Happy Thanksgiving (again)

Spread, photo taken by Caroline

3 Days of cooking... 9 dishes and 3 different pies plus gravy (yes, I learned how to cook gravy this year, finally)... and now we're stuffed, sleepy and watching football!

We saw the Macy's Day Parade this morning. We all went on a late afternoon walk. Craig's parents came in to join us for our little feast. And it all turned out really good! I managed to make a gluten-free crust that tasted as good as any good pastry crust. And everything else was from scratch. Bon Appetit magazine was really great this year (if you can find a November copy, then buy it!  I just linked to the recipes because it's not on the newstands anymore!) because I used several recipes from it: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with a Maple-Bourbon Sauce, Homemade gravy (with real turkey stock that I did the night before), baked mashed potatoes with a secret ingredient (horseradish....yummy!) and a delicious dressing with sourdough bread. I used Rachel Ray's cranberry-orange sauce recipe. I followed Jenny's recipe for roasting the turkey (all 17 pounds!) and it turned out perfectly. I started it at 11pm the night before and pulled it out to rest at 12:30 pm today. Ina Garten has a new book out called "Foolproof" which I got the green bean recipe from-- it had garlic, lemon zest, parmesan cheese and pine nuts sprinkled on them. Cook's Illustrated put out a holiday magazine and it had a really good cranberry salad dressing in it that I made to put on a salad of three greens with apples and pecans and goat cheese. The November magazine "Food and Wine" had an excellent article about making the perfect pie crust, and I substituted gluten-free flour for that... and it worked! I made a pumpkin pie, of course. I also made an apple-sour cream pie and a chocolate meringue pie from recipes by Sarah Foster. We also had a Pinot Noir which is perfect paired with turkey. I was literally on my feet yesterday from the time I woke up until midnight. But I love cooking and I love Thanksgiving dinner.

Now my feet are propped up. I have spent some time catching up with blogs and relaxing. I am really thankful for all my friends and family. I guess next on the list is what to do about Christmas cards this year! We'll start decorating the house for Christmas this weekend and maybe go see the tree-lighting downtown tomorrow night. My school work is going great and thanks to a little Cantharsis 30C  last night when I burnt my finger, I was able to avoid a horrible blister and could keep cooking! I think when football is over, we might just watch "Christmas Vacation"... someday maybe I'll be "great aunt Bethany!" ha ha!