Thanksgiving Coma Post

I made too much food.

I ate too much food.

The menu, with notes for future reference:

1. A 20 lb turkey in the electric roaster, with The Pioneer Woman's brine. I didn't really want to brine it, but I wanted a little flavor, so I made the brine with just a tiny bit of salt. I poured it over the turkey in the roasting pan and put it in the fridge all night, then just cooked it that way. I was a little nervous about a new-to-me recipe for the main part of the meal, but it was the best turkey I have ever made! I love the electric roaster, because it cooks faster and keeps the turkey moist, but this was beyond moist, with just a hint of the flavors. Perfect!

2. Also from the Pioneer Woman, Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Apples. I have made this for several years in a row. Since I had several guests coming and didn't know if there were any allergies, I left out the mushrooms. I only had 3 apples (from Bountiful Baskets) as opposed to the 5 called for, so I added some sauteed celery for more crunch. Yummy!

3. Soul Sweet 'Taters from - you guessed it - The Pioneer Woman (maybe she'll just come cook for me next year?). For the topping I sprinkled chopped pecans and then brown sugar, and ringed it with mini marshmallows - but then in the baking the marshmallows completely melted away! Tasted fine, but not a huge hit - Mike doesn't like sweet potatoes, and I have the feeling it wasn't a favorite of anyone else, but not the fault of the recipe.

4. Mashed potatoes from - me. Red potatoes (from Bountiful Baskets) boiled and mashed, leaving lumps because I like it that way. One package cream cheese, the last half cup of whipping cream that was in the carton, sour cream, and beef broth because I ran out of chicken. Then I put a stick of butter in a crock pot and put the mashed potatoes on top to stay warm. When I stirred them later, all the melted butter pooled up on top....mmm, feel those arteries hardening!

5. Garlic green beans - canned from Bountiful Baskets months ago, added some minced garlic and just warmed in the crock pot.

6. Back to The Pioneer Woman for the Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole she posted this week. A last-minute addition because it looked so yummy! I didn't have bread crumbs, so I used crumbled corn flakes, and I added a few drops of hot sauce to the cream sauce for a little kick. Yum! Not too many leftovers.

7. Two dressings - a cranberry/apple/pear sauce I made from Bountiful Baskets offerings last year, and...here she is again...PW's Homemade Cranberry Sauce. OMG...I can't believe I ever served that canned stuff before...I could have eaten just a whole meal of that!

8. Corn pudding from Allrecipes.com - very rich and creamy. It didn't look like enough, so I doubled it, and got way too much. I was running out of baking dishes! It also looked too runny at the start, but thickened up just fine.

9. And...seriously, I do know how to cook, but I also know enough to copy a good cook...PW's Whiskey Glazed Carrots. I used rainbow carrots from...of course...Bountiful Baskets, and the different colors really gave it some contrast to all the browns and oranges.

10. Hot cider - one part cranberry juice to two parts apple juice, toss in a crock pot with cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and whole allspice. If the kids weren't drinking it, I'd add red wine. Just let it simmer and dip into it all day.

So, that was the food. No special decorations, except for these napkin and silverware holders:

and these treat cups the kids made:

with centerpieces Christopher made at school.

But the best part was the friends and family! We had Grandma, Mykela, and her fiance Bradley, then two of Bradley's friends, a really sweet couple, and our friend Felicity, her husband, daughter, and mother. Felicity just became an American citizen a couple months ago, and her mother was visiting from New Zealand, and this was the first American Thanksgiving for them both - extra special! This is what the holiday is all about for me, the people, so I am so glad they could all join us.

There were several desserts, but Felicity brought a traditional NZ Christmas dish called pavlova that was definitely the hit of the day! Sweet, but incredibly light - which just means you can eat tons of it:)

Which I did. Along with tons of everything else. I wasn't alone:

so, if you'll excuse me, we are all going to kick back with the traditional video and enjoy our food comas! Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving also, and remember: don't shoot your eye out!

Party! Party!

This has been one of our favorite read-alouds lately:

 

We especially like waving our hands in the air and chanting, "Party! Party! Party! Party!" at regular intervals.

 

We like parties. And, we really like parties at the Bakers'. Good people, good food, about as stress-free as you can get. All of the kids can be shy around new people sometimes, but not at the Bakers'.

 

There are sometimes pretty girls to chase, after all.

 

 

I love seeing how much they have come out of their shells. Some of the adults may wish C. would go back into his, though - his latest thing is tackling random guys and trying to get them to wrestle him. Since these are folks who actually work for a living, he really doesn't stand a chance. 

 

He made the mistake of thinking this pretty lady would be easier prey. Nope. She is a special ed assistant at a middle school. He was toast. (At least it provided entertainment for his audience, there.)

 

There is so much to check out, too!

 

Ooh, I'll bet I could do something really cool with this...

 

 

Several kids spent a good hour collecting spent airsoft pellets (Note to Mrs. B.: I have no idea where those actually ended up.) This resulted in one of those never-thought-you'd-need-to-say phrases: "L., please don't throw rabbit turds at your sister." (Hey, they were round, they were about the same size...)

 

Sometimes, we get a little bit dirty.

 

I really have no idea how that happens.

 

Somehow, pretty M. got dirty, too. I'm guessing she slept well that night.

 

Hopefully, she at least made it to her bed, first.

 

 

 

F is for Friends and Fun!

Nope, still not the surprise we have been promising for the letter "F", but a good time was had by all. Since it is Spring Break here, and I had Friday off, we decided to have some friends up for a playdate (read: grown-up face time for Mommies!) These pictures will probably be of no interest to anyone who wasn't here, so please feel free to ignore this post.

 

For those who were here: who are these wild children?!

 

A little while after this was taken, I found her feeding the Jell-O to the dog...with her spoon...

Commando!

L. was NOT entirely sure how he felt about all these little girls being at his house!

George, the escape artist, was on a leash. This did not make him happy.

Oh, no! A girl in the man-fort!

That looks like a teenager, but it's really a mommy.



Halloween Party Food

Did I mention we like Halloween? Thursday night at the library wasn't enough, we decided to have another party for kids and grown-ups at our house Saturday. I counted about 40 people, probably more than our house can really hold, but the teens tended to stay outside where there was fire and pointy sticks. Adults aren't always as ambivalent about having their pictures taken randomly as kids are, so I mostly took pictures of the food and kids - but, there were some pretty good costumes!

 

This is just a smattering of the goodies, because once people really started coming in, I didn't have time for pictures. As you can see, this is mostly simple food, just given gross names - posting in the hopes that it will help others with some last-minute ideas!

 

peanut butter fudge - which didn't set at first, so I had to add more chips, but I only had chocolate left, so they aren't skin-colored any more.

Dried cranberries and candy corn

Rice Crispie treats made with a whole-grain puffed rice and a couple dollops of a chocolate hazelnut spread, with orange and black sprinkles mixed in. Not as overly-sweet as the traditional treats.

Not edible, but everyone has SO enjoyed having him stare at them all week, I just had to include him.

BBQ Pork

Hot dogs cut in fourths long-ways, cooked in a watered-down ketchup.

I see they are selling these as 'kits' now...or, you can spend a lot less, and just cut your regular croissants into strips! I was too lazy to make eyes, but you can do that with a food marker.

Moldy Grubs - mac 'n cheese with green food coloring. These were in muffin papers for individual servings. L. was actually sharing with his girlfriend A - must be love!

In the yellow bowl, "Bugs in the Corn" - homemade caramel corn, which I may or may not have had for breakfast this morning.

Buckeyes with white chocolate instead of milk, and M&M eyeballs.

Nutter Butters in white chocolate - S. helped Grandma make these!
 

In the pumpkin (Jack's Guts) - browned sausage, onion, peppers, apples, cranberries, rice, garlic, and whatever else was in the refrigerator. This is a great way to use up leftovers! Just scoop out seeds, dump the filling in, and bake it all day at 200 degrees or so. Scoop out pumpkin flesh as you serve.

And a huge THANK-YOU to all the people who brought salads, I was pretty sugared out at this point! L. liked the fruit salad especially - kept shoveling it in as fast as he could, stopping occasionally to laugh like a maniac.

 

I don't think they had any salad. There was a continuous battle traveling room to room and all over the lawn. I'm waiting to hear how many were unconscious before they got home:)

So, what is your go-to for Halloween treats?