So the day BEFORE Thanksgiving I like to get as much of the “stuff” done as possible. This year I had a whole lot of things planned. I was going to make pecan bars (instead of pie) Eggnog pie, because it sounded so good and pumpkin pie of course, cause how could you have Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie? I also wanted to get the rolls done, because I have timing issues when it comes to baking bread along with the Turkey and other stuff vying for oven space.
Anyway, here’s how the day pretty much went procrastinate…. procrastinate…. procrastinate…. bake like mad, and of course nothing goes according to plan! 😉
I’m pretty sure that this must have been the first time I made pumpkin pie on my own. Because for some reason I was really surprised at the amount of filling that the recipe made. I was supposed to end up with 2 9″ pies, but when I filled those pie shells I realized I must have gotten “shallow” shells, because I had WAY too much filling!! So I filled them over full (dumb idea) and then had to resort to using one of my graham cracker crusts. Then I managed to slop a bunch of the filling all over the counter top, oven and floor as I tried to move the over-full not-stable-enough pie shells into the hot oven, good grief! It was a mess!! Fortunately the pies baked up okay, and they taste good too. But since I now had 3 pumpkin pies I kinda didn’t want to do all the other desserty things. SO… they’ll have to wait for another day.
I did manage to get some Texas Roadhouse Honey Cinnamon Butter made!! That stuff is SO good! And the rolls were eventually done at around 8pm. The extra pumpkin pie made for extra long baking time, and the house was miserably hot by the time it was all done, but at least I don’t have to worry about any of those things on Turkey Day! Oh, I also made our cranberry sauce stuff! I can’t even remember what it’s actually called, but it’s really good!
Today I got our 8lb bird (very small for me, since I usually choose the fattest turkey in the bin, because I figure that if I’m going to all this trouble to roast one, I want lots of leftovers, but I went conservative this go round) in the oven around 9. I think that 3 hours baking time should do it pretty well. I seasoned it with salt/pepper/garlic powder, and rubbed butter all over it for good measure. 😉 I also threw in and onion and some celery for flavor. If it tastes anything like it’s been smelling it’s going to be a fantastic turkey!!
We’re skipping the mashed potatoes this year because I didn’t want to have to mess with them. So I put a few sweet potatoes in the oven and they smell amazing as well! Wow! Once the bird comes out to ‘rest’ before slicing, I’ll whip up the stove top stuffing (because I like to do that the easy way) and get the green beans ready as well. I’ve never gotten into the habit of green bean casserole so that keeps it a bit more simple. 🙂
I’ve been talking to the kids about our Thanksgiving Feast, and they’re excited about it. I read a book to Qade called “The First Thanksgiving” yesterday. He had lots of questions about Indians and why some of them were mean to the settlers. It was an interesting story.
We’re having fun together on our little Thanksgiving Day here at home. It’s nice to make it special, but keep it simple as well. I’m already excited about having left overs, and “pickins” for dinner. We’ll probably play a few rounds of Hungry Hungry Hippo later too! Hope you all had a fantastic Holiday!!