Giving Thanks

Generally, we have Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Colleen's house. This year, since my mom can't be around crowds, we had our own little family dinner at her house. My sister, Stephanie, has set some goals for herself. One of those goals is to cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner. She has been stuck in the "non-cook" food assignment category... veggie trays, mashed potatoes, etc. She wanted to prove that she can bring big kid food next time. So, I went and helped her prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner from scratch.

It started Wednesday night with making pies (and pie crust) from scratch, rolls, and brining the turkey. She watched Rachel Ray, and learned all about brining a turkey. Sometimes I think that watching Food Network is a dangerous thing for my sister. Anyway, she had learned to brine from Rachel, and I learned from Alton Brown. I won. Our theme for the meal prep became "What would Alton Brown do?"

First, Alton would wash the turkey. Stephanie is a germophobe, so this was rather amusing to watch.



But, she got through it, and the finished product was amazing.



Brad was assigned to carve, his firt time, while Stephanie makes gravy in the background. It was a Thanksgiving of firsts for everyone.




Mom walked us through making the stuffing (which was NOT stuffed in the actual bird... this is a valid germaphobe fear, according to Alton Brown). It tasted just like Aunt Lynn's.



Our homemade rolls were beautiful (and just a little dry).



And Stephanie set a beautiful table in the living room for us to enjoy our dinner together.



And after dinner, while the boys cleaned up, Stephanie and I both took a well-deserved nap. Although, she got to cuddle with Lottie and the teddy bear, while I was cuddled up with the after Thanksgiving shopping ads.