Thanksgiving

And WHAT a Thanksgiving. It was just the four of us and my cousin Sarah but I made all the food I wanted, anyways. Get over it. We didn't even end up with as many leftovers as we thought we would. Oh we had leftovers...just not a full weeks worth. That's good because some of us are not leftovers people (Lucas).

Yes that's Lucas picking at the Dressing...he just couldn't wait.

On the Thanksgiving menu:

Prosciutto Turkey Breast: I lifted the skin off the turkey and stuffed rendered prosciutto between the skin and the flesh and brushed the rendered fat over the skin. I think next year I'll do thin slices of bacon instead to get more of a bacon flavor. Regardless, it was delicious. And the gravy it made was absolutely heavenly. Light but flavorful.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes: The secret is using warm evaporated milk. If the milk is cold it will cause the starch in the potatoes to seize up and gives you a gummy potato...no bueno. These potatoes were light and fluffy thanks to the warm evaporated milk (you can use warm plain mik, I just like the flavor of evaporated milk).

Apple, Cranberry, Cinnamon Dressing: Need I say more?

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with bacon. They were beautiful. No marshmallows for these mashed sweet potatoes. I used bacon, sour cream, and green onions to give these taters flavor. Topped with some panko bread crumbs gave them the perfect crunch.

Jello Pretzel Salad: I say salad...but it was really just pre-dessert. Raspberry jello with mandarin oranges in it, on top of cream cheese and whipped cream, on top of a pretzel crust. Best pre-dessert at Thanksgiving.

Rhodes Rolls: Yes I took a shortcut here...but it saved me so much time. I topped them with some melted butter and garlic salt and those rolls were MINE.

Green Beans: Yes...just plain old green beans. Craig and I decided we didn't want to have heart attacks this year so we played it safe with some salted and buttered green beans.

And finally...THE PIES!

Yes I said pieS, as in more than one. Two to be exact. It's just blasphemous to have only one pie at Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Pie: This was probably the most perfect pumpkin pie I've ever made. No scorches, no sagging, no unwanted weird skin on top. Perfect. The changing variable? Using Sweetened Condensed Milk instead of evaporated. Changed my world of pumpkin pies.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffle Pie: Craig chose this pie (go figure) and it was worth it. A thin layer of ganache on the bottom and a light cream cheese, whipped cream, and peanut butter filling on top to make up the rest of the pie. Topped with melted chocolate and chopped peanuts. It was worth waiting a couple of hours between the first piece of pie and the second.

The only picture we got of any of the pies...I seriously don't know what happened there.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday not only because of all the food I get to cook, but because of the reminder it is to me to stop and smell the roses. This is a busy time of the year and it's nice to take a break and be thankful for all the blessings in my life. I am truly grateful for the things I have in my life. I have a loving husband, two beautiful children, generous friends, patient extended family, a warm place to live, and a healthy appetite for progression.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Darci's Tryptophan kicking in!