanksgiving and I couldn’t be happier that I spent it with the two most wonderful boys on the planet!

Enjoy the run through of our dinner and I hope it looks as delicious as it was… Food photographs worse than Andy Dick sometimes…

This turkey was incredible! I’d never cooked a turkey before and I laughed when it came out so good, because the week before I was actually asking my bff how to cook a turkey! She goes, “Um, put it in the oven, turn it on and baste it, Sarah!” I went, “Where do I buy a turkey baster?” I’m a gem. 

I took some butter and smashed it with some black pepper, a little salt, a few cloves of roasted garlic (threw some in while the oven was pre-heating, it doesn’t have to be a FEAT for some roast garlic!) and rubbed it between the skin and the meat of the beasts and legs. (That last part sounded FILTHY!)

I used the rest to rub on the outside of the bird and finished with more black pepper and some thyme and stuffed some extra garlic cloves under the skin as well!

Juicy, tender, dare I say? Perfect?

 

Mashed potatoes are easy. I love the skins on, so there they are, all mixed in there with some cream cheese, a couple cloves of roasted garlic leftover from the turkey, butter and LOAD of black pepper, maybe a pinch of salt to taste.

They’re not good FOR you, but oh my fuck, they were amazing.

Creamy, chunky, filling.

Perfection, again.

I used a bean masher instead of a beater, because, I kid you not, my electric beater is from the 60’s and I was afraid it couldn’t handle the job. I need a serious electronics update in my kitchen. Stat.

I JUST threw away my 60’s blender too. It was HUGE.

My Nana hoards, I enable.

It’s a sickness.

Every woman needs to know how to make her man some gravy, so I won’t take long in this department.

Turkey drippings, made into gravy. Flour, not corn starch.

Easy, peasy.

Again, a TON of black pepper, because the only thing KFC CAN do right, is make gravy extra peppery and delicious.

Mine followed suite nicely!

 

 

 

 

This was my biggest challenge. I refuse to pay out the ass for fried onion strings after last years green bean casserole cost us $11 to make and tasted like everybody elses. “No more!” I say.

This bitch, is completely homemade.

Fresh green beans, halved. My delicious recipe for Cream of Onion & Celery soup, found here, omitting the celery and obviously the black rice. You could make cream of mushroom, but I hate them. So I went with onion. Should have done turkey or something else. It was delicious, but a bit on the onion-y side.

And finally, some homemade French’s onions. Simply, onions dredged in flour and fried to a crisp in oil.

NOT anywhere near healthy, but so delicious I fried up an extra onion for us to snack on and Mo ate them all!

 

This is always good.

Tried and true Mac n’ Cheese.

The recipe can be found here.

It’s a great freezer meal, great for a pot luck, any holiday get together where food is required!

It’s a homemade sauce starting as a roux with some Velveeta and parmesan added. Topped with panko, Ritz and herbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Where’s the stuffing?” You ask… I ruined it. There. Are you happy?

Last, but not least…. And actually made, first… Mama made pie!

I’ve never tried making one, because honestly, I’m not that big of a fan. Give me a cookie, or fro-yo. I’m straight. A pie is like cake to me. It’s like, what’s the point? If I’m going to eat something like that, it better be bomb, elaborate and have layers and secret caverns.

I almost bought a pie. Then I went, “If I’m frying fucking thread sized onions to TOP a dish, I’m NOT pussing out a buying a pie.” So… I didn’t.

I bought cheesecake, pudding, heavy cream, a pie shell and a Hershey bar, and made a pie!

Heavy cream obvi get’s beaten into whip cream with a beater, it takes about 10 minutes, so calm your titties and wait it out. It’s worth it. Oh, and don’t forget the powdered sugar or you just have stiff milk. Ew. My pie? Not ew. Savvy?

So, there’s my turkey day!

I hope everybody’s day was as wonderful as mine was, I hope you all actually took time to thank those you are thankful for and stop to appreciate that in your life which deserves appreciation. I’ve been working on my “30 Days of Thanks” post and can’t wait to get it up… Although I feel like it will be a rambling rant of more or less 30 things I’m thankful for, ranging anywhere from my own flesh and blood to my new leather leggings. lol

Good night!