We weren't planning on a traditional family get-together but of course now that this was Ethan's first Thanksgiving, things ended up planning themselves and we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the whole family.
I would say it was a success. Everyone got to enjoy each other's company, there was lots of good food and none of the nightmare family feuds that happen every now and then with many families during the holidays.
I ended up doing most of the cooking. My mother-in-law made some dishes on her own and there were a few that I got some help with.
I actually started cooking the night before Thanksgiving. I knew the pies would take long and I needed the oven so I started them first. I made two pumpkin pies and two apple pies. Cooking everything from scratch was just too much so I cheated and used pumpkin pie filling and pre-made crusts.
Here is the beginning of the pumpkin pies before I started.
Here are the pies cooking.
...and finally here are the pumpkin pies cooling off later that night.
The start to the apple pie filling. I peeled and cut about two dozen apples. Then I let them soak in water so they didn't turn brown.
I had help making the apple pie filling. I then put the pies together and refrigerated them overnight. Here they are first thing in the morning. I put them in the oven before breakfast so that they could cook before I had to put the turkey in the oven.
Here are the apple pies after they cooked.
Well, breakfast has to come before Thanksgiving dinner. My sister helped make breakfast (more like I helped her). We made lots of blueberry waffles and eggs for everyone.
(Notice the new sink? Earlier that week my father and I installed a new sink. It's single basin so we have twice the room in the same size sink! I hate double basin sinks!!!)
There is the turkey sitting in the broiling tray. You can also see the bowl of spices on the counter I mixed up ready to put on the turkey.
At this point, the turkey is in the oven, and much of the food is cooking or already made. I've also changed clothes (nothing fancy). I'm toasting the garlic for the asparagus side dish.
Now, I'm taking the asparagus out of the steamer. I was so busy cooking, I forgot to get pictures of me cooking the dinner so I put on an apron and got some pictures of me cooking the easiest part of the meal: the steamed asparagus in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese.
Here is most of the final spread. We had to extend the dinner table to fit everyone and I even forgot to get new chairs so everyone could fit. We used disposable holiday plates and cups for fun. I'll try to name all of the dishes from bottom to top:
Baked sweet potato
Mashed potato on top of mashed potato, beets and peppers topped with olives and radishes
Steamed asparagus
Radish salad
Buttermilk biscuts
Stuffing cooked in the bird
Baked turkey
Not to brag, but this was the best turkey I've ever had :)
Finally, here is little Ethan wearing his "1st Turkey Day 2017" bib in his Thanksgiving day outfit. He couldn't eat the same food as the rest of us but he sat at the table and I made him a special meal (see my next blog post!) I then made him some nice sweet potato the next day.
